Word: vetoes
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Bush's decision to veto this much-needed bill is disturbing on several levels. In an oft-quoted campaign speech to a group of Republican women in Indiana, candidate George Bush said that what he meant by a "gentler nation" was one in which a woman does not have to worry about getting her job back if she takes time off to have a baby or care a sick child. But we live in a nation where a woman must worry about returning to her job after having a child or caring for a sick family member...
Bush's promise to veto is disturbing not only because of its hypocrisy. On this topic, Bush has bowed to the demands of the special interest business lobby. While the coalition of groups fighting for FMLA includes all the major labor unions, health groups, religious organization, women's groups and education specialists--hundreds of organizations representing a vast cross-section of the country--the opposition to the bill comes from the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). These two special interest groups had Bush's ear on this issue long before FMLA passed...
...decision to veto is thus politics at its worst. Vetoing a bill which has widespread national support (in a national poll, 80 percent of respondents said they favored medical leave of this sort), Bush is neglecting his responsibilities as an elected leader of this country. He is not running the country the way that the people who voted him into office expected he would...
...course, this neglect of his responsibilities has become hardly surprising from George Bush. When he vetoes FMLA, it will be his twelfth veto. And he is not vetoing bills passed narrowly by the Democratic congressional majority. The FMLA is an example. This bill received vocal support in the House not only from Rep. Pat Schroeder (D-Co.) but also from Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) and Rep. Marge Roukema (R-N.J.), as well as more than 30 other Republicans. And in the Senate, where the bill passed unanimously, not only Sen. Ted Kennedy...
Perhaps in the next few days, he will come to his senses. This, however, seems unlikely. If we are lucky, our Congress, by overriding his veto, will show him that he can no longer ignore the opinions of the American public...