A plan to create a $140-billion trust fund to pay victims of asbestos exposure has suffered a major setback in the Senate. In a Feb. 14 procedural vote, supporters of a bill to set up the fund fell one vote short of the 60 needed to prevent the measure from being sent back to committee.
After the initial tally, Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), who supported the trust fund bill, switched his vote from "yes" to "no," making the final total 58-41. That move allows him to call up the bill in the future, letting the legislation maintain what Frist termed a �heartbeat.