8A -- The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 6, 2000
CAMPAIGN 2000
Bush proposes
plan to overhaul
Medicare system
Gore to lay
out bluepnt
for economy
LOS Angeles Times
A
Los Angdes TimCs
ALLENTOWN, Pa._- Charging that
the Clinton administration has reneged
on its promise to mend Medicare, Texas
Gov. George W. Bush yesterday pro-
posed a S198 billion overhaul of health
care for seniors that would provide at
least some prescription drug coverage
for all elderly Americans.
Bush.would spend SI 10 billion over
10 years to mod T
eriz" he35-year- T i isa
old Medicare
system, which heps country, f
pay for the health
care of 39 million patience
elderly and disabled
Americans. tind hs
Unlke Vice Pres- g
ident Al Gore, who
would expand the Republican pre
current Medicare
system, Bush would change the pro-
gram by allowing seniors to remain in
Medicare or choose annually from a
range of private plans, including those
offered by health maintenance organi-
zations. lIfpassed by Congress, it would
aniount to the largest structural change
in Medicare since its inception.
The Rush plan would subsidize the
cost of prescription drug coverage for
seniors at all income levels to some
extent, and it would pay all drug costs
for the lowest-income seniors indi-
viduals living onl less than S5l1,300 a
year or couples with a household
income oflup to S 15,200.
Bush envisioiis a four-year transition
period in w hich the federal government
would give the states S48 billion in
b
sic
grants to provide what he calls an
"immediate" prescription drug benefit
for the poorest seniors, along with pay-
ing all drug costs for seniors above
S6,000 a year.
In addition, he endorsed current con-
gressional efforts to restore cuts to
Medicare providers, such as hospitals
and doctors, that were enacted in 1997
as part of the federal Balanced Budget
Act. The cost would be S40 billion.
Gore also supports
patient such Medicare
restoration efforts at
Ut o Ur the same level.
WEight years ago,
s wearing Bill Clinton and Al
Gore promised
Medicare reform,"
e hBush said as he
Gege Whis us aunveiled his plan at
Jential candidate a senior residence
in Allentown. "Four
years ago, they did the same. This is a
patient country, but our patience is
wearing thin. This is not a time for third
chances; this is a time for new begin-
nings and new leadership:'
In a prosperous, peacetime election
year, health care --- and particularly
Medicare reform -- has rapidly gained
momentum as a campaign thene.
Adding to the urgency of Medicare
reform efforts is the fact that the num-
ber of Americans receiving benefits is
expected to double in the next 30 years
while the number of workers paving
into the system drops.
Democrats have spent the past sever-
al weeks chastising Bush for making
health care reform promises without
particulars.
CLEVELAND -- Vice President Al Gore plans to
release a detailed economic agenda today that seeks to
increase home ownership, boost family incomes, cut the pay
gap between men and women, and reduce poverty levels to
near historic lows.
Gore will unveil a 191-page budget blueprint that vows to
eliminate the national debt by 2012 and to set aside S300
billion in a rainy-day fund in case the widely projected bud;
get surpluses fall short, Gore senior campaign officials said,
The key to achieving those goals, Gore believes, is his debt
reduction plan. He will argue that significant debt reducti9
will produce lower interest rates for consumers when they bor-
row money to buy a house or an automobile. President Clinton
also has been making this argument for months at fundraisers
and in a speech to the nation's governors earlier-this year.
Gore's plan features his previously announced targeted
tax cuts for middle-class families, various tax credits for
expenses such as college tuitions and new retirement sav-
ings plans; an increase in the minimum wage: and stricter
.enforcement of anti-discrimination laws - as a way
reduce the pay-gap between men and women.
Gore, the Deniocratic presidential nominee, plans to 10
out his sweeping agenda i n.a speech this morning at Cleve-
land State University. He also will promise to submit to
Congress a balanced budget plan every year he is president.
Gore's emphasis on details - to a striking degree for a
_k presidential candidate -- is part of his strategy to pressure
his Republican rival George W. Bush to also release the
AP PHOTO specifics of his agenda.
Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Al Gore greets supporters yesterday in Columbus, A Bush spokesman dismissed Gore's S300 billion surplus
Ohio, where he plans to unveil a sweeping economic plan today, set-aside as "a political campaign gimmick.'
Buchanan sues to appeaonsteblo
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LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Reform Party presi-
dential nominee Pat Buchanan filed a lawsuit
today against Michigan Secretary of State Can-
dice Miller in an effort to appear on the state's
Nov. 7 ballot.
