Don Nickles: “I wish to make a few remarks concerning the asbestos legislation we failed to reach cloture on a motion to proceed. I am…”

“I wish to make a few remarks concerning the asbestos legislation we failed to reach cloture on a motion to proceed. I am disappointed that we did not go to the legislation. We have a very serious problem dealing with asbestos in this country. I held a hearing in the Budget Committee 2 years ago and stated that some of the biggest problems that we face, as far as our economy, is regulations and litigation abuse. And heading the list of litigation abuse in this country is asbestos litigation. We have 8,000 companies now listed as defendants in suits, and 60 or 70 companies have already gone bankrupt. Thousands of jobs have been lost. I believe over 60,000 jobs have been lost from the bankrupt companies that have gone out of business. Maybe another 100,000 jobs have not been created as a result of the negative impact that asbestos litigation has on the economy, and it is wrong. When we find out that two-thirds of the awards or settlement payments have been going out to people who are not sick, something is wrong. So this system needs to be fixed.”