NATION/WORLD UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS
Wednesday, July 23, 1997
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
7
Clinton urges higher Medicare premiums
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Clinton pledged yesterday to shield Republican lawmakers who support a politically explosive plan for raising Medicare costs for the most affluent elderly. GOP reaction ranged from optimism to suspicion; the proposal's fate remained dim.
In remarks to reporters, Clinton said a new mechanism he designed for collecting the higher premiums would ease GOP worries that voters might interpret the boost as a tax increase.
And he promised a political truce with legislators who back the idea.
Bill Clinton
which has driven a schism between Senate Republicans who like it and House Republicans who detest it. The Senate included a different version of the proposal
in its bill aimed at balancing the budget in 2002, but the House did not because its members fear voter retribution next year.
"I would be happy to defend the
vote of any member of Congress, Democrat or Republican, who votes for this," Clinton said.
White House representative Mike McCurry said this did not mean Clinton would campaign for Republicans who support the plan.
But, McCurry added, "If the president says publicly that you made your vote, it was a good vote, it makes it a lot harder for a Democratic candidate, or a Republican candidate for that matter, to attack."
House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., was among several GOP leaders who welcomed Clinton's comments, saying, "I thought he was trying to be very positive."
But others were less receptive. They said the president's words would not handcuff other Democratic leaders or groups representing the elderly and labor from wielding the issue against Republicans in the 1998 elections. Democrats successfully used attempted GOP Medicare cuts against Republican candidates in 1996.
"They did this on Medicare last time," said Rep. John Linder, R-Ga., chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee, the House GOP's campaign arm. "They'll do it again."
None of the groups Republicans fear would use the issue against
them would promise yesterday to ignore it during the next campaign.
"At this point, we haven't taken any issue on or off the table," said Dan Sallick, representative for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the party's campaign arm in the House. "At the end of the day, our job is to elect Democrats, and we'll use issues we think are helpful."
And John Rother, chief lobbyist for the giant American Association of Retired Persons, said the group had not decided if votes on higher Medicare premiums would be included in the mailings the association sends its members during the
election season.
"Everyone should know how their elected representatives voted," he said, adding, "Certainly this would be high profile."
In addition, many Republicans said Clinton's plan still looked like a tax increase because upper-income elderly would be required to mail a separate form — and payment — with their tax returns to the Treasury by April 15, the day income-tax returns are due. The money would be placed in a Medicare trust fund.
"It looks and smells like a tax," said Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, who proposed a version that has the Department of Health and Human Services administering the plan.
Ferry sails as fishermen end blockade
Canadians accuse Alaskans of violating salmon agreement
The Associated Press
PRINCE RUPERT, British Columbia
PRINCE RUPERT, British Columbia — After blockading an Alaska-bound ferry in port for three days, angry Canadian salmon fishermen let the ship continue north late Monday.
The Malaspina, with 135 passengers and 88 vehicles on board, pulled away shortly after midnight Central time.
The decision to end the protest came two hours after fishermen met with Canadian Fisheries Minister David Anderson, who urged fishermen to let the ferry pass so officials from Canada and the United States could resume negotiations on a salmon quota dispute that sparked the blockade.
Canadian fishermen argue that
Alaskan fleets are intercepting thousands of sockeye salmon as the fish head for spawning stream in British Columbia.
Anderson said that he had flown over the Noyes Island area along the southern Alaska coast and that he had spotted about 50 U.S.-flagged boats catching salmon in violation of the Pacific Salmon Treaty. The treaty has been in limbo since negotiations broke down several years ago.
But Anderson said the ferry blockade worsened the situation.
Earlier Monday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police gave the fishermen copies of a court order issued Sunday. The order convinced some of the fishermen to abandon the blockade.
The dispute centers in part on Alaskans who catch sockeye salmon bound for Canadian rivers and streams.
"The fish are being targeted before they get here. There's only so many catchable fish, and the accessible fish are being taken in Alaska," said Bill
Troughton, a Prince Rupert fisherman who participated in the protest. "I'm at the point where I don't care. Just shut the Americans out from going through our inside water. It's our water."
The Canadians want Anderson to restart failed salmon talks with the United States and allow northern British Columbia fishermen to increase their take of Fraser River sockeye.
The Canadians also want assurances that they will not be held accountable for any damages from the protest. Alaska Attorney General Bruce Bothelo said the state would sue the fishermen in Canadian court.
Bob King, a representative for Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles, said the state was
Bothelo said he could not give a compensation amount that the state would seek. But he said that crew overtime costs were accruing at $1,200 an hour and that the Alaska Marine Highway System was incurring scheduling costs.
considering skipping Prince Rupert as a ferry port if Canadian authorities could not guarantee safe passage.
The incident prompted some tough language from the State Department.
"The United States has protested and continues to protest this blockade," representative Nicholas Burns said. "And we also protest the refusal of Canadian federal authorities to stop the blockade or to enforce the court injunction."
The ferry blockade snarled tourist traffic along the Pacific Northwest coast at the height of the travel season.
The marine highway system has six ferries working along the Alaska's Southeast Panhandle, with two more serving the rest of the state.
"There's no ferries laying around we can just pull out and throw on line," said Bob Provost, who heads Alaska Inland Boatmen's Union of the Pacific, which represents most ferry workers. "They're all pretty maxed out with all the traffic this time of year."
Man enraged after burning feet on roast
The Associated Press
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — A man flew into a rage and choked his roommate after a pot roast fell out of the oven and burned his bare feet, police said.
Roman Felix Kasprzcki, 55, was arrested for investigation of assault.
Kasprzki apparently was drunk on Saturday when he yanked open the oven door as the 51-year-old woman he lives with was cooking a roast, police said. The roast fell on his feet.
"He became enraged and walked across the apartment, violently choking her so she could barely breathe." Sgt. Gary F. Gallinot said.
The woman was not seriously hurt, but Kasprzcki was treated at a hospital for second-degree burns on his feet.
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