Earlier I posted an item about the $1.6 billion tax cut for trial lawyers secretly slipped by Democratic leaders into a House tax bill. But it turns out that this was just the tip of the iceberg. An article in Sunday’s Washington Examiner details the legislative payoff the new Democratic Congress is delivering to their biggest campaign contributors.

According to the Examiner, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform has identified 48 separate pieces of legislation to benefit the trial bar. The list of trial lawyer goodies includes an opportunity to expand asbestos lawsuits and legislation that would allow people (and their lawyers) to “sue for disability protections even if they are not actually disabled.”

An investigation by the Examiner showed that of the 55 lead sponsors of pro-trial lawyer legislation, “39 had received substantial” campaign contributions from the trial bar. With so much cash being spread around to the trial bar’s Democratic patrons, no wonder AEI’s Ted Frank noted: “Every time I talk to somebody on the Hill I learn about a new bill that has a giveaway for trial lawyers.”