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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 8, 1985)
Wednesday, May 8, 1985/The Battalion/Page 15 lyORi-D AND NATION Funky Winkerbean 7 ^ ■ 1 Al ir— \ by Tom Batiuk The Battalion SPREADING THE NEWS • ••••••••••• • « Since 1878 ••••••••• Having an affair? Call the Padre Cafe< We cater. 764-8064 A F E really fine eats 4 4 TH€ BOOH €XCHBNG€ Program being updated Associated Press SAN ANTONIO — The Reagan administration has come up with a “revolutionary” idea to revamp the way unemployment compensation programs are administered, a presi dential aide said Tuesday. Debbie Steelman, special assistant to the president for intergovern mental affairs, said the changes are ||i aimed at “eliminating as much fed eral intervention as possible in the states and put the decision making where it makes the most sense.” ; The changes would allow the "States to handle the administration Of their unemployment programs and to set policy for those programs. I The proposal appears in Presi dent Reagan’s current budget offer ing, but until Tuesday it has not been discussed in detail in public. The changes would have to be ap proved by Congress and would in volve action by state legislatures be fore they could be implemented by the target date of Jan. I, 1988, Steel man said. All employers currently are taxed .8 of a percent on the first $6,000 of an employee’s annual salary to pay for administration of the unemploy ment programs. The money is channeled to Wash ington, where the Department of Labor divies up the funds to the states. The system has caused con siderable unrest among state admin istrators, especially where more money is being sent in to the federal government than the state is getting back. The federal government . rently sets administrative policy, re- ¥ ¥ quiring the states to produce exten sive paperwork. Also levied is a separate unem ployment tax that goes into a trust fund to pay jobless benefits. That unemployment benefit system would remain unchanged. Steelman, speaking before a con vention of the National Foundation for Unemployment and Workers Compensation, said the administra tion considers the proposal “a real winner.” Currently, she said, “there is no incentive at the state level to run an efficient program.” Money left over at the end of the year must be returned to the federal government. Reagan may soften his plan to restrict tax deductions Associated Press ? WASHINGTON — The Reagan administration, hammered by complaints from churches and colleges, is softening its plan to restrict the tax deduction for charitable contributions, congressional sources said Tuesday. 1 The sources, who spoke on condition they not be identified, said the Treasury Department has agreed on a provision that would allow an itemized deduction for contributions exceeding 1 percent of income — rather than the 2 percent floor it proposed last year. The sources said President Reagan eventually may in sist that no floor be required — that present law on this provision be retained. I The president is expected to make the final decision on the issue shortly after he returns from Europe. I The treatment of charitable contributions is only one of hundreds of provisions in the tax-overhaul plan that Reagan will be recommending to Congress by the end of the month. But the issue touches about as many people as any other part of the plan. |; The Internal Revenue Service says 54.5 million of the 96.3 million couples and individuals who filed tax returns last year claimed a deduction for charitable giving. Those deductions totaled $38 billion. When it submitted its thick list of proposed tax changes last November, Treasury called for major changes in tax deductibility of charitable gifts. Present law encourages cheating, requires taxpayers to keep extensive records and imposes a big burden on the IRS, Treasury said. The November proposal included these restrictions on the gifts deduction: • Only those exceeding 2 percent of adjusted gross income could be deducted by taxpayers who itemize deductions. • The separate deduction for those who do not itemize would be repealed. Present law permits the two-thirds of taxpayers who do not itemize to deduct half their contributions. • A taxpayer who gives property that has increased in value would be allowed to deduct the fair market value or the original cost adjusted for inflation, which ever is less. Present law, which Treasury said is too generous, permits all such gifts to be deducted at fair market value. Republican leaders trying to lure Democrats to GOP Associated Press WASH INGTON — Using Ronald Reagan as a role model, Republican leaders kicked off a campaign Tues day to convert 100,000 Democrats to the GOP in the next 100 days. Frank Fahrenkopf Jr., chairman of the Republican National Commit tee, said the campaign, dubbed “Op eration Open Door,” will concen trate on Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina and Pennsylvania and will utilize telephone banks, direct mail appeals, television advertising and door-to-door canvassing. He said that while the program would not be limited to those four states, they were selected for the most intensive work because they are among those where voters declare their party affiliation when they reg ister. All four also have key 1986 races in the Republican effort to retain control of the Senate. Republican Sens. Paula Hawkins of Florida and John East of North Carolina are ex pected to face particularly tough re- election challenges. Edward J. Rollins, White House political adviser, said the GOP can offer “some role models that are out there, starting with the president himself.” Reagan changed his party registration from Democrat to Re publican in the 1960s. Other prominent converts to the GOP in more recent times include former U.N. Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick and former Texas Con gressman Kent Hancei. Kirkpatrick has returned to teach ing ana lecturing and often is men tioned as a potential GOP vice presi dential candidate in 1988. Hance is interested in running for governor of Texas next year. He gave up his House seat in 1984 to make an unsuccessful run for the Democratic nomination for the Sen ate. The GOP should pick up another convert today when William Lucas, the elected administrator of Wayne County, Mich., is expected to an nounce he is switching from the Democratic Party to the Republican. ) Schroeder in critical but stable condition after brain hemorrhage Associated Press i LOUISVILLE, Ky. — William Schroeder was alert and responding to verbal commands Tuesday as doc tors tried to pinpoint the extent of damage from a brain hemorrhage that ended the longest-living artifi- •cial heart recipient’s 30-day liberty outside the hospital, officials said. IlSchroeder was in critical but stable condition at Humana Hospital Au dubon, where computer-enhanced X-rays Monday showed bleeding in his brain, said Bob Irvine, Humana Inc. public relations director. I'lmplant surgeon William C. DeV ries and Schroeder’s other doctors did not want to disclose details of Schroeder’s condition, including Where the bleeding occurred and the possible causes, Irvine said. I He said they might be more will ing to talk after viewing results of a second CAT scan, the computerized X[rays that last 45 to 60 minutes and allow doctors to view cross sections of the brain. ||The second scan, which would provide a comparison to the first, l^s scheduled for Tuesday. but stable condition at Humana Hospital Audu- m It may be some time before doc tors perform tests to determine whether Schroeder suffered lasting brain damage, said Donna Hazle, Audubon’s director of public rela tions. Dr. J.P. Salb, the Schroeder fami ly’s physician for the past 20 years, said the hemorrhage was on the left side of the brain, which controls the right side of the body. He stopped in Louisville on Monday on his way home to Jasper, Ind., after a trip. It was not known whether Sch roeder suffered a stroke, which Salb said can be caused by a hemorrhage. A cerebral hemorrhage occurs when a blood vessel breaks or blood seeps out of its normal channels, re sulting in too much blood washing over the brain. A stroke occurs when a clot blocks the flow of blood to the brain. Tuesday was Schroeder’s 164th day with the Jarvik-7 heart, which was not affected by the hemorrhage, Irvine said. Schroeder, 53, the only artificial heart recipient to be discharged from the hospital, had been living in a nearby apartment since April 6. He was readmitted after the initial CAT scan detected bleeding. Schroeder has been beset with set backs since receiving the Jarvik-7 mechanical pump Nov. 25. He suf fered a series of strokes Dec. 13, im pairing his speech and memory and leaving him partially paralyzed for awhile. Early this year he suffered mild seizures, fever and a flu-like ill- FINALS UJ€€K 1-5 p.m. M-F 214 Pavilion ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ 1. Give us your books mith the price at which you wish to sell. 2. UJe’ll give you o receipt. 3. 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