Political Quotes

“after cloture was not invoked on S. 2290, the Hatch-Frist asbestos bill, Senator Daschle and I asked Judge Becker to conduct a mediation process in the hope of identifying a path to reach consensus on this contentious yet extraordinarily important issue. Judge Edward Becker was asked to focus on working with the interested stakeholders on three major issues--projections, claims values, and overall funding into the trust--understanding that there are over a dozen additional issues that remain unresolved. Our belief was that if these three issues could be resolved, it would be much easier to work through the remaining differences. Judge Becker presided over meetings for the last 2 weeks and held his final session last Thursday. His presence was invaluable in helping to further define the issues and illuminate the differences. Throughout the process all parties negotiated in good faith and worked towards bridging the gaps. We are extremely grateful for the time, energy, and leadership Judge Becker put into working through these technical issues, and to all the parties for their steadfast participation. Last week, Judge Becker gave us his final report on the result of his mediation. We are glad there has been movement in major areas but realize there is more work to be done. While both sides have provided new proposals, ultimately, there remains gaps in claims values, projections, and the amount of dollars needed to establish a trust.”