Liberal Media

I don't know, I think you could find a better headline for this story than "Senate Kills Fund for Asbestos Victims." That doesn't tell the story. It makes it sound like the callous and cruel Senate denied money to dying victims of environmental hazards. Quite the opposite, as the story makes somewhat clear:

The Senate rejected a new plan Tuesday to compensate asbestos victims, apparently dooming a proposed $140-billion fund that would have handled claims now battled out in court.

Under the legislation, asbestos makers and their insurers would have contributed to a trust fund to pay claims for illnesses in amounts from $25,000 to $1.1 million. But the measure faced attacks on several fronts.

Trial lawyers and their Democratic allies argued that efforts to take claims out of the courts threatened the ability of victims to obtain sufficient restitution.

Fiscal conservatives feared that the approach would set up a federal entitlement program, along the lines of "black lung" compensation, with insufficient limits on payments and a growing bill for taxpayers.

The final vote was 58 to 41, with advocates of the asbestos legislation failing to get the 60 votes needed to beat back a procedural challenge. Proponents of the bill, who initially had 59 votes, said they might try again, but they were sobered by a defeat that included votes of Democrats and Republicans.

Saying that the Senate "killed funds" is simply dishonest. It denied asbestos companies the ability to get off very easy for filling up their workers with toxins for decades. Setting up a trust would have limited the amounts victims could receive for their medical bills and their pain and suffering. I understand that companies could go bankrupt over this, and there's an economic interest in pooling together risk. But this would have allowed for too paltry a settlement, and if the money in the fund ran out, would leave them with nothing (that's compassionate conservatism for ya). To hear Bill Frist say something like "victims in need are not going to receive fair and just compensation" is touching, but a load of crap.

And the headline writer (not to be confused with the actual writer) bought it.