Washington, DC, September 7--The co-author of a bill to create a $140 billion asbestos compensation fund said on Tuesday he hoped it would come to the Senate floor during the first week of October.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter said he was discussing the timetable with Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist. He noted that "a lot of variables are in play" as Congress recasts its agenda after Hurricane Katrina and gears up for Supreme Court hearings next week.
But, Specter said, he still thought chances were good the bill would be taken up on the Senate floor before the chamber goes out on recess the week of Monday, Oct. 10.
"From the point of view of the leader (Frist), there are a lot of variables in play, but I think the chances are good," he said of the timetable.
Asbestos was widely used for fireproofing and insulation until the 1970s. Its fibers are linked to cancer and other diseases. Injury claims have bankrupted dozens of companies.
The asbestos bill, which Specter co-sponsored with Vermont Democrat Sen. Patrick Leahy, would halt asbestos injury suits and pay the claims from a privately financed fund instead.
It was voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee in May. But amid questions about how much support it has in either party, Frist did not immediately bring it to the Senate floor.
Like other pending legislation, the asbestos bill faces possible delays while Congress rewrites its agenda to address problems arising from the devastating Hurricane Katrina.
Specter and Leahy, the asbestos bill's co-sponsors, are also busy preparing for hearings to start Monday on the nomination of Judge John G. Roberts to succeed William Rehnquist, who died on Saturday, as chief justice of the United States.
The Senate Judiciary Committee may soon have to hold a second set of hearings if President Bush soon nominates another judge to the Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
