\
Wednesday, November 17,1999 Page 2
Congress to vote on budget cut
After veto of reduction in agency budgets, GOP accused of excessive cuts
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Republicans pressed the White House
on Tuesday to accept a small across
the-board cut in federal spending as
the two sides edged to the brink of a
near-$400 billion budget deal that
Congress might vote on by
Wednesday.
President Clinton vetoed a 1 per
cent reduction in agency budgets two
weeks ago, and Democrats have
accused the GOP of pursuing mind
less, excessive cuts ever since. Eager
for political cover, Republican nego
tiators have offered a 0.4 percent
reduction, and House Speaker Dennis
Hastert, R-Ill., pursued such a cut in a
telephone talk with Clinton, who is in
Turkey.
“I talked to the president last
night. He didn’t reject it,” Hastert
said.
Resorting to gimmickryrbargain
ers agreed to delay the military’s
scheduled Sept. 30, 2000, pay day to
the next day — the first day of fiscal
2001. That plan, described by mem
bers of both parties speaking on con
dition of anonymity, would save the
government more than $2 billion on
its fiscal 2000 books, even though the
same amount of money would be
spent.
The hunt for about $6.5 billion in
fiscal 2000 savings loomed as the
major remaining hurdle to a budget
package that would all but finish
Congress’ work for die year. The sav
ings are aimed at letting Republicans
claim they honored their pledge not to
spend Social Security surpluses — a
contention rejected by Democrats and
the Congressional Budget Office.
Another possible problem was a
demand by Sen. Robert Byrd, D
W.Va., to let his state’s coal mines con
tinue stripping mountaintops and
dumping the waste into valleys and
streams. The administration was
threatening to veto such a measure on
environmental grounds, but was offer
ing temporary relief as a compromise.
The emerging budget deal would
combine five spending bills financing
seven Cabinet departments, dozens of
agencies and the budgets for the
District of Columbia and foreign aid.
The other eight measures for fiscal
u
I don’t think most members have figured out
how they re going to vote on it!’
Dick Gephardt
House minority leader
2000, which began Oct. 1, have
already become law.
The White House crowed about
winning money for hiring teachers,
police officers, land purchases and
United Nations dues, as well as GOP
retreats on provisions helping die oil,
mining and other industries that
Clinton considered anti-environmen
tal.
But at the Capitol, many
Democrats seemed underwhelmed as
lawmakers returned to the Capitol en
masse from a Veterans Day break.
“I don’t think most members have^
figured out how they%going to vote
on it,” House Minowty Leader Dick
Gephardt, D-Mo., saidafter a meeting
of House Democrats.
/
He cited “some real victories” but
said the year was ending with “a
mixed picture” because of no action
on gun control, a minimum wage
increase or enhanced rights for
patients in managed care programs.
House Republican leaders tried to
rally their own members to support
the package. They boasted about pro
tecting Social Security, boosting
defense spending, curtailing Clinton’s *
spending requests, winning more
flexibility for states using federal edu
cation funds and administration con
cessions on abortion activities over- i
seas.
“Our negotiators did as good a job
as possible,” said House Majority
Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas.
Jackson arrested for students cause
■ In a protest of six
students’ expulsion, the
. reverend forced his own
incarceration;
DECATUR, 111. (AP) - Leading a
made-for-TV demonstration thal
evoked the style of the civil rights
movement, the Rev. Jesse Jackson
was arrested Tuesday as he stepped
onto the grounds of a high school tc
protestthe expulsion of six^students
for a brawl at a football game.
Jackson was taken away in hand
cuffs after leading a throng of minis
ters and other protesters tc
Eisenhower High. He had promised tc
force his own arrest to dramatize the
students’ cause.
i-—
Three other demonstrators were
arrested, police said. Police would not
say who they were and what charges
Jackson or the others faced, and it was
unclear whether he would post bail or
remain in jail.
Detective Cmdr. Mark
Barthelmey said two officers were
struck in the face during the con
frontation after Jackson was led away.
He did not provide details on who was
involved or whether the officers weje
injured.
v, The arrests came nine days after
Jackson’s arrival in Decatur brought
national attention to school officials’
decision to expel the students for their
part in the Sept. 17 fight.
Jackson had indicated earlier he
would try to bring the students back to
school, but the teen-agers did not
approach the police line.
“We want the youth to stand still
knowing that their parents and their
ministers would cross the line for
them,” Jackson declared. “The par
ents will fight for their children. And
that is a good and noble thing.”
Jackson inched toward the school
through a phalanx of reporters, pho
tographers and TV crews holding
boom microphones high overhead.
At one point, he asked the media
throng to move out of the way so he
could approach the police line and get
arrested.
At the law enforcement center
where he was held, about 75 people
gathered, chanting, “Let the children
in, let the reverend out.”
Jackson had spent Tuesday morn
ing in closed-door talks with school
officials but made no headway.
An emergency school board meet
ing was set for Tuesday night, but
school officials indicated they were
unlikely to offer further compromises.
The six students were expelled
after a brawl in the stands at a football
game. A seventh student was threat
ened with expulsion but withdrew
first. Three of the seven also face
criminal charges.
Under pressure from Jackson and
some state officials, including Gov.
George Ryan, Decatur’s school board
voted last week to reduce the expul
sions from two school years to one
and to let the students attend alterna
tive education programs immediately.
However, Jackson wants them
reinstated as early as January if they
do well in alternative school.
Questions? Comments?
