Veto Wars

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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.

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."