By Susan Cornwell
WASHINGTON, May 22 (Reuters) - A senior Republican senator said he would introduce a bill on Thursday to set up a $108 billion fund to pay asbestos injury claims, and call a committee hearing on it early next month.
The degree of support for the measure by Utah Republican Orrin Hatch was unclear. It was strongly criticized this week by organized labor, whose backing is essential to getting enough Democrat votes in the closely divided Senate.
AFL-CIO General Counsel Jonathan Hiatt said he did not want to participate in any more talks if Hatch's bill is introduced in its present state. But he stopped short of slamming the door on it.
"It may still be possible, a golden opportunity to build consensus ... How long that opportunity is going to be there I think is really questionable," Hiatt told reporters.
Lawsuits over asbestos injury have clogged the courts and are blamed for the bankruptcy of more than 60 companies seeking protection from claims.
"I'm going to file today and will set a notice of hearing for the first week when we come back," Hatch, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Reuters.
The Senate is on recess next week and returns June 2. Hatch said that once he holds a hearing on the asbestos bill, he would call a vote in his committee the following week.
Hatch said he would still give others a chance to change the measure. "Everyone is trying to get their little advantage right now and I'm going to give them every opportunity to try to do it," he said.
After lengthy talks with labor, business and insurers, Hatch on Monday unveiled the draft of his proposal to create a $108 billion trust fund to cap company liability and compensate victims of asbestos via a separate asbestos claims court.
The proposal has been welcomed by asbestos companies and insurers, who would provide most of the funds but might otherwise face twice the cost from thousands of lawsuits filed by people exposed to the heat-resistant mineral.
The AFL-CIO labor federation says the Hatch plan fails to compensate victims adequately and provides no backstop if the fund runs out of money.
Hatch is expected to have at least one Democratic co-sponsor for the plan -- Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, and others have expressed an interest if some changes are made.
But a handful of Democrats is not considered enough support for such a contentious matter in the Senate. The chamber is divided between 51 Republicans and 48 Democrats, with one independent, and 60 votes are needed to overcome procedural hurdles to bringing a bill to a vote.
Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on Hatch's committee and who has been heavily involved in the talks, has so far declined to commit himself.
"We continue to work," Leahy told Reuters on Thursday. "Sen. (Christopher) Dodd (of Connecticut) and I are urging business and labor to go back to the table. (Additional reporting by Thomas Ferraro)