Push For Hate Crime Law

With time running out in this session of Congress, President Clinton made yet another appeal for a tougher federal hate crime law Friday night, CBS News Correspondent Lisa Hughes reports.

"Hate crimes victimize not only the victim, but they victimize society as a whole in a special way, because they contradict the very idea of America we are trying to build," Mr. Clinton said.

The legislation the president wants would give the federal government a bigger role in prosecuting hate crimes and add sexual orientation to race and religion as protected categories. But even its strongest supporters concede it's all but dead.

"The fact is, the hate crimes prevention act is near death and kind of writhing in a partisan ditch, and the only issue is whether the Republican leadership is gonna call the ambulance," said Human Rights Campaign executive director Elizabeth Birch.

That's unlikely. Republicans stripped hate crime legislation from the final budget bill, calling it unnecessary.

"It's pretty redundant," said House Majority Leader Dick Armey. "I mean if you kill, maim, murder, harm, assault, cheat, rob, steal, beat somebody, you're covered under law."

Supporters running last-minute TV ads brought Alan Stepakoff, whose son was wounded in this summer's attack on the Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles, to Washington to appeal to lawmakers this week.

"We can't outlaw hate. We can't restrict the thoughts. We can't restrict the speech. But we can make it very well known this is not gonna be tolerated," said Stepakoff.

The president has called hate crimes the biggest challenge facing the nation. But with the new hate crime law bogged down in a budget battle, and Congress rushing to wrap up the session, it's unlikely Mr. Clinton will sign any new protections into law this year.