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House committee
approves social
program cuts

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From AP and UPI
WASHINGTON-The House Ways
and Means Committee approved $9.1
billion in spending cuts from welfare,
unemployment insurance, Social
Security, and Medicaid in an effort to
bring spending in line with next year's
federal budget.
The cuts, which include the con-
troversial plan to delay next year's
cost-of-living adjustments for Social
Security recipients, are still $116
million short of the budget
requirement.
AT THE SAME time, the Reagan
administration appeared to be stepping
back from its package of Social
Security cuts, which calls for major
reductions starting in 1982, especially
for persons retiring before age 65.
Acting White House press secretary
Larry Speakes described the proposals
as only a set of "ideas" solicited by a
House Ways and Means subcommittee.
And he said he was "sure" they could
be improved upon.
Senate Minority Leader Robert Byrd
(D-W.Va.) said Reagan's advisers may
have miscalculated in thinking the
president's popularity would allow
them "to unravel the Social Security
system."
EARLIER, Congressional sources
said President Reagan's plan to slash
Social Security checks for early
retirees has stirred up such a public
outcry that there is little chance 62-
year-olds will lose benefits next year.
The powerful tax-writing Ways and
Means Committee has put off work on
President Reagan's controversial tax

cut proposal while it makes the deeper
spending cuts mandated by the austere
1982 budget.
The budget blueprint, written -last
week by a House-Senate conference
committee, is due for House action
-Wednesday and is expected to receive
final congressional approval this week.
THE SENATE Finance Committee
has approved $10.3 billion in spending
reductions, but it was responsible for
cutting some programs, such as
Medicaid, that do not fall under the
jurisdiction of its House counterpart,
Ways and Means.
Among Ways and Means actions
yesterday were:
" A phase-out of college student
benefits under Social Security, $380
million.
" A three-month delay of half the cost-
of-living increase that Social Security,
veterans, Medicare and recipients of
other retirement benefits are scheduled
to get next July; $1.8 billion.
" Repeal of the "national trigger" for
extended unemployment benefits, $660
million. The extra benefits, beyond the
regular 26 weeks, are triggered nation-
wide when the national unemployment
ratereaches a certain level.
" An $850 million reduction in low-
income energy assistance.
* A $1.3 billion cut in trade adjust-
ment benefits for people who lose work
because of foreign imports. Benefits
would be available only after unem-
ployment benefits had been exhausted.
* A $1.7 billion reduction in Medicare.

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I Gorilla Dreams
Omega, a 21-year-old gorilla, could find no peace after a long flight on his
private 'Gorilla-lift' from Chicago. Omega is on loan to the new Gorilla Habitat
at the Buffalo Zoo.

new classes beginning
May 18

Funds donated to
halt Clean Air Act

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WASHINGTON (AP) -
Congressmen who will play a key role
in deciding the fate of the Clean Air Act
this year received $1.14 million from
political action committees represen-
ting seven industries that are lobbying
to weaken the CAA, Common Cause
said yesterday.
In a report titled "Dirty Money-Dirty
Air," Common Cause said con-
tributions to 15 members of the Senate
Environment Comittee and two mem-
bers of the House Health and Environ-
ment Subcommittee ranged from
$185,239 to Sen. James Abdnor (R-S.D.)
to $250 to Rep. Toby Moffett (D-Conn.).
NEARLY HALF THE contributions,
Common Cause said, came from cor-
porations which are in violation of
emission limits set under the Clean Air
Act.
The seven industries included in the
Common Cause survey are
automobiles, chemicals, utilities,
metals and mining, forest products, oil,
and gas and steel. Common Cause said
it picked those seven because they are
are large sources of air pollution and
are expected to lobby heavily for
changes in the Clean Air Act in this
yea's cogressional revi°w. 3

Common Cause, a self-styled citizens'
lobby, said the average Political Action
-Committee contributions to senators on
the Environment Committee had risen
900 percent from 1976 to 1980.
"IT IS ESPECIALLY important that
decisions about the quality of our
nation's air be based on their merits -
not according to which interested group
contributed the most money," said
Common Cause President Fred Wer-
theimer.
The PAC listed as giving the most
money was the National Automobile
Dealers Association, which gave
$113,500 to 25 committee members. The
association was a key force in auto in-
dustry efforts to loosen emission stan-
dards during the 1977 Clean Air Act
debate.
Jack Neal, a spokesman for the
association, said its contribution
decisions were made on the basis of
which "candidates demonstrate an in-
terest and concern for the automobile
industry and its problems."
THE CORPORATION which con-
tributed the most was Dow Chemical
Co., which gave $30,800 to 6 committee
members. -. - ,-

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