Senate Votes 73-24 to Upset Reagan’s Veto of Rights Bill : House Set to Deliver Death Blow

The Senate, despite last-ditch efforts by the Reagan Administration and the Moral Majority, voted overwhelmingly today to override President Reagan’s veto of a major civil rights bill and sent it to the House for final action.

The Senate, yielding to impassioned pleas on behalf of women, minorities, the elderly and disabled who would be protected by the measure, voted 73 to 24 to override Reagan’s veto, more than the two-thirds margin needed to overturn his decision.

Twenty-one Republicans, including California Sen. Pete Wilson, broke ranks with Reagan to support the measure.

The bill, which would reverse a 1984 Supreme Court decision that narrowed the focus of federal anti-discrimination laws, went to the House for a vote this evening. If the House votes to override, as expected, the bill will become law despite the President’s objections.

In the case, known as Grove City vs. Bell, the high court ruled that only the part of a school that received federal funds, and not the entire institution, was subject to federal sex discrimination regulations. The narrow interpretation was applied to three similar statutes affecting discrimination based on race, age or handicap and resulted in the Justice Department dropping numerous anti-discrimination suits.

8 GOP Senators Switched

As a result of White House lobbying and a telephone campaign by the Moral Majority that in one hour last Thursday brought a crushing 80,000 calls to the Capitol switchboard, eight Republican senators switched their votes and the White House also picked up Sen. Malcolm Wallop (R-Wyo.), who did not vote last time.

The Rev. Jerry Falwell, head of the archconservative Moral Majority, said the bill was passed under pressure from homosexuals and could require churches to “hire a practicing active homosexual drug addict with AIDS to be a teacher or a youth pastor.”

But the bill’s supporters said it would not require a church school to hire a teacher whose beliefs conflicted with its teachings. “Rarely has the legislative process been subject to such a campaign of misinformation and distortion,” said Sen. George J. Mitchell (D-Me.).

“This is a a great victory for the millions of Americans . . . who have felt the lash of discrimination over the last four years,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), the bill’s chief sponsor.

He also charged that with its veto, the Reagan Administration “has clearly indicated that it is the most anti-civil rights Administration we have had in recent times.”

Some Exemptions

Supporters argued that the bill will merely restore previous civil rights guarantees in force before the Grove City decision by stating that discrimination is prohibited throughout an entire institution even if only a small portion of it receives federal funds.

Small businesses would be exempt from federal access requirements for the handicapped. Schools controlled by religious groups, not just affiliated with them, would not be required to comply with sex discrimination laws if they violate their religious teachings. Religious hospitals could not be forced to pay for or perform abortions.

As the Senate prepared to vote, Reagan met with locally elected Republican officials from across the United States at the White House and branded the act “dangerous” and a “power grab” by the federal government.

“This is not a civil rights bill,” said Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.). “It is an extension of federal authority.”

“The Administration has had four years to send up a bill,” Kennedy countered. “In the 11th hour and 59th minute, to propose some contrary policy is a blatant attempt to buy votes.”