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GOP makes offer to avoid default
WASHINGTON — Republican
leaders, retreating from their goal
of a balanced budget deal, sug
gested Wednesday they would ac
cept modest spending and tax cuts
from President Clinton as the price
for heading off a government de
fault.
Although the White House
showed immediate interest in the
GOP offer, a Wall Street credit
agency still issued a threat later to
downgrade $387 billion in govern
ment bonds if the federal debt ceil
ing wasn’t raised.
Tffe Republican offer and
Clinton’s quick embrace of it un
derlined a desire by both sides to
* salvage something from their in
tractable budget impasse.
Even if the two sides could shake
hands on some savings, it would
leave the parties’ year-long conflict
over reshaping Medicare, Medicaid
and welfare to be decided by the
voters in this autumn’s elections.
“Barring a dramatic change of
heart on President Clinton’s part, I
don’t expect us to get a seven-year
balanced budget while President
Clinton is in office,” Newt Gingrich,
R-Ga., told reporters. “But I do
think you can take steps.”
Gingrich discussed his plan
Wednesday evening with House
GOP freshmen, a large, confronta
tional group that has been adamant
all year that they want nothing less
than a seven-year budget-balancing
deal.
Afterward, a leader of the first
term lawmakers, Rep. David McIn
tosh, R-Ind., said, “The freshmen
are pretty much on board.”
In the search for savings,
Gingrich said he hoped the Repub
licans and White House could agree
to more than $100 billion over
seven years, plus more than $29
billion in tax cuts for families and
businesses. But he said he would be
surprised if Clinton would agree to
more than $50 billion in savings.
In a letter to Clinton, Gingrich
and Senate Majority Leader Bob
Dole, R-Kan., called the savings
and tax cuts a “down payment” on
balancing the budget, and said both
would be included in legislation
extending the government debt ceil
ing.
The administration has said the
government would be forced into a
disruptive, first-ever default by
March 1 if its borrowing authority
was not extended above the statu
tory ceiling of $4.9 trillion.
Treasury Secretary Robert
“I am confident that
Congress will enact a
straightforward debt
limit increase. ”
ROBERT RUBIN
Treasury secretary
Rubin said he was sure the debt
impasse would be resolved before
March 1.
“As we have said from the very
beginning, the nation’s credit wor
thiness is critical to all of us,” Rubin
said. “I am confident that Congress
will enact a straightforward debt
limit increase. And we are prepared
to work to this end.”
News r
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| Minutir
Simpson speaks out in live Interview
LOS ANGELES — O.J. Simpson blamed the media Wednesday night
for turning many Americans against him, and expressed anger at rela
tives of the people he was acquitted of killing.
“I have a side of me that is very angry at Fred Goldman and the
Browns,” Simpson said in his first in-depth interview since the murders
of Ronald Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson.
In the live interview with Black Entertainment Television, Simpson
criticized Ms. Simpson’s sisters in particular, saying they “haven’t been
true to the memory of Nicole.”
“What they’ve done ... has been very self-serving,” he said.
Asked point-blank whether he killed Ms. Simpson and Goldman,
Simpson said, “No, I did not commit those murders. I couldn’t kill any
one, and I don’t know of anyone who was involved.”
“I’m as innocent as anyone out there.”
Simpson characterized his history of abusing Ms. Simpson as typical
of most married couples.
“We’ve had plenty of arguments, which I think is true for any couple
that’s been together for any length of time.”
Zero-calorie artificial fat approved
WASHINGTON —Americans soon will be eating potato chips made
with the first zero-calorie artificial fat.
The Food and Drug Administration approved Procter & Gamble’s
olestra Wednesday, over the protests of some scientists who called the
fake fat dangerous.
The FDA warned consumers that olestra can cause such gastrointes
tinal side effects as diarrhea and can literally wash out of the body cer
tain nutrients, particularly when eaten along with that lunchtime bowl
of soup or pile of carrot sticks.
But the FDA concluded that while some people will find olestra un
pleasant, it is safe for the general population to eat in potato chips and
other snack foods — as long as the foods bear a label warning of those
side effects.
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Convicted murderer
executed by hanging
SMYRNA, Del. — Billy Bailey,
the 49-year-old murderer of an elderly
couple, climbed onto a wooden gal
lows and was hanged early Thursday,
becoming only the third convict in the
nation to be executed this way in 30
years.
Bailey closed his eyes, sniffled and
said nothing before the black hood
was placed over his head. His body
twisted quickly in the wind once the
trap door was sprung, then turned
slowly beneath the 15-foot high plat
form in the cold night air.
