February FACTs

February 3, 2016, Washington D.C. –

Ahh Washington politics. If you missed the Senate Judiciary Hearing on the FACT Act, it’s available online. It is titled The Need for Transparency in the Asbestos Trusts (click the title to watch).

I find it particularly amusing, there is no hearing on The Need for the United States to Ban the Use/Import of Asbestos. Instead, Senators like Jeff Flake & Orrin Hatch, would rather misdirect Congress and the people of the United States to “transparency” in legal matters, than address the fact that a toxic substance has not been banned in our country. Flake and Hatch are doing NOTHING to stop the USE of asbestos. Instead they are pandering to a large group of businesses who don’t want to pay into the Trusts set up for dying patients, with terminal disease because asbestos laced products are still available.

Let’s cut through the bullshit. Had Congress banned companies and the military from using asbestos, or banned the use/importation of asbestos across the board, there would be fewer people trying to pull money from these scared Trusts. Had business owners been more interested in keeping their employees safe, than their pockets lined, this would be less of an issue now.

Where is the Transparency in corporate use of asbestos? Senator Blumenthal made an excellent point. Why isn’t there a map of it’s use? The people who used it? This so called “FACT Act” wants a list of victims, and medical & legal histories, and social security numbers – but heaven forbid there would be a list of who used and who continues to use asbestos and where.

I’m nearly 100% sure the republicans who have signed on to this bill have no connections to asbestosis or Mesothelioma. Not one of them understands how it is to be repeatedly misdiagnosed, to have no where to turn especially early on, any idea of the support groups out there or how much it will cost to go through life saving measures – that 9 times out of 10 – won’t save you. If they did, if they were part of this special group that no one wants to join, they would fight for the victims and not the companies who created this problem.

No one was watching, but I live tweeted during the hearing. I point out a few things I felt are very important to know going forward. No one responded, not from any office. Certainly not from Thom Tillis’ campaign, who I’m ashamed to admit is from the state I currently call home. After repeatedly asking him to oppose the FACT Act, not only has he signed on, but he felt it necessary to ask questions in support of the FACT Act, not to garner any new information.

I wish Congress Republics (and the few Democrats abstaining) would stop blaming the victims and fight for a real ban on asbestos. The subterfuge has got to stop.