mr. speaker , if bills in this chamber required names that accurately describe their consequences , this bill would best be called the frivolous litigation proliferation act and not the lawsuit abuse reduction act . 
many of us who oppose the underlying bill do so because it will actually increase the volume of frivolous litigation . 
for example , some sort of rule 11 procedure exists in virtually every state in the country . 
to impose a new federal law in every state court action will make state courts conduct a minilawsuit on federal validity before conducting a minilawsuit on state law validity , before they ever get to the merits of the case . 
a lawsuit within a lawsuit within a lawsuit . 
mr. speaker , that is as absurd as it sounds . 
if members think that there are too many frivolous lawsuits against good , honest corporations , and the only way to fix this is to make it harder for everyone to sue anyone , and that this bill is the only way to do it , then vote for the bill . 
but if there is one area where we do not have a problem with too many frivolous lawsuits , it is with lawsuits against price gougers . 
and if there is any area where we want to make it easier to get to the merits of the underlying claim , not harder , it is an area of lawsuits against federal contractors who are engaged in defrauding the public . 
right now the government is awash in government contracts awarded on a no-bid basis . 
whether it is disaster relief or the war on terror , we have never done so much of the public 's business on a no-bid basis . 
there has never been more opportunity for waste , fraud , and abuse in the conduct of the public 's business than right now . 
this motion to recommit gives us one opportunity to protect our constituents from price gougers . 
the motion to recommit is simple . 
it says that federal contractors , engaged in price gouging in disaster relief work can still be sued anyplace where they can be sued now , in any state where both the laws of the state and the u.s. constitution says it is okay to sue them . 
the underlying bill gives price gougers extra protections , the same benefits that we are extending to honest corporations . 
one such protection , the only one addressed by this motion to recommit , is the right to avoid lawsuits in states where the constitution says it is okay to seek justice . 
since price gougers do not deserve this protection , and since they do not need this protection , they should not get this protection . 
this house has voted time and again to protect companies that are gouging consumers in the wake of natural disasters and national tragedies . 
if members vote against this motion to recommit , they are voting to give the same special protections that we give to honest corporations to federal contractors who are engaged in price gouging in public relief work . 
mr. speaker , the folks i represent back home in georgia want relief from price gougers , not relief for price gougers . 
for that reason i urge my colleagues to support this commonsense and limited motion to recommit . 