He was pronounced dead 11 min
utes later, at 12:15 a.m.
Bailey became the first person to
be hanged in Delaware in 50 years and
the third in the nation since 1965.
About 70 death penalty opponents
gathered outside the prison, separated
by a fence from about 20 supporters
of the execution.
“I think it’s really past time this
should have come about. It’s been too
many years,” said Mary Ann
Lambertson, the daughter-in-law of
the victims.
“I happened to be the poor soul
who found the bodies, and it was a
gruesome sight.”
Gilbert and Clara Lambertson were
murdered with a shotgun at their farm
house in 1979. Delaware has not pre
viously allowed family members of
the victims to witness executions.
The gallows were built on the
grounds of the Delaware Correctional
Center 10 years ago as Bailey’s first
execution date approached. Appeals
delayed the hanging until the U.S.
Supreme Court denied a stay of ex
ecution last week.
“If I say anything, I'm
going to say I hope this
brings the Lambertsons
some peace. ”
BILLY BAILEY
Convicted murderer
The state Board of Pardons on Fri
day rejected a commutation, and
Edmund Lyons, his attorney, planned
no last-minute appeals.
“Billy has found some peace in the
sense of reconciling himself for what
is to be,” said Lyons, who visited
Bailey Wednesday, along with
Bailey’s sister, foster sister, and a
prison chaplain.
The lawyer said he told Bailey to
think about his last words.
“He said, 'If I say anything, I’m
going to say I hope this brings the
Lambertsons some peace,”’ Lyons
said.
Bailey was sentenced to hang be
fore Delaware changed its method of
execution to injection in June 1986.
He could have chosen to die by injec
tion, but said he chose hanging be
cause “the law is the law.”
By coincidence, Utah is scheduled
to have its first firing squad execution
in 19 years early Friday. John Albert
^Taylor, sentenced to die for raping and
strangling an 11-year-old girl, chose
the firing squad over injection, the
state’s second method of execution
since Utah outlawed hanging in 1983.
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Discharged
U.S. soldier
will appeal
WUERZBURG, Germany — A
U.S. soldier whose refusal to serve
under U.N. command was lauded by
conservatives but called a potential
“cancer” by the Army, was convicted
of disobedience Wednesday and given
a bad-conduct discharge.
Spc. Michael New, 22, is the first
American serviceman court-martialed
for refusing to accept foreign com
mand on a United Nations operation.
The jury could have slapped New
with a dishonorable discharge, six
months’ incarceration and a loss of
pay. New’s attorney said he thought
the less-severe sentence indicated the
jury believed New's concerns were
legitimate.
New, a medic from Conroe, Texas,
stood impassively as the seven-man
jury returned the verdict after 20 min
utes of deliberation.
Uutsiae tne courtroom at Leigmon
Barracks U.S. Army base, New smiled
again when reporters asked him how
he felt, but he did not answer any ques
tions. His attorneys say he will appeal.
New’s case has been championed
by American conservatives who op
pose placing U.S. armed forces under
United Nations command. About 100
congressional representatives, includ
ing Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole,
have sponsored legislation making it
illegal to order an armed-services
member to wear U.N. insignia.
U.N. officials in Geneva declined
to comment on the case Wednesday,
saying it is against policy to discuss
member states’ court decisions.
New’s father, Daniel, said the ver
dict was a foregone conclusion.
“We certainly were not surprised
because, frankly, no military court is
qualified to rule on something of this
constitutional importance,” he said
from Texas. “We’re ready to go to fed
eral court.”
The elder New said that when his
son was told he could be court
martialed and lose his benefits for re
fusing to wear the U.N. gear, his son
replied: “If I have to go to prison, I’ll
go, and why would I want those ben
efits if I have them in a country that
isn’t free?”’
New’s mother went to Germany to
plead for clemency. Her son “always
loved his country,” Suzanne New told
the court-martial.
In December, New told the
military’s Stars and Stripes newspa
per that the decision to reject the U.N.
insignia was “pretty simple to me.”
“I am not a political person,” the
soldier said. “I made my decision
based on my beliefs and the ideals I
have been taught.”
Nebraskan
Editor J. Christopher Hain
472-1766
Managing Editor/ Doug Kouma
Assoc. News Editors Matt Waite
Sarah Scalet
Opinion Page Editor Doug Peters
Wire Editor Michelle Gamer
Copy Desk Editor Tim Pearson
Sports Editor Mitch Sherman
Arts & Entertainment
Editor Jeff Randall
Photo Director Staci McKee
Niaht News Editors Rebecca Oltmans
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