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Show - THE HERALD. Provo, Utah. 3, 1993 Wednesday, February l';nu- - I ytery over possible Soeial Security cuts softens By ROBERT BURNS Associated Press Writer let slip that it was considering limincreases for iting the roughly 41 million Social Security recipients, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said such a proposal wouldn't get past his panel alive. "A death wish," the New York Democrat called it. In less colorful terms the American Association of Retired Persons denounced the idea and cranked up its lobby machine. critiYet beyond that quick-fir- e has been initial the cism, outcry muted. unexpectedly "The reaction was less violent than in the past because the public realizes how bad the deficit is and that something has to be done about it," said Lawrence Chimer-insenior economist at the forecasting firm Other economists said the politi cost-of-livi- - WASHINGTON When the Clinton administration let it be known that its budget cutters might take a nick out of Social Security, the predictable cries of protest arose on Capitol Hill. But they were hardly deafening. Could this be the year, after a decade of failed tries, that a president outmaneuvers the senior citizen lobby and milks the sacred cow of federal benefit programs? ., Don't count on it, private economists say, although it may be more feasible than in the past. '.'I have nothing to say about that," Clinton said Tuesday when asked by reporters whether he will propose a Social Security change. "When I make my decision, I will announce it." .'..Shortly after the administration i e, cal firestorm hadn't started because it is not yet clear that President Clinton will accept his aides' advice to take on Social Security as part of a comprehensive effort to reduce the budget deficit. "It seems unlikely that a president would go after it this aggressively," for fear of offending an important voter bloc, said Diane Swonk, an economist at First National Bank of Chicago. During the presidential campaign, Clinton opposed cutting Social Security benefits, although he said he might be willing to support a higher tax on those benefits in some circumstances. After the election, he said he might consider achieving Social Security savings by raising the retirement age. Economists differ on which approach is best. But they generally agree that squeezing Social Security stands a better chance of public first-ter- m acceptance than in the past. Ms. Swonk noted, for example, that limiting or eliminating a increase for Social Security recipients might be more palatable now because people on fixed incomes have grown less fearful of inflation. the main lobby group for retirees. He predicted that some retirees wouldn't object to limits on their cost-of-livi- The next scheduled increase, to $653. administration was considering Social Security cutbacks. He said increases limiting was "one of the issues that's being discussed," but no decisions had been made. Stephanopoulos also acknowl res- cued. we face now," said Marty Corry, chief lobbyist for the American Association of Retired Persons, dent Bush had a slightly worse i; i ing on the same question: 49 saying good, 28 percent bad NEW YORK Americans are The national poll of ,002 adu; twice as inclined to express trust was taken Wednesday throu and confidence in President ClinSunday by ICR Survey Reseai ton as in Congress, according to an group of Media. Pa., part of A1 Associated Press poll. Consultants. Results from the Clinton was considered trussample have a margin of ci i tworthy most or all of the time by of plus or minus 3 percenia ; 52 percent of Americans, but fewpoints. er than one in four said the same The last time the AP poll nn about Congress. To deal with the sured Clinton's trust rating was country's problems, 55 percent April. With Clinton's charac'.' had more confidence in Clinton, under scrutiny in the campai' :. compared with 25 percent who put only 18 percent said he could more faith in Congress. trusted almost always or most The poll found relatively little the time. :. Congress did just as expectation that the gridlock be17 percent. tween the executive and legislative The new poll may partly tell branches will go away. Just four in that it's easier to feel confidence 10 think Clinton will be able to a person especially one giv keep his Inauguration Day promise the attention and adulation acco; to end what he called "an era of ed to a new than in president deadlock and drift." institution as conflict-rive- n and v Even more troublesome for a as Congress. Polls ha wieldy new president in the traditional found that people who dislike honeymoon period, nearly a quartdistrust Congress often give .. er of those polled think he has done much higher rating to their oi a bad job ensuring honesty and