Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this morning we are returning to the motion to proceed to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, otherwise known as the gun manufacturers liability legislation. Yesterday we invoked cloture on the motion to proceed. We now have an order to begin the bill at 2 p.m. today. The debate will be equally divided until 2 o'clock today. I understand a rollcall vote will not be necessary, and we will have a voice vote at 2 p.m. and then be on the bill. Senators can expect a cloture vote on the underlying bill to occur on Friday, unless we change that time by consent. As I stated repeatedly over the last several days, we are going to have a very busy session as we address a range of issues, including energy and highways and the Interior funding bill, the gun manufacturers liability bill, veterans funding, nominations, and other issues. Just a quick update on several of these. In terms of the Energy bill, after 5 years of hard work, the energy conferees are now done. I expect that that legislation will be filed shortly. This is a major accomplishment that will cause serious and dramatic changes in how we produce, deliver, and consume energy. We simply would not be at this point without the hard work, the perseverance, and the patience of Senator Domenici and his partner, Senator Bingaman, as well as Congressman Barton. We will pass that conference report this week. Our country will be all the better for it. I was talking to the Secretary of Energy earlier this morning. We were discussing the absolute importance of passing this bill to establish a framework of policy from this legislative body. He again referred to the great good this bill will do. On highways, it has taken this Congress 3 tough years of work to come to this point, but with just a little more work, we will have a bill that the President will sign. Our conferees are working and should complete the writing of it today. I spent time with several of the conferees yesterday and with the Speaker, as we coordinate completion of this highway bill. The good news for the American people is, as they see what is sometimes confusing on the floor of the Senate as these bills come in, this particular highway bill will make our streets and our highways safer. It will make our economy more productive. It will create many new jobs. I mentioned veterans funding. Yesterday, the House and Senate majority agreed to ensure that $1.5 billion of needed funding will be given to the Department of Veterans Affairs this fiscal year. Veterans can be assured that their health care will remain funded. I know it is confusing what you hear on the floor, but that action is being taken. I mentioned Interior funding. Yesterday both Houses agreed to fund many of the programs that affect many of our public lands held in trust for Americans throughout the country. We intend to complete action on this conference report this week as well. Late last night, the conferees completed work on the Legislative Branch appropriations bill, and we will be attempting to clear that legislation as well this week. I mentioned all these to give my colleagues an update because there is so much activity going on right now, in addition to the very important legislation that is on the floor. After several months of aggressive work, we can now look back and say that we have brought the Cabinet full strength for the President's second term in effect. We have accomplished very important class action legislation, after years and years and years of delay. We finished bankruptcy reform, which we have worked on in the Congress, both Houses, since the late 1990s. We completed writing one of the fastest budgets in congressional history with the goal, which we are accomplishing, of pushing down the deficit, keeping our economy growing, and creating jobs, funding our efforts to confront the terrorist challenge overseas, confirming, after what was tough for us all, many of the judicial nominees that have been held up for years. All of that is what we have done. Now we have the opportunity over the next 3 to 4 days of completing action on the very necessary, very important bills which I have mentioned--bills that will make a real difference in the everyday lives of Americans. We are talking about funding for health care, veterans, highways, and energy. We are demonstrating governing with meaningful solutions to everyday problems of Americans. These bills will affect people's lives directly, will create opportunities for new jobs, help people to fulfill the American dreams they might have, as well as address critical national needs. By the time we get to the recess--I mention that because we have a long recess. A recess is the time that we can use to go back and be with our constituencies. We do have a long recess in August. I say that to preface how important it is that we complete all of our work this week. The American people expect us to complete action on the items I have mentioned. There is a tendency to think the recess is going to start maybe a day early. It certainly looks like, because we are going to be so busy, that we will be working through Friday of this week. I will be in constant consultation with the Democratic leader. We will have the opportunity to talk several times throughout the day. At this point, we cannot rule out a Saturday session, if it is absolutely necessary. I think we can finish