(The Associated Press circulated the following story on February 15.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A cliffhanger vote forced Senate leaders to shelve legislation for a $140 billion fund for asbestos victims, but its supporters said they will not give up.
”We have just begun to fight,” Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said late Tuesday after the bill fell two votes short, 58-41, of the 60 votes needed to push it forward.
Specter said the votes will come from Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, who was absent, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. Frist changed his vote from yes to no at the last minute in a procedural move that allows him to bring the bill to floor for reconsideration in the future.
Inouye was at his sick wife’s bedside, Specter said.
”We will have him … and we may change another vote or two so we may win this one yet,” Specter said.
Opponents said the fund would be drained by claims against it, leave taxpayers liable and violate federal budget rules.
The vote followed a furious lobbying effort on the Senate floor.
Sought by many manufacturers and their insurers, the bill would end decades of lawsuits that have bankrupted more than 70 businesses. According to supporters, tens of thousands of people sickened by asbestos and related diseases have not been compensated.
Drawing on his seniority as chairman of the powerful Judiciary Committee, Specter issued a personal appeal.
”Give me the benefit of the doubt,” he told colleagues moments before the vote.
Opponents and supporters crossed party lines, and businesses and labor unions were equally split.
Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the bill was so flawed that even two weeks of debate weren’t enough to fix it.
”It is doomed to fail,” he said.
The measure would have forced defendant companies that dealt with asbestos-containing products to contribute to a $140 billion trust fund to pay claims to those sickened by asbestos.
In exchange for payouts of up to $1.1 million based on age and level of exposure, victims would drop all asbestos-related court proceedings.
Such legislation would spare companies that supporters say would be driven out of business by legal fees and lawsuits.
Asbestos is a fire-retardant material with fibers that cause illness when inhaled. The illness can lie dormant for decades, meaning future asbestos victims might seek damages for years to come.
For different reasons, liberals, conservatives and interest groups across the political spectrum united to defeat the bill by setting up procedural hurdles.
Tuesday’s vote focused on the bill’s effect on the federal budget. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., challenged the legislation on grounds that claims would drain the fund and leave taxpayers with the bill.
Senate procedure required 60 votes to overcome Ensign’s challenge and bring the measure to an actual up-or-down vote. Supporters said the opposition was engaged in a thinly veiled effort to kill the measure without drawing blame in a midterm election year.
”This point of order has become … a backdoor way of killing this bill,” said Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt.
Supporters insist that even though the Department of Labor would administer the fund, federal money would not be used for any costs. As evidence, they offered a new study by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that found such a fund would not affect the federal deficit.
Opponents said the report left open the possibility of borrowing federal money if the trust fund runs dry.