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Mental health bill named for Wellstone steps ahead in House
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WASHINGTON - A day after the Senate passed legislation that would require equal health insurance coverage for mental and physical illnesses when policies include both, the House took a step toward passing a similar bill.
The House Ways and Means health subcommittee approved the "Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act" Wednesday, named for the late Minnesota Democratic senator who championed the issue for years. The bill now goes to the full committee for a vote.
The House bill is sponsored by Rep. Patrick Kennedy, a Rhode Island Democrat who has battled depression, alcoholism and drug abuse, and Rep. Jim Ramstad, a Minnesota Republican who is a recovering alcoholic.
The Senate bill was sponsored by Kennedy's father, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Sens. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and Mike Enzi, R-Wyo.
EAVESDROPPING POWER
President Bush said he wants Congress to expand and make permanent a law that temporarily gives the government more power to eavesdrop without warrants on suspected foreign terrorists.
Without such action, Bush said during a visit to the super-secret National Security Agency's headquarters at Fort Meade, Md., "our national security professionals will lose critical tools they need to protect our country."
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act governs when the government must obtain warrants for eavesdropping from a secret intelligence court.
TERRORISM INSURANCE
Defying a White House veto threat, the House passed a 15-year extension of a post-9/11 terrorism insurance program, which will expire at year's end, to aid the insurance industry in the event of a terrorist attack. The bill is aimed at ensuring that developers can get insurance against losses from attacks.
HABEAS RIGHTS
The Senate rejected legislation that would have allowed terrorist suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to petition federal courts claiming that they're being held in error. The measure, sponsored by Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., would have given military detainees the right of habeas corpus -- the right to challenge one's detention in court.
PERMANENT FARM AID
A bipartisan group of farm-state senators called for permanent disaster aid to be part of the next farm bill. The lawmakers say a fixed program is needed to provide more immediate help to farmers who suffer crop losses from droughts, floods and other unpredictable weather. Congress now passes disaster aid for farmers on a case-by-case basis.
DRUG SAFETY
The Food and Drug Administration would gain new authority to ensure the safety of prescription drugs, including the power to mandate label changes that warn of newly emerging risks, under a bill passed by the House. The Senate was expected to pass the bill. President Bush is anticipated to sign it into law.
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