House Republican Leaders: Civil Rights

Three Republican and one Democrat representative held a press conference in the U.S. Capitol to oppose H.R. 1, the Civil Rights Act of 1991, due for a vote in the House the following day. H.R. 1 was written and introduced by Democrats to overturn several 1989 Supreme Court decisions that made it harder for women and minorities to recover for damages in lawsuits for discrimination. Opponents of the bill, including President Bush, claim it mandates employment quotas for minorities despite language in the bill specifically prohibiting quotas. Other issues involved in the bill include race-norming, in which different standards of competency are applied between racial or gender-based groups, and the recoverable amount of damages. The Bush administration proposed a limit of $150,000 for cases of racial discrimination, while the Democrats' bill supplies no limit on recoverable damages. Rep. Michel also criticized the House Rules committee for failing to provide an open rule on the bill, which close