2-The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 29, 1999 N ATION/W ORLD Bradley proposes health care plan LOS ANGELES (AP) - Presidential candidate Bill Bradley unveiled a $65 bil- lion plan yesterday to dramatically expand the federal health care system, and accused Al Gore of shying away from the challenge to insure all Americans. "This is not the time to be timid," he said. Bradley, who called health care cover- age an unalienable right - as much as the guarantees of "life, liberty and pur- suit of happiness" - would allow Americans to enroll in the same health care coverage provided for members of Congress and federal employees, poten- tially exploding the size of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. The poor would get subsidies, parents would be told to seek insurance for their newborns, the Medicaid system would largely be scrapped and tax breaks would go to all Americans who pay insurance premiums. Gore's campaign called Bradley's plan to provide universal coverage of the plan "wildly unrealistic" and "wildly expen- sive," defending the vice president's more limited approach that would expand fed- eral efforts to insure all children and incrementally extend coverage to unin- sured adults. Bradley made clear what he thought of the Gore plan. "I think that what he has proposed is definitely timid compared to what we have proposed," he said at a news conference following the speech. The sweeping, expensive nature of the UM Schoolof MusicDept of Theatre & Drama elscape frl a quirky comedy by George F. Walker P la , program fits with Bradley's promise to the candidate of "big ideas." But his pro- posal also opens the former New Jersey senator to criticism that he is pushing lib- eral, big-government solutions to a com- plicated problem. Mindful of the failure of President Clinton's 1993 health care plan, Bradley said he would not create "a massive bureaucracy.' Bradley is mounting a challenge to Gore in early primary states, because of his support among independents and moderate Democrats. Yet, on health care and other issues, Bradley is generally more liberal than the vice president as he seeks to carve into Gore's political base. "We can commit ourselves to the proposition that when it comes to health MSA Continued from Page 1 as a Day for the Free and Open Debate on Affirmative Action. MSA Rep. Rory Diamond, an LSA junior, wrote the resolution because he said he feels students are intimidated to talk honestly about race relations, fearing that they will be ostracized for having anti-affirmative action beliefs. "Fifty-one percent of students oppose the use of race in University admissions," he said, citing a student survey conducted by The Michigan Daily, the Department of Communications Studies and the Institute for Social Research. "If -I One family's BIZARRE struggle to hold on for dear life. this play contains adult language and themes October 7 - 9, 14 - 16 at 8pm October 10 & 17 at 2pm Trueblood Theatre Tickets are $14 " Students $7 with ID League Ticket Office 734-764-0450 care, everyone will have the American dream - at last," Bradley told 500 sup- porters and students packed into an audi- torium at Los Angeles Valley College. He said his price tag "is a great deal of money, but a campaign proposal without a price tag is just another politician's promise." The line was a clear reference to Gore, who has not estimated the cost of his health care plan. Supporters of the vice president dis- tributed press releases at the college questioning the cost of Bradley's plan and suggesting that employers might be tempted to drop insurance coverage pro- vided to employees. Bradley said he had no plan to forbid employers from drop- ping coverage, but he left the door open to address the problem later. we, the Assembly, are supposed to represent the entire student body, then their voices should be heard." The day comes exactly one week before the Oct. 21 National Day of Action in Defense of Integration and Affirmative Action. The last clause of Diamond's reso- lution, which was struck from the text before the final vote, caused dis- cord among the representatives. It called for MSA to neither support nor endorse any organizations, name- ly the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action By Any Means Necessary. LSA senior Peter Handler initially suggested to remove this statement. "Not funding BAMN won't accomplish anything," Handler said. "Furthermore, it has always been (the Budget and Priorities Committee's) policy not to look at content," he added. But Diamond said BAMN prevents .liberal campus groups from organiz- ing effectively. "The purpose of the resolution was to ask, 'are we going to support BAMN?'" he said. In conjunction with the Day for Free and Open Debate, Diamond said race relations expert D'nesh D'souza has agreed to speak and engage in debate with others on that day. D'souza does not support affirmative action. At yesterday's meeting, the assem- bly also approved its internal budget for the school year. It prioritized funding based on assembly groups', such as commit- tees and commissions, impact on campus, BPC Chair Glen Roe said. The funds come from the $5.69 fee all students pay along with their tuition bills. MSA Treasurer Suzanne Owen said the budget is similar to last year's, with the exception of some committee budget adjustments. Overall, Owen said that she is pleased with the budget. "I am confi- dent that every committee will have access to what they need," she said. MSA also voted to support this week's Homecoming festivities. House leaders look to raise inimu wage WASHINGTON - With the Republicans' $792 billion tax bill offi- cially dead, lawmakers and lobbyists for business interests are looking to a bill boosting the minimum wage as their best vehicle for achieving signifi- cant tax relief this year. Republicans had previously promised to provide help to small busi- nesses most affected by a wage boost, following the same approach they adopted in 1996 when they raised the minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.15 an hour. Now lawmakers are considering broader measures, including pension reform and eliminating the estate tax, which could transform a relatively modest bill into a much more ambi- tious package. "Instead of having a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine down, some of our members would like a wheelbarrow of sugar," said Trent Duffy, spokesperson for House Ways AROUND THE NATION Decision affects grandparents' rights WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court set the stage yesterday for an important ruling on grandparents' rights to see their grandchildren even when parents object - a case that could affect laws in all 50 states. The nine justices - six of them with grandchildren of their own - agreed to decide whether a state can give visitation rights to grandparents when after a divorce or some other family split, the children's parents say no. The case involves Washington state, where the state's highest court ruled that such a law violates parents' "fundamental right" to rear their families' without governmental interference. All other states have similar laws. "State intervention to better a child's quality of life through third-party visitation is not justified where the child's circumstances are otherwise satis- factory," the state court said last Dec. 24 in wiping out a Anacortes, Wash., couple's legal right to see their two granddaughters. "To suggest otherwise would be the logical equivalent of asserting that the state has the authority to break up stable families and redistribute its infant population to provide each child with the 'best family,"' the state court added. The justices indicated they will hear arguments in the case in January Their decision is expected by next June. and Means Committee Chair Bill Archer (R-Texas). "That's why some of our members are talking boldly about attaching major tax relief to the minimum wage increase." Rep. Gary Condit (D-Calif.), a leader in the effort to raise the mini mum wage by more than SI during a four year period, said "everyone's throwing everything but the kitchen sink" into the mix of proposals under consideration. Ku Klux Klan finds trouble cleaning up ST. LOUIS -The Boy Scouts can do it. So can religious congregations. But when the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan volunteered to pick up lit- ter here as part of Missouri's Adopt-a- Highway program, state administra- tors balked. So now the state and the KKK are locked in a legal battle over the right to trudge through roadside weeds in search of stinky beer cans and greasy burger wrappers.