House OKs Dial-a-Porn Limits

The House on Monday sent President Bush restrictions on companies that provide pornographic telephone services, restoring sanctions that the Supreme Court struck down in June.

The limitations on the $2-billion-a-year dial-a-porn industry were included in a $156.7-billion measure for this year’s health and welfare programs that lawmakers dispatched to the White House on a voice vote.

The bill lacked a provision, included in the original version of the legislation, making the first major expansion of federal abortion rules in nine years. It would have permitted use of government revenues for abortions for poor women in cases of rape or incest.

That language prompted a veto by Bush on Oct. 21, which the House failed to override four days later.

A 1988 law prohibited “obscene or indecent” telephone communications for commercial reasons. But five months ago, the high court ruled that obscene messages could be banned, but not indecent ones. The legislation approved Monday prohibits obscene telephone communications for commercial purposes. It also requires telephone companies to block access to dial-a-porn services unless a customer has asked for them.

The overall spending bill also contains $4.7 billion for employment and training programs, more than $1.5 billion for AIDS research and treatment and $5.4 billion to help elementary and secondary school students from low-income families.