University Daily Kansan, April 20, 1983
Page 13
Reagan supports new MX missile plan
By United Press International
WASHINGTON — President Reagan yesterday endorsed a bipartisan commission's proposal to sharpen U.S. strategic power by placing 100 MX missiles in superhardened Minuteman sites and building a fleet of single-warhead "midgetman" missiles.
"We can no longer afford to delay. Now is the time to act." Reagan said about officially embracing recommendations submitted to him a week ago by the President's Commission on Strategic Forces.
His action signaled the start of another fight on the MX and faced a mixed reception in Congress, which has 45 days to respond. In December, Congress refused Reagan funds to produce 100 of missiles and deploy in ships in a counterreaction closely-spaced "dense pack" formation.
"MAKE NO MISTAKE." Reagan said, "unless we modernize our land-based mission systems, the reason to negotiate meaningful reductions. If
we fail to act, we cannot reasonably expect an acceptable outcome in any arms control negotiation and we will also weaken the deterrent posture that has preserved the peace for more than a generation."
Opponents of the MX, a highly accurate intercontinental weapon packing to nuclear warheads, shrugged off the report and said it would not win congressional approval.
"It's a bipartisan report grounded in folly," said Sen. Alan Cranston, D-Calif., a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Rep. James Addabba, D-N.Y., said the best thing to do would be "to kill them."
BOTH SENATE REPUBLICAN leader Howard Baker and House Republican leader Bob Michel backed the plan. Michel described it as "a mix . . . the best we can do" and said opponents needed "some education." But, Michel said, "I have to be enthused about our chances."
Deputy press secretary Larry Speakes said the president told the congressmen, "I cannot conceive the next generation facing the prospects
of a future without an arms reduction agreement. We will do everything we can and stay as long as we need to get arms reductions."
Reagan then walked into the East Room to read a three-page announcement to an audience of some of Washington's most powerful officials, including former Cabinet members Alexander Haig, Harold Brown and James Schlesinger, all members of the commission.
Reagan said the commission specifically recommended:
- Continued modernization of the nation's strategic systems, including "our bomber, submarine, and cruise missile programs" and deployment of missiles from the former tiers near Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming and in Nebraska.
- Beginning engineering and design of the midmetman, a "small, single-wearhead missile" that could be ready for deployment early in the 1990s.
- *More research on strategic defense and a program making land-based missiles more secure by hardening their silo installations.
- "Ambitious arms control nego
tiations" that would lead to stability and verifiable reductions.
The cost of producing the 100 MX missiles was set at $16.6 billion in addition to about $4 billion already spent on research and development.
The report said that instead of a land-based missile system impervious to Soviet attack, Reagan sought to close a "window of vulnerability." The United States can rely on its broad nuclear force including long-range bombers and submarine-launched missiles.
THE COMMISSION'S BASING plan was the third proposal for the MX. Reagan campaigned against and later junked a proposal by President Jimmy Carter to deploy the missiles in a "race track" mode that would trundle them in trenches between hundreds of launching positions.
Reagan appointed the commission headed by Brent Scowcroft, a retired Air Force lieutenant general who was national security adviser in the Ford administration, in January after Congress refused him funds to produce and deploy the MX in a dense pack.
K.C. chemical plant to be tested for dioxin
By United Press International
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Water and soil samples taken at a chemical plant yesterday will be tested for dioxin because a by-product made by the company is known to contain the deadly chemical, state and federal officials
A total of 30 samples were to be taken at the plant site of Thompson-Hayward Chemical Co., by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Environmental Protection Agency officials. The tests are intended to determine levels of dioxin pesticides and organic and heavy metals, company officials said.
Water samples from wells, sludge samples from a lagoon, dust samples from the parking lot and soil samples from various locations would be taken
at the plant, said Jim Aiken, director of environment at the state Department of Agriculture.
THE PLANT IN Wyandotte County was given priority status because "the product (24D and 248T) that they produced" is a by-product of dioxin. Alken said.
He said tests were being conducted "so we can determine if there is any dioxin contamination associated with the production of herbicides at the plant."
The plant is not the first site in which these samples have been taken for close up.
Aiken said samples were gathered about two months ago at the defunct Doepek Holliday Landfill in Johnson County. The landfill was one of the sites where the samples were tested. The samples are still being tested. The landfill has been closed since 1969.
A statement release by Thompson Hayward said officials would finish taking samples at the plant today.
