Thursday • November 16, 1995
Page 9 • The Battalion
Battle of budget may be over
□ The GOP proposed a
stopgap measure to
reopen government in
exchange for Clinton's
approval of their
budgetary demands.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With
a partial shutdown stretching
through a second, disruptive
day, Republicans crafted legisla
tion Wednesday to reopen gov
ernment on condition President
Clinton agrees to balance the
budget in seven years. The Trea
sury resorted to unusual finan
cial footwork to head off default.
With no face-to-face talks
scheduled to end the impasse,
the two sides scrambled for po
litical position on an issue that
has divided them all year.
“It’s time for him to put up or
shut up” on balancing the bud
get, Mississippi Rep. Mike
Parker, who switched from De
mocrat to Republican last week,
said of Clinton.
“This is Newt’s nightmare,”
Senate Minority Leader Tom
Daschle, D-S.D., said of House
Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.
“He wants chaos. He wants col
lapse of the government, and
now he’s got it.”
Gingrich began the day by
telling reporters the standoff
“could well last 90 days.” But af
ter meeting with Senate Majori
ty Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., he
was conferring with colleagues
on a stopgap measure to reopen
the government if Clinton would
bow to the GOP’s balanced-bud
get demands.
In a retreat for Republicans,
the bill would be stripped of a hike
in Medicare premiums that Clin
ton cited in vetoing an earlier bill.
Earlier, Gin
grich had said
lawmakers
would begin
work on legis
lation to re
open targeted
agencies, such
as Social Secu
rity and pass
port offices. Of
ficials said
that approach
was being sidetracked, however,
while Republicans awaited Clin
ton’s reaction to the other mea
sure.
With the government’s bor
rowing authority curtailed,
Treasury Secretary Robert Ru
bin executed a bookkeeping ma
neuver that gives the govern
ment greater flexibility. In ef
fect, he replaced securities in
two trust funds with $61.3 bil
lion in lOUs that do not count
against the debt limit.
“This is no way for a great na
tion to manage its financial af
fairs,” said Rubin, a former Wall
Street financier, underscoring
that Social Security trust funds
were not involved. But “using
this authority is immeasurably
preferable to default.”
The financial markets reacted
calmly, belying predictions they
would react negatively to the un
certainty of the budget-and-bor-
rowing impasse.
Democrats said the disruption
caused by the government’s par
tial closure was more substantial.
An estimated 800,000 federal
workers deemed “nonessential”
were off the job for the second
day, from agencies as diverse as
the Arms Control and Disarma
ment Agency, which monitors nu
clear arms proliferation, to the
National Endowment for the Arts.
The party’s whip, Rep. David
Bonior of Michigan, displayed an
oversized chart on the House
floor that said more than one
million people were “hurt by the
Republican government shut
down” on its first day.
The list included 28,000 un
able to apply for Social Security
or disability benefits; 700 would-
be recruits unable to enlist in
the armed forces; 781,000 he
said had been turned away from
national parks and monuments.
The disruptions were felt in
side the Capitol, where tourists
climbing the steps to the front
door discovered that tour guides
had been furloughed.
GOP works to save veterans’ benefits
□ Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison wants
to ensure that the government
shutdown does not halt checks.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Repub
licans are introducing legislation that would al
low veterans and their survivors to keep receiv
ing benefits checks even if the government shut
down drags on.
The budgetary impasse between the White
House and the Republican-led Congress has called
into question whether the Department of Veterans
Affairs will be able to issue its next batch of
checks on Dec. 1.
Slightly more than 3.5 million people nation
wide, including nearly 250,000 Texans, receive an
estimated $1.4 billion in veterans benefits each
month. Department officials said this week that
unless the budget gridlock is solved by early next
week, they don’t have the cash on hand to meet
next month’s payments.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, has
blasted that decision as an “outrage” and accused
the administration of holding veterans hostage
for political gain.
Mrs. Hutchison and other Republicans contend
the administration could divert some of the U.S.
Treasury’s receipts to cover veterans benefits
along with other essential services.
She is expected to introduce legislation that
would provide for the payment of veterans bene
fits during the government shutdown.
Similar legislation was introduced in the House
on Tuesday by Rep. Tim Hutchinson, R-Ark. The bill
would provide for a specific appropriation to keep
the veterans benefits coming, as well as allowing the
department to call back to duty the personnel neces
sary to issue the checks.
Hutchinson, Mrs. Hutchison and House Majority
Leader Dick Armey, R-Irving, were to hold a news
conference later today to outline the legislation, in
troduced with the GOP leadership’s blessing.
Diversity
Continued from Page 1
students more effectively by challenging them to
take a closer look at diversity issues, Petit said.
