The Michigan Daily - Thursday, November 29, 2001- 7A
Stacking up
Deficit predicted for next 3 years
WASHINGTON (AP) - The recession and the costs of
war and battling terrorism have made annual federal
deficits likely for at least the next three years, the White
House budget director said yesterday.
The prediction by budget chief Mitchell Daniels was
one of the gloomiest assessments yet of the government's
fiscal health. And it was the first time an administration
official has publicly acknowledged that deficits - ban-
ished since surpluses first appeared in 1998 - are likely
now for several years.
"It is regrettably my conclusion that we are unlikely to
return to balance in the federal accounts before possibly
fiscal '05," Daniels said in a speech at the National Press
Club. He added, "Things will have to break right for us to
do that."
Daniels' comments further underlined what has been a
turnaround in the government's budget picture of
unprecedented abruptness.
The record $237 billion surplus of fiscal 2000 shrank to
a $127 billion surplus in fiscal 2001, which ended on Oct.
1. Though Daniels provided no figures, private analysts
and many congressional aides have long expected a 2002
deficit that will be well into the tens of billions of dollars.
Until several months ago, most forecasters were envi-
sioning an ever-growing string of budget surpluses for the
next decade, fading as the huge baby boom generation
begins to retire. Last spring, official surplus projections
for the coming decade totaled $5.6 trillion.
But then the recession - now officially pegged as hav-
ing started last March - took hold, and the condition of
the government's books began to weaken. In addition,
President Bush pushed a $1.35 trillion, 10-year tax cut
through Congress, further eroding the projected black
ink.
Another severe blow was dealt by the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks, which staggered the economy and triggered tens
of billions in spending for anti-terrorism, the war in
Afghanistan and economic recovery.
Daniels acknowledged that as a result, the administra-
tion would lower its long-term growth estimates, which
means the government would expect to collect less rev-
enue than it would with stronger growth.
"This has profound effects, when compounded out over
time, on the amount of money that we can expect to have
available in the federal treasury," Daniels said.
Daschle concedes on stimulus package
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON - As President Bush
stepped up pressure on Congress to produce
an economic stimulus bill, a top Democrat
made a concession yesterday that increased
the likelihood lawmakers would enact tax
cuts and unemployment aid before the end
of the year.
After a morning meeting with Bush and
other congressional leaders, Senate Majori-
ty Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) dropped
his insistence that the stimulus bill include
$15 billion in funding for homeland securi-
ty measures. That cleared the way for senior
congressional and administration officials to
meet late yesterday and begin negotiating a
compromise on other elements of the stimu-
lus bill, including a new proposal to sus-
pend payroll taxes for one month.
The stakes for the economy were under-
scored yesterday when Bush's budget direc-
tor, Mitchell Daniels, announced that the
federal budget would probably not come
back into balance until 2005 at the earliest.
But many thorny differences remained to
be ironed out between the Republican-con-
trolled House and the Democratic-con-
trolled Senate. As a result, lawmakers say it
is still uncertain whether a stimulus bill can
be enacted before the end of the year.
"We're going to go forward ... but it's not
going to be easy," said House Ways and
Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas
(R-Calif.).
Bush, in a speech yesterday to an agricul-
tural group, leaned on congressional leaders
to break the impasse and drop the Senate
Democrats' proposals to boost security
spending.
"It is important for the Senate not to look
for new ways to spend money, but for new
ways to create new jobs," Bush said. "Let's
get the job done."
One of the biggest remaining disputes
centers on Bush's proposal to speed up cuts
in the income-tax rate, which were sup-
posed to take effect gradually under the tax
cut approved earlier this year. Most Democ-
rats voted against that bill and now even
more adamantly oppose speeding up the
rate cut.
BRENDAN O'DONNELL/Daily
Kristen Balfour sorts clothing at the end of the Detroit
Project food and clothing drive yesterday in the Union.
Despite glitches, 'U'
Swal not return to
telephone registration
bACCESS
Continued from Page 1A
as well.
The feature was suspended Mon-
day in an effort to cut down on sys-
tem use during the slowdown.
The problems were due to a data-
base error, which caused problems
for the University staff helping with
registration and students who tried
to use Wolverine Access, Briske
said.
