Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 1994)
By The Associated Press Edited by Kristine Long News digest Nebraskan Monday, February 7,1994 Lobbyists dispute Clinton’s proposed budget WASHINGTON — Liberal Dem ocrats and lobbyists aimed fire at Pres ident Clinton on Sunday for cuts he will seek in his 1995 budget, but ad ministration officials defended the S1.5 trillion blueprint on the eve of its release. “I’m not satisfied with the budget,” Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-Md., chair man of the Congressional Black Cau cus, said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” M fume focused on Clinton’s plans to whittle down spending for public housing and heating assistance, say ing, “Those things arc getting close to becoming what wc call non-negotia ble items.” Clinton’s package, for the fiscal year that begins next Oct. 1, will lack the dramatic tax increases and spend ing reductions the president sought a year ago in his first budget. That pro posal paved the way for last summer’s enactment of his ncar-5500 billion deficit-reduction plan. But to meet the tight strictures imposed by last August’s package — and pay for increases Clinton wants for scores of other programs — the budget will propose eliminating 115 small programs, and holding nearly 600 others at or below the amounts they were allowed for this year. The proposed cuts would total $25 billion. Of that, $8 billion will be used to beef up favored programs such as job training and technological re search, and the rest to contain a 1995 deficit the administration will project at $176.1 billion — the lowest level since 1989. Word of the spending cuts has al ready angered many members of Con gress, all of whom have favorite pro grams they furiously defend. Law makers will spend most of the year deciding which of the president’s pro posals to embrace and which to ig nore. Special interest groups are also wasting little time gearing up. The American Public Transit As sociation warned Sunday that nearly seven in 10 mass transit systems would have to raise fares if Congress ap proves Clinton’s proposal to cut oper ating assistance to commuter train and bus systems. Clinton wants to cut the program by S200 million from its current S800 million level, government and indus try officials have said. A program for helping local governments buy buses and other equipment would be in creased instead. Administration officials said cuts in those and other, programs were needed to help reduce the deficit "and to pay for increases in education, crime fighting and other favored initiatives. “The fact that we are now in an area where we’ve got to control govern ment spending, it’s a great opportuni ty to redirect the role of government,” White House Budget Director Leon Panetta said on ABC’s “This Week With David Brinkley.” The budget will claim that tens of billions of dollars can be saved over the next five years if Congress enacts Clinton’s plan to revamp health care. Part of the savings will come from a previously announced plan to increase the cigarette tax. Other details of Clinton’s budget include: • $69 million for research on alter native fuel vehicles,$25 million more than this year. • A reduction in the program that helps the poor pay heating bills from $1.4 billion this year to $730 million in 1995. • $100 million over the next two years to build a new railroad terminal to replace Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, in the home state of Sen ate Finance Committee Chairman Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y. • A $196 million cut in Agricul ture Department flood-prevention and watershed programs. Test service overhauls SAT, calculators will be allowed PRINCETON, N .J.—The venerable SAT is getting its first major overhaul in two decades. It will allow use of calculators and will better test critical thinking skills. But critics say the revisions to the assess ment test are only cosmetic and don’t ad dress what they see as an underlying bias against women and minorities. “I t’s an attempt to make the SAT look 1 ike it will measure higher-order thinking skills,” said Cinthia Schuman, head of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing. “You really can’t measure higher-order thinking skills in questions answered inone minute or less, or when students can’t show their work or do anything except choose from preselected possibilities.” The Scholastic Aptitude Test first ap peared in 1926. It is used by most U.S. colleges to evaluate potential students. It consists of two sections, one measuring ver bal abilities and one measuring mathemati cal skills. Each section is worth 200 to 800 points. H igh school students will first see the new version March 19. Officials from the Princeton-based Edu cational Testing Service, which administers the test, say it’s the first major overhaul to the SAT since 1974. The verbal section will contain fewer reading passages, but the passages will be longer. The test clso will include a pair of passages on similar subjects, which students will be asked to compare. In the mathematical section, the biggest change will be that students can bring along calculators. be My valentine Cards, Gifts & More. GlAVT HEART BALLOON only {48.00 Select one of five styles. VAUivavi; bouquet only 86.00* * With the purchase of any a tailed animal Bouquet consist of 1 heart shaped mylar and 6 latex balloons of your choice. Sold Separately Heart / Mylar $3. Heart/Latex $1. Round / Printed Latex $1. Round / Solid