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I ne Dcittalion
)1.82 No. 194 GSPS 045360 6 pages
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College Station, Texas
Thursday, August 14, 1986
Committee OKs $632.2 billion spending cut plan
AUSTIN (AP) — The House Ap-
jjffiations Committee Wednesday
proved a $632.2 million spending
tplm that one member said goes
far it will hurt — and maybe kill.
The 24-4 vote set up a Friday de-
telfn the full House on the cuts
Itpre a key part of Speaker Gib
iwis plan to solve the state’s cash-
iw crisis without a tax hike.
“The strong support shown here
iay indicates the willingness on
j part of the House to make some
jMdrastic cuts,” Lewis said. “I’d
lacks in
it Africa
itshay vote
lean DURBAN, South Africa (AP) —
m he government said Wednesday it
a iay let blacks vote in national elec-
■ for the first lime, but only to
imKse members of an advisory
hr rjncil.
pn At the same time it reaffirmed the
ut ptv of segregated neighborhoods
npchools.
pkaBie worst violence since the state
eldf Rjmergency declaration June 12
ylu-Hreported in Soweto. Schoolchil-
it, a ■ roamed the streets of the huge
C ick township outside Johannes-
throwing stones and setting
ini res
lies|A proposal f° r elections to choose
black national advisory council was
neaJHof several put before a two-day
I re jBerence of the governing Na-
nenr Inal Party in a search for ways of
cam- teseiving white power while meet-
B black demands for reform of
Scott futh Africa’s racial policies. About
a |l as ®0delegates attended.
,yj n ir Besident P.W. Botha said in a
; un , alf-hour speech closing the con-
; his ress that there might be room for
lodifications in the laws segregating
ihools and residential areas, but he
>—-outly defended the principle.
i No one should apologize for send-
f iglchildren to schools where they
I wild be educated according to their
B cultural and religious tradi-
, Is, he said.
I ■|Chris Heunis, constitutional de-
elopment minister, said black elec-
tons would counter widespread crit-
n of the advisory council Botha
Iproposed.
he government depicts the
bcil as a forum in which the pres-
jMBjient would negotiate with black
|ers on ways of sharing power,
apy prominent blacks vow to
lurn the council unless it has for-
powers and African National
Congress leader Nelson Mandela is
, feed and invited to participate.
oui>
^ t Mandela has been in prison since
iersPp2.
Bile violence in Soweto was the
e widespread and longlasting re-
•• pned since the state of emergency
on#Bned public gatherings, autho-
sivesyized mass detentions without
Ige and restricted journalists in
Wering unrest.
like to challenge anyone from this
point on who says there is any fat in
state spending.”
Rep. Doyle Willis, D-Fort Worth,
told the appropriations committee
the cuts are too deep. He said hu
man service program cuts would
prevent scheduled hiring of more
investigators for child abuse cases.
“There’s no doubt in my mind
that if this bill passes without the
people being allowed to investigate
the complaints on abused children,
we’ll lose four or five children that
will be killed,” Willis said.
But when the vote was taken, with
Lewis looking on, Willis voted “aye.”
"I’m whipped,” he said.
The cuts hit almost all areas of
state government, including a 13
K ercent reduction for spending on
igher education.
Pleased with their work, commit
tee members gave themselves a brief
round of applause before adjourn
ing.
But State Treasurer Ann Rich
ards told lawmakers that cuts alone
probably won’t solve the budget cri
sis.
She called for a tax hike to be en
acted during the special session.
“A program of budget cuts solves
the cash-flow problem only tempo
rarily until August 1987, and de
laying revenue measures until Jan
uary will be too late,” she said.
Lewis opposes tax hikes being
pushed by Gov. Mark White and Lt.
Gov. Bill Hobby, who say the service
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Puttin’ Around
Photo by Anthony S. Casper
Scott Lee, a member of the Texas A&M golf team, practices putting in
preparation for a tournament this weekend. Lee says he puts in four
to eight hours of practice each day and has won two of the seven tour
naments he’s played in this summer.
cuts needed to balance the budget
would be too severe.
The total state deficit is projected
to hit $3.5 billion next August if
taxes are not raised or spending cut.
Lewis said a tax bill, if needed,
should be considered in the regular
1987 session beginning next Jan
uary.
The appropriations committee,
fearful of mounting opposition,
Wednesday delayed action on Lewis’
plan to raid the Permanent Univer
sity Fund and Permanent School
Fund for $1.1 billion.
Those funds long have been con
sidered untouchable and crucial to
education.
The $1.1 billion represents capital
gains earned on the funds in the past
five years. White and education offi
cials oppose the plan.
Jon Brumley, chairman of the
State Board of Education, said such
a policy would “rob Texas school-
children of a legacy promised to
them more than a century ago.”
Bullock estimates debt
of $5 billion by January
AUSTIN (AP) — Texas govern
ment will probably face a new deficit
of $5 billion in January, Gomptroller
Bob Bullock told a Senate committee
that met Wednesday to consider
proposals to raise money by a state
lottery.
