6A
Wednesday, March 1, 1995
NATION/WORLD UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
House struggles with tax issue
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON—If House Republicans fail to address deficit reduction as they pass tax cuts, the Senate will do it for them. Rep. Pat Roberts said yesterday.
Roberts, R-Kan., and Rep. Greg Ganske, R-Iowa, are continuing their push to lower a family's maximum income from $200,000 to $85,000 to qualify for $500-a-child tax credits. That would free up $7 billion for use in cutting the federal deficit.
The House is scheduled to vote this week on its tax relief package, and Roberts said GOP leaders so far had not backed down from the $200,000 income level.
"We are still in what I call meaningful dialogue with the leadership." Roberts said. "I hope they are flexible."
If the House passes tax relief that applies to the higher-income families, Roberts predicted it wouldn't stand up in the Senate — where deficit reduction is more of a prior-
itv.
"In the end result, I think you'll see the Senate come up with the action we recommended," said Roberts, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.
"We're going to have tax cuts in the Senate," said Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan. "We may have a little different package."
For that reason, Roberts may vote for the tax relief package no matter what form it takes. It contains several other provisions, such as a cut in capital gains taxes and relief for small businesses, that are important in farm country.
"I'm going to be voting for the total package," he said. "There are many other provisions in that bill that are very, very important."
Roberts and Ganske last week obtained the signatures of more than 100 House Republicans on a letter asking GOP leaders to allow consideration of an amendment to reduce the income level to $95,000.
As of yesterday afternoon, no final
decision had been announced on whether such a vote would be permitted. The House Rules Committee, which decides such issues, was scheduled to consider the question today, a spokesman said.
"I'm just a tad concerned and frustrated when you have half (the House Republicans) supporting your position, and you won't even consider the amendment," Roberts said. "I'm hopeful they will allow the amendment."
House Speaker Newt Gingrich, RGa, said yesterday that tax bill supporters were still six votes short and continued searching for compromise. One possibility would be requiring that concrete steps be taken to balance the federal budget by 2002 before tax cuts could go into effect.
If the measure passes and becomes law—by no means a certainty—by the year 2000, the average reduction per federal taxpayer in Kansas would reach $1,499, according to the House Ways and Means Committee.
Clinton relaxes, shoots hoops in Arkansas
The Associated Press
JONESBORO, Ark. — Akwwardly palming a basketball. President Clinton walked into a university gym with "Hoop Dreams" star Arthur Agee to shoot some baskets yesterday when a sign on the backboard caught his eve.
"No Dunking" it said in big, black, block letters.
"No dunking?" Clinton said, feigning surprise. "That's too bad, that's what I wanted to do."
Agee, an Arkansas State University basketball player whose triumphs and turmoilas as a promising athlete were the subject of the documentary film "Hoop Dreams" showed the president that some rules were made to be broken.
Taking three powerful strides toward the basket, the Chicago native exploded from the floor and dunked the ball.
"Your turn, Mr. President," a reporter teased
Clinton, wearing loafers, dress pants and a tie — shrugged his shoulders and said, "I did it once, when I was 16."
The brief photo opportunity came as Clinton wrapped up three days of relaxation in his home state. During the weekend, he took two early morning walks through the quiet streets of Little Rock, attended services at his old church, returned to the governor's mansion where he lived for 12 years and took his mother-in-law, Dorothy Rodham, out to dinner.
But the weekend revolved around basketball — University of Arkansas basketball. The Razorbacks were playing last night for the NCAA championship, and Clinton planned to watch the game on television with friends at a local restaurant. Clinton said the sport
was valuable therapy for him.
"I have to have something else to think about," he said before landing in Arkansas on Friday night after spending the day in Haiti.
Clinton began his day yesterday at the campus of Razorback rival Arkansas State University, dedicating a new multimillion-dollar library he helped finance while serving as the state's governor.
After the ceremony, Clinton attended a reception, then walked to an ASU gym with Agee.
