[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Page 18704]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           ASBESTOS EXPOSURE

  Mr. CARPER. I thank the Senator.
  The minority leader has spoken about the injustice done to the Dakota 
over a century ago, and we are endeavoring this year in this Congress 
to address another injustice; that is, the injustice where people are 
sick and dying from asbestos exposure and are not getting the money 
they and their families need. People who are not sick are drawing off 
money that should be going to those who desperately need it. We have 
companies going bankrupt, with people being displaced and losing their 
jobs. It is a bad situation, a terrible situation. We can fix it.
  I thank my leader for his extraordinary courage in pushing forward a 
proposal to further narrow our differences with our Republican 
colleagues. If you think about all of the areas of progress, we have 
agreed there should be a trust fund, we have agreed there should be a 
trust fund, and on how it should be administered; we have agreed on how 
much money should go into the trust fund; we have agreed the money 
should be fully allocated to meet the claims out there; we have agreed 
on medical criteria; we have agreed on 10 different levels of 
impairment. We have basically agreed on the claims. While there are 
several areas in which we still have some differences to agree on, we 
have made extraordinary progress.
  I commend Senator Daschle for his leadership in getting us close to 
this point. I have urged Senator Frist, who has left the floor, to 
invite Senator Daschle to sit down and resolve the remaining 
differences between the two leaders.
  This can be done, and it should be done this year, and we should not 
leave here without completing this job.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, if I may respond to the distinguished 
Senator, I compliment him on his insistence and extraordinary 
determination. One of the reasons we have made progress is because of 
his great persistence and his ability to bring together the consensus 
that is so necessary if we are going to achieve final success. As he 
has noted, we have come a long way. It has been my pleasure to work 
with him as we have traveled the road together to reach this point 
where we find, as he has noted, just a few differences. It is my hope 
we can still work it out prior to the end of this session of Congress. 
I thank him for his kind words and for his leadership.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Massachusetts.

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