Congress Rejects Rights Bill Veto : President Suffers Major Defeat as Republicans Help Enact New Law

Aided by crucial Republican support, Congress dealt President Reagan a major defeat Tuesday by overriding his veto of a controversial civil rights bill and enacting it into law.

The veto, described as the first time in more than a century that a President has tried to block a major civil rights bill, divided Reagan’s party in an election year. It was the ninth time that Congress has voted to override a veto during his Administration and the first time in nearly a year that he has suffered such a sharp setback.

The Senate, voting first, approved the measure on a 73-24 roll call with critical backing from 21 members of the President’s party. In the House, the vote was 292 to 133 in favor of the bill and against Reagan’s contention that the legislation is a “government power grab in the mantle of civil rights.”

Two-Thirds Needed

Fifty-two Republicans joined 240 Democrats on that roll call, while 123 GOP representatives and 10 Democrats supported the veto. A two-thirds majority in both chambers was needed to override.

At issue was a 6-3 Supreme Court decision in a case known as Grove City vs. Bell. In that case, the court held that anti-bias laws involving recipients of federal funds applied only to the specific program or activity that received the aid rather than to the entire institution or corporation.

Under the new law, however, anti-discrimination standards would be enforced against an entire college, for example, even though only some of its departments received federal funds.

Rep. James M. Jeffords (R-Vt.) put the case for the bill in simple terms:

“When the government hands out checks, it has a right to attach conditions, and one condition is that you can’t discriminate if you take public money.”

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), floor manager of the bill in the Senate, called it the most important civil rights measure in the last five years, designed to overturn the 1984 Supreme Court ruling, which he said jeopardized the anti-discrimination achievements of the last quarter-century.

Opponents, however, insisted that it would expand the federal government’s role and interfere in the operation of churches, family farms and local governments by extending the scope on bans on discrimination against minorities, women, the handicapped and the elderly.

Last-Ditch Blitz

Right-wing foes of the new law, led by the Rev. Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority organization, staged a last-ditch blitz in support of Reagan’s veto that clogged Capitol Hill switchboards with hundreds of thousands of telephone calls.

Falwell’s argument that passage of the law could require churches to hire homosexual drug addicts with AIDS as youth pastors, however, was denounced as distortion and disinformation by proponents, who said the bill does not affect homosexual rights.

Civil rights groups, major religious denominations and other supporters of the legislation mounted a countercampaign to uphold their contention that it was vital to ensure that federal aid was not used to subsidize discrimination. Leaders of the drive to overturn Reagan’s veto said that failure to enact the law would represent a civil rights retreat.

Rep. W. G. (Bill) Hefner (D-N.C.) said that “reprehensible” distortions were used against the bill and that the veto should be overridden despite any political consequences, including defeat at the polls.

“No job is important enough for me to lie to the American people,” Hefner told the House, adding: “If I have to cave in to false information--no job is worth it.”

The controversy over the bill also spilled over into the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Vice President George Bush, the GOP front-runner, announced that he supported the veto. His chief rival for the nomination, Senate Republican leader Bob Dole of Kansas, missed the vote and made confusing statements about his attitude toward the bill.

Campaigning in Wisconsin, Dole said he opposed the veto but would have voted to sustain it if his vote were needed. In Washington, his office issued a statement on the measure that did not say how he would have voted. In the past, Dole has supported the bill, although he was absent when it first passed the Senate on a 75-14 roll call Jan. 28.

Gore, Simon Oppose Veto

Two Democratic presidential contenders--Sens. Albert Gore Jr. of Tennessee and Paul Simon of Illinois--voted to override the veto. Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, who also is seeking the Democratic nomination, was absent and missed the vote.

Reagan, speaking to local Republican officials shortly before the Senate voted, continued to denounce the legislation in strong terms.

“The truth is, this legislation isn’t a civil rights bill--it’s a power grab by Washington, designed to take control away from states, localities, communities, parents and the private sector and give it to federal bureaucrats and judges. . . . “

During the Senate debate, Kennedy insisted that the legislation merely restored the civil rights enforced before the 1984 Supreme Court ruling. Since then, he said, hundreds of government actions to stop discrimination have been dropped and many victims have been denied relief.

‘Mischievous’ Campaign

The campaign by the Moral Majority, he said, was “mischievous and deceptive” and proved once again that the fundamentalist religious organization “is neither moral nor a majority.”

As for Reagan, Kennedy said he was the first President to veto a civil rights bill since Andrew Johnson did so more than a century ago.

Eight GOP senators who voted for the bill last Jan. 28 reversed themselves to try to sustain the veto. Sen. John C. Danforth (R-Mo.), one of the eight, said the measure goes too far and puts the government into the business of regulating religion.

Other GOP senators who also switched position on the bill were John W. Warner and Paul S. Trible Jr. of Virginia, Christopher S. Bond of Missouri, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, Larry Pressler of South Dakota and Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming.

Both California senators--Democrat Alan Cranston and Republican Pete Wilson--voted to override.