Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 23, 1990 TAG: 9005230361
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
By a 403-20 margin, lawmakers endorsed a sweeping bill that would guarantee the disabled, and those afflicted with AIDS, with such rights as equal access to employment and public accommodation, as well as to services offered by the transportation and telecommunications industries.
"It's not just 43 million Americans who won today; every American won today," Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told a group of cheering handicapped people and activists who monitored the vote via closed-circuit television in Statuary Hall, just off the House chamber. "This vote we have had today is a product of everyone in this hall."
The federal government estimates one of every six Americans suffers from physical or mental disability.
The only Virginia representatives voting against the measure were Herb Bateman, R-Newport News, and Jim Olin, D-Roanoke.
The margin of Tuesday's final vote belied the controversy that has surrounded consideration of the measure. Its passage followed, for example, the 227-192 defeat Tuesday of a Bush administration-backed amendment that would have prevented disabled workers from seeking damages from employers who willfully discriminate.
The House bill now must be reconciled with a companion version passed last fall by the Senate. That step was necessitated last week when lawmakers amended the House version to bar AIDS-infected employees from handling food.
Opponents of that provision, adopted by a 199-187 vote, contended it would permit discrimination based on the false assumption that AIDS could be transmitted through food.
Nevertheless, a quick resolution of the difference is expected. President Bush has urged speedy passage of the bill, which advocates for disabled Americans have compared to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Senate opponents of the food-handling provision, meanwhile, made no mention of it Tuesday.
Three Democrats joined the 17 Republicans who voted against the bill. Yet even those who had supported various unsuccessful amendments to dilute the bill Tuesday ended up voting for the final product.
Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., R-Wis., who authored the administration-backed proposal to block the award of damages for discrimination, voted for the final bill - but only after delivering an impassioned speech warning about the potential cost to business.
"It would be quite a hit to the business community to subject them to punitive and compensatory damages for a newly enacted and comprehensive piece of legislation," Sensenbrenner said.
Under current law, wronged employees may ask a judge only for back pay, reinstatement and attorney's fees. Although the disability bills do not authorize suits for damages, other legislation in the works, the Civil Rights Act of 1990, is expected to give those who have been discriminated against new rights to sue.
Bush is generally expected to shelve any reservations he might have and support the bill presented to him.
by CNB