European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 02, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday August 2, 1993 . The stars and stripes Page 5 r Gas tax squeezes medicare by Jim Luther a tax writer Washington when congressional budget negotiators accepted the smallest gasoline tax increase on their options list they did More than save the average Motorist a few pennies a week. Their decision dictated an even tighter squeeze on medicare reimbursements a less generous expansion of Federal Bene fits for Low income working families and less of a tax incentive for Small businesses to buy machinery and create jobs. The decision almost certainly will mean the democratic Congress and pres ident Clinton will fall Short slightly to be sure of their goal of reducing the Federal budget deficit by $500 billion Over the next five years. That provides a Clear opening to republicans who Are sitting put the fight because they oppose any tax increase. No matter How hard the president tries he can t make this tax heavy pack age look Good Senate Republican Leader Bob dote of Kansas said sat urday. Congressional and White House Bud get officials worked saturday to deter mine the precise Price tag of the propose Compromise. A White House official said preliminary tabulations suggest final Defi Cit cuts would Range from $490 billion to $496 billion with a Good Chance they would hit the higher figure. The main work Over the weekend said the official speaking on the condition of anonymity was to get the deficit Cut Fig ure up to $496  deficit reduction below that threat ened to lose the vote of sen. Bob Gra Ham d-fla., and we need his vote the official said. An earlier version Only passed the sen ate when vice president Al Gore voted to break a tie. Discussions were being held Over the weekend on making minor changes Here and there to affect the Defi Cit numbers but most of the major differences have now been resolved said the White House official. I i Don t believe the american people think the difference Between $494 billion or $496 billion and $500 billion is a lot Deputy Treasury Secretary Roger c. Alt Man said. This is the largest deficit reduction in history and it s 98 percent or something like that of what we  Altman s Boss Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsyn indicated that the administration might scale Back a proposed tax increase on better off social Security recipients to woo democrats opposed the Senate Bill. That s one we re working on but we re running the numbers Over the weekend to make sure everything fits Bentsen said on can s news maker sat urday program. Sen. Dennis Deconcini d-ariz., who voted against the Bill said on the same program that he might support it if the social Security tax increase was lessened and. New taxes went for deficit reduction. The lower Gas tax increase 4.3 cents a gallon added to the current 14.1-Ccntlevy apparently assured enough sen ate support to pass the Compromise. In the stars and stripes 10 years ago aug. 2,1983 the Dollar fuelled by expected higher . Interest rates again set highs against the French franc 8.02 per Dollar and italian lire 1,578.55sparking angry comment in Paris that it was a menace to world peace. 20 years ago aug. 2,1973supreme court Justice Thurgood Marshall refused to reinstate an order by the . Cir Cuit court in new York to halt All . Bombing in Cambodia. 30 years ago aug. 2,1963 president Kennedy saying the new nuclear test ban Accord offers Protection for . Security and some Hope for a More peaceful world predicted its ratification by the Senate. 40 years ago aug. 2,1953 Secretary of state John Foster Dulles disclosed that . Troops As missionaries of peace will be used in the immediate rehab lotion of War Devastey Korea. 50 years ago aug. 2,1943 . Heavy bomb ers rth May dropped More bombs on Axis targets shot Down More enemy fighters and Cut deeper into Ger Many than in any previous month As the allies strove for Mastry of the skies Over Europe. World War ii 50 years ago today aug. 2 1. 