Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Madam Chair, it is strange, because my friends on the other side of the aisle are not interested in working on anything together. They are only interested in giving tax cuts to the top 1 percent and the big corporations, and they are interested in privatizing everything. And a privatized justice system is the ultimate injustice, and that is what forced arbitration is all about.

The FAIR Act would restore justice to millions of Americans.

We are a country of justice and fair play. When people cheat, we take pride in holding them accountable before a jury in a court of law; but forced arbitration clauses hidden in the fine print deprive victims of their day in court before a jury of their peers.

Using forced arbitration, corporations force victims into secret proceedings where the deck is stacked against them. Predictably, the end result is the corporation wins, and the victim is deprived of justice.

And because the proceeding is secret, the public never learns what happened. We won't know which corporation tolerates a climate and a culture of sexual harassment of its employees or which corporation fraudulently overcharges its customers or which nursing home has a sordid history of mistreating its patients.

For too long, people have been tricked by complicated legal jargon hidden in take-it-or-leave-it contracts. People like Diana, from my home State of Georgia.

Diana, after 5 years at Kay Jewelers, learned she was making less than her more recently hired, less experienced male colleagues; but because of her forced arbitration clause she was tricked into signing, she couldn't get the backpay that she deserved. She is one of millions of victims who have been denied justice because they unwittingly signed away their right to take a wrongdoer to court.

It is not fair and it is not right. If you believe in consumer rights, then you should support the FAIR Act.

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Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Madam Chair, if you believe in consumer rights, then you should support the FAIR Act; and if you believe in justice and the rule of law, then you should vote to pass the FAIR Act.

Madam Chair, I want to thank my colleagues who have worked so hard to support this bill--Congressman Cartwright, Congressman Cicilline, Congressman Raskin, Congresswoman Jayapal, and, last but not least, Chairman Nadler--for their work in getting this bill to the brink of passage today.

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