Shortly after Bullock’s estimate of
the state’s worsening financial condi
tion, the lottery hearing was halted
because Gov. Mark White had not
opened the special session to any
revenue-raising measures.
“If the governor opens the call,
the measure can be reset for another
hearing,” said Sen. Ray Farabee, D-
Wichita Falls, committee chairman.
Bullock testified that if a state lot
tery is authorized by voters this No
vember, his office, which would ad
minister it, could be ready for
operations in 120 days.
He estimated the state’s general
revenue fund would get $55 million
from the lottery the first year.
Bullock was asked if the lottery
would solve the state’s estimated
$3.5 billion deficit, and he said,
“Your deficit is going to be so high
you need all the help you can get.”
However, he said he thought the
state “should solve its money prob
lems through a tax bill,” preferably
with an expansion of the state sales
tax, which he has advocated.
Bullock said that the $5 billion fig
ure would still be there in January,
“even if you solve the $3.5 billion or
$2.3 billion deficit, or whatever it is,
before you go home.”
The hearing on a proposed lot
tery referendum was halted because
Sen. Roy Blake, D-Nacogdoches,
protested it was not in the governor’s
call for the session.
About six witnesses, some for and
some against the proposal, went un
heard.
Sen. Hector Uribe, D-Brownsville,
author of the proposed constitu
tional amendment that would let
voters decide if they want a state lot
tery, asked that the witnesses be
heard although the committee did
not take a vote.
“I’m sure your witnesses will be
paid another handsome fee to come
back again,” said Blake, insisting on
his motion that the hearing be
stopped.
Faragee said that Blake’s motion
was technically correct because the
governor’s call for the special session
did not include any tax bill or reve
nue enhancement measures.
In a special session, the governor
has sole authority to say which issues
may be considered.
Uribe said once the lottery was in
full operation, it would provide
more than $600 million a year “paid
by willing citizens.”,
Gramm-Rudman
supporters seek
restoration of cuts
1 Summer exam schedule set
I The Academic Operations Committee has approved a revision in the final examination schedule for 10 week
rlasses meeting 10-11:30 a.m. and noon-1:30 p.m. due to classroom conflicts with certain 5 week classes. No revi
sions were necessary for 10 week classes meeting 8-9:30 a.m. or from 2-3:30 p.m, or for 5 week classes. Final exami-
tations for these classes will be given as published in the Class Schedule 1986.
II The 10 week examination schedule is listed below:
|i August 14, Thursday, 7-9 p.m Classes meeting 10-11:30 a.m.(REVISED)
1 August 15, Friday, 8-10 a.m Classes meeting 8-9:30 a.m.(NO REVISION)
H August 15, Friday, 12 N-1.30 p.m Classes meeting 12 N-T.30 p.m.(REVISED)
I August 15, Friday, 7-9 p.m Classes meeting 2-2:30 p.m.(NO REVISION)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate
supporters of the Gramm-Rudman
act said Wednesday they will use the
threat of a Treasury default to force
House passage this week of a plan to
restore the law’s automatic spending
cuts.
But House Speaker Thomas P.
O’Neill Jr. said Democratic leaders
were ready to battle the plan and
that the House would meet Gramm-
Rudman’s deficit-reduction goals
without it.
The political salvos set the stage
for an intense face-off as Congress
tries to leave Friday on a three-week
recess, an imperative for many law
makers in an election year.
Caught in the middle is a stopgap
$73.3 billion increase in the national
debt ceiling, which the Treasury De
partment contends is urgently
needed to avoid risk of default in
early September before Congress re
turns.
The House Ways and Means
Committee on Wednesday approved
the interim debt hike, needed be
cause a long-term debt bill has al
ready been tied up with the Gramm-
Rudman language. Full House pas
sage is expected on Thursday.
But Sens. Phil Gramm, R-Texas;
Warren Rudman, R-N.H.; Ernest F.
Hollings, D-S.C.; and Pete V. Dome-
nici, R-N.M., announced they would
repeat their Gramm-Rudman
amendment when the short-term bill
reaches the Senate.
“No action will be taken (to reduce
deficits) unless that disciplining de
vice is in place,” said Gramm.
Domenici, chairman of the Senate
Budget Committee, said the auto
matic cuts should be attached to the
short-term debt bill because they
were “the best possible way to assure
that we are going to control the defi
cit.” He said delaying the decision
until next month would only distract
Congress from its real goal — enact
ing responsible deficit-reduction leg
islation to avoid the cuts.
Gramm-Rudman calls for across-
the-board cuts if Congress and the
president fail to reduce deficits to
E re-set limits designed to balance the
udget by fiscal 1991. For fiscal
1987, which begins Oct. 1, the deficit
target is $ 144 billion.
Speaker’s
funding
attacked
AUSTIN (AP) — Campaign
spending reports show that
House Speaker Gib Lewis re
ceived almost all of his contribu
tions this year from people out
side his district, Lewis’ challenger
said Wednesday.
Republican K. Wayne Lee said
the reports show that of $500,000
raised by Lewis from Jan. 1
through June 30, only $550 came
from Lewis constituents in the
Tarrant County district.