“Because the whole issue of diversity is so
complex, we’re going to talk about renewal and
how to remain personally centered,” she said,
“because we are constantly challenged by the
work we do.”
The conference will be a success if those at
tending take what they learn back to the work
place, Petit said.
“I would hope that individuals will be in
spired to take a leadership role back to their re
spective environment as it relates to diversity,”
he said. “I hope they come away with more of an
appreciation for different cultures.”
David Sweeney, Adaptive Technology Ser
vices coordinator, said the conference will en
able different groups to find similarities.
“Finding common ground between diverse
groups holds the greatest potential for the confer
ence,” Sweeney said. “We hope to reinforce the
idea that we are more similar than different.”
The conference is Nov. 17 in Rudder Tower
between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. The cost is $10 for
A&M faculty members and students including
lunch, and free without lunch. All others must
pay $30.
Climate
Continued from Page 1
A campus must make a con
scious effort between students
and faculty to create a learn
ing environment that encour
ages student interaction in
and out of the classroom set
ting, she said.
This can be reached, she
said, by incorporating students
in research and teaching activ
ities and providing undergrad
uate research programs.
“Having one or two under
graduates a year work with me
on my research projects is my
contribution to improving the
climate for diversity,” she said.
“At the same time, I manage to
remain in my role as a faculty
member, and we are able to
work toward a common goal.”
For the efforts toward diver
sity to be successful, Hurtado
said, an institution must de
clare that the support of such
diversity is one of its main pri
orities and the institution
must have its climate properly
assessed.
Hurtado also suggested the
initiation of co-curricular and
curricular activities that en
courage communication
among different racial and
ethnic groups.
Sadly, she said, the climate
for diversity is often over
looked for the sake of the bud
get of the institution or ignored
by the institution because the
school feels it has an adequate
number of minorities enrolled.
“Often institutions see in
creasing the number of minori
ties enrolled as a way of im
proving the climate for diversi
ty,” she said.
But growth in enrollment
does not equal equitable repre
sentation, Hurtado said. “What
institutions really need to do is
concentrate on providing a satis
fying college experience for peo
ple of diverse cultures,” she said.
Stone
Continued from Page 1
Although America’s leaders are lacking in all of
these characteristics, he said, it is people’s unwill
ingness to take risks that is most detrimental to
society today.
Journalism is only one area that is devoid of the
attributes required of leaders, Stone said, especial
ly because it has lost prestige since television has
taken over.
“We have gone downhill in our journalistic mis
sion from the enormous respect that newspapers
provoke within us to the sound bite queen, Sally
Jesse Raphael,” he said.
Stone, a one time special assistant to slain civil
rights leader Malcolm X, said no leaders exist today
like Jay D. Rockefeller, John F. Kennedy or Malcolm
X who all took great risks to better society.
Society lacks great leaders today because there
is no need to take risks. Stone said.
“We don’t feel as threatened today, so we don’t
take great risks,” he said.
Another reason it is so hard to find leaders to
day, Stone said, is because our society is fractured.
“We must mobilize our energies for a composite
multicultural leadership,” he said. “Multiculturalism
has been transformed into a power struggle today.”
Stone said America needs leaders who can tran
scend the boundaries of conflicts.
“We must rise above the embittered conflicts be
tween groups,” Stone said.
Urging the audience to action, Stone said, “We
have it in our power to be as good as we must be. Now
is the time to prove it to the world and our children.”
Leaders must not only rise above racial fis
sures, he said, but the political divisions that drive
the country apart.
“Neither party has been able to achieve fiscal
unity with populist compassion,” Stone said.
Stone said he hopes the year 2000 will provide
stronger presidential candidates to move Ameri
ca forward.
“We must look to the year 2000 because we have
already lost 1996 to mediocrity — 1996 must be the
final surrender to the charity of politics,” he said.
Stone said he is optimistic for the future and is
awaiting the renewal of America’s adventure spirit.
“We are facing insecurity, but also the possibili
ty of a renaissance,” Stone said.
Dr. Marilyn Kern-Foxworth, a journalism pro
fessor, said Stone’s speech was relevant to to
day’s society.
“I thought it was right on target by putting
some of the problems we have in leadership in per
spective and how they can polarize or solidify a sit
uation,” Kern-Foxworth said.
SCARE RIR WITH
24-pk. Budweiser,
Miller or Goers
12-oz. Cans Suitcase Selected Varieties
12-pack
Coca-Cola
12-oz. Cans Any Variety
Randalls
Dips
7-oz. On. Selected Varieties
2.5
2.5
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Snack Crackers
5.5 ■ 10-oz. Box Selected Varieties
2.3
Ruffles
or Fritos
14 - 16-oz. Selected Varieties
2.3
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