Besides recounting the bill’s hurdles over the years, Domenici — a Catholic and a Republican — offered his thoughts on how our concerns for people’s lives must extend beyond their births:

I went to a clinic that handles little tiny babies that are born premature and they showed us what new equipment they have and how the baby can be saved and nourished at even a pound and a half. We spend hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars to save little premature babies and that shows a real commitment on our part. And then we turn right around and, for the mentally ill, we have made it so difficult for so long to even say it’s an illness that you just can’t quite figure it out. We can do better.

Meanwhile, other publications are lauding Domenici’s effort, including this one, which wisely notes the coming costs of returning war veterans:

Perhaps, most importantly, as many members of the U.S. armed forces have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan with serious mental problems, more people are taking these issues more seriously. The stigma of having mental health problems is slowly eroding.

The mandate that insurers treat mental illnesses the same as any other physical ailment has been a long-fought desire of the state’s 36-year senior senator, who is ending his term due to a degenerative brain disease. The House is scheduled to vote at 2 p.m. EST, but Capitol Hill murmurs already hint at a post-election lame-duck session.

“They’re still calling around, so it makes me wonder,” Domenici said of House leaders in an interview with the New Mexico Independent today. “I thought they had it taken care of.

“We still haven’t gotten (U.S. Rep. Steve) Pearce convinced. That’s bad.”

Pearce, a Republican, is running against Democrat Tom Udall to succeed Domenici. Both voted against the House’s earlier bailout bill, which did not contain the mental-health parity provision or energy incentives added by the Senate.

Domenici declined to call the effort a “last gasp,” joking that he’s breathing fine. But he did acknowledge that gaining approval for the provision could appear to require that members “cripple it through.”

Lauded by The New York Times as “sound and fair-minded,” the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act has nevertheless been criticized as a potential insurance-buster, a sweetener to persuade balky House members and a “quirky procedural twist.”

Because many insurance plans already include parity, Domenici downplayed fears of demanding it at a time when the costs for such plans are escalating.

“Most insurers were present at the table,” he said. “They liked it. Many of them already offer it. We’re just guaranteeing it for the future.”

Domenici has first-hand experience with the ravages of mental illness and the hurdles to getting proper care. One of his daughters has a form of schizophrenia and, after bringing her problems to light, he encountered countless people whose families walked the same road.

“I’ve gotten more credit than I deserve for this bill,” he said. “People stop me more on this bill than any other initiative — `You’re the senator who wants mental health parity.’

“Having mental illness in families is still not an open issue. We’re embarrassed about it. You don’t know until you ask people about it. But it’s everywhere. Rich people. Poor people. Black people. Hispanics.”

By providing insurance coverage, Domenici said he hopes that the current, limited research and treatment options for mental-health care will increase the same way they did when Congress required coverage for heart conditions. If so, he said, “It won’t be a trauma to the health costs.”

Year by year, the bill has gained more congressional acceptance. Different versions passed both chambers this year, with lingering concerns over its potential $3.8 billion cost over five years. With the $800 billion rescue package, the Politico’s David Rogers said that issue appears to no longer be a stumbling block.

Besides the late Sen. Wellstone, a Democrat, Domenici has worked closely with Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy on the bill. In August, Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd said at the inaugural Domenici Public Policy Conference at New Mexico State University that the bill should pass as a tribute to both Domenici and Kennedy, who is being treated for brain cancer.

“I don’t think any bill should be passed as a tribute to any senator singularly,” Domenici said. “This is a tribute to the country. It adds to the American character.”

The legislation, which now heads to the U.S. House for action as early as Friday, authorizes purchase of up to $700 billion of troubled mortgage-backed securities created before March 14.

In the minutes leading up to the vote, Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., exhorted his colleagues to support the financial bailout bill and singled out New Mexico’s own Sen. Pete Domenici for special recognition.

Amid all the policies in the legislation to help right the American economy, Reid said, is a provision that also would require insurance companies to require that group health insurance coverage for mental illness and substance abuse be provided on the same terms as coverage for physical illnesses.  

It is legislation that Domenici, as well as Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and others, have worked for years to pass.

It would “be a fitting tribute to Sen. Domenici,” Reid said, if the Senate passed this bill as New Mexico’s longest-serving U.S. senator retires at the end of this term following three and a half decades in the Senate.

The financial bailout bill itself stipulates that $250 billion would be made availably immediately; $100 billion would be used at the president’s discretion; and $350 billion would be up to congressional review.

The bill also would revise the federal alternative minimum tax, which would save the middle class from $60 billion in taxes, Reid said. The legislation also would create business tax breaks, would prohibit CEOs of companies getting help from receiving “golden parachutes,” would give homeowners facing foreclosure much-needed help, and would raise the FDIC insurance limit at banks to $250,000 from $100,000.

New Mexico’s other senator, Jeff Bingaman, voted for the bailout bill, as did both presidential candidates, Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain.

The momentousness of Thursday night’s vote was not lost on the U.S. Senate.

“This is a big moment,” said Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky. “This is the kind of vote that we were sent here by the people to cast.”

“It is the one of the finest moments in the history of the Senate,” he said moments later..

Reid said his office had been flooded by calls from constituents and quoted from a letter he had received from a constituent in Nevada. The man said his home had lost $100,000 in value while his salary had dropped by 35 percent. “I’m fighting to stay current (on mortgage),” Reid quoted the man as writing.

“Mr. President, the rescue package we are about to pass is not for the titans of Wall Street,” Reid said to the Senate. “This plan is for the man in Henderson.”