Both Sides Criticize Danforth Rights Bill : Congress: He and 8 other GOP senators offer middle ground between White House, Democrats. Attacks end hopes for quick end to deadlock.

A compromise civil rights bill offered by moderate Republican Sen. John C. Danforth of Missouri came under heavy fire Monday from critics on both sides of the debate, dashing hopes for quick agreement to break a deadlock between President Bush and Democratic congressional leaders.

White House officials have balked at embracing the plan recommended by Danforth and eight other GOP senators. They are pushing instead for Bush’s civil rights proposal, even though it was decisively rejected by the House as too weak and is given little chance of passing in the Senate.

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), a Bush Administration ally who played a key role in negotiations last year that ultimately failed to produce a compromise civil rights measure, has sent a seven-page critique of the Danforth bill to his colleagues, warning that it may lead to quota hiring.

On the other side, the leading advocacy group for major civil rights organizations has declared that the Danforth plan has “serious, substantive problems” that must be resolved to strengthen protections for workers against job bias.

An analysis by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights objected to stringent limits on damages for victims of job discrimination in the proposed compromise. They also said Danforth’s proposal would make it harder to challenge employer practices that have a discriminatory impact.

Even so, a spokesman for Danforth said the senator was encouraged that his compromise proposal was not greeted by the sharp partisan attacks that characterized House consideration of the civil rights measures.

In the debate on a civil rights bill, Bush has accused Democrats of backing legislation that would impose racial and sexual quotas on employers. The Democrats, in turn, have charged Bush with seeking to exploit racial fears to score political points.

Since the House fell at least 15 votes short of a veto-proof majority when it approved its version of civil rights legislation earlier this month, Danforth may hold the key to a bill that can either win Bush’s approval or pass Congress with a large enough margin to overcome a veto.

Appearing on a Sunday television interview program, White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu avoided direct comment on Danforth’s efforts to work out a “middle-ground” bill.

“The President’s bill is still the preferred vehicle for this Administration,” Sununu said on ABC’s “This Week With David Brinkley.” “We think Congress ought to take a hard look at it and pass it . . . he (the President) will sign, and this country will have dealt with a critical issue.”

But Danforth and other Republican moderates were said to believe that Bush’s proposal did not go far enough to reverse a series of Supreme Court decisions that substantially narrowed the scope and effectiveness of federal laws against racial or sexual discrimination on the job. In addition, they reasoned that the overwhelming House vote against it--266 to 162--made it unlikely that the House would accept the bill.