[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Page 1026]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                ASBESTOS

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, we had a very important vote today on 
asbestos, and we will be proceeding to that bill tomorrow. It is a bill 
that I feel passionately about, a bill--as I shared with my colleagues 
who were with me earlier today in Atlanta at the funeral--that 
reflects, to me, the very best of what this body should be reflecting; 
that is, compassion for those victims who today are not being 
compensated, who suffer from asbestos exposure with mesothelioma, with 
lung cancer, with asbestosis; who today are not getting taken care of. 
In a sense, they are not getting appropriate compensation, just 
compensation, either in terms of time in which the decisions are made 
or in the amount of resources that are to be directed to them.
  So now is the time for us to address this important issue. It is a 
jobs issue. We talk about 150,000 people who have lost their jobs. We 
talk about the 77 companies that have gone bankrupt--not as companies 
but as employers. And when they go bankrupt, thousands and thousands of 
people lose their pensions and the jobs are lost. Now is our 
opportunity.
  Just yesterday, I know there were a lot of statements made by those 
on the other side of the aisle that we should stop this bill; it is a 
bad bill; we should not be addressing it and using postponing 
procedural moves and delay. But we just can't delay anymore.
  I am delighted with the outcome of the vote today which shows that 
this body is ready to take up this important issue. We will be going to 
that issue tomorrow, and I look forward to addressing, through debate 
and amendments, an issue that will have a huge impact on people's lives 
both right now and well into the future.

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