Kennedy May Delay Civil Rights Bills

Press, Volume C, Issue 29510, 11 May 1961, Page 15

Kennedy May Delay Civil Rights Bills

tN Z.P.A-Reuter—Copynghtl WASHINGTON, May 10. President Kennedy will try to avoid compromising the rest of his legislative programme by becoming involved in an early battle over civil rights, according to political observers.

All the Indications were that six civil rights' bills introduced in Congress this week, which were designed to improve the lot of the Negro, would be left to the end of a long line of pending legislation. The bills were drawn up by Senator Joseph Clark, of Pennsylvania, and Mr Emanuel Celler, of New York, at the request of President Kennedy. They put :nto legislative form the civil rights provisions of the Democratic Party’s platform for the 1980 presidential election

However, the bills went to Congress without a supporting message from the President and could not therefore, be regarded as administration legislation. The Democratic majority leader in the Senate. Senator M. Mansfield, said yesterday that precedence over the six bills would be given to an effort to revise the rules of the senate to make it easier to curb filibusters—the practice of talking legislation to death. Marathon Filibuster

Early last year the Senate was virtually erippled by a marathon filibuster by southern Senators who spoke in relays night and day for many weeks, eventually wearing out civil righto opponents, who gave up the flight because of taek of sleep. Senator Mansfield made it clear that he hoped to get most of the President’s draft legislation on other subjects out of the way before dealing even with the proposed rules change.

"Otherwise, we might have a long drawn out struggle in the Senate that might endanger the unfinished aspects of the President’s programme," he said.

The probability was that the Clark-Celler bills would have to wait until 1962.

The six bills would speed racial de-segregation in publie schools, make the present temporary Civil Righto Commission a permanent agency, provide judicial and administrative remedies against racial discrimination In business or union; eliminate poll tax and literacy tests as requirements for voting in federal elections: and give the Attorney General (Mr Robert Kennedy) the power to meet discrimination with legal action.