New digest
White House staff, salaries, i
benefits cut to set example
s
WASHINGTON — President
Clinton ordered cuts in the White
House staff, salaries and privileges
Tuesday, saying he could not ask
Americans to make economic sacri
fices unless government shares the
pain.
“The government must do more
and make do with less,” Clinton said,
«■ announcing a reduction of 350 full
time employees borrowed from other
agencies. Most of the cuts will be
achieved without layoffs.
Other steps announced by Clinton:
• Restrictions on the use of chauf
feur-driven limousines to three offi
cials: the chief of staff, national secu
rity adviser and his deputy.
• Transformation of the White
House mess to a cafeteria open to all
employees.
• Salary reductions of 6 percent to
9 percent for senior officials.
• Cuts in White House subscrip
tions to newspapers and magazines.
Clinton’s announcement was part
of the process of preparing Americans
to dig deeper into their pockets for
higher taxes to shrink the huge federal
deficit, and pay for highway and bridge
construction and other projects.
Another warmup step will be a tele
vised town meeting Wednesday in
Detroit.
The president will announce his
program Feb. 17 in an address to
Congress.
The slimmed-down White House
staff will total 1,044, when fully ef
fective on Oct. 1. White House chief
of staff Thomas McLarty said thecuts
would save S10 million.
“The real promise the American
people want President Cl in ton to keep
is slashing in half the federal deficit in
the next four years,” said Senate Re
publican Leader Bob Dole.
Clinton said the staff cuts fulfilled
his promise for a 25 percent reduc
tion. He attained the 25 percent figure
by exempting 800 employees in the
budget and trade offices, and by ig
noring hundreds of military support
personnel detailed to the White House.
“Economic renewal will require
tough choices from every American,”
the president said. “But we have to
ask the most of those who got the most
and gave the least during the last
decade.
“We in government cannot ask the
American people to change if we will
not have to do the same,” Clinton
said. Asked if he was giving up any
pay or privileges, Clinton said, “I
gave up 350 staff members, which is
a remarkable accomplishment.”
Seventy of the 350 were tempo
rarily detailed to the White House
from other agencies.
McClarty noted Clinton’s
$200,000 salary was exempt because
it was set by statute. McClarty, though
eligible for limousine service, “is not
accepting it at this point,” Mark
Gcaran, his deputy, said.
_
Shrinking _j
executive staff %J IjL^7
Where President Clinton wants to cut
White House staff from the levels of
the Bush administration:
□ Executive Residence | 95 ^
ice of the Vice President ^149
National Security Council
Policy Development ■■ 58t
National Economic Council (new) ^
Domestic Policy „ JJ*
Lj 21
Office of National Drug Control Policy 146
CEQ/Environmental Policy p 31
Science, Tech. & Space Policy |H|3M^9S
Council of Economic Advisers J
National Critical Materials Council I q
Office of Administration PWMP 236
la>..........-ai..a........r 109
___*na • not available
A P
Official: Bosnian rape victims
being killed by disgraced kin
WASHINGTON — The num
ber of rapes has diminished in
Bosnia but more Muslim rape vic
tims are now being killed by rela
tives who feel disgraced, an Ameri
can relief official said Tuesday.
“A sister who is raped brings
shame to the family,” said Karel
Zelenka, in charge of the U.S.
Catholic Relief Services office in
Zagreb, Croatia.
“Even brothers will kill a sister
if she’s been raped,” he said. “And
nobody really knows how to handle
it because these women do not
want to be contacted because of the
shame.”
Zelenka said the number of rapes
by Serbs has declined because of
the world outcry but the killings of
the raped women has increased as
more pregnancies become evident.
He provided no numbers on such
deaths.
The relief official said at a news
conference that large-scale rape had
been an unprecedented attempt by
Serbs to dilute an ethnic group, the
Bosnian Muslims.
“It may not be a written policy
but there must have been some
acceptance because it spread very
rapidly,” he said.
“The lowest estimate is 20,000.”
Zclcnka, an American of Czech
origin, said there also may have
been isolated rapes by Croats.
He gave a pessimistic picture of
the situation in the former Yugo
slavia, saying that the continuing
negotiations make the fighting
worse as each side tries to improve
its military position.
Budget office: Solely taxing the rich
won’t reduce the nation’s deficit much
WASHINGTON — President
Clinton has plenty of options for tax
ing the rich but will find it lough to
shrink the budget deficit without other
taxes and spending cuts that could
anger the public, new congressional
estimates show. The Congressional
Budget Office’s annual menuof ways
to trim the shortfall shows that bil
lions of dollars can be raised by boost
ing the lop income tax rate, raising the
minimum tax the rich pay and limit
ing their deductions.
Clinton has repeatedly spoken of
making the wealthy “pay their fair
share” of deficit reduction.
The budget office’s list, made avail
able Tuesday, also illustrates that such
levies would probably raise little
money compared to the size of the
deficit. The middle class might also
have lo share in the sacrifice, too.
Clinton is thinking about trying to
reduce federal red ink by $145 billion
in fiscal 1997. Gelling there will likely
require a phased-in, four-year bud
get-cutting package, starting next year,
containing total savings of much more
than that.
