Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I will take just a few moments at the beginning of today to comment on last week and a brief look ahead. Last Thursday, the Senate achieved its first legislative victory, a bipartisan victory of the 109th session. By a vote of 72 to 26, the Senate passed the Class Action Fairness Act. The process was that we worked together across the aisle from beginning to end. The bill was introduced with 32 cosponsors, 24 Republicans and 8 Democrats. It came out of the Judiciary Committee on a strong bipartisan vote. Every vote on every amendment was bipartisan, and the vote on final passage was strongly bipartisan as well. I stress the bipartisanship because in the 109th Congress we have a lot to do, and it is going to demand that we continue to work together in that same spirit. I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their fairness and cooperation. We have delivered to the American people a significant victory in the battle for fairness in the courts. The class action bill does protect plaintiffs' rights while reining in the rampant abuse within the system itself. The consumer bill of rights protects plaintiffs from predatory lawyers and guarantees that they receive just compensation. The legislation restores justice to our court system by ending that practice of forum shopping, where we had nationwide cases that genuinely impact interstate commerce being moved to the Federal courts where they belong. It took a while to have this success last week. Senator Grassley, who was the lead sponsor on the bill, has been working on this for over a decade, and versions of this bill passed through the Judiciary Committee in each of the last two Congresses. In 2003, it came within one vote of passage. Finally, because of the continuing work of both sides of the aisle, people came together to recognize the intent was right, the legislation at different points could be improved, it was improved, and then we had relatively quick passage of it. The House will be addressing the bill shortly. Then hopefully we can have a bill to the President of the United States to be signed into law for the benefit of the American people. Also, at the beginning of last week, on Monday, we passed a resolution commending the Iraqi people on their January 30 elections. As we saw over the weekend, those elections were finalized and, in terms of the final reports, again, it is a great victory for freedom and liberty throughout the world. It was an extraordinary event, and it was fitting that we came together on this floor to celebrate and commend the process and the results in those elections. It was in the midst of terrorist blasts and terrorist threats that 8 million Iraqi voters streamed to over 5,000 polling stations to express that influence, that power and dignity that comes with voting. The various pictures that we all saw of families bringing their sons and daughters so that they could witness this moment in history is something that captures us all. As I mentioned, over the weekend the votes were tallied of the 8.5 million people voting. For the first time in decades the Iraqi people have been able to speak and to speak freely--and they were heard, as we saw with the outcome. It is a transformation that is fundamental. It is a fundamental transformation of power from the people, instead of over the people. This has renewed a sense of momentum and optimism and hope. The process, as we see, continues to unfold with negotiations going on as to who will be part of the Presidential Council. Again, looking from afar, from where we sit it is very encouraging to see the various coalitions working with each other, Shiites working with the Sunnis and working with other minority parties, all working together to fashion this government. It is an exciting time for the Iraqi people and all who watch. Jumping ahead, today we will, as I mentioned in my opening statement, vote on the nomination of Judge Michael Chertoff to lead the Department of Homeland Security. We have heard much about the judge, both in committee and then on the floor yesterday, and we will over the course of today. He has a long and distinguished career in public service and law enforcement. In the mid-1980s he was an assistant U.S. attorney alongside Rudy Giuliani. He aggressively prosecuted mob and political corruption cases. He then went on to become New Jersey's U.S. attorney, where he oversaw high-profile and politically sensitive prosecutions in Jersey City, actually prosecuting the mayor of Jersey City, Mayor Gerald McCann, New York chief judge Sol Wachtler, and the kidnappers and killers of Exxon oil executive Sidney Reso. Fearless and scrupulous as a prosecutor, he became known not only for his legal brilliance but also for his skills as a manager and leader. We all saw that take real meaning after 9/11. For the 20 hours after that worst ever attack on American soil, Judge Chertoff was central in directing our response. It was through his work as Chief of the Justice Department's Criminal Division that they traced the 9/11 killers back to al-Qaida, a central focus. We are indebted for all these things to his strong and unwavering leadership. For the next 2 years Judge Chertoff was the key figure shaping our antiterrorism policies. His experience working directly with law enforcement, his expertise in homeland security policy, and his proven ability to lead in times of national crisis make him overwhelmingly qualified to direct our Homeland Security Department. He earned unanimous approval in committee last week, with one member voting ``present.'' I am confident that today Judge Chertoff, who has already been confirmed by this body three times, will receive overwhelming, strong bipartisan support. He is an outstanding candidate and we all look forward to working with him in his new capacity. Another matter of security, a different type of security, which I hope we will be addressing this week--I mentioned it also a little earlier--is the Genetic Nondiscrimination Act. This is the security of information about us that can be used to give us health care security. It is a bill that many of us on the floor have been working on aggressively over the last 7, 8 years. The bill, the Genetic Nondiscrimination Act, is just that. The bill is designed to protect Americans from having valuable genetic health information abused or misused by others--for example, being used against them to get health insurance coverage or being used in some way to discriminate against them for a future job. This whole field of genetic testing and genetic information has blossomed, in part because of a wonderful public-private