9.43 american battleships and cruisers Shell Kiska Island in Alaska s Aleutian Chain in preparation for an invasion unaware the japanese occupation Force has escaped. An Allied broadcast to Italy announces that . And British troops Are preparing to invade the Mainland. The red army presses offensives All along the soviet front. Source 2194 Days of War w. H. Smith publisher inc. World almanac Book of world War a Bison books corp., 1981 a even the weeds won t come up As killer Dought lingers in South Anderson . A every where around his old family farm Tom Garrison confronts the drought of 93. Stunted com produces scant feed and even that has few nutritious yellow Ker Nels. Soybeans barely break the parched soil. Dairy cows Pant under the unrelenting Sun. We be had them come in and we were milking them and they d just drop to their bellies Garrison said. Three cows in his 300-head Herd have died in the last month the stress of 100-Degrce Days blamed for turning treatable ailments into fatal conditions. You know you be done everything you can do including Cooling the Herd with misting machine and fans he said in frustration. The $5,000 loss of the three cows is a fraction of Garrison s estimated $130,000 loss mostly from failed crops. It s just sickening the 35-year-old Farmer muttered referring to a Field where he planted soybeans gambling the. Bottomland would hold moisture from the least rain. None fell. Even the weeds did t come  Garrison s lament echoes across the South where record heat in Many places has combined with spotty rain to produce a killing drought for Farmers even As their counterparts in the upper Mississippi Valley count huge losses from flooding. This mess extends from Virginia across North and South Carolina and into Georgia said Pale Linvill an Agri cultural meteorologist at Clemson University in South Carolina one of the hardest hit states. Seventy three percent of South Carolina s Cotton crop is listed in poor Condi Tion along with 58 percent of soybeans. As for Corn he said forget  the drought s toll is similar around the sweltering Region. In Virginia 45 percent a tractor throws a Cloud of dust thursday As it moves past Field near England Ark. Of the Corn crop and 56 percent of soybeans Are classified As poor. Same with 57 percent of North Carolina s Corn and 89 percent of Georgia s Corn 69 percent of its Cotton and46 percent of its peanuts. We be lost about half of our Corn crop said Alabama agriculture com missioner . Todd who reported 40 percent of that state s farms Nave heat losses. In Many parts of the South Hayfi lds and pastures Are Brown arid lifeless pro Viding no grazing for livestock and no Hay to Harvest for Winter feed. Hay is being shipped from As far As Pennsylvania Nebraska and Texas said South Carolina Extension agent Tom Dobbins. Right now we re working around the clock looking for Hay sources he said. A state Hay hotline rings off the Hook. Some places Haven t had a drop Ofrain in three weeks said Marty Rater at the Tennessee agriculture department noting that one third of the state s  Tures Are in poor shape. Without Hay Many Farmers Are Selling off livestock. Also endangered Are chickens officials said. Officials blamed heat for the deaths of 1.8 million Birds in South Carolina 300,000 in Georgia and More elsewhere. Disabled commissioner drags self onto plane Washington a the wheel chair bound director of a presidential commission for the disabled said he had to drag himself onto a United express flight saturday because there was no equipment to lift him on Board. I had to crawl on Board. Because they would t let me Board otherwise said Rick Douglas executive director of the president s committee on employ ment of people with disabilities. A United express spokesman Barren Beneski acknowledged that Douglas was initially denied boarding on a 19-seat commuter Jet at Washington s Dulles International Airport because the plane had no flight attendant. But Douglas who has multiple sclerosis was accompanied by his wife and eventually was allowed on the flight Ben Eski said. Douglas said the problem occurred when he tried to Board United s flight 6251 from Washington to Allentown pa., where he was giving a speech saturday ight on the third anniversary of the americans with disabilities act. Douglas said that United express ground supervisor told him he would not be allowed on the flight unless he could walk up the plane s stairs unassisted. He said he also was told that an aisle Board ing chair could not be provided and that the Airport had no lift equipment for commuter aircraft. Beneski said that wheelchair bound passengers Are not allowed on United commuter planes that have no flight attendants because of safety concerns. In the event of an emergency if somebody is on Board the air plane who incompletely no ambulatory a potential exists for a safety problem for not Only that passenger himself but for the other passengers Beneski said. Douglas noted that the 1988 air car Rier Access act did not require airline ground personnel to hand carry disabled passengers on planes under 30 seats although he said most carriers pro vide Access to commuter planes with aisle boarding chairs