The,,M Michigan Diy. Ann Arbor, Michigan-Wednesday, July 29, 1981 Ten Cents Twelve Pages Reagan tax plan faces House battle FromAPand UPI WASHINGTON - The Republican- controlled Senate, bogged down in amendments last night, all but aban- doned plans to pass a tax cut bill in time to provide President Reagan momen- tum for what he termed the "nip-and- tuck" showdown in the House. Republican Leader Howard Baker said it is likely the Senate version will not be completed until sometime today. That still might allow the Senate time to vote its virtually certain endorsement of the Reagan package before the House decides between the president's bill and a rival Democratic plan, but probably not soon enough to affect the outcome. DEMOCRATIC leaders were op- timistic about winning the House con- frontation. Speaker Thomas O'Neill- predicted that each of the 191 Republicans and 14 to 24 Democrats would, support the president's plan. "This is the hardest bil the leadership has ever gone through," he added. Of. the 26 members of the Conser- vative Democratic Forum, 10 were firmly supporting Reagan's plan, 10 were backing the Democratic bill, and six were undecided, said Rep. G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery (D-Miss.) a member of the forum. The president would have to hold all 191 Republicans in line plus win over 27 Democrats to get his tax cut plan ap- proved by the House. MONTGOMERY, who supports the president's tax cut, said Reagan "would have to go outside the forum" to pick up enough votes to win. The Democratic plan calls for a 21- month, 15 percent tax cut that Democrats contend is targeted to people making from $15,000 to $50,000. It is triggered to continue for a third year, but only if the economy is as strong as the administration predicts it will be in 1983. Reagan and Democratic leaders who appeared on national television Mon- day night to argue the merits of their competing tax cut plans, made phone calls to conservative Democrats and met personally with the so-called "Boll weevils" yesterday to seek their votes. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, visited the offices of about 10 wavering southern Democrats to urge them to vote for the party's bill. BUT HE HAD to wait a few minutes outside the office of Rep. Earl Hutto (D- Fla.), who was talking on the phone with the president and presumably being urged to vote for Reagan's tax cut. House Speaker O'Neill predicted a narrow victory over Reagan on the tax cut bill, while Treasury Secretary Donald Regan predicted a narrow vic- tory for the president. "I would say it's very close," Regan said. "We think we've narrowed the gap. We're probably about even and we think we'll surge ahead at the final bell." O'Neill said the "boll weevils" were "holding pretty good," but big business was putting pressure on some moderates. He said he still believed Democrats would win in the House today, although "it's going to be close." Daily Photo by PAUL ENGSTROM Parking Problem The Flint Journal newspaper has plenty of overflow parking space for visitors and employees, but it may prove difficult to park in the lot painted on the side of the building. PIRdGIMs co sumer guide to A2 grocery stores released By JENNIFER MILLER Daily staff writer A survey released yesterday of Ann Arbor food stores shows - as might be expected - that the chain grocery stores are substantially cheaper than the convenience stores closer to cam- pus. For students on a tight budget, then, the place to shop is the Farmer Jack's on Stadium Blvd., which the Public In- terest Research Group in Michigan survey found to be at least 13 percent 'less expensive than the smaller food stores dotted around campus. THE SURVEY also revealed that Campus Corners is 12 percent more ex- pensive than the two most reasonably priced stores on campus: Food Mart and Village Corners on S. University. "Campus Corners is incredibly higher priced," said David Wiesman, a PIRGIM member who conducted the survey last May. "All they're doing is just taking the students who don't want to walk," he said. Strickland's on Geddes Rd. is the most expensive store, Wiesman said. And in light of its location, he claimed, "There's no way they should be that high." WIESMAN SAID Campus Corners' location does not justify its high prices. "They should be more in the range of five percent higher" than the grocery stores, he said, not 12 percent. PIRGIM members said they hope the survey will induce local stores to lower their prices. Although the chain grocery stores are the best bet for the budget-conscious, there is a catch: transportation. But the student-without a car is not necessarily stuck with the high-priced campus stores. There are bus lines that run to Far- See PIRGIM, Page 3 Meanwhile, in Dearborn and Flint . - While the University community in Ann Arbor has been wrapped up in debate over the "redirection" of the University toward a "smaller but better" institution, how have the University's branch campuses in Dearborn and Flint dealt with the unexpected shor- tfalls in state appropriations? Daily staff writer Mark Gindin traveled to the University's other campuses to find out. His three- part news analysis appears on pages 6 and 7.