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Wednesday, March 3, 2004
THE BATTAll
Senate Republicans scuttl
gun bill after losing vote
By Jesse J. Holland
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Senate defeats gun bill
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans scuttled
an election-year bill to immunize the gun industry
from lawsuits Tuesday after Democrats amended it to
extend an assault weapons ban and require back
ground checks on all buyers at private gun shows.
The National Rifle Association began pressur
ing senators to vote against the bill after
Democrats won votes on the two key gun control
measures. The 90-8 vote against the bill virtually
ends any chance for gun legislation to make
through Congress this year.
“I now believe it is so dramatically wounded
that I would urge my colleagues to vote against
it,” said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, the sponsor of
the gunmaker immunity bill.
Democrats won close votes on their amend
ments to change the Republican legislation, a
strategy aimed at pressuring the GOP-dominated
House to accept the restrictions to gain passage of
the gunmaker-immunity bill.
While Democrats won’t get the gun ban exten
sion and the gun show legislation, they called the
vote a success. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.,
said, “The immunity bill was a terrible bill. We’re
better off at the end of the day than we were at the
beginning of the day.”
Underlining the importance of the day to
■Democrats, presidential contenders John Kerry of
Massachusetts and John Edwards of North
Carolina broke away from the campaign trail to
cast their first Senate votes of the year, joining the
52- 47 majority on the assault weapons ban and the
53- 46 majority on the gun show bill.
A dozen Republican senators voted for one or
both of the provisions, allowing minority
Democrats to gain victories on the amendments.
The House last year passed a bill to shield gun-
makers and dealers from liability suits by crime
victims. But Republican leaders in the House
refused to allow a vote on continuing for another
decade the assault weapons ban, which is to expire
in September.
Democrats had hoped their victories in the
Senate on gun shows and assault weapons would
force Republicans to let the House also vote on
them. But the White House said the two amend
ments would only kill the effort to immunize the
Although the Senate voted Tuesday to extend thesemlauta
assault weapons ban, it is still scheduled to expire on Sepi
because the legislation it was attached to was defeated. The
bans 19 specific weapons and their copies and semiaulwj
pistols and rifles with a detachable ammunition magazine ml*
or more military style features.
Banned semiautomatic weapons
UZI
Specific guns including AK-47s,
UZIs, Tec-9s and Street Sweepers.
Pistols with twoonn|
features suchasa
threaded barrel cap® j
of accepting a Haiti i
suppressor, lowaid I
handgrip orsilencatf
Rifles with at least two features such as a folding or tel'"
stock, pistol grip, bayonet mount, flash suppressor.
Detachable
magazine
Specifically excluded weapons
► A list of 670 rifles and shotguns
► Those made before Sept. 13, 1994
► Guns made for use or experimentation by the federal govemi
SOURCE. U S Swum
iiore i
’ Arkais jjiei
gun industry from lawsuits.
"Some are simply more interested inundei
ing that piece of legislation than they are innccea
ily getting the other legislation passed,” White in
spokesman Scott McClellan said Tuesday.
On the final roll call, only three Republio
voted for the bill: Sens. George Voinovicl
Ohio, John McCain of Arizona and RichardLi]
of Indiana. Democrats who voted for the i
package were Minority Leader Tom
South Dakota and Sens. Mark Pryor of
John Breaux of Louisiana, Joe Liebermaii
Connecticut and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas
“While we will continue to worktosavi
U.S. firearms industry, we have said fromthesa
that we would not allow this bill tobecomeavfi
cle for added restrictions on the law-abidingj«
pie of America,” NRA Vice President Waynel
LaPierre Jr. said after the vote.
The gunmaker-immunity package was an
tion-year priority for the White House, congressia
al Republicans and other conservative groups as»i
as the NRA. All contend the gun industry is
sued out of existence for making a legal prodi)|jj
though gun manufacturers have yet tolosealawsi
Former WorldCom CEO
Bernard Ebbers was
indicted on charges
stemming from the
company's accounting
Communication breakdown
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The nut
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presidency
LDDS acquires more
than a half-dozen
communications
companies, including
IDB WoridCom.
