Most vile legislation due for vote in House today. Targets dying victims

[cali]

of asbestos poisoning, 30% of them veterans. The purpose of the legislation is to delay payments until after they've died. Wrongful death payments are considerably smaller. It gets worse. And guess who the big backers and lobbyists for this shit are: Honeywell, the Koch brothers and the Chamber of Commerce.

<snip>

A floor vote is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 7, on the so-called FACT Act, which would erect needless bureaucratic barriers to delay or deny justice for victims of asbestos-triggered diseases and their families. The bill, pushed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and corporations including Koch Industries and Honeywell International, would force the online disclosure of sensitive personal information of sick and dying asbestos victims seeking compensation for their illnesses.

Disclosure would include the last four digits of their Social Security numbers, work and medical histories, full name and birth year, among other details, on a publicly accessible website anyone with access to a computer can view and download. If the bill becomes law, it will allow corporations responsible for poisoning these victims to access their personal information with the click of a mouse, instead of using the established discovery process in litigation. By contrast, attorneys for victims would remain bound by the current rules.


snip
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-formuzis/house-will-vote-on-bill-t_b_8916876.html


<snip>

Incredibly, the House is pairing the VW Bailout Bill with other legislation designed to limit corporate liability. The FACT (Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency) Act would force public reporting of personal information of asbestos victims, in an effort to delay and limit compensation for their poisoning.

The Chamber of Commerce also supports the FACT Act, claiming it would prevent double-dipping by mesothelioma sufferers who may have been exposed to multiple asbestos-lined products. But the clear intent is to both chill victims from coming forward and delay their compensation. Because mesothelioma sufferers typically only live between four and 18 months after diagnosis, this would shift many victim claims to wrongful death, which has a lower payout rate. Corporations like Honeywell have financial reason to want victims of their use of harmful chemicals to die quicker, so they can pay their families less.

<snip>
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2016/01/04/Bailout-Volkswagen-Congress-Wants-Do-Something-Absolutely-Crazy

[Sherman A1]

1. K&R!

[cali]

2. It doesn't get more despicable than targeting the suffering and dying

[Sherman A1]

3. Agreed

despicable may be a bit too charitable, but it will have to do....

[CharlotteVale]

4. Would Obama would sign this horror?

[cali]

5. I hope to hell not.

[cali]

6. Kick

[Vinca]

7. Remind me again why people vote for these characters.

[nxylas]

8. Because Obama wants to take away your guns...

...and use them to make you gay marry your dog and then abort the babies. At least I think that's what "Yargle blargle blaargh" means.

[cali]

9. Spot on.

[Scuba]

10. Because the media covers Kim Kardashian's ass instead of the vile actions of Congress.

[lonestarnot]

13. Or her ass covers the media.

[Bluenorthwest]

11. It reminds me of the cruel treatment of miners with black lung by the companies that fight their

very obvious and tragic claims until the miner is dead or nearly dead.

[Botany]

12. 1 word

veto

the repugs in congress think and in many ways act like they are bullet proof
a few years ago they passed a bill to take away overtime to all workers in America
and if we had an honest media that alone should have ended many of their careers
but w/a dirty media, gerrymandering, and magic voting machines this minority party
keeps staying in power.

[raouldukelives]

14. The biggest backers are shareholders in Honeywell.

They provide the cover of fiduciary responsibility in their own name to the most deceitful and distasteful acts one could imagine. All for more for themselves and less for everyone else. If that isn't the definition of Republican, I don't know what is.

[Ilsa]

15. VOTING STARTS AROUND NOON, EST. I've called

my congress critter to let them know how vehemently opposed I am to this legislation.

Please call and email your reps!

[cali]

16. Thank you so much.

[U of M Dem]

17. The owners of your society

will continue to strip you of your hard fought protections, sell you out, steal from you, and throw you away like the garbage they think you are in the name of profit, convenience, and self aggrandizement.

Change the game, change the system, change where power collects.

Do nothing to force meaningful change away from this festering system to our collective peril.

[Octafish]

18. Money sets the agenda in Washington.

Compared to what we have for a Congress, it'd be a heck of a lot better for the People if we just used the phone book and picked out 535 names at random. They'd side with the proper course of action more often than the greedheads we got.

[cali]

19. We live in a corpocracy

[Lizzie Poppet]

20. The House: good little corporate sock puppets doing their duty to their real constituency.

As a recent meme says, rural Oregon isn't the only place deranged militants have taken over a federal facility.

[cali]

21. Debating this now. Republicans are sickening. Democrats are feeble