Yesterday in Washington

FLAG BURNING The House voted 312 to 120 in favor of a Constitutional amendment to allow the states to make it a crime to desecrate the American flag. "If you need to burn something, burn your Congressman in effigy," Representative Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, exhorted on the House floor with the passion that typified this culturally divisive debate.

LEGAL OVERHAUL The Senate easily approved a measure to discourage lawsuits by shareholders charging fraud by stockbrokers, accountants or corporate officials. The Senate's action means that both houses of Congress have now passed versions of the Republican-inspired package of proposals to drastically overhaul the nation's civil litigation system. The Clinton Administration has been generally critical of the legislative package while occasionally suggesting it would favor parts of the bills.

GINGRICH INVESTIGATION The House ethics committee has yet to question many of the most obvious witnesses about a college course that Speaker Newt Gingrich taught, or about a book contract or other conduct under investigation. Representative Nancy Johnson, the Connecticut Republican who heads the committee, has said the panel would be finished by July 4, but refused to discuss what has been investigated.

TOBACCO SUBSIDIES Led by Southern representatives, the House Appropriations Committee defeated an effort to end the 50-year-old Federal subsidy to tobacco growers. But in another alignment that cut as deeply across party lines, the committee approved an amendment to extend the moratorium on new off-shore oil drilling.