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Around the Nation
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Around the Nation
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Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) wouldn't officially pronounce the death of the House-passed bill yesterday, insisting that "parts of it might still be salvaged" in the smaller package.
But Lott's chief of staff, J. David Hoppe, wrote the White House that the package fell victim to Democratic resistance.
President Clinton vowed to veto the tax cuts because they would spend part of the projected budget surplus instead of reserving "every penny" for Social Security.
"Our attempt to help the American people by cutting their taxes will have to wait for another day," Hoppe wrote.
The House measure passed Sept. 26 would provide $80 billion in tax relief over five years for farmers, married couples, the elderly who work, small business operators, people with modest savings accounts and people saving for a private college education.
Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.) blamed the demise on Democratic election-year claims that the GOP tax cuts amounted to a raid on Social Security.
Republicans, he said, were unable to articulate their case that Clinton would use the same surplus to pay for emergency spending on such items as Year 2000 computer problems and embassy security.
"I think it's a little misleading, if not deceptive," said Nickles, the No. 2 Senate Republican. "They're just trying to say, 'Let's play politics."'
But opposition wasn't limited to Democrats. Between five and 10 of the 55 Senate Republicans opposed spending the surplus on tax cuts until Social Security's solvency is guaranteed when baby boomers begin retiring in about 30 years. Others want the surplus used to pay down the national debt.
With Congress racing to adjourn in a few days, the tax focus is turning to a six-item part of the House measure that would extend expiring business tax credits until early 2000. These items, costing $6.1 billion and known collectively as the "extenders," do not spend any surplus dollars and have been heavily lobbied by businesses - especially a $3.9 billion extension of a research and development credit.
"The extenders are critical," said Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho).
The question now is whether Republicans will attempt to move a measure containing only those items or risk objections and possibly fatal delay by attaching a few small tax-relief items.
Lott, for instance, mentioned a provision that would allow the self-employed to fully deduct their health insurance premiums. Others want relief for farmers, who are suffering deep income losses due to slumping crop prices, and some want the earnings limit raised for Social Security recipients who also work.
"We're looking at all the options," Lott said. "We're going to keep trying to find some way to add some more fairness to the tax code right up until the last minute."
In the House, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer (R-Texas) will likely move a straightforwextenders bill later this week that would probably clear the floor in short order.
But because of Senate rules allowing a single senator to block legislation, any items added to the extenders package would have to have virtually unanimous support. In addition, some senators could hold things up in an effort to attach their own tax priorities.
"The test is really whether they would have broad-based bipartisan support," Craig said.
Republicans said tax cuts would be a top priority when the new Congress convenes in January, particularly if the Senate GOP adds enough members to achieve the magic number of 60 needed to cut off debate on controversial items.
The talk if that happens is for huge tax cuts, including an income tax rate reduction, further cuts in capital gains taxes and inheritance taxes and relief for married couples who now pay more than if they had remained single.
"Republicans are interested in passing tax cuts. It's also obvious we don't have 60 votes," Nickles said.
Clinton and the Democrats have pushed a $7.3 billion plan that would rely mostly on giving farmers an extra $5 billion through a program that subsidizes growers when commodity prices fall below set levels.
The 55-43 Senate vote for the smaller package sets the stage for Clinton's certain presidential veto.
It also means the $60 billion overall agriculture spending bill, to which the relief package is attached, is on hold until lawmakers reach an agreement, which must come soon. GOP leaders have said they hope to complete all of their spending work by this weekend, when Congress is scheduled to adjourn.
"Today the Senate had one last chance to improve this bill," said Tom Amontree, spokesperson for Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman. "We're disappointed they didn't do it."
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss) said if the president goes ahead and vetoes the bill, Republicans plan to try to attach it to an omnibus spending bill with other appropriations measures.
"The president is willing to put at risk those programs that are funded in this bill to accommodate the interests of a few," Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) said during debate yesterday.
"To veto the bill creates more delay, more uncertainty," said Cochran, who chairs the agriculture appropriations subcommittee. "Farmers need help now."
Other Republicans reiterated their fierce opposition to additional money with Sen. Paul Coverdell (R-Ga.) urging Clinton to "withdraw his foolish veto threat" and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) declaring that failure to sign would be "an insult to America's farmers and ranchers."
