European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 10, 1995, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday september 10, 1995 commentary the stars and stripes Page 17 what newspapers Are saying at borne the following editorial excerpts Are selected from a Cross Section of newspapers throughout the United states. The editorials Are provided by the associated press Scripps Howard news service and other state Side syndicates. The Plain dealer   -. " the Novelty is fading. The frenzy has subsided. Now comes the grueling part of legislating for the new Republican Congress with the end of their Long August recess members of Congress Are returning to Washington facing a. Dense Agenda of decisions deadlines and negotiations. At stake Are hundreds of individual  arid programs the future of the top s plan to eliminate the Federal deficit and some dramatic questions will a budget deadlock Force the Federal government to shut Down oct. 1? will Congress pass historic legislation ending a longtime guarantee of Cash. Assistance to poor families can Congress and the White House agree this year on  to the nation s tax Laws health care system and environmental programs. Vigorous confrontations Between republicans and democrats Are inevitable. But we can Only Hope that the weeks away from the Capitol have allowed members of Congress to absorb some Wisdom from their constituents and return to their jobs with More maturity and perspective. As Ross Perot is Only too Happy to Point out voters nationwide Are tired of shrill political rhetoric and Are hungry for responsible governing -. A a fort Worth Texas Star Telegram the problem this year in Washington is not just Ordinary political partisanship but rather heightened mistrust ,/,./ " republicans Are full of new found Power and cannot believe that anyone else the president7for instance is serious enough about balancing the budget. They May be right. ". "  think the republicans Are proposing some harmful and stupid ideas in the name of deficit reduction. And they May be right. The result if there is no political give and take of the sort that keeps democracies functioning is the threatened train wreck " that could shut Down much of the Federal government for Days or weeks or longer the consequences of such a breakdown could Range from Brief furloughs for Federal employees who Dent Deal with Public safety to a major catastrophe that might Send the Economy into a tailspin. A difficult budget process has become near " impossible because of inter party and intr party differences. Only one appropriations Bill has even gone -. Through the House Senate conference stage. Instead. There Are threats to bundle welfare changes into the final budget reconciliation Bill or to merge Man appropriations into a Bill to raise the Federal debt limit which must be done probably in late october lest the government really close its doors with no social Security checks going out and the United state defaulting on its Bonds in order to prevent vetoes of measures that the president considers too extreme. Now that Congress is going Back to work it must decide whether a game of Chicken is Worth such consequences. We think that reasonable compromises would serve the nation Best and politics be damned. Roswell . Daily record when House republicans took the reins of Power last january one of their first orders of business was to pass a measure giving the president line item vet Power to strike wasteful spending from appropriations Bills. In so doing the House made Good on one of the key provisions of the top s contract with America it also fulfilled the wishes of every president Republican and Democrat since Richard Nixon. Now however it appears the House leadership May be backsliding on its pledge to enact the line item veto this year. The backsliding is so apparent that in an 83-14 vote,.the Republican controlled Senate approved a Resolution calling on the House to appoint negotiators to join the Senate in working out differences Between the House and Senate versions of the legislation. House leaders say they Are too Busy working on 13 different appropriations Bills to decide at this time which lawmakers should participate in a House Senate conference committee. They say they la get around to it some time after the summer recess. But not even Senate republicans arc buying this explanation. Indeed sen. John Mccain r-ariz., has suggested that the House gop leadership is stalling on final. Approval of the line item veto until much later this year or perhaps even next year. House leaders arc unwilling to. Give president Linton this new authority Mccain said until after this year s spending Bills become Law. But a tool of fiscal discipline As important As the line item veto should not be sacrificed to partisan politics "7 the line item veto should not have to wait until All 13 appropriations Bills have been enacted. The House gop promised to pass the line item veto this year. If the republicans fail to make Good on this key Promise it will be apparent that they have placed politics above principle.