Senate passes hate crimes measure, 57-42

WASHINGTON - After a furious last-minute lobbying blitz by the Clinton administration, the Senate voted 57 to 42 on Tuesday to approve legislation that would make it easier for federal prosecutors to try hate crimes.

Vice President Al Gore interrupted presidential campaigning in Kentucky to fly to Washington to be ready to cast a deciding vote should there be a tie in the Republican-controlled chamber.

He presided over the Senate, but his vote wasn't needed.

Thirteen Republicans defied their leaders to vote ''yes'' on the measure. Only one Democrat voted ''no,'' Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va.

Despite the administration victory, the bill faced an uncertain future.

The vote attached it as an amendment to a massive defense bill on which more than 100 amendments were still pending.

Shortly after the vote, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., put the legislation aside and the Senate turned to other business. It was not clear when the defense bill would be up again.

Furthermore, the House has rejected such an approach to hate crimes in the past.

Still, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., the principal sponsor, urged colleagues to ''take a clear and unequivocal stand'' for the measure.

The legislation would add offenses motivated by sexual orientation, sex or disability to the list of hate crimes already covered under a 1968 federal law.

It also would give federal prosecutors the option of pursuing a hate-crime case if local authorities refused to press charges.

Supporters cited the 1998 death in Jasper, Texas, of James Byrd, a 49-year-old black man, who was dragged behind a pickup truck; and the death, also in 1998, of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old homosexual University of Wyoming student, who died after being beaten into a coma and tied to a fence.

Wyoming has no hate-crime law. Texas has one that punishes crimes committed with bias or prejudice as a motive, but it has been criticized as too vague and the last attempt to toughen it failed in the state Senate last year.

But critics, including Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, suggested that the bill would infringe on state and local authorities' law enforcement authority.

Hatch suggested that, under the measure, for instance, all rapes could be tried as federal hate crimes.

Hatch offered his own version, calling for a study of whether states and localities were pursuing hate crime prosecutions, and providing $5 million a year for the Justice Department to help pay for such prosecutions.

The Senate also accepted Hatch's amendment, 50-49, then went on to approve Kennedy's.

Later, Gore called the vote ''a sign of hope for all of America'' and had special praise for families of hate-crime victims. They have waged ''an extraordinary effort to turn their grief into a challenge for our nation,'' Gore told reporters.

Asked about criticism that his return to the Senate was politically motivated, Gore said, ''It's my job.'' Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., interrupted to add: ''I asked the vice president to come back because the last time this legislation was up, it lost by one vote.''

Before the vote, those on both sides warned that it would be close. However, in the end, more than enough Republicans joined Democrats in voting approval.

The vote further bogged down the defense bill, which has now become a catchall for many pet pieces of legislation. Earlier, a campaign-finance proposal pushed by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was added to the bill.

Lott suggested that, unless some way was devised to separate the unrelated amendments, the entire defense bill might have to be indefinitely put aside.

Earlier Tuesday, the Senate rejected, 50 to 49, a Democratic-sponsored amendment that would have allowed military women stationed overseas to obtain abortions at military hospitals - if they paid for them with private funds.

Currently, such abortions are prohibited.

Gore announced the vote and, at one point, after Byrd complained about noise and confusion, urged senators to take their seats and stop milling in the front of the Senate.

The vice president, as the constitutional president of the Senate, may vote in cases of ties.

President Clinton also worked the phones to try to solidify support for the measure.

While an almost identical bill was passed overwhelmingly by the Senate last year, this time it touched off heated debate over whether the measure infringes on state and local powers of law enforcement.

Lott opposed the administration-supported bill, saying it would ''federalize'' many violent crimes.

''State laws are working and doing a fine job,'' Lott said.

Clinton met with Byrd's family Monday in Houston and renewed his appeal for Senate passage. Byrd was dragged to death on a country road by a trio of white men.

The president cited FBI statistics that showed almost 8,000 hate crimes were reported in 1998, the latest year available.

The legislation would add offenses motivated by sexual orientation, sex or disability to the list of hate crimes already covered under a 1968 federal law.

It also would give federal prosecutors the option of pursuing a hate-crime case if local authorities refused to press charges.

Kennedy's measure would expand a 1968 federal law that defines hate crimes as assaults motivated by the victim's race, color, religion or national origin as the victim attempts to exercise certain specified federally protected activities - including voting or attending school.

His measure has 42 co-sponsors, including six Republicans.

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On the Net: White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov

Justice Department/FBI Hate Crime Report: http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/hatecm.htm