Pete Sessions: “I have some comments that I would like to make and my time is getting short, but I think it would support the National…”

“I have some comments that I would like to make and my time is getting short, but I think it would support the National Institutes of Health and that is what we would favor. This is a matter of real seriousness. We are not talking about a little game or gimmick here. We are talking about huge sums of money. The Senator from New Hampshire talked in the debate on this floor of from $16 to $20 billion of children's insurance and how $4 billion was considered carefully before the Congress appropriated that money. We are talking about perhaps $40 billion in attorney's fees, and they refuse to tell the American public how much the fees are. They refuse to produce their agreements. These are attorneys representing public bodies, not private individuals. With regard to contingent fees, I am not against private contingent fees. I think in many cases that is an effective and appropriate way to handle litigation for a private party. But I am very concerned about public bodies hiring attorneys to represent them and the people of their States on a contingent fee basis that could result in awards of attorney's fees of tens of billions of dollars. So I would think very seriously about that. I was amazed to hear the comment made that this would intimidate and hamper the public health community.”