madam speaker , i thank the gentleman from wisconsin ( mr. sensenbrenner )  for yielding me time .  madam speaker , i am pleased to rise this morning in support of the bill before us .  in the two decades that i have been privileged to serve in the house , the class action measure that is before us today is the most modest litigation reform that has been debated , and it strikes in a narrow and appropriate way at an egregious abuse of justice .  the bill before us makes procedural changes only .  there are no restrictions on the substantive rights of plaintiffs .  there are no caps on damages .  there is no elimination on the rights of plaintiffs to recover .  the bill simply permits the removal to federal courts of class actions that are truly national in scope , with plaintiffs living across the nation and the large corporate defendant , even if the current diversity of citizenship rules are not strictly met .  this change is much needed .  cases that are truly national in scope are being filed as state class actions before certain favored judges who employ an almost `` anything goes '' approach that remedies virtually any controversy subject to certification as a class action .  once certification occurs , there is then a rush to settle the cases .  the lawyer who filed the case makes an offer that is hard for the corporate defendant to refuse .  he asks for large fees in the millions of dollars for himself and coupons for the plaintiff class members that he represents .  rather than go through years of expensive litigation , the defendant settles .  the judge who certified the class quickly approves the settlement .  the lawyer who filed the case gets rich .  the plaintiff class members get virtually nothing .  that is the problem that this bill is designed to address .  it permits the removal of these national cases to the federal court in the state in which the state class action has been filed .  in the federal court , the rights of plaintiffs will be more carefully observed .  any settlement involving non-cash compensation will be carefully reviewed to assure that it is fair .  under the bill , cases that are local in scope will remain in the state court where they are initially filed .  i want to commend the gentleman from virginia ( mr. goodlatte )  for the thoughtful leadership that he has provided in steering this measure to the point of passage today .  the gentleman from virginia ( mr. goodlatte )  has exhibited both foresight and patience and as chief sponsor of the bill through three congresses deserves tremendous credit for the success that we are now on the brink of achieving .  i also want to commend the gentleman from wisconsin ( mr. sensenbrenner )  for the wise course that he has followed as chairman of the house committee on the judiciary in permitting the senate to act in advance of our action today .  i want to commend our former house colleague , senator tom carper , for the outstanding work he performed in negotiating changes to the measure which resulted in 72 members of the senate voting to approve this reform .  i hope the house will also lend its support to this reform .  