Washington, DC, May 24--Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said on Monday a bill to establish a $140 billion asbestos compensation fund is "breathing again" now that the chamber has averted an angry showdown over an unrelated issue, judicial nominees.
Reid, an opponent of the asbestos bill, made the comment after 14 U.S. Senate moderates struck a deal across party lines to avert a Senate vote over President George W. Bush's stalled judicial nominees.
Reid had warned earlier on Monday that if the Senate Republican leadership persisted in trying to strip minority Democrats of their right to block federal judges, Democrats would retaliate on other issues, and "you can kiss asbestos goodbye."
But then a bipartisan compromise was announced including a commitment to clear the way for confirmation votes on three of five disputed judicial nominees.
"It's breathing again," Reid told reporters when asked what the compromise on judges meant for the asbestos bill.
The controversy over the judges did cause the postponement until midweek of a working session on the asbestos legislation in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The panel decided to delay until Wednesday its meeting that had been planned for Tuesday.
The judiciary panel's chairman, Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, still hopes the committee can finish its work on the asbestos bill and vote it out to the Senate floor this week, a Specter aide said.
He said another committee meeting could be held on Thursday if necessary. "We're pushing hard on this."
Asbestos fibers have been used in building materials, auto parts and other products for decades but are linked to cancer and other disease. 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.
