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. WWW.MICHIGANDAIL Y. COM 0* 'kG 0G 9v C S AG V t V The naFple ementg/ ig kjTur Learn more about the University's largest student organization, UAC. Students in attendance will receive a free fish bowl (goldfish included), free Snapple, and free entertainment from the popular band, Big Sky. \nce 'fur Ceice Get active, get registered, and get down with Gusor and special guests Six Clips An Wednesday, Sept 20 @ 4:10pm Palmer Field * Free for students nCoinpletel baked- A half-baked reunion with Dave Chappelle and Jim Breuer Thursday, Sept 21 @ 8:00pm Hill Auditorium * $15/$10 w/ student ID Monday, Sept 11th from 12pm to Ipm at the Diagl ~fc gmimg IJAC Vfer UNIVERSITY ACTIVITIES CENTER 0 Now that you've read all the case studies, maybe it's time to be one. Create a future with us. If you are interested in career opportunities with Andersen Consulting, please attend our corporate presentation. LSA Students: September 18, 2000 at 6:00 p.m. in Pendelton.