By Drew Armstrong, CQ Staff

Lawmakers and lobbyists who favor mental health parity legislation have said for months that the 110th Congress is the best chance in more than a decade to get a bill to the president’s desk.

But the inclusion of the parity provisions in a financial bailout package is another in a series of high-risk gambles that could fell the parity legislation yet again, depending on whether the House clears the Senate’s new package this week.

However, now that the mental health provisions have been added, at least one House member — key parity advocate Jim Ramstad , R-Minn. — is reconsidering his opposition to the rescue legislation, according to an aide.

The parity measure had already stalled after being tied to another contentious measure, a Senate package of tax extenders, that led to gridlock.

If the larger legislation that now includes the bailout, the extenders and mental health parity does not clear Congress, then supporters of the parity language will have to find another way to get it enacted.

Advocates Will Pressure House Members

For now, backers of the parity measure are optimistic about its inclusion in the Senate measure, given that the package of tax extenders and parity provisions stalled.

“The first thing we were worried about was [lawmakers] finishing the financial markets bill and getting out of here without doing anything else — this is potentially a very good thing,” said Andrew Sperling, lobbyist for the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Advocates for mental health parity will step up pressure on House lawmakers in advance of the vote on the new Senate bill after laying low early in the week and avoiding major lobbying activity.

“We’re going to work very, very hard to make sure that the House supports this,” Sperling said.

The Senate bill could at least sway the retiring Ramstad, who has helped lead the effort to pass mental health parity legislation for more than a decade. He voted against the initial bailout bill Sept. 29.

“The inclusion of mental health parity, tax extenders and increased deposit insurance have caused him to reconsider his position” opposing the bailout, an aide to Ramstad said Wednesday evening.

But overall, the inclusion of the parity language has not translated into a visible new groundswell of House support for the larger bill.