Color Latex .75$ 8Sg Free delivery ** Sunday 1 pm - 4 pm Monday 9 am - 5 pm Tuesday 9 am - 5 pm ** Limited delivery area Gift deparpievt NEBR4SK4 BOOKSTORE 13th &Q Street 476-0111 Clinton summons meeting to plan strategy for Bosnia WASHINGTON — President Clinton con ferred with his top national security advisers Sunday to chart a course for dealing with esca lating violence in Bosnia amid intensifying calls from Congress for air strikes. A top administration official said Western military action was clearly “on the table” in the aftermath of a mortar attack Saturday in a market in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo that left 68 dead and hundreds wounded. And Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole asserted that a decision by Clinton to order air strikes would have “strong bipartisan support” in Congress. But Clinton — along with other allied lead ers — appeared still to be groping for an effec tive strategy for ending the bloodshed in the former Yugoslavia. A day after he sent a u.i>. medical team anu three transport planes to Sarajevo to help evac uate the wounded, Clinton summoned top na tional security officials to the White House to discuss the deteriorating situation. He was leaving later in the day for Houston on a 2 1/2-day trip that will combine political fund raising with promoting his health-care program. Aides said the president did not con sider the situation to be enough of a crisis to warrant delaying the trip. An administration official, speaking on con dition of anonymity, said Clinton asked for an update on the situation and was also eager for details on what the medical team had learned in Sarajevo. Clinton — who late Saturday issued a state ment condemning the “cowardly act” and call ing for engaging allies on next steps—was not likely to take any steps without consulting with NATO partners, the official said. In Munich, Germany, Defense Secretary William Perry said that the United States would not invoke air strikes unilaterally, noting the difficulty imposed by the presence of 28,000 lightly armed U.N. peacekeepers in Bosnia. Perry denounced the attack on civilians in Sarajevo as an “unforgivable incident” but sug gested air strikes would have limited value in ending the civil strife. He called instead for a negotiated settlement. “It is time for responsible leaders among the warring factions tostep forward and be counted. ( It is time for the international community to ’ stand together and bring the maximum pressure to bear,” Perry said at a military conference in Munich. Perry’s remarks seemed to back away from comments the day before when he suggested “stronger action, including air strikes,” might be warranted to prevent the “strangulation” of Sarajevo. Dole suggested it was time for air strikes against Serbian positions. “I think it would certainly send a strong message to Belgrade,” Dole said. Discovery astronauts jail to release science satellite CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA failed to release a science satellite from space shuttle Discovery on Sunday and considered canceling the troubled experiment. It was not clear whether NASA would try again Monday to deploy the Wake Shield Facil ity or give up altogether on the experiment, which had been one of the primary purposes of the shuttle mission. Even if the satellite could be deployed Mon day, officials said all the science objectives could not be met. The Wake Shield was supposed to fly free of the shuttle for two days so scientists could try to grow semiconductor films in the ultra-clean wake created by the saucer-shaped craft. There wouldn’t be enough time for two days of free flight even if the latest problem — a guidance sensor snafu—could be resolved in time for a Monday release. As Discovery whizzed around Earth with the Wake Shield propped on the end of the shuttle crane, the crew and ground controllers raced against the clock to resolve a problem with a - horizon sensor on the satellite. The sensor is supposed to helpguide the satellite when it flies. None of the repair attempts worked, and Sunday’s three release opportunities slipped by as they had the day before. Discovery’s six crew members were stym icd Saturday by radio interference and glare from the sun. Those problems were resolved easily Sunday: Jan Davis tilted the satellite on the end of the arm to eliminate the radio interference, and the crew relied on electronic signals rather than five status lights obscured by the glare. The crew was disappointed after two days of failure, especially astronaut Ronald Sega, who had spent years working on the Wake Shield. Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalcv, the first Russian to fly on a U.S. shuttle, had trained for more than a year to retrieve the satellite with Discovery’s robot arm. Scientists had hoped to grow seven wafers of gallium arsenide on the Wake Shield, a 12-foot, stainless steel disc. The $13.5 million satellite was managed by the University of Houston and Space Industries Inc. of Houston. Nebraskan Editor Jinmyl 472-17M Managing Editor Adaana Laftln Assoc News Editors Jaff Zaiany 3tava Smith Night News Editors Jeff in • uSbSs1FT""" “ *» i!«ly'N«i<.i«n by pbowig 472 1783 bbtow" Doug Fi«l<tor^ 436-6287 ^ 9 da*' *ho puW,c *,so hM ■«»*» to the Publication# Board. For Information, contact Subscription price is $50 for one year. Se^nSTp^e^atuST 'St Nebft8kan- **■*• U"™ 34.1400 R St.Lincotn. NE 68588 0448 _ Al 1 MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1994 DAILY NEBRASKAN