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_January 25, 1995_
Clinton responds to
angry middle class;
Republicans leery
By Terence Hunt
the Associated Press
WASHINGTON — In a political drama
unseen for 40 years, President Clinton went
before a distrusting Republican Congress Tues
day night and asked his political opponents to
join him in bringing about “dramatic change in
our economy, in our government and in our
selves.”
Looking back on the GOP election land
slide last November as well as the 1992 vote
that put him in the White House, Clinton said
in a nationally broadcast State of the Union
address, “We didn’t hear America singing. We
heard America shouting. Now we must say,
‘We hear you. We will work together to earn
your trust.’”
Clinton was the first Democrat since Harry
Truman to face a Republican Congress, and
the White House viewed his speech as a crucial
step in rebuilding his troubled presidency.
“Mr. President, welcome to the House,”
Speaker Newt Gingrich said. Despite the GOP
majority, Clinton was greeted with cheers and
applause.
Clinton used his speech to launch a national
campaign to combat teen pregnancy.
To cut down on illegal immigration, Clinton
proposed the creation of a national data bank to
help employers verify the identification of
prospective workers.
He also pledged to seek a raise in the
minimum wage from the current $4.25 an
hour, but yielded from mentioning a specific
pay scale, which GOP leaders oppose. Clinton
favors a boost to $5 over two years, aides said.
Though politically weakened, Clinton was
quick to lay down challenges to the Republi
cans who control both the House and Senate
for the first time in four decades.
Nebraska delegation
differs on message
By Brian Sharp
Senior Reporter
Nebraska politicians said President
Clinton faced a difficult task going into
his State of the Union Address Tuesday >
night.
There were questions of whether he
would have to reinvent himself, or at
least regroup to combat the first Repub
lican Congress in 40 years. But when
Clinton stepped away from the podium
after delivering a lengthy vision of
tomorrow’s America, they said, those
questions remained.
Rep. Doug Bereuter (R-Neb.) said
after the address Clinton’s “New Cov
enant” was an attempt to reinvent a
presidency. But the attempt, he said, was
simply reinventing Republican’s “Con
tract With America.”
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“Let’s give the folks at home something to
cheer about,” Clinton said, urging lawmakers
to stop accepting gifts from lobbyists even
before passing a bill that would outlaw them.
“When Congress killed political reform last
year,” he said, “the lobbyists actually stood in
the halls of this sacred building and cheered.”
Over and over, Clinton stressed concilia
tion and partnership, but he sketched out sharp
differences with Republicans on how to cut
taxes, shrink government and help the middle
class.
“Let us put aside partisanship, pettiness and
pride,” he said.
“As we embark on a new course, let us put
our country first, remembering that regardless
of our party label, we are all Americans.”
New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman,
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Lather it up
CsOfMc PtHifiBk/DN
Bob Roseland stands at the top of his ladder Tuesday morning while he
soaps his sponge, preparing to clean the windows of the C. Y. Thompson
Library on UNL s East Campus. Roseland decided to clean the windows
on the North side of the building hoping the sun would keep him warm.
City employers encouraged to promote diversity
tsy pauia Lavigne
Senior Reporter
City employees need to reflect
Lincoln’s growing minority popula
tion and be sensitive to its needs, city
officials said Tuesday.
Mayor Mike Johanns, other com
munity leaders and citizens spoke at
a meeting of the Multicultural Advi
sory Committee and the Community
Conciliation Committee.
_ ^
Johanns charged the groups to
examine city programs, policies and
procedures in light of the death of
Francisco Renteria. Renteria, a His
panic citizen, died in October after a
scuffle with Lincoln police.
Sgt. James Hawkins, head of re
cruiting and personnel, said that of
the 902 applicants to the Lincoln
Police Department in 1994-95, 92
percent were white.
Although hiring will not be fin
ished until September, Hawkins said
21 percent of those hired so far were
non-white.
About 6.1 percent of the entire
force is non-white, he said, compared
to the 5.6 percent of the working-age
population that is non-white.
In an effort to attract minority
applicants, Hawkins said application
forms may include a statement sepa
rate from the Equal Employment
Opportunity code encouraging ap
plicants of color to apply.
Hawkins said recruiters also would
try to find bilingual and multilingual
applicants.
Capt. Joy Sitta, who is also in
charge of personnel and training, said
hiring was not the end of the
department’s multicultural involve
ment.
Officers in training are sent to the
Law Enforcement Training Center in
Grand Island for eight hours of cul
tural diversity and sensitivity train
ing, she said.
They receive an additional six
hours of training in Lincoln, she said.
“We want instructors who will
encourage the officers to grow and
try different things,” she said. “But
no matter how hard we train, the most
important thing to do is to select the
right people with the correct behav
ior.”
Proposed budget may put pro ects on starting block
Gov. Ben Nelson's proposed budget for the University of
Nebraska calls for a 3.2 percent increase in university funding
for the 1995-96 fiscal year, and a 7.3 percent Increase for the
1996-97 fiscal year.
The governor's recommendations include funding.^: **
■ 15 additional faculty members,
$900,000.
■ NU engineering programs, $1.49
million.
■ NU Libraries, $228,215 each year.
■ Capital construction projects,
$5.89 million (1995-96), $4.48 million
Q996-97).
■ Instructional equipment, $500,000.
Source: NU Central Administration, -
ON graphic
By J. Christopher Hain
Senior Reporter
Finalizing the university budget
could be compared to a football game,
the UNL executive director of uni
versity relations said.
Michael Mulnix said that in past
years, when state government put
NU in line for budget cuts, the uni
versity was starting at the 1 - or 2-yard
line with 98 yards to go.
But this year, Mulnix said, the
university is starting at the 45- or 50
yard line.
The governor has recommended a
budget increase of 3.2 percent for
fiscal year 1995-96 and a 7.3 percent
increase for fiscal year 1996-97.
The Legislature’s Appropriations
Committee will take the governor’s
budget into consideration when it
prepares its own budget later in the
legislative session.
But the governor’s recommenda
tion was a more positive starting point
than in the past few years, Mulnix
said.
Those positives include state fund
ing for capital construction projects
for the first time in several years. For
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
that means a renovation of the No. 1
building priority — Burnett Hall.
Capital construction money will
help replace some boilers on campus
and fund completion of a link be
tween Nebraska Hall and the Walter
Scott Engineering building.
NU engineering programs would
receive additional funding under die
governor’s recommendation—$ 1.49
million of the $ 1.55 million requested
by NU President Dennis Smith.
A third area increased by the gov
ernor, Mulnix said, was library fund
ing.
Increasing library funds at UNL
would help offset the rising cost of
periodicals and finance technology
improvements and electronic access
to materials, he said.
The governor’s budget recom
mends funding for 15 additional fac
ulty members. NU requested funding
for 75. UNL will not receive all 15
faculty members, but will receive
faculty in areas where student enroll
ment demands additional faculty.
Those areas include the College
of Arts and Sciences, Teachers Col
lege, College of Journalism and Mass
Communications and the actuarial
science program in the College of
Business and Administration.