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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 1999)
Official: GOP tax bill will be vetoed I WASHINGTON (AP) - President Clinton is eager to veto the 10-year, $792 billion Republican tax cut bill to clear the way for negotiations with Congress on boosting spending for key programs and more modest tax relief, a top White House official said Wednesday. “We believe that some tax relief is appropriate,” John Podesta, the White House chief of staff, said after a National Press Club speech. “It ought to be balanced against the other important national needs.” Podesta stressed the administra tion’s contention that the tax bill passed by the GOP-led Congress spends too much of projected budget surpluses - at the expense of Social Security and Medicare - and is improperly weighted toward wealthier taxpayers. He said Clinton would veto the measure as soon as congressional leaders send it to the White House, which will occur as early as Sept. 14. “Please send us the tax cut bill so that we don’t have to keep fooling around with the phony debate,” Podesta said. “Send it down to us so that we can veto it, and then move forward.” Republicans kept the tax bill locked away on Capitol HUl during the August recess as they tried to drum up public support for the measure and demon strate their commitment to cutting taxes as a prelude to the 2000 congressional elections. Over 10 years, the bill would reduce all income tax rates by L percentage u Please send us the tax cut bill so that we don’t have to keep fooling around with the phony debate \ John Podesta White House chief of staff point, ease the marriage penalty on many two-income couples, eliminate estate taxes and the alternative minimum income tax, reduce capital gains taxes, expand pension and 401(k) laws and provide numerous business tax breaks. There are mixed feelings within the GOP about whether to seek compro mise with the president on a smaller tax bill. .Some hard-liners would rather force a veto on the $792 billion bill and use that as a political issue, but others believe voters prefer a concrete accom plishment even if it is more modest. Clinton has said a tax cut of up to $300 billion over 10 years might be acceptable, and moderate lawmakers of both parties in Congress are working on alternatives somewhat higher than that. Although Podesta discounted any growth in public support for the GOP plan, many Republicans believe Clinton’s willingness to compromise shows that parts of the bill are popular. “This latest exercise is further proof that President Clinton does not want to admit that he is dead set against giving any tax relief to married couples, small business owners, investors and millions of other Americans,” said Rep. Bill Archer, R-Texas, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Ultimately, the size of tax cuts depends on how lawmakers cope with tight spending caps imposed as part of the 1997 balanced budget deal. Unless the caps are lifted - neither the White House nor GOP leaders are suggesting that - many programs are going to suffer. In his speech, Podesta accused Republicans of shortchanging vital sci ence and research programs in various spending bills, including a cut of $ 1 bil lion from Clinton’s fiscal year 2000' request for NASA and a cut of $1.8 bil lion for civilian research and develop ment. But Elizabeth Morra, spokes woman for the House Appropriations Committee, said unless the spending caps are altered lawmakers will be forced to make painful choices in allo cating a limited pool of money through out government. Technology medium in WASHINGTON (AP) - The art world is going high tech. The * first thing a visitor sees at an exhibit of art students’ produc tions opening today at the Corcoran Gallery of Art is a com puter monitor with a mouse and two sets of earphones. To appreciate that work, the visitor must sit at the monitor, don the earphones and click on an icon with the mouse. This piece is a CD-ROM called “1948: Memory Fragments - A Narrative in Three Voices.” The artist is David A. Valentine, who received his degree in 1997 from the Corcoran College of Art and Design, one of the nation’s leading art schools. “His major was fine arts,” said Linda Williams, the school’s director of alumni affairs, “but as you can see, he knows about tech nology too.” Valentine is a former anima tion cinematographer who ran his own computer animation consult ing firm. His piece is part of an exhibit of alumni work held every two years at the gallery, the capital’s first art museum. The school cultivates an older tradition, too. An oil painting - i becomes art world Fred Folsom’s “Edna Flying,” a nude gliding over a landscape - is back in a comer of the gallery. But most of the show does lit tle to recall the days when art stu dents spent more of their time on watercolors or making drawings of antique statues. Many of the students seem to be trying to outdo one another in cultivating exotic ways of express ing themselves. Some, however, reject the high-tech trend. Nancy Van Meter makes cyan otypes, created by laying an object directly on a sensitized photo graphic plate. Some early photographers practiced a similar technique more than 150 years ago. “The technical process for cre ating these photograms is simple, permanent and non-toxic,” the artist explained in a statement. “Machinery of any kind is unnec essary. “My personal response rebels wildly against the barrage of com puter technology with its unapolo getic deluge of poor-quality images.” She calls one of her small prints, which uses doll clothing, “Barbie High Heels: Float Like Boats on Top of the Sea.” Clinton plea for money sent to Lewinsky’s dad WASHINGTON (AP) - Millions of dollars short of covering the Clinton family’s legal bills, officials at President Clinton’s defense fund are nonetheless feeling a little sheep ish about asking for money from one prospective donor: Monica Lewinsky’s father. Dr. Bernard Lewinsky, who has contributed to the Democratic Party over the years, recently received a request from the Clinton Legal Expense Trust asking for help in pay ing off the $10.5 million in legal expenses of Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Lewinsky wrote “Return to sender” on the envelope, scrawling i^iderneath, “You must be morons to send me this letter!” according to a Lewinsky family friend who asked not to be identified. Anthony Essaye, the fund’s exec utive director, said Wednesday that he couldn’t confirm the form letter was sent to Lewinsky but he assumes it was. “It’s just one of those things that happens,” Essaye said. “I’m sorry to burden him with that.” The fund mails its donation requests to lists of people recom mended by a direct mail group, he said. It’s possible the same group is working with the Democratic National Committee. Less than a month ago, Lewinsky’s friend said, the DNC sent the father of the former White House intern a photograph of Bill and Hillary Clinton with a fund-raising plea and the message, “Thank you for your understanding during the last year.”