The sharply divided US Congress has been able to agree on one thing at least – that the word “lunatic” should be banned.<\/p>\n
The House of Representatives voted 398-1 on Wednesday to strike the term from all federal legislation, after the Senate did the same in May.<\/p>\n
The measure is designed to remove language that has become outdated or demeaning from the US code.<\/p>\n
The bill will now go to President Barack Obama for his signature.<\/p>\n
Senator Kent Conrad, one of the sponsors of the measure, said: “Federal law should reflect the 21st Century understanding of mental illness and disease, and that the continued use of this pejorative term has no place in the US code.”<\/p>\n
The word still appears in some parts of federal law – a section of financial regulation, for example, addresses the power of a bank to act as a “committee of estates of lunatics”.<\/p>\n
The only “no” vote came from Texas congressman Louie Gohmert, who said it was madness for lawmakers to waste time on such a measure when more high-profile issues loomed, such as the federal debt.<\/p>\n
“Not only should we not eliminate the word ‘lunatic’ from federal law when the most pressing issue of the day is saving our country from bankruptcy,” said Rep Gohmert in a statement.<\/p>\n
“We should use the word to describe the people who want to continue with business as usual in Washington.”<\/p>\n