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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1992)
News Digest : Bush ‘family leave’ veto sustained WASHINGTON — The House on Wednesday easily sustained President Bush’s veto of a bill requiring many businesses to give their workers time off in family emergencies. Demo crats pledged to redouble efforts to make “family leave” a major issue in the campaign for the White House. The vote on the politically charged bill was 258-169, well short of the two-thirds majority needed to over ride Bush. It was the 33rd consecutive, time Bush has made his veto stick. Supporters of the family-leave bill said the veto would reverberate in next month’s presidential election. Democrat Bill Clinton supports the measure; Bush has promoted “family values” as a campaign theme. “This issue frames this campaign,” Rep. Patricia Schroeder said. “Yes, it really is about who is for families.” horty-two Democrats deserted their party and voted to sustain Bush’s veto. Thirty-eight Republicans voted to override the president. The measure was strongly opposed by lobbyists for small business. Op ponents pointed to Bush’s eleventh hour alternative, $500 million in tax credits for businesses that grant the unpaid leave to workers. “There’s a better, more effective way,” House Minority Leader Bob Michel said. The House voted overwhelmingly -it It is one of the things that will change in a new administration. It is one of the things that the Clinton campaign is committed to change and that the Congress in great majority is committed to support. — Thomas Foley Speaker of the House —----- 91 - as expected to override another Bush veto of a bill that would slap condi tions on renewal next year of China’s trade status with the United States. Most-favored nation status imparts the lowest available tariffs on a country’s exports to America. The vote was 345-74, well over the two-thirds needed. The veto battles were among the major bills to be acted upon before the 102nd Congress adjourns early next week. Since the new federal fiscal year begins Thursday with most of the 13 annual spending bills unfinished, Congress passed the emergency bill to give it more time to finish those spending bills. Legislators also sent Bush a $688 million measure that helps finance the District of Columbia’s govern ment after removing a provision al lowing local tax collections to be used for abortions. Bush had vetoed the bill tarlicr in the day because he opposed the abortion provision. The familv leave bill would have required businesses with 50 or more employees to give workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave, with full health benefits, to care for a sick family member or for a newborn or newly adopted child. The Senate voted 68-31 last week to override Bush. He so far has a perfect record of making his vetoes stick. The Senate vote marked the first time in his presidency that body has voted to override. House Speaker Thomas Foley called Bush’s veto “a very bad mis laxc Dui aireauy was looking ahead to the bill’s prospects if Clinton, a supporter of the bill, is elected presi dent. “It is one of the things that will change in a new administration,” Foley said. “It is one of the things that the Clinton campaign is committed to change and that the Congress in great majority is committed to support.” “We thought the election politics would help us,”one Democratic strat egist said. “On the other hand, it could be hurting us.” Major tax legislation was also pend ing in the final days of Congress. A Senate-House conference com mittee was to take up the issue after the Senate voted 70-29 to approve its S35 billion catch-all bill Tuesday night. The House’s version is about half that size. Both include a portion for poor cities, through business incentives in depressed areas, but the urban aid portion was dwarfed by added items such as expanded individual retire - mentaccounts and business tax breaks. The House and Senate sent Bush a compromise $12 billion measure fi nancing land programs that leaves mostly intact the 120-year-old law that gives miners inexpensive access to federal lands. Quiet spending put Perot in ‘October surprise’ position WASHINGTON — Ross Pcroi continued to spend millions after he dropped from the presidential race in July, maintaining a 50-state organiza tion and quietly preparing campaign advertising. Those expenditures — S4 million in August alone — have put Perot in position for an “October surprise” return if he chooses to make that move Thursday. But they also underline a stark contrast between what the Texas bil 1 lionaire has said publicly and what he has done privately since ending his independent bid for the White House. At the same time he was spending the money, Perot was declaring that he wouldn’t play a spoiler’s role, that the chancesof his returning were com parable to the likelihood that “a hur ricane will go straight up in the air today” or “lightning going to strike here in two seconds.” “It smacksof double dealing,” said Stephen Hess, a political analyst with “He said he was leaving the race, not ‘I’m leaving the race but I’m going to be creating some 30 ads and getting my name on ballots just in case I decide to come back, Hess said. But Murphy Martin, a close Perot associate who has helped in recent weeks to prepare ads, disagreed. “We’ve been saying all along we wanted to keep our options open,” Martin said. Campaign finance reports filed with the government show