...
Bush wants Congress to pass asbestos fund bill
Bush wants Congress to pass asbestos fund bill Staff and agencies06 January, 2006
29 minutes ago CHICAGO - U.S.
President George Bush called on Friday for Congress to curb asbestos lawsuits this year, saying the United States needed to reform its legal system to better compete in the global economy.
"Hopefully this year, we can get a good asbestos reform out of the United States Congress," Bush said in a speech on the economy in Chicago.
U.S.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, has pledged to bring up legislation early this year that would create a $140 billion fund to compensate victims harmed by exposure to asbestos, while ending hundreds of thousands of asbestos injury lawsuits.
Asbestos was widely used for insulation and fireproofing until the 1970s.
Scientists say inhaled fibers are linked to cancer and other diseases.
But the multitude of injury claims, including some filed by people who were exposed to the mineral but are not ill, have pushed dozens of U.S.
companies into bankruptcy.
Bush said Americans needed to understand that frivolous injury lawsuits were a drag on the U.S.
economy.
"To make sure this is the most competitive country in the world, we‘ve got to get rid of some of these junk lawsuits that are running capital out of America," he said.
The $140 billion , , ) , , ) would be paid for by asbestos defendant companies and their insurers.
However, the legislat...
Read more...