After nearly two weeks of debate, the Senate on June 29 voted, 52-43, to pass the FY2001 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education spending bill (H.R. 4577). Senators considered a number of amendments prior to approving the bill, which will now be sent to conference with the House measure. The House approved its version on June 14.
Senators adopted, 95-3, an amendment by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) that would require certain schools receiving federal funds for the purchase of computers to install Internet filtering software on computers used by minors. A similar provision was included in the House-passed bill (see The Source, 5/26/00).
After agreeing to the McCain amendment, the Senate voted, 75-24, to adopt an amendment by Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) that would prohibit schools that fail to install Internet filtering software from receiving telecommunications aid.
The Senate also agreed, by voice vote, to an amendment by Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) that would increase funding for impact aid under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) by $35 million to $1.07 billion. The amendment was offset by a reduction in the administrative account that funds oversight for the program.
Senators unanimously adopted, 99-0, an amendment by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) pertaining to Title VI funds under the ESEA. Current law allows Title VI funds to be spent on single-sex classrooms and schools as long as equal opportunities are provided for students of the other sex. However, Rep. Hutchison’s amendment would change “equal” to “comparable.” Supporters of the current law assert that the “comparable” standard would be inadequate, while those who favor Rep. Hutchison’s amendment claim schools should have more flexibility than the “equal” standard allows.
Additionally, the Senate approved, by unanimous consent, an amendment that would require the General Accounting Office (GAO) to conduct a comprehensive study on federal involvement in fetal tissue research. Offered by Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH), the amendment would require that the GAO study look at the annual number of orders for fetal tissue filed in conjunction with federally funded fetal tissue research or programs; the costs associated with the procurement, dissemination, and other use of fetal tissue; the manner in which federal agencies ensure that research facilities and their employees comply with federal fetal tissue law; the number of fetal tissue procurement contractors retained with federal funds; the number and identity of all federal agencies, within the scope of this bill, expending or exchanging federal funds in connection with obtaining or processing fetal tissue or the conduct of research using such tissue; the extent to which federal fetal tissue procurement policies and guidelines adhere to federal law; and the criteria that federal fetal tissue research facilities use for selecting their fetal tissue sources, and the manner in which the facilities ensure that such sources comply with federal law.
The amendment modified another amendment, offered by Sen. Smith, which would prohibit the use of funds to “pay, reimburse, or otherwise compensate, directly or indirectly, any abortion provider, fetal tissue procurement contractor, or tissue resource source, for fetal tissue, or the cost of collecting, transferring, or otherwise processing fetal tissue, if such fetal tissue is obtained from induced abortions.”
The Senate also adopted, 98-1, an amendment by Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD) that would provide an additional $10 million for education on, and prevention and detection of, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effects.
An amendment by Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-MN) that would provide an additional $10 million for loan forgiveness for child care provider programs was accepted by voice vote. The amendment was offset by reducing funding for salaries and expenses at the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.
Senators adopted an amendment, 98-0, offered by Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) that would fully fund the Department of Education’s portion of the Interagency Education Research Initiative (IERI). IERI is a collaborative research program among several federal agencies that conducts research and disseminates information on effective strategies to improve pre-K-12 education. The amendment was offset by reductions in administrative costs.
The Senate adopted, 58-40, an amendment by Sen. Jim Jeffords (R-VT) that would prohibit health discrimination on the basis of genetic information.
Prior to passing the Jeffords amendment, the Senate defeated, 44-54, an amendment offered by Senator Daschle that would have prohibited both health insurance companies and employers from discriminating on the basis of genetic information.
During debate on the amendments, Senator Jeffords expressed his concern that “Senator Daschle’s amendment contains new statutory language that is different from the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), which would result in treating genetics differently than other health information….I want to guard against employment discrimination, but I want to do it right.” Senator Jeffords then indicated that the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, which he chairs, will hold a hearing in the next “month or two” on the issue of genetic discrimination in the workplace. The hearing will look at whether the ADA provides coverage for genetic discrimination in the workplace; if it is determined that it does not, then the committee will enact legislation to provide such protection.
Senator Daschle countered that the ADA was passed at a time when science did not present such challenges, adding that “we are simply proposing that we clarify that it should be unlawful to discriminate on the basis of genetic information.” The Senate approved, 51-47, a revised Patients’ Bill of Rights offered by Senator Don Nickles (R-OK). The revised measure would provide a limited right for patients to sue their health plans in federal court; the earlier Senate version did not include a right to sue. The Senate then defeated, 47-51, an amendment by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) that would apply any congressionally approved patient protection legislation to all 161 million Americans participating in privately funded plans. The Republican plan, like the earlier Senate bill, would cover only the 48 million Americans participating in employee-sponsored health plans.
The margin was similar to the vote several weeks ago during consideration of the FY2001 Defense Authorization bill, when the Senate defeated a Democratic amendment to add the House-passed Patients’ Bill of Rights (H.R. 2990) to the legislation (see The Source, 6/9/00).
The Senate approved, 60-37, an amendment offered by Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) to establish an off-budget lockbox to strengthen Social Security and Medicare.
The Senate defeated an amendment by Sen. Jeffords that would have doubled funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to $2.6 billion. The amendment would have offset the cost by transferring $1.3 billion from a school construction and modernization program. The Senate tabled the amendment by a vote of 51-47.
Sen. Arlen Specter’s (R-PA) motion to table an amendment offered by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC) was defeated, 41-54. The Helms amendment was then approved by voice vote. The amendment would prohibit Title X clinics, community health centers, or Medicaid from “distribution or provision of postcoital emergency contraception, or the provisions of a prescription for postcoital emergency contraception to an unemancipated minor, on the premises or in the facilities of any elementary school or secondary school.” Current law allows for the distribution of emergency contraception at school-based clinics through funding provided by the federal programs listed in the amendment.
Several Democratic amendments were defeated when the Senate did not agree to waive the budget rules to allow for their consideration, with sixty votes required to waive the budget rules:
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