Another setback has emerged in the drawn-out bid to establish a $US140 billion asbestos compensation fund in the US.

This time it’s a Senate fight that has knocked the bill off schedule, with disputes over judicial nominees.

Coupled with delays through the dozens of pending committee sessions, the brawl concerning which judges to use does nothing to speed up the process, which has already come up against considerable Democratic opposition.

But despite the setbacks Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter – who sponsored the bill – says he has a “fighting chance” of seeing it approved by the panel next week.