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http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/11/national/11HOME.html?tntemail0

Leaders Promise Repeal of Provisions Hidden in Bill

By DAVID FIRESTONE

ASHINGTON, Jan. 10 — Congress will eliminate three special-interest provisions that caused a furor after they were anonymously inserted into the domestic security law last year, Republican leaders of the House and Senate announced today.

The provisions, which included a waiver of liability for vaccine makers, astounded Democrats and many Republicans last year when they were added to the law without notice or debate. Centrist senators from both parties went along with them to create the Department of Homeland Security, but won a promise from Republican leaders to review the provisions in the new Congress.

In an agreement announced today, that promise was kept, said the new Senate majority leader, Bill Frist of Tennessee. When the two houses take up a spending bill later this month to keep the government operating, it will include a section to revise or eliminate the special-interest provisions in the domestic security act, Dr. Frist said. Spokesmen for the speaker of the House, J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, and the majority leader, Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, said the House would also approve the measure.

"That was a promise that was made in the 107th Congress that we've been able to fulfill in the last few minutes," Dr. Frist said.

The new language, which won the approval of many of the senators who were most angered by last year's maneuver, will remove a section that limited the liability of vaccine manufacturers in lawsuits. The provision, which no one would claim responsibility for, would have prevented lawsuits by families who say a mercury-based vaccine preservative led to their children's autism.

Dr. Frist, who wrote a similar provision in an unrelated vaccine bill, said he still supported the idea as a way to strengthen manufacturers as the first line of defense against biological terror. He said he would bring his bill up again, but it would go through the regular process of committee hearings and amendments.

Today's language will also remove a provision in the domestic security law that allows the new department to contract with American companies that move abroad to avoid federal taxes. The measure will say that such companies can receive domestic security contracts only if they are essential to national security.

The agreement also calls for revision of a provision to create a domestic security research center in a way that gives a preference to Texas A&M University and other Texas institutions. The narrow criteria defining the institution will be broadened to permit many other universities to compete, according to a draft of the agreement, although some last-minute jockeying over the precise language was still taking place.

Some senators, including Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas, said they were still concerned that the language would benefit Texas A&M.

When the provisions came to light last year, Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic move to strip them from the bill. At the time, many critics said their secretive creation undermined confidence in the legislative process. Many critics were pleased with today's agreement.

"The remedy of the three egregious provisions included in the Homeland Security bill is a victory for fairness," said Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, who fought them. "These three provisions should never have been slipped into the homeland security bill at the 11th hour without the benefit of debate or committee review."

The vaccine provision caused the most consternation on Capitol Hill, because of the complaints from families who wanted to sue vaccine makers and because no official in the White House, the Senate or the House would acknowledge inserting the provision in what appeared to be the unrelated creation of the Homeland Security Department. Even today, Dr. Frist, the biggest proponent of the provision, said he was not responsible, as did the House leaders, through their spokesmen.

But Dr. Frist said his efforts on behalf of vaccine makers were not over, and today's agreement includes a provision expressing the "sense of the Senate" that legislation will pass in six months granting protection to manufacturers as well as a way for patients who suffer vaccine-related injuries to pursue their grievances.

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