Thursday, October 31, lags
Page 2 Daily Nebraskan 300
N
Rv The Associated Press
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$11. million in cuts accepted
Push to reduce university budget cuts expected
"I think that our post-secondary Sen. Don Wesely of Lincoln warned
institutions are the most important that acceptance of the committee's
thing we have in the state of Nebraska," proposed 2.8 percent cut would force
The Legislature accepted $11.9 mil
lion in state budget cuts Wednesday
while making only minor alterations to
a budget-trimming package fashioned
by the Appropriations Committee.
After two days of first-round budget
debate in the special legislative ses
sion, lawmakers have squelched most
efforts to unravel the Appropnations
Goll said. In its amendment to Gov. Bob
Kerrey's LB1, the mainline budget bill,
the committee has recommended a 3
percent reduction for the university
and the four state colleges.
The motion calls for a $4.9 million
Committee's $19.9 million package of cut for NU, $336,435 for Kearney State,
closing an adolescent care unit at the
Lincoln Regional Center. The gover
nor's proposal is a 1.5 percent reduc
tion in DPI's general-fund support.
"I think even 1.5 percent is too
much," Sen. Bernice Labedz of Omaha
said. "What we're doing here is talking
cuts in the $828.3 million general-fund $183,263 for Wayne State, $171,647 for about people that cannot help them-
budget for fiscal 1985-86..
"I think our Appropriations package
has a lot of credibility," committee
member James Goll of Tekamah said of
the average 3 percent across-the-board
cut in state operations and state aid. "I
think it's fair and we did all that we
could justify."
However, Goll said he would support
an expected push to reduce the com
mittee's suggested cuts for the Univer
sity of Nebraska and the state colleges
Chadron State and $98,699 for Peru selves."
State. Senators also refused to accept a
The committee suffered a slight set- committee-recommended $50,000 cut
back when lawmakers dumped its pro- in the financial management assist-
posed $1.8 million cut for the Depart- ance program, which has assisted about
ment of Public Institutions and 600 farm and ranch families since its
at Kearney, Wayne, Chadron and Peru, alcohol.
accepted Kerrey's $978,088 reduction.
Opponents of the panels' proposed
reduction in DPI argued that it would
place an even greater financial burden
in caring for the mentally retarded,
mentally ill and people dependent on
1984 inception.
The program is operated by the
Nebraska Cooperative Extension Ser
vice and the University of Nebraska to
help financially beleagured farmers
and ranchers become more efficient
managers.
Soviet journalists scheduled
to interview President Reagan
WASHINGTON - President Reagan
will be interviewed by four Soviet jour
nalists in the Oval Office today in what
the White House said it hoped was "a
sign of a new and more open informa
tion policy on the part of the Soviet
Union."
It will be the first time since 1961
that a U.S. president consented to an
interview with Soviet journalists.
The White House also announced
Wednesday that Reagan will address a
joint session of Congress on the even
ing of Nov. 21, immediately upon his
return to Washington from his summit
in Geneva with Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev.
The four Soviet journalists flew in
from Moscow solely for the interview,
White House spokesman Larry Speakes
said. They include a representative
from the Soviet news agency Tass, the
Soviet Communist Party newspaper
Pravda, the Soviet government news
paper Izvestia and a Soviet news ser
vice Novosti.
"We regard this interview as a uni
aue and historic onnortunitv for the
r I i
president to communicate directly with
the people of the Soviet Union. We hope
it is a sign of a new and more open
information policy on the part of the
Soviet Union," Speakes said.
He said the last time a president was
interviewed by Soviet journalists was
on Nov. 21, 1961, when then President
John F. Kennedy was interviewed in
Hyannisport, Mass.
Speakes said there was an under
standing that the interview with Rea
gan will be carried in Izvestia on Sun
day. Texts of the interview will be
released in Washington after it is pub
lished in Moscow.
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Administration taps Social Security
investments for cash, CBO figures say
WASHINGTON The Social Secur
ity system stands to lose $300 million a
year in earnings through the end of the
century because its investments are
being tapped by the Reagan admini
stration to ease the government's cash
shortage, according to the figures re
leased Wednesday.
Hep. James Jones, D-Okla., chairman
of the House Social Security subcom
mittee, released figures from the Con
gressional Budget Office that he said
indicated the Treasury was already
making use of the trust funds to cover
other government costs.