project that was over about a 10-year period called the Human Genome Project. This explosion of information has introduced these genetic tests that can have--and it is early, they are early--but they do have the potential for having great predictive value regarding what disease or illness you might have later in life, and would allow you to prevent that, to take preventive measures if that is the case. Right now, scientists tell us most Americans have about a half dozen potentially harmful genetic mutations. That is a statement that will change a week from now, a month from now, a year from now, as we learn more and more about it, but the point of this bill is that people run the risk of losing their jobs or not being promoted or not being able to get an insurance policy based on getting this test which could be of so much benefit to them. We need to prevent it, and we need to do it now, instead of waiting until it becomes a huge problem in the future. One study in 2003 found that 40 percent of people at risk for colon cancer refused to participate in a screening exam, many citing the fear that the results might in some way cause them to lose their health insurance. That means they don't get this test. If they don't get the test, they lose the potential benefit to their own health and health security in the future. The knowledge of genetic risk has the power to save lives. As we look at tests that are early, and they are just being proven--the tests for heart disease, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, a host of other diseases--there is great hope in these genetic tests becoming a powerful tool. The legislation we are considering this week is intended to make sure genetic testing is used as a tool to help and not hurt. I hope we will be able to pass that bill so that medical science does deliver a meaningful solution and keeps America moving forward. I yield the floor.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, in response through the Chair, the transportation bill is a major priority for the leadership on this side of the aisle and the leadership on the other side of the aisle. We have been in numerous discussions with the chairmen and ranking members for the responsible committees. There are five different committees involved. It remains a major priority. It is also, I might add, a major priority for the House of Representatives, which is committed to having appropriate committee action. We encourage the committees to act as soon as they practically can. Once that bill is ready, we will make sure it comes to the floor of the Senate. It is a bill which, as we all know, has strong bipartisan support. We have passed a major transportation bill on the floor of this Senate, and it is time to look at what changes there might be, look to the budgetary objectives, and as soon as possible bring that bill to the floor.

Mr. FRIST. I would be happy to yield.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today we will proceed shortly to executive session for the consideration of the nomination of Michael Chertoff to be Secretary of Homeland Security. We have a consent agreement that will govern the debate on the nomination. During today's session, there will be up to 6 hours of debate on Michael Chertoff, and Senator Collins is here to manage time on behalf of the majority. The agreement provides for additional debate between the hours of 2:15 and 4 o'clock tomorrow, with the vote on confirmation of the nomination at 4 o'clock Tuesday. I remind all Senators that there will be no rollcall votes during today's session. We have a number of issues to address this week. Chairman Enzi and the HELP Committee have reported several bills that we are working on clearing for floor action. In addition, the House is sending us several pieces of legislation, including the broadcast decency bill. We are talking to the appropriate committees of jurisdiction regarding the status of that bill. The funding resolution for our committees is also scheduled for this week. Therefore, following the Chertoff nomination, there are a number of legislative items that we are hoping to clear. We will keep all Members apprised of the voting schedule as we proceed. I want to remind all of my colleagues that on Friday of this week we will have a traditional reading of President Washington's Farewell Address. Senator Richard Burr is scheduled to deliver that address. I thank him in advance for his contribution to this longstanding Senate tradition. I look forward to another good week, and I thank my colleagues for their attention.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, the Senator's hope is well placed. I think what our colleagues just heard is a bipartisan leadership commitment to focus on this bill, to build on the past but recognizing that passing a bill in the Senate is not enough. We need to make sure we work with the House of Representatives and with the White House but taking the first step of getting it through the Senate. The commitment is there. We will continue to encourage our chairmen and ranking members. I yield the floor.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday, February 15. Further, I ask that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved, and the Senate then proceed to a period for the transaction of morning business until 12:30 p.m., with the first 30 minutes under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee, the second 30 minutes under the control of the majority leader or his designee, and the remaining time equally divided between the two leaders or their designees; provided that at 12:30 p.m., the Senate recess until 2:15 p.m. for the weekly party luncheons, and upon reconvening at 2:15 p.m., the Senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the nomination of Michael Chertoff to be Secretary of Homeland Security, as provided under the previous order.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution and preamble be agreed to en bloc, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc, and that any statements relating to the resolution be printed in the Record, without intervening action or debate.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 52, submitted earlier today by Senator Clinton.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 51, submitted earlier today by Senator Feinstein.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements relating to the resolution be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations: Calendar No. 11 and Calendar No. 12. I further ask that the nominations be confirmed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate resume legislative session.

