Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy
The Need For Asbestos Reform Legislation
November 22, 2003

Mr. President, I thank the distinguished Senate Majority Leader for his remarks today on the need for the Senate to consider asbestos legislation next year. I wholeheartedly agree with him on the need for reform to establish a better system for providing fair and efficient compensation to victims of asbestos-related diseases.  I remain committed to working with Senator Frist, Senator Daschle, Senator Hatch, Senator Dodd, Senator Specter, and others, to forge a bipartisan solution to this complex challenge. 

Last fall, as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, I held the Committee’s first hearing to begin a bipartisan dialogue about the best means to compensate current asbestos victims and those yet to come.  Chairman Hatch wisely held two additional hearings this year.  Our knowledge of the harms wreaked by asbestos exposure has certainly grown since last fall, as have the harms themselves.  Not only do the victims of asbestos exposure continue to suffer, and their numbers to grow, but the businesses involved, along with their employees and retirees, are suffering from the economic uncertainty surrounding this litigation.  More than 60 companies have filed for bankruptcy because of their asbestos-related liabilities. 

These bankruptcies create a lose-lose situation.  Asbestos victims who deserve fair compensation do not receive it, and bankrupt companies can neither create new jobs nor invest in our economy. 

A solution has never before been closer than it is today.  Since the beginning of 2003, we have come to complete accord on the idea that the fairest, most efficient way to provide compensation for asbestos victims is through the creation of a national fund that will apply agreed-upon medical criteria in evaluating patients’ injuries.  We have been working tirelessly with representatives from organized labor, defendant companies, insurers, and other interested parties, to craft an effective trust fund system that will bring the certainty of fair payments to victims and financial certainty to industry.  A myriad of issues have been resolved, from the definitions of the panoply of illnesses resulting from asbestos exposure to a ban on the use of asbestos in the United States.  We are working, even today, on the details of other aspects of this scheme, down to the fine points of the administrative mechanism for processing claims. 

We have made real progress in finding common ground.  But we have yet to reach consensus, and without consensus we cannot end this crisis.  Too much is at stake for us to walk away when we have come so far.  An effective and efficient means to end the asbestos litigation crisis is within reach, and we must grasp it.  Although the year is drawing to a close, our bipartisan commitment to this effort remains strong.  I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues and all stake holders to craft a consensus bill that we can move through the legislative process and into law next year.

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