Senate blocks creation of asbestos fund

However, sponsors of the measure vowed they would not let the bill die.

The Senate vote of 58-41 sustained an objection to the legislation from John Ensign, R-Nev., on grounds that the fund could violate budget rules by forcing U.S. taxpayers to pick up some asbestos costs.

The legislation sought to remove asbestos injury claims from years of court litigation and pay them from a $140 billion fund financed by asbestos companies and their insurers.

That approach is favored by W.R. Grace and Co., USG Corp. and some of the 70 other companies pushed into bankruptcy by tens of thousands of asbestos injury claims.

Asbestos, a fire-retardant fibrous mineral, was widely used in building insulation until the 1970s. Inhaling fibers of asbestos has been linked to cancer and other diseases.

But the legislation, which Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin derided as "an Armageddon of special interests," has deeply divided business and labor as well as senators in both parties, and struggled to win support.

A small group of Republicans, worried that taxpayers would ultimately have to pay some of the fund's costs, joined forces to sink the measure on Tuesday with most of the Senate's Democrats, who as close allies of trial lawyers have long opposed the legislation.

The sponsors, Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter and Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, needed 60 senators to win the procedural vote and had said their bill would die otherwise.

But immediately after the vote, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., wavered on his earlier vow not to bring the bill up again this year if it failed on Tuesday.

Specter and Leahy also seemed to change their minds.

Frist said he had changed his vote to "no" at the last minute to give himself the option of moving to bring the legislation up at some other time.

Before he changed his vote, the tally was 59-40.

● Republican Sen. Jon Kyl voted for the asbestos bill.

● Republican Sen. John McCain opposed the measure.