our work earlier, but we simply can't rule out a Saturday session at this point. I do ask for Members to keep their schedules flexible until we get through this legislative calendar. We will in a bipartisan way have a lot to be proud of once we leave for our August recess. Health Care Mr. President, most of what I have said has to do with accomplishments, challenges, and schedule. I want to turn to an issue that I care passionately about, an issue that most, if not all Americans, care about, and that is health care. As I travel around the country, in part because I am a physician but in larger part because of the reality of the problem, the cost of health care, as well as the safety and quality of health care, is among the first and foremost issues on the minds of the American people. They want us to lower the cost. You do that by improving quality and getting rid of waste, and we are doing just that. I am pleased to report that after years of challenging work, difficult work, and a lot of negotiation among ourselves on both sides of the aisle, the House is expected to join the Senate in passing a bill called the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act. I am hopeful they will pass that bill today. We passed it not too long ago. I mention it because it focuses on getting waste out of the system, and it does so by putting the emphasis on patients. A patient-centered system is what I strongly believe we need to move to in the future. This does just that. Patient safety is something that concerns me. We have an obligation, as physicians, as nurses, as the health care sector, but also as a public policy body, to make sure that patient safety is maximized. People say: Of course, you do. But if you look back at the Institute of Medicine's report not too long ago that really started a lot of this debate, they estimated that up to 98,000 deaths are caused each year by medical errors. That would make medical errors, that are occurring every day in hospitals and clinics, and even at home when people are taking medicines, the eighth leading cause of death each year. That is more than car accidents, HIV/AIDS, or breast cancer. People dispute the number. Is it 98,000? Is it 125,000? Is it 75,000? The exact number doesn't matter. The fact that there are thousands and thousands of needless deaths being caused is inexcusable. This body has acted. The House will act. And I am hopeful the President will be able to sign that important legislation in the next several days. What is so obvious to me as a physician, having spent 20 years in the medical arena, every day in the healing profession, is that the tragedy of all these deaths is compounded by the fact that these deaths and the many errors that result in prolonged hospitalization, more misery, greater cost, can be prevented, can absolutely be prevented. Simple reporting procedures, sharing of information, improved technology, a systems approach--all can reduce these preventable errors, and thereby improve hundreds of thousands of lives and actually save tens of thousands of lives. So people ask, What is the problem? The fear of litigation has kept many health care providers--doctors, nurses, and lab technicians in the hospitals--from sharing information if a mistake is inadvertently made. Everybody makes mistakes, but if you have a mistake that is made, you need to be able to share it with people so you can develop a system to keep it from happening in the future. We all do that in our everyday lives. For example, in hospitals, there is a tendency not to do that because if you share your mistake, there is a predatory trial lawyer who will swoop in and find that error and take you to court and destroy you and the system. It is human nature to say, if that is the case, Yes, I made a mistake, I will improve, but I am not going to share it because it will destroy my future. People are afraid of sharing their internal data, such as their collection of reporting of infections that could have been prevented with preventable techniques or a medical error that might expose them to a ruinous lawsuit. That drives the reporting of these medical errors underground. The bill will change all of that, and it will lift this threat of litigation and allow health care providers, doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals to share information and to develop effective solutions and to develop effective systems whereby those mistakes will never occur again. That is the way this patient safety bill will improve lives but also save lives of tens of thousands of people. This type of nonpunitive reporting isn't new. I began flying small planes fairly young, when I was a teenager. Over the years, I have watched how self-reporting in that field has revolutionized safety in general aviation, private aviation, and in the airline industry as well. In 1975, I had been flying for about 7 years. I remember it because it was a big deal at the time. Similar to what we are doing now with the patient safety bill, the FAA established a system called the Aviation Safety Reporting System. It encouraged everyone in the aviation system--mechanics, pilots, air traffic controllers, flight attendants, and the general public--to voluntarily report--I remember the blue cards you reported on--potential or actual safety problems, and you could do so without fear of recrimination. That is why this voluntary aspect is so important. Because that