Results from the testing could take as long as 60 days, the company's safety director, Cliff Wiksten, said at a news conference yesterday.
AIKEN SAID HIS department did not plan to test for dioxin in any other sites in Kansas besides the Thompson-Hayward Chemical Co.
Rowena Michaela, spokeswoman for the EPA's regional office in Kansas City, Mo., said federal officials were at the scene of an explosion of gasoline that assisted in the collection of samples.
ON THE MOURSIU side, two more dioxin-tainted sites were named in an announcement yesterday from Jefferson City, giving the state a total of 29 confirmed sites. The two new sites were in Springfield and St. Louis County.
that there was toxic waste continu-
mity in the owned Riverfront Park in Kansas City.
A decision would be made within three weeks whether to restrict public access to the park, said city Health Director Richard Biery.
The EPA also confirmed yesterday
Soil samples taken in August from the park, a former industrial landfill, revealed high levels of heavy metals including lead and suspected carcinogens vinyl chloride and toluene, said Michaels.
The EPA briefed Biery, Mayor Richard Berkley and City Manager Robert A. Kipp at a closed meeting early yesterday.
Berry said he did not believe using the park for ballplaying and similar activities would be dangerous, but he said he would remain concerned about fishing at the park until the EPA finished its groundwater testing.
Senate agreement stops withholding-tax action
By United Press International
WASHINGTON — the banking lobby won a big victory late yesterday when key senators agreed on a compromise that would delay for four years, and perhaps scrap the controversial withholding tax on interest and dividends.
But after a day of backroom negotiations between Finance Committee Chairman Robert Dole, an ardent supporter of the withholding tax, and Senator Benny Benyamin, the Senate adjourned last night and delayed final action until today.
HE THEREFORE AGREED to work on a compromise that would retain most of the revenue of the original rule that requires 10 percent of all interest and dividends to be withheld for tax purposes beginning July 1.
Dole, R-Kan, said that he still thought the withholding tax was the best way to collect taxes already owed, but that it didn't have the votes because of the lobbying campaign launched by the powerful banking lobby.
Kasten, R-Wis., author of an amendment to repeal the withholding tax, said the compromise would delay imposition of the tax for four years — until July 1987 — and then make it contingent on proof that less than 95 percent of interest and dividend income was reported in 1985.
The combination, Kasten said,
"means we were able to make the possibility of withholding very remote."
In addition, he said, the House and Senate would have to endorse the government's finding in separate votes before it could take effect in 1987.
He said, "I'm very pleased with the compromise."
The compromise also calls for stiffer penalties for taxpayers who do not report their interest and dividend income, and requires taxpayers to disclose their interest and dividend year-end statements when they file their tax returns.
THE ADMINISTRATION has not officially endorsed the compromise, although Treasury officials participated in the negotiation and the White
House kept in close touch throughout the process.
Dole said he "couldn't speak for the president." Reagan in the past has vowed to veto a repeal of the withholding tax.
Dole said, "I don't know what will happen when it leaves the Senate."
Rep. Norm D'Amours, leading opponent of the withholding tax in the House, hailed the compromise as "exactly what we wanted" and said he was confident The House would approve it.
The compromise among Senate leaders in the debate came before the Senate was to cast a key test vote on whether he supported it or a vote on the repeal amendment.
But when it became clear the Senate would agree to choke off debate, a defeat for the administration and GOP was agreed to try to work out a compromise.
EARLIER IN THE DAY the Senate ignored, on a 63-19 vote, its leadership's request to avoid a vote on the amendment by adjourning for the day.
The withholding requirement, vigorously opposed by the nation's banking lobby, has generated a direst form of financial pressure unprecedented flood of mail on Capitol Hill.
"I hope we can stave off this massive campaign to repeal this law that has never had a chance to work," said Dole, the former U.S. senator. "600,000 pieces of mail on the issue."
Supporters, who include leading Democratic liberals, argue that it is a painless way to collect taxes already owed. It is not a new tax.
THEY NOTE 99 percent of all wage and salary income, which is subject to withholding, was reported by taxpayers in 1861. At the same time, the Internal Revenue Service estimated that 85 percent of dividend income and 85 percent of dividend income was reported — with the unpaid tax totaling more than $8 billion.
- Opponents of the withholding tax, led by Kasten, call it an unfair burden on the 90 percent of Americans who pay their taxes. Opponents also say it will be particularly hard on the elderly who are dependent on their savings and
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