As for in-person registration, the
large numbers of students register-
ing with a small workforce at the
LSA Building added to the slow
processing speed there, he added.
"It was complicated and confus-
ing and the activities in the Media
Union and Angell Hall were better.
If we need to do this again, maybe
the answer is we don't do it in
LSA," Briske said.
"We are training some people so
if this happens again we can have
more bodies."
Only 30 University employees
were on hand by the end of Tuesday
to enroll students.
Briske said that despite problems
with Wolverine Access, returning
to the telephone system online reg-
istration replaced last fall is not
feasible.
"Going back to the old CRISP
system is not going to happen," he
said
LSA senior Matt Macklin said he
found it easy to register on Wolver-
ine Access yesterday.
"I was expecting it to be slow but
it wasn't. It only took me about 25
minutes," he said.
Ryan Verhey-Henke, a senior in
the College of Engineering, had a
much more difficult time schedul-
ing the day before, spending three
to four fruitless hours on Wolverine
Access before going to the Media
Union, where he waited in line for
an hour.
Nevertheless, Verhey-Henke said
his experience was not a bad one
when he actually began registra-
tion.
"It went smooth once I was at the
computer terminal talking to some-
body. It wasn't that bad," he said.
Music senior David Neely was
able to schedule his classes Tuesday
despite the slowdown.
"I got on at like 7:05 yesterday
morning. I had the backpack set up
so I just went through and regis-
tered," he said.
The backpack, which he had
already prepared, allowed him to
register in approximately five min-
utes.
"It allowed me to get on and out
of the system quickly," Neely said.
SPANN
Continued from Page 1A
An estimated 500 Taliban forces,
including Pakistanis, Chechens, Arabs
and other non-Afghan allies, had been
detained at the fort after the Taliban
surrendered the northern stronghold of
Kunduz. Early Sunday morning, they
overpowered their guards and seized
an arsenal of assault rifles, grenade;
launchers and other weapons.
Most of the prisoners apparently
were killed during intense U.S.
airstrikes, which detonated the fort's
ammunition depot, as well as during +
pitched gun battles with anti-Taliban
Northern Alliance forces backed by
several dozen U.S. and British com-
mandos.
Northern Alliance officials told
reporters at the scene that the revolt
began because the prisoners feared
they were about to be executed, and
because they objected to the presence
of Americans interviewing the prison-
ers. Spann did not speak any local lan-
guages, according to the CIA, but was
involved in the questioning of prison-
ers.
George J. Tenet, head of the CIA,
said in a statement that Spann was in
the fortress "where Taliban prisoners
were being held and questioned.'
Although these captives had given
themselves up, their pledge of surren-
der - like so many other pledges
Texas deaCis
from the vicious group they represent
- proved worthless."
Tenet praised Spann as "a very
brave American" who was "no
stranger to challenge or daring."
Spann, a resident of Manassas Park,
Va., was raised in Winfield, Ala., and
studied criminal justice at Auburn
University before joining the Marines
in the early 1990s. He was married to
another CIA employee, Shannon
Spann, and is survived by an infant
son and two young daughters.
Including Spann, the CIA has lost
79 officers in the line of duty since its
creation in 1947, but only has publicly
identified 44.
It insists the other names must
remain classified to protect intelli-
gence sources and methods.
The CIA initially had refused to
confirm that one of its agents was
missing or had been killed. Family
members were told Sunday that Spann
was missing in action, leading to local
news reports in Alabama. His father,
Johnny Spann, a real estate dealer in
Winfield, told reporters that he was
notified late Tuesday night of his son's
death.
Former CIA officers described the
agency's decision to issue a press
release about Spann's death as
extremely unusual, if not unprecedent-
ed. But some noted that it is in the
agency's interest to break its policy of
secrecy in this case.
z likely zwon't
affect U admissions suits
TE"' Court on affirmative action befo
X the end of this term, but now we wi
Continued from Page 1A not," Barry said. Tuesday's "decisi
ore
'ill
on
ing with racial discrimination in
employment hiring, will have a bigger
impact on the Michigan cases.
"We thought we were going to
hear something from the Supreme
does not have any effect on the two
Michigan cases. It is simply a natural
evolution of the Supreme Court's
decision not to hear the Hopwood
case last June."
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