
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 21, 1990                   TAG: 9006210309
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

HOUSE OVERRIDES BUSH HATCH ACT REVISION VETO

The House voted overwhelming to override President Bush's veto of a bill that would loosen restrictions on partisan political activities by federal employees.

The 327-to-93 vote on Wednesday, easily providing the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto, set up a showdown in the Senate, where a close vote is expected in an override effort scheduled for today.

It is far from certain that the bill's supporters can overturn the veto in the Senate; the measure passed that chamber with only 67 yes votes, the minimum needed to override if all 100 senators are present.

The Bush administration has been heavily lobbying the 13 Republican senators, including Alfonse M. D'Amato of New York, who joined all 54 Senate Democrats in approving the bill last month.

The Democratic-controlled Congress has failed to override any of Bush's 11 previous vetoes, although this was the third time that the House had voted to override.

The legislation backed by the House again Wednesday would affect the nearly 3 million federal employees covered under the Hatch Act, allowing them to take part in many of the political activities from which that law has barred them for 50 years.

While federal workers would still be barred from participating in political activities while on the job, they would be allowed to hold office in local, state and national political groups; to endorse candidates publicly; to distribute campaign literature and to organize political meetings and telephone banks.

The Hatch Act was intended to protect federal workers from being coerced by superiors into partisan political activity, and in his veto message on Friday, Bush said revising the law would "lead to repoliticizing the federal work force."

Many Republican lawmakers who share the president's position acknowledge that their position is driven by a belief that the legislation would strengthen unions of federal workers, which are generally partial to Democratic candidates.

Among Virginia's congressmen, all five Democrats and two Republicans voted to override the veto. The only Virginia representatives siding with the president were Herbert Bateman, R-Newport News; French Slaughter, R-Culpeper; and Frank Wolf, R-Fairfax County.

by CNB