The House passed the agriculture bill on Friday by an overwhelming 333-53.
But the Senate's vote isn't enough to sustain a veto, a fact that gave Democrats hope for a compromise.
"The number of votes gives us the leverage," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.
"I don't think they're going to want to go home with nothing," said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said Democrats "cannot and should not adjourn from this Congress without providing adequate relief."
Republicans claim the Democratic proposal is a throwback to the days before the 1996 farm law when subsidies were tied to crop production.
Instead, the GOP package offers a mix of disaster relief and about $1.7 billion in direct payments to farmers. Farmers in the upper Midwest would get about $675 million to help with a series of crop failures over the past five years.
Clinton says the Republican plan simply doesn't go far enough.
"I call on Congress not to leave town before they've sent me a comprehensive plan that protects farmers by strengthening the safety net at this very difficult time," Clinton said during his weekly radio address Saturday.
American farmers are facing their worst financial crisis in more than a decade. The government predicts farm income will drop nearly 16 percent this year to $42 billion.
The bill is H.R. 4101.
He then waged a gun battle with police when the officers heard shots fired.
Five people, including a policeman and the gunman, were wounded.
The shooting began about 8 a.m. as the City Council was preparing to meet in a City Hall annex, some 60 miles east of Los Angeles. Joseph Neale barged into the council lounge and locked the door, police said.
"He basically took them hostage, detained them at that location," Chief Jerry Carroll said.
Details were sketchy, but police eventually managed to barge their way into the room.
Councilman Chuck Beaty was hit in the face and shoulder and was in critical condition. Councilwoman Laura Pearson was hospitalized with a hip wound.
Mayor Ron Loveridge was grazed by a bullet and Councilwoman Terri Thompson was treated for unspecified pain.
The extent of the gunman's injuries were not known. Two officers were also shot. One was hit in the lower abdomen and in critical condition. The other was spared injury because of his bulletproof vest.
"It was surrealistic, something you would see in a movie or television," Loveridge said. "And you also recognize that you may or may not leave the room ... that this may be your final testimonial, lying in a small room behind the council chambers."
Neale had a part-time job with the city's parks department but was fired in 1994. He sued the following year, claiming he was discriminated against on the basis of age and race. Neale is black.
In his lawsuit, Neale said he was fired because he complained of the lack of opportunities for minorities in the community, specifically blacks and Hispanics.
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Around the World
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The embassy in Riyadh and the consulates in Jiddah and Dhahran would close until Saturday to "review present security measures and to implement physical security enhancements," the U.S. Embassy said in a statement yesterday.
The missions are normally closed Thursday and Friday, in line with local custom.
The statement said the U.S. government had "received information indicating a terrorist attack may be planned on the American Embassy in Riyadh." It did not elaborate.
The embassy statement noted that a number of U.S. embassies and consulates "have received threats of possible terrorist activity" since the Aug. 7 bombings of U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Saalam, Tanzania, in which 259 people were killed and more than 5,000 injured.
The U.S. ions in Saudi Arabia closed for a day in August after retaliatory U.S. missile strikes on Afghanistan and Sudan.
The attack on Afghanistan was aimed at camps run by exiled Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden.
whom the United States blamed for the embassy bombings in Africa. The target in Sudan was a factory which Washington said made a precursor for nerve gas. The Sudanese maintained it made pharmaceuticals.
Security for the 40,000 Americans working in Saudi Arabia- along with an estimated 5,000 military personnel - has been a priority following two fatal bombings aimed at U.S. troops.
Five American servicemen and two Indian nationals were killed in an attack on a military center in Riyadh in November 1995. A truck bombing in the eastern city of Dhahran in June 1996 killed 19 U.S. airmen.
The damage to the grand cathedral, one of France's most prized masterpieces, took place at the Portal of St. Anne, where some of the church's oldest statues look out onto the grand square in front.
The portal is being restored and is under scaffolding.
A Culture Ministry statement, issued late yesterday, did not say what day the damage took place.
The stolen head, from a 13th-century statue that was not further described, was also broken at least in part, as fragments found nearby showed.
The five other statues dated from the 12th, 13th and 19th centuries.
Police have opened an investigation, the statement said. The ministry "deplores the theft and damage to the sculptures," it said.
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