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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 3, 2000)
N AT I ON&VORLD Page 12 THE BATTALION Monday,jW Economy’s strength boosts U.S. revenues WASHINGTON (AP) — Whether it’s cramming more spending into the budget or easing voters' worries about Social Security and Medicare solvency, politicians'jobs are being made a whole lot easier by the blazing economy. For reasons the experts have yet to fully grasp, the economy is growing at breakneck speed, causing revenue to cascade into federal coffers and budget surpluses to swell. What once seemed unaffordable is now deliverable for President Clinton and Congress, a delectable election- year scenario for incumbents. “It’s like a small business man who wakes up and finds he has more money in the cash register than he ever thought possible,” said Richard May, a consultant and former Repub lican staffdirector of the House Budget Committee. “And he not only doesn’t have to shut the shop down, he's going to make money.” Want to boast to voters that you will shrink the govern ment's $3.6 trillion publicly held debt by at least $1 trillion over the next five years? A GOP-written fiscal 2001 bud- politicians are enjoying to high technology, the surging stock market and other forces driving today’s economy. Just last w'eek, the government said the economy grew at a 7.3 percent annual rate for the last quarter of 1999, the steepest jump in close to 16 years. Thanks to the economy’s strength, federal revenues have consistently and dramatically outpaced official ex pectations in recent years, bringing with them the record budget surpluses considered unattainable a few years ago. When Republicans took “It's like a small busi nessman who wakes up and finds he has more money in the cash regis ter than he ever thought possible.” — Richard May consultant and former Republican staff director of the House Budget Committee get that Congress hopes to finish in two weeks and Clin ton’s rival spending plan both make that once implausi ble promise, and many expect them to deliver. How about squeezing some extra money for defense and farmers, and to battle drug producers in Colombia into this year’s budget without tapping Social Security sur pluses? That’s what a $13 billion measure passed by the House last week would do, with billions of dollars to spare. And how about reassuring Americans that Medicare will have enough money until 2023, and that Social Se curity won't run dry until 2037? That’s what trustees for both programs reported last week, easing whatever polit ical pressure lawmakers faced to shore up either one for the retirement of the baby boom generation. All this because, after three decades of annual budget deficits, the government turned a $69 billion surplus in 1998. Projections are for grow'ing black ink for the next decade and beyond. Some credit for this has to go to savings enacted in the 1990 budget deal between President Bush and Congress, and subsequent pacts between Clinton and lawmakers in 1993 and 1997. But mostly, analysts credit the federal surpluses that over Congress in January 1995, the nonpartisan Con gressional Budget Office projected a $253 billion fed eral deficit for fiscal 1999, with even deeper shortfalls on the way. But when the books closed Oct. 1 on fiscal 1999, there was a $124 bil lion surplus — a $377 bil lion improvement. Surpluses are still grow ing. Between January and March, the Congressional Budget Office raised its sur plus projection for 2000 by $3 billion to $179 billion. Private analysts say the figure could hit $210 billion by year’s end. Israeli vision of Palestinian day, April 3,2001 RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) evitability of Palestinian statehood, a top Palestinian negotiator said Sunday — but it envisions the state as unnatural “islands in an Israeli ocean,” an outcome that would be unacceptable to Palestinians. Yasser Abed Rabbo, who is leading talks with Israelis in Washington, said there has been little progress in bridging gaps that led to a breakdown in negotiations in February. The re newed U.S.-sponsored talks aim for an outline of a final agree ment by May and a full-fledged agreement by September. Abed Rabbo said Israel’s insistence on limited statehood, as well as its refusal to accommodate Palestinian refugees, "is the most dangerous issue we are facing.” Israel has not formally proposed such a state, and Israeli Cabinet Minister Haim Ramon described Abed Rabbo’s per ception of Israel’s position as “extreme.” Abed Rabbo said Israel had dropped its opposition to the Palestinian state Yasser Arafat hopes to declare by September. The problem, he said, is Israel’s vision of that state. The West Bank would be divided into two clusters of land connected by a passage. Along with some West Bank suburbs ^hey have no morals. The\ have no he. The words est\ and decen- §|n e no mean- jo them. They Israel accepts the in- of Jerusalem, the proposed state would cover about k r ey 0 n the weak- state is found unacceptable current West Bank. Israel would control two Palestinian border crossitJ Jordan, as it now controls the border crossing betweentfl Strip and Fgypt. Large Jewish settlements wouldbecosf by Israel, and Israel would also control security ontnajctl Abed Rabbo said that proposal which hedescrikl lands in an Israeli ocean" is unacceptable to Palestine^?"' he repeated demands for the return of all Palestiniaii-:M 1Sl ! s ^'" C - in ^ X1 , jmsmk their creed I’his is w hat the lit used ear dea Kd and the easi- Ifluenced. If I could, they we