Senate to Take Test Vote on Asbestos Bill Thurs-(Halliburton Bailout Bill)

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WASHINGTON April 22 — Deadlocked on creating a multibillion-dollar trust fund for people suffering from asbestos-related diseases, the Senate's leaders plan to meet with a mediator next week in hopes of coming up with asbestos lawsuit legislation.

Republicans say they will push forward with a Thursday test vote anyway, even though Democrats say they have enough support to stop the plan to give businesses immunity from asbestos lawsuits in exchange for a $124 billion trust fund to speed money to sick people.

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Democrats have been complaining that Republicans are trying to rush a bill through to satisfy the business and insurance lobbies, which have made ending asbestos lawsuits one of their top priorities.

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"The bill before us does not reflect what is necessary to compensate the enormous number of workers who suffer from asbestos-induced disease, it reflects only what the companies who made them sick are willing to pay," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

Story: http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20040422_150.html


Bill: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:S.2290:

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Claims threaten Halliburton settlement

By Mike Crissey
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Thursday, August 14, 2003

More than 70,000 new asbestos claims against Halliburton Co. in the past six months may outstrip the almost $2.8 billion in cash set aside to settle the claims, the company warned in a filing to federal officials.

In a report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, Houston-based Halliburton said asbestos claims rose to 425,000 as of June 30, up from 347,000 in December when it agreed to a settlement worth about $4 billion in cash and stock.

Halliburton inherited most of the claims four years ago when the oilfield services, engineering and construction conglomerate once led by Vice President Dick Cheney acquired Dresser Industries Inc. for $7.7 billion. The Dresser acquisition was overseen by Cheney before he left in 2000 to become President Bush's running mate.

Halliburton agreed to put its DII Industries unit under bankruptcy supervision to help pay the settlement, which includes about $2.775 billion in cash and 59.5 million shares of stock currently worth about $1.4 billion.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/business/s_149611.html
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History:

Halliburton bankrupts own units-
Halliburton has put two of its businesses into bankruptcy as the oil and construction company prepares to settle asbestos claims.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3328481.stm

Halliburton settles asbestos claims
The US oil services firm agrees to pay $4bn to settle a rash of asbestos-related compensation claims.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2589117.stm
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Flashback:

Dick Cheney and the giant energy company he will leave to run for vice president have contributed more than $150,000 to members of Congress who sponsored legislation that would limit the ability of workers to sue companies for asbestos exposure.

Halliburton's political action committees and Cheney contributed $494,452 to congressional candidates from 1997 through mid-2000. Of that, $157,500 went to members of Congress who co-sponsored the asbestos legislation -- 59 Republicans and four Democrats. (See list of contributions)

Cheney, as an individual, donated $12,500 to members who sponsored or co-sponsored the asbestos bills.

The contributions from Cheney and the political action committees of Halliburton and its subsidiaries went to 49 of the 77 lawmakers who co-sponsored the Fairness in Asbestos Compensation Act in the House of Representatives and 14 of 29 co-sponsors of similar legislation in the Senate.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines/080400-02.htm
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t r u t h o u t - Asbestos Bill Could Be Windfall for Halliburton
By David G. Savage
The Los Angeles Times
Sunday 13 July 2003

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At $25 million a year, Halliburton would pay $675 million over the 27-year life of the federal trust fund.

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Experts say there are about 300,000 pending asbestos claims nationwide, and Kazan expects new cancer cases to occur for another 20 years.

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At the hearing, the panel voted to raise the payment for victims of mesothelioma, which is unique to asbestos exposure, to $1 million. But Kennedy noted that payments to lung-cancer victims who have been exposed to asbestos will be limited to $150,000. "That is outrageous," Kennedy said. "The real crisis that confronts us is not an 'asbestos litigation crisis.' It is an asbestos-induced disease crisis."

http://www.truthout.com/docs_03/071503G.shtml

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Life and Thought have gone away
Side by side,
Leaving door and windows wide;
Careless tenants they!


All within is dark as night:
In the windows is no light;
And no murmur at the door,
So frequent on its hinge before.


Close the door, the shutters close,
Or thro’ the windows we shall see
The nakedness and vacancy
Of the dark deserted house.


Come away; no more of mirth
Is here or merry-making sound.
The house was builded of the earth,
And shall fall again to ground.


Come away; for Life and Thought
Here no longer dwell,
But in a city glorious–
A great and distant city–have bought
A mansion incorruptible.
Would they could have stayed with us!

The Deserted House-Tennyson