The Autism News | English


WASHINGTON — Legislation by a New Jersey congressman to extend the federal government’s autism research programs for three years is on its way to the White House.

President Barack Obama is expected to sign it by Friday, when the 2011 fiscal year ends.

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., cleared its only hurdle when the Senate approved it by voice vote late Monday. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., lobbied for the bill on the Senate floor.

Earlier, a small group of conservative Republicans — led by Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Jim DeMint of South Carolina — had put holds on the bill, but they withdrew them after striking a deal with Menendez. Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., struck a similar deal with the Senate opponents. Pitts is chairman of a health subcommittee in the House.

The Senate Republicans had complained that the bill calls on federal scientists to research a specific ailment rather than allowing experts to decide which diseases to study.

Under the agreement, Coburn and Menendez will ask the Government Accountability Office to examine whether there is duplication in federal autism research programs and whether autism funds are being misused, Menendez spokeswoman Tricia Enright said Tuesday.

Menendez said in a statement that the GOP holds had blocked action on the bill for more than two weeks, “causing families coping with autism in New Jersey and across our nation unnecessary anxiety over the fate of the research programs and support services they have come to rely upon.”

DeMint continues to believe Congress should not tell scientists which ailments to study, according to his spokesman, Wesley Denton.

“The GAO study that was agreed to will allow greater accountability and review the program for fraud, inefficiencies and redundancies,” Denton wrote in an email.

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