Page 4-Wednesday, May 26, 1982-The Michigan Daily
House rejects
budget-balance
proposal
WASHINGTON (UPI) - The
Democratic-dominated House struck
down a conservative Republican
proposal yesterday to balance the
budget in 1983 by slashing spending for
all non-military programs, and then
began debating three major alter-
natives.
The House voted 242-182 to kill the
plan by Rep. John Rousselot (R-Calif.)
with about an equal number of
moderate Republicans voting against it
as conservative Democratic "Boll
Weevils' voting for it.
THE PLAN would have maintained
President Reagan's military buildup
and tax cuts while forcing sufficient
domestic spending cutbacks to bring
about a balance.
Rousselot told his colleagues
economists agree interest rates would
fall sharply if Congress passed a balan-
ced budget.
"This is it!" Rousselot said to the
cheers of some lawmakers.
"WE HAVE talked about it. We have
discussed it. We have reehashed it.
Now you can vote for it."
The Rousselot plan was the last of
four minor 1983 budget alternatives
rejected by the House, which then got
down to business considering the three
leading contenders - the Democratic
budget committee plan, a White House-
backed GOP budget similar to the
Senate-passed version and a moderate
bipartisan proposal.
Under the rules adopted by the
Democratic majority, the House is
allowed to vote on each of the budget
plans - but only the last plan given
preliminary approval will be brought
up for a vote on final passage.
IN ORDER, the House was to con-
sider the Republican alternative first,
then the bipartisan plan and finally the
Democratic budget.
Of the three plans, the GOP alter-
native makes the deepest cuts in
domestic spending - deeper than the
Rousselot
... his plan voted down
budget passed last week by the
Republican Senate.
The most controversial part of the
GOP plan is its proposal for cutting $4.9
billion in 1983 from Medicare, the
health program for the elderly, and
reducing it by $23 billion over the next
threeyears.
The Democratic committee plan
makes fewer cuts in domestic spending,
but reduces defense spending more and
raises more taxes.
The bipartisan plan falls somewhere
between the two, but is closer to the
Democratic version than to the GOP
alternative.
The House also must dispose of 68
pending amendments, which could be
attached to one, two or all three of the
main budget proposals.
In Brief
Compiled from Associated Press and
United Press international reports
Pope to visit Britain
VATICAN CITY- The Vatican, ending weeks of uncertainty caused by the
Falklands conflict, announced yesterday that Pope John Paul II will go
ahead with his historic six-day trip to Britain.
The confirmation came in the form of a detailed itinerary for the trip that
includes a meeting with Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace and with
the Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the Anglican church.
John Paul will be the first pope to visit Britain.
The 62-year-old pontiff, who leaves for London on Friday, also may make a
"counter-balancing" trip to Argentina early next month Vatican sources
said. Vatican officials refused to comment and Argentine diplomats in Rome
said they could not confirm there was such a plan.
The Vatican said Archbishop Achille Silvestrini flew to Buenos Aires
Tuesday with a personal letter from John Paul to Argentine President
Leopoldo F. Galtieri. It did not release details of the letter.
Silvestrini, the papal envoy, told reporters at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci
Airport Tuesday that he was taking "the thoughts and sentiments of the pope
for the entire Argentine people." Asked what his mission was, he said "My
trip itself is a message."
Citibank lowers prime rate
NEW YORK- In the first sign of easing bank interest rates in more than
three months, Citibank, the nation's second largest bank, yesterday cut its
prime rate to 16 percent from 16 %percent.
It was the first reduction in the prime rate by a major bank since late
February.
Treasury Secretary Donald Regan told reporters the move could be ,
"another patch of blue" for the U.S. economy and that interest rates should
continue their downward trend in the months ahead.
However, no other major banks immediately followed Citibank's move.
Some analysts suggested that further declines may well hinge on
Congress's coming up with a budget compromise.
Citibank's move followed recent declines in other short-term interest
rates, including short-term Treasury bills, which reflected some easing in
Federal Reserve credit policy since the beginning of the month.
Iraq retreats from Iranian port
BEIRUT, Lebanon- Iraq yesterday conceded its forces had retreated
from the Iranian oil port of Khorramshahr after a 25-day battle.
Iranian leaders rejoiced at regaining the last Iraqi stronghold on the
southern front and said they would not rest until they brought down Iraq's
President Saddam Hussein.
Iran also warned other Arab nations not to side with Iraq, or "take orders
from the United States," and indicated that such action might prompt
military retaliation.
The Iraqi high command said its forces killed 2,711 Iranians and wounded
and captured "many others" in forcing Iranian forces to retreat from an at-
tack north of the city. Tehran radio said four Iraqi jets were shot down near
Abadan, 15 miles to the south, but Iraqi artillery destroyed houses there.
Iraq's retreat from Khorramshahr capped a 40-day offensive in which Iran
said its forces recaptured half of the 7,720 square miles of land lost to Iraq in
the first weeks of the war.
It is presumed Iraqi forces still are dug in west of the Iranian mountain
city of Sanandaj, 240 miles west of Tehran, and strategic areas farther south,
and Iraq insisted in its communique that the retreat from Khorramshahr is
not the "final outcome."
U.S. debt limit may increase
WASHINGTON - The administration asked Congress yesterday to raise the
national debt ceiling to a record $1.275 trillion, about $196 billion more than
the current limit, so the government can keep paying its bills.
Roger Mehle, assistant secretary of the treasury, told the House Ways and
Means Committee that, based on budget office estimates, "We now recom-
mend and request that the debt limit be increased to $1.275 billion through
Sept. 30, 1983.
Mehle urged congressional action by the third wek of June to avoid a rep-
tition of "past disloctions which have hampered Treasury financing
operations."
Congress has little choice but to increase the public debt ceiling so the
federal government can finance its operations, but the measure is highly un-
popular and almost invariably gets tied up by its opponents in parliamentary
tangles and delays.
Expert says Hinckley psychotic
WASHINGTON - John Hinckley believes he impressed actress Jodie
Foster by shooting President Reagan and is convinced he and the movie star
will be "linked forever in history," a psychiatrist testified yesterday.
Dr. Thomas Goldman also disclosed Hinckley staged a jail hunger strike
after his arrest because he was blocked from getting a message to the
teenage starlet who spurned his repeated approaches.
Goldman, a Washington psychiatrist, told the jury he diagnosed the 26-
year-old drifter as having a personality disorder similar to schizophrenia as
well as other mental problems. He said Hinckley was psychotic when he
shot Reagan - unable to separate reality from his fantasies, many of them
about Miss Foster.
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