Asbestos Bill Expected to be Sent to Full Senate T
Washington, DC, May 26--Sponsors of the asbestos bill that would create a $140 billion compensation fund said on Thursday they aimed to clear the bill out of the Senate Judiciary Committee and send it to the full Senate within hours.
"We now face the task of finishing the bill this morning," Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, told a sixth session of the committee called to finish work on the bill.
"I think we can finish this morning," agreed Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the panel.
Asbestos fibers were used in building materials, auto parts and other products for decades but are linked to cancer and other diseases. The bill would take asbestos injury claims out of courts and pay them from the fund, to be financed by asbestos defendant companies and their insurers.
Specter, Leahy and Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl met on Wednesday and agreed on the outline of changes in the operation of the fund in its early months.
Concerns that the transition period could see some companies pay both in court and to the fund had become a sticking point in getting final approval in the 18-member Judiciary Committee.