“When you look at Gib’s re
cord, this . . . doesn’t seem so un
usual,” Lee told a Capitol news
conference. “His voting record is
clearly out of line with the wishes
of his constituents.”
The speaker acknowledged
raising “quite a bit of money” out
side his district, but that “every bit
of it has been voluntary,” he said.
“I have not solicited one nickel
from anybody.”
Lewis said some of those con
tributions have been from politi
cal action committees.
“Hundreds of those people
(represented by the PACS) do live
in my district,” he said. “That’s
just something that he doesn’t un
derstand.”
The speaker said he will be get
ting contributions from his dis
trict at a Sept. 18 fundraiser in
Fort Worth.
Lee’s news conference was held
in the Speaker’s Committee
Room, and five House members,
all Lewis allies, attended.
“Gib Lewis helped pass the
largest tax increase in the history
of the state of Texas while his
constituents were calling for
lower taxes,” Lee said.
Lewis backed the 1984 tax bill
that raised taxes by $4.6 billion
over three years to pay for educa
tion reforms and highway im-
E rovements, which Lee said could
ave been made by cuts on other
programs such as human serv
ices.
Reagan maid faces
charges of smuggling
I WASHINGTON (AP) — First
lady Nancy Reagan’s personal
maid was put on leave last week
after she was charged with trying
to smuggle munitions to Para
guay, federal officials said
Wednesday.
|vWhite House spokesman Larry
Speakes said that Anita Castelo,
<45, was put on administrative
Meave Aug. 7 after the White
! House was informed by law en-
! forcement agencies that she had
been charged in a complaint filed
mjthe U.S. District Court in Rich
mond, Va.
Tacy Campbell of the Rich
mond office of the U.S. Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Fire-
artns said 50,000 rounds of .22-
iber rifle ammunition destined
for Paraguay were seized Aug. 4
from a freighter owned by the
Paraguayan government.
The Paraguayan-born Castelo
was arraigned last Friday after
voluntarily surrendering and en
tering a plea of not guilty on
charges of aiding and abetting
the illegal export of munitions.
She was released by the court on
$50,000 personal bond, Rich
mond officials said.
Castelo has not been indicted.
She has been charged by the fed
eral Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms with aiding and
abetting in the illegal exportation
of munitions, and probable cause
has been found to refer the
charge to a grand jury that will
convene Sept. 15.
Senate approves aid to Contras
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
Senate approved President Reagan’s
$100 million aid package for Nicara
gua’s Contra guerrillas Wednesday
night, after a day of legislative action
that also cleared the way to act on
sanctions against South Africa.
The 53-47 roll call vote on the
Contra aid provision also earmarked
$300 million in aid to four of Nicara
gua’s neighbors: El Salvador, Costa
Rica, Guatemala, and Honduras.
The Senate then voted 59-41 to
adopt the overall $8.2 billion mili
tary construction appropriations bill,
of which the aid plan was a part.
Earlier, an impasse on the two
controversial foreign policy issues
was broken when the Senate
hurdled a series of procedural
roadblocks with three roll-call votes
that limited debate on both matters.
That cleared the way for up-and-
down votes on both measures — per
haps in time for the Senate to meet
its goal of starting a three-week Au
gust recess after Friday’s session.
In the first attempt to choke off
debate on Contra aid, the Senate fell
one vote short — 59-40 — of the 60
votes needed to end a filibuster. It
then w'ent on to vote 89-11 to limit
debate on sanctions against South
Africa’s white minority government
and eventually voted 62-37 to limit
debate on Contra aid.
The two issues had been linked in
a complex agreement crafted by Re
publican and Democratic leaders.
The cloture votes cut procedural
knots that had threatened to keep
the Senate tied up indefinitely on
the two highly charged issues..
Opponents of the Reagan policy,
who predict aid to the Contras will
cause U.S. troops to become snared
in a bloodv Vietnam-stvle war in
Central America, pleaded with other
senators to hold fast.
Sen. Lowell Weicker, R-Conn.,
said that although he opposed aid
ing the Contras, he would vote to
shut off debate “so that the cries of
South Africa might finally be heard
by the U.S. Senate and the govern
ment of the United States.
In two days of debate on Contra
aid, the Senate rejected complaints it
was giving the Reagan administra
tion “a blank check” or that it was
opening the door to sending Ameri
can troops to war in Nicaragua.
Amendments were rejected to
scrap the aid plan altogether, to for
bid the use of U.S. troops in Nicara
gua, and to forbid the use of Ameri
can combat advisers to train the
Contras in either Honduras or Costa
Rica, countries that border Nicara
gua.
Correction
A story in Wednesday’s Battal
ion stated that non-resident tu
ition will increase next year. Actu
ally non-resident tuition is not
expected to increase next year.
The Texas College and Uni
versity Coordinating Board man
dated last year that non-resident
tuition would increase as the cost
of educating that student in
creases. Mack C. Adams, an assis
tant commissioner on the board,
says he does not anticipate an in
crease in the cost of a non-resi
dent’s education. Therefore he
says their tuition would remain at
$120 next year.