[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 152 (Wednesday, November 16, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12873-S12874]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       ASBESTOS LITIGATION REFORM

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I have been working with my colleagues for 
3 years to reform our asbestos litigation system. It is a system that 
today is unfair and unjust. Because of that, people suffer, jobs are 
lost, and bankruptcies occur. The day has come for us to fix it.
  I am pleased to inform my colleagues that asbestos reform will be the 
first major legislation that we consider in late January when we 
return. In January, asbestos reform will be the first major legislation 
that we consider.
  I commend my friend, Senator Specter, chairman of the Judiciary 
Committee. Rarely a day goes by that we

[[Page S12874]]

have a conversation that he does not mention the importance of this 
bill that he, working with the ranking member, Senator Leahy, has spent 
so much time and focus on. I commend them for those tireless efforts to 
forge a bipartisan--and we do not hear that word very much around 
here--consensus.
  I had hoped that the Senate would be able to bring the legislation to 
the floor some time in the last several weeks or months and that we 
could debate it and pass asbestos litigation reform this year. 
Unfortunately, as we all know, there have been a number of 
circumstances, with Katrina, the fact that we have indeed taken each of 
the appropriations bills across the floor individually, the Supreme 
Court nominations, all of which have slowed down our work on asbestos 
in terms of bringing it to the floor.
  Now that wait is over. No more delay. After 4 hearings--10 including 
markups--2 years of intense negotiations, the Senate will finally 
resolve the asbestos litigation crisis that currently is clogging our 
Nation's courtrooms and threatening America's economic health. There is 
wide agreement that the current asbestos litigation system is 
disastrous. It is disastrous for everybody. It is disastrous for 
victims who suffer from asbestosis or mesothelioma. It is disastrous 
for an ever-widening circle of companies that it bankrupts. It is 
disastrous for the tens of thousands of jobs that are lost, and it is 
disastrous ultimately for the American people.
  More than 700,000 individuals have filed claims with at least 8,400 
defendant companies. More than 300,000 claims are currently pending. 
More than $70 billion has already been spent trying to resolve these 
claims that have bankrupted nearly 80 companies. It is time to fix the 
system. The system is out of control. It is time for commonsense 
reform.
  According to the 2002 study by Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, 
asbestos bankruptcies have cost nearly 60,000 jobs and $200 million in 
lost wages. That is wrong. Employees' retirement funds have shrunk by 
25 percent. Meanwhile, the sickest victims of asbestos exposure are not 
getting their efficient compensation or their fair compensation. 
Instead, they are waiting in line behind thousands of claimants who are 
themselves unimpaired.
  A recent RAND study put the number of unimpaired claimants at 60 
percent--6-0 percent. Even if after years of waiting and an ill 
claimant finally does get a court settlement, that award is whittled 
down, gets smaller and smaller because of lawyer's fees and other 
expenses until it is less than half of the original sum that was 
awarded. It is too little too late for far too many people.
  We do have a solution, and we will bring that to the floor. The $140 
billion fund that is on the table will ensure that victims receive 
proper compensation without delay. Unlike the tort system, the $140 
billion trust fund--and this is not taxpayer money--will provide 
certainty and fair relief. The money will go to the victims instead of 
to the trial lawyers.
  Mesothelioma, just to give an example, is a devastating disease. In 
the mid-1980s I spent almost a year in England operating, doing 
thoracic surgery, chest surgery, lung surgery, at South Hampton 
Hospital in South Hampton, England. It was not unusual to see 
mesothelioma, which is an asbestos-related disease that encases the 
lung with thick fibrous plaques which restrict the expansion of the 
lung, and people end up suffocating to death.
  Under this bill, a victim suffering from mesothelioma will get $1.1 
million within months to help pay for medical expenses and the 
suffering. It will not be delayed 6 months, 1 year, or 2 years. The 
entire $1.1 million will go to the victim instead of half of it going 
to a system that is out of control.
  A person suffering from asbestosis, which is a manifestation of 
asbestos exposure, will receive as much as $850,000 under this bill. 
The fund provides significant compensation because we recognize that 
these are serious illnesses. These are dire illnesses that can be 
caused by asbestos exposure. They are life threatening and life 
altering and the victims deserve that fair, just, and timely 
compensation which they are not getting today.
  I commend both Chairman Specter, Senator Leahy, and all of my 
colleagues on the Judiciary Committee for tackling asbestos reform. 
Again, we will bring that to the floor in late January. The committee 
is holding a hearing on asbestos on Thursday, tomorrow. I applaud them 
for moving forward on this bill to help people understand what is at 
stake.
  I call upon my colleagues to work directly with Senator Specter and 
Senator Leahy over the next few weeks so that this bill can be 
considered and approved expeditiously in January. I know there is 
bipartisan support for S. 852 in this Chamber. I understand that it 
will involve debate and amendment, and that is appropriate. Yet I am 
confident that by pulling together we can pass S. 852 and put the 
asbestos crisis where it belongs, and that is behind us.
  I look forward to getting this done, and I look forward to continuing 
to deliver meaningful solutions to the American people.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Democratic leader is recognized.

                          ____________________