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- THE WEEK, Page 19NATIONVeto Wars
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- Congress corners the President on family leave and cable bills
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- Despite their eagerness to clear out of Washington for the
- campaign trail, House and Senate Democrats paused for a moment
- to put George Bush on the defensive. A bipartisan majority
- approved the family- and medical-leave bill, which would require
- companies with 50 or more employees to grant 12 weeks of unpaid
- leave for workers to care for new babies or sick relatives.
- Democrats denied they had revived the bill to push the President
- into a corner with the charge that he had deserted his family
- values theme. In issuing his veto, Bush proposed an alternative
- that would provide $1,200 in tax credits to businesses for each
- employee who takes time off for family emergencies. The Senate's
- subsequent 68-to-31 vote marked the upper chamber's first veto
- override of the Bush presidency. But it may have just been drama
- -- the House is not expected to provide the two-thirds vote
- needed for passage.
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- Bush also clashed with a congressional majority over a
- proposed law that would restrain cable-television rates and spur
- competition within cable systems; the Senate last week voted 74
- to 25 to pass the bill. Bush charges that it will impose
- unnecessary government regulation on the industry. Nicholas
- Calio, White House aide for legislative affairs, said, "This
- schedule was written for political purposes, and no one in
- Congress can deny that."
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