C. Cox

Mr. COX

Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I would say to the gentlewoman that is exactly the purpose of the House taking this action tomorrow. Tomorrow, Friday, October 12, America's schoolchildren, all of the schools across the country, are invited to join in delivering simultaneously the Pledge of Allegiance. This is a nationwide synchronized Pledge of Allegiance that will take place in schools across the country. It will be 2 p.m. here on the East Coast, 1 o'clock central time, noon mountain time, 11 a.m. in my home State of California, Pacific time, 10 a.m. in Alaska, 8 a.m. in Hawaii. Students and teachers will all join at that time in reciting those simple words, ``I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag.'' The President is also going to join in this national ceremony tomorrow at the precise time from the White House. It is going to be an unprecedented moment, and I think a poignant one, to honor our country, our dead, and our freedom. I would add also that the Pledge across America is not a government program or a government initiative. We did not come up with the idea. It came from the people, from a grass-roots effort started by one very determined woman. Her nonprofit organization, Celebration USA, was created to strengthen classroom instruction on the basic principles of American democracy. It all started in a California classroom with this teacher named Paula Burton. She is an immigrant. When she was a schoolgirl, at the age of 9, she fled with her family from the Nazi occupation. She grew up here in America to realize her American dream of becoming a public school teacher and noticed one day, when her students were reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, that they seemed bored, uninterested or apathetic. She sensed they did not even understand the meaning of the words of the Pledge. So she went to the blackboard and she wrote down the word ``indivisible.'' She wrote indivisible on the board and asked the class what it meant, and they said it means you cannot see it. This started her educational campaign to teach students to understand the words of the Pledge and to stimulate pride in being an American. She discovered the Pledge of Allegiance was originally written for a national school celebration, a patriotic national observance in 1829, accompanied by a proclamation from the President. Now her nationwide program of informed patriotism is helping to lead our troubled Nation. For 4 weeks, teachers in every community in America have been working with students to help them understand what happened on September 11 and to overcome their fears and concerns. They have also worked to teach them more about our national history and the foundations of our free society. Thanks to Paula Burton, whom I am proud to say is my constituent in the 47th Congressional District in California, our Nation will truly be united tomorrow. I want to thank especially my colleague, the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Myrick), for her work on ensuring that Congress will participate in the Pledge Across America, and congratulate the leadership on the Democratic side, because this is truly a bipartisan national effort. As I said, President Bush will participate from the White House and Paula Burton will be in Orange California with her Catch the Spirit singing group and the boys and girls of Serrano Elementary School. I thank the gentlewoman for permitting that explanation of this procedure on the House floor tomorrow.

Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that on October 12, 2001, tomorrow, the Speaker or the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole be authorized to recognize a Member at 2 p.m. for the purpose of leading the House or the Committee in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

Mr. COX

Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, the magnitude of this tragedy is still revealing itself. The bombings are over, but the extent of the damage, the number of people killed, is still partially obscured to us. The death toll in a single day may eclipse the entire toll from the Korean War. That this war, waged by foreign enemies of the United States, happened on American soil, makes it unique in our modern history. That it happened on our city streets, that it targeted our national symbols, makes it all the more unbelievable. But it is true, it happened. We are brought face to face with the grim reality that not only do a dangerous few of our fellow human beings hate America and what she stands for, but they are willing to kill all of us and themselves in order to vindicate that hate. These terrorist shock troops did not know the names of the people they killed, they did not know the identities of the families they have destroyed forever, and they do not care. As General Norman Schwarzkopf said so pointedly yesterday, always, even during the Gulf War, the United States has taken extraordinary measures to avoid civilian casualties in its military operations. But these terrorists intentionally target innocent men, women, and children. That, he said, is the difference between these bastards and us. The terrorists and the states that harbor them do not hate any of us as individuals. They hate America; they hate our civilization. Now civilization must defend itself. We cannot bring back the wonderful people who perished yesterday, but we can honor their memory. The Statue of Freedom atop this capitol stands as a beacon. It was placed there when our Nation was torn apart by the Civil War. That war shook the foundations of this building, but it did not undermine the foundations of our country. Let us honor the dead, the wounded, and the tens of thousands of the heroes who are bringing New York and Washington back to life. Let us defeat those who have declared war on America.