Blue-haired gran "j they have. Anc ^■he Internet, loo * IU i cuwuur™ all lands captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war. Ramon, who is close to the negotiations, said the side not so far !i ment on most issues, “ \t the end we will reach an agreement \vith ttePaW™^' 01111 ^ t * 1 ans over a Palestinian si itc." Ramon said. "It will notkire' u ^h xt " l '' UISI1 that the Palestinians could not accept." B 8 - USC< J ^ ar deal Ramon said Israel tees a Palestinian state withlimittiB 011 the inform crcignty, especially o\ er security matters. pier this month t He suggested postponing discussion of Jerusalem, c tent of Transporta by both sides as their capital, for a few years inorderti agreement on the other issues by September. Abed Rati jected the idea. iston-area sectn npany’s “Ford 1 ’’ was closed ( Is pending revi ay it operates Both parties have promised not to touch the part of the surplus that comes from Social Security. CBO estimated in March that this year’s non-Social Security surplus will be $26 billion, which lawmakers feel free to use for high er spending, cutting the gasoline tax or debt reduction. But that figure should also grow, perhaps to $40 bil lion. experts say. So far, these non-Social Security surpluses have been big enough to satisfy lawmakers’ urges to boost spending and cut taxes without eroding Social Security funds. But the money is not limitless. Republicans omitted George W. Bush’s proposed five- year, $483 billion tax cut from their budget, partly for fear that the GOP presidential candidate’s plan would indeed eat into Social Security money. And to fit their tax and spending plans into next year’s budget, both Clinton and the GOP are using accounting gimmicks. Among other tricks, both would push a feder al payday and scheduled payments to some defense con tractors from the first days of fiscal 2001 into the last days of fiscal 2000, freeing up $7 billion in next year’s budget. But thanks to the economy, politicians’ toughest bud get task these days is deciding which goodies to dis pense to the public. Ambush investigation pursuit ussian defense minister byRi GOISKOYE, Russia (AP) — Russia’s de fense minister on Sunday sharply criticized the military command in Chechnya for an op eration that left at least 43 Russian servicemen dead after an ambush by Chechen rebels. Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev, who was observing military maneuvers in Tajikistan, said there will be an inquiry to determine who is to blame for the ambush and to what extent, Interfax news agency reported. “We are ready to expose these mistakes since if problems and mistakes are not re vealed, it will be impossible to eliminate them,” Interfax quoted him as saying. He blamed the “inadequately firm cen tralized command and a lack of efficiency among officials to cope with duties assigned by the Interior and Defense Ministers” for the debacle, according to Interfax. Col. Ilya Lukin, deputy commander of Russian forces in the Vedeno district of Chechnya, told Interfax on Sunday that 37 soldiers from a unit ofOMON special troops from an Interior Ministry' unit were killed in Thursday’s ambush. Six soldiers from a regular army unit sent to help them following the attack also died. At least 11 servicemen were still miss ing Sunday. The ambush was the latest in a series of at tacks that inflicted heavy losses on the Rus sians, showing their vulnerability to the rebels despite their claims to have defeated the rebels and restored federal ■ Lrel over Chechnya. The defense minister said federal forces have destroyed all major rebel groups in Chechnya. “There are no large pockets of resistance left in the republic,” he said. “The militants have been scattered in small groups.” Speaking in an interview on the Itogi weekly news program, Col. Gen. Gennady eople buying c |A1 though lookii legal in the sta shut down bei in automotive Jchasing of vehi< first time, a car ilway with the s; (let people buy a 11 o'! cv. .i top commander in 0 ®ip to sign the p ill for the TxDOT According to the said the major error was to OMON unit travel a road that was a under Russia control and was feon (Enforcemen m ound and air cover. He alsofc: By to buy cars o\ reconnaissance tor the attack. allowed to con Rebel hands arc stepping up it ^ era i other metro] paimi to sabotage Russian troops and San Franc number of ambushes on motorize;®: ian convoys is on the increase,tkr§| command's press service toldITM on Sunday. There has been no let up in rebel to infiltrate villages in southern®! order to replenish dwindling food the press service said. Russian artillery has beem"? bombarding rebel positions oventfi* on Sunday around the southernvite 1 sa-Vedeno, Tangi-Chu and TseoteT - terfax reported. nee again a designed t< enlightenn en overlooked b on. National Slee ess Week has pas ierica by. The pi rat be at the Natio leep Foundation ( dthe days and do formation about sleep correctly. 5 full of bad sleep As with most a\ leep Awareness V lowledge-tuming However, Natk iould have caugh anges should ha 1 leep-deprived life Forty percent o [leepy their daily d the National Slei Americans claii ;e — the nation I |ver, with abundan ation. Unfortunai iem little good wi continue to ignore top in bed. Instead, people ss television shoe tey drink caffeine m substances pro A sleep debt foi let enough sleep. I ight nights in a ro 1 tough it has pulle< tasy — the body’s Most American tuge sleep debts th txtra hours on Satx USA Today. These debts an onger reaction tin affic accidents. Even though th ericans’ attentic fiwspapers, Oprah