Republicans close on asbestos fund

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The main author of a plan to compensate asbestos victims from a $140 billion fund said on Thursday he was close to getting Republican backing in the Senate Judiciary Committee for the legislation.

“We are seeking to get a consensus bill. ... We are very close on the Republican side,” Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Arlen Specter told the Judiciary Committee, which he chairs.

Adding that he was talking to Democrats, Specter asked panel members for a list of their concerns so staff could work on them in the upcoming two-week congressional recess.

"I’m hopeful that when we return we’ll be in a position to put all the moving parts together and find a bill which will be agreeable to the vast majority of our 100 members,” he said.

Specter is proposing to take asbestos injury claims out of the courts and pay victims from a fund financed by business and insurers.

The committee’s ranking Democrat, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, said he would keep working with Specter.

“I am more optimistic now than I was when I held the first hearing several years ago,” Leahy told the committee meeting, but added it appeared some opponents of the trust fund were seeking to unravel agreements.

Asbestos was widely used for fireproofing and insulation until the 1970s. Scientists say its inhaled fibers are linked to cancer and other diseases.

Hundreds of thousands of injury claims have forced dozens of U.S. companies into bankruptcy, including auto parts supplier Federal-Mogul Corp. and chemicals maker W.R. Grace & Co.

Specter said Republicans on his committee were concerned about whether the Labor Department was best suited to administer the fund and whether the federal government might be compelled to pay into the fund if it runs out of money.

“It’s ironclad the federal government is not going to have to pay,” he told reporters after the committee meeting.

Specter said President Bush had named asbestos as one of three major issues he was concerned about during a recent meeting with Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist.

Frist told Specter about the meeting, saying, “the president spent a long time on asbestos,” Specter said. 

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