The lawsuit, filed in Ingham County Court,
accuses Miller of incorrectly leaving Buchanan
ff the November ballot despite the certification
of the Michigan Reform Party chairman.
The suit comes a week after Miller decided
against allowing Buchanan or John Ilagelin, the
presidential candidate selected by an anti-
Buchanan faction of the Reform Party, to appear
on the ballot.
She rejected the certification of both presiden-
tial nominees of the Reform Party of Michigan
because of "discrepancies" over who is the right-
ful chair of the Reform Party of Michigan.
The lawsuit lists Buchanan, running mate
IEvola Foster and Michigan Reform Party Chair-
man Mark Forton as the plaintiffs.
Forton was certified as the Michigan Reform
Party chairman at the national convention last
month following the dismissal of Diane McK-
elvy, who attended the rival convention that nom-
inated Hagelin as the Reform Party presidential
nominee, the lawsuit said.
Hagelin's campaign officials listed McKelvy
as the Michigan Reform Party chairwoman for
the Iowa physicist's faction.
Reform Party bylaws say the state party chair-
man certifies the national candidates to the sec-
retary of state, said Philip Vestevich, the attorney
who filed the lawsuit for Buchanan.
"Candice Miller really should not be playing
referee," he said from his Bloomfield hills
office. "She shouldn't be trying to determine the
merits of the claims. She has to accept the certi-
fication."
Vestevich said in the lawsuit that Miller is the
co-chairwoman of the Michigan Republican
committee working to elect Texas Gov. George
W Bush as president.
Secretary of State spokeswoman Elizabeth
Boyd said the state would defend itself in court
during a hearing Friday in Judge Lawrence Glaz-
er's courtroom.
Boyd has said it is wrong to suggest the secre-
tary of state made a mistake by deciding against
allowing either Reform Party candidate to appeaa-
on the ballot.
Hagelin, who recently announced an allian
between his Natural Law Party and the anti-
Buchanan faction of the Reform Party, said his
campaign may file a legal brief so that
Buchanan's lawsuit would apply to each candi-
date.
Hagelin said he's in better shape politically
than Buchanan because he can appear on the
Michigan ballot as the Natural Law Party presi-
dential candidate if the lawsuit fails.
"This isn't a high priority for us, but I would'
like to be represented as Reform," Hagelin sail
from Washington. "I do not want to surrende
the party does not want to surrender. For the sake
of the party I would fight this"
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Moving Back To
School?
Or Are You The New Kid In
Town?
Nader protests proposed limits
on industrial hemp products
t
WASHINGTON (AP) - Green
Party presidential candidate Ralph
Nader joined people who want to grow
and market.industrial hemp yesterday
in criticizing federal agencies for mak-
ing it difficult for farmers to grow the
crop.
Nader also spoke out against a recent
raid on a South Dakota Indian reserva-
tion in which federal agents seized at
least 2,000 plants described as industri-
al-grade hemp plants by the crop's
owner
Hemp cannot be grown commercial-
ly in the U.S. because it belongs to the
same family as marijuana, although
Nader pointed out that the levels of hal-
lucinogenic THC' are far lower in hemp
than in marijuana.
"It is analogous to consuming poppy
seed bagels or nonalcoholic beer," he
said. "Although these foods both have a
small psychoactive component, people
do not abuse them."
Nader said the Drug Enforcement
Administration is proposing new rules
that would require a product containing
any amount of THC to be classified a
"Schedule I" controlled substance, the
same category as heroin and LSD.
Exceptions would be made for industri-
al hemp products not intended for
human consumption, such as paper,
clothing or rope.
The proposed rules "will continue to
make it impossible for farmers to grow
the crop," Nader said.
While American farmers are barred
from growing hemp, manufacturers P
allowed to import it from other nations
that produce hemp products.
. "In the current farm crisis, farmers
need alternative crops, and hemp will
likely be more profitable than other
commodity crops." Nader said. Hemp
also rarely requires pesticides.
"The Drug Enforcement Administra-
tion and other federal agencies are
greatly out of touch with the American
public in enforcing their medieval rul
regarding industrial hemp," he said.
Nader said last month's hemp bust in
South Dakota showed that "while Cana-
dian and other farmers prosper from
industrial hemp, American farmers are
unlikely to see its benefits anytime
soon.
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