mr. chairman , i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
this is where i think we are . 
some of us are frustrated by some of the litigation that has taken place in this area . 
i said it when we debated this bill the last time on the floor . 
i am not a fan of fat litigation either , but sometimes we have to be patient enough in a legislative body to let the institutions that are supposed to work , work . 
they are working . 
most of the lawsuits that have been filed in this area have been dismissed . 
most of them have been dismissed . 
that is what the courts are for . 
we do not always get the result we want , but the courts are there to make a determination of what results are appropriate and not under the laws that exist . 
the state legislatures are responding . 
mr. chairman , there are 26 pending laws out there in the states . 
a number of them have different components , different nuances . 
some of them are retroactive , some of them are not . 
whatever happened to our belief that the state legislatures , the states are a laboratory of good legislation ? 
i thought that is what my colleagues who are supporting this bill believed in more heartily than anything else they came to congress to talk about . 
when it is convenient for them , when it is convenient for them , there is no more important mantra to them than the mantra of states rights . 
what are we doing to states rights here , in an area that throughout history has been the province of the states ? 
i do not understand . 
we can not be so intent on getting a particular result , so results-oriented that we disregard everything that we have set up in place to deal with problems of this kind : our judiciary , our state legislatures , our common sense . 
