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[Page: S9809]  GPO's PDF
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   Mr. REID. Mr. President, every morning I get up and I read the local paper, the Washington Post. There is always breaking news in the newspaper, of course. I try to go to the sports page first because there is always some good news there, at least. I was terribly disappointed today in looking at the front section of the Washington Post. There is an ad here. If this ad were a product and not an issue, there would certainly be some type of legal action for false advertising.

   I just am so disappointed in the Business Roundtable and American Insurance Association. I am not disappointed in the Chamber of Commerce because they have never done anything my entire political career to make me feel good in the first place, so this just adds to what they normally do. But I personally have worked on terrorism insurance for a year now. To have them, the Business Roundtable and the American Insurance Association, run an ad blaming the Democrats for not having terrorism insurance is despicable. They should be ashamed of themselves. They know it is a lie, a falsehood, a travesty. President Bush gave this speech, and he is quoted here in Pennsylvania with a bunch of labor people, saying:

   We need an insurance bill to cover potential terrorist acts, so that hard hats in America can get back to work. And I want a bill on my desk that says we care more about working people and less about trial lawyers.

   That is wrong. If the Federal Election Commission did what they should do, they should charge this as a contribution in kind for the Bush reelection campaign. Blaming the trial bar is something that goes back to biblical times, Shakespearean times. When things don't go right, blame the lawyers.

   The chronology of delay over this important legislation is well documented. That is why I am so terribly disappointed. The people who make up this Business Roundtable are from hotels, some of whom are in Nevada, and all over this country. They know this is a lie. I cannot say it any other way. It is a lie. It is false advertising.

   I know the chronology. I was here trying to move this legislation forward. We asked, on many occasions, unanimous consent to go to the legislation. Finally, after months--not days or weeks but months--we got to go to the bill. Then the delay was in full view to everyone. After weeks, we forced legislation out here. We, the Democrats, tried to get it on the floor. We finally got it on the floor. This was bipartisan. Some Republicans, after it got to the floor, helped us. But they held it up; we did not hold it up. After it passed, with lots of procedural delays and efforts to slow it down, we thought, oh, boy, it is over with. Everybody wants it going to conference. But, oh, no. It took months to get a conference. They would not agree to the appointment of conferees. You know, there were a few problems. Senator Daschle said we will have three Democrats and two Republicans. After all, we are in the majority. No, they don't want that. We are in charge of the Senate. That is a prerogative we have. After months, Senator Daschle said, OK, I will make it 4 to 3. They still did not agree to it. We gave them what they wanted and they still didn't agree because it was all a big stall.

   Now, finally, they agreed to a conference, but nothing happened in conference. Months have gone by. I hear on the floor: Please do something. I have a staff person assigned--not full-time but he spends a great deal of time on this legislation. Senator Daschle has someone who spends the same amount of time on this piece of legislation.

   Meetings have been held. The person Senator Daschle has working is an outstanding lawyer. He was in the counsel's office in the White House. He

[Page: S9810]  GPO's PDF

   We have made presentation after presentation to no avail. Senator Dodd has spent weeks of his time on this issue. This is not a tort reform issue. It is an issue to allow insurance companies to sell terrorism insurance to allow construction projects to go forward in Las Vegas and other places in the country.

   The insurance companies, as they are good at doing, have jacked up the prices so it is hard to get insurance . This legislation is an effort to allow them to receive some help if, in fact, there is an act of terrorism .

   My office spoke with people when they complained about this: We had tremendous pressure from the White House to sign on to this advertisement. What is this all about, pressure to sign on to something that is false, misleading, untrue?

   When President George Bush was campaigning, he said he was going to change the tone in Washington. I have been in Washington a long time now. I have never seen the tone this way. During the Reagan years, there were some disagreements, but what a fine person to get along with. He and his people were easy to get along with. Here we cannot get along--it is very tough. The atmosphere is extremely difficult. Change the tone? He has changed the tone, there is no question about that, but it is for the worse. I guess he just did not complete his sentence in all the debates and other statements he made. This is a very venomous environment.

   Legislation is the art of compromise. I personally do not think this legislation dealing with terrorism insurance should have anything to do with tort reform, but they have forced the issue. The compromise has some tort reform in it. Legislation is a compromise. The White House has been unwilling to compromise, unwilling to meet. They are now putting pressure on lobbyists to fund full-page ads, pro-Bush ads in the Post and more pressure on congressional Republicans to do anything they can to stop this legislation.

   I know, I have had friends on the other side tell me they do not want this legislation; they do not think it is necessary. But why not do it like adults? Stand up and say this is bad legislation, not have this charade.

   If anyone is truly interested in the real White House strategy, read the story in the New York Times today about this legislation:

   Mr. Bush's push for the measure reflects a no-lose political strategy. If Congress reaches an agreement on the measure, he can rightly claim credit for it. If it fails, he can blame Congressional Democrats, and in particular the Senate majority leader, Tom Daschle, for the failure.

   That is what it is all about. I believe people of the State of Nevada deserve more; the people of this country deserve more. I have no problem when there are honest disagreements on legislation, but I have been on the ground, so to speak. I have watched this; I have been right here; I have been making the unanimous consent requests. Over the month, I bet I have offered 25 unanimous consent requests right from here. There were objections to appointment of conferees and getting the bill to the floor. But to have this:

   We agree, Mr. President, there's too much at stake. .....

   Congress, why the delay?

   The time is now. Pass Terrorism Insurance Legislation.

   Six months ago, the President in 30 seconds could have had the legislation on his desk, but this has been a big stall to make the trial lawyers look like the enemy of the American people, and that simply is wrong.

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