Around the Nation

Around the Nation

Nuclear test ban vote may be delayed

One Republican opponent, Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, voicing widespread GOP concerns about verification, said he welcomed a chance "to go back to the drawing board." He predicted certain defeat of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty if the expected vote tomorrow goes forward.

Three Cabinet members and the president's top military officer, pleading the administration's case on talk shows yesterday, said rejecting the treaty would prevent the United States from taking the lead in halting the global spread of nuclear weapons.

"We are in a situation right now where we're about to send a signal to the rest of the world that we are not as serious about controlling the spread of nuclear weapons as we should be," Defense Secretary William Cohen said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said on ABC's "This Week" that the United States needs "a tool that will prevent the other countries from testing. We believe that we have a reliable stockpile" of nuclear weapons. We don't need to test more and we want others not to test."

At Cohen's side was Gen. Henry Shelton, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who sought to assure the public that the treaty would not handicap the United States militarily.

"If the national security were in any way going to be damaged, the joint chiefs would never recommend that we ratify this treaty," Shelton said.

And Energy Secretary Bill Richardson joined Cohen and Albright in saying the Senate should not act on the treaty without benefit of full hearings.

"What we have now is the need to explain it to the Senate, to the Congress," he said on Fox.

Senate opponents led by Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., have said the vote will proceed unless President Clinton withdraws the treaty and promises not to resubmit it.

Kyl contended a defeat would strengthen the United States' hand in negotiations with other countries.

"I think the Senate must vote on this treaty and defeat it," he said on "Fox News Sunday." "This treaty is not of the same caliber as previous arms control treaties."

The treaty would impose a blanket international ban on all nuclear test explosions. Supporters estimate they are 15 to 20 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed for ratification.

The treaty has been signed by 154 nations, including the United States, but ratified by only 51. It will not go into effect if the United States does not ratify it.

Some congressional conservatives argue the United States should not give up its right to conduct nuclear tests. But Clinton and Democratic leaders say that substantive issue has gotten lost in partisan politics.

Clinton sent the signed treaty to the Republican-led Senate two years ago. Leaders had refused to hold debate on it before now.

"I think for the Senate to take it up and just have a couple of days of hearing and vote is not a responsible course of action," Cohen said. "My own judgment is that we will be seen as being frivolous and cavalier by many other nations around the world."

Kyl said senators have had more than enough time to study the issue.

"The treaty is not verifiable," he said. "It has no enforcement mechanism whatsoever. ... No president has ever asked the United States to submit itself to a treaty in perpetuity that would prevent us from testing our nuclear weapons."

Cohen and Albright also said it is true that the United States cannot detect all nuclear tests conducted by other countries. But it can detect test blasts above a certain level, and experts believe those below that would not pose a danger to the United States.

6 Texas students killed near highway

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Six college students getting out of their cars or walking along a highway on their way to a fraternity party were killed early yesterday by a pickup truck whose driver who had fallen asleep, police said.

The accident happened just after midnight about two miles west of the Texas A&M University main campus, said police Maj. Mike Patterson.

The victims - four students from Baylor University, one from Texas A&M and one from Southwest Texas State - were among a group of people who were going to a party at the Tau Kappa Epsilon house along a four-lane highway. Some had just parked on the road shoulder and the pickup sideswiped two parked cars and struck a third.

Witnesses said parties at the fraternity often draw large crowds of people who must park on the shoulder of the highway, which has a 65-mph speed limit.

The man driving the pickup, also a Texas A&M student, had just taken his girlfriend home and was returning to campus when he fell asleep and veered off the road, Patterson said.

The driver, 18-year-old Texas A&M student Brandon Kallmeyer, was not injured and apparently had not been drinking, police said.

Patterson said investigators will present evidence to Brazos County prosecutors without recommending charges.

The victims were identified as Emily Hollister, 18, Tricia Calp, 18, Dolan Wostal, 22, and Erika Lanham, age unknown, all Baylor students; William Flores, 22, of Southwest Texas, and Ted Bruton, 21, of Texas A&M.

Two other people were hospitalized, but their injuries did not appear to be life-threatening.

Baylor President Robert B. Sloan said Sunday that the university was grieving.

''Each and every student is precious to us, and to lose four at one time is an unspeakable tragedy,'' he said.

Clinton signs $50Btransportation bill

WASHINGTON - President Clinton signed a $50 billion transportation bill into law Saturday, a wide-ranging measure funding transit and infrastructure projects, Amtrak and the Coast Guard.

The bill, for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, includes $26.7 billion for highways, a 10 percent increase from last year, and $5.8 billion for mass transit programs.

"We believe these funding levels will allow us to make the substantial improvements in infrastructure and mass transit that are necessary," White House spokesperson Jake Siewert said.

It also provides $571 million for Amtrak, including funds for a five-year plan to get the national passenger railroad operating self-sufficiently and eliminate the need for year-to-year subsidies.

It contains all the money Clinton requested for Coast Guard operating expenses, $2.8 billion, including search and rescue operations and increased spending for law enforcement and drug interdiction.

And it extends for one year a restraint on the government's use of new automobile fuel efficiency standards.

10-11-99