Insurers remain staunch, vigorous supporters of meaningful asbestos litigation reform at the earliest opportunity," said Robert E. Vagley, president of the Washington-based American Insurance Association.

"We urge Congress now to consider alternatives to the current trust fund approach and to redouble efforts to enact legislation that protects the real medical victims of asbestos and the economy at large," Mr. Vagley said.

Marliss Browder, director of federal affairs for the Indianapolis-based National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, said that NAMIC believes Congress must address the current asbestos litigation crisis, and that NAMIC remains committed to working with Congress to develop meaningful reform.

Regarding the trust fund approach in S. 2290, Ms. Browder said that all parties, including insurers, labor and defendants, have conducted intense good faith negotiations and made significant progress.

"But unfortunately," she said, "we seem to be far from reaching a solution."

Mr. Vagley said it is now clear that a workable trust fund that establishes an efficient exclusive remedy for victims, as well as equity, certainty and finality for all stakeholders, is politically unattainable.

Moreover, Mr. Vagley said, it will become even less economically viable over time as more and more of the finite resources available to compensate the true victims of asbestos are siphoned off by the "out-of-control litigation system."

Carl Parks, senior vice president of federal government affairs with the Des Plaines, Ill.-based Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, said that PCI is "deeply disappointed" that negotiations on S. 2290 have been suspended, given that asbestos litigation has reached crisis proportions in the United States.

"It is imperative that members of Congress reach agreement on a compromise that appropriately compensates ill victims while reducing transaction costs and providing absolute finality for defendants," he said.

He agreed that the trust fund approach may not be politically feasible at this time.