Harry Reid: “Mr. President, the ranking member of the Budget Committee, the distinguished Senator from North Dakota, did a brilliant…”

“Mr. President, the ranking member of the Budget Committee, the distinguished Senator from North Dakota, did a brilliant job today responding to the false statements made by the Senator from Pennsylvania. He did it factually and with enough emotion to make his point well taken. I thought it was a stunning retort to these outlandish statements that have been made by the Senator from Pennsylvania for some time now. But in addition to those statements that I think need some discussion, there was another statement the Senator from Pennsylvania made about why this country is in deficit, why the President's budgets are so off kilter. He said it is because of, among other things, asbestos litigation. And he talked about how hard it was on business. I acknowledge that the asbestos litigation has been hard on companies throughout America, but not once during the statement of the Senator from Pennsylvania did he mention the people who are in dire physical condition--not once. The reason there is this litigation going on is because people are dying, and suffering. There are two conditions caused by asbestos that are fatal. One is something called mesothelioma. With mesothelioma, from the time that you are diagnosed with this dread disease until the time you die is an average of 14 months. With asbestosis you can linger a long time and suffer a long time.”