STATE/NATION
UNLVFRSLTY DALLY KANSAN
Clinton to test clout
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Thwarted in his efforts to pass a relatively insignificant spending bill, President Bill Clinton now faces a major-league test of his clout: persuading Congress to approve the biggest tax increase in history.
This time, the Senate rules are in his favor. Republicans cannot block a vote on his top-priority $265 billion, five-year tax plan as they did on his mainly symbolic measure to spend $16 billion for emergency job creation.
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On the other hand, Clinton's two most important allies on taxes — the heads of the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees — are committed to preserving a legacy of the Reagan administration: the 1986 Tax Reform Act. Clinton wants to roll back several of its provisions.
The Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, D-III, and controlled 24-14 by Democrats, begins writing its version of Bill's bill tomorrow. Those watch the panel say major elements of the president's tax increase are likely to survive, with little or no GOP
support, and pass the Democratic-controlled House as well.
That would toss the hot potato to the Finance Committee, chaired by Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., where Democrats control by an 11-9 margin. Republicans are preparing several amendments, and a defection by just one Democrat could force major changes in Bill's bill.
Nevertheless, if the measure clears Finance, it is likely to become law.
The tax increase would provide most of the deficit reduction that Congress agreed to in concept when it approved the outlines of Clinton's budget April 1. The same "reconciliation" bill will include numerous spending cuts and restraints.
The bill's explosive potential was evident when Moynahan remarked at a committee session last week that enactment could hand control of the Senate back to Republicans.
It also carries more than 858 billion worth of targeted tax breaks to stimulate selected activities, and spending increases that Clinton calls investments in the future.
Intense agenda ends session
The Associated Press
TOPEKA — Majority party Republicans fired their final saliva at Gov. Joan Finney and her fellow Democrats before closing down the 1993 session in the wee hours of yesterday morning.
It took them an extra three hours of debate, and they absorbed a broadside of criticism from minority Democrats. But Republicans sent a controversial package of tax breaks that they hope will put her on the spot with businesses and fraternal organizations.
sainte-open sur la lumière.
Shutting down in 91 days made this the shortest session since 1974. Leaders will return June 7 for final, ceremonial adjournment.
The GOP is figuring that if she vetoes the tax bill it could damage her expected 1994 re-election campaign. But Democrats said she would win that political battle because a veto would prevent tax shifts to property taxpayers.
Monday, May 3, 1993
Also passed before adjournment were a massive bill overhauling the state's workers' compensation law and an omnibus appropriations bill that included $19 million in cuts from previously-approved budgets.
Republicans said the tax reduction bill was needed to spur economic development. Democrats called it the height of irresponsibility and hypocrisy to cut taxes without any replacement revenue in a year when budget cuts had to be made during the wrap-up session.
made during the 1990s that Finney has said it provides tax breaks that Finney has said the state cannot afford and will throw the funding of the 1992 school finance act into jeopardy in fiscal year 1995. It is fiscal year 1995 when the school finance plan approved in 1992 faces a $60 million funding shortfall, and eliminating the taxes would push that deficit to $85 million.
Opponents of the tax breaks said the shortfall is sure to trigger tax increases in 1994, when Finney and all House members will be up for re-election, or massive budget cuts.
State Sen. Audrey Langworthy, R-Prairie Village, head of the Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee and is chief promoter of the bill, said the bill is designed to save jobs and promote jobs.
Mary Hollady, Finney's chief of staff, said the governor might veto the trifecta, as she did an earlier tax cut bill, or let it become law without her signature if she can find ways to veto items in the omnibus appropriations to save enough money to make up for the $24 million revenue loss in 1995.
The onumbus appropriations bill was the final part of a $6.74 billion state budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, with $3.16 billion of that amount from the state general fund. The rest of the money comes from federal and fee funds.
Drink for a healthy heart
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A drink or two, or even three, every day can help keep your heart healthy by increasing the amount of "good" cholesterol, a researcher reports.
In a study of 680 people, Michael Gizano, a physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston said he found that those who consumed up to three alcoholic drinks daily were less apt to suffer from myocardial infarctions, a type of heart attack.
But he warned that this does not mean it is healthy to get drunk. The healthy heart benefit comes only from drinking in moderation.
And another doctor said yesterday that though moderate drinking may improve blood chemistry for the heart, alcohol can harm health in other ways.
Gizano interviewed people about their drinking habits and then compared their blood levels of high-density lipoproteins (HDL), the so-called "good" cholesterol. Earlier studies have shown that people with normal levels of HDL have a reduced risk of heart disease. The study found that those who drank had higher levels of HDL and a lowered risk of heart attack.
David Hathaway, physician and director of the cardiovascular division at the Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis, said that the finding was "consistent with other studies that have not looked at alcohol, but have looked at HDL."
Hathaway said that other studies had shown that any change, such as in diet or exercise, that tended to increase HDLs did reduce the risk of heart attack. However the Indianapolis physician said Gizano was right in warning that excess drinking could have a harmful effect.
"Moderate alcohol intake is harmless, but this is not an endorsement of getting loaded," said Hathaway "Increasing alcohol intake may, in fact, increase the risk of other diseases, such as cancer. The net effect may be no prolongation of life, just a change in the cause of mortality."
For people who did not drink or who did not drink every day, there was no statistical reduction in heart attack risk, he said.
people who drank one to three drinks daily had a 45 percent reduction in heart attack rate, and those who took three or more drinks daily had a 50 percent reduction in heart attack rate.
--soon!
53 Prime Time Show ( ) Senior Citizen Anytime
--soon!
Panhellenic 1993 RUSH Book will be available
Stop by the Organization and Activities Center in the Kansas Union to pick up your copy.
Any woman who is a full-time student at the University of Kansas is eligible for 1993 Rush.
O. A.K.S.
The Non-Traditional Student Organization announces it's
STOP DAY LUNCH at Dos Hombres May 5 11 am-1 pm
Come Join Us!
Graduating Seniors bring your families so we can recognize you