Doctors not prepared for new prescription pad rules
From AP via the Seattle Post Intelligencer
Excerpt: Millions of Medicaid patients and their pharmacists could be in for a nasty surprise Oct. 1.

A tiny provision tucked into a spending bill for Iraq requires that prescriptions for Medicaid patients be written on "tamper-resistant" pads. But most doctors do not use such pads.

The law is designed to make it harder for patients to obtain controlled drugs illegally and easier for the government to save money. The quick start date leaves little time to educate doctors and pharmacists.

"Our members are absolutely flabbergasted that they're going to be put on the hook for denying prescriptions if something is not on a tamperproof pad," said Paul Kelly, vice president of government affairs for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores. "Our biggest fear is the negative impact this could have on patient care and access to prescriptions."

Pharmacists' groups have asked lawmakers and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to delay putting the law in place.

"Millions of Medicaid beneficiaries may not be able to obtain their medications after Oct. 1," they said in a recent letter to lawmakers. "This could lead to higher Medicaid costs for emergency room visits, hospitalizations and physician office visits if medication cannot be obtained in a timely manner."
Doctors not prepared for new prescription pad rules

Labels: congress, health

Congressman: Cheney challenges classified oversight
From
Excerpt: Vice President Dick Cheney's office refused to cooperate with an agency that oversees classified documents, then tried to abolish the office when it challenged the actions, House oversight committee Chairman Henry Waxman said.

The National Archives' Information Security Oversight Office is charged by presidential order with ensuring that classified information and documents are properly handled by executive branch agencies.

According to a letter from William Leonard, director of the oversight office, Cheney's office argued it did not meet the definition of an executive branch agency and therefore was exempt.

Leonard also wrote that Cheney's office suggested his agency be abolished under a revision of the presidential order now under consideration.
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Labels: cheney, congress, secrecy

House rejects cuts to notorious school
From AP via the Miami Herald
Excerpt: Congress has turned back the latest attempt to cut funding for an Army school that trains military officers from Latin America and has a tainted past.

Just before midnight Thursday, the House voted 214-203 against a bid to eliminate the money used for foreign military officers to attend the controversial Army facility at Fort Benning, formerly called the School of the Americas.

The amendment, sponsored by Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., is similar to one that the school's critics have tried to pass for years. It failed 218-188 in a House vote last year.

The school is best known for training Latin American soldiers who fought communist insurgencies in the 1980s and 1990s. Critics have long charged that the Defense Department teaches abusive and illegal tactics there, citing allegations that many graduates later became involved in corruption, murder and human rights violations. Large protests are held annually outside the school near Columbus, Ga.

In the mid-1990s, the Pentagon acknowledged that training manuals previously used at the school recommended bribery, blackmail, threats and torture. In 2001, the Army changed the school's name to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, and officials say its curriculum now includes a renewed emphasis on human rights. The school also offers classes for civilians and police officers.
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Labels: congress, military, torture

Congress loads up $20 billion in pork

From the Washington DC Examiner
Excerpt: Congress has loaded up President Bush's request for "emergency" spending on the Iraq war with more than $20 billion in "pork" for members' districts.

Money for peanut storage in Georgia, spinach growers in California, menhaden in the Atlantic Ocean and even more office space for the lawmakers themselves is included in what has ballooned into a $124 billion war bill.

"This emergency supplemental bill has more ornaments hanging over our many branches of government than the White House Christmas tree," Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., said.

Originally, Bush asked for $105 billion in emergency funding. Democratic leaders say they want to grant the request to continue funding the war despite their desire to end it.

"We have provided all of the money the president requested- and more," boasted House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer. More

Labels: congress, iraq, spending

Bill would Limit Consumers' Credit Rights
From USA Today
Excerpt: Congress is considering pre-empting laws in 17 states that allow anyone to freeze their own credit and instead restricting the privilege to ID theft victims.
The proposed Financial Data Protection Act of 2006, expected to be voted on by the House as soon as next week, comes on the heels of the recent theft of sensitive data for 26 million veterans and active duty military personnel. If it becomes law, vets and military personnel who live in states that permit unrestricted credit freezes would lose that option.

A credit freeze cuts off access to your credit history. Since most banks and merchants insist on seeing a credit report before issuing credit, identity thieves can't open bogus accounts using ill-gotten data. Under the bill, backed by the financial services industry, simply having your data lost or stolen isn't enough. You must file a police report describing a specific instance of it being used to commit a crime.

"It's like telling someone you can't put a deadbolt on your front door until after you've been burglarized," says Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna.
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Labels: congress, consumer, identity theft, rights

Congress Boosts Pay, Postpones Other Work
From the Washington Post
Excerpt: The Republican-controlled Congress helped itself to a $3,100 pay raise on Friday, then postponed work on bills to curb spending on social programs and cut taxes in favor of a two-week vacation.
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Labels: congress, spending

Levee's Fate Sealed in Washington  
From the Los Angeles Times

Excerpt:  For years, Washington had been warned that doom lurked just beyond the levee. And for years, the White House and Congress had dickered over how much money to put into shoring up century-old dikes and carrying out newer flood
control projects to protect the city of New Orleans.
As recently as three months ago, the alarms were still sounding -- and still being brushed aside.  More

Labels: congress, katrina

Congress Likely to Probe Guard Response
From the Associated Press
Excerpt:  Several states ready and willing to send National Guard troops to the rescue in New Orleans didn't get the go-ahead until days after the storm struck — a delay nearly certain to be investigated by Congress. 

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco help from his state's National Guard last Sunday, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. Blanco accepted, but paperwork needed to get the troops en route didn't come from Washington until late Thursday. More

Labels: congress, katrina