Congressional Record UNUM

E PLURIBUS

United States

of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 104th CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION

∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor.

S 5857

Senate

Vol. 141 WASHINGTON, MONDAY, MAY 1, 1995 No. 70

The Senate met at 11 a.m., and was

called to order by the President pro

tempore [Mr. THURMOND].

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The

Chaplain will now deliver the opening

prayer.

PRAYER

The Chaplain, Dr. Lloyd John

Ogilvie, offered the following prayer:

Let us pray:

Almighty God, Sovereign of this

land, Lord of our personal lives, and

source of unity in the midst of diversity, enable us to show the true nature

of loyalty to our Nation, the Office of

the President, the Constitution, and

our future. Help us to exemplify how to

communicate convictions without censure of those who may not fully agree

with us. Keep us from almighty tone

and tenor. Free us from the false assumption that we ever have a corner on

all the truth. Unsettle any pious posturing that pretends that we alone can

speak for You.

You created us in Your image. Help

us never to return the compliment.

Break the cycle of judgment, categorization, and condemnation so prevalent in our land. Forgive us when we

presume Your authority by setting up

ourselves as judges of the worth of

those who disagree with us.

At the same time, Lord, we know

that You have not called us to flabby

indulgence when it comes to seeking

truth. Nor do You encourage us to buy

into our age of appeasement and tolerance where everything is relative and

there are no absolutes. What You do

ask is that we humbly seek what is

Your best for our Nation and work to

achieve that together. To this goal we

commit this day. In Your powerful

name. Amen.

RECOGNITION OF THE ACTING

MAJORITY LEADER

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The

acting majority leader is recognized.

RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME

Mr. LOTT. Thank you, Mr. President.

fThis morning the leader time has been

reserved.

SCHEDULE

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, at 12 noon

today, we will resume consideration of

H.R. 956, the product liability bill.

There will be no rollcall votes during

the session today. However, under the

unanimous-consent agreement, all

medical malpractice amendments to

the product liability bill must be offered and debated today. Any votes ordered on those amendments will be

stacked to begin at 11 a.m. on Tuesday.

MEASURE READ THE SECOND

TIME—S. 735

fMr. LOTT. Mr. President, I understand there is a bill at the desk that is

due to be read for a second time.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The

clerk will read the bill for the second

time.

The bill was read for the second time.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I object to

any further proceedings on this matter

at this time.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The

bill will be placed on the calendar.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. There

MORNING BUSINESS

fwill now be a period for the transaction

of morning business not to extend beyond the hour of 12 noon with Senators

permitted to speak for up to 5 minutes

each.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, observing

that no Senator is seeking to speak at

this particular moment, I suggest the

absence of a quorum.

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr.

DEWINE). The clerk will call the roll.

The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I ask

unanimous consent that the order for

the quorum call be rescinded.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without

objection, it is so ordered. The Senator

from Wyoming is recognized.

Mr. THOMAS. I thank the Chair.

(The remarks of Mr. THOMAS pertaining to the introduction of S. 738 are located in today’s RECORD under ‘‘Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint

Resolutions.’’)

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

AMENDMENT

fMr. KYL. Mr. President, I would like

to address for a few minutes the legislation which will be pending very

shortly today, and specifically the

amendment relating to medical malpractice that is before Members.

I speak, of course, of the legislation

to reform our product liability tort

system and the amendment which

would also reform the medical malpractice component of that civil tort

litigation system.

Some have said that we have, in effect, a tort tax in this country, a tax

on all citizens by virtue of the increased costs of the products and the

services, and in particular, I am speaking of medical services, that result

from the fact that our tort system has

become very expensive.

The costs of operating that system

have had to be folded into the costs of

the products and the costs of the services in order to pay for the liability insurance, the lawyers’ fees and the

other expenses that fund this tort system of ours. That tort tax ends up

being a tax on all Americans.