Asbestos Bill Sets Off Partisan Attacks [View All]

[deminks]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1586965&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

WASHINGTON Feb 6, 2006 (AP)— The subject was a sober one, and new to the Senate floor: Should the Senate vote on a bill that would set up a $140 billion fund for people sickened by asbestos exposure?

Within minutes, the exchange spiraled into familiar election-year territory with Democrats calling the legislation Republican payback to corporate lobbyists and GOP senators accusing the Democrats of obstructionism.

"Slander!" responded Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the bill's sponsor, whose stewardship of the bill for more than two years helped it survive the committee process to become the first new legislation considered by the Senate this year.

"To accuse us of being the pawns of the lobbyists is is is beyond slander, beyond insult," Specter stammered. "It's beyond outrage."