Ask for the appropriate section editor at
(402) 472-2588
or e-mail dn0unl.edu.
’
Bgypt objects to r investigation
WASHINGTON (AP) - Objections
by the Egyptian government have
delayed a decision to turn the EgyptAir
Flight 990 crash investigation over to
the FBI, a federal law enforcement offi
cial said Tuesday.
The nature of the objections could
not immediately be learned.
U.S. officials Sought FBI control of
the investigation amid indications
someone in the cockpit prayed before
the jet went into its fatal plunge, The
Associated Press learned.
The timing of the prayer - before the
jet’s autopilot was disengaged andjlje
plane dived from 33,000 feet - raised
suspicions that Flight 990 was deliber
ately brought down.
Egyptian officials sought and got a
delay in the turnover, a source said.
Earlier Tuesday, two U.S. officials,
speaking on condition of anonymity,
said the FBI would take over die investi
gation. “The (National Transportation
Safety Board) investigates accidents,
die FBI investigates other things,” said
one of the officials.
The prayer was apparently spoken
by someone in the co-pilot’s seat, but it
was unclear whether it was die co-pilot,
a source speaking on condition of
anonymity told the AP.
The evidence of the prayer and its
timing emerged when information from
the flight data recorder was synchro
nized with sounds picked up by the
cockpit voice recorder, Clinton admin
istration officials told the AP.
Although the phrase heard on the
cockpit recorder was characterized as a
prayer, that doesn’t necessarily mean it
was related to the cause of the plunge.
Arabic speakers commonly make refer
ences to God in everyday statements.
For instance, the phrase; “inshallah,” or
“God willing,” is frequently used in
everyday conversation for the most
mundane statements.
rolitical nvals to aim tor a compromise
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) - IRA promise to disarm. statement by Thursday.
Northern Ireland’s political rivals sig- The IRA-linked Sinn Fein party, Trimble, who had sought a fixed
naled Tuesday they were determined to which is to receive two posts within the date for disarmament to start, indicated
tweak the past year of stalemate, making proposed 12-member Cabinet in Tuesday he would now recognize this
conciliatory statements and building exchange, called disarmament “an gesture as providing a “genuine and
expectations of an important Irish essential part of die peace process.” meaningful” measure of the IRA’s com
Republican Army announcement The emerging compromise, mediat- mitment to destroy its secret weapons
In a pivotal concession, Ulster ed by U.S. diplomat George Mitchell dumps.
Unionist leader David Trimble dropped during the past 11 weeks, depends upon Ulster Unionist negotiators, speak
his Protestant party’s refusal to form a the IRA appointing a senior figure to ing on condition of anonymity, say a key
Protestant-Catholic administration for negotiate terms with.a disarmament factor was an assurance that the IRA
Northern Ireland - die intended comer- commission. Politicians expect the representative would be the group’s
stone of the Good Friday peace accord shadowy group’s ruling Army Council alleged senior commander, Brian
of 1998 - in advance of receiving an to confirm this decision in a policy Keenan.
- \ ' - '
■ Michigan
13-year-old boy receives
2nd-degree murder charge
PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — One
of the youngest murder defendants
in U.S. history was convicted of
second-degree murder Tuesday for
shooting a stranger outside a con
venience store with a rifle when he
was 11.
In a case that stirred fierce
debate over how to treat young
offenders, Nathaniel Abraham, 13,
sat expressionless and looked
straight ahead as the jury
announced its verdict after 18
hours of deliberations over four
days.
He was acquitted of first
degree murder, which could have
sent him to prison for life with no
chance of parole.
At his sentencing Dec. 14,
Nathaniel could get a maximum of
life in prison with a chance of
parole or he could be sentenced as a
juvenile and held until his 21st
birthday.
Prosecutors said they would
recommend a blended sentence,
keeping him imprisoned'until at
least age 21 and then reviewing his
case to determine whether he has
been rehabilitated.
■ Washington
Chairman trying to block •
new organ transplant rules
WASHINGTON (AP) - A
House committee chairman and at
least one senator are trying to block
new rules overhauling the organ
transplant system, despite a high
level agreement last week allowing
the rules to take effect.
House Commerce Committee
Chairman Tom Bliley is threaten
ing to prevent an unrelated piece of
health legislation from coming to
the House floor unless a delay in
implementation of the transplant
rules is attached to a bill that is
scheduled to move before legisla
tors go home for the year.
Bliley, R-Va., is searching for
legislation on which to attach a
delay, although the Clinton admin
istration has refused to go along
with further postponements and is
certain to resist* House Speaker
Dennis Hastert, following the
wishes of his home state of Illinois,
is backing the administration,
which makes Bliley’s last-ditch
effort more difficult.
■ Turkey
Aftershocks, rains sweep
through devastated Turkey
DUZCE, Turkey (AP) -
Incessant rain swept through
quake-stricken northwestern
Turkey on Tuesday, adding new
misery to people living without
shelter in the freezing cold.
The 7.2-magnitude quake hit
Friday, killing at least 549 people,
toppling at least 300 buildings and
leaving thousands of people home
less. The earth shuttered violently
yet again Tuesday evening, when an
aftershock rocked the city of Bolu
and the surrounding area.
Measuring 4.8 in magnitude,
Tuesday night’s temblor was the
strongest of a dozen aftershocks
during the day in the area. Bolu is
35 miles west of KaynasU, the town
hardest hit by Friday’s earthquake.
The latest aftershock collapsed
some already damaged buildings in
Bolu, but there were no reports of
injuries. "
