Across the Nation

Clinton near deal on tax cut package

WASHINGTON -- After months of open partisan warfare over tax cuts, President Clinton and congressional Republicans neared agreement yesterday on a tax relief package that would help people save for retirement, pay for long-term health care and give businesses breaks to offset the costs of a $1 minimum wage increase.

The legislation, expected to cost about $245 billion over 10 years, also would provide a host of new tax incentives to revitalize downtrodden communities and set up a new tax system for U.S. exporters to avert a trade war with the European Union.

Although disagreement remained in some areas, a congenial exchange of letters between Clinton and House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) made it clear that both sides expected compromise before Congress adjourns for the year.

"We should also work together to pass tax cuts for middle-class Americans," Clinton told reporters at the White House. "You know, in budget talks, the two sides often wind up talking past each other. It takes a little extra effort to reach across the divide, so that's what I'm trying to do today."

The tone stood on marked contrast to the politically charged rhetoric surrounding GOP tax cuts such as repeal of the estate tax and relief from the "marriage penalty" tax on two-income couples, both of which the president vetoed earlier this year.

"I agree with you that we should work together in a bipartisan fashion, and I believe this work product is a result of a hard-fought compromise," Hastert told Clinton in a letter.

The speaker removed one key obstacle by assuring Clinton that Republicans would drop several proposed labor law changes as part of the two-year, $1 increase in the $5.15-an-hour minimum wage. Democrats had labeled those provisions unfair to workers, especially a plan to freeze the wage floor for waiters and waitresses, who also earn tips, at $2.13 an hour.

There is broad agreement on many of the tax package's provisions, but Clinton and congressional Democrats also continued to raise objections. In addition, the tax and minimum wage measure is expected to be coupled with separate legislation boosting Medicare payments to health care providers, a measure that has its own difficulties.

"There are a couple of issues that are still, I guess I should say, in controversy," said Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss). "But I believe it will wind up passing by a wide margin."

NRA spends $1M on Bush campaign

WASHINGTON - The National Rifle Association spent near $1 million last month on behalf of George W. Bush's presidential campaign, an effort that is cutting into Al Gore's support in key states.

The powerful lobby for gun owners' rights spent $610,610 on radio commercials and $336,216 on billboards in support of the Texas governor in several states, according to new Federal Election Commission reports.

NRA President Charlton Heston has held rallies in such battleground states a Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Heston is scheduled to begin an eight-state tour Monday.

The NRA's Political Victory Fund also has endorsed Bush.

"On November 7, Americans will be casting the most important votes of their lifetimes - to save the Second Amendment for future generations," the group said in announcing its endorsement of the Republican on its Web site.

Gore campaign officials acknowledge that the NRA's efforts have hurt them, especially among pro-gun union members in those states, and are trying to counterattack. Labor leaders said they have found some success trumping the NRA by arguing in response that Gore won't take away their guns but that Bush will take away their union.

NRA spokesman Bill Powers said the unions' ploy wasn't working.

"Hardworking men and women, partly in these key battleground states, value their freedom," Powers said. "Everywhere we go, people are showing up wearing union jackets. They're not buying this line from the shop stewards. They do believe Al Gore is a threat to their freedom."

Gore has shied away from antigun rhetoric, using a debate with Bush to declare that he would not take guns away from law-abiding citizens.

Still, President Clinton and Vice President Gore successfully pushed for a waiting period for handgun purchases and a ban on certain assault-style weapons. And Democrat Gore has supported licensing future handgun buyers and wants to expand background checks.

Bush has mirrored the NRA's call for enforcing current gun laws rather than passing new legislation. He would support instant background checks at gun shows. As governor, he signed legislation allowing Texans to carry concealed weapons.

Bush's running mate, former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, voted as a congressman against House bills to ban armor-piercing "cop-killer" bullets and plastic guns that might be smuggled past metal detectors.

In April, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre co-chaired a Republican National Committee fund-raising dinner that featured Bush and brought in a then-record $21.5 million, including at least $250,000 from the NRA.

Gore spokesman Chris Lehane criticized the NRA's effort for Bush.

"It's the latest example of an infusion of special interest money designed to help the governor," Lehane said. "His presidency will be a presidency of the special interests, for the special interests and by the special interests. The West Wing of the White House will consist of NRA lobbyists, Big Oil executives, pharmaceutical lawyers and HMO bean counters."