John Niehenke, acting assistant
Treasury secretary, said the borrowing
was not improper, and he warned that
the Treasury "plans to accelerate the
disinvestment of the Social Security
trust funds, beginning Nov. 1, 1985, if
Congress does not act by that date on
debt limit legislation."
The Treasury has run out of cash
because the House and Senate have
failed to pass a bill to increase the
government's borrowing authority, which
has reached its limit of $1,824 trillion.
Both houses have passed the bill, but
the Senate attached a controversial
amendment to force balanced budgets
by fiscal 1991.
A House-Senate conference commit
tee has been meeting in an attempt to
compromise on the balanced budget
plan. In the meantime, the Treasury
has been using complex bookkeeping
procedures to keep government checks
from bouncing.
In order to cover the checks being
sent Friday to 36 million Social Secur
ity recipients, Niehenke said the
administration planned to tap the fund's
investments.
The CBO, in the figures released by
Jones, said the long-term loss to Social
Security comes from the need to sell off
relatively high-paying notes to cover
the short-term cash shortage. With
interest rates declining, those losses
will continue even when the invest
ment money is replenished.
Niehenke placed the short-term
interest lost to Social Security at $9
million, and said the long-term loss
would be "tens of millions," not the
$300 million cited by CBO.
Other trust funds have suffered, he
said, because the government has not
been, able to make full scheduled
investments. The Civil Service Retire
ment and Disability fund, the Military
Retirement Fund, and the Federal
Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust
Fund have lost a cumulative $70 mil
lion, he said.
Fights expected over defense spending
WASHINGTON - New fights are
likely over spending for nerve gas and
"Star Wars" antimissile research when
the House takes up a bill which would
freeze Pentagon spending for the cur
rent fiscal year.
The $292 billion appropriation bill
was scheduled for floor debate Wed
nesday, a day after the House gave
voice vote approval to a separate mea
sure authorizing the Pentagon to spend
a record $302 billion.
Meanwhile, the Senate Appropria
tions Defense Subcommittee is sche
duled to begin marking up its version
of the bill appropriating $302 billion
for the Defense Department. The differ
ing versions enacted by the two
chambers will be reconciled later in a
conference committee.
Whatever finally emerges from the
appropriations bills will be far less
than President Reagan originally sought
in what would have been the last year
of his record five-year defense build-up.
Reagan asked for $322 billion for the
fiscal year which began Oct. 1. That
would have been a 5.9 percent increase,
adjusted for inflation, from last year's
$292 billion Pentagon budget. But he
has said he would approve the figure in
the Senate bill.
The Republican-controlled Senate
authorized a $302 billion budget, an
increase to account for inflation, while
the Democratic-run House voted for a
flat freeze at $292 billion. The confer
ence committee accepted the Senate
figure.
Now, House Democrats have vowed
to fight for the $292 billion total in the
separate appropriation bill which is
needed to actually spend the money.
ewsmalcers
A roundup of the day's happenings
Rep. Chester G. Atkins, often ribbed about being
confused with country music legend Chet Atkins, sent off
a letter to David Letterman after the talk show host
featured the guitarist as a guest. "No doubt you are by now
feeling tremendous embarrassment over the mixup re
garding the scheduled appearance of 'Chet Atkins' on your
Oct. 16 show," the congressman wrote. "My office has
been deluged with confused and angry phone calls from
constituents who tuned in expecting to see me, only to
find an obscure musician." But Letterman turned the joke
on the congressman when he read the letter on the air last
week, accompanied by a chart purporting to total the cost
to taxpayers of Atkins' sense of humor.
Boys Town will be buzzing with film crews and came
ras next week when shooting begins on a television movie
starring Art Carney. Carney will portray a character named
Father O'Halleran in "Miracle of the Heart: A Boys Town
Story."
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Ag leaders urge Congress action
tt a ktttp PiTV NLT While debate rafed in the Senate over f ho l
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farm bill, the heads of agriculture departments in 49 states urged Con
gress on Wednesday to take steps to shore up the beleaguered farmer's
financial status and his place in international markets.
Members of the National Association of State Departments of Agricul
ture voted to urge Congress to pass measures to retire sensitive land from
agricultural production, institute a buyout program cf dairy herds and
place U.S. government guarantees behind bonds sold to finance the Farm
Credit System.
The NASDA members from every state except Hawaii and from the
Virgin Islands also expressed support for efforts to negotiate an end to
unfair trade practices by foreign competitors and to lend farmers some
income stability.
