Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 19, 1990 TAG: 9007190486
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
"Quotas, schmotas! The issue is job discrimination," exclaimed Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., as the Senate approved the measure, 65-34, over threats of a veto.
All 55 Democrats voted for the bill. Republicans voted against 34-10 with one not voting.
White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater, traveling with President Bush in Anaheim, Calif., said the administration was disappointed by the vote.
"We'll work to change it in the House. We still want a bill we can sign," Fitzwater said.
In a written statement later, Fitzwater also said, "The president wants a bill that ends discrimination, not one that starts a quota system."
The measure is the top priority of the civil rights movement in Congress this year and would overturn five Supreme Court decisions.
The House Judiciary Committee is expected to take action on its version of the measure within days.
Kennedy told reporters after the vote that the strong support on the floor for the bill suggested that the Senate might ultimately override a veto. "This is not quota legislation, this is anti-discrimination legislation," he said.
Bush has said a number of times that he wants to sign a civil rights bill but would not do so if it would lead to hiring quotas.
Tempers frayed again on the floor Wednesday night as they had earlier in the week, underscoring lingering Republican bitterness over the success of Democratic sponsors in cutting short debate.
GOP leaders retaliated with an adroit tactical move that blocked action on amendments sought by moderate Democrats, such as a plan to cap the amount of punitive damages that could be recovered by discrimination victims.
Kennedy said he still would like to make a deal with Bush and in any case hopes that the president will relent and sign the bill.
Republican Leader Bob Dole of Kansas again complained that the bill was "being shoved down my throat" and renewed his warning that the measure would inevitably lead to hiring quotas for members of minority groups.
Provisions range from a ban on racial harassment in the workplace to punitive damages for victims of the most serious forms of discrimination.
Most of the controversy, however, came over a provision making it easier to challenge employment practices whose effects fall disproportionately on minority groups.
The Supreme Court's decision in a case involving hiring at a salmon cannery in Alaska held that such practices do not violate the law unless those filing suit can show the businesseswere not motivated by business necessity.
The bill would require the companies involved, if challenged in court, to prove that the practices were prompted by business necessity.
The Bush administration said the definition of business necessity in the bill - having "a significant relationship to successful performance of the job" - would prompt employers to adopt minority hiring quotas to insulate themselves from lawsuits.
Kennedy and White House Chief of Staff John Sununu were hung up for weeks in efforts to reach a compromise on the definition. "Every combination of words was tried," Sen. John C. Danforth, R-Mo., said glumly.
"We are now proceeding on the road to a certain veto," Danforth declared. "This is a bill that can do a lot of good for a lot of people and it is going nowhere."
Of the Virginia delegation, Democratic Sen. Chuck Robb voted for the bill; Republican Sen. John Warner voted against it.
by CNB