Senators OK Revision of 1939 Hatch Act

The Senate brushed aside a threatened veto by President Bush and voted 67 to 30 Thursday to revise the 1939 Hatch Act to allow federal civil service and postal workers to take a more active role in partisan politics.

The law would still prohibit federal workers from engaging in political activities on the job and from running for office or soliciting campaign funds from the public.

But they could in their off time hold office in local, state and national political organizations, attend political conventions as delegates and solicit campaign funds from co-workers on behalf of candidates or federal employee union political action committees.

Thirteen Republicans joined all 54 Senate Democrats in passing the bill despite a White House effort to prevent it from garnering the 67 votes needed to override a veto.

The action sets up a conference with the House, which last year voted for a broader bill that also would remove prohibitions on running for public office and soliciting campaign funds from the public.

Bush advisers said they would urge him to veto any change in the law as “undermining the integrity and independence of the traditionally nonpartisan civil service.”

The legislation was sought by federal employee and postal unions after the Reagan Administration filed Hatch Act charges against three union presidents for endorsing Democrat Walter F. Mondale in the 1984 presidential election.