Arlen Specter: “whatever arguments are advanced by skillful advocates and skillful Senators, the underlying question of this budget…”

“whatever arguments are advanced by skillful advocates and skillful Senators, the underlying question of this budget point of order is whether the budget will be impacted and hurt. The fact is, there is no Federal money. So there is no substantive merit to the point of order. The Federal Government is implicated only because the Department of Labor is involved as a conduit. That is fact No. 1. Fact No. 2 is if this budget point of order is upheld, this bill is killed after 3 intense years of work, with hundreds of meetings, with numerous conferences, and 36 meetings presided over by Judge Becker and myself. And there will be no opportunity to have amendments to improve it. We may yet be able to pass a bill which will satisfy the critics. So let us have 3 more days as we have worked 3 years. It has been a process by the committee for three decades. But let us have 3 more days with all the work that has been done to bring it to this point. Everyone agrees with the need for a bill. Everyone agrees there are tens of thousands of asbestos victims who are dying without compensation because their companies are bankrupt, or because they are veterans who sustained their injuries in the service and have no one to sue. Everyone agrees it has a tremendous impact on the economy. So let us take 3 more days. This vote is razor thin. Nobody knows how it is going to come out. It may well be decided by a single vote, as so many votes are in this body.…”