information in the aviation field was shared internally and with others, accidents went down and overall safety went up dramatically. Everyone improved. Quality improved and safety improved by learning from others. The patients safety bill that is before the House of Representatives today--the same bill that passed in this body last Thursday--promises exactly the same kind of benefits, in parallel, that were passed in 1975, and this is 2005, 30 years later than it should have been. Under the provisions of this act, hospitals and physicians and other health professionals will be able to share this information about their practices with independent PSOs, or patient safety organizations, without the fear of lawsuits, and this transparency will improve quality. America has the absolute best health care in the world. I have seen it by doing heart transplants, using the best of lasers to resect tumors out of the trachea or windpipe, and with developing ventricular assist devices. I was in Tanzania some weeks ago working at a small clinic out in the bush, and when you look back at America, we have the most advanced health care in the world, with new treatments and techniques, improving millions of lives every day. Through this bill, we are putting that same sort of American ingenuity to work in improving patient safety in hospitals and clinics and thus getting rid of waste and improving the overall quality of care. This bill is a major step forward to making health care safer and less costly, driving up the quality, driving down costs, and getting out the waste. I can tell you, this is the first major health bill in this Congress. But I hope in the very near future we will pass other important legislation we are working on in a similarly bipartisan way--namely, information technology to have privacy-protected, electronic medical records available to everybody who wants it. It is a bipartisan effort. We have come a long way, and I am hopeful that we can do that in the near future. We are establishing interoperability standards--working with the private sector to establish interoperability standards which will allow the 6,000 hospitals and 900,000 physicians out there to be able to communicate in a seamless way, with privacy-protected information. Again, it is another bill that would get rid of waste, drive down the cost of health care, and improve quality. I am excited about these health initiatives. I thank my colleagues who have specifically been involved in this bill, including Chairman Mike Enzi, Senator Judd Gregg, Senator Jim Jeffords, who has been at it as long as anybody--this particular bill on patient safety--and, of course, Senator Ted Kennedy. On the House side, Chairman Joe Barton and ranking member John Dingell have done a tremendous job as well shepherding through, the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act. We are saving lives and moving American medicine forward. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, it is our intention--and I will be offering an amendment shortly--but we will be in discussions with the leadership and the ranking member and chairman discussing amendments and allowing them to be offered accordingly in the judgment of the chairman and ranking member and the leadership.

Mr. FRIST. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. FRIST. Madam President, the current Congress has taken a stand against frivolous lawsuits, and we have done so in a number of ways as we paint a portrait of the fact that frivolous lawsuits today are not in the interest of the American people. We addressed it in class action reform. We addressed it to a degree with bankruptcy reform, returning to personal responsibility. We will do it with asbestos reform, an issue that has for the last 10, 15, 20 years unfairly resulted in the trial lawyers doing very well, but the patient with cancer, mesothelioma, not being compensated, the victims not being compensated. We will be addressing medical liability at some point in time, hopefully in this Congress, and then gun liability, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which is being addressed today and tomorrow and possibly the next day. This bill is directed at the frivolous lawsuits that today are aimed at gun manufacturers and people who are selling firearms. The bill places responsibility on the criminal for the unlawful use of guns, and that is where that responsibility belongs. Many people believe that the whole gun manufacturing industry is a hugely profitable industry, and that is wrong. It is not. The gun industry is relatively modest. In 1999, the most recent year I have seen, there was an industry total profit of about $200 million. If we put all the manufacturers of firearms together, they would not even make the Fortune 500 list. More important than size is the hard-working people who are manufacturing guns. I have had the opportunity, as many of our colleagues have, to go to these wonderful facilities with hard-working Americans, typically in rural communities, who are manufacturing and putting together these guns. The firearm maker I visited was in a rural area with not that many employees. They were putting together shotguns which many of us use to hunt over the course of the year. Right now my favorite avocation is taking my sons hunting on the weekend, to be together and share fellowship. I mention that because when one tours these gun manufacturing