The Michigan Daily - Monday, October 5, 1992- Page 7
Congress awaits Bush's decision on tax bill
WASHINGTON - (AP) -
Congressional negotiators waited
yesterday for a signal from President
Bush on whether he would accept a
compromise tax bill with expanded
Individual Retirement accounts, new
urban aid programs and some rela-
tively minor tax increases.
Although the $27 billion bill in-
cludes several provisions that he fa-
vors, there were indications Bush
would use the tax increases as a
reason to veto the measure. The
campaigning president has renewed
his promise not to raise taxes and
daily criticizes Democratic nominee
Bill Clinton's record of agreeing to
comparable packages.
Two of Bush's senior advisers
sidestepped opportunities to endorse
the bill.
White House Budget Director
Richard G. Darman referred to the
bill as another Democratic effort to
raise taxes. He declined on NBC-
TV's "Meet the Press" to say
whether the legislation will become
law.
Reminded that the bill contains
more than two dozen tax increases,
Darman said, "It isn't a tax increase
bill if he's going to sign it. ... The
President will not raise taxes. ...
Period."
Housing Secretary Jack Kemp
said on ABC-TV's "This Week With
David Brinkley" that the bill's ur-
ban-aid program, designed to re-
spond to the Los Angeles riots,
"isn't going to get the job done....
It's too little, too late."
Negotiators, led by Sen. Lloyd
Bentsen (D-Texas) and Rep. Dan
Rostenkowski (D-Ill.) agreed on
major outlines of the bill Saturday
night and worked out final details
yesterday. They dropped two
Senate-passed tax increases on the
well-to-do in an effort to meet
Republicans' most obvious
objection.
That still left numerous targeted
tax increases in the bill, including a
few that Bush himself had proposed
last winter. Among the tax increases
recommended by Bush were those
accelerating the estimated tax pay-
ments from corporations and higher-
income individuals and requiring se-
curities dealers to pay tax on the
market value of their inventories.
Congress added many of its own
tax increases. They include delaying
a scheduled drop in top estate-tax
rates; eliminating a tax saving for
those who take lump-sum pension
payoffs, and raising withholding
from some gambling winnings.
The tax increases would pay fob
dozens of special tax reductions and
improvements in social programs.
They include: designating 50
"enterprise zones" and rewarding in-
vestors and businesses that create
jobs there; liberalizing tax-de-
ductible IRAs, and renewing a dozen
business and individual tax breaks
that expired on June 30.
The bill also would repeal the
luxury tax on expensive yachts,
planes, furs and jewels. As Bush
proposed, it would relax tax rules for
investors in real estate and simplify
the corporate alternative minimum
tax.
Negotiators dropped a proposal
to give tax credit to first-time home
buyers.
Evidence
says Bush
knew of
AP PHOTO
Gov. Bill Clinton is leading the presidential race in Michigan, according
to a new poll, with 46 percent of the public's support.
POLL
Continued from page 1
on Bush's handling of the economy.
Asked which of the candidates
would be best able help the econ-
omy create jobs, 49 percent said
Clinton, while 22 percent said Bush
and 15 percent Perot.
The character issue apparently
didn't carry much weight with
Michigan voters.
In related news, officials at
Michigan State University and in
the capital area are glad to be back
on the list of presidential debate
sites.
The university, originally
scheduled to host the first debate
Sept. 22, will host the third and fi-
nal debate Oct. 19 at the Wharton
Center.
.5'.'
Congress is awaiting President Bush's decision on a new tax bill that could increase taxes. The president
is expected to veto the measure.
Bush has $20 million more than Clinton, plans media blil
R arms deal.
WASHINGTON (AP) - George
Bush said he didn't know American
hostages were being bought with
U.S. arms. He also said he didn't
know the United States was dealing
with Iranian radicals rather than
moderates.
Disclosures in recent weeks have
challenged these assertions that Bush
believed he had put behind him in
the 1988 campaign.
But doubts about Bush's recur-
ring portrayal of himself as unin-
volved never went away. They were
shelved, to be dusted off in recent
weeks with information suggesting,
Bush knew more than he has
admitted.
Two sources have disclosed the
[ existence of two top-secret Israeli
tZ reports describing in detail a briefing.
given to Bush in Israel when he was
vice president. The contents are said
gns. to spell out in detail the genesis of
nd by no the arms-for-hostages deals with Iran
ersonally and its various stages.
Early on,
100 mil- The briefer, Israeli government
use bid. official Amiram Nir, made clear to
the race Bush that the United States aid:
ting with Israel were dealing with radical;
ur blocks forces in Iran because they were the
weeks. only ones who could deliver the
udgeted, hostages, according to a copy of
president Nir's account obtained by ABC's
h money "Nightline" program.
1 end up
ere Perot Nir's briefing was one of nearly a
id Herb dozen Bush was given between July
Southern 1985 and November 1986 on the
expert. Iran-Contra scheme.
