Commentary
If you watch television, you would be hard pressed not to see one of the many “ambulance chaser” commercials by trial law firms urging you to call them to see if you might qualify for a payout in the toxic water issue at Camp Lejeune.
The news side of those same television networks, however, haven’t told you about the corruption behind the commercials. Perhaps it is because the network likes the advertising revenue.
However, the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal, in its editorial, “The Camp LeJeune Lawsuit Racket,” reveled how Democrats in Congress turned an effort to aid sick Marines and their families into a means for the trial lawyers to reap the benefits of legislation.
Compensation to Marines and their families, exposed to chemicals in the water from 1953 to 1987, is provided in the PACT Act, signed by President Biden last August. Curiously, as it removed the government’s ability to defend against suits, it eliminated caps on the lawyer’s fees.
It seems it was part of a “technicality fix” Congress made in federal and state law that denied some plaintiffs the ability to successfully sue the government for compensation.
In a bill introduced by Pennsylvania Democrat Rep. Matt Cartwright there was a fee cap of 20 percent if claims were adjudicated out of court, 25 percent if it went to trial. But North Carolina Republicans Thom Tillis and Richard Burr joined with Democrat Senators Richard Blumenthal and Gary Peters to introduce a version without fee caps. It was inserted into the House PACT Act, where it was later blocked by Senate Democrats
So again, corruption orchestrated by Congress, provided this huge gift of taxpayer funds to benefit donors to their campaigns – this time, the trial lawyers.
Certainly, you are aware that trial lawyers are among the bigger sources of donations as they gave Democrats 99 percent of their campaign contributions from 2017 to 2020, according to the FEC. In a sampling of eight major law firms by the Alliance for Consumers, employees gave nearly $15 million to Democrats.
While Alaska’s Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan asked the Senate to stop the bilking and impose fee caps, Illinois Democrat Sen. Dick Durbin, a long-time trial lawyer protector, objected, claiming that caps would somehow deny victims good lawyers, and blocked the changes.
The $667 billion PACT needs fixing, but Democrats publicly criticize Republican efforts to do so by intimating that they oppose veteran benefits.
I agree with the Journal that the Marines and we taxpayers are being ripped off and Republicans need to blunt criticism for their effort to stop this transfer of wealth to the trial lawyers. You should be aware that there are 175 lawyers in the 117th Congress.
FLASHBACK … If you read my March 5, 2023 post, you know that I believe we need to conduct a covert hit on Mexican cartel fentanyl factories. I reported that former Attorney General William Barr supports this, and now Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham says he will introduce legislation that would allow the U.S. to use military force. “I would tell the Mexican government, ‘If you don’t clean up your act, we’re gonna clean it up for you’,” he said, but of course, he isn’t the president.
FINALLY, ponder this … While 47 percent of likely voters approve of President Biden’s performance, just 38 percent think the country is heading in the right direction in the latest Rasmussen survey.
May God continue to bless the United States of America.
