8B
Nation/World
Wednesday October 14,1998
Budget players nearing agreement
Republicans, Democrats bargain on school spending, other issues
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Their differences dwindling, White House and congressional budget bargainers yesterday said they were nearing agreement on school spending and other issues snarling a massive $500 billion bill for the new fiscal year.
White House chief of staff Erskine Bowls met most of the day with Republican leaders, including a two-hour evening session with top lawmakers from both parties that focused on education. Bowls said progress had been made and he would return to the Capitol this morning for more discussions.
Bowls said he thought there was a good chance to get things done today.
House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., also said an agreement could be imminent "if everything works right."
Though Republicans were ready to provide the $1.1 billion President Clinton was demanding to reduce grade-school class sizes, the two sides have been fighting about key details. Clinton wanted the money specifically set aside for hiring 100,000 teachers; Republicans wanted local officials to choose how to spend it and wanted money set aside for special education teachers.
In separate meetings among top House Republicans and Ddemo-
crats, leaders of each party said Clinton probably would not achieve his demand for about $1 billion a year to help local governments build and repair schools, said one participant in each meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Democrats also wanted to require most federal workers' health plans to cover prescription contraceptives, but Republicans
wanted to let insurers out if they had moral objections. And Clinton — joined by Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D. — was continuing on billions of dollars more for farmers reeling from
Gingrich: Expects budget agreement to be made soon.
plummeting crop prices.
With the Nov. 3 congressional elections approaching, Republicans clearly were aching to get back to their districts to defend their House and Senate majorities.
"It's time to get back and campaign," said Rep John Linder, RGa., chairman of the House GOP's campaign committee.
With Clinton spending a fourth
straight day calling for more education spending. Democrats were happy to be seen as fighting in Washington on behalf of schoolchildren.
"It's important people understand what Democrats are for," said Rep. Martin Frost, D-Texas, leader of the House Democrats' campaign committee.
As a deal seemed to draw near, lawmakers from both parties nervously searched for wins and losses in a package that seemed likely to give Clinton most of the extra spending he had wanted and triumphs for both sides on policy disputes.
Democrats said they were worried that administration bargainers would settle for less than Clinton was demanding for teachers, school construction and family planning. They also were unhappy with a deal between the administration and GOP negotiators that would, in effect, lay aside for six months the fight about whether scientific sampling would be used in the 2000 census.
"We are not in agreement yet with any arrangement or any bill," cautioned House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo. "There is not a bill yet."
At a GOP leadership meeting, House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., asked his colleagues for support for a measure he said would contain victories for both sides, said Rep. David McIntosh, R-Ind.
"Earlier this week, I wasn't optimistic we'd win on many issues but now we'll truly up for grabs," said McIntosh, a conservative leader.
Representative Snowbarger rallies for Congress to finish debate about federal budget
By Chad Bettes
Kansan staff writer
Members of Congress are working overtime to reach an agreement on the federal budget. One congressman, U.S.R. Vince Snowbarger, R-Kan., is losing valuable campaign time in the process.
Despite his heated re-election race with Democrat Dennis Moore, Snowbarger is adamant that his work in Washington is more important to him than campaigning.
In a statement issued yesterday, Snowbarger said he sent letters to President Bill Clinton, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. In the letters, Snowbarger urged Congress and the president to stay in Washington until the budget job is completed.
The main budget issue Snowbarger highlighted in his letters was Social Security. He said, "We owe it to our senior citizens, as well as those nearing retirement, to demonstrate now that the federal government will honor the commitment made to them."
Snowbarger recently voted for the Social Security Preservation Act, which would have dedicated 90 percent of the budget surplus to repay the Social Security trust fund.
Members of Congress continue to debate methods of future funding for Social Security. They have yet to reach a consensus.
In his letters, Snowbarger also said, "All of us insist we want a solution to this problem. This is our chance to make our actions match our rhetoric."
Allan Cigler, professor of political science, said the extra work on the budget might actually help Snowbarer in his re-election.
"An incumbent congressman acting like a congressman is the best campaigning there is," Cigler said.
Court denies protection for homosexuals
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court allowed Cincinnati to deny homosexuals specific protection from discrimination yesterday, an order likely to create confusion about government policies on gay rights.
The Associated Press
The action came just two years after the justices struck down a similar measure in Colorado as unconstitutional. Unlike the 1996 ruling, yesterday's action set no national precedent but caused outrage.
