Thomas Daschle: “many Members have been troubled by the fact that we are, apparently, after all of the work we have made to get to a…”

“many Members have been troubled by the fact that we are, apparently, after all of the work we have made to get to a point where we have a finite list, more extensive perhaps than either of us would like on the FSC bill, we are actually not going to go to the FSC bill; we are going to the asbestos bill. As the majority leader knows from conversations I have had with him, it is unlikely this legislation will be able to move--not because we do not want to work on a bill that ultimately can become law to address the very legitimate concerns both of us have, all of us have with regard to asbestos, but as we have seen with malpractice, this is not the way to do it. One would think that perhaps this is just another effort politically that will not have any result legislatively. I am not ascribing motives, but I hope there could be a real bona fide effort to work through the issues prior to the time we force votes on the floor, especially when we have other legislation for which many of us have been working hard to move, including the FSC bill. Having said that, obviously, I am not in a position to stop the majority leader from moving as he has parliamentarily, and I will continue to express the hope that we can find some constructive solutions that reflect a real compromise as we address this very important issue. I yield the floor.”