What Congress did this week

Not much attention on them these days with the presidential race, but here's the latest and greatest:

The House passed a long-time-in-the-making mental health party bill on a vote of 268-148. The bill requires health insurers to provide the same level of coverage for mental illness and drug and alcohol addiction as for other ailments. The Senate passed a less extensive measure last year, which the White House favors.

The Senate passed a consumer product safety bill that beefs up the Consumer Product Safety Commission, virtually bans lead content in toys and mandates independent testing of children's products. A compromise must be working out with the House. The White House has not (yet) threatened a veto.

Of course, President Bush vetoed a bill passed by Congress that banned the CIA from using waterboarding and other torture techniques on terror suspects by making them have to comply with military guidelines.