facilities, they realize that frivolous lawsuits drive people out of the business, which is a loss of jobs. Those jobs happen to be predominantly in rural communities. Anti-gun crusaders say that the firearm business, which today is one of the most regulated industries in America, should be responsible for the criminal acts of others. They believe it is OK to use lawsuits to circumvent the democratic process and legislate actually from the bench, and they say so themselves. If we turn to the trial attorneys and look at the quotations, one trial attorney claims that what has happened is that the legislatures have failed. Lawyers are taking up the slack, said the trial attorney. Another anti-gun trial lawyer says that trial lawyers are ``the new arm of government,'' replacing the legislative branch ``that's not working anymore.'' These trial lawyers apparently believe they are above the voters, that they are above the legislative process. I do not agree, most Americans do not agree, and thus, we have the bill today. Most Americans think there is too much litigation and not too little litigation in this country. Legislatures in 33 States have passed laws to preempt frivolous gun lawsuits. They recognize that our Constitution protects the right to keep and bear arms. In fact, 53 percent of American households today own a gun. Still, the anti-gun crusaders, aided and abetted by powerful trial lawyers, charge ahead. They know that all it takes is one successful lawsuit to drive a manufacturer out of business. As one chapter of the United Steelworkers of America points out, ``we are just one defeat away from bankruptcy.'' Since 1997, more than 30 cities and counties have sued firearms companies in an attempt to force them to change the way they make and sell guns. Firearm manufacturers have already spent more than $200 million in legal fees to defend themselves. Meanwhile, most of these cases have been dismissed. The Supreme Court of New York says: [The] courts are the least suited, least equipped, and thus the least appropriate branch of government to regulate and micro-manage the manufacturing, marketing, distribution and sale of handguns. The Florida Third District Court of Appeals agrees, adding: The power to legislate belongs not to the judicial branch of government but to the legislative branch. Some cases, however, are still pending and are slated to go forward. Thus, it is critical that we act now, that we pass this legislation now. In California, former Governor Gray Davis signed legislation explicitly authorizing lawsuits against gunmakers. Because the firearms business is relatively small, just one big verdict--maybe not even big--a substantial verdict could bankrupt the entire industry. In California, that is a real possibility. If the gun industry is forced into bankruptcy, the right to keep and bear arms will be a right in name only. Even if some gunmakers are able to hold on, the prices for firearms, whether it is the shotgun one buys to go hunting with or whatever the firearm might be, will go sky-high. There is another important issue, which is little recognized, and it has been mentioned on the Senate floor, but I wanted to mention it again because I am sure others will come forward because the problem is so real, it is so apparent, and that is that America relies on private gun manufacturers to equip our soldiers and our law enforcement officers with the arms they need to protect us or to fight for our freedom. The guns our police officers and soldiers carry are made in the United States by hard-working Americans. The main manufacturer of guns in my home State, just as one example, supplies important small arms to the military. So far, this middle Tennessee company has not been sued. In fact, Tennessee passed some liability protections back in 1999. But if they are sued and put out of business, the military would lose a critically important supplier, and 70 Tennesseans for this one small company, one small employer, would lose their jobs. We all agree that guns need to be kept out of the hands of criminals, and that is why we have innumerable, countless laws and regulations to stop illegal gun sales. But we also cannot let frivolous lawsuits strip our police officers and our soldiers of the guns they need to protect us. We cannot allow unfair litigation to cripple our national security. Our sympathies always first and foremost go to crime victims and families, and no one in any way deserves to be harmed by a criminal wielding any kind of a weapon, be it a gun or a knife or anything else. But we have to place the blame where it belongs, not on the people working in that factory I visited that makes these firearms. We need to place it at the feet of the violent criminals themselves, those who commit the crimes and threaten our communities. They are the ones responsible, and they are the ones who should be held accountable. Blaming gun manufacturers misses the real problem. It punishes law- abiding owners and undermines our constitutionally protected rights. Even if litigation managed to bankrupt law-abiding gun manufacturers, it is not going to stop the criminals from getting guns elsewhere. So I urge my colleagues to help stop frivolous gun litigation. We can accomplish that by allowing this legislation first to come to the floor and then passing this legislation. A vote for reform is a vote for security, and a vote for reform is a vote for common sense.

