mr. speaker , i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
mr. speaker , this is a fair rule for legislation that will help restore fairness and common sense to the current class action system . 
like h.r. 1115 , which overwhelmingly passed the house last congress , s. 5 expands federal diversity jurisdiction over interstate class actions in a manner consistent with the framers ' constitutional intent that federal court preside over controversies between citizens of different states . 
s. 5 also protects consumers from these bogus coupon settlements that reward trial lawyers with millions in windfall fees while clients who never hired them get coupons in the mail . 
mr. speaker , i want to call attention to this slide before me . 
this is from the washington post , november of 2002 . 
the washington post is not exactly the most conservative newspaper in the country : `` the clients get token payments while the lawyers get enormous fees . 
this is not justice . 
it is an extortion racket that only congress can fix. '' the senate 's overwhelming passage of s. 5 by a vote of 72 to 26 just last week reflects a strong bipartisan consensus in favor of reforming a class-action system that is prone to systematic abuse . 
of those 26 , 18 were democrats , and each one of those provisions in that amendment in the nature of a substitute were offered in the senate , and each one of them were voted down in a bipartisan fashion . 
i think we all , in both the senate and the house , and both republicans and democrats , we want to do the right thing here , and we want to make sure that , as the washington post says , that we eliminate this extortion racket and bring some fairness to this class-action system . 
after all , it is the injured person , it is the plaintiff that deserves a fair and just settlement , and it should not be just a lottery windfall for lawyers who venue shop , looking for places like , and we have heard it during this hour 's discussion , madison county , illinois , the epicenter of this class-action lawsuit abuse . 
what happens in madison county , illinois , affects the whole country . 
so i encourage my colleagues to vote for the rule , vote for s. 5 tomorrow . 
mr. speaker , i yield back the remaining portion of my time . 
