House panel passes pay raise, restores contraceptive coverage

House appropriators Tuesday overwhelmingly agreed to give federal employees a 4.6 percent pay raise next year and to restore to the fiscal 2002 Treasury-Postal appropriations bill a requirement that federal employee health plans that cover prescription drugs also pay for prescription contraceptives.

Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., added the pay raise amendment to the 2002 Treasury-Postal appropriations bill at a House Appropriations Committee meeting Tuesday morning. If passed by the full House and Senate and signed in to law, the amendment would make civilian raises more comparable with the 4.6 percent raise for military personnel the Bush administration has proposed. Bush has also proposed giving additional targeted raises to military personnel that would boost increases to between 5 percent and 10 percent for service members, depending on their rank. "This is a great victory for federal employees. The principle of pay parity is vitally important to showing federal employees that we acknowledge and appreciate their work," Hoyer said. The prescription contraceptives provision had been included in the previous three appropriations bills. But President Bush had asked in his budget that it be dropped, although the administration did not explain its rationale.

The vote on the amendment offered by Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., who authored the original provision in 1998, was 40-21. It included 12 Republicans--seven of whom Democratic aides said had not voted for the provision previously.

Many abortion rights opponents believe that some forms of birth control act as abortifacients in that they prevent a fertilized egg from implanting into a woman's uterus. However, the only legislator to speak against the amendment, Treasury- Postal Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ernest Istook, R- Okla., cited economics rather than ideology.

"I do not believe you can have mandates to expand coverage and not believe you are not adding costs," Istook said.

Lowey responded that contraceptive coverage has not been cited as a major driver of resurgent health insurance premium inflation. She added that she is confident she will be able to maintain the provision on the House floor.

"In the year 2000 it's hard to believe that anyone could challenge contraception," she said.