How many of us have gotten spam email regarding Camp Lejeune? It’s approaching “prince of Nigeria” territory in terms of ubiquity. The editors of The Wall Street Journal explain why it’s more significant than the butt of a new joke. In fact, “Democrats in Congress turned a bipartisan effort to aid sick Marines into a new bounty for trial lawyers.”

In August President Joe Biden signed the PACT Act, which provides compensation to veterans and family members exposed to toxic substances. This includes lawsuits brought by those exposed to chemicals in the water from 1953 to 1987 at Camp Lejeune. Yet even as the bill removed the government’s ability to defend against suits, it eliminated caps on trial-lawyer fees. The tort bar is now preparing to cash in, leaving Marines with little and taxpayers with a ridiculous bill.

This was no accident, as the legislative history makes clear. In 2012 President Obama signed legislation providing federal health dollars to Camp Lejeune veterans who might have been affected by exposure. More recently a bipartisan group in Congress worked on fixing technicalities in federal and state law that denied some plaintiffs the ability to successfully sue the government for compensation.

An earlier version of the bill, say the editors, contained “a fee cap of 20% if claims are adjudicated out of court, and 25% if it goes to trial,” which was fairly standard per the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). That changed, big time.

Yet in late 2021 North Carolina Republicans Thom Tillis and Richard Burr—longtime proponents of Camp Lejeune payouts—joined Democrats Richard Blumenthal and Gary Peters to introduce a new version without fee caps. Mr. Cartwright quickly followed in the House. Federal disclosure forms show that tort heavyweights such as the Bell Legal Group employed a bevy of lobbyists in 2021 to help pass the Camp LeJeune legislation.

Democrats then stuffed the provision into the House PACT Act to shield it from debate or amendments. Senate Democrats rejected pleas to allow modifications. This included demands from the Biden Justice Department for a no-fault compensation fund—to avoid costly and time-consuming litigation—and fee caps of 2% to file claims and 10% if a lawsuit proved necessary. Senate Democrats ignored this and blocked GOP amendments.

This has set the stage for a gigantic taxpayer-funded transfer of wealth to Democratic trial-lawyer donors. The Congressional Budget Office initially estimated the Camp Lejeune legislation would cost $6 billion, but the bill has no limit on payouts. The Navy recently told Members of Congress that it has already fielded 20,000 cases, and the minimum claim is for $10 million. That’s $200 billion.

A huge portion of that will go to Democrats’ “trial-lawyer benefactors.” The editors conclude:

This is a scandal in plain sight, and it’s also an indictment of rushed bipartisan governance. The $667 billion PACT Act was rife with problems, yet Democrats brought it up shortly before the election and dared Republicans to oppose veterans’ benefits. The GOP was aware of the tort-lawyer loophole, but 34 Republicans in the House and 34 in the Senate voted for the PACT Act anyway. Taxpayers and Marines are paying the price, and the GOP shouldn’t rest until they’ve fixed this trial-lawyer ripoff.

Wall Street Journal subscribers can read the whole thing here.