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, tomorrow the Senate will be in a period for the transaction of morning business throughout the morning. At 2:15 p.m., we will resume consideration of the Chertoff nomination for Secretary of Homeland Security. Under the agreement, at 4 p.m., the Senate will proceed to a vote on the confirmation. The confirmation vote tomorrow afternoon will be the first vote of the day. For the remainder of the week, the Senate will act on any legislation or nominations cleared for action. It is my hope we will be able to move forward with the Genetic Nondiscrimination Act which was reported out of the HELP Committee last week. We will continue to work with the Democratic leadership to reach an agreement on this legislation. I will have more to say on the week's schedule tomorrow.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. On Monday at noon the Senate will begin consideration of the Chertoff nomination for Secretary of Homeland Security. Under the agreement, we will debate the nomination throughout the afternoon on Monday, with the vote on confirmation at 4 p.m. during Tuesday's session. Therefore, as I announced earlier, there will be no rollcall votes on Monday. For the remainder of next week we will consider any legislative or executive business available for action. Mr. President, I do thank our colleagues, once again, for the participation and the efficiency with which we had the Senate consider the Class Action Fairness Act which was finally voted upon now several hours ago. People worked together very well, and I think it does bode well for bills that come to the floor in this manner in the future.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that on Monday, February 14, at 12 noon, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of Michael Chertoff to be Secretary of Homeland Security; that the nomination be debated for up to 6 hours equally divided on Monday; that the Senate resume debate on the nomination on Tuesday; February 15, at 2:15 p.m., with the time prior to 4 p.m. to be equally divided and that the Senate vote on the nomination at 4 p.m. on Tuesday; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action; and the Senate then return to legislative session; further, that all time be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 12 noon on Monday, February 14. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved, and the Senate then proceed to executive session for the consideration of the nomination of Michael Chertoff to be Secretary of Homeland Security, as provided under the previous order.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, in a few minutes we will be voting on the Class Action Fairness Act. We have before us truly a bipartisan bill that was introduced with 32 cosponsors, 24 Republicans and 8 Democrats. It was voted out of the Judiciary Committee on a strong bipartisan vote. Every vote on every amendment that has been offered has been bipartisan, if we look at the vote tallies. I do anticipate that in a few minutes our vote on final passage will be strongly bipartisan as well. There are a few misconceptions about the bill that I would like to definitively dispel in these final moments. This bill does not close the courthouse doors to injured or aggrieved plaintiffs. It does not. This is court reform. It is designed to rein in lawsuit abuses, and it does just that. The plaintiff may end up in Federal court, yes, rather than State court, but no citizen will lose his or her right to bring a case--no citizen. In fact, the Class Action Fairness Act will protect plaintiffs in large interstate class action cases. No longer will predatory lawyers be able to negotiate deals that leave their clients with coupons while they take home millions. Plaintiffs will now be covered by a consumer bill of rights for the first time, a consumer bill of rights that will require lawyer's fees for coupon settlements to be based either on the value of the coupons that are actually redeemed or on the hours actually billed. Take the case such as the one in my home State of Tennessee involving a Memphis car dealer. It was discovered that a dealership was instructing its employees to cheat car purchasers by as much as $2,000. Numerous residents were affected so a class action suit was filed. The suit was eventually settled, and the plaintiffs received a coupon for $1,200, but that coupon could only be used if they went back to the same dealer who had cheated them in the first place and bought another car. Meanwhile, the trial attorneys who settled the suit received $1.3 million in legal fees. A number of customers were understandably upset that in order to receive any financial benefit, they would have to take that coupon and go back to the very same dealer, while at the same time the lawyers were able to take their money and put it right into their pockets. The legislation before us today will put a