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As trial wears on, partisanship on rise
■ Democrats voice strong
opposition to Republican
plans for live* witnesses
and a controversial ‘find
ing of fact’ document.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate
Democrats threatened Wednesday to
turn President Clinton’s impeachment
trial into a party battle if the
Republicans go through with plans to
vote on a declaration of wrongdoing
before deciding his fate.
As House GOP prosecutors ques
tioned the third of three witnesses in
the case, Democratic leader Tom
Daschle said his party’s rank-and-file
lawmakers were solidly opposed to
any live trial testimony on the Senate
floor. He also raised objections to the
immediate public release of Monica
Lewinsky’s videotaped deposition.
But what sparked the Democrats’
sharpest criticism was a GOP proposal
,-—
for a formal finding of wrongdoing, a
measure that would require a simple
majority for passage rather than the
two-thirds needed for conviction on
impeachment.
“If Republicans persist in demand
ing live witnesses and demanding
more depositions, and demanding
extra legal devices like findings of
fact, the more it becomes a Republican
trial,” Daschle told reporters.
The White House also renewed its
objections to the proposal, at the same
time spokesman Joe Lockhart pledged
a restrained response if- as expected
Clinton is acquitted on the two articles
of impeachment. * ,
“I now declare in a post-impeach
ment era, this is a gloat-free zone,” he
said.
Republican senators met privately
late in the day, pondering tneir next
moves m me trial, wtucn is scheduled
to resume today.
John Czwartacki, a spokesman for
Majority Leader Trent Lott told
reporters he expected a vote today ona
proposal to release the depositions of
Lewinsky and two other witnesses,
both the written transcripts and the
videotapes. He suggested they could
remain under seal for a limited period
of time.
For their part, House prosecutors
met to weigh the results of the three
depositions. They said an attempt
would be made to have witnesses testi
fy in the Senate in person. But GOP
aides conceded it would be difficult to
secure enough votes to prevail on that
issue, particularly with public opinion
in favor of a swiff end to die proceed
ings.
The Democratic maneuvering
came as Sidney Blumenthal, a White
House aide, was questioned in a heavi
ly-secured room in the upper reaches of
the Capitol.
A source familiar with the deposi
tion, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, said Blumenthal repeated
the testimony he had given a grand
jury last year concerning a conversa
tion he had had with Clinton about die
president’s relationship with
Lewinsky. The president lied to him,
Blumenthal said
Republicans have been working in
recent days on a “finding of fact” that
would formally declare that Clinton
had “willfully provided false and mis
leading testimony” to Independent
Counsel Kenneth Starr’s grand jury.
The draft document also alleges
the president engaged in a course of
conduct designed to “alter, delay,
impede, cover up and conceal die exis
tence of evidence and testimony” in
the sexual harassment lawsuit that
Paula JonesTiled against him.
The document does not allege he
committed peijury or obstructed jus
tice, but Democrats attacked it sharply
during the day as an unconstitutional
move designed to inflict damage on
Clinton.
Forces may remain in
Kosovo for 3-5 years
WASHINGTON (AP) - A
NATO-led peacekeeping force could
be needed in Kosovo for three to five
years to enforce any peace accord
and might include up to 4,000
American troops, the Clinton admin
istration told Congress on
Wednesday.
In testimony at a Senate hearing,
and in private briefings with lawmak
ers, President Clinton’s national secu
rity team sought to prepare Congress
for the possibility of a second U.S.
ground commitment in the Balkans.
U.S. troops have been in Bosnia for
the past three years.
The Clinton team encountered
considerable skepticism.
The administration also shared
with lawmakers a draft of a U.S.
sponsored peace plan that would dra
matically reduce Serbian control over
Kosovo and give the province consid
erable self-government powers -
while allowing some continued
Serbian military presence.
The administration pledged to
provide a series of benchmarks to be
used as a basis for extricating U.S.
troops once they are introduced, con
gressional and administration
sources said.
Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian rebels
have agreed to participate in weekend
peace talks demanded by the United
States and NATO allies as pressure
increased on Serbia’s hard-line gov
ernment to join the talks. NATO has
threatened airstrikes if Serbia and the
rebels aren’t talking by Saturday and
closing a peace deal by Feb. 19 under
talks organized by the United States
and five European powers.
Some U.S. ground presence
could be crucial to any peace accord
because Kosovo’s Albanians “would
not feel confident of having a NATO
force that doesn’t have some repre
sentation by the United States,”
Defense Secretary William Cohen
told the Senate Armed Services
Committee. Sen. John Warner, R
Va., chairman of the Armed Services
Committee, said the administration
had wide support in Congress for
airstrikes, if necessary, to force both
sides to the,bargaining table. But, he
said, a U.S. ground presence was
another issue - one for which the
administration would have to make a
persuasive case if a peace plan is put
in place.
One crucial issue is whether the
U.S. forces would be under U.S. or
NATO command.
Warner proposed that U.S.
ground contingent be placed under
the command of a British comman
der, while the overall operation
remain under a U.S. commander
Cohen said that any agreement
leading to U.S. troops in Kosovo
would have to be accepted by all the
rival factions, including a commit
ment on the part of Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic and
the Serbs.
Lawmakers expressed skepti
cism.
“As we have seen in Bosnia, we
have been there for more than three
years, and it wasn’t just one deadline
lapse - it was three,” said Sen.
Olympia Snowe, R-Maine. “We are
now running up to $20 billion and
going. And I don’t think anybody
really knows exactly when the end
point will come.”
Legislators prepare for
long school aid debate
SCHOOL from page 1
resources equals aid. Based on past
legislation, both needs and resources
were fixed, he said. The variable is the
amount of state aid.