Clinton is further constrained by
White House budget chief Leon
Panetta’s comments that for every $1
in tax increases, he would like to find
$2 in spending cuts. Many congres
sional Democrats have complained
that the formula emphasizes spending
cuts too heavily, and the president has
made no final decision on the ratio.
In the face of such daunting fig
ures, the budget office’s options show
that deficit-reduction pain will have
to be borne by more than just the rich:
•Boosting the top income-tax rate
for individuals from its current 31
percent to 33 percent would raise S24 i
billion over the next four years. Clinton A
is expected to try to raise the top ratc,j|
paid by the most affluent Americans,
to 36 percent. A
•Raising the top rate on corpora ■
lions from 34 percent to 35 percent ■
would gamer $11.3 billion for the 1
government over four years. Clinton 1
is considering a 36 percent upper rate. I
•Increasing the alternative mini- 1
mum tax paid by the wealthy from 24
percent to 28 percent would raise I
$17.1 billion over four years. The tax
is designed to ensure that well-to-do
people pay some tax, no matter how
many legitimate deductions they have.
Public to question Clinton at first ‘town hall’
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. —When it
comes lo Bill Clinton, Margot Weeks
will admit to being more than a little
confused.
“I think he’s really smart and has
good ideas. B ut he’s on a path to break
every promise he’s made,” Weeks
said. “It’s good to hear him talk about
needing to make tough decisions. But
I think he’ll straddle the bridge be
cause he’s a grandstander.”
She added: “But I hope he docs
well.”
It’s that good will Clinton hopes to
tap Wednesday night through the first
televised town hall of his presidency.
Conversations this week with a
diverse group of Americans suggest
public opinion remains deeply frag
mented when it comes lo Clinton.
Ask Betty Brown of Spokane,
Wash., whaiClinton has done wrong
so far and she doesn’t hesitate.
“The way he addressed the issue of
gays in the military right out of the
barrel,” Brown said. “That was really
stupid.”
Count Roslyn Wilkins of Los An
geles likes the “new energy and the
change from an old style” Clinton
brings to the While House, but wor
ries he’s lost his focus.
“I’d like to sec a 10-point list on
how he will create new jobs,” Wilkins
said.
“They would like to see this focus
on the economy like a laser approach
that he talked about,” acknowledged
Clinton pollster Stanley Greenberg.
He’ll try to sell his message of shared
sacrifice Wednesday night from the
WXYZ-TV studios in suburban De
troit. _
The president's
town meeting
Atlanta, Miami,
CNN, C-SPAN Georgia Florida
and some ABC --
affiliates will carry the program.
~ ..~'AP. .
-— World Wire-1
Sears loses record $3.93 billion
CHICAGO — Scars, Roebuck
and Co. reported losing $3.93 bil
lion last year, the worst perfor
mance in its history, as its retail
sales barely improved and Hurri
cane Andrew walloped its insur
ance business.
The loss reported Tuesday was
the fourth largest in U.S. corporate
history, though at least two other
publicly held companies are ex
pected to show worse 1992 results
because of companies are expected
to show worse 1992 results because
of changes in how they must ac
count for retiree benefits. Scars’
loss reflected a $1.9 billion provi
sion for that rules change.
The company also had a $1.7
billion charge to cover the costs of
its latest retail restructuring, in
cluding the closing of 113 stores
and its big catalog operation. Sears
estimates it will cut 50,000 jobs
and save about $300 million a year.
The 'l992 losses also reflected
lackluster operating results in re
tailing, where sales edged up just
1.7 percent last year.
Nebraskan
Editor Chris Hoplenaperger
472- 1766
Managing Editor Alan Phelps
Professional Adviaar Don Walton
473- 7301
FAX NUMBER 472-1781
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ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT
1993 DAILY NEBRASKAN
Proposed cut spurs planned resolution
by Anarea Kaser
Staff Reporter
AS UN President Andrew Sigerson intends
to push for an emergency resolution at tonight’s
meeting urging members to Tight the State
Legislature Appropriation Committee’s pro
posed S percent cut from the
NU budget.
“This resolution will say
how crazy we think it is for
them to cut the university by
such a substantial amount,”
he said.
The committee proposed
the cut in the 1992-93 budget at an executive
session Monday. The $13.98 million cut would
apply to the entire University of Nebraska.
Sigerson said members of the Association of
Students of the University of Nebraska needed
to increase their efforts in protecting the
university’s interests at the Capitol.
“We need to start working the Legislature
harder and faster,” he said.
The university benefits the state more than
anything else, Sigerson said, naming outreach,
students and agricultural contributions. But the
Appropriations Committee doesn’t seem to see
those benefits, he said.
In other business, ASUN members will vole
on a resolution calling for an emergency snow
removal plan.
A Daily Nebraskan article on how students
who use wheelchairs face snowy and icy cam
pus pathways brought Patrick Kroese, senator
for the College of Agriculture and member of
the Human Rights Committee, to sponsor the
resolution, he said.
After reading the article, Kroese said he
discussed the idea for a better snow removal
plan with Christy Horn, director of Services for
Students with Disabilities, who also works with
the Affirmative Action and Diversity Office.
If the resolution is approved, the schedules
and routes of students who use wheelchairs
would be researched to find the busiest routes,
he said.