Soviet hostages released in Beirut
BEIRUT Three Soviet Embassy personnel kidnapped a month ago
were released unharmed Wednesday, an embassy spokesman said.
"They're all free and in relatively good condition," said the spokesman,
who declined to be identified.
News of the release, broadcast by radio stations in Moslem West Beirut,
triggered a wild spree of gunfire by leftist militiamen who have been
combing the city for the missing Soviets for two weeks.
State-run Beirut Radio and the Moslem Voice of the Nation said
militiamen were celebrating the release of the three Soviets.
The embassy spokesman declined to give any details of the release of
the three captives who had been threatened with death since they were
kidnapped Sept. 30.
They were seized by gunmen in West Beirut, the first East bloc nation
als abducted in the Lebanese capital since Islamic extremists began
kidnapping foreigners in January, 1934.
Hoch considering bid for governor
University of Nebraska Regent Nancy Iloch says she is seriously consid
ering a bid for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, but has ruled
out a possible race for lieutenant governor. :
"I'm seriously looking at the governor's race," said Hoch, who lost a bid
for the U.S. Senate by 25,000 votes last year to Sen. J. James Exon. "I have
had tremendous pressure to run at this point."
Several Republican leaders have talked about Hoch playing a secon
dary role on a statewide ticket next year, particularly if Rep. Hal Daub
runs for governor. But Hoch said there have been "no deals."
Hoch said she feels no pressure to make a quick decision about running
for governor since she has statewide name recognition and a campaign
organization built for her Senate 1984 race. Supporters who have urged
her to run have pledged to wait for her decision, she said.
Poll: Crisis handling approved
WASHINGTON - President Reagan's handling of the Achille Lauro
hijacking crisis won the praise of four out of five Americans surveyed, a
Washington Post-ABC News poll says.
Eighty percent of those interviewed approved of the U.S. interception of
an Egyptian jet carrying the Palestinians accused in the hijacking of the
Italian cruise ship earlier this month, the Post reported in Wednesday's
editions. '
The U.S. Navy planes forced down the jetliner in Sicily where the
Palestinians aboard were taken off and arrested.
The high marks Reagan received for his actions following the hijacking
helped boost his approval rating for foreign affairs to 62 percent, the
highest rate recorded by the poll in four years. Reagan's overall 63 percent
approval rating was almost unchanged from last month, the newspaper
said. The national telephone poll of 1,506 people was conducted from
Thursday through Monday.
Sixty-eight percent of those questioned said they think it is more
important to take action against terrorists, such as those who hijacked
the Achille Lauro, than to maintain good relations with countries like
Italy.
Feds make millions of dollars mistake
OMAHA Federal officials say they made a mistake and took back
millions of dollars they sent Midwest governments earlier this month.
"They'd withdrawn it (the money) before we even knew about it," said
Deputy Douglas County Treasurer Norman Souba. "What you give out, you
can take back."
Nationwide, nearly $1 billion in federal revenue sharing payments were
sent out five days early to local governments. When federal officials
realized their error, they scrambled to retrieve the money.
"When it was clear we were going to get burned for $20 million (in
interest earnings), we said those checks are coming back," said Michael
Springer, a U.S. Treasury Department official.
Federal officials said an error was made in giving payment information
to a Richmond Va., computer, which sent the money to banks on Oct. 2, not
on Oct. 7.
Suit filed against Nebraska magazine
ATLANTA Seven federal agents filed a $7 million libel suit Wednes
day against a weapons manufacturer and a Nebraska gun magazine
protesting an advertisement that depicts U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Fireanns agents as using "Gestapo" tactics.
pd n !Tn agents flIed suit 38 individuals in Superior Court against
2; l itn.es. lnCl a suburban Atlanta firearms company owned by
Wayne E. Daniel, and Snell Publishing Co. Inc., the Hastings, Neb.,
publisher of The Shotgun News, a weapons trade journal.
Darnel placed the May 1 advertisement in Shotgun News after ATF
agents se jrved 1 federal search warrants at the R.P.B. offices in Cobb County
ma Pin '! 98a.ccording the lawsuit. The company once produced the
MAUiu submachine gun, a weapon that law enforcement agents have said
Sre4y- druismuggis and right-wing extremists.
rJTi a "l?1 led to federal indictments last June against
n2Lm rf !S nmT Svlvia Daniel for allegedly conspiring to
lift year " gUnS The case is exPected t0 g0 10 trial
