There’s nothing like headlines to get Congress’ attention. And the furor over the crazed chimp that mauled a woman in Connecticut last week has piqued our national legislature’s interest.

On Monday, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 80, the Captive Primate Safety Act. It would add nonhuman primates (monkeys, great apes, lemurs, etc.) to the definition of “prohibited wildlife species” in the law that prohibits the purchase or sale of such species. And yesterday, a companion bill was introduced in the Senate.

Now, versions of this legislation were introduced in previous Congresses, so these bills weren’t just slapped together for show. But bills that move in response to headline news should get a special second look. It’s the time when Congress is the least likely to be careful, and when the bill’s proponents will take advantage of headlines to roll their opposition. We call this wakeriding.

What’s the right and wrong on this? Should purchase and sale of lemurs be outlawed nationwide for all time because a single chimp went bonkers?

Here are the current votes on H.R. 80 and S. 462, both called the Captive Primate Safety Act. Click to vote, comment, learn more, or edit the wiki articles about the bills.