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- <text id=91TT2510>
- <title>
- Nov. 11, 1991: American Notes:Congress
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1991
- Nov. 11, 1991 Somebody's Watching
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- NATION, Page 53
- American Notes
- CONGRESS
- Doing the Rights Thing
- </hdr><body>
- <p> After nearly two years of political skirmishes with the
- White House over racial discrimination and quotas, the Senate
- last week voted 95 to 5 to pass a civil rights bill. The House
- is expected to act quickly to adopt the compromise bill, which
- overrides eight Supreme Court decisions and makes it easier for
- employees to sue in job-bias cases. An amendment to extend civil
- rights protections to Senate employees caused a last-minute
- sideshow of debate. Under the measure, the Senate's 6,000
- workers, as well as political appointees in the Executive
- Branch, will be able to take their complaints to an office of
- fair employment practices. If they fail to resolve their dispute
- there, they may appeal to a three-member independent panel and,
- ultimately, to the U.S. Court of Appeals. Stung by criticism
- over the handling of sexual-harassment charges against Supreme
- Court Justice Clarence Thomas, the Senate passed the measure to
- deflect criticism that Congress exempts itself from laws it
- applies to everyone else.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
-