Perot has spent $18.5 million —$16.1 million of it his own money — since first mentioning the possibility of an inde pendent campaign in March. More than half that total has been spent since he withdrew: $6.6 million in July and $4 million in August. That fact is not lost on the political professionals who worked on his cam paign before it disbanded and who now wonder whether Perot was plan ning an October surprise all the time. “Perot doesn’t throw money away. If he was paying after he dropped out to get himself on the ballot in all those states, then he clearly had something in mind,”said Elizabeth Maas, Perot’s former director of press operations. *vHe is unhappy where he sits on the stage right now. I don’t think he wants to go out as the guy who came in, got everyone excited and then quit,” said Sal Russo, a California consultant who worked briefly for Perot. Much of the $4 million Perot spent in August went to pay bills he accrued before he dropped out or the salaries of campaign consultants he agreed 10 continue paying through November. But scattered among the 400pages of his latest Federal Election Com mission report are expenditures that have helped keep Perot in the spot light since his withdrawal, such as financing the volunteer effort to get his name on all 50 state ballots. Some of his slate coordinators have contin ued to be paid. Also among the expenditures were S7.000 to Martin, a longtime Dallas Parking Continued from Page 1 The project, now in its second phase, will include building a pe destrian overpass and a new 10th Street overpass, said A1 Imig, Lin coln deputy city engineer. Phase one of the construction project began last week on waterways under Avery Avenue, he said, and will be completed this week. Construction was scheduled to begin today on the pedestrian over pass which will run besidethe 10th Street overpass. That overpass will be completed in April, Imig said. After the pedestrian overpass is completed, the deteriorating 80 year-old 10th Street overpass will be replaced, he said. During the final construction phase of the 10th Street overpass, the pedestrian overpass will be the only access to campus from North 10th Street, he said. When construction is finished, the north end of the^Oth Street overpass will be in thesame place it is now. The south side of the overpass will curve to Ninth Street, Imig said, and will be adjacent to the I 180 bridge going into downtown Lincoln. Bob Carpenter, UNL manager of facility planning, said 10th Street would be restructured because of the new overpass. The existing 10th Street will be converted to an internal campus street, he said. The entire project will slow traffic, Cacak said, but it will be beneficial. “When it’s all said and done, traffic will flow better around cam pus.M Billionaire gibes women reporters DALLAS — Ross Perot, whose relations with reporters are testy at best, complained to an NBC journalist that the reason women reporters do negative sto ries is “they’re trying to prove their manhood,” a newspaper re ported today. The Washington Post reported that Perot made the comment to Jim Cummins, Dallas bureau chief for NBC News, as he left a studio where he’d been interviewed for the “Today” show. Perot complained to Cummins about “Today” show host Katie Couric and correspondent Lisa Myers, who angered him with a story that preceded his segment on the show, the Post reported. Bryant Gumbel interviewed Perot on Monday’s show. Cummins did not immediately return a call this morning. Perot spokeswoman Sharon Holman was not immediately available. She declined comment to the Post. television personality and sports an nouncer, and $9,389 to an Irving, Texas, television production studio. The report lists the expenses, both dated Aug. 21, for media placement and media production. Martin and the studio declined to discuss q^actly what the money was for. But Martin acknowledged he has continued working for Perot since the withdrawal, converting raw footage shot by former campaign profession als into usable ads and in some cases creating new ads. “We continue to update and keep him armed should he exercise the option. We hope to have some mate rial for whatever reason he would need it,” he said. EPA accuses White House of delaying new regulations NEW YORK — Seventy-six new regulations prepared by the Environ mental Protection Agency arc being held up by the While House, some in violation of congressional deadlines, according to a confidential EPA re port. The stalled regulations include some of the major provisions of the 1990 Clean Air Act intended to con trol smog, reduce acid rain, protect the ozone layer and reduce toxic air pollutants. “The administration is holding up numerous rules, which is illegal, and which is not consistent with the goal of protecting human health and the environment,” said a senior EPA offi r —-___-_ cial who spoke on condition of ano nymity. The report says that eight regula tions are currently being blocked by the White House even though con gressional deadlines for their comple tion have passed. A copy of the Sept 22 report was obtained by The Asso ciated Press. Among the blocked regulations is the set of rules governing the trading of air pollution emissions, a program touted for relying on markets to curb acid rain. The rules were due May 15. Another regulation that missed its deadline would require tighter emis sion controls on new incinerators and chemical plants. 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