The House put the Bill of Rights before the Stars and Stripes, dealing a fatal blow to a constitutional amendment banning flag desecration.
The measure required a two-thirds majority for approval but fell short Thursday with only 59% of the vote, 254-177.
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Senate bans 9 assault weapons
July 12, 1990
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The Senate - in a 94-6 vote Wednesday - gave final approval to a sweeping anti-crime bill that bans nine semi-automatic assault weapons and makes 34 federal crimes punishable by death.
But the House expects another major battle over the weapons ban - added to the Senate bill by a 50-48 vote last month.
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Voter-anxious Senate bans speaking fees
Aug. 2, 1990
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The Senate, squeezed by election-year pressures, Wednesday voted to ban acceptance of speaking fees from special interest groups.
But the ban - approved 77-23 - was added to a broad campaign finance reform bill President Bush plans to veto.
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Racial flap on the Hill
Aug. 3, 1990
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Rep. Pete Stark, frustrated by the stands of Health Secretary Louis Sullivan, Thursday called him a "disgrace to his profession and his race."
The rare, public attack likely grew out of Stark's increasing discontent with Sullivan's opposition to national health insurance and abortion - issues backed by the California Democrat, head of a House health panel.
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Congress joins fight on religion limits
Apr. 17, 1991
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CANTON, Minn. - Gideon Hershberger is an unwilling hero in the battle for religious freedom in America.
He is an Amish farmer, patriarch of a family with 13 children and 44 grandchildren, content to sit in a handmade chair in the unadorned living room of his home - with whitewashed walls, no plumbing, no electricity and black-smocked children scurrying about.
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Showdown over gun control; For Congress, 7-day wait vs. instant check
May 8, 1991
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A House divided over handgun control sets its sights today on competing bills even supporters say will do little to stop violent criminals.
In one corner: a seven-day waiting period before purchases, championed with grit by wheelchair-bound James Brady, shot in the head 10 years ago in the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan.
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Senate hikes pay $23,200
July 18, 1991
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In an unexpected vote, the Senate Wednesday night gave its members a $23,200 pay raise, to 125,000 a year.
In exchange, senators will give up thousands of dollars in speaking fees that most accept from special-interest groups.
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Follow the bouncing checks; Congressman: 'This issue is overdrawn'
Oct. 3, 1991
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So congressman, almost everyone is asking, did you write any of the 8,331 checks that House members bounced in just one year?
"None of your business," growls Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, the Chicago Democrat who heads the House's tax-writing committee. Then he amends his statement: "None of your damned business."
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In House, 'There's no free lunch'
Oct. 3, 1991
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Members of the House, already under fire for bouncing checks at the House bank, were warned Wednesday to pay more than $300,000 in overdue bills to the House restaurant.
The debts - some nearly 20 years old - totaled more than $700,000 year before collection efforts were made.
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Congress' image 'never been this low'
Oct. 17, 1991
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John Burick just may be unique. He thinks the soap opera-style climax of Clarence Thomas' confirmation hearings actually did some good.
Burick, a political activist in Tacoma, Wash., is working to pass Initiative 533 on Nov. 5 - among the toughest term-limit measures yet seen here.
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MIA panel finished hearings; tough task ahead
Nov. 8, 1991
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The work is just beginning for a Senate committee taking on the formidable task of solving a nearly two-decade-old question of what happened to 2,273 U.S. servicemen missing in Vietnam.
After three days of hearings this week, the committee must now wade through piles of testimony from U.S. officials, families and POW-MIA activists.
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Crime bill: Potent political weaponry
Dec. 2, 1991
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A stalemate over broad anti-crime legislation could force Congress to scale back its effort next year - or take the political risk of passing no bill at all.
At stake are death penalty statutes sought by President Bush, gun control measures backed by liberals and urban lawmakers and more than $3 billion in potential funding demanded by police groups.
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Accessibility means a whole new life
Jan. 24, 1992
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Discrimination and daily frustrations won't suddenly end when a new civil rights law for disabled people takes effect Sunday, but life certainly will begin changing in many ways.
For Denise Kavin of Chicago, it means she will be able to sign up for a class or call for a doctor's appointment and request a sign-language interpreter "and get it ... without having to fight or struggle for what is my right: simple communication accessibility."
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Women in Congress; Fighting the old boy network; Getting voice heard a daily balancing act
Apr. 1, 1992
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Carol Moseley Braun beware: Congress is a tough place to be a woman.
Even for a tough woman.
As a record number of women seek House and Senate seats this year - in an anti-Washington environment that seems perfectly suited to their underfinanced, underdog campaigns - they should know what women now serving in Congress know.
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Fallout? Bank on it; Check list may 'break camel's back'
Apr. 17, 1992
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The final tally's in: 303 House members were identified Thursday as writing bad checks on the House bank - and Speaker Thomas Foley immediately pronounced the scandal over.
Fat chance, Mr. Speaker. The fallout has only just begun. The latest chapter in the House bank scandal is expected to fuel even more voter anger at Washington lawmakers, threatening every incumbent - Republican or Democrat - regardless of whether they wrote any bad checks.
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Incumbents find infertile fields at home
July 1, 1992
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WASHINGTON, Ga. - Judging from the folks who sip iced tea beneath the ceiling fans at Another Thyme Cafe here, Rep. Ben Jones can't be faulted for wishing it were another time to be seeking re-election.
