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After a successful tour with The Cure, The Cranes
are making quite a name for themselves. Andy
Dolan interviews the band!
The Michigan football team looks to rebound from
its loss to Notre Dame against the Houston
Cougars, Saturday. The Wolverines are
accustomed to battling the Cougars in recruiting.
Today
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in
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One hundred two years of editorial freedom
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Vol C11 No 17 nnArbrMihign* Wdnsda, *epemer.2,193 ©99 Te ichga Dil
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Clinton signs
new national
service plan
President Clinton walks on the South Lawn of the White House, yesterday, for the signing of the National and Community Service Trust Act. The plan enables college students to
earn tuition money with public service.
Schroer plas state servceact
Nearly 1,000 people
witness Rose Garden
ceremony; Michigan
Stadium had been
considered
By DAVID SHEPARDSON
DAILY STAFF REPORTER
WASHINGTON - Echoing his
Inaugural address which called all
Americans to "a season of service"
and recalled his own generation's ben-
efits from the Peace Corps, President
Clinton signed the historic National
and Community Service Trust Act of
1993 at 11:36 a.m. yesterday in front
of cheering legislators, educators,
volunteers, celebrities and college stu-
dents.
The act provides about $10,000 in
tuition aid for two years of service. It
is expected to cost $107.5 million the
first year, which is less than one-third
of the president's initial request for
$350 million.
In his remarks before signing the
bill, Clinton discussed the many so-
cial problems facing the country while
lamenting the budget deficit, which
he says has prevented further spend-
ing.
"I realized that there was no way
any government program could solve
these problems even if we had the
money... but the American people
would, if organized and directed and
challenged and asked, would find a
way," Clinton said, notingAmericans'
long history of service.
The White House ceremony, un-
der cloudy skies and threats of rain,
was held beneath a hastily constructed
tent on the South Lawn. The crowd,
which the White House had estimated
would be600, swelled tonearly 1,000.
About40 members of the college press
were invited to attend the ceremony.
(See related story on pg. 3)
Several youth speakers addressed
the importance of community activ-
ism and their individual responses to
the president's call to service.
But If U.S. Rep. William Ford, (D-
Ypsilanti) who represents the Univer-
sity in Congress, and National Ser-
vice Director Eli Segal had their wish,
yesterday's bill signing ceremony
would have been in front of 25,000
screaming Michigan students cheer-
ing the president in Ann Arbor, the
same city where President John
Kennedy first proposed the Peace
Corps.
But with the many conflicting
schedules of Members of Congress
and the Health Care plan looming, the
field trip was vetoed by the White
House.
That the University was that close
to hosting such an important national
event highlights the University's un-
paralleled role in the creation and de-
velopment of the service plan. The
University was represented by a large
contingent yesterday who cheered the
plan and the president who had worked
hard to see it enacted.
University Task Force on Com-
munity Service Chair Barry
Checkoway, a social work professor,
said he thought the ceremony was
"historic" and added that he thought
See SERVICE, Page 2
By PAUL DeFLORIO
FOR THE DAILY
As President Clinton signed the
NationalandCommunity Service Trust
Act into law yesterday, State Rep.
Mary Schroer (D-Ann Arbor) intro-
duced a bill to help establish the pro-
gram in Michigan..
Schroer's bill would create a state
commission on service, qualifying
Michigan for federal funding. The
commission would plan community
service projects, provide application
forms and handle recruitment and
placement of student participants.
For the first year, the commission
would have a budget of between
$125,000 and $750,000 - 75 per-
cent of which would be provided by
the federal government - to pay for
overhead and provide tuition grants.
"With the frequent tuition in-
creases we've seen and will continue
to see, it is time that an option be
available for middle class students to
allow them access to our higher edu-
cation system," Schroer said.
"By using community service as a
requirement for these education
awards, we're able to involve citi-
zens in worthwhile, important com-
munity programs and introduce them
to volunteer opportunities which may
enrich their lives as much as the lives
of those they volunteer to help."
Under Schroer's plan, the gover-
nor would appoint a 15-25 member
bipartisan committee for a two-year
term. Members of the committee
would meet or. a quarterly basis and
would not receive any kind of pay,
except to cover incidental expenses.
National Service represents a fed-
eral model of a University-based pro-
gram - Project SERVE - that has
aided University students in securing
volunteer work for years.
