Prospects for passage of legislation this year creating a trust fund to handle asbestos claims grew even dimmer last month, while lobbyists and congressional staffers say that negotiations aimed at creating a medical criteria bill–seen as the best alternative to the trust fund proposal–are also stalled.
Regarding floor action, lobbyists representing insurance interests said that Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., several weeks ago privately outlined to lobbyists criteria for putting the trust fund bill on the Senate floor that seemed to the lobbyists to be unrealistic.
According to several lobbyists representing insurers and trade groups monitoring the bill, Sen. McConnell said at a small fundraiser that the Senate Republican leadership will not allow the trust fund legislation to come back to the Senate floor unless there are 60 public votes for it and the leadership is assured that the debate won't consume more than three days.
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