The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, March 29, 1996, Page 2, Image 2
==__ News Digest Edited by Michelle Gamer Friday, March 29,1996 Page 2 Congress passes bills to combat deficit Clinton to approve line-item veto WASHINGTON—Congress gave the president power Thursday to cut government spending by scrapping specific programs with a line-item veto, although President Clinton will have to win re-election before he can use it. Fulfilling a GOP “Contract With America” promise, the House followed the Senate in approving the measure, which marks a historic shift in the balance of power between the execu tive and legislative branches. Since the nation’s founding, the president has been forced to approve or reject legislation in its entirety. “The Republican Congress has done something that no previous Congress has been able to accomplish since the first line-item veto proposal was intro duced in the 1870s,” said House Gov ernment Reform and Oversight Com mittee Chairman William Clingcr, R Pa., who helped forge the House-Sen ate compromise plan. House Democrats later complained about the parliamentary tactics used by majority Republicans in sending the bill to the White House. Opponents characterized it as a dangerous ceding to the executive branch of Congress’ power ofthe purse. “This is fundamentally unwise and it manifests a fundamental disrespect of our own duties,” Rep. David Skaggs, D-Colo., said. But constitutional considerations that have blocked passage in the past were overcome by the demand for new tools to combat the federal deficit. Giving the president authority to pencil out individual items from spend ing bills allows him to kill low priority or pork-barrel projects. “The buck will finally stop at the president’s desk,” said Rep. Jim Bunning, R-Ky. “We are going to give him the opportunity,” he said, “to end the era of pork-barrel spending.” The bill also allows the president to cancel tax benefits targeted to groups of 100 or fewer beneficiaries and elimi nate spending for new entitlement pro grams that Congress might establish or additions to the food stamp pro gram. Clinton, like previous presidents a strong supporter of the line-item veto concept, said the bill would ensure that our public resources are put to the best possible uses during these times of tight budgets.” But the president wouldn’t be able to use this new power until Jan. 1, a result ofan agreement between Clinton and his certain opponent in the presi dential elections this fall, Senate Ma jority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan. In a telephone conversation last week, the two decided that the law should not go into effect until the new year, so it wouldn’t become an issue during the political campaign. The House defeated, 256-159, an attempt to make it effective immedi ately. Dole, too, voiced strong support for the bill: “Line-item veto seems to be the one thing that all modern presi dents agree on,” he said shortly before the Senate voted 69-31 to pass it Wednesday. “The president, regard less of party, should be able to elimi nate unnecessary pork-barrel projects from large appropriations bills.” Debt-limit legislation clears WASHINGTON — Legislation raising the ceiling on the national debt to $5.5 trillion—enough for another year and a half of deficit spending— cleared Congress on Thursday. GOP leaders packaged the politi cally distasteful measure with several planks of their “Contract With America” and it passed the House by a 328-91 vote. The Senate later OK’d it with an unrecorded voice vote. President Clinton’s signature is needed by midnight Friday to avert a first-ever federal default. The Trea sury Department has been juggling accounts since the government bumped against the present $4.9 tril lion last fall. “The president’s prepared to act... the minute the legislation’s available,” White House spokesman Mike McCurry said. Meanwhile, House and Senate law makers reported progress — but no overall deal — as they worked in marathon sessions for a compromise on spending legislation appropriating roughly $ 160 billion to dozens of fed eral agencies and departments for the six months remaining in fiscal 1996. The unrelated provisions in the debt-limit bill include an increase in Social Security benefits for working recipients and new authority for small businesses to challenge federal regu lations in court. The Social Security measure raises the current limit on outside earnings fromSl l,520to$12,500thisyearand to $30,000 by 2002. Recipients be tween the ages of 65 and 69 lose $1 in benefits for each $3 they earn above the limit. Democrats delayed the debt bill for several testy hours with an effort to attach a 90-cent increase in the mini mum wage. Republicans defeated them on a procedural motion. They argued an increase in the minimum wage would violate the unfunded mandate law en acted last year. It bars the federal government from imposing rules or regulations on local governments with out compensating them for their cost. “We’re going to bring it back and back and back and back until we fi nally prevail for America’s families and workers,” said House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo. News _ in a 4 Mi ■ ' _i Israel examines security agency ■ r JERUSALEM—Putting the internal workings of the Shin Bet under a rare spotlight, a government inquiry said Thursday that mismanage ment and carelessness at the top-secret security agency exposed Yitzhak Rabin to attack by Jewish extremists. In a scathing report bound to fuel efforts to make Shin Bet more accountable, the inquiry found that the organization was primarily to blame for failing to prevent the prime minister’s Nov. 4 assassination. Issued a day after assassin Yigal Amir was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, the report confirmed the widespread impression that the assassination was the result of a security breakdown that could have been prevented. The Shin Bet failed to translate abundant intelligence warnings of a possible Jewish extremist attack on the prime minister into better security at the rally where Rabin was shot, the commission said. The parking lot where Rabin was murdered was not properly secured and bodyguards were not looking for an Israeli attacker. Seattle officials to shoot sea lions SEATTLE — Like gluttonous courtiers around a medieval banquet table, fat California sea lions have been lolling about at Seattle’s Ballard Locks, gorging themselves on the steelhead salmon struggling to make their way upstream. Now the state is going to put an end to the royal pig-out. With the fish runs depleted, and much of the blame put on the portly pinnipeds, the state got federal approval earlier this month to shoot two of the more voracious sea lions, a move that has drawn animal-rights protests and pleas to the governor. “Nobody