He doesn’t really deal with the substantive case against his bill, preferring to make personal attacks on Dick Armey. The bill doesn’t keep fradulent claims from getting money, and it doesn’t close the door to further litigation.

Specter doesn’t adequately rebut the arguments he does choose to address. He denies that the trust fund for paying out asbestos claims would be funded by taxes: “Mr. Armey says the bill would levy $140 billion in new taxes to create a federal trust fund for asbestos victims. He knows better. Manufacturers, which are liable for asbestos injuries, and their insurers have offered to create the $140 billion trust fund to avoid further liability. The bill is explicit that the federal government would pay nothing into the fund.”

But the manufacturers would be sending money–based in part on their incomes–to a trust fund operated by the federal government. You could just as well say that federal welfare payments are from individuals rather than from the federal government, which is “just” a middleman.

Unfortunately, it looks as though Specter’s bill has enough support from Democrats to pass through the Judiciary Committee over the objections of Senators Coburn, Kyl, and Sessions. The bill will have to be fixed in a House-Senate conference if it’s to be fixed at all.