Clinton talks
of education,
social progress
ADDRESS from page 1
es for tax cuts.
The prospect of die first balanced bud
get in 30 years caused Clinton to pose die
question of what should be done with the
projected surpluses.
“I have a simple four-word answenSave.
Social Security first,” the president said.
‘Tonight I propose we reserve 100 percent
of the surplus - that’s every penny of any
surplus - until we have taken all the mea
sures necessary to strengthen the Social
Security system for the 21st century.”
Clinton urged $21.7billionforachikl-care
initiative, doubling to 2 million the number of
children eligible for child-care subsidies.
“Not a single family should have to
choose between a job they need and the
child tiiey love,” he said.
He proposed $7.3 billion to hire
100,000 teachers, with a goal of reducing
class sizes in grades one to three. He also
urged tax credits to pay interest on nearly
$22 billion in bonds to build and renovate
public schools.
Carrying the family-friendly theme a
step further, Clinton underscored his propos
al to let Americans as young as 55 buy into
the Medicare system. “It won’t add a dime to
the deficit,” he promised, “but the peace of
mind it will provide will be priceless.”
| v ^ the"
f Clinton boasted &he would submit a bal
c anced budget for 1999, three years earlier
than required in his deal with Congress.
Clinton also asked Congress to support his
decision to keep American troops in Bosnia
for an unspecified length beyond their
scheduled June withdrawal.
“The progress is unmistakable, but it is
not yet irreversible,” Clinton said. ‘To take
firm root, Bosnia’s fragile peace still needs
the support of American and allied troops
when the current NATO mission ends in
June.”
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■ Hillary Clinton says the
prosecuter allied himself with
right-wing opponents in a
conspiracy against the president.
WASHINGTON (AP) - In an extraordinary
clash, Hillary Rodham Clinton accused the
Whitewater prosecutor Tuesday of allying him
self with “right-wing opponents” out to destroy
her husband.
The prosecutor dismissed her comments as
“nonsense” and summoned President Clinton’s
personal secretary before a grand jury.
“Our current investigation began when we
received credible evidence of serious federal
crimes,” Whitewater Independent Counsel
Kenneth Starr said in a tersely worded state
ment defending the expansion of his investiga
tion into allegations of a presidential affair mid
cover-up.
Among the issues Starr is investigating is
whether Clinton encouraged former White
House intern Monica Lewinsky to lie on a
sworn affidavit she gave in connection with the
Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit and
whether job offers that presidential friend
Vernon Jordan arranged were in any way con
nected.
the president’s personal secretary, Betty
Currie, was brought before Starr’s grand jury.
The White House waited anxiously to see
whether Lewinsky would be granted immunity
from prosecution.
Her attorney, William Ginsburg, said there
were no talks with prosecutors Tuesday. He also
said he did not think presidential gifts that FBI
fx$rn Leif insky’s, home would
shine much Hgbton the relationship because
they were “small and inconsequential.”
Presidential aides struggled to push atten
tion from the crisis to Clinton’s State of the
Union address. ^
With the president out of sight preparing the
speech, Hillary Clinton went on a television
offensive to defend him. She launched her most
direct and personal attack to date on Starr’s
investigation.
He is “a politically motivated prosecutor
who is allied with the right-wing opponents of
my husband,” she said on NBC’s ‘Today” show.
Prosecutors have been “looking at every
telephone call we’ve made, every check we’ve
ever written, scratching for dirt, intimidating
witnesses, doing everything possible to try to
make some kind of accusation against my hus
band,” she said.
Hillary Clinton predicted the allegations
would be proven false and said they were the
work of a “vast right-wing conspiracy that has
been conspiring against my husband since the
day he announced for president”
This is “an effort to undo the results of two
elections,” and when ail the facts are known
“some folks are going to have a lot to answer
for,” Hillary Clinton said.
Her offensive came as Starr opened a grand
jury investigation of the allegations by sum
moning Currie. A lawyer for Paula Jones also
delivered documents to die grand jury.
Prosecutors wanted to question Currie, die
gatekeeper who schedules Oval Office visitors,
about checking Lewinsky in and sending the
young woman to longtime presidential friend
Vernon Jordan.
