Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) Act of 2013

Floor Speech

Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to H.R. 982, the misleadingly-named ``FACT Act.'' When the Congress should be considering important legislation to replace the sequester, address our budget deficits in a balanced way, and reform our broken immigration system, we are instead using our scarce legislative time to consider this cynical, counterproductive bill that specifically targets victims suffering from diseases caused by asbestos exposure.

Under the cloak of ``transparency and accountability,'' this legislation would needlessly force asbestos trusts to release personal claim information about victims. It would also allow asbestos defendants to demand unlimited and irrelevant information from asbestos trusts--at any point in a proceeding. The cynical intent of this provision is to burden the asbestos trusts with so many requests for information (from deep-pocketed, corporate defendants) that they will have to spend time and resources fulfilling those information requests, thus delaying trust recoveries by victims. This is especially concerning considering mesothelioma usually kills its victims within 4 to 18 months of diagnosis.

Finally, the allegations of fraud within the trust process are simply untrue. The error rate in the asbestos trust process has been shown to be less than one-half of one percent. Any examples of fraud found are rare and isolated incidents, and are aptly addressed by state courts. Simply put, this legislation is nothing but a legislative handout to the corporations that have (and continue to) subject workers to unsafe working conditions. The one-sided nature of this bill was further exposed when its supporters defeated an amendment that would have required the corporate defendants to disclose information about the location of their disease-causing asbestos products.

I urge my colleagues to vote against H.R. 982.

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