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HenchPAC NewsAdvocacy groups have won overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress and passage of a bill to provide health care to thousands of women with breast cancer. Now they are pleading with President Clinton to sign the bill he supports in a public ceremony at the White House, to publicize the benefits that will become available to low-income women.
But Mr. Clinton will sign the bill in private, White House officials said tonight. A major reason, they said, is that they want to avoid the awkwardness of inviting Representative Rick A. Lazio, an influential advocate for the bill, who is running against Hillary Rodham Clinton in the New York race for the Senate.
Normally, the president would leap at the opportunity to have a public signing ceremony and would throw open the Rose Garden to supporters of the bill in Congress and dozens of women whom the bill is intended to help. Under political etiquette, Mr. Lazio, a Republican, would ordinarily attend, as would Mrs. Clinton, who also pushed for the legislation.
The Lazio campaign said today that there should be a public ceremony and that Mr. Lazio should be invited. John P. Feehery, a spokesman for J. Dennis Hastert, speaker of the House, endorsed that view.
But several White House officials said the administration did not want to give Mr. Lazio a platform to highlight his accomplishment. In any event, they said, Mrs. Clinton was instrumental in getting the bill passed.
"We have to make decisions on which bills to sign publicly and which ones to sign privately," said Jake Siewert, the White House press secretary. "On this one, we have opted for a private signing."
Chris Jennings, the health policy coordinator at the White House, said, "Different people see different levels of value in a signing ceremony."
The campaign for the bill was led by the National Breast Cancer Coalition and the American Cancer Society.
The groups wanted to change the situation under a 1990 law that allowed low-income women with no health insurance to receive free screenings for breast cancer and cervical cancer but did not provide free treatment for women too poor to afford insurance but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid. The bill just passed would authorize states to provide those women with Medicaid coverage.
"The current system of care is a haphazard patchwork," said Wendy K. D. Selig, managing director of federal government relations at the American Cancer Society.
In a radio address on Feb. 5, Mr. Clinton urged Congress to pass the bill, saying, "This is an issue that transcends political boundaries."
The bill, the Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act, was delivered to the White House on Thursday. Mr. Clinton has until Oct. 31 to act on it.
Fran Visco, president of the National Breast Cancer Coalition said: "We'd love to have a public signing ceremony. We are trying to get one, to recognize the incredible men and women across the country who have worked so hard over the last four years to pass this legislation."
Ms. Visco said Mr. Lazio "would have to be invited" to any signing ceremony. He was the chief sponsor of the original House bill, and he managed debate on the House floor when the bill was approved by a vote of 421 to 1 on May 9.
White House officials emphasized Mrs. Clinton's role.
"She argued adamantly to get money for the new program included in the president's budget," said Lissa Muscatine, a spokeswoman in Mrs. Clinton's White House office. "This wasn't on anybody's radar screen until the first lady championed it within the administration."
When the Senate passed the bill, President Clinton gave credit to his wife. Her "constant advocacy," he said, "has been the inspiration behind this administration's unwavering commitment to this issue."
Ann F. Lewis, a senior adviser to Mrs. Clinton's campaign, said: "It's an important bill. It should be signed as soon as possible."
But Ms. Lewis deflected questions about whether there should be a signing ceremony, saying: "That's determined by the president's schedule. Whatever works for him is fine with her."
Andrew L. Ehrlich, chief of staff for Mr. Lazio, said, "We are not interested in credit, but a signing ceremony would be terrific."
Mr. Feehery, the spokesman for Speaker Hastert, volunteered comments after a reporter called Mr. Lazio's office to ask about the bill.
"There are precedents for President Clinton to freeze Republicans out of bill-signing ceremonies, but Rick Lazio really ought to be invited," Mr. Feehery said. "He's one of the principal sponsors of the breast cancer bill. He's been working on it forever."
The original Senate version of the bill was introduced in March 1999 by Senator John H. Chafee, Republican of Rhode Island. After he died, his son, Lincoln Chafee, who succeeded him in the Senate, carried on the fight, with strong support from Democratic senators including Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland.
Under the federal program, doctors have provided more than two million screening, mammograms and Pap tests to low-income women. They have detected more than 5,800 breast cancers, more than 500 cervical cancers and 31,000 precancerous cervical lesions.
While endorsing the bill, the Senate Finance Committee issued a report expressing concern about expanding Medicaid to cover a specific disease. The new coverage "shall not be viewed as a precedent for extending Medicaid eligibility body part by body part," the report said.
But supporters of the bill said Congress decided 10 years ago to screen women for breast and cervical cancer.
"It is unconscionable to screen women for cancer and then turn our backs once the cancer is diagnosed," Senator Mikulski said.
And Lincoln Chafee added, "Diagnosis without treatment is only half the battle against breast cancer."
Before the White House disclosed its decision, Megan L. Sowards, a spokeswoman for Senator Chafee, said, "With the dynamic of the Senate race in New York, we're afraid that this bill will be signed in the middle of the night, without any fanfare."
That, according to the White House, is the president's prerogative.
HENCH adds: Yeah, right. Hillary threatened to bean Bill with another ashtray if Lazio got the photo op that would have killed her chances to be Queen of NY.
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