Mr. FRIST. Reserving the right to object, Mr. President, reflecting on yesterday, if we had invoked cloture yesterday, we would have been able to complete the Department of Defense authorization bill. We were unable to invoke cloture. I made it clear at that time at some point we would return to the Department of Defense authorization bill, a very important bill. At the same time, we have about five pieces of legislation we have to address over the next 72 hours. We need to move on, as we will shortly do. Also, the chairman and ranking member will have the opportunity over the next few days and weeks to take these more than 200 amendments, look at those amendments and see how many are absolutely necessary, based on their judgment, and then we can come back and address the issue of defense. Finally, I ask that the Democratic leader consider my request from yesterday so that at any time determined by the majority leader, in consultation with the Democratic leader, then the Senate resume consideration of the Defense authorization bill.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I will phrase it that at any time determined by the majority leader, after consultation with the Democratic leader, the Senate will resume consideration of the Defense authorization bill.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I am happy to say, that is why I specifically stated in my unanimous consent request ``in consultation with the Democratic leader.'' Until we get through the highway bill, the Energy bill, Interior appropriations, Legislative Branch appropriations, and gun liability, it is going to be hard for me to predict exactly when--plus we have a 5-week recess between now and then. The whole purpose of my unanimous consent request is I stay in touch through consultation with the Democratic leader to find the appropriate time.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, that is correct, and I was thinking the exact same thing when I was talking, and Department of Defense as well. We have a whole range of issues. The Democratic leader knows I am in constant discussion with him as to how we are going to get the business done, and the fact we did not get cloture yesterday on the Department of Defense bill, we are moving ahead in an orderly fashion, hopefully in a civil way, working with the other side, through the managers on the Democratic side and Republican side, with the leadership in order to complete the business this week. Mr. President, I guess we have a modified unanimous consent request that at any time determined by the majority leader, after consultation with the Democratic leader, the Senate resume consideration of the Defense authorization bill; is that correct?

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, yesterday, as everyone knows, we invoked cloture on the motion to proceed to this underlying legislation with a vote of 66 to 32. Although we are now proceeding to the substance of the bill, it has been made clear that the bill will be subjected to a filibuster. While we respect a Senator's right to debate this liability, it is apparent that a cloture vote will be needed to ultimately bring this very bipartisan bill to a final vote. For that reason, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this vote can technically ripen as early as 1 a.m., not tomorrow but the next day, Friday morning. I am not certain at this point if we will vote then or later that morning. I will continue and want to continue to consult with my colleagues on the schedule. As we just discussed on the Senate floor, we have a lot of business to accomplish over the next several days. We have the energy conference report, the highway conference report, the Interior bill, the veterans health money attached, a number of nominations. Therefore, I hope that when cloture is invoked, we can find a way to bring this bill to a final vote so that we can expedite some of these other very important issues. Amendment No. 1605 Having said that, I now send an amendment to the desk and ask for its consideration.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. FRIST. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. FRIST. I now send a second-degree amendment to the desk.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. FRIST. We yield back our time.

Mr. FRIST. Regular order.

Mr. FRIST. Regular order.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, very briefly, both sides have talked about the importance of the Defense authorization bill. We both feel the importance of that bill. Cloture being invoked here shortly, which I believe it will, will allow us to have a Defense authorization bill in about 30 hours. So we will complete our objective of having a bill if cloture is invoked, and I encourage people to vote for cloture.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I made it clear about 3 weeks ago to this body that we had a number of issues we were going to address before leaving for recess. We listed a number of them this morning. One of them was the gun liability bill. There are lots of roadblocks right now, barriers being thrown up to prevent us from addressing a very important bill that I believe we will show here shortly we have over 60 votes for. Thus, I will say one more time that we intend to complete the gun liability bill before we leave, complete addressing it. I am very disappointed in the last vote, the fact that we are not going to be proceeding with the Department of Defense authorization bill. I do look forward to coming back and looking at that bill and passing that bill. It is a very important bill, and that is why we filed cloture to complete that. In all likelihood, what will happen, we will proceed to the bill on gun liability, and the objective will be to complete that this week, and thus I do object.

Mr. FRIST. I would ask unanimous consent that at any time determined by the majority leader, the Senate resume the Department of Defense bill at that time. Mr. REID addressed the Chair.

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that at the time determined by the majority leader, we will return to the Department of Defense authorization bill.

Mr. FRIST. I object and I once again state my request that at a time determined by the majority leader, we return to the Department of Defense authorization bill.