NATION : Senate Agrees to Flag Timetable
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WASHINGTON — The Senate agreed today to consider a constitutional amendment against flag desecration by mid-October, calming those who were afraid Democratic leaders might try to use legislative maneuvers to bury President Bush’s proposal.
The agreement worked out between Democratic leader George J. Mitchell of Maine and Republican leader Bob Dole of Kansas also established a clear timetable for discussing the matter in order to prevent debate over the emotional flag controversy from blocking other Senate business.
Mitchell hailed the plan, agreed to by the full Senate, as a way to let the chamber consider the issue in a “serious, mature, deliberate way.”
Under the timetable, the Judiciary Committee must hold at least four days of hearings and must send the full Senate by Sept. 22 both a bill and a proposed constitutional amendment concerning flag desecration.
The Senate then would act on the bill by Oct. 7, just before a scheduled brief recess.
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