Bid to Override Parental Leave Bill Veto Fails

The House Wednesday fell 54 votes short of overriding a presidential veto of a parental leave bill, prompting advocates of the legislation to vow that they would introduce a new version soon.

The failure to override gave President Bush his 13th consecutive veto victory.

The outcome, 232 to 195, was a major setback for the Democratic-controlled Congress, whose leaders had described the bill as one of this session’s most important accomplishments. But even some Republicans said that Bush’s no-compromise stance could cause the GOP to suffer at the polls in November.

“You’ll have to answer to your constituents on this--not to the White House,” said Rep. Marge Roukema (R-N.J.), a leading GOP supporter of the legislation. Other supporters conceded, however, that many lawmakers were reluctant to oppose a popular President.

Under the bill, firms with 50 or more workers and state and local governments would have been required to permit workers to take up to three months of unpaid leave each year to care for newborn babies, seriously ill children or parents, or to recover from illness.

The measure would have required employers to continue health insurance benefits during the leave and to guarantee that workers would get back comparable jobs on their return.

Thirty-eight Republicans, including one Californian, Tom Campbell of Palo Alto, and 194 Democrats voted to override the President. Voting to sustain the veto were 138 Republicans and 57 Democrats, none from California.

Advocates of the legislation predicted that the President would be faced with a similar bill every year he remains in the White House.

“This is a Pyrrhic victory for the President--he wins and American families lose,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), a chief sponsor of the legislation.

Kennedy and Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) said that they would introduce a new version of the family leave bill in a few days and hope to pass it before Congress adjourns in October.

Bush, who insisted that he favors family and medical leave in principle, argued that it should not be forced on employers by federal law. Business organizations also oppose the measure on similar grounds.

Passage of the bill this year was the culmination of a five-year campaign by women’s groups, churches, labor unions and other organizations favoring a family leave bill.

A General Accounting Office study said that 95% of smaller businesses would have been exempted but that 44% of employees would have been covered by the bill.

Advocates said that passage of the measure by Congress was the first breakthrough in years of trying to adopt legislation that recognizes the vast increase in the number of two-earner families and mothers of small children in the labor force.

Opponents, however, argued that the bill would raise costs to employers and set a bad precedent for government intervention in determining job conditions.

Since taking office, Bush has vetoed 13 bills and Congress has yet to succeed in mustering the two-thirds majorities in both House and Senate that are required to override him.