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93 No. 43 (10 pages)
1893 — A Century of Service to Texas A&M — 1993
Wednesday, October 27,1993
Health plan will save less than expected, official says
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Clinton's
[health reform proposal will fall $30 billion
[short of the budget savings predicted earli-
|er, an administration official said Tuesday
[as the White House readied the plan for
[delivery to Congress.
The president and Hillary Rodham
[Clinton were due to bring the 1,600-page
bill to Congress in person Wednesday in a
ceremony in Statuary Hall.
Clinton has argued that without a sharp
slowdown in health inflation, the federal
deficit would spiral back up later in this
decade. His economic advisers had vowed
to sacrifice further deficit reduction before
raising taxes any more for health reform.
In the original draft, Clinton's health
plan would have lowered the deficit by $91
billion between now and the year 2000.
Dr. Philip R. Lee, the assistant secretary
for health, told a medical educators' meet
ing the deficit reduction figure now is
"around $60 billion."
Other administration officials said the
revised plan will offer discounted coverage
to some small businesses with as many as
75 workers.
The cutoff had been 50 workers in the
original plan.
And a government takeover of employ
ers' costs of providing health benefits for
early retirees ages 55 to 64 will be phased
in slowly between 1998 and 2001, said the
officials, who spoke on condition of
anonymity.
The White House has backed down
from an ambitious goal to reserve half of
all residencies for doctors training in pri
mary care within five years.
Instead, it would set a goal of having 55
percent of the residents in primary care by
the year 2002.
Seventy percent of the 625,000 U.S. doc
tors now are specialists.
Clinton said Tuesday he was not willing
to water down his health reform plan in
the face of criticism from the National As
sociation of Manufacturers that he was
promising Americans too much.
"Most manufacturers are going to save
money on this. If they want to look a gift
horse in the mouth, that can be their deci
sion," the president said.
Building to be named after Koldus
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)2.1993
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Tommy Huynh/TnL Battalion
James Lyle, from Photographic Services, takes some photos of the named after Dr. John J. Koldus, former vice-president of student ser-
Student Services Building. The Student Services Building will be vices, at 9 a.m. Saturday.
Charges dropped
against Hutchison
The Associated Press
AUSTIN — Indictments charg
ing U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison
with official misconduct were dis
missed by a state judge Tuesday,
but the senator remained under
investigation.
The indictments were dropped
after Hutchison's lawyers discov
ered that the grand jury which
handed them up included a juror
who was ineligible because of a
charge pending against him since
1988 for a $20 hot check.
A second grand jury has already
resumed the investigation into
Hutchison, prosecutors said. A for
mer aide to Hutchison when she
was state treasurer was subpoe
naed Tuesday.
Hutchison, a Republican, was
indicted Sept. 27 on charges of us
ing her previous office as state trea
surer for personal and political
purposes and then destroying
records as part of a coverup.
She has denied any wrongdoing
and calls the charges a Democratic
plot to discredit her.
Hutchison's attorneys filed mo
tions to have the charges dismissed
because of the improperly seated
grand juror. Travis County District
Attorney Ronnie Earle had agreed.
But on Monday, Hutchison's
defense team surprised State Dis
trict Judge Mike Lynch by asking
that the charges stand so that
Hutchison's trial could start as ini
tially scheduled Nov. 29.
Instead of the grand jury
charges, Hutchison's attorney Dick
Houston director backs
Clinton s Somalia plan
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By Lisa Elliott
The Battalion
The former director of the Mosher Institute for International Studies
at Texas A&M was back on campus Tuesday night to express his sup
port for Clinton's new plan on the United States' involvement in Soma
lia in a presentation sponsored by the MSC L.T. Jordan Institute for In
ternational Awareness.
Dr. Ronald Hatchett, currently the director of the Center for Interna
tional Studies at St. Thomas University in Houston, said Clinton made
a mistake by trying to force Somalia to conform to American policy.
"Now his policy is right but it ought to have been the policy he
stuck with from the start," he said.
He said the dilemma the United States faces is the decision of
whether to lose credibility by giving up its efforts in Somalia or pre
serve our reputation as a world leader and stick with our plans.
Hatchett said the original plan of the United States was to provide
food and aid with the help of the United Nations to the starving people
of Somalia. The American government went too far when it attempted
See Somalia/Page 3
Bryan Main Street offers entertainment for all
By Geneen Pipher
Tommy Huynh/THE Battalion
New businesses on Bryan's Main Street are booming and bringing
in thousands of dollars to the community each week.
