[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 64 (Monday, May 10, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S5072]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ASBESTOS NEGOTIATIONS

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, after cloture was not invoked on S. 2290, 
the Hatch-Frist asbestos bill, Senator Daschle and I asked Judge Becker 
to conduct a mediation process in the hope of identifying a path to 
reach consensus on this contentious yet extraordinarily important 
issue. Judge Edward Becker was asked to focus on working with the 
interested stakeholders on three major issues--projections, claims 
values, and overall funding into the trust--understanding that there 
are over a dozen additional issues that remain unresolved. Our belief 
was that if these three issues could be resolved, it would be much 
easier to work through the remaining differences.
  Judge Becker presided over meetings for the last 2 weeks and held his 
final session last Thursday. His presence was invaluable in helping to 
further define the issues and illuminate the differences. Throughout 
the process all parties negotiated in good faith and worked towards 
bridging the gaps. We are extremely grateful for the time, energy, and 
leadership Judge Becker put into working through these technical 
issues, and to all the parties for their steadfast participation.
  Last week, Judge Becker gave us his final report on the result of his 
mediation. We are glad there has been movement in major areas but 
realize there is more work to be done. While both sides have provided 
new proposals, ultimately, there remains gaps in claims values, 
projections, and the amount of dollars needed to establish a trust.
  As you know, we have been personally committed to achieving a 
resolution to this extremely complicated issue for some time. Many 
members of both caucuses have devoted countless hours of time and 
considerable personal energy toward this end as well. We are committed 
to working together to determine whether a compromise can be reached 
that would provide sufficient payments to asbestos victims and 
certainty to companies.

                          ____________________