May 04, 2007  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO J  | COMMENTS     

such as the elderly, without similar protections.

The announcement continued, “Moreover, the bill’s proposed section 249(a)(1) of title 18 of the U.S. Code raises constitutional concerns.  Federalization of criminal law concerning the violence prohibited by the bill would be constitutional only if done in the implementation of a power granted to the Federal government, such as the power to protect Federal personnel, to regulate interstate commerce, or to enforce equal protection of the laws.”

Members of Congress supporting the two bills have said it was doubtful they could line up a two-thirds majority vote needed to override a presidential veto.

Gay Republican activist Carl Schmid, who supported Bush in the 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns, said Bush told gay Republican supporters in 2000 that he would not support ENDA at that time but gave no indication that he would actively oppose it.

Schmid noted that while Bush has not backed ENDA, he spurned requests by anti-gay groups that he rescind President Bill Clinton’s executive order banning job discrimination against gay federal employees. The Clinton order remains in force.

In another development considered encouraging by gay GOP activists, the White House released a statement in 2004 rebuking Bush appointee Scott Bloch, who heads the agency in charge of enforcing non-discrimination policies for federal workers. Bloch said at that time that he did not believe the Clinton order and a separate civil service policy carried sufficient weight to protect gay federal workers from job-related discrimination.

“The president believes that no federal employee should be subjected to unlawful discrimination,” a White House spokesperson said in the April 2004 statement. “That’s longstanding federal policy that prevents discrimination based on sexual orientation,” said spokesperson Trent Duffy.

Gay Republican activist Jim Driscoll, whom the Bush White House appointed to the Presidential Advisory Council on AIDS during the president’s first term, said he was hopeful that these and other actions by the Bush White House would motivate the president to sign the hate crimes and ENDA bills.

“There are several reasons to believe he will not veto these bills. He has been very, very reluctant to use the veto in the six-and-a-half years he’s been in office. If he did use it for these two bills, it would be a black mark on his reputation,” Driscoll said.

Supporters of the hate crimes bill and ENDA said they are reasonably confident the Democratic-controlled House will pass both bills but are less<