AFFIRMATIVE ACTION STAYS IN ROAD FUNDING

Two developments on the affirmative action front mark interesting mileposts in this debate. Last week we heard from the U.S. Supreme Court, which has been increasingly skeptical in recent years of quotas and preferences for minorities without evidence of discrimination.

The court refused to hear an appeal from Dade County, Fla., that discrimination in the local construction industry is severe enough to justify an effort to set aside contracts for minority businesses. The justices have strictly limited affirmative action programs in state and local public works projects since 1989, ruling that such efforts must be narrowly tailored to remedy the effects of past discrimination.

The week before saw a key vote on affirmative action in the U.S. Senate. At issue was an attempt by Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to end a federal set-aside program that steers billions of dollars in federal highway projects to companies owned by minorities and women. McConnell's amendment to the federal highway bill failed by a vote of 58-37, and the so-called Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program survives for another year.

One interesting development for Missourians is that our two Republican senators split on the issue. Christopher Bond voted with the majority to maintain the enterprise program, while Sen. John Ashcroft voted with the minority. Bond was one of 15 Republicans, six of whom (like Bond) are up for re-election this year, to vote to retain the program.

Ashcroft gets it right when he says contracts shouldn't be awarded on the basis of race or gender. "You don't end racial discrimination by promoting racial discrimination," said Ashcroft.

Bond viewed the vote differently, saying he feared a promised presidential veto that would jeopardize $3.6 billion in highway funds for Missouri over the next six years. He says he wants to address affirmative action comprehensively in other bills and not as part of the highway funding measure.

Perhaps. The problem is that that day never seems to come. Sooner or later, lawmakers will have to face this fundamentally un-American practice of racial and gender set-asides and, following the Constitution and the clear direction of the courts, end them.