M2A -The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 7, 2000
Democrats accuse
GOP of setting up
Census roadblocks
Students buying more books online
BOOKS
Continued from Page 1A
brick and mortar stores and virtual stores. What
we've become is a clicks and mortal- stores. We
have a great advantage over others because I can
claim we're open 24 hours a day, seven days a
week," Pohrt said. "If anyone has a problem or
needs to change books because they dropped a
course, they can walk in and don't have to mail
anything back."
Pohrt's combination of Internet ordering and
walk-in pick up is partly in response to the
growing popularity of online textbook sites such
as Barnes&Nohle.com, BigfWn-ds.com and Varsi-
tVBooks.com.
"Buying books online is great," Miah Daugh-
tery, an LSA senior said. "It was cheap and
fast,"
Engineering junior Illi Eisner had a similar
experience. "I found what I wanted, I bought it,
and it came within a day. It was really fast," Eis-
ner said.
Yet, for those students who do not want to bat-
tle the lines and the prices in the bookstores, but
who need books right away, the non-profit Stu-
dent Book Exchange is another option.
For the past three days, students have had the
opportunity to price and leave their old books at
the Pendleton Room in the Michigan Union.
Starting today, students can go and buy the
books for prices usually lower than those
charged by the bookstores or online stores.
"The customers buy the books, we record the
transactions, we process them, and the students
who sold the books receive 85 percent of the
selling price, the price that they chose," said
Bennett Borsuk, co-president of the SBE. "We
don't make any profit, so it benefits both sides."
WASHINGTON (AP) - Investiga-
tions House Republicans have request-
ed of the Census Bureau are partisan
"roadblocks" to the progress of the
once-e-decade count: congressional
Democrats charged yesterday.
"Despite the roadblocks placced in its
,,way, the Census has been an opera-
tional success," said a letter written by
three House Democrats to Speaker
Dennis Hastert. "As such, we demand
that you finally cease these senseless
investigations so that the professionals
can finish their assigned jobs without
further interruption."
Reps. Carolyn Maloney of New
York, Carrie Meek of Florida and
Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas
signed the letter, which was circulated
among other Democratic members
fter a press conference yesterday.
"The vigorous oversight ... is fully
warranted," Rep. Dan Miller, chairman
of the House census subcommittee,
responded in his own letter in behalf
of Hastert. "it would be irresponsible
to write the Bureau a S6.5 billion
check to conduct the census and turn
our backs, as you would have us do."
Maloney, the subcommittee's rank-
ing Democrat, said Republicans
requested nearly 100 inquiries into
census operations this year, ranging
from topics like data quality to cooper-
ation with overseers.
Some Democrats, including Maloney
and Meek, have asked for their own
investigations. Maloney said those were
legitimate, isolated requests, unlike the
Republicans' "barrage."
Most recently, Miller (R-Fla.) asked
the General Accounting Office and
other agencies to look into the Census
Bureau's involvement in a Los Angeles
event - tied to the Democratic Nation-
al Convention - designed to mobilize
black voters in the upcoming election.
Agency workers at the event were
there only to educate and did not act
with partisan intentions, Census direc-
tor Kenneth Prewitt has said.
She said she was especially incensed
that Miller would question the event
organized in part by a private citizen and
one of her constituents, national ly-syndi-
cated radio talk show host Tom Joyner.
Tax-free investment proposal nears reality
RODGERS
Continued from Page1A
Trust, which will continue to pro-
vide access to money for in-state
tuition.
"MET has some different advan-
tages," Rogers said, adding that his
program has made MET more compet-
itive with lower monthly rates.
Rogers stressed that anyone can
start an account at anytime. He said he
wants the program to be "as flexible
and as open to Michigan's families as
possible."
While a federal tax of at least 15
percent does remain, Rogers, who is
running for the 8th District seat in
the U.S. House of Representatives,
said he hopes to eliminate that addi-
tional cost.
"If we can even cut it in half, that
is a major investment in providing
educational opportunities," Rogers
said.
But state Sen. Dianne Byrum (D-
Onondaga) - Rogers' challenger for
the House seat -- said the college sav-
ings plan needs reworking. She and
Sen. Alma Wheeler Smith (D-Salem
Twp.) have proposed legislation to fix
what Byrum called "three very serious
flaws" in the language of the legisla-
tion.
One flaw, she said, is that legisla-
tors failed to approve a proposal for
a matching grant that would give
low- and middle-income families a
33 percent rebate on money they put
into the account.
That bill was tied to another
piece of legislation that did not
pass.
Two other points that Byrum dis-
cussed were what Rogers conceded
are merely typographical errors that
soon should be fixed.
"It's not about getting credit for
fixing the problem," Byrum said.
"It's about getting the problem
fixed."
But Byrum said she still supports
the legislation. "I'm always sup
portive of making college and cor
tinuing education affordable," she
said.
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Monday, Sept 11th from
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