Medicaid Funds for Poor Addicts Backed in Senate

The Senate on Tuesday for the first time authorized medical treatment on request for indigent drug addicts, with the bills to be paid by Medicaid.

The extension of coverage eventually may include millions of people addicted to crack cocaine, said Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.), sponsor of the provision, which passed by voice vote. He estimated the cost at $300 million a year, starting in October, 1991.

Moynihan said his proposal would carry out the congressional mandate for treatment on request for addicts that was adopted in 1988 as part of the legislation setting up the office of national drug policy director.

The action came as the Senate worked late on a bill to set national anti-drug strategy in response to President Bush’s declaration of war on drugs.

More Agents, Courts

In other developments, the Senate:

--Authorized the hiring of an additional 1,000 FBI agents, 350 additional agents for the Drug Enforcement Administration and 300 more U.S. attorneys and authorized more federal courts, U.S. marshals and public defenders to deal with narcotics. This would cost $156.5 million.

--Approved a $500,000 pilot program for drug testing of federal prisoners and a six-month, $400,000 study to come up with recommendations for a testing program to be adopted by states and local governments.

--Adopted a proposal to cut administrative red tape and allow swifter eviction of drug dealers or other criminals from public housing units.

--Directed federal judges, with rare exceptions, not to allow those convicted of drug trafficking to remain free on bond while they appeal their convictions.

--Passed higher penalties for crimes committed with sawed-off rifles, automatic weapons or bombs, raising the maximum term from 5 to 10 years.

Democrat Stamp on Plan

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and manager of the omnibus drug bill, said it represented an attempt by Democrats to put their stamp on the drug plan announced by the President a month ago.

Speaking on his proposal to expand the FBI by 1,000 agents and take other steps to strengthen the federal criminal justice system, Biden said the FBI was taking agents from other duties with organized crime and white-collar crime task forces to add them to the drug war.

He quoted FBI Director William S. Sessions as saying that the FBI was able to target only 225 of the 450 drug rings it had identified because of a shortage of personnel. Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), the Republican floor manager, supported the Biden amendment and said he hoped that the Bush Administration would find the money to pay for the additional law enforcement personnel.

Additional Funds

It was the second Democratic initiative on anti-drug programs since the presidential address. Last week, the Senate voted to add $1.1 billion to Bush’s requests for drug funds under a bipartisan compromise worked out after former Senate Democratic leader Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia advocated an even larger increase in appropriations for the anti-drug campaign.

“We’ll be discussing drug strategy for decades to come,” said Sen. Warren B. Rudman (R-N.H.).

Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) won Senate approval for his proposal to require a study of U.S. economic relations with the Andean nations of Peru, Bolivia and Colombia, source of nearly all the cocaine that is processed and later sold in the United States.

“Our anti-drug policy can’t work except in the framework of a broader economic policy,” Nunn said in contending that the President should re-examine trade relations with the three Latin American countries.