"There's not going to be one," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said when asked about the bill's prospects.
The Senate concluded its pre-election work Oct. 11 and is scheduled to have a lame-duck session in mid-November.
"I hope not" Baucus replied when asked if the bill is dead. "It's not doing very well, that's for sure."
The bill, which would have required companies that manufactured or used asbestos to contribute to a fund to help asbestos victims, got caught in a partisan tug of war.
In exchange for the payments, the companies would be shielded from civil liability.
Hatch said Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., made unreasonable requests that torpedoed the legislation. He was particularly annoyed by a proposal Daschle offered in mid-September.
"When the one-pager came over from Daschle that absolutely meant that they were going to kill the bill," Hatch said. "There's no way anybody with any brains would have agreed to his provisions. It just means billions of dollars for the trial lawyers, who really don't deserve it. The Democrats have really screwed this up."
Hatch and Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., objected to Daschle's call that the fund be up and working 90 days after the legislation is signed into law.
They also opposed his effort to allow pending asbestos cases to continue to be litigated. Hatch and Frist wanted those cases to be transferred into the newly created fund system.
Supporters of having the trust fund implemented quickly note that many victims of asbestos-related illnesses don't have much time to live, and if the process is dragged out companies will get off the hook.
Daschle spokesman Todd Webster said that the South Dakota senator had worked hard to strike a deal.
"Senator Daschle has negotiated in good faith with Senator Frist for month after month after month " Webster said. "He has made significant concessions in order to get a deal. He wants to make sure that asbestos victims are compensated fairly and justly for their injuries."
Webster noted that Daschle agreed to have any cases in which a trial date has not been set transferred to the trust fund.
The bill would have established a special court to handle claims by people exposed to asbestos. People would have only received payments if they met specific medical criteria.
Libby residents and former workers at a W.R. Grace and Co. vermiculite mine there would have been exempted from medical criteria requirements. Their claims would have gone to a special medical advisory committee. Inclusion of the provision was the result of Baucus' vigorous lobbying of Hatch.
"We worked that out for them," Hatch said when asked about the Libby provision. "We had it worked out. They would have been very well taken care of."
Hatch said that the window for completing a bill had closed.
"I think it will be too late next year," Hatch said. "About $30 billion will probably dry up and there will be more companies in bankruptcy."
Baucus was frustrated as he considered the past year's efforts.
"We are very close," he said. "Frankly, if there had been extra effort on both sides, we could have reached a resolution. They just couldn't get together."
|
 |
 |
Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)