The 100th session of the U.S. Congress came to a close last month amid a flurry of last-minute activity. While several important pieces of legislation were passed, many key issues were left to the next session of Congress, which will convene in January.
The last order of business for this session was enactment of a $2.8 billion Omnibus Drug Bill, which authorizes new education, treatment, and rehabilitation efforts and puts into place tough new penalties for drug users and traffickers. Included in the package is the death penalty for drug traffickers who kill civilians or law enforcement officers. A move by Sen. Mark Hatfield (R-Oreg.) to substitute a mandatory life prison sentence for the death penalty was overwhelmingly voted down.
Antipomography Measure
Due to eleventh-hour lobbying efforts by conservative profamily activists, the drug bill also includes stiff anti-child pornography and obscenity provisions. The provisions were originally part of the Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act introduced in 1987. That bill became stalled in the committee process, but in a last-ditch maneuver, Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) proposed that the entire act be attached as an amendment to the drug bill.
The obscenity provisions of the act generated strong opposition by the Democratic House leadership. However, a compromise settlement kept many of the provisions—including a ban on the buying or selling of minors to produce child pornography—and a measure against the use of computers for network trafficking of child pornography. Also, the bill expands federal power to prosecute traffickers of child pornography, to confiscate child pornography and the profits of its sale, and to restrict the production and distribution of obscenity.
The National Association of Evangelicals, Moral Majority, Evangelicals for Social Action, and the American Family Association were among the groups supporting the act.
Child Care And Churches
Two family-oriented measures, the Act for Better Child Care (ABC) and the Parental Leave Act, were effectively killed when Congress put them aside to work on other legislation in the final days of the session. Both had been controversial within the business and religious communities.
The ABC bill, which would have established a comprehensive federal child-care policy, had strong support from mainline religious groups. However, because of complicated regulations for church-run day-care centers, the bill was opposed by conservative religious groups and groups advocating strict separation between church and state (CT, May 13, 1988, p. 46).
Likewise, a parental-leave bill that would have required federal and private employers to grant workers unpaid parental and medical leave related to the birth or serious illness of their children fell victim to election-year controversies. Business groups argued against the measure, saying it would be too costly for many companies. And conservative profamily activists said it would benefit “yuppie parents” rather than poor families who could not afford to take unpaid leaves. Both issues will likely be taken up again during the 101st session of Congress.
Many religious groups were disappointed when Congress, at the last minute, dropped a measure that would have exempted religious schools not operated by churches from state unemployment tax laws. Currently, church-controlled schools have such an exemption.
Looking Back
During the past two years, the 100th Congress addressed many issues of interest to churches and religious groups, including:
• Abortion. Congress reaffirmed the Hyde Amendment banning federal funding of abortions except to save the life of the mother, and the Mexico City Policy, which refuses to fund international organizations promoting abortion. Congress also prohibited the District of Columbia from using federal or local funds for abortions, and stopped several efforts to expand federal funding of abortions.
• AIDS. The first comprehensive Congressional AIDS package was passed to provide $1 billion for research, education, and treatment of the disease. The measure was passed without all of the testing confidentiality provisions sought by gay-rights groups.
• Arms control. The Senate ratified the Reagan/Gorbachev Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty eliminating ground-based missiles with ranges of 300 to 3,400 miles.
• Civil rights. Congress passed the Civil Rights Restoration Act, or Grove City Bill, which expanded the scope of federal antidiscrimination coverage. While the measure included an exception for institutions “controlled” by a religious entity, it did not provide for institutions affiliated with, but not controlled by, religious bodies (CT, April 22, 1988, p. 42).
• Health Care. The Catastrophic Health Care Bill was approved to provide the elderly with protection from massive hospital, doctor, and prescription bills. The measure guarantees Medicare benefits after a $564 deductible, and expands Medicare coverage for low-income women and children.
• The homeless. More than $ 1.3 billion was authorized over a two-year period for shelter, health, food, and other care programs for the homeless.
• Welfare. Congress passed the welfare reforming Family Support Act of 1988, which requires job training and education for welfare recipients, expands child-support enforcement, and offers child-care and medical benefits for a year to low-income families that have worked themselves off the welfare system.
By Kim A. Lawton.
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