Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I have been working on product liability reform for more than a decade. During that time, a wide range of my constituents--consumers, manufacturers, small businesses, and workers--have told me about the serious problems with the present system.

Injured people are upset about both the length of time it takes to receive fair compensation and the high cost of legal fees. Manufacturers are reluctant to introduce new products because of the inconsistent product liability laws in the 50 States. Small businesses are hurt by the costs of defending themselves against unjustified lawsuits. Workers fear that the costs in the present system will drag the economy down. Consumers question whether they are getting high quality products at a fair price.

We need reform that will improve the system for everyone. To do that, we must strike a balance between many competing interests. We must not adopt reform that tips the balance too far in any direction. In the past, I have opposed measures that unfairly limited the rights of consumers, and I will continue to do so.

Because 70 percent of all products move in interstate commerce, this is an appropriate area for Federal standards. A national, more uniform system would lower costs and speed the resolution of disputes. At the same time, we need to be careful about making other changes in the legal system that have not been as carefully thought out.

The original bill, crafted by Senators Rockefeller and Gorton, offered the kind of carefully focused, balanced reform that would improve the system for everyone. I am a cosponsor of that bill. I am concerned, however, about a number of changes that were made to the legislation during the past week.

For example, the bill now contains a separate title on medical malpractice reform . I agree that there are significant problems with medical malpractice litigation and that Congress should enact carefully considered reforms. The proposal that was added to the product liability bill, however, is flawed.

It contains, for example, a provision that would make it harder to bring lawsuits against obstetricians who are seeing the patient for the first time. This provision might not have much of an effect on wealthier patients who would have a primary doctor supervising the obstetric services. But what about those poor women who only see the doctor during the actual delivery of the baby? If they were injured, they would have a difficult time receiving compensation.

The Gorton-Rockefeller bill was expanded in other ways. For example, there is now a cap on punitive damages in all civil cases--not just product liability cases. There have been a number of studies and commentaries about the problems with punitive damages in product liability cases. Those analyses suggest that some reform is needed for those cases. However, it is not clear that we need to reform punitive damage awards in all civil cases. In my view, we ought to engage in more extensive debate before taking such drastic steps.

Additionally, I have concerns about putting arbitrary limits on damages. Because caps limit flexibility, they can lead to unjust results in some cases. I have filed an amendment that would address this problem. Under my amendment, the jury would determine whether punitive damages are appropriate, but the judge would set the amount. Hopefully, we will resume debate on the bill and consider this amendment.

Because of these and other concerns, I will vote against cloture. There is still much work that needs to be done on this bill, and this is not the time to cut off debate. I still support product liability reform and will work with my colleagues to enact careful, balanced reforms. But I will not support efforts to ram through other changes in the legal system that go far beyond the balanced product liability bill I co-sponsored.

We have a real chance to actually pass meaningful and fair product liability reform this year, and I will not support anything that endangers those chances. In my view, there is a bipartisan majority of Senators that would support that approach, and I look forward to working with them to pass a good bill.