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By W. DALE NELSON Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Both supporters and opponents predict the Senate is about to extend the life of the Equal Rights Amend ment, signaling nearly four more years of lobbying about equality for women. A final vote is set for Friday on a measure extending until 1982 the time period for ratification of the ERA. An amendment that would have permitted states that have already ratified to rescind their action went down by a 54-44 vote on Wednesday. Thirteen Republicans joined 41 Democrats to defeat it. Twenty Democrats and 24 Republicans supported it. Sen. Birch Bayh, D-Ind., principal Senate sponsor of the ERA extension, said the amendment ‘‘would have effectively killed any chance for final ratification.” Bayh said he expects the extension to be approved by a healthy margin. Sen. Jake Gann, R-Utah, who led the fight to permit states to reverse themselves, said, ‘‘It is quite clear to me the opponents have the votes to pass the extension.”’ At the White House, presidential assistant Sarah Weddington said President Carter was confident the extension would be approved. Senate passage would make the extension law, since it was passed by the House in August and does not require the president’s signature. However, Stop ERA Extension, a lobbying group headed by Phyllis Schlafly, has in dicated it plans to challenge the extension in court. The group is expected to argue that the extension is invalid because it was not passed by the two-thirds majority required for a constitutional amendment. The ERA, outlawing discrimination on the basis of sex, requires ratification by 38 states to become part of the Constitution. It has been ratified by 35 legislatures, but lawmakers in Idaho, Kentucky, Nebraska and Tennessee have rescinded their actions. The Justice Department takes the position that it will be up to Congress, when and if 38 states have ratified, to decide whether the four votes of reversal have any effect. The original ratification deadline, set by Congress when it approved the ERA in 1972, is March 22, 1979. The proposed new deadline is June 30, 1982. The states that have not ratified are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia. Debate on Garn’s amendment focused on whether Congress has the power to decide in advance that states can rescind their ratification.
Newspaper Details
Huron Daily Plainsman
Huron, South Dakota, US
Thu, Oct 05, 1978
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Gerald G.
