http://csmonitor.com/2004/0504/p01s01-uspo.htmlfrom the May 04, 2004 edition
A wave of initiatives to promote marriageInterest groups concerned with aggressive moves to legislate most personal of institutions.
By Gail Russell Chaddock | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON – Call it Bush v. Murphy Brown: the rematch. After the spring of 1992, when Vice President Dan Quayle denounced CBS TV character Murphy Brown for bearing a child alone and calling it "just another lifestyle choice," the vice president's moralistic tone became grist for political humorists for years to come.
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So far, many of the new moves are modest - and in their infancy. But critics say that such programs could involve government in a relationship where it does not belong, and produce misguided policy, including encouraging women and children to stay in a possibly violent household.
New federal moves are wide-ranging. Among them: eliminating barriers to marriage - such as the permanent repeal of the so-called "marriage penalty" in the US tax code, which the House passed last week, and a pending rewrite of national welfare laws to provide $300 million in incentives for programs to promote "healthy" married families.
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In Senate hearings last week, lawmakers also discussed whether Washington should make it harder for couples to end a marriage, by challenging several states' "no-fault" divorce laws.
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