Project SERVE Director Anita
Bohn stressed that National Service
should not function as a financial aid
program. Instead, it should serve to
help people who care very much about
the community but who don't have
the financial ability to continue vol-
unteering.
"It's all about empowering stu-
dents to help the community, and to
fix some of this country's countless
problems," she said. Although stu-
See BILL, Page 2
I
Clinton prepares to deliver health care plan
RECYCLED FASHION
WASHINGTON (AP) - In a run-
up to his big speech on health reform,
President Clinton courted capital pun-
dits and MTV viewers alike yester-
day, saying he is anxious for Congress
to debate the details and is open to
changes "if somebody's got a better
idea."
"The moment" for health care re-
form has arrived, the president said in
one in a series of interviews. First
Lady Hillary Clinton predicted law-
makers would deliver legislation to
her husband's desk within a year.
A day before formally presenting
his plan to Congress, Clinton defended
the financial underpinnings of the
package yet made it clear that much
was open to negotiation. "I want an
honest, open discussion on this," he
said.
Said Mrs. Clinton, chief architect
of the plan: "What its exact contours
will be and how it will be imple-
mented I don't think anybody can
predict right now."
Democrats have generally been
supportive of Clinton's plan, and Re-
publicans have expressed support for
health care reform, saying they are
ready to work with the administra-
tion.
The AFL-CIO pledged to "support
this historic initiative." The American
Hospital Association cited "serious
concerns" about key elements of the
president's plan, including cuts in
Medicare and Medicaid.
Recalling that universal health
coverage has been talked of since the
days of Franklin Roosevelt, Clinton
declared: "I believe very strongly that
this is the moment when it is likely to
occur because I think there is a shared
consensus that the costs of the sys-
tem, the escalating costs ... are greater
than the cost of change."
Hit from all sides with questions
about how he would pay for the new
health benefits, Clinton replied: "I'm
not trying to sugarcoat it. I have
worked harder to get better cost esti-
mates on this than anybody ever has."
Aides said a final decision was
still to be made on at least one conten-
tious matter: How to mete out new
"sin taxes" on tobacco and perhaps
alcohol.
Tonight at 9p.m., Clinton delivers
what may be the most important
speech of his presidency, laying out
his vision for a health-care system
that would offer affordable coverage
to everyone by the end of 1997.
Summing up the main goal, he
said simply, "You would be able to
get health insurance; it would be ad-
equate benefits, and you wouldn't
lose it."
Employers would be required to
pay 80 percent of average health-care
premiums, with workers paying the
rest. Small businesses and low-income
workers would get federal subsidies
to help them pay their share.
Clinton shuttled between inter-
views and sold his plan to newspaper
columnists over veal and asparagus at
an East Wing luncheon.
"I'm anxious for this debate to be-
gin," Clinton told the columnists.
The administration made it clear
that much of the plan is open to nego-
tiation.
Mrs. Clinton, joining her husband
for lunch, said that if Congress opted
to go more slowly in phasing in uni-
versal coverage, that could be accept-
able.
"These are all things we're open to
talk about," she said.
Clinton quickly interjected that
slowing the timetable would reduce
savings. "You will never get the maxi-
mum savings envisioned by this plan
until you have universal coverage," he
said.
Clinton was checking and then re-
checking the 45-minute address he
will deliver to a joint session of Con-
gress.
He got an early draft from speech
writers on Saturday night, and on Sun-
See HEALTH CARE, Page 2
Plan promotes
preventative
m edicine
WASHINGTON (AP) -
There's more than an ounce of pre-
vention built into President
Clinton's health care reform pack-
age..
For the first time, all Americans
would be guaranteed no-cost physi-
cal exams and diagnostic screen-
ing for such things as breast cancer
and cholesterol levels, according
to a widely circulated draft of the
Clinton plan. All childhood immu-
nizations would be covered.
These basic benefits are a ma-
jor selling point of the plan, since
they are not included in most tradi-
tional health insurance policies.Yet
there are limits to the plan's reach.
Some doctors disagree with the
rigid schedule set for physical ex-
ams, mammograms and Pap
smears. Preventive dental care is
provided for children but not for
adults. The same is true for eye-
glasses. And it wouldn't be until
2001 that mental illness would be
treated more on par with physical
See PLAN, Page 2
REBECCA MARGOLI
First-year student Chrissy Rossett looks at clothes at a local rummage sale.
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