Copyright 2000 Times Publishing Company
St.
Petersburg Times
October 21, 2000, Saturday, 0 South Pinellas
Edition
SECTION: NATIONAL; Pg. 10A
LENGTH: 454 words
HEADLINE:
GOP seeks health care deal with White House
SOURCE:
Compiled from Times Wires
DATELINE: WASHINGTON;
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.
BODY:
Striving for a
last-minute election year accomplishment, House Republicans are negotiating with
President Clinton on tax breaks to help people pay for long-term care for the
elderly and disabled as well as their own insurance premiums.
The
long-term care issue is one of several health-related tax measures costing $
75-billion over 10 years that could emerge in a final package Congress is
expected to move next week - some of them linked to a $ 1 increase in the
minimum wage sought by the president.
With opposition in their own ranks
to Clinton's proposed $ 3,000 tax credit for long-term health care, House GOP
leaders have outlined an alternative letting people claim a tax deduction on up
to $ 10,000 a year in long-term care expenses. The bottom-line benefit of the
deduction would vary based on a taxpayer's income.
House Speaker Dennis
Hastert, R-Ill., is also insisting on a new tax deduction for people who pay at
least 50 percent of their own health insurance premiums. The non-partisan Joint
Committee on Taxation estimates this could help 26-million people.
"We
have proposed that individuals be given the same opportunity to write off health
care costs as big corporations," Hastert said in an opinion piece published
Friday by the Washington Post.
The health care items are part of an
end-of-session tax cut totaling up to $ 260-billion over 10 years that
Republican leaders intend to finalize next week.
Clinton signs AIDS bill
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - President Clinton signed legislation Friday
authorizing more than $ 1-billion a year for AIDS prevention and treatment.
Clinton signed a bill reauthorizing for five years the Ryan
White Care Act, which expired Oct. 1. The original law was passed in
1990, the same year that Ryan White, an 18-year-old Indiana hemophiliac who
contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion, died.
For the first time, the
legislation factors in HIV infections as well as AIDS cases in determining how
federal money will be distributed. Supporters say that will mean more money for
programs that help infants, women, minorities and people in rural areas.
The legislation approves $ 20-million a year for programs to reduce HIV
transmission from mothers to their babies and $ 30-million for programs to
encourage those infected with HIV to notify their partners.
INTERNET
FILTERING: The White House is pressing Congress to soften an initiative that
would require schools and libraries to use filtering software to keep children
from seeing objectionable Internet sites. It suggests such decisions be left to
local authorities. Polls show Americans want children protected from Web smut,
however, and Republicans in Congress are leaving little room for change.
LOAD-DATE: October 21, 2000
