[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 19]
[Senate]
[Pages 26063-26064]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           THE ASBESTOS BILL

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I want to comment briefly on the statement 
of the distinguished majority leader this morning that the first piece 
of legislation we will consider in January 2006, after we return from 
the winter recess, will be the asbestos bill. What a mistake. I know 
Senator Specter has worked hard on this issue. In fact, Senator Specter 
and his good friend and former school roommate Judge Becker, a judge 
from Pennsylvania, have worked together on this bill for countless 
hours. However, whatever that personal relationship and despite how 
long and hard they may have worked on this bill, is not acceptable in 
its current form. It is not even close.
  All you have to do is look at a bipartisan letter that was sent to 
Senators Frist and this Senator, Senator Reid, two days ago, dated 
November 14, 2006. The letter was sent by both the chairman of the 
Budget Committee, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, and the ranking member, 
Kent Conrad from North Dakota, and stresses that this asbestos bill is 
not ready for floor action.
  They write:

     . . . we are in the process of gathering data and evaluating 
     available studies in order to provide Senate Members a better 
     understanding of the likely budgetary implication of S. 852. 
     . . .

[[Page 26064]]

       There are potentially serious costs to Federal taxpayers in 
     this legislation. S. 852 would create a national trust fund 
     to compensate victims of asbestos exposures in lieu of those 
     victims pursuing compensation through the tort system. The 
     legislation was reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee on 
     May 26, 2005. There remain, however, major unresolved 
     questions about the budgetary impact of this bill. These 
     include: the actual cost of the program; whether proposed 
     funding will be sufficient to compensate all claims; clarity 
     on the allocation of assessments to business and insurance 
     entities, including the balance of those assessments and 
     whether these assessments will generate adequate revenues to 
     satisfy the program's costs; the amount that will be borrowed 
     from the Federal Government under the bill's Federal 
     borrowing authority. The legislation proposes a fund of $140 
     billion. CBO has advised that this amount could be sufficient 
     to satisfy the program's claims and costs. CBO also 
     cautioned, however that this amount could be insufficient, 
     depending on a number of issues. . . .
       Following the release of the CBO report, the Bates White 
     economic consulting firm released a study demonstrating the 
     fund could experience additional costs beyond the proposed 
     amount between $161 billion and $421 billion.

  Mr. President, $421 billion in additional costs. The letter 
concludes:

       Because of the major adverse impact the legislation could 
     have on the Federal budget deficit if there are funding 
     shortfalls, we ask that at least until these issues are fully 
     resolved, that the Senate not take any further action on the 
     legislation.

  Mr. President, this bill is not ripe for floor debate and will not be 
in January. This bill does not adequately address the needs of the 
dying victims who cannot wait for this trust fund to be established. 
The bill doesn't address the needs of victims if the trust fund runs 
out of money, which it clearly seems destined to do. The bill provides 
special benefits for victims at one asbestos site but ignores the needs 
of victims at another site. In another letter to Senators Frist and 
this Senator, Senator Reid, dated yesterday, November 15, 2005, from 
the Asbestos Victims Groups United, the victims write:

     . . . [W]e write to express our continued and unified 
     opposition to S. 852. We strongly believe that the bill is 
     unfair to victims and is unworkable. . . . We believe it 
     would be wholly irresponsible for Congress to proceed with 
     consideration and passage of this legislation without 
     accurate and complete information concerning the funding 
     issue and the critical factors associated with it. Please do 
     not allow the families who have lost so much to be victimized 
     again.

  This legislation will victimize asbestos victims and it will drive 
American companies out of business. I had a meeting not long ago with 
the only company in America that still makes wire. They said if this 
bill goes into effect they will go into bankruptcy. They are able to 
handle the situation now, but this bill demands that they contribute to 
a fund for which they have no responsibility. They are willing to take 
their lumps in the business world as they know them, but they will not 
be able to sustain themselves if they are told they have to contribute 
huge amounts of money to this fund.
  Another company representative I have met said they spend $1 million 
a year on asbestos litigation, but if this bill goes into effect, they 
will go bankrupt because they can't afford the contributions they will 
be called on to make.
  Let us not rush into asbestos legislation. Let us not do it fast; let 
us do it right. We owe it to the American taxpayers, to our American 
businesses and we certainly owe it to our asbestos victims to take the 
time to get it right.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Vitter). The Senator from North Carolina 
is recognized.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, if I could, I am confident the Chair 
recognizes that I used leader time for my statement.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct. The Chair is aware of 
that.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, a point of order.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina has the floor. 
She can yield time.
  Mr. SCHUMER. I want to ask a question so I can establish the floor 
order.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The next 30 minutes is controlled by the 
majority, followed by 30 minutes controlled by the minority.
  The Senator from North Carolina.

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