Sen. Frist: Lawsuit Bill Probably Finished (as in "doomed")

[Khephra]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legislation to rewrite the rules on class-action lawsuits appeared doomed on Thursday as U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said its anticipated failure to clear a key vote would finish it for the year.

The White House-backed bill, which supporters said would crack down on abusive lawsuits filed by "money-hungry lawyers," has been stuck in a bitter procedural standoff in the Republican-majority Senate most of this week.

Tensions increased over the bill after Democratic presidential contender John Kerry this week picked a former personal-injury lawyer, John Edwards, to be his running mate, and Democrat and Republican senators accused each other of election-year grandstanding on legal issues.

All but one of the 51 Republican senators backs the class-action bill, but Frist said he did not think a super-majority of 60 senators would support a procedural "cloture" motion to limit debate. The vote was scheduled for Friday.

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=5623994§ion=news

[NewJerseyDem]

1. The republicans are the reason this bill will fail

About a dozen democrats support the bill but won't invoke cloture unless the republicans let democratic amendments on issues like the minimum wage be voted on. So, they were going to let these amendments com up, but now that John Edwards is on the ticket, the republicans want to use this entire trial lawyer argument, so they are trying to blame the bill's failure on the democrats.

Frist is such a jackass. The Senate has hardly even started work on the appropriations bills which have to get passed and are extremely important for the government to even function. But, Frist had decided to waste this entire week on this bill that he will then let die on Friday. Then, next week will be on gay marriage. So, he is spending the entire month trying to embarrass democrats instead of get work done. And there are only about 6 weeks left of when Congress is in session this year.

[Hotler]

2. He's such an ass.

Just reading about him makes me want a shower.

[Disturbed]

4. To bad Frist's career isn't doomed.

This guy is a poster boy for greed and coruption; an example of the worst when it comes to dirty politicians.

[Ivan Zero]

6. Must be time to drag out the dreaded "O" word ...

OBSTRUCTIONISM! :scared:

[Ramsey]

3. Frist is to blame

Frist first limited the number of amendments to the bill to 5 then he filled the five slots with his own amendments. This bill had enough support from Dems to pass, but his maneuvering has pissed them off so much that now they won't play ball. Daschle called him on it on the Senate floor.

[0007]

5. I think Bill Frist and Jeff Sessions are the two most insipid people

I've ever heard. They both sound like cartoon characters from "Bullwinkle" (sp)