Bill to Forbid Flag Burning Is Sent to Bush

Congress completed action on a bill to outlaw flag burning Thursday when the House accepted a Senate-passed measure by an overwhelming vote of 371 to 43 and sent it to President Bush.

Although House Minority Leader Robert H. Michel (R-Ill.) denounced the legislation as a “useless gesture,” good only for providing political cover for the lawmakers, Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) said that he does not expect the President to veto the bill.

The action was taken as the Senate approached a vote Monday on a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning--a course favored by Bush over the statutory approach endorsed by Foley and Senate Democratic leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.).

In response to Republican requests, Foley has agreed to schedule a House vote on a constitutional change to overturn last June’s Supreme Court decision that struck down a Texas flag-burning law on grounds that it abridged free speech rights protected by the First Amendment.

However, both Foley and Mitchell denounced the proposed amendment in a news conference Thursday, saying that it would be superfluous and detrimental to the American tradition.

“I can’t for the life of me understand how so-called conservatives can urge amending the Constitution for one of the few times in our history and the Bill of Rights for the first time . . . with no serious reflection,” Mitchell said.

“Extremely unwise,” Foley agreed.

The bill approved by Congress provides a maximum $1,000 fine and a year in jail for anyone who “knowingly mutilates, defaces, physically defiles, burns, maintains on the floor or ground or tramples upon any flag of the United States.”

It provides for expedited Supreme Court review of the bill’s constitutionality and allows for soiled flags to be disposed of by burning.

A White House official said that Bush is “likely” to let the flag bill become law without his signature. Bush had criticized the bill as he pushed for a constitutional amendment. But a veto of a flag protection measure would be politically untenable.

The Senate approved the legislation a week ago by a vote of 91 to 9, and the House decided to consider the Senate bill rather than go to a time-consuming conference to reconcile the relatively few differences between the two versions.

In contrast to the outrage voiced immediately after the high court’s ruling last June, the House debate was desultory and attended by fewer than two dozen members.

Michel justified his vote against the bill by saying that only a constitutional amendment would protect the sanctity of the flag. But the Republican floor leader said: “To those who voted for the statute to cover his political flanks, I understand.”

Rep. Chuck Douglas (R-N.H.) said that the Senate’s addition of the words physically defile to the list of punishable offenses would make the bill vulnerable to a constitutional challenge.

However, Rep. William J. Hughes (D-N. J.) said that the phrase physically defile would be acceptable to the courts but the word defile standing alone could make the law vulnerable on First Amendment grounds.

Rep. Ted Weiss (D-N.Y.) ridiculed the “verbal acrobatics” of the bill’s proponents and argued that neither a bill nor a constitutional amendment is needed.

“There’s no rash of flag burnings,” Weiss said. “Let’s have faith in ourselves.”

But Weiss was joined by only 24 other Democrats and 18 Republicans in voting against the bill as the vast majority of the House--217 Democrats and 154 Republicans--rallied around it.

VOTE ON FLAG BURNING

WASHINGTON--Here is how members of the California delegation voted on a statutory ban on burning and defacing the American flag:

Democrats for--Anderson, Bates, Beilenson, Bosco, Boxer, Brown, Condit, Dymally, Edwards, Fazio, Hawkins, Lantos, Lehman, Martinez, Matsui, Mineta, Panetta, Pelosi, Stark, Torres, Waxman.

Republicans for--Dornan, Dreier, Gallegly, Herger, Lagomarsino, Lewis, Lowery, Moorhead, Packard, Pashayan, Shumway, Thomas.

Democrats against--Berman, Dellums, Levine, Miller, Roybal.

Republicans against--Campbell, Dannemeyer, Hunter, McCandless, Rohrabacher.

Democrats not voting--Dixon.

Republicans not voting--Cox.