representative. integrity in his administration. The country has not had a e think he's of the same party i: percent done a good job with it, but less controlled Congress since Jinn than a majority hold that view Carter's inauguration in 197. e Polls then found widespread optiamong men, whites, Americans and people older than mism about the prospect of gov Clinton. Ten months ago, Presi ernment working better. se A 1 29-3- gn pur-ce. 1 , : fa '4, wmm 'f i i X f 1 J r t i . - A , AP Photo Fifty-thre- President Clinton is surrounded by after addressing the Democratic Governors Association Monday in Washington. Polls find most people have strong opinions about Clinton. well-wishe- rs cent approved of the way Clinton married to a formidable woman, was handling his job, down from is more provocative. "A lot of the ways he is begin58 percent last week; and 30 percent disapproved, up from 20 ning his presidency are unorthopercent last week. The margin of dox," Beschloss said. "People are not used to a lot of elements of error was 3 percentage points. his style and they're going to be Reagan and Bush, by compari51 started out at son, percent ap- jarred by it." 6 Still, he sees the early solidifiproval. Only percent of people cation on both sides as a net plus of Bush's performdisapproved ance and 13 percent of Reagan's. for Clinton. "He has a chance to By midyear, their ratings were build a constituency that will similar to what Clinton's are stick by him in temporary bad now; the only surprise, Newport weather," Beschloss said. "Reasaid, is that Clinton's came so gan did the same thing early on and it was really important during quickly. Presidential historian Michael the 1981-8- 2 recession. Bush went Beschloss said a lot about Clinton through a similar recession and, is "very polarizing, perhaps even unlike Reagan, he did not surmore than Ronald Reagan." vive." While both men hold controRepublicans agree that Clinversial policy positions, he said, ton's support resembles Reagan's in its intensity, while Bush never Reagan personally was convene tional and devotees that But had the Clinton, young and casual and carry a president through tough hard-cor- upper-incom- times. They also agree that Clinton's troubles may be temporary. don't see any upside current poll ratings. But they in his "His approve-disappro- ve said GOP pollster Glen Bolger. "There should be a whole lot of people without an opinion, people who are uncertain but are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt should be ; n-- , A g. , more than Congress cle." ; "We take this as a serious a genuine threat." i disapprovals At this point in Bush's presidency, 43 percent of Americans had no opinion of him even though he'd been vice president for eight years. Only 16 percent of those in a CNN-USToday poll released Monday night had no opinion of Clinton. "People are watching Bill Clinton closely. He's drawn people into his presidency," said Clinton's pollster, Stan Green-ber"At least in the short term this moves a lot of people to support him and a lot of people to oppose him. It's one of the prices of being an activist president." Clinton has given Americans a lot to think about in his first 13 days in office. His attorney general nominee was forced to withdraw; he reversed years of re- strictive abortion policy; he . bafloated several lloons; and he tried to keep a pledge to end the ban on fHiomosexuals in the military. The new CNN-USToday poll, conducted by Gallup, inter- viewed ,001 adults by telephone "Jan. 1 . The poll said 54 per ," and see how he Trust ratings for Clinton, Congress Q much of the time do you think you can trust Stem to do what Is right? How President Clinton does." Congress 54 Instead, said David Hill, another Republican pollster, Clinton's earliest defining moment "the event that causes people to talk about him around the coffee was the tremendously urn" divisive issue of homosexuals in the military. When he introduces his economic plan, the purported centerpiece of his presidency, "there'll be a sort of a handicap on it now. Hill said. 36 30 1 Just Most about of the always time Sourc Media, i 20 16 9- - 9 2 t Most Just about of the always time No Some Almost of the never answsr time I tt s i No Some Almost of the never answer time 1 AP tefephone poB ol 1,002 adults nationwide taken Jan. by ICH Surrey Research Group o! Pa., part of AUS Consultants. Margin ot error plus or minus 3 percentage points. Totals roundel f I Food poisoning outbreak prompts debate of USDA practices Forecasters skeptical of groundhog PHILADELPHIA (AP) By TERRY MCDERMOTT Seattle Times -P- unxsutawney Phil doesn't count weather experts among his biggest fans. Tradition holds that if Phil sees his shadow, winter will continue six weeks. No shadow means the spring thaw will begin in about two weeks. Since the