WASHINGTON (AP) -
President Bush has as much as $20
million more than Bill Clinton to
spend in the campaign's final month
and plans to use his carefully
0 hoarded funds to bankroll an un-
precedented month-long media blitz.
Clinton's campaign insists it still
has plenty of reserve cash for a final
volley of its own - and so does
Ross Perot, who is unbound by any
legal limits on campaign spending.
An Associated Press review of
campaign spending shows that
Bush began October with about $49
million left of the $65.5 million the
Republicans are allowed to spend
on the fall election. Clinton,
meanwhile, had between $27
million and $32 million left.
The difference is explained by
three factors:
Clinton by law had to begin
spending his legally limited fall
campaign money a month earlier
than Bush, since the Democrat re-
ceived his party's nomination in
mid-July and the GOP convention
wasn't until mid-August.
Clinton's strategy called for
spending more money early on to
build a high profile - one that
helped him grab the lead he now
holds.
Bush's strategy called for hus-
banding campaign resources for a
$30 million advertising blitz in the
final month.
The Clinton campaign says it's
spending is right on schedule. Aides
said the Democrat prepaid some of
October's media expenses and also
will benefit from an unprecedented
Democratic Party get-out-the-vote
drive and millions of dollars in
generic vote-Democrat ads.
"I don't think they'll be running
out of money over there. We'll just
have a little more to spend down the
stretch," said Charles Black, a senior
adviser to Bush's campaign.
Spreading a legally limited
bankroll over the fall election cam-
paign is an inexact science that his-
torically has caused campaign
strategists to pull at their hair, espe-
cially in the crucial final days.
"When you start there's always a
debate and infighting over how
much you spend early on and how
much you save until the last week-
end. And in the end, you always
wish you had more," said Leslie
Dach, a senior aide to Democrat
Michael Dukakis' failed 1988 bid
for the White House.
Bush and Clinton are bound by a
$65.5 million spending limit -
$55.2 million in government money
and $10.3 million from their respec-
tive parties. Each agreed to the limit
when they accepted full taxpayer fi-
nancing of their fall campaig
Perot's spending is boun
legal limits because he is pe
bankrolling his campaign. F
he talked about spending $
lion or more on a White Hou
Perot, who re-enteredI
last week, has been negotia
the networks to buy half-hou
of television time in coming
"No matter how they b
the question of whether the]
or Bill Clinton saved enoug
for the end may very wel
depending on how and wh
spends his money," sai
Alexander, a University of;
California campaign finance
r
CUTS
Continued from page 1
they have felt the growth of homeless-
ness more and more each day.
Che'row Johnson, COTS Shelter
director, said the average length of stay
has gone from seven days to 35 days,
"and some have been here for much
longer," Johnson said.
"The public's perception of a shel-
ter being a warm bed, a cup of soup
and a sweater is way off," she said.
"Here at COTS we have a licensed
daycare, case management, adult liter-
acy programs, an IBM-funded com-
puter literacy program, mental health
services and a medical team that comes
by."
Yet even with all that shelters pro-
vide, the government mandates that
they do more.
With the de-institutionalization of
Michigan's mental hospitals and cen-
ters, hundreds of mentally-disabled cit-
izens have been put out on the street.
They often end up at places like
COTS.
"We are now dealing with all sorts
of special need cases, from mentally
disturbed adults to twelve-year-olds
who have never been immunized," said
Johnson.
And with these special needs come
special workers and special programs,
all which require special funds -
funds that programs like COTS are
lacking.
Although Michigan has put in place
what Truscott calls "one of the most
comprehensive welfare programs in the
nation," it does not apply to those who
once qualified for GA. The new pro-
gram deals solely with Aid to Families
with Dependent Children - AFDC -
cases.
Before GA's elimination, the
Michigan Opportunity and Skills
Training (MOST) program, put people
into the job referral stream and on line
for job spaces. Now these people have
fallen off track. They no longer have
GA to keep them on their toes, and
there is little sign of internal
motivation.
Scarcity of jobs, lack of training
and transportation are three major ob-
stacles for people trying to find
employment.
Sharon Parks of the Michigan
League of Human Services said former
GA recipients who have a drivers' li-
cense and access to a car are three
times more likely to have jobs.
"There are already 450,000 people
looking for employment in this state,
and a lot of them have recent work ex-
perience, what chance does one of the
82,000 former GA clients have against
them?" she said.
The familiar cry of "get a job at
McDonald's" has its faults as well,
Parks said, adding that working at a
fast food restaurant seldom pays more
than minimum wage, and rarely pro-
vides any sort of benefits. For an adult
trying to rent an apartment, buy food-
and clothing, and pay for utilities, the
paycheck - ranging between $78.36
and $162.49 weekly - hardly covers
costs.
Even if all former GA recipients
were all able to locate jobs, there is no
guarantee that they would be able to
keep them.
Many have problems beyond sim-
ply being unemployed. Several have
substance abuse problems that have
not been addressed. Others are men-
tally disabled or emotionally disturbed.
For these people it is more difficult
than just finding a job - they have to
be able to keep it.
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