LDDS changes
its name to
WorldCom Inc.,,
with Ebbers as
CEO.
Ebbers«
charged#
securities
fraud.
I Bush’s fav
'83 '84 '85 '86 ’87 '88 '89 '90 '91 92 '93 '94 '95 '96 '97 '98 '99 '00 '01 '02'03'04
Ebbers and other
founders work out plans
for starting Long Distance
Discount Service.
Ebbers resigns as CEO; WorldCom
admits to inflating earnings by $3.8 billion;
SEC files fraud charges against the
company; WorldCom files for bankruptcy,
SOURCE: Associated Press
Former WorldCom chief Ebber
charged with securities fraud
By Larry Neumeister
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Former
WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers
was charged Tuesday with falsify
ing the books at the long-distance
company in the biggest corporate
fraud case in American history,
and his chief financial officer
pleaded guilty and agreed to testi
fy against him.
Ebbers was accused in a fed
eral indictment of taking part in
a scheme to falsely inflate earn
ings by $11 billion. He was
charged with securities fraud,
conspiracy and making false fil
ings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
Former chief financial officer
Scott Sullivan agreed to plead
guilty to the same charges and
cooperate with prosecutors in
hopes of reducing a potential
25-year prison sentence.
“I took these actions, knowing
they were wrong, in a misguided
effort to preserve the company to
allow it to withstand what 1
believed were temporary financial
difficulties,” Sullivan, 42, of Boca
Raton, Fla., said in court.
In a steady voice, Sullivan
said he was motivated to plead
guilty by “sincere remorse and a
deep sense of contrition.”
Ebbers, 62, of Brookhaven,
Miss., was to be arraigned
Wednesday.
Ebbers resigned from
WorldCom in April 2002, well
after its stock price had begun a
steady decline and soon after
questions began to swirl about
the company’s finances amid a
slew of corporate scandals.
Two months later, WorldCom
announced it had uncovered
nearly $4 billion in hidden
expenses — the beginning of a
spiral that would uncover a
fraud now estimated at $11 bil
lion, the biggest in U.S. history.
Attorney General John
Ashcroft announced the indict
ment in New York, saying,
“America’s economic strength
echn
ing 1
and
impressive
fersonal c<
processors
ar
invente
quickly bei
for most c<
4*
C
0
depends on the integrity lit t
marketplace.”
No one, Ashcroft sal
“stands above the law.” ’ , asa thl
Ebbers’ attorney, Reid! P™rear
Weingarten, said no “fair-ni ,r
ed jury” would concludethatl Wessnes
client acted with criminalii ^ging ti
“We know the evidence iiil Med by sj
case, we know our client and' leU.S. gc
know that Bemie Ebbers im nonopoly
sought to mislead investors,nc nentswith
sought to improperly manipuli lain^
WorldCom’s numbers, if* y t |
improperly took any money; , oi Q .
never sought to hurt the conf . j-
he built,” he said in a statemeU , ! )rotc
Lawyers in the case s a eR 0 ‘
Sullivan had agreed to sell! ^ntis
lavish $15 million BocaRai ®P ro pert
estate, which has a movie f ^^cast
ater and six Jacuzzis, andusel 'ghttocoj
proceeds to reimburse victim U.S. Di
WorldCom, parent of Ml Uston has
the nation’s second-bi$ sinvioiat
long-distance telephone coffli dillenniur
ny, filed for bankruptcy in29 iavetb ec(
WoridCom changed i!s n* ^ j 1
MCI last April and moved
headquarters from Mississi) 1 1 ' 11
to Ashbum, Va. y 'P rote
e alm ofb
“ayusefc
PA and ru
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