SPORTS r
Finley done
Sophomore safety Clint Finley will attempt to
fill the shoes of departed senior Eric Warfield for
the Comhuskers next fall. PAGE7 _
A & E
Strapped
A California artist is hoping to make a tapestry
for a good cause, and all he needs to do it is a few
thousand brasseires. PAGE 9
WEDNESDAY
April 8, 1998
Gust Do It
Heavy winds, high 47. Cloudy tonight, low 40.
VOL. 97 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 135
‘Brain gain’
legislation
defeated
■ Despite the introduction of a
popular amendment, senators
voted against the bill 19-16.
By Joy Ludwig
Staff'Reporter
An attempt to keep Nebraska's best and
brightest students ui the state met its final opposi
tion Tuesday in the Nebraska Legislature.
Senators voted down LB1176. known as the
“brain gain " bill. 19-16 on select file, even after
Sen. Jon Bruning of Omaha introduced an
amendment many senators supported.
Bruning s amendment made certain sections
clearer by stating the bill would give loans first to
students with financial need and then to students
who excelled in hiuh school but did not have
financial need.
Also under Bruning's amendment, students
who left the state would have to pay back loans
annually rather than in a lump sum.
Despite concerns, the bill, introduced on
behalf of the governor, had advanced to the sec
ond round of debate March 31 with a 27-6 vote.
Nelson said he had hoped senators would see
the importance of the bill and pass it. He estimat
ed passing the bill would keep several hundred
graduates in the state each year.
“I'm disappointed because they missed an
opportunity to tell young people, 'We're willing to
create incentives to keep you here.'" he said.
The bill would have prov ided S2.2 million,
rather than the originally proposed S5.2 million,
to create a loan program for fiscal years 1998-99
and 1999-2000.
Students who accepted the loan would have
attended accredited Nebraska universities or col
leges. Upon graduation, students would work three
years at a job in the state and the loan would be for
given. If students moved out of state, the loan would
be repaid in increments with interest charged.
Nelson also said he hoped the senators’ deci
sion wasn’t a signal that a majority of the
Legislature was not able to respond to new and
innovative approaches to education.
Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha said he
opposed the bill because it was unfair of the gov
ernor to ask Bruning - the youngest member of
the Legislature - to introduce such a controversial
bill. He said many senators would not have
touched the bill with a “10-foot pole.”
"If this bill advances ... I'm just gomg to leave
that hanging," he said. "But it will not be the end
of the various initiativ es that come from the gov
ernor's office.”
Sen. Owen Elmer of Indianola also opposed
the bill. He said he believed the Legislature could
n't determine where people should live and work,
which is what the bill would have required.
“I don't think this would be a good thing to
do because we would be wasting time and
money,” he said.
But Bruning stressed the importance of the bill.
“This is exactly what the state needs,”
Bruning said. “This is what the businesses want.
This is exactly what high-incentive students need
to stay in the state.”
Clinton: Social Security is safe
By Brian Carlson
Senior Reporter
KANSAS CITY. Mo. - For too long,
President Clinton said Tuesday, politicians
have considered Social Security the electri
cally charged third rail of American politics -
to touch it means political suicide.
But as he kicked off the first in a yearlong
series of town hall meetings on Social
Security, Clinton told his Kansas City audi
ence that, with the country in the midst of a
strong economy but under the shadow of
booming costs for the program in the next
century, the time for bipartisan action to fix
Social Security is now.
"This sunlit moment is not a time to rest,”
he said to the 700 people who attended The
Great Social Security Debate. "Instead it is a
rare opportunity to prepare our nation for the
challenges and opportunities of the 2D’ cen
tury. or in the words of the old saying, ‘Fix the
roof while the sun is shining."
"If we act now. we can ensure strong
retirement benefits to the baby-boom genera
tion without placing an undue burden on our
children and grandchildren,” he said. “And
we can do it. if we act now, with changes that
will be far simpler and far easier than if we
wait until the problem is closer at hand.”
Clinton hailed Social Security as one of
the greatest successes in U.S. history. The
program, instituted under President Franklin
D. Roosevelt's New Deal administration, has
helped lower the poverty rate for the elderly
from 35 percent in 1959 to less than 11 per
cent m 1996.
Currently. 44 million Americans receive
Social Security. Two-thirds are retirees; dis
ability and surv ivor's insurance also are pro
vided.
But as the United States prepares for the
retirement of 77 million citizens between
2010 and 2030. the future of Social Security
funding poses serious questions.
Social Security is funded by a 12.4 per
cent payroll tax that is shared equally by
employee and employer. Until 1983. the pro
gram was funded on a pay-as-you-go basis,
with payroll tax receipts roughly equal to dis
bursements.
In 1983, in an effort to pre-fund the retire
ments of the baby-boom generation, the gov
ernment began to take more in payroll taxes
than it paid in benefits. The surplus was put in
a trust fund from which the government bor
Jay Calderon/DN
PRESIDENT CLINTON listens to Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey during The Great Social
Security Debate in Kansas City, Mo., Tuesday. The two former governors spoke togeth
er immediately following Kerrey’s presentation.
rows to fund federal spending.
But the surplus is shrinking. By 2012.
government projections indicate, it will be
gone. By 2029, Social Security will be unable
to pay its debts. In 1990 there were 3.4 work
ers for every retiree, but by 2030 there will be
two workers per retiree.
Clinton said he had heard of one poll indi
cating Americans in their 20s believe they are
Please see CLINTON on 6
Smith warns of money crunch
By Lindsay Young
Assignment Reporter
The amount of state money available for the
University of Nebraska is shrinking, and the
university needs to try to combat the potential
effects, NU President Dennis Smith said
Tuesday.
In Smiths remarks to the Academic Senate
at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, he point
ed out the budget crunch NU will face over the
next few years.
The problems can be dissolved by finding
ways to both save money and generate new rev
enue, Academic Senate President James Ford
said.
Smith told the senate that in order to work
through the expected financial problems, the
administration would need the faculty's input
and problem-solving skills.
The senate met in the Prairie Suite in the
Nebraska East Union Tuesday.
Smith predicted that by 2015, 14.7 percent
of the state’s general fund would go to NU. In
comparison, the NU system will receive 16.3
percent of the state’s budget in 1998-99.
State funding for the university has steadily
decreased since at least 1984, when NU
received 21.2 percent.
“I don’t see an environment in which there
die going 10 ue d 101 01 peupie sciamuimg 10
give us money," Smith said.
Though they are just predictions, he said,
efforts still must be made. Smith said the uni
versity cannot hold its breath and hope the prob
lems disappear.
“Those of us who hold our breath that long
will die of asphyxiation,” he said.
Though there has been an increase in state
funding to education in the past 15 years, much
of it has gone to kindergarten-through-12th
grade education. Smith said.
Salaries for faculty and staff members sup
ported by state funding will increase 3 percent
every year. This leaves the university with a
Please see SENATE on 2
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