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Shays Wants Hearings on Morning After Pill
Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) plans to request that House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis (R-Va.) hold hearings into the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) failure to decide on the status of the "morning-after" pill. The FDA has put off action on an application from Barr Laboratories, the makers of Plan B, to permit sales of the emergency-contraceptive drug without a prescription.
"Hearings are long overdue" on why the FDA has not ruled on the drug despite the overwhelmingly recommendation of two agency advisory committees in 2003, Shays said at a press briefing today that also included Democratic Reps. Carolyn Maloney (N.Y.) Joe Crowley (N.Y.) and Jay Inslee (Wash.).
"The FDA has failed to take action on approving Plan B for over-the-counter status, despite scientific data that shows it would be safe," he said. Opponents of abortion rights oppose changing the drug's status and argue that, in some cases, it acts as an abortifacient. Shays added that any hearings likely would not be held until next year.
Tanner Calls for Support on Redistricting Plan
Rep. John Tanner (D-Tenn.) called on House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) to hold hearings on Tanner's redistricting proposal, which closely mirrors a bill Sensenbrenner proposed 16 years ago in the 101st Congress. Both proposals attempt to depoliticize redistricting by turning the task over to five-member bipartisan commissions.
"It is evident from the introduction of your legislation 16 years ago that this issue transcends time and party affiliation," Tanner wrote to Sensenbrenner Wednesday. "I believe that hearings on this important matter would lead to meaningful changes in the way we elect our representatives to the People's House."
Both the bills require that the commissioners redraw districts based on compactness and contiguity, although the bills have different requirements on who may be a commissioner and on whether the state legislature must approve the plan, according a comparison provided by Tanner's office.
Bomb Explodes at Representative's Office
Rep. Peter King (R-NY), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, may be dealing with a security threat of his own.
A three-foot pipe bomb exploded near his office in Massapequa Park on Long Island at about 3 o'clock in the morning Wednesday, but was not found until the following afternoon.
King rushed to his office in Long Island where the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Nassau County police bomb squads were investigating the scene and had set up a command post behind the office building.
The pipe bomb was found four feet from the rear door of investment firm Edward Jones, which shares the building with King's office and a post office. The blast shattered a second-floor window and damaged the rear door.
King said his office occupies most of the second floor and said that the bomb may have been aimed at his office rather than at the other inhabitants. If it had blast through a window during the day, the damage could have been much worse and people could have been injured, he said.
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