Masonry Magazine April 1992 Page. 44
solutions that most experts expect the debate will drag on through 1992 and into 1993.
THE PUSH TO OVERHAUL U.S. BANKING laws will start all over in 1992. The administration will make another attempt to enact parts of bank reform, to increase safety of banks while enhancing their competitiveness overseas. But it will be virtually impossible to adopt broad based banking legislation because an election year makes it hard to forge needed bipartisan support.
Congress gave up on its efforts at banking reforms before its adjournment. The legislation would have allowed banks to open branches across state lines, while permitting bank expansion into the insurance and securities business. Instead, Congress passed a bill to toughen regulation and provide funds for FDIC.
BILLS GIVING UP TO THREE MONTHS of family leave will be sought again. Businesses with fifty or more employees would have to permit unpaid time off, to allow them to care for their children or to deal with family illnesses. Both houses passed almost indentical measures as the first session ended. But a conference committee has not resolved differences in the measures.
President Bush promises another veto, as he did two years ago. And he can muster enough votes to sustain his rejection again.
REFORM OF CAMPAIGN FINANCING may well pass after dying late in 1991. The House and Senate approved separate bills to overhaul campaign spending. They mandate voluntary spending ceilings... with incentives for compliance. Incentives could include some federal financing, at least for Senate races.
But Bush vows to veto a bill with spending limits and public funding; a bipartisan compromise will be needed for passage.
ANTI CRIME MEASURES will be resurrected after failing to pass in '91. Senate Republicans blocked a measure after it narrowly passed in the House. The bill would have applied a death penalty for more than fifty federal crimes, restricted appeals to the federal courts by prisoners scheduled for death, and allowed for admission of evidence seized under faulty search warrants. It also provided a waiting period of five working days for buying a handgun.
Bush threatened a veto after Democrats excised the harshest provisions, setting up a power struggle over the bill in '92.
FINAL PASSAGE IS EXPECTED IN 1992 on a series of education measures. Each house drafted its own legislation for elementary and secondary schools, rather than acting on President Bush's "America 2000" educational package. The House called for $700-million in spending; the Senate for $850-million. The President wanted $695-million, with a third of the funds spent to allow parents to choose their children's schooling-public, parochial or private.
The House and Senate are likely to pass separate versions, with approval dependent on finding an acceptable compromise.
A TOP LEGISLATIVE PRIORITY of organized labor will die again in 1992. The measure forbids employers from hiring replacement workers for strikers. The House approved the measure last year but the Senate has not acted yet. Support for the strike measure is thin, despite its approval in the House.
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44 MASONRY-MARCH/APRIL, 1992