Mr. COX

Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to announce to you, and to the rest of my esteemed colleagues, that on August 4, 2001, Mr. and Mrs. William Walsh will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Gloria and Bill were both born in Chicago, Illinois. On November 20, 1930, Gloria Augusta was born to Frank and Martha Velten. On October 22, 1929, William and Myrtle Walsh gave birth to William Kenneth. Although they both graduated from Blue Island High School, they did not meet prior to graduation. It was after graduation, while members of a social club--Gloria was the Secretary-Treasurer and Bill was the President--that they met and began their lifelong partnership. Gloria and Bill expanded their family with the birth of two daughters, Cynthia and Dawn. In 1959, Bill brought his family to Anaheim, California, and two years later co-founded Continental Vending, a successful family business he still manages. The marriage of Gloria and Bill is a love story that is still in progress. Their ``I do's'' are as sincere and heartfelt today as they were 50 years ago and deserve our commendation. It is with great pleasure that I rise to recognize this grand occasion and join with family and friends to honor William and Gloria Walsh on their 50 years of committed marriage. On behalf of the United States Congress and the people of Orange County, I extend our sincere congratulations to Bill and Gloria Walsh.

Mr. COX

Mr. COX. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 15 seconds while they are setting up the chart to correct the misunderstanding of the gentlewoman. She described a situation in which there were for some reason, under State law, a limit on economic damages, there is no such limit in this bill, and that the limit amounted to $2,000 in a case and that that would mean twice the economic damages would be a $4,000 limit under this bill. But she misunderstands it because the limit in that case would be a quarter million dollars. That is the limit that would apply, the greater, not the lesser, of twice the economic damages or a quarter million dollars. Mr. Chairman, I will inquire how much time remains.

Mr. COX. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 5 seconds to observe that this Chamber has on many occasions passed legislation of this type, and it has been scored by the Congressional Budget Office as saving $1.5 billion. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time. parliamentary inquiry

Mr. COX. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey).

Mr. COX. Mr. Chairman, does the minority have the right to close?

Mr. COX. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 10 seconds to point out that the American Medical Association has strongly been in support of these reforms every year I have been in Congress, for 15 years, and their only concern, as the gentlewoman did not let on, is President Clinton, representing the trial lawyers, threatened to veto the legislation if they included the provision they wanted. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner), the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. COX. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 20 seconds to correct the gross, egregious and ought to be subject to punitive damages if we have the kinds of standards we are talking about here in the Congress misstatements of what this amendment is all about. Punitive damages under this legislation are unlimited. They are not limited to $250,000. The gentleman apparently did not read the amendment. There is a base of $250,000, or twice economic damages, and economic damages are unlimited under this legislation. He said punitive damages also are limited for health insurance plans or HMOs. This amendment has no application to HMOs or health insurance plans. None.

Mr. COX. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 30 seconds. Mr. Chairman, in fact, the purpose of this legislation is to make sure that we do not have runaway health care costs and that we have more people insured. The legislation states, and it is worth pointing out, because we have heard something slightly different here, that there will be unlimited damages paid to compensate patients for their medical injuries. Unlimited, without limit. We are, however, putting some regulations on abuses by lawyers. For example, we want to make sure that there is a fair share rule. If you cause 95 percent of the problem, you pay 95 percent of the damage. That is not the rule today.

Mr. COX. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin), the chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Mr. COX. Mr. Chairman, that is false. That is false. The gentleman must yield on that point.