stop to such unfair practices. Second, the class action bill will help end the phenomenon that we all recognize known as forum shopping. Aggressive trial lawyers have found that a few counties are lawsuit friendly, and in these select State courts, judges are quick to certify a class action and juries are known to grant extravagant damage awards. Meanwhile, this same defendant can face copycat cases all across the country, each jury granting a different result. These counties may have little or no geographic relationship to either the plaintiff or to the defendant, but the trial lawyers know that simply the threat of suing in these particular counties can lead to huge, extravagant cash settlements. One study estimates that virtually every sector of the U.S. economy is on trial in only three State courts. The Class Action Fairness Act moves those large nationwide cases that genuinely impact interstate commerce to the Federal courts where they belong. The Class Action Fairness Act is a good bill. It is a fair bill. It is a significant first step in putting an end to the lawsuit abuses that undermine our legal system. I commend my colleagues for their hard work. I thank, in particular, Senator Grassley, the bill's lead sponsor, who has been working on this issue for a decade; Senator Specter, for leading the bill expeditiously through the Judiciary Committee and on to the floor; Senator Hatch, who has been a tireless advocate for legal reform and class action reform and has helped to manage this bill on the floor; Senator Cornyn, who has been tireless in his presence and participation on this class action bill over the last several days; the bill's Democratic supporters, especially Senator Kohl, Senator Dodd, Senator Carper, Senator Ben Nelson; all have worked and reached across the aisle despite great pressure from the bill's opponents, and for that I thank them. Finally, I thank the Democratic leader, Harry Reid, for working on a process. We just heard him speaking on the floor against the bill. In spite of that personal feeling toward this bill, he has worked in a real leadership manner--working with us to deal with the bill in a timely and expeditious manner on the floor. The American people expect and deserve a government that works and leaders who work together. I think they have seen it play out very well on this bill. They did elect us to govern toward meaningful solutions. The bill, I believe, demonstrates we are accomplishing just that. We are meeting the challenge and we are moving America forward. I look forward to quick passage of the bill in the House and being able to send it to the President's desk. Mr. President, we will vote very shortly. So that Members can plan on their schedules, this upcoming vote on final passage of the class action fairness bill will be the last vote of the evening. Following this vote, we will have a few Members making statements. We will remain in session for a short period today. The Senate will not be in session tomorrow and we will reconvene on Monday. On Monday, the plans are to begin debate on the nomination of Michael Chertoff to be Secretary of Homeland Security. At closing today, we will reach an agreement that will provide for debate on the Chertoff nomination during Monday's session, with a vote to occur on that nomination on Tuesday. Therefore, I am prepared to announce we will not have any votes on Monday. I will have more to say about the precise timing of the debate and vote later today when we wrap up our business. Once again, I thank all Members for their cooperation and assistance throughout the debate on the class action bill. I believe we are ready for final passage. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on the bill.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination on the calendar: Calendar No. 9, Allen Weinstein, to be Archivist of the United States. I further ask unanimous consent that the nomination be confirmed, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 37, and that the Senate then proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution and preamble be agreed to en bloc, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, that any statement relating thereto be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, tomorrow, following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of the class action fairness bill. We made real progress today. We were able to work through several key amendments, and it appears we are very close to final passage. The pending amendment is the Feingold amendment, and we hope to have that ready for a vote by 12:30 tomorrow or thereabouts. Again, I thank all Members for their cooperation throughout this bill. We have made substantial progress over the course of the day, and I look forward to completion of the bill at an early hour tomorrow.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that S. 71 be star printed with the changes at the desk.