On September 20, 2005, Reps. Ron Paul (R-TX, 14th district) and Roscoe G. Bartlett (R-MD, 6th district) became the 45th and 46th co-sponsors in the 109th Congress of HR 818, Rep. Maurice Hinchey's Federal Acupuncture Coverage Act of 2005. There are now two co-sponsors of HR 818 from Texas and four co-sponsors of the bill from Maryland.
This is the second time that Rep. Paul has co-sponsored the Federal Acupuncture Coverage Act. Two years ago, Rep. Paul co-sponsored HR 1477, the Federal Acupuncture Coverage Act of 2003.
This is also the fourth consecutive Congress in which Rep. Bartlett is a co-sponsor of Rep. Hinchey's acupuncture bill. He was an original co-sponsor of the Federal Acupuncture Coverage Act of 2001.
The co-sponsorship of HR 818 by Reps. Paul and Bartlett now leaves 22 representatives who cosponsored HR 1477 in the 108th Congress who have yet to co-sponsor HR 818 in this Congress. Of the 46 current co-sponsors, 38 are Democrats, seven are Republicans, and one is independent.
Interested parties can help increase the number of co-sponsors of HR 818 in the current Congress so that a hearing on the bill can be held by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health once a threshold of 100 co-sponsors is reached. Please contact Robert E. Marcus, a lobbyist for the Council of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Associations, at Marcus_Associates@yahoo.com or by phone at (276) 492-8098, to help with the passage of HR 818, or to contact your representative and urge that he or she sponsor HR 818.
