Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act of 2022

Floor Speech

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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I rise today in very strong support of ending the use of forced arbitration and to restore the right of millions of Americans to their day in court. I think my colleagues have done a really good job on this side of the aisle in explaining why this is so important for basic rights of all Americans.

Madam Speaker, I want to tell you a couple things that have happened in Illinois. I deal a lot with older Americans in my district--as I am sure many of you hear from senior citizens--and I have heard these really horrific stories from families who discover that in nursing homes that their loved ones have been neglected or abused or even worse.

These families want to do something about it. They want to hold these nursing homes accountable, and then they find out that they have quite inadvertently, quite unknowingly have signed a forced arbitration agreement.

Picture these moments. These are people who are often in very emotional situations. They are bringing their loved ones to a nursing home. This is never an easy situation. The last thing they are thinking about, among all the paperwork that is put before them, that they have signed away their rights. And then they find out that something has happened to their loved one in a nursing home and they are left without the recourse that they need.

We have too often seen corporations who are virtually immune from the kind of accountability that they should be held to. I think the time is up right now. If it is good enough for sexual harassment and abuse, it is certainly good enough for people in nursing homes that have been abused and that their families have their day in court.

Madam Speaker, I support the FAIR Act.

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