people of Punxsutawney, Pa., started listening, their groundhogs have forecast early springs in 1890, 1902, 1934, 1950, 1970, 1975, 1983, 1986, '1988 and 1990. "Realistically, no matter what the groundhog sees, it's unlikely for winter to end this early," said Ken Reeves, a for Inc., a commercial forecasting service based in State College. meteorologist Accu-Weath- cr And over the long term, February and March are about as likely to be warmer than normal as they are to be colder than normal, said Edward A. O'Lcnic of the National Meteorological Center's climate predictions and outlooks branch in Camp Springs, Md. t words. - throughout his administration," Newport added. "It just suggests people formulated their opinions more quickly than the normal cy- f rees that his group represei'-aren'ignoring Stephanopoui Americans trust Clintor He's cam-',-pai- still-diffic- , cost-of-livi- "It's a different atmosphere . higher less-painf- ul By HOWARD GOLDBERG Associated Press Writer 'young, energetic and, barely two weeks in office, it's a rare American who doesn't already love him ,or hate him. ' President Clinton seems to be ' even the contro-- 1 Ronald Reagan in early yersial " polls. His disapproval ratings are the highest on record. But his approval ratings are higher than Reagan's and George Bush's were at this stage. Relatively few people have no opinion of him. "Clinton was active coming out of the chute. He stripped the mystery away and gave people more of a basis to reach judgments," said Frank Newport, editor of the Gallup Poll. "That doesn't mean he will have the George Stephanopoulos, White House communications director, was conspicuously obtuse in confirming last week that the By JILL LAWRENCE Associated Press Writer - : cost-of-livi- Most people already love or hate Clinton il WASHINGTON i increases. Social Security hasn't been altered in a major way since 1983 when the payroll tax that finances the Social Security trust fund was inincreased and creases were delayed for six months to shore up the trust fund. Currently, the average individual monthly Social Security benefit is cost-of-livi- take effect in January 1994, is estimated at 3.2 percent. The savings from skipping that increase are estimated at $10 billion. Others point to the influence of H. Ross Perot, whose run for the presidency last fall stirred millions to endorse the notion that only through painful cutbacks in spending and increases in taxes will the nation's economic future be edged that such a plan might t; gera public uproar. "We'll make sure that any pi we have is both fair and solve-- . I . goals of putting growth in t economy and achieving deficit i duction," he told reporters. Thai a formulation he has used to answer most questions about Cli ton's economic choices, so thtie was room to doubt that Social S curity would be included. e Some economists said they the administration is float ii ; a trial balloon hinting at ha sacrifice so that when Clinton'-- , but p posal is officially unveiled it v. M seem less onerous by comparisoi Corry said the 34 million u The Northwest's E. coli epidemic, the worst of its kind in history, has inflamed an already heated debate over practices within the meat industry, particularly the ability, or even desire, of the United States Department of Agriculture to ensure the safety of the nation's food supply. The poles of the debate are illustrated in the search for an explanation of the current epidemic, which has killed two children and poisoned hundreds of people throughout the region. Most of those who were poisoned ate contaminated hamburger sold by the Jack in the Box restaurant chain. Finding the root cause of that hamburger contamination is, according to the USDA, dauntingly difficult. It involves a type of detective work that would put Sherlock Holmes to shame. It's like looking for needles in hay fields, rather than stacks. Finding the root cause is, say department critics, utterly simple: it involves nothing more complicated than looking in a Washington, D.C., telephone book under the lobbyist listings to see who runs the USDA and for whose benefit. The answer to both questions, the critics say, is '.he food industry. For example, they say, money from the food industry pours into the political campaigns every year. And a glance at all of the secre- - taries of agriculture would reveal that they all have come from the agriculture industry or the Congress. The focus of the argument between the agriculture department and its critics is the work of the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the agency responsible for inspecting meat as it is slaughtered and processed. What constitutes proper inspection has been argued off and on since the USDA first got into the y business early in the after Upton Sinclair's ficcentury, tional account of horrific