Officials have confirmed that Lewinsky
visited the Oval Office to see Currie several
times since starting a new job at the Pentagon
last year.
At least one of those visits came in
December after Lewinsky had been subpoe
naed in the Jones lawsuit. About the same time,
Jordan helped arrange a new job for her and got
her a lawyer.
Jordan said last week that it was Currie who
referred Lewinsky to him. However, in secretly
tape-recorded conversations with a friend,
Lewinsky says it was Clinton.
The clash between Starr and Hillary
Clinton spilled to the Senate floor. Sen. Patrick
Leahy suggested the prosecutor had exceeded
his authority by asking a friend of Lewinsky to
secretly tape-record her.
Leahy, D-Vt, called Starr’s investigation
“the most partisan ends-justify-the-means
investigation I can remember in my life.”
Democrats were generally tepid in their defense
of the president as they awaited more details.
“We don’t know what die situation is,” Sen.
Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., said. ‘Tdon’t know
what’s going on.... You just hold up ’till you
know what you’re talking about”
Hollings said the controversy has been “a
distraction so far. If we get in two more perfor
mances by Hillary, it will level off.”
Various Hostess snacks
recalled from 21 states
SCHILLER PARK, 111. (AP) - Some of
America’s favorite snack cakes may have more
than a white creamy filling inside.
More than a dozen types of Hostess snacks,
including HoHo’s and Twinkles, sold in 21 states
- including Nebraska - are being recalled
because they may have been contaminated by
asbestos in a suburban Chicago bakery.
Consumers are being warned not to eat
snacks made at the Schiller Park plant of
Interstate Brands Corp., which was closed
Monday night during an investigation by state
and federal authorities.
Illinois State Police and die state attorney
general are investigating to see if die company
broke any laws. Dan Curry, spokesman for the
attorney general, said the office is likely to ask a
judge to keep the plant closed until it has been
cleaned up properly and a monitoring plan has
been established.
The recall includes 13 Hostess products plus
Dolly Madison cupcakes, almost all of which
have expiration dates ranging from Jan. 22
through Feb. 6. HoHo’s included have expiration
dates ranging from Jan. 29 to Feb. 13. The prod
ucts can be returned to the place they were pur
chased for a refund.
Kansas City-bLed Interstate Brands, called tS
product safe. , . * -r-.. jta&f
cake division is voluntarily recalling the snacks
I
- Assigns
Jolted by the arrests of two senior offi
cials on bribery charges, Japan’s Finance
Minister Hiroshi Mitsuzuka announced
Tuesday that he will step down. The scandal
centers on allegations that Finance Ministry
officials accepted pricey dinners, golf out
ings and other entertainment bribes from
banks in exchange for alerting them about
inspections.
Though he has not been directly implicat
ed in the scandal, Japanese leaders often
resign to take responsibility for the mistakes
of those below them.
The accusations hit at the heart of mount
ing criticism of the Finance Ministry: that lax
government oversight shares the blame for
the decay of Japan’s debt-saddled financial
institutions.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras
President declares war on poverty
Carlos Flores Facusse, who was sworn in
as president of Honduras Tuesday, vowed to
fight the poverty afflicting some 80 percent
of the 5.9 million Hondurans. The new presi
dent, who was elected in November to a four
year term, also has promised to move the
country beyond a painful, two-decade transi
tion from military rule.
Flores Facusse, a 47-year-old newspaper
owner and past president of Congress, suc
ceeded fellow Liberal Party politician Carlos
Roberto Reina in the presidency. ^
NAIROBI, Kenya
22 killed by raiders
Raiders armed with automatic rifles,
arrows and spears have killed another 22
people in central Kenya, police said Tuesday,
raising the death toll in politically motivated
violence this month to 77.
The attacks apparently are aimed at dri
ving Kenya’s biggest tribe, the Kikuyu, off
their land in Rift Valley province because
they voted against President Daniel arap
Moi’s Kenya Africa National Union party in
die Dec. 29-30 elections.
“Kikuyus are ready to lose 1 million
lives, but we are not going to let diem take
even a single acre of our land,'! said Kihika
Kimani, an opposition parliamentarian.
The government has deployed paramili
tary police to restore peace, and Kimanthi,
the police spokesman, said four attackers
were arrested.
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