Copyright 1999 The Washington Post
The Washington
Post
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June 11, 1999, Friday, Final Edition
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A05
LENGTH: 456 words
HEADLINE:
WASHINGTON IN BRIEF
BODY:
Some Cities Lag,
Study Says
President Clinton will release a federal study today finding
that most cities are doing well, that some cities are still lagging far behind
the robust national economy and that many older suburbs are beginning to exhibit
the problems traditionally associated with urban areas.
The third annual
State of the Cities report will include some familiar good news about urban
unemployment (down from 8.5 percent in 1992 to 5.1 percent in 1998), urban
homeownership (over 50 percent for the first time ever) and urban wages (rising
even faster than suburban wages). It also will point out that poverty rates in
nearly one in every three cities are 50 percent higher than the national rate
and that sustained population losses still plague about one in every five
cities. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew M. Cuomo said the study
found that many inner-ring suburbs that emerged during the 1950s and 1960s are
beginning to experience urban-style job losses, population losses, income
inequality, crime and disinvestment. Meanwhile, newer outer-ring "exurbs" are
struggling to battle building-boom sprawl. Clinton will push for city-suburban
cooperation to rebuild older communities instead of overbuilding newer ones.
Social Security Work to Begin
Republicans and Democrats on a key
House committee agreed yesterday to begin working on a compromise to safeguard
Social Security, which faces insolvency by 2034.
House Ways and Means
Committee Chairman Bill Archer (R-Tex.) said the panel would hold closed
meetings "to discuss areas of common ground" and possibly prepare a draft bill.
Contraceptives Insurance Bill
A bipartisan
group of senators and representatives introduced legislation to extend
insurance coverage for contraceptives to all
women. Federal workers won the coverage last year.
"Women pay for
contraceptives, and insurance companies pay for Viagra. What's
wrong with this picture?" asked Rep. James C. Greenwood (R-Pa.) at a news
conference unveiling a bill that would require insurance plans
that cover prescription drugs and devices to provide equal coverage to prevent
pregnancy.
One in three insurance companies offer
contraceptives coverage, and the disparity forces women of
childbearing age to spend an average of 68 percent more than men in
out-of-pocket health care costs.
The lawmakers said their bill also
would reduce the number of abortions, which end half of the unintended
pregnancies in the United States.
The announcement came as 60 women's
groups asked the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to instruct employers
that excluding birth control pills and other contraceptives
from their health plans amounts to sex discrimination.
LOAD-DATE: June 11, 1999 
