WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The leader of U.S. Senate Democrats said on Monday he would consider backing curbs on some asbestos lawsuits if the chamber would scuttle legislation removing all claims from court and paying victims from a $140 billion trust fund.þþSenate Minority Leader Harry Reid urged senators to ``get this bill off the floor'' ahead of a major procedural vote, that could come as early as Tuesday, over whether the industry-funded trust could cost taxpayers in violation of budget rules.þþReid, from Nevada, said an alternative to the national fund would be to keep asbestos claims in court, but revise the medical criteria so that only claims involving serious disease go forward.þþ``What we want to try to avoid are the bad cases, the ones that are taking too much of the courts' time and taking valuable resources from those that are really sick,'' he said,þþMost Senate Democrats, including Reid, voted against just such a medical criteria proposal last week, but nearly half the chamber's Republicans backed the idea.þþReid's offer to look again at tougher medical guidelines seemed designed to try and tempt Republicans to join forces with him and other Democrats in killing the trust fund bill.þþSen. John Ensign, a Nevada Republican, last week made a parliamentary objection on the grounds that the bill would violate budget rules. He expressed concern that taxpayers would have to foot the bill if the fund runs out of money. Such a parliamentary objection would require 60 votes to defeat.þþBill co-sponsor, Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, denies taxpayers are at risk. He says if the fund goes broke it would close down and cases go back to court.þþAlso on Monday, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office issued a new analysis of the Senate bill. It concluded that the legislation would have no major impact on the federal deficit through 2015 and that the government's general funds would not be used to pay claims.þþAsbestos fibers were widely used for their insulating and fire-retardant capabilities for years. However, some 70 U.S. companies, including W.R. Grace and Co. and USG Corp, have been pushed into bankruptcy proceedings by thousands of injury claims.þþThe bill has sharply divided lawmakers, industry and unions over how to resolve billions of dollars in asbestos suits.þþA bill requiring asbestos injury lawsuits to meet certain medical criteria already has been introduced in the House. But such curbs on lawsuits have long been anathema to many Democrats, who traditionally depend on trial lawyers as a major source of campaign funding.þþThe United Auto Workers union on Monday wrote to all senators urging them to reject the procedural attempt to stop the asbestos fund bill.þþThe UAW supports the trust fund bill, and its letter said the legislation represents ``the best opportunity to establish a program that will provide prompt, equitable compensation to the victims of asbestos related diseases.''þþBut the AFL-CIO labor federation has withheld its backing, saying there are still significant problems with the trust fund.þþ
Source: NY Times
