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Show 12 FRIDAY, JAN. 21,2005 UTAHR1ST A T E S M AN Pell promises need follow up BEST PRICES BEST BEST SELECTION CUSTOMER SERVICE • Guitars •Bass •Drums •-Acoustic truments •Pro Audio • Music Books • Private Lessons President Bush has made a commendable commitment to the federal Pell Grant program, which helps lower-income students attend college. In a speech in Florida last week, he pledged to eliminate the program's current $4 billion deficit and increase the maximum grant by $100 for each of the next five years. But it's not clear that the increased costs can be paid for by potential savings suggested in the president's sketchy proposal. And Mr. Bush will really need to push Congress to help him make good on his promises. As more high school graduates pursue a postsecondary education, particularly in a bad economy, demand for the Pell Grant program has grown. Since 2000, more than a million students have been added to the rolls -- for an expected total of 5.2 million students by September 2005. The enormous expansion has created a $4.3 billion deficit in the $12 billion program. Mr. Bush thinks that enough savings can be wrung out of the student loan program, by making it more ''effective and efficient," to eliminate the Pell Grant deficit. The adminis- tration suggests that can be done by reducing the government's subsidies to banks and other private lenders that actually provide the loans, among other possibilities. As usual, the devil is surely in the details, which should be revealed when the administration's budget is presented early next month. But Mr. Bush spoke confidently last week that enough costs can be shaved from the ioan program to guarantee that the maximum Pell Grant will increase from $4,050 to $4,550 in five years. Considering that during Mr. Bush's 2000 campaign he proposed raising the maximum grant to $5,100, but did not follow through; considering that college costs are increasing at a much faster rate than the cost of living; and considering that, just last month, the Department of Education updated income-eligibility standards for Pell Grants that could knock close to 90,000 students off the rolls and reduce grants to about 1.3 million other students, Massachusetts Sen. Edward M, Kennedy is right to caution families with Kids applying to college to "not count their chickens before they hatch." But if Mr. Bush puts some meat on his proposal and uses some political muscle to push it through Congress, he will have done mucn to maintain the reality of the Pell Grant promise. This editorial appeared in Thursday's Baltimore Sun. atrocities at Abu Ghraib, as well as those who may be profiting from contracts to rebuild the infrastructure of that country. Personal ego can also result in scandal. After winning a landslide re-election, the Reagan administration, for example, thought it was above the law in its covert manipulation of executive power. But the press provoked a federal investigation, which revealed that a shadow government, operating out of the White House, had traded arms with Iran in exchange for American hostages in Lebanon, and had used the profits to fund rebel Contras in Nicaragua. The "Iran-Contra Scandal" violated the 1981 Boland Amendment banning U.S. military aid to the Contras. In the wake of Cabinet resignations and firings, Reagan's public approval sank to 40 percent and created the impression that he had little control of events in his administration. Such is the danger of allowing subordinates too much authority to conduct foreign policy _ something Bush seems to have done by deferring to Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld. Bill Clinton's egotism, on the other hand, allowed him to believe that favorable polls, his revitalization of the economy, and executive privilege would make him immune from any federal investigation in his second term. But Republicans felt differently. The House of Representatives impeached Clinton, in 1998, for perjury and obstruction of justice in an investigation by independent counsel Kenneth Starr. The investigation, which revealed that the president lied about a sexual liaison with a White House intern, together with an antagonisticRepublican-dominated Congress, prevented Clinton from making progress on issues important to him. Will Bush escape the second-term curse? After two embarrassing defeats, the Democrats are eager to uncover a scandal in his administration. There are several potentially embarrassing issues: the FBI investigation into contract irregularities by Halliburton in Iraq and Kuwait; the probe into the leak of a CIA operative's employment; lawsuits stemming from the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib; and the FBI investigation into how Israelis and Iranians got their hands on sensitive U.S. intelligence. If one of these issues blows up, it could make Bush, like some of his predecessors, a lame duck in an enfeebled second term. William C. Kashatus is a writer for the History News Service. Readers may send '"-" him e-mail at biii@historylive.net. Baltimore Sun Guest Editorial RE-ELECTION From Page 7 7 KSM Music 753-6813 • 50 W. 400 N. USUEmpkr Discount ProiL _ . 64% of Americans are OVERWEIGHT! Join the OTHER dent's formal veto power by impounding for his own agenda large sums of money appropriated by Congress. And he constantly invoked "national security" as an excuse for presidential excess. But he overstepped by authorizing the coverup of the Watergate scandal and paying hush money to Watergate defendants. These were criminal acts exposed first by the Washington Post and later confirmed by a congressional investigation that led to his resignation. "Watergate" was simply the culmination of Nixon's manipulation of executive privilege during his first term and his misguided belief that he could escape disclosure during his second term. Bush, too, has invoked executive privilege in his prosecution of the Iraqi war and reconstruction. There are still questions about the extent to which members of his Cabinet knew about the REPUBLICANS From Page 7 7 A \ Sports Academy s — ^Racquet Well with each passing election and with hungry mouths that wanted free handouts as the electors (thanks to the 17th Amendment) the right has been forced time and time again to realign itself more moderately to appeal the looter in all of us. The left has dominated politics in this fashion ever since. Abortion, gay rights and even national security have been issues that the left has used to force the right to once again realign itself and talce positions on issues it would have never taken in the past. The products of such political debauchery are politicians like California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who are pro-baby Club — 55 North 200 East Norfi Logan, UT 84341 ! , 435.753.7500 • wwwlportsacademy.com Read the Utah Statesman online at www.utahstatesman.com Come in and enjoy a variety of great food!! AMERICAN FOOD Home of the Student Favorite BIG BLUE SPECIAL Your home for foot, floats •Crispy or Grilled Chicken Sandwiches • Juicy 1/4 & 1/3 1b. Burgef s • Great Rootbeer in a Frosty Mug • Take home a gallon of Rootbeer • Chili Cheese Fries, and Tasty Onion Rings • Cheese curds • Shakes, Floats^ Freezes, and Soft Serve Cones killing and gay right activists. Twenty years ago the right would never allowed such surrendering, then again 20 years previous to that the right would not have made the concessions their political progeny made. The left on the other had marches successfully on toward its socialistic goal of a united world order under Big Brother's watchful eye. Every year forcing the right to become more socialistic and "progressive," adopting redistributionist programs like welfare (liberals out there who hate the current political administrations have themselves to blame - it is the left of 20 years ago). While those few of us who hold dear to the thread of conservative values as those immortalized in the constitution, namely of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are demonized as ignorant red-necks. The right needs to return to the conservative principles it was originally founded to protect, explicitly that the only rule oi law recognizable in the context of social discussions is the constitution. They need to stop the left from catering to every special interest minority group (such as gay right activists, pro baby killers and affirmative right activist) for political gain. The principle of federalism must be reestablished (the states and the federal government have separate specifically enumerated powers). Policies that cannibalize our children like social security should be exposed as unconstitutional as they were once known to be. Free markets need to be reinstalled and protected. Let America be America again and remember the values this country was founded upon are the only principles that will ensure liberty. J.S. Westbroek is senior majoring in Law and Constitutional Studies jwestbroek@cc. usu. edu. BRIDAL FAIRE Saturday, January 29 At USU STUDENT CENTER Jr www.bridalfaire.org 753-6736 Fashion Shows by Levens 12,2 & 4 p.m.. Free Admission Free Terrace Paiking |