The Battalion
In the 1970s and '80s, Bryan's
Main Street area stood virtually
lifeless and abandoned, but with
the help of the Main Street Pro
ject, the historic district that once
seemed destined to collapse in
ruins is prospering again.
Elizabeth Miller, manager of
the Main Street Project, said that
since January 1992, many new
nightclubs and other businesses
have opened in the Main Street
area bringing in thousands of
dollars each week.
"From January of 1992 to Sep
tember of 1993, 14 new business
es have opened," she said. "The
city has benefited from the $2.9
million that has been put back
into the community by those new
businesses."
The Main Street Project is a
state recognized program that
helps cities restore prosperity to
their downtown or main street
areas. Miller said.
"The goal of the program is to
see that the area is revitalized
economically while preserving
the historic flavor of the area,"
she said. "Now that the city is
taking the lead in redevelopment,
people are really starting to sit up
and take notice."
Miller said shopping malls
and strip centers lured away po
tential customers, making the
See Downtown/Page 6
DeGuerin said she could face
charges, called an information, is
sued directly by the district attor
ney's office.
. But Earle called the move a legal
trick to make it appear Hutchison
wanted a speedy resolution of the
case, while her attorneys delayed
proceedings with other motions
challenging the way the grand jury
gathered evidence.
On Tuesday, Lynch rejected
Hutchison's proposal.
"The court understands and ap
preciates the defendant's request
for a prompt trial, but this court is
without power or authority to
act," Lynch said in a one-page or
der. "A trial court in Texas has no
authority to file an information,
nor order the prosecuting attorney
to file one."
David Beckwith, a spokesman
for Hutchison, said Lynch's deci
sion will "further add to the delay
Mr. Earle has consistently sought."
Hutchison's attorneys have filed
a motion to allow them to make a
presentation to the grand jury,
Beckwith said.
The Travis County District At
torney's office denied it was trying
to delay the case.
David Halpern, spokesman for
the office, said Lynch's decision
was expected. "We'll continue to
present the case to the grand jury
that began hearing evidence yester
day," Halpern said.
The newly issued subpoena
was for Leslie Rawl of Austin,
who was a former administrative
assistant to Hutchison when she
was state treasurer.
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102
Inside
Campus
•Area officials warn against
Halloween pranks
Page 2
Sports
•McElroy and Mitchell excel
at collegiate level
Page 7
Opinion
Magee: Money can't solve
everything
Page 9
Licensing limits professional entries for grads
By Jacqueline Mason
• Wednesday: mostly
cloudy with chance of
rain, highs in 60s, lows
in 40s
•Thursday: partly cloudy,
high near 70, lows in
40s
•Weekend forecast: fair,
highs in 60s, lows in 40s
The Battalion
Upon graduation, many Aggies will be
barred from entering more than 80 professions
until they acquire an occupational license by
the state of Texas.
Occupational licensing involves restricting
people from entering a profession if they can
not demonstrate basic knowledge in that field
through examination.
"The key is whether or not a person is com
petent to practice that profession," said Billy
Rankin, associate dean for Student Affairs and
Admission of the Texas A&M Medical School.
Licensing is the best way to assure profes
sionals practice what they learned in school,
he said.
But, Political Science Professor Dan Wood
said, when professionals such as doctors.
lawyers and engineers use licensing to limit
entry into their professions, they create a lack
of competition in the market.
"Occupational licensing amounts to mo
nopolization into entry into a profession by
government and implicitly by the profession
itself," he said.
The effect of this barrier to entry, he said, is
higher salaries for professionals and higher
prices charged to customers.
The primary defense of occupational li
censing is that it preserves public health and
safety.
"It's the best mechanism I know of for try
ing to protect the consumer," Rankin said.
Public safety is not limited to the medical
profession.
Jed Sulak, president of the student chapter
of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers,
said it is necessary for civil engineers, for ex
ample, to have a license because they deal
with the public through the construction of
such things as roads and waterlines.
Not all engineers must have a license, but
those who do not have one are limited as to
what they can do, he said.
Former deputy executive director for the
State Board of Registration for Professional En
gineers Fred Herber said he would like to see
all engineers licensed.
"It would cause them to think higher of
their profession," he said.
Most regulated professions award licenses
via examination.
Medical students, for instance, take a stan
dard, three-part test called the United States
Medical Licensing Examination.
See Licensing/Page 5
omorrow in Aggielife
Features:
“ Just for Jason”
Benefit Concert
A&M s Singing Cadets
Reviews:
Star Trek i
Hint ms In Trisha Yearwood and Taam Tucker