Now, senators and the governor
must find a way to replace the variable
with die right amount of state aid.
“It is our obligation to balance,
and in 149 we do that,” he said.
But not everyone was convinced
LB 149 would bring predictability and
stability to the complex formula.
Omaha Sen. Pam Brown said she
approved of the bill’s changing the re
certification date from Dec. 1 to Feb.
1, but she remained unconvinced the
bill would prevent future violent
swings in aid *
“I haven’t heard anything that tells
me what this bill is going to do
absolutely,” she said. “I believe that
LB 149 is just a totally reactionary
piece of legislation.”
Brown said she was concerned
that no one knew for certain if the $22
million figure was accurate. The same
problem might recur, she said
“Aren’t we always going to be in a
position of reacting?” die asked
Bohlke said revenues from motor
vehicle taxes might affect the $22 mil
lion figure. She does not expect to
bring the bill to the floor for die sec
ond round until mid-March, she said.
By that time, she said, the Department
of Education would have more accu
rate numbers, including eight months
of motor vehicle tax revalues.
Gov. Mike Johanns has proposed a
$22 million reduction in state aid
it
I believe
that LB 149
is just a totally
reactionary piece
of legislation"
Pam Brown
Omaha senator
which would help pay for $25 million
in property tax rebates. He also has
supported legislation to keep property
tax levy limits at $1.10 instead of
dropping them to $1.
Omaha Sen. Pam Redfield had a
change of heart during debate. In her
first statement, she said she was look
ing at Johanns’ proposal and others.
“My heart is with you,” she said to
Bohlke. “My head will not be, and
neither will my vote.”
But after a discussion with
Wickersham, Redfield said she could
support the bill.
Bohlke said her bill was “not in
conflict” with Johanns’ proposal.
Stanton Sen. Stan Schellpeper
agreed. If they have to take cuts, he
said, some schools would have only
three options - raise property taxes,
merge or close.
“This is probably one of die most
important bills this session to a lot of
small schools.”
I
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THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
: Underage drinking bill
passes in committee
ALCOHOL from page 1
test
Possession is defined in an amend
ment as an alcoholic beverage within
arm’s reach of a minor. The current
statute does not define ‘^possession,”
but Costello said most officers already
use that definition.
Liquor license holders would also
face higher penalties for breaking the
law under LB126.
Currently, liquor license holders
can “buy out” a suspension by paying
a fine of $50 a day for as long as a sus
pension would have lasted for a first
offense of selling to a minor, and $100
a day for a second offense. Under the
bill, these fines would double.
The amendment would allow the
Liquor Control Commission to elect
not to allow licensees buy out a sus
pension after a third offense if they
were flagrant in selling to minors.
Carey Potter, executive director of
the Nebraska Retail Federation, was
against tougher fines for liquor license
holders at the bill’s hearing last week.
But she said current penalties did not
give license holders enough incentive
not to sell to minors.
“Penalties are not substantial and
do not hit the licensee where it
counts,” Potter said.
In other legislative news:
■ LR14, a constitutional amend
ment that would allow gubernatorial
candidates to choose their running
mates, was advanced from the
Government, Military and Veterans
Affairs Committee 7-0, with one per
son abstaining. The Nebraska constitu
tion allows voters to elect the governors
and their running mates separately.
lintisft nationals
ordered out of Iraq
The Associated Press - The
U.N. security chief ordered the last
remaining American and British
nationals working for the United
Nations to leave Iraq because the
Iraqi government says it cannot
guarantee their safety, officials
said Wqjjnesday.
U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard
said the order involves only two
Americans, because all other
Americans and all Britons work
ing for the United Nations have
already left Iraq.
■ Russia
Official: Fixing Y2K bug
could cost up to $3 billion
MOSCOW (AP) - Russia
needs up to $3 billion to tackle the
Year 2000 computer glitch - six
times the original estimate - a top
official announced Wednesday as
he appealed to the United States
and NATO to help fix computers
that control Russia’s nuclear
weapons.
While many countries have
been working on the so-called
Y2K “millennium bug” problem
for years, some key players,
including Russia and China, have
been slower to address it.
■ China
Authorities begin
crackdown in China
BEIJING (AP) - Chinese
authorities have arbitrarily
detained scores of people and tor
tured suspects in a crackdown on
separatism in China’s Muslim far
west, according to Amnesty
International.
Two religious teachers, many
farmers rounded up after security
forces killed six youths, and a doc
tor accused of giving medical
treatment to separatists are among
those detained in recent months in
the western Xinjiang region, the
London-based group said in a
report today.
■ South Africa
Executive found dead
after suspected shooting
JOHANNESBURG (AP) - A
South Korean auto executive was
found shot to death in his car
Wednesday -r the latest victim in a
nationwide crime wave that has
rattled investors and tourists in
South Africa.
Police were investigating
whether the killing ofYong Koo
Kwon, president of Daewoo
Motor’s South African operations,
was a carjacking attempt or a pro
fessional hit. Opposition parties
have criticized President Nelson
Mandela’s government for not
doing enough to combat an
increase in killings, carjackings
and robberies.
■ Washington, D.C.
Federal Reserve refuses
to raise interest rates
The Associated Press -
Despite exuberant U.S. economic
growth that showed no sign of
slowing as the year began, Federal
Reserve policy-makers decided
against raising short-term interest
rates Wednesday.
Confronted with the continu
ing spread of world financial tur
moil and the renewed risk it could
spillover into the United States,
they concluded a two-day, closed
door meeting by leaving the
benchmark rate on overnight loans
unchanged at 4.75 percent.
It’s been at that level - a four
year low - since Nov. 17.