-. A the Greenville . New republicans in the Senate have found credible numbers to Back their claim that president Clinton s National service program is a bureaucratic Boondoggle that helps government More than it does communities. Sen. Charles Grassley is pointing to  accounting office study that he says proves the. Amer corps program is exceeding its original Cost estimates.  the new York times Grassley notes a Gao report that shows half the Money spent on each paid Volunteer in the program goes for r administration. A -.-. According to the Gao s calculations the Cost per. Participant is $17,600 a year plus $3,200from other. Federal agencies that employ the volunteers and $4,000from state and local governments. Private Sou rfcs pay $1,800 for each Amer corps  s a lot of Money for a program that s supposed to instill a spirit of volunteerism in Young people. In reality Amer corps corrupts the concept of volunteerism by paying participants $7,400 a year and annual Grants of $4,725 that can be used to cover. College tuition or student Loans. Feel Good rhetoric surrounds Amer corps but the idea behind it that the federa government needs to subsidize and direct Community service is fundamentally flawed. The House has refused to 1 continue funding it the Senate would serve taxpayers and hard working unpaid volunteers by dealing it a final blow. The Kansas City to Star Federal lawmakers came close to reforming National Parks concessions contracts last year but the legislation died As the Congress adjourned. Now rep. Jan Meyers r-kan., and other reformers Are Back in an attempt to get a similar Bill appt Ovid this year. They should be allowed to succeed. Taxpayers deserve a much better Deal from the concessioner who provide meals lodging campgrounds souvenirs Tours and other visitor services by virtue of the Public lands. Unfortunately proposals introduced by Western republicans in Congress threaten to undermine the. Positive changes that Meyers proposes. Legislation by rep. James Hansen a Utah who Heads the National Parks subcommittee As Well As that of sen Frank Murkowski r-alaska3 would continue the sweetheart deals with concessioner that have ripped off the taxpayers and the Parks. Meyers legislation would a stimulate better services by opening up the bidding for Parks contracts to Competition it would eliminate the right of Large concessioner to get automatic renewal of their v contracts contracts would be awarded for 10 years. Rather than the current 30, allowed in Many Parks the Kansan s measure would raise in estimated $45 million to  a year for the Parks. A -. -.-. For this is so much better than the current sys Teni which has been in place since 1965. Many states require their Parks concessioner  a substantial part icon of their revenues to the taxpayers the Federal government needs to do so too. V. /. A Star Tribune ". Minneapolis. ". When California gov. Pete Wilson announced his candidacy for , he dwelt heavily  dangers of illegal immigration As though the Fate of the nation depends on repelling invading hordes at the  s Flat  Case and Wilson has done the nation a disservice by introducing this inflammatory Issue into the 1996 Campaign. While millions of people Are illegally in the  states each year there s quite a lot of churn in that " number. The very Large majority arc visitors Alt remain for a few weeks or months beyond expiration of valid visas and then leave or illegal entrants who Conie to work for a while and return Home. Each year less r " than 10 percent of the illegal immigrants or about 300,000 people actually Settle. The problem they _. J. Present to a nation of 250.million people Hartley rises to panics Button proportions. " while illegal immigration is a legitimate  " policy makers they need to approach it in the right tone and with the right sense of perspective Wilson lacks both. He seeks to turn a problem that ranks about with Drunken driving into an Issue the size of health care ref Orr and to play the nativist card in the process. His pitch is pure Bunkum _ ,. Providence . Journal bulletin we  some people claim that neanderthals Are not really extinct. Sightings allegedly have be Civ made among o thei places in the cloakroom of the . Senate and on tic playing Fields of the National football league. But now archaeologists have found evidence for neanderthals. On Spain s Mediterranean  this is considered an exciting find because it indicates that neanderthals were not quickly replaced. By Cro Magons rather the two were living together  Europe for a period of at least some 10,000 years. V. A. Those of us interested in current events were especially intrigued to learn of the Stork of Fred Smith a Pale oncologist at Northern Illinois University who reports dating 33,000-Ycar-old neanderthal fossils at the Vindia site in Croatia. He says neanderthals and Cro Magons were living in that Region at the same time. Now if those two groups could manage to share the Balkans 33,000 years ago would t you think that bosnian croats and serbs could find a Way to do so today or is it the Case thai we furnans  anywhere near As far As we usually like to think