ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, August 2, 1996 TAG: 9608020042
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Leaving gridlock behind, the Republican-controlled House overwhelmingly passed election-year legislation Thursday night to make health insurance more available to millions of Americans and provide new tax breaks for long-term care.
The 421-2 vote belied months of controversy over the measure and set the stage for final Senate approval today. President Clinton's signature is assured.
``It means guaranteed health insurance for everyone who's in the system without regard to preconditions, so that we've relieved the largest single anxiety of working middle-class Americans,'' said Speaker Newt Gingrich.
``If you change your job or lose your job, you will no longer risk losing your health insurance too,'' Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said at a news conference attended by the Democratic hierarchy of Congress. ``And you won't be denied insurance because of an exclusion for a pre-existing condition.''
After 18 months of intense political combat between Republicans on the one hand and Clinton and fellow Democrats on the other, the health reform measure was one of several bills lawmakers hastened to clear before adjourning at week's end for the summer's political conventions.
``Let us for once talk about our system working,'' said Rep. Bill Archer, R-Texas and chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.
House Democrats failed in a last-minute attempt to include mental health coverage in the bill.
A landmark welfare bill gained final approval, 78-21, in the Senate over last-gasp objections from some Democrats who claimed it would plunge a million children into poverty.
Clinton announced Wednesday he would sign the welfare measure, saying Republicans had softened it considerably from two earlier versions he had vetoed. It would end the 60-year-old government guarantee of aid to the poor by setting a lifetime limit of five years per family and impose a work requirement on many recipients.
A minimum wage increase - 90 cents an hour over the next 13 months - was expected to be the last bill cleared before lawmakers leave the Capitol at week's end for a month-long break.
Passage would give outnumbered Democrats their most solid victory of the Republican-controlled Congress, even though the GOP added a package of small-business tax breaks to the measure to make it more palatable to business.
The health care bill includes an experimental program of tax-exempt medical savings accounts, as well as tax breaks for the costs of long-term care expected to save individuals and employers nearly $8 billion over the next decade. A portion of long-term care insurance premiums would be deductible, as would some of the cost of long-term care.
The terminally ill would be able to draw down their life insurance policies tax-free under the measure.
At the White House, Clinton told reporters he was eager to sign the health care bill and other measures making their way to his desk, which he said would ``give our people the capacity to make the most of the growing economy.''
The burst of bipartisanship stood in marked contrast to the political combat of the past 18 months, when Clinton - backed by solid Democratic support - vetoed several bills sent to him by Republicans.
This time, Republicans showed a willingness to compromise.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 linesby CNB