Responded Bush spokesman Ray Sullivan: "When it comes to special interest funding and support, Al Gore knocks it out of the park."

The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University reported that interest groups spent $5.2 million on ads in support of Gore between June 1 and Oct. 8 in the 75 biggest media markets. During the same period, special interests spent just $279,780 on ads in support of Bush.

While the NRA has backed Bush, gun control groups have criticized his record.

Handgun Control spent $2 million on two ads criticizing Bush's position on guns. In addition, officials of

the gun control group recently conducted a van tour of eight states to express their opposition to the

Texas governor.

One of Handgun Control's ads featured tape of a top NRA official touting the group's clout in a potential

Bush White House. The tape quotes an NRA vice president, Kayne Robinson, saying this about Bush:

"If we win we'll have a president ... where we work out of their office."

First bodies of Russian submarine victims removed from sub

Russia (AP) -- Laboring in the frigid murk of the Barents Sea yesterday, divers found and removed the firstbodies from the wreckage of the sunken nuclear submarine Kursk, Russian officials said.

The bodies of three crew members were found several hours after two Russian divers entered the submarine, where 118 sailors died on Aug. 12. The remains were taken from the wreckage and placed in a special container, which would raise them to the surface with the divers, Northern Fleet Chief of Staff Mikhail Motsak said.

A team of Russian and Norwegian divers worked for five days to enter the submarine. The bodies were found after the team finished cutting the first hole in the thick double hull of the Kursk, Motsak said.

Officials have said there is virtually no chance of recovering all the dead: Many were probably pulverized by a massive explosion that tore through the Kursk.

Russia went forward with the perilous, complicated and costly recovery mission despite military funding problems and the fear that divers could die in the attempt to slice through the damaged hull and enter the Kursk, 356 feet below the surface.

The massive effort followed widespread criticism that the Russian government's initial response to the sinking was confused and indifferent toward crew members' relatives, and that it stubbornly resisted foreign offers of help.

The cause of the disaster has not been determined. Motsak said the recovery mission has so far produced no new clues.

Some Russian officials have said the Kursk collided with another vessel, likely a submarine, while on military maneuvers. The United States and Britain had submarines monitoring the exercises, but both say their vessels were nowhere near the accident site.

Other observers have said the disaster likely was caused by a torpedo explosion.

Only Russian divers entered the Kursk on Wednesday. Their Norwegian colleagues assisted from inside a diving bell lowered to the wreckage from the divers' mother ship, the Regalia.

Divers used a stream of pressurized water mixed with diamond dust to slice through the 2 1/2-inch-thick steel inner hull.

The recovery team used remote-controlled video cameras to inspect the eighth compartment in the submarine's stern. They pumped out silt to improve visibility, said Northern Fleet spokesman Vladimir Navrotsky.

The divers also smoothed the jagged edge of the 3-foot-wide hole with a special cushion for safe entrance into the wreck, he said.

The divers are challenged by darkness, currents, floating debris and confined spaces. The head of the Russian Navy, Adm. Vladimir Kuroyedov, had earlier warned that he might cancel the recovery effort because of the danger of divers ripping their pressure suits or cutting their air hoses on mangled equipment and debris.

Genetically altered corn draws concern

Concern is growing that genetically modified corn not approved for human consumption has made it not only into the American food supply, but also into products being sold abroad.

The modified corn, called StarLink, has been found in yet another food product -- this time in Western Family brand taco shells that may be distributed in Japan and elsewhere around the Pacific Rim, a U.S. consumer group announced yesterday. The group, Genetically Engineered Food Alert, said it had found the corn in taco shells purchased in Eugene, Ore.

Earlier yesterday in Japan, the local Consumers Union organization said that it had detected the genetically engineered corn in both snack foods and animal feed. Its presence there, if confirmed, would compound the already messy StarLink situation since genetically engineered corn is not allowed to be exported, just as it is not allowed in human food.

"We will ask the U.S. embassy in Tokyo to take appropriate measures," an official with the Japanese Health Ministry said in a statement.

The Western Family brand is sold under six labels in over 3,500 stores in 23 states, including Washington, Maine, Texas and California.