Copyright 2002 The Seattle Times Company The Seattle
Times
June 28, 2002, Friday Fourth Edition Correction Appended
SECTION: ROP ZONE;
News; Pg. A5; Capital Watch
LENGTH: 869 words
HEADLINE: Capital Watch
DATELINE: Washington
BODY: House OKs GOP drug legislation
WASHINGTON --
Republicans pushed Medicare prescription-drug legislation
through a weary House early today, rejecting Democratic claims the bill was an
election-year gimmick that would do little to help senior citizens. The 221-208
vote fell largely along party lines, and sent the measure to an uncertain fate
in the Senate.
The legislation would commit $320
billion over the next decade for a system of Medicare
prescription-drug coverage through the private insurance industry.
Costs would be heavily subsidized for low-income Medicare
beneficiaries. Under a typical plan, others would pay a monthly premium of
roughly $33 and an annual deductible of about $250.
The government would pay 80 percent of the next $1,000 of drug costs
and 50 percent of the subsequent $1,000.
All
beneficiaries -- low-income included -- would have to pick up the tab beyond
that, until they reached $3,700 in out-of-pocket expenses, at which time all
additional costs would be covered.
The measure also
provides billions of dollars in increased Medicare payments to hospitals,
doctors and nursing facilities.
"This bill is a giant
step forward for seniors in America," said Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn. "This is
the greatest leap forward for women in health care since the founding of
Medicare."
In a debate that stretched well past
midnight yesterday, Democrats countered the legislation marked the latest in a
long string of GOP attacks on a program created in 1965. "There's no assured
benefits and there's no set premiums because the Republicans are privatizing
Medicare," said Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Seattle. "They are giving this whole
benefit to the private insurance companies."
Military-spending measure is biggest passed in decades
WASHINGTON -- The House yesterday passed a $355 billion
defense-spending bill that includes a 4.1 percent pay raise for military
personnel and some of the biggest funding increases for the military in
decades.
Minutes later across the Capitol, the Senate
approved a $393 billion bill that maps out defense-spending policy for the
fiscal year 2003 beginning Oct. 1 and seeks to lay out a delicate compromise on
the budget for a missile-defense system.
In completing
the two defense bills before leaving for its July 4 recess, Congress responded
to the urgings of President Bush that it put defense at the top of its
legislative list. "They don't need to delay the defense bill in a time of war,"
he said in a speech earlier this week.
The Senate bill,
passed 97-2, authorizes or approves military-spending programs for the Pentagon
and other agencies, such as the Energy Department, with military functions; the
House passed its version last month. The House spending bill, passed 413-18,
details specific spending for the fiscal year.
House
GOP push through raise in U.S. debt limit
WASHINGTON --
Republicans barely muscled a $450 billion debt-limit increase through Congress
yesterday, finally resolving an issue that had become an increasingly difficult
political burden for the GOP.
After weeks of saying
they lacked the votes to win, top Republicans spent the day lobbying
rank-and-file lawmakers and abruptly brought the bill to the House floor. The
measure was approved by a mostly party-line 215-214, with just three Democrats
and six Republicans defecting.
The
Democratic-controlled Senate had approved the same increase in the borrowing
ceiling June 11 by a bipartisan 68-29 margin. President Bush is certain to sign
it.
No one doubted that, eventually, Congress would
raise the current $5.95 trillion debt limit to avert an unprecedented federal
default. But for months, Democrats used the issue as the symbol of what they say
are President Bush's failed fiscal policies, particularly the tax cut he pushed
through Congress last year.
"Two Republicans, Mr.
Reagan and Mr. Bush, they dug the hole," Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Seattle, said of
the deficits that prevailed before then. "We dug us out of it and now you're
back into it. ... Why don't you admit you made a mess?"
Until yesterday, House GOP leaders said their plan was to win passage
of the debt-limit increase by including it in the popular counterterrorism
package. But Democrats were eager to force a separate vote on the issue so in
this fall's congressional elections, their candidates could accuse Republicans
of favoring federal borrowing to pay for last year's tax cut.
Amtrak to get $100 million, seeks $205 million more
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration said yesterday it would lend
Amtrak $100 million to keep its trains running through next month.
Amtrak and Transportation Department officials said they
would ask Congress to provide the rest of the $205 million the railroad says it
needs to operate until Sept. 30, when the fiscal year ends.
Yesterday's developments mean trains will run past the Fourth of July
weekend.
There is no danger of Amtrak cutting specific
routes to save money. Amtrak, which lost $1.1 billion last year, had raised the
possibility of shutting down rail service nationwide shortly after July 4
because it was running out of money.
CORRECTION-DATE: July 2, 2002
CORRECTION: . A headline accompanying an item in
this Capital Watch notebook incorrectly said Amtrak was seeking $205 million
more from Congress after getting a $100 million loan, for a total of $305
million. Amtrak was actually seeking a total of $205 million.
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