Jim Sensenbrenner: “let me blow away the smoke screen from the litigation management provisions of this bill. Number one, it does not take…”

“let me blow away the smoke screen from the litigation management provisions of this bill. Number one, it does not take away anybody's right to sue or anybody's right to get compensation. If there is a cause of action and the Secretary triggers the provisions in this legislation, suits would have to be in one court, and that would prevent a race to courthouses all around the country to see which judge could have the trial quicker and whoever gets the quickest trial will end up exhausting all of the money that is available; and in courts where things move a little bit slower, if the money is exhausted, then the plaintiff would be out of luck. Now, secondly, what the bill does is it prohibits punitive damages, and this is exactly the way the Federal Tort Claims Act is. We are talking about giving a limited key to the United States Treasury, and we give the same protection to the taxpayer in this bill that we do when there is a tort claim against the Federal Government. We also limit attorneys' fees, also done in the Federal Tort Claims Act. So this is existing law for claims against the Federal Government. Since the Federal Government will be the ultimate reinsurer during this period of time, we provide the taxpayers the same protections and the plaintiffs the same limitations as we would if somebody got run over by a postal service van or ended up falling out the window of a Federal building because of a defect in construction there.”