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Commentary: A Bipartisan Effort to Repeal Homeland Security Vax Indemnity?

By Lenny Schafer

[With some material from a report from The Citizens Voice.]

In addition to Rep. Dan Burton's efforts to remove the vaccine manufacturers indemnity from accountability and lawsuit caps, other members from both parties have promised post-facto action. Republican Senators Snowe, Collins from Maine and Chaffee from Rhode Island had wrangled commitments from Senate House leader Dick Armey to revisit the legislation during its funding phase in the new session next year.

Along with them, Republican Senator Arlen Specter from Pennsylvania voted in favor of the Homeland Security Act. Specter said he believed it was "vitally important" that the act be passed so "we move ahead to put all the so-called dots on the screen." "Had all the dots been on the screen, I think 9/11 may have been prevented," Specter said. Specter added that all provisions, including the provision about childhood vaccines, "require very extensive consideration and analysis." "I am very distressed to see them added on the bill, with no hearings and no chance for consideration," Specter said, "This is really a case where it is a matter of take it or leave it on a bill which is undesirable in many aspects, but the importance of protecting America from terrorist attacks outweighs so many of these provisions which are highly undesirable."

Specter concluded that the bill was presented as "legislative blackmail, with the House having gone home, a take-it-or-leave-it proposition" which put him in a "very difficult position." On the Democratic side, congressional leaders Sen. Daschle and Rep. Pelosi also vow to repeal these and other provisions of the Homeland Security Bill. To be sure, any reversal will not come easy, if at all. The last time some congressional Democrats were hopeful of fixing legislation after-the-fact was when President Clinton signed the Welfare Reform Act. It never happened.

The best possible scenario for families with autism would be for both camps to come together to make a bipartisan push at the drastically needed changes to the legislation. For progress to happen, there has to be less, not more politicizing of the issues. There was never any bipartisan effort to fix the Welfare Reform Act, so it is not surprising it didn't go anywhere. Politicians don't always act like hookers. Sometimes they can be statesmen, if the cause is right. Once again, its up to parents to take the lead and show them the way. We show them our non-partisan kids and what non-partisan autism has done to them. Tort reform should never come at the expense of disabled children and their extra need for equal protection under the law. We must put forth bipartisan solutions, and avoid the temptation to fall into partisan wallowing and recrimination. Let's work together to fix this epidemic so we can all go home.