NATION/WORLD
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, December 1, 1994
5A
Senate to decide the future of GATT today
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Clinton administration voiced growing confidence yesterday that it had corralled enough senators to achieve a final congressional victory for the most ambitious trade pact in history.
Although administration vote counters refused to reveal their totals, an Associated Press survey showed the administration had achieved the number of senators needed to clear a key procedural hurdle, counting those who have come out in support of the pact and those who are leaning toward supporting it.
The AP head count showed 60 senators now supporting or leaning in support of the procedural test vote, 26 against or leaning against and 14 still undeclared.
An obviously pleased Treasury Secretary, Lloyd Benten, appearing with a group of 13 senators voicing their support for GATT at a late afternoon news conference, said the momentum is swinging our way.
What is GATT?
U. S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor refused to tell reporters what the administration's vote count now showed but said he believed the administration was in very good shape.
GATT stands for the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. It is the name of a trade agreement and the organization set up in 1947 to oversee its implementation.
"We are looking for every vote that we can find. We want to make this vote as big as possible." Kantor said.
Who belongs to the GATT?
124 member countries, including
the U.S., who have agreed to lower
trade barriers
What does the current GATT accord provide?
Cuts tariffs on average by 38% worldwide
- Extends the GATT rules to new areas such as agriculture, services and the protection of copyrights and patents
Creates a new World Trade Organization with more power to mediate trade disputes
Supporters need only a simple
SOURCES: U.S. Trade Representative, news reports; research by PAT CARR
What do opponents fear?
U. S. workers, especially in high protected industries like textiles, will lose thousands of jobs to competition from abroad
Foreign countries will challenge U.S. laws protecting consumers, workers and the environment as unfair barriers to trade
Removing barriers will expand U.S. exports in manufacturing and services, leading to creation of hundreds of thousands of new jobs
What do supporters say?
Economy will grow by about $150 billion annually after 10 year phase in period
majority to pass the agreement, and they need 60 votes on a procedural question of whether to waive Senate budget rules.
The trade agreement would slash global tariffs by 38 percent, include new areas of agriculture, services and protection of intellectual property under the rules of world trade, and create a more powerful World Trade Organization to referee disputes.
Panels of federal judges, set up to review GATT rulings, will protect American laws
Knight-Ridder Tribune
Sen. Bob Packwood, R-Ore., the GOP floor manager for GATT supporters, said he believed 65 senators would vote for the budget waiver when it comes up today. Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole told reporters he felt confident they had the votes.
Bentens called Tuesday's 142-vote margin of victory in the House a great, bipartisan boost for the agreement. The administration hopes a
GATT victory will demonstrate that a Democratic president will be able to work with a Republican-controlled Congress.
Clinton scheduled a breakfast meeting with a group of 20 senators, many in the undecided ranks, for today at the White House.
The Senate floor debate yesterday mirrored the pro and con arguments that had been heard Tuesday in the House.
Gephardt stays as leader, elected to House Minority post
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Cast into the minority for the first time in 40 years, House Democrats re-elected Rep. Richard Gephardt as their leader yesterday, brushing aside conservative pressure for a post-election shake-up.
"Our mission is to represent workers, middle-income families, the poor families of our country," Gephardt told reporters after he was installed
oy secret ballot at a party caucus. "I also look forward to winning the House back in 1996."
Gephardt, 53, easily turned back a challenge from Rep. Charlie Rose of North Carolina, 150-58, to keep the post he's held since 1989.
Rep. David Bonior of Michigan, seeking a new term as whip, the number two job in the party hierarchy, turned back a challenge from Texas conservative Rep. Charles Stenholm.
While the elections fixed the party's leadership for the next two years, they could also accelerate the defection of one or more conservatives to the Republican Party. Conservatives are carefully monitoring where we go, said Rep. W.J. Tauzin of Louisiana, who recently met with Rep. Newt Gingrich, in line to become speaker in the Republican-controlled House next year.
Democrats insisted they could change their appeal to the voters
without changing their leadership. "This is not a vote for the status quo," said Rep. Charles Schumer, a liberal from New York. "It was a vote for the people who can help us change."
Gephardt, who convened a series of private political discussions at a downtown hotel after the Democrat's Election Day debacle, is expected to announce changes in leadership organization designed to give conservatives a greater say.
The Associated Press
Useless peacekeeping mission in Sarajevo tires U.N. official Serbs and Bosnians situ wo tr refuse to negotiate
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina
- Snubbed by Serbs and unable to
arrange a cease-fire, U.N. Secretary-
General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said
yesterday it may be time to send
peacekeepers home.
Unless the Bosnian Serbs and Muslim-led government agree to talk peace and cooperate with the United Nations, it will become impossible to persuade the Security Council to keep peacekeepers in Bosnia, he said after a six-hour visit to Sarajevo.
But he said he would not recommend a pullout for the time being.
Boutros-Ghali's remarks were the first time he has threatened a withdrawal. They reflect a growing frustration as the Serbs continue their assault on Bhacr, the Muslim-led government refuses new concessions, U.N. peacekeepers are being held hostage and the Western alliance is divided about how to respond.
A decision to withdraw the 24,000 peacekeepers would come from the Security Council, where there is absolutely no evidence of support for a withdrawal, said Colin Keating, New Zealand's U.N. ambassador.
French U. N. Ambassador Jean-Bernard Merimee said there was no question of a withdrawal, but if the
A withdrawal would likely lead to a bloodied conflict and could draw peacekeepers into battle as both Bosnian Serbs and government forces rush U.N. camps to seize equipment before it can be destroyed.
More than 200,000 are dead or missing in the 31-month conflict launched by Serbs who rebelled against a Muslim-Croat vote to declare independence from Serb-led Yugoslavia.
Serbas have rejected a peace plan that would reduce their holdings in Bosnia to 49 percent from about 70 percent.
Bosnian President Alja Izetbegovic told Boutros-Ghali that Bosnia would negotiate only if Serbs accepted the plan. He said the government has proposed a three-month cease-fire, but the Serbs wanted something more permanent.
Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzi refused to meet Boutros-Ghali
The Bosnian Serbs wouldn't mind seeing the United Nations leave Bosnia, believing it would allow them to force the government to settle on Serb terms.
Boutros-Ghali's visit followed admissions from top U.S. and NATO officials that they can't force a solution to the conflict without a huge ground force no one is willing to provide.
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The cost of mailing a letter is going up after the holidays — from 29 cents to 32 cents.
The independent Postal Rate Commission approved the Postal Service request for the January increase yesterday.
But the commission rejected a plan to raise nearly all postage rates by the same percentage — instead setting larger increases for mailing printed matter, advertising and parcels, and holding down the increase for heavier first-class items.
The package is expected to bring the Postal Service $4.7 billion in added income in 1995, said Rate Commission Chairman Edward J. Gleiman. The post office lost $1.3 billion in the just-completed fiscal year and $1.7 billion the year before.
While the higher rates will ease financial pressure, he said, the post office must control costs, and it must improve service. Americans won't longe pay more for less, he said.
The increase is expected to cost the typical household an extra 60 to 75 cents each month.
LOWEVERYDAYCDPRICES!