The pair chatted a few minutes beneath the basket, then Clinton slipped off his wedding ring and put it in his pocket, taking aim with his first shot. It went wide of the basket.
"Airball,"somebody shouted.
This time, Clinton's "Hoop Dream" came true.
"Just missed," the president corrected. "I get another shot."
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The cleanup of radioactive waste left over from decades of nuclear weapons production will take longer than the Cold War itself and cost between $230 billion and $350 billion, the government estimated yesterday.
Cleanup of Cold War waste to last longer than war did
The largest environmental cleanup ever undertaken still is expected to leave hundreds of acres contaminated with buried debris and cordoned off from the public. Many of the other areas would be suitable only for limited uses.
The staggering cost estimate announced yesterday by the Energy Department envisions a middle-of-the road approach to cleaning up the legacy from nuclear research, production and testing during the decades of the Cold War.
"The future use of the land and facilities will largely determine if the cost is higher or lower," said Thomas Grumbly, assistant secretary for environmental management. He said in many cases it was not technically possible to return all parts of a facility to pristine conditions.
The Energy Department review, which was sent to Congress, estimates that it will cost $230 billion to decontaminate more than 80 facilities in 30 states with most of the money spent over the next 40 years.
But that scenario plans on productivity gains of 20 percent over the next five years among waste-cleanup contractors. Such improvements in efficiency are considered by many to be optimistic. Grumbly said if such improvements were not achieved the costs would soar to $350 billion over the life of the cleanup effort
occur over the next 40 years, but work at many of the sites would continue until 2070. Even then, some major facilities would have permanently buried and "capped" contaminated waste and debris.
Some nuclear sites and radioactive material aren't even included in the cost figure. Cleanup of soil and ground water at the government's nuclear bomb test site, for example, is not part of the plan because there's no technology available to do the job within reasonable cost, officials said. And the figures do not account for the government's future management of some 50 tons of plutonium still needed as part of the Defense Department's active nuclear stockpile. Eventually some of that likely will be declared excess and come under the cleanup program.
The cost estimates are substantially higher than the Energy Department's proposed budget for cleanup and environmental restoration, which has been around $6 billion a year. Over the next five years, the cleanup estimate exceeds the department's planned spending for cleanup by $7 billion. And Congress has indicated it wants to cut, not increase, spending on the program.
Most of the cleanup costs would
There was no explanation of how the shortfall would be overcome.
The department said 70 percent of the cleanup money would be spent at five sites: the Hanford reservation in Washington state, the Savannah River facility in South Carolina, the Rocky Flats plant in Colorado, the Oak Ridge reservation in Tennessee, and the Idaho National Laboratory.
The most costly cleanup tasks are expected at the Hanford reservation and the Savannah River complex, which together account for 42 percent of the expected clean up spending.
Assuming planned productivity increases can be achieved and overall costs held to $230 billion, the review estimates spending requirements at:
—Hanford Reservation near Richland, Wash., $48.7 billion.
Savannah River complex near Alken, S.C. $48.2 billion.
—Oak Ridge reservation, $24.8 billion.
—Rocky Flats near Denver, Colo., $22.5 billion.
—The Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, near Pocatello, Idaho, $18.7 billion.
Hanford has posed a particularly perplexing cleanup challenge. The plan states that among other tasks, dismantling nine moth-balled reactors, once used to make plutonium, and burying the reactor cores; entombing a massive concrete plutonium processing plant; and draining more than 170 underground waste tanks and then capping them.
In all, the department estimates that 33 million cubic yards of radioactive waste, including used nuclear fuel, plutonium dust, and various liquid wastes will have to be disposed of. Much of it is expected to be encased into glass and buried in specially designed vaults.
Hundreds of tons of equipment and debris from contaminated buildings — often the entire structures — will have to be torn down and disposed of or buried in place, officials said. At other less contaminated sites buildings will be cleaned and in many cases turned over for civilian uses.
The cleanup plan assumes construction of a centralized underground disposal site for high-level nuclear wastes, although no such site has yet been approved, much less built. A proposed site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada is being vigorously challenged.
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