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Urgent Action Needed - Please Act Now to Ensure
Passage
As reported in an earlier in E-News from Washington (Vol. 01-26,
10/31/01) mental health parity passed the Senate as an amendment to the
Labor-HHS-Education spending bill. The meeting of the House-Senate
conference committee where the fate of mental health parity will be
determined is being delayed until December 3rd. Mental health counselors
and other advocates must step up grassroots pressure to counter the mass
of
anti-parity mail and faxes being sent by employers and insurers. House
Republicans continue to show the most resistance to accepting S. 543,
the Domenici-Wellstone "Mental Health Equitable Treatment
Act," and some are claiming that they are not hearing from
pro-parity constituents.
What You Can Do
Through Friday, November 30, constituents can use a special toll-free
parity "legislative hotline" at 1-866-PARITY4 (1-866-727-4894)
to reach the Capitol Switchboard and ask for their Representative's
office by name. When connected, ask for the health legislative assistant
and deliver the message below.
Targets (see names below) and Message:
A. Members of the House Appropriations Committee to urge them to accept
the Senate parity amendment, especially Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee
Chairman Ralph Regula (R-OH).
B. The chairman and ranking Democratic member of these House committees
(full committee and relevant subcommittees): Education and the
Workforce, Energy and Commerce, and Ways and Means.
Message: "I'm calling to urge the Representative to work with
Labor-HHS appropriations conferees to accept the Senate's mental health
parity amendment. This legislation will help families by banning
arbitrary limits on needed mental health services. I also urge the
Representative to cosign the mental health parity letter to conferees
being circulated by
Rep. Roukema ("ROCK-uh-muh"). This legislation will help those
suffering from
mental illness by banning arbitrary limits on needed mental health
services."
House Bill: The House full parity bill, the "Mental Health and
Substance Abuse Parity Amendments," (H.R. 162 <http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:h.r.0162:>,
Roukema), currently has 191 cosponsors, 24 of whom are Republican.
These cosponsors
are our best prospects to cosign the letter to conferees being
circulated by Reps. Marge Roukema (R-NJ), Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and
Patrick Kennedy (D-RI).
Targets for Messages A and B, With Cosponsors of H.R. 162 Marked:
Alabama: Callahan (R); Aderholt (R); Cramer (D) Cosponsor
Arizona: Kolbe (R) Cosponsor; Pastor (D) Cosponsor
California: Cunningham (R); Farr (D) Cosponsor; Doolittle (R); Lewis
(R);
Pelosi (D) Cosponsor; Roybal-Allard (D) Cosponsor. Miller (D) Education
&
Workforce Ranking Democrat; Thomas (R) Ways & Means Chairman; Stark
(D)
Cosponsor/Ways & Means Subcommittee Ranking Democrat
Connecticut: DeLauro (D) Cosponsor
Florida: Bill Young (R) Appropriations Committee Chairman; Dan Miller
(R);
Boyd (D); Meek (D)
Georgia: Kingston (R)
Illinois: Jackson (D) Cosponsor; LaHood (R)
Indiana: Visclosky (D) Cosponsor
Iowa: Latham (R)
Kansas: Tiahrt (R)
Kentucky: Northup (R); Rogers (R)
Louisiana: Vitter (R). Tauzin (R) Commerce Chairman
Maryland: Hoyer (D) Cosponsor
Massachusetts: Olver (D) Cosponsor
Michigan: Knollenberg (R); Kilpatrick (D) Cosponsor. Dingell
(D)
Commerce
Ranking Democrat
Minnesota: Sabo (D)
Mississippi: Wicker (R)
Missouri: Emerson (R)
New Hampshire: Sununu (R)
New Jersey: Frelinghuysen (R) Cosponsor; Rothman (D). Andrews (D)
Cosponsor/Education & Workforce Subcommittee Ranking Democrat.
New Mexico: Skeen (R)
New York: Lowey (D) Cosponsor; Hinchey (D) Cosponsor; Serrano (D)
Cosponsor;
Sweeney (R); Walsh (R) Cosponsor. Rangel (D) Ways & Means Ranking
Democrat
North Carolina: Price (D) Cosponsor; Taylor (R)
Ohio: Regula (R) Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman; Hobson (R);
Kaptur
(D) Cosponsor. Boehner (R) Education & Workforce Chairman; S. Brown
(D)
Cosponsor/Commerce Subcommittee Ranking Democrat.
Oklahoma: Istook (R)
Pennsylvania: Peterson (R); Sherwood (R); Fattah (D); Murtha (D);
Rhode Island: P. Kennedy (D) Cosponsor
South Carolina: Clyburn (D) Cosponsor
Tennessee: Wamp (R)
Texas: Granger (R); Bonilla (R); DeLay (R); Edwards (D)
Virginia: Goode (I); Moran (D) Cosponsor; Wolf (R)
Washington: Dicks (D); Nethercutt (R)
West Virginia: Mollohan (D) Cosponsor
Wisconsin: Obey (D) Appropriations Committee Ranking Democrat
Beth Powell
AMHCA Director of Public Policy and Professional Issues
801 N. Fairfax Street, Suite 304
Alexandria, VA 22314
703-548-6002, ext. 105
www.amhca.org
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