conditions in Chicago slaughterhouses. The debate was renewed with particular vigor six years ago when the USDA began pushing for a sharp reduction in the number of government inspectors in cattle slaughter plants. The reduction proposal, called the streamlined inspection system (SIS), was used for more than five years at five of the nation's largest slaughterhouses, including one of the plants that supplied beef to Jack in the Box. Much of the inspection previously done by trained federal inspectors at these plants was transferred to company employees. The intent of the program, like other dcregulatory actions in other industries, was to speed production. It succeeded spectacularly. One older plant in Nebraska, originally designed to slaughter 125 head of cattle an hour, is pushing the animals through at more food-safet- than twice that rate. Some new plants using the streamlining sys tem process up to 400 head of cattle an hour. Like other deregulation experiin banking, the airlines, ments the trucking industries, for examthe streamling had its costs. ple without the streamlined system had nonetheless doubled production and halved the number of line inspectors. Even with greatly expanded inspection teams, the USDA would not test beef for the bacteria that caused the Jack in the Box epidemic. Most tests The speed on some slaughter lines now is so great inspectors consist of looking at or feeling the have been afflicted with repetitive meat as it passes by on an inspecstress injuries caused by prolonged tion line. With 300 head of cattle d repetition of specific going through a slaughter operatasks. More importantly, some intion each hour, inspectors say it is spectors say, company employees difficult to see and remove even were not sufficiently motivated to the most obvious contaminant do thorough inspections. manure. (Even if it is seen, some Steve Cockcrham, an FSIS incontaminants are allowed to pass spector at a slaughter plant in Nethrough. Inspectors say they are told to permit the presence of some braska, said the streamlining phiLet the was: do fecal matter on a carcass so long as losophy company it. it is smaller than inch "The company cared more square.) about putting beef in the box and The USDA, in fact, does not test getting it out the door than making for bacteria in slaughter plants. sure it was safe. Line speed in Some companies do random tests excess of 300 head per hour, that's on their own, but most meat is ' never checked for bacteria. just too fast to get everything. The USDA nonetheless pushed The USDA says because bacterto expand the streamlining system ia is so hard to find and nearly until the Congress ordered it to be impossible to eradicate, it is a discontinued. It will end April 1 waste of time, and the industry's and the number of inspectors will money, looking for it. be restored to prev ious levels. "We're not even certain if we Dave Carney, a FSIS inspector checked every piece of meat we'd in Ohio, says eliminating streamfind it," said Dr. Jill Holling-swortassistant to the administralining is a hollow victory. "SIS was stopped. So now tor of the Food Safety and Inspecwhat?," he said. "They're back to tion Service. inspecting meat the same way they Hollingsworth says people who w ere in 1906," prepare food, whether at home or Another inspector in California in restaurants, are responsible for said some plants there operating decontaminating it. This is done by USDA-prescribe- d high-spee- one-eigh- th 1 h, cooking it to proper temperatures. department officials say. Three times in the past o ' years the National Academy Sciences has called for the USI to begin testing for bacterial t ! . of meat. An academy study of the iii'-ption system last year stated: " I bases of traditional uu i inspection ... are inadequate oi no- nexistent." The USDA has thus far resisted such tests largely because ot tlie time they take. Current tests up to eight days to perforin. :v. amount of time the industry ti" unthinkable because its profit ma' gins are so small that anything ilm slows production would be a iv issue. Researchers arc trying to dcvl op new, quicker tests. One seion tist, Mike Doyle, a University of Georgia microbiologist who is one of the nation's leading experts on E. coli, says he is close to perfecting a test that takes only 24 hou t s The USDA has said it is willim-tlook for ways to do bactciia! testing, but is waiting for comi'K' tion of its own survey of bnctci contamination. The survey been underway for almost a year Carney, the FSIS inspectoi in Ohio, said he doubts the USH will adopt routine bacterial insp.v- ' tion unless Congress orders it. ; "The big fear is the result of the test." he said. "They're afraid nj test because they know v ')ut they'll find. And if they find; what are they going to do with it." ; rk' . o U . t |