Washington, DC, May 21--The following is a statement of the Asbestos Study Group regarding Senator Hatch's asbestos reform proposal:
"Chairman Hatch's asbestos reform proposal embodies the principles of fairness and justice for all sides in this debate. The Senator has outlined a plan that can ensure prompt and generous payments to the truly sick, while restoring certainty and sanity to a compensation system that is no longer sustainable. We congratulate him for his leadership and vision, and believe he has laid out a path that leads to consensus and legislative success at long last.
"First as Chairman, and now as Ranking Member, Senator Leahy, in particular, has provided leadership and pivotal momentum on this matter. We stand ready to work through the issues that remain outstanding with Senator Leahy and his colleagues on the Committee. And as participants in the recent Asbestos Summits convened by Senator Dodd, we are eager to continue our dialogue with him, Senators DeWine, Voinovich, Carper, Nelson, and other Senators both on and off the Judiciary Committee.
"As the Judiciary Committee process moves forward, we are committed to continuing our work with all the parties that the asbestos tragedy has touched -- victims and workers, labor and business -- in the same spirit of bipartisan cooperation that has resulted in so much progress to date."
