October 19, 1999
Web posted at: 12:09 a.m. EDT (0409 GMT)

In this story: Move a setback for Justice officials Recent killings spurred bill RELATED STORIES, SITES

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Efforts to include gays and lesbians under civil rights laws died Monday when a congressional committee dropped the measure from a Justice Department spending bill.

The House-Senate conference committee removed the Clinton administration-backed Hate Crimes Prevention Act as it worked toward a compromise on the Justice Department bill. The proposal passed the Senate, but it faced strong opposition from Republicans who dominate the conference committee.

MESSAGE BOARD Hate crimes

Its elimination at a packed hearing on Capitol Hill drew sharp objections from Democrats and others who backed the measure.

"We must stop acting as if somehow this fundamental issue is just a state and local problem. It isn't," said Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Massachusetts), one of the bill's sponsors. "It's a national problem, and it's an outrage that Congress has been missing in action for so long."

Added David Smith, spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights advocacy group: "The Republicans displayed an unconscionable disregard for victims of anti-gay violence and their families for purely political reasons."

Critics of proposals to expand the scope of hate-crimes laws -- including many conservatives -- have said such legislation creates special classes of citizens who are already protected by state laws against violence.

It is unclear whether President Clinton will veto the appropriations bill, which covers spending for the departments of State, Justice and Commerce, but supporters concede even a veto may not save the measure.

The committee's action is a major setback for Attorney General Janet Reno and the Justice Department's civil rights division, which had pressed vigorously for passage of the administration proposal.

The act also would have banned discrimination on the basis of gender and disabilities and included incidents related to interstate commerce, such as use of a gun made in another state.

"That was one elephant too much for this boa constrictor," said Sen. Judd Gregg, R-New Hampshire.

Gregg said the issue should have been considered by Congress' Judiciary committees. He also said it had become "extremely complex" to resolve differences between the administration- backed bill and another sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).

Hatch's measure, also dropped, would have expanded federal jurisdiction to hate crimes committed after the crossing of state lines. It also would allow federal aid to state and local law enforcement officials prosecuting hate crimes.

Momentum for the legislation had grown after the dragging death of a black man in Texas, the fatal beating of a gay college student in Wyoming and the July shooting spree in Illinois and Indiana by a man police said was a member of a white-supremacist group.

Existing hate crimes law protects individuals only on the basis of race, color, religion and national origin. Equally important to the Justice Department and civil rights advocates was a second provision that would have dramatically increased the government's ability to prosecute hate crimes against all protected groups.

For federal prosecutors to file charges under existing law, they must establish that someone injured because of race or religion was engaged in a "federally protected" activity at the time of the discrimination.

The proposed law would have removed the requirement that victims were engaged in such an activity, and permitted prosecutors to bring charges simply because the discrimination was motivated by race, religion or national origin.

Federally protected activities include such things as voting, participating in a program or service administered by a state or municipality; attending a school; serving as a juror, or using a place of public accommodation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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