News in Brief: A Washington Roundup

A provision shielding drug companies from liability for making childhood vaccines that contain a mercury-based preservative almost held up passage of the homeland-security bill last week.

Several class actions have been filed in recent years by parents and other activists who believe that the vaccine preservative caused autism in children. Recent studies have thrown doubt on that suspected linkage. ( "New Study Discounts Autism-Vaccine Linkage," Nov. 20, 2002.)

Lawmakers inserted the vaccine measure and other disputed items into the House version of the bill at the last minute, sparking opposition when the bill to establish a federal Department of Homeland Security...