Many politicians, business leaders,
and scholars discount the role of
public policy and emphasize the role
Line of the labor market when explaining
(5) employers' maternity-leave policies,
arguing that prior to the passage of
the Family and Medical Leave Act
(FMLA) of 1993, employers were
already providing maternity leave in
(10) response to the increase in the number
of women workers. Employers did
create maternity-leave programs
in the 1970's and 1980's, but not as
a purely voluntary response in the
(15) absence of any government mandate.
In 1972, the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ruled
that employers who allowed leaves
for disabling medical conditions must
(20) also allow them for maternity and that
failure to do so would constitute GMAT
discrimination under the Civil Rights
Act of 1964. As early as 1973, a
survey found that 58 percent of large
(25) employers had responded with new
maternity-leave policies. Because the
1972 EEOC ruling was contested in
court, the ruling won press attention
that popularized maternity-leave
(30) policies. Yet perhaps because the
Supreme Court later struck down
the ruling, politicians and scholars
have failed to recognize its effects,
assuming that employers adopted
(35) maternity-leave policies in response
to the growing feminization of the
workforce.

It can be inferred that the author of the passage would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements about government policy?

A. Government policy is generally unaffected by pressures in the labor market.
B. The impact of a given government policy is generally weakened by sustained press attention.
C. It is possible for a particular government policy to continue to have an impact after that policy has been eliminated.
D. A given government policy can be counterproductive when that policy has already unofficially been implemented.
E. The impact of a given government policy is generally weakened when the ruling is contested in court.

The passage suggests that the relationship between the view of the author with respect to maternity leave policy prior to passage of the FMLA and the view of the politicians, business leaders, and scholars mentioned in lines 1-2 can best be characterized by which of the following statements?

A. They agree that both the 1972 EEOC ruling on maternity-leave policy and the increasing feminization of the workplace had an impact on employers' creation of maternity-leave programs but disagree about the relative importance of each
factor.
B. They agree that the EEOC ruling on maternity-leave policy had an initial impact on employers' creation of maternity-leave programs but disagree over whether the Supreme Court's striking down of the EEOC ruling weakened that impact.
C. They agree that creating maternity-leave programs was a necessary response to the needs of the increasing number of women workers but disagree about whether maternity should be classified as a disabling medical condition.
D. They agree that employers created maternity-leave programs prior to passage of the FMLA but disagree about employers' motivations for doing so.
E. They agree that employers created maternity-leave programs prior to passage of the FMLA but disagree about how widespread those programs were.