US Asbestos Bill Hits Further Snags, Lawmakers Say

US Asbestos Bill Hits Further Snags, Lawmakers Say

Planet Ark

February 9, 2005

WASHINGTON - A US Senate plan to create a $140 billion asbestos compensation fund has hit further snags over ways to stop victims being paid twice and sagging support among members of the Republican majority, lawmakers said Tuesday.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist told reporters the measure would come for a vote "at some point" but other bills would advance while work continued on the plan to take asbestos compensation out of the court system.

Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said the asbestos proposal, as it now stood, had so little Republican support that it might not get out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I think we have gotten a little bit off track and we need a reality check," Cornyn told reporters.

Frist said the remaining issues included "subrogation" -- a technical term for offsetting awards from the fund by the amount of compensation paid elsewhere.

Other senators said many Republicans were concerned people injured by asbestos could collect from the compensation fund and get other awards too, such as from a state workers' compensation system.

Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, sponsor of the asbestos bill, had said on Monday he had delayed introducing the measure at the request of Frist and several members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Frist said on Tuesday that once the Senate finished with a class action overhaul bill now on the chamber floor, bankruptcy reform legislation was expected to follow, and federal budget bills could come after that -- suggesting it could be weeks before asbestos is considered.

Asbestos, a fire-retardant mineral, was once widely used for insulation and construction. Scientists say inhaled fibers are linked to cancer and other diseases. Thousands of injury claims are clogging US courts and bankrupting companies.

Cornyn said insurance companies who pay workers compensation benefits would expect to be reimbursed out of any recovery against a third party, like the asbestos fund. "What this (Specter's draft bill) provides right now is that they can't do that," he said.

But labor representatives have said they will not support a bill that gives insurers such a lien or right of recovery. Cornyn said Republicans were also concerned about a provision in the bill that would give up to $200,000 to smokers with lung cancer who have no evidence of asbestos disease, and provisions that would allow some asbestos claims to continue in court.