Plan to Give Senate Workers Rights Law Coverage Wins Vote

Supporters of a plan to extend coverage of a new civil rights law to the Senate and the White House staff won a key test vote Tuesday night, clearing the way for passage today of the compromise legislation.

The proposal, which has been endorsed by President Bush, would give Senate employees a right to judicial review of charges of job discrimination and sexual harassment. It also would provide confidential preliminary hearings before an independent tribunal.

In the test vote, the Senate rejected a motion by Sen. Warren B. Rudman (R-N. H.) that would have killed the proposal as unconstitutional on a lopsided 76-22 vote.

“This is an historic moment,” declared Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), co-author of the amendment to the civil rights bill that would apply the anti-discrimination provisions to the Senate, the White House staff and the staffs of state and local government officials.

Rudman, however, warned that the measure violates the constitutional principle of separation of powers as well as senators’ immunity from lawsuits for carrying out their official duties.

“We’re going to have judicial oversight over the employment decisions of a United States senator,” Rudman said, predicting that the provision would be struck down by the Supreme Court “as fast as a lightning bolt.”

The Senate acted after criticism by Bush that Congress has become a “privileged class of rulers” by exempting itself from coverage of many laws that other Americans must obey.

Rudman noted that damages awarded against senators found guilty of discrimination against members of their staffs would be paid by the taxpayers and not by lawmakers, under the measure.

Earlier, the Senate refused on a 61-38 vote to apply laws dealing with collective bargaining, job safety, privacy and ethics in government to the Senate. The author of the proposal, Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.) argued that members of the Senate should live under the same rules as ordinary citizens.

Opponents argued, however, that the proposal was a “killer amendment” that would destroy chances for quick passage of the underlying civil rights bill.

“It’s very politically attractive when public esteem for Congress is so low,” said Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.). “But this is the most blatantly unconstitutional proposal I have seen since I was in the Senate.” He objected to the proposal because it would subject the Senate to supervision by executive branch agencies in violation of constitutional separation of powers.

The Senate adopted on a 96-0 vote a proposal to set up a commission to study the so-called “glass ceiling” barriers to advancement of women and racial minorities in private firms.