Mr. COX. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 45 seconds to correct the record. We have the right of free speech here on the floor of the House, but it is very important that we stick to the facts. The bill says very clearly that, first of all, punitive damages are not limited, but rather, they are fixed in amount, in a variable amount that can rise to infinity at twice economic damages. Second, the gentleman from Michigan stated an outrageous example. He says if a physician rapes someone, that they would somehow be shielded from liability by this amendment or some other act of Congress. What this amendment very clearly states is that anyone who specifically intends to cause harm has no place in this provision. It does not apply. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Fletcher), the author of so much of the good work that the President and the Congress are bringing to the floor today.

Mr. COX. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 30 seconds for the purpose of correcting the record because the gentleman from Michigan has just stated several things that are factually in error. First, he said that this amendment would apply to health plans, that it would provide relief from damages to health plans. It does not. It has no application to health plans or insurers. If it did, the American Medical Association would not endorse it. Second, he said that it preempts State law. It preempts no State law. None. Third, he said that intentional conduct such as a rape would somehow go scott free under this. That is flat wrong. Intentional conduct is excepted. Lastly, he said that if a professional fell asleep or were negligent that he/she would not be responsible for punitive damages. That is simply false. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COX. Mr. Chairman, that is correct. Section 802 specifically states that.

Mr. COX. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw). (Mr. SHAW asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. COX. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself my remaining time. Mr. Chairman, I wish to address the Chamber from the floor because I wanted to draw attention to this chart. This describes the situation in America today in which insurance premiums paid by all of us here in this Chamber are distributed unequally to pay the costs of lawsuit abuse: 32.46 percent going to pay injured claimants; and 52 percent to pay attorneys, witnesses, expert witnesses, and other court expenses. That is wrong, and we are here to fix it. There is virtually a constitutional right in America to bring a bad lawsuit, and we count on the courts to throw the bad ones out. But in the Federal system today, because the courts are so busy, 93 percent of cases never get a single day of trial. That creates enormous opportunity for mischief, because then people can extort settlements, since everyone knows how expensive it is to wait it out and pay their lawyers while they finally might be one of the 7 percent of cases that get their day in court. We want to adopt a ``fair share'' rule. We want to say that if one committed 5 percent of the problem, then pay 5 percent of the damages. Let us say that a rapist drug dealer staggers into the emergency room with a knife wound and demands, in his drug-induced haze, to be operated on, and gives the emergency room fits. The surgeon that works on him does the best he can, but it is not perfect. The drug dealer and rapist sues. The jury finds he is 95 percent responsible for his own knife wounds, but 5 percent of the problem lies with the hospital, because the physician was working too long. Today the hospital, us, the premium payer, can be made to pay 100 percent because the drug dealer is without means. We want a fair share rule because if one pays premiums, one should not be denied health care in that way. Everyone knows this bill, which is very important, which we are going to pass, which expands patient protections, is going to raise the cost of insurance. We are trying to find ways to regulate it. If Members believe that all doctors are bad and all lawyers are good, this amendment is not for them. But if Members believe that some lawyers need some regulation, as well as HMOs getting regulation properly in this bill, vote aye for lower health care premiums and more access to health care.

Mr. COX. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. McCrery), a member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Mr. COX. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Greenwood), a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Mr. COX

Mr. COX. Mr. Chairman, parliamentary inquiry. As the author of the amendment, do I have the right to close?

Mr. COX. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman, I thank my colleagues from across the country for working with us in support of this sensible amendment to give governors and to give States the flexibility they need to meet not just the Federal standards for clean air, but even higher standards. We have had governors of several States making phone calls in support of this amendment: We have had Governor Pataki from New York; we have had Governor Rowland from Connecticut. Many States presently are already working to phase out MTBE or ethanol in gasoline, not only California, but the State of Washington, New Hampshire, Maine, New York, Arizona, New Jersey, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and South Dakota. In all of these States, I think the flexibility to handle the problem and the ways that the States find work the best will give us cleaner air and cleaner water. I know that Governor Ventura will want to wrestle with this problem in the future.

Mr. COX. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Ose), chairman of the Subcommittee on Environment, Resources and Agriculture of the House Policy Committee.

Mr. COX. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. COX. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.