wants to kill sea lions, but this is just a matter of priorities,” said Kathleen South of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. “It’s just reached a very critical point.” The sea lions are protected by federal law but are neither a threatened nor endangered species. Ibuprofen may prevent Alzheimer’s SAN FRANCISCO — Ibuprofen, the drug contained in such pain relievers as Advil, Motrin and Nuprin, may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease by up to 60 percent, researchers reported Thursday. Aspirin and acetaminophen, which is in pain relievers such as Tylenol, appeared to have no effect on preventing the disease, according to the 14-year Johns Hopkins University study of2,065 elderly people. The study is the latest and one of the largest suggesting that non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, help the brain fight the effects of amyloid protein deposits linked to Alzheimer’s. Researchers and the Alzheimer’s Association cautioned people against rushing out and buying the drugs. The drug can cause gastric bleeding - and chronic use may be related to other diseases. Investigators find nothing wrong with billions of recalled cigarettes ATLANTA—Nothing unusual was found in the 8 billion cigarettes recalled last year by Philip Morris that isn’t wrong with all cigarettes, gov ernment health investigators said Thursday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigated morethan 70 complaints from people in 27 states who said they became ill after smok ing the cigarettes. They complained of coughing, wheezing, watery eyes and nose and throat irritation. The cigarettes contained nothing out of the ordinary, said Michael Ericksen, director of the CDC’s Of fice on Smoking and Health. “The single greatest cause of death in this country is lighting organic ma terial and sucking it into your lungs,” _— -i .11 Erickscn said. “This episode could be characterized as misplaced concern on behalf of Philip Morris—that they acted on a quality control issue that they were concerned about, but failed to act on the obvious health problems associated with smoking.” Philip Morris said it recalled the 8 billion Marlboros, Virginia Slims and other brands last May because they tasted and smelled bad and because an irritating chemical used in making pesticides, methyl isothiocyanate, turned up in filters. The CDC said it did find methyl isothiocyanate in the recalled ciga rettes, but researchers also found it in Philip Morris cigarettes manufactured after the recall and up to a year before the recall. It also was found in ciga rettes from other manufacturers. “There was no additional problem that we could detect from the contami nation,” Ericksen said. It’s not against the law for the chemi cal to be in cigarettes, Ericksen said. Philip Morris initially reported the methyl isothiocyanate was created in very small amounts by contaminants in a material used to strengthen filters. The company later concluded trace amounts of the chemical found in its cigarette filters were absorbed froni paperboard packaging materials, said Karen Daragan, a company spokes woman in New York. The company switched to a differ ent supplier for the strengthener and hasn’t had any more taste or smell problems, Daragan said. House Dili to guarantee health insurance coverage WASHINGTON — Looking for success where President Clinton failed, the Republican-controlled House passed legislation Thursday night to guarantee access to health insurance to millions of Americans who lose or leave their jobs. The vote was 267-151. Passage sent the measure to the Senate, where Majority Leader Bob Dole, the GOP presidential nominec in-waiting, has scheduled debate for next month on a more modest mea sure. That narrower bill enjoys sub stantial bipartisan support and has the backing of the White House, as well. “After years of talking about health care reform we are now, with a new Republican majority, going to enact health care reform,” said Rep. Bill Archer, R-Texas, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. He said the measure provides for “availability and affordability” of in surance for millions who now go with out it. But the bill also contains several provisions that drew fire from the White House and Democratic critics, including ceilings on medical malprac tice awards and a system of tax-de ductible, individual savings accounts to cover medical expenses. Republicans “loaded up a very good Wmgootkes- -foMpeeiw interests,” including the American Medical Association, said Rep. Jo seph Moakley, D-Mass. Other Demo crats said these measures might doom the bill, taking insurance reform down with it. Democratic efforts to stripoutmany of these provisions and substitute a more limited measure, failed, 226-192*. Republicans hope to showcase elec tion-year passage of the measure as one of the major accomplishments of the 104th Congress, the first one under GOPcontrol in four decades. Clinton’s plan for universal coverage failed in 1994 after Republicans attacked it as a government takeover of the nation’s health care system. In a recent speech, House Speaker Newt Gingrich described the current effort to reform health insurance as a major step toward “relieving one of the major anxietiesof working Ameri cans.” In remarks before a final vote, Gingrich also signalled a willingness to back down on some of the more controversial items “if the president sends up a veto signal.” He mentioned the Medical Savings Accounts and malpractice provisions, although he also said the trial lawyers who oppose Nefcwraskan Editor J. Christopher Hain 472-1766 Managina 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 Directors Scott Bruhn Travis Heying Night News Editors Rebecca Oltmans Melanie Branded Anne Hjersman Beth Narans Art Director Aaron Steckelberg General Manager Dan Shattil Advertising Manager Amy Struthers Asst. Advertising Mgr. Laura Wilson Classified Ad Manager THflny Clifton Publications Board Tim Hedegaard Chairman 436-9253 Don Walton Professional Adviser 473-7301 http://www.unl.edu/DailyNeb/ FAX NUMBER 472-1761 The Daily Nebraskan(USPS 144-080) is Rublished by the UNL Publications Board, lebraska Union 34,1400 R St., Lincoln, NE 68588-0448, Monday through Friday during the academic year; weekly during summer sessions. Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by phoning 472-1763 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The public also has access to the Publications Board. For information, contact Tim Hedegaard, 436 9253,9 a.m.-11 p.m. Subscription price is $50 for one year. Postmaster: Send address changes to the Daily Nebraskan. Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St.,Lincoln, NE 68588-0448. Second-class postage paid at Lincoln, NE. ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1996 DAILY NEBRASKAN