[FP] FW: Bill to Limit Nat'l ID Plan

["Vladimir Z. Nuri" <vznuri@netcom.com>]

From: "ScanThisNews" <mcdonalds@airnet.net>
Subject: [FP] FW: Bill to Limit Nat'l ID Plan
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1998 22:09:53 -0500
To: "Scan This News Recipients List" <scan@efga.org>


[Forwarded message from:]
believer@telepath.com [mailto:believer@telepath.com]
Sent: Monday, May 05, 1997 3:12 PM
To: believer@telepath.com
Subject: Bill to Limit Nat'l ID Plan

---------------------------
NOTE TO LISTEES:  Remember:  LIMITING is NOT what we want.  Limiting will
only detail the terms and conditions under which a National ID *W*I*L*L* be
required.  We want no ID at all.  Let's make this clear to legislators.
They still don't get it.
---------------------------

Source:  Washington Post
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19980904/V000365-090498-idx.htm
l

Senate Mulls Healthcare ID Proposal

By Cassandra Burrell
Associated Press Writer
Friday, September 4, 1998; 1:39 a.m. EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A plan to assign every American a lifetime
health-care ID number, similar to a Social Security number, could face
new limits under a measure headed for Senate debate.

A provision introduced Thursday by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison,
R-Texas, would prohibit the Health and Human Services Department
from going forward with the plan until Congress approves its specifics.

Critics say the system, being developed as part of the 1996 Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, could invade privacy by
opening medical histories to insurers, employers and others. The law
guarantees that anyone changing or losing a job would be able to get
health insurance, even with a pre-existing medical condition.

``The plan, as HHS intended to carry it forward, raises questions of
excessive government involvement and control -- not to mention privacy,''
Hutchison said.

The Senate Appropriations Committee added Hutchison's amendment to
an $82 billion spending bill funding the Labor, Education and Health and
Human Services departments as well as several related agencies for the
fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.

The committee approved the overall bill with little debate and sent it to
the
Senate. But some members said they planned to introduce more
controversial issues into the bill during floor debate, including provisions
dealing with federal funding of single-sex classrooms and allowing
Medicare recipients to go outside the program for care not covered by the
plan.

President Clinton has threatened to veto a matching bill in the House
because it lacks money for some of his favorite programs, such as summer
jobs for poor youth and low-income heating assistance.

Also Thursday, the Senate resolved a dispute over staffing at the Federal
Election Commission, clearing the way for passage of a $29.9 billion
spending bill funding the Treasury Department and related agencies.

The Treasury bill was pulled from the Senate floor in late July because of
Democratic objections to a Republican amendment that would have made
it easier to remove the FEC's staff director and general counsel. With
resolution of the issue, the bill passed 91-5 Thursday without further
debate.

Introduced by Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the disputed amendment
sought to limit to four years the currently open-ended terms of the two
officials and to require approval of four of the FEC's six commissioners
before the terms could be extended.

Each party selects three commissioners. Democrats, led by Sen. Carl
Levin of Michigan, contended the amendment would let one party remove
an official for no reason and undermine the agency's independence.

Under a compromise worked out with Levin, the current general counsel
and staff director would not have term limits, future service would be set
at six years with votes of only three commissioners required to approve an
extension.

The $27 billion House bill, which passed in July, does not include language
on the FEC staffers. Differences will have to be worked out in a
House-Senate conference.

The Senate bill, which would increase money for drug enforcement, gang
resistance and customer service by the Internal Revenue Service,
establishes spending at $7.85 billion for the IRS, $1.7 billion for the U.S.
Customs Service and $593 million for the Secret Service.

Like the House bill, it would freeze salaries for members of Congress but
would allow 3.6 percent cost-of-living raises for other federal workers.

It also was amended to require federal employee health plans that cover
prescription drugs to provide coverage for contraceptives.

 � Copyright 1998 The Associated Press

-----------------------
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is
distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and
educational purposes only. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
-----------------------