"The Supreme Court has given up
That's horrible," said Alphonse Gerhardstein, who represented opponents to the Cincinnati city charter amendment. The voter-approved measure bans polices or ordinances that give homosexuals legal protection from discrimination — in housing, employment or otherwise. It also bars any preferential treatment.
What impact, if any, the amended city charter will have is hotly contested. Most cities and states offer no protection against bias based on sexual orientation.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Cincinnati's amended charter
provision, ruling that it removed special protection for gays and lesbians. Yesterday's order left that ruling intact.
Phil Burress, who led the move to put the city charter amendment on the 1993 ballot, claimed victory.
"What it tells me is that the only thing Colorado did wrong was go statewide rather than city by city," he said.
Matt Coles of the American Civil Liberties Union disagreed, saying, "This action doesn't undermine (the 1996 ruling) a whit."
Gay-rights advocates won a dramatic victory two years ago when the Supreme
Court threw out a Colorado state constitutional amendment that prohibited state and local laws from protecting homosexuals from discrimination. The amendment unlawfully singled out gays and sought to make them unequal to everyone else, the Supreme Court ruled then.
In Cincinnati, gay-right advocates succeeded in 1994 in barring enforcement of the city charter measure, but the appeals court lifted a trial judge's injunction.
The Supreme Court had been urged to reverse the appeals court ruling.
Phelps to attend hate-crime victim's funeral in Wyoming
The Associated Press
LARAMIE, Wyo. — The beating death of a gay University of Wyoming student inspired condolences from across the country, as President Clinton and activists asked lawmakers to give homosexuals the protection of hate-crime laws.
Matthew Shepard, 21, died at a Fort Collins, Colo., hospital Monday after spending several days in a coma. His skull was so badly fractured by the beating that doctors said they couldn't operate.
Shepard was found last Wednesday in near-freezing temperatures, lashed to a split-rail post outside Laramie.
Charges against Russell Arthur Henderson, 21, and Aaron James McKinney, 22, were upgraded late Monday following Shepard's death, the court clerk's office said yesterday. Henderson and McKinney were charged with first-degree murder, aggravated robbery and kidnapping with intent to inflict bodily injury or to terrorize the victim. The murder count carries a possible death sentence; the prosecution hasn't said whether he will seek the death penalty.
"All gay people and lesbians have felt alone and under siege at times," gay activist Michael Weinstein told about 1,000 people attending a candlelight vigil in West Hollywood, Calif. "Thinking of him alone on that post, ... it's just horrifying. He was so young. He had not yet had the chance to live."
Charges against the men's girlfriends, Chasity Vera Pasley and Kristen Leann Price, were upgraded to accessory after the fact of first-degree murder. They were accused of helping get rid of bloody clothing.
At arraignment late Monday, the two men were ordered held without bond. Pasley, also arraigned late Monday, and Price, who was arrained yesterday, both had bond set at $30,000.
Police said robbery was the main motive for the attack but that Shepard apparently was chosen in part because he was gay. Shepard had been beaten twice in recent months, attacks he attributed to his homosexuality.
Meanwhile, the Rev. Fred Phelps, the leader of a Topeka, Kan., church whose members regularly engage in anti-homosexual picketing, said he was planning a demonstration at Shepard's funeral.
Gov. Jim Geringer said he cannot stop Phelps from coming, but said precautions would be taken to make sure Friday's services aren't interrupted. Geringer said Phelps' group is "just flat not welcome. ... What we don't need is a bunch of wingnuts coming in."
"Americans will once again search their hearts and do what they can to reduce their own fear and anxiety and anger at people who are different," Clinton said. "And I hope that Congress will pass the hate-crime legislation."
The Hate Crimes Protection Act would make federal offenses of crimes based on sex, disability and sexual orientation. Current law covers crimes based on race, color, religion or national origin.
Of the 41 states that have hate-crime laws, 21 specifically cover offenses motivated by the victim's sexual orientation. Wyoming does not have a hate-crime law.
Shepard died as Gay Awareness Week was starting in Laramie.
"There's no way that can be overlooked," said Jim Osborn, who attended grade school with Shepard. "If his death leads to passage of hate-crimes legislation in Wyoming, it will be a bittersweet footnote in our state's history."
Information & Applications
are now available for
Student Senate Block Allocation
& Line Item Allocation Hearings.
Applications may now be picked up in
Student Senate Office
410 Kansas Union
Block Applications will be
due October 30. Line Item
applications will be due December 4.
STUDENT
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
SENATE
Deadline: November 13, 1998 Contact KU Aerospace Engineering Department 2004 Learned Hall, 864-4267 for more information
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