Deadlock Breaker

EVERY PRESIDENT RELISHES A SUN-DRENCHED ROSE Garden ceremony, but Bill Clinton's signing last Friday of the family-leave bill must have been especially welcome at the White House. After losing his first nominee for Attorney General and scrapping with Congress and the Pentagon over gays in the military, Clinton finally brought home a winner: the family-leave bill, which had endured eight years of Capitol Hill lobbying and two vetoes by George Bush. Said Clinton: "The first bill I am to sign as President truly puts people first. I am very appreciative that the Congress has moved so rapidly."

Approved in the Senate by a largely bipartisan vote of 71 to 27 and in the House 247 to 152, the bill will require companies with at least 50 employees to offer 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year to care for an ill family member, a newborn or an adopted child. Employers must maintain health-insurance coverage for absent workers and allow them to take the same job or an equivalent on their return.

The bill's final hurdle was a proposal by Senate Republicans to amend it with a reinstatement of the ban on homosexuals in the military. But Congress opted for a "comprehensive review" of that policy in hearings scheduled to begin in March.