Opposition builds over asbestos trust fund bill
WASHINGTON -- Opposition from liberals and conservatives in the Senate is threatening to derail an effort to create a national trust fund to pay victims of asbestos exposure, legislation that its backers want to move before the fight over filibusters comes to a head.
The bill would require insurance companies and businesses that have exposed workers to asbestos to pay into a $140 billion trust fund over 30 years in exchange for an end to asbestos-related lawsuits. Asbestos was used for decades in a variety of products, notably insulation, and exposure has proven deadly to thousands of workers. Its fibers cause often incurable lung damage, including lung cancer, asbestosis, and pleural disease.
Instead of going to court, workers who say their health has suffered because of asbestos exposure could apply to the Department of Labor for compensation. Damages would be paid in accordance with a schedule so that those with the most serious health problems receive the most money, with the maximum damages capped at about $1 million -- far less than some jury judgments that have been handed down.
After three years of stops and starts, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, is pushing the committee to approve legislation creating the trust fund this week. The possibility of a showdown over judicial nominees later this month has increased the urgency of getting the bill through the Senate quickly.
But Specter and the committee's ranking Democrat, Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, appear to lack the votes for the tenuous bipartisan compromise they have crafted, according to Senate aides who are monitoring the bill.
More than 80 proposed amendments have been filed to a bill the committee will probably consider tomorrow. An aide to Specter said the chairman is open to making some changes to win more support in his committee.
Several Democrats on the committee say they are concerned that the fund would be too small and would erect hurdles for victims that will make it impossible for them to receive compensation. Some Republicans, meanwhile, fear that a new trust fund will cause more people to rush to file claims -- and leave taxpayers on the hook if the money runs out.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, is organizing Democratic opposition to the bill. He said big businesses would be allowed to duck much of their financial accountability, while many individuals with asbestos-caused lung cancer and other diseases would have difficulty proving a link between asbestos and their health disorders.
''The focus has really shifted from what these companies should pay to what they are willing to pay," Kennedy said. ''The legislation before us would close the courthouse doors to asbestos victims on the day it passes."
A study released yesterday by the watchdog group Public Citizen found that the 10 largest asbestos-producing firms stand to save more than $20 billion if the trust fund is created.
Because contributions to the trust fund are capped at $27.5 million per company per year, several Fortune 500 companies stand to save billions of dollars under the bill, which they lobbied heavily for, the report found. Many companies will be liable for only 10 to 20 cents of every dollar they would have owed if the cases went to court, said Frank Clemente, director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch project.
''The fight over this legislation is a classic example of influence-peddling," Clemente said. ''There are few winners, and the biggest winners are America's biggest corporations."
Opposition is developing from Republicans as well as Democrats, and some insurance companies are threatening to withdraw their support for the measure because its price tag has grown in an effort to win Democratic votes.
Rick Klein can be reached at rklein@globe.com.
