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Show Page 3 StatesmanCsmtpus News Friday, Nov. 2, 2007 Briefs Song sung blue ;ress passes new child health care bill, setting up veto fight WASHINGTON (AP) - A defiant Democratic-controlled Congress voted Thursday to provide health insurance to an additional 4 million lower-income children, and President Bush vowed swiftly to cast his second straight veto on the issue. The legislation cleared the Senate on a vote of 64-30. It passed the House lasl.week, but supporters were shy of tfie two-thirds majority needed to override Bush's threatened veto. "We're convinced that the president has undermined an effort to protect children," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said shortly before the vote. "Congress has known for weeks that the President would veto this bill," White House press secretary Dana Perino countered in a statement shortly after the vote. "Now Congress should get back to work on legislation that covers poor children and stop using valuable floor time to make partisan statements." In a situation of unusual political complexity, Republicans dictated the decision to pass the legislation speedily. It appeared their goal was to shortcircuit attempts by supporters of the bill to reach a compromise that could attract enough votes in the House to override Bush's veto. Attempts by Reid to delay final passage of the bill until next week or longer drew objections from the GOP. "I believe a deal is within reach," said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, a participant in meetings with two senior Senate Republicans, Sens. Charles Grassley of Iowa and Orrin Hatch of Utah, and several members of the House GOP. Rep. Judy Biggert, R-IU., who supported Bush's first veto and is involved in the discussions, said "we are pretty close" to an agreement but that several issues remain. For example, she said, the two sides had narrowed their differences on the issue of insuring maximum coverage of poor children before those inslightly higher-income fami- (i lies can be brought into the program. Baucus said the negotiations would resume next week. The veto-threatened measure would add an estimated 4 million beneficiaries to an existing program that provides coverage for children from families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford private insurance. The program currently provides benefits to roughly 6 million children. At a cost of $35 billion, the bill would be paid for through an increase in tobacco taxes, including a 61-cent rise on a package of cigarettes. Bush vetoed an earlier children's health bill this fall, and Republican critics said it failed to give a high enough priority to covering poor children, marked a Democratic attempt to expand government-run health care, and did not take sufficient steps to prevent the children of illegal immigrants from receiving benefits. Democrats failed to override his veto on a vote of 273-156,13 short of the two-thirds majority they needed. In response, Democrats launched a replacement measure, incorporating changes they said were designed to meet Republican objections to their first offering. But Bush dismissed those efforts this week, telling a business audience, "If Congress sends this bill back to me, I'm going to veto it again." He predicted his second veto would be upheld. A day earlier, the president told House Republicans in a private meeting that he would veto any measure that raised tobacco or any other taxes, a significant hardening of the administration's public position on the issue. Political polls show the children's health issue enjoys widespread support, and Democrats and their allies have moved quickly to exploit it for their advantage with television and radio commercials attacking Republicans who opposed the legislation. The result has been a growing nervousness among House Republicans looking ahead to the 2008 elections. The party's tbf) leaders,1 Reps. John Boehner of Ohio and Roy Blunt of II See BILL, page 4 Campus & Community r USl WaterInitiative speaker this afternoon USU Water Initiative hosts the second of three campus viewings of the i Fall 2007 Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science Cyberseminar Series, Featured presenter is Jay Famiglietti, associate professor in the Department of Earth System Science and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. Famiglietti discusses the twin satellite GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) mission. Famiglietti will speak from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. in the Engineering Building, Room 413A. New office building now officially open Logans newest Class "A" office building "The Riverwoods" officially opened today with aribboncutting and public tour of the facilities. Located adjacent to the Logan River at 600 S. Main, this 81,000 square foot building is home to the following major tenants: Wasatch Property Management, Conservice Utility Management and Billing, Hillyard Anderson and Olsen Law Offices, Architectural Nexus, Cartwright Engineering, and Keystone Weakh Management. "We are pleased to bring a true Class A office to Logan. Both local and national tenK E V I N OLSEN, freshman majoring in mechanical engineering, sang ants have come to expect this type of office Wednesday in Kurt Bestor's Best Singer Search. Olsen sang "God Bless the facility and Logan can now offer a building USA," competing for a spot in Bestor's Christmas Concert. Bestor, composer that equals or exceeds what can be found in and pianist, was also offering time in a professional studio and a meeting with a larger metro areas," said Wasatch Property record executive. TYLER LARSON photo Management President Dell Loy Hansen. Architectural Nexus was the architect for the building and Cartwright Engineering was the structural engineer. Beazer Engineering handled the electrical engineering. The genO continued from page 1 eral contractor was Logan based Raymond scholarship money that is given to fund education efforts and charitable Construction. the best electrical and computer The building is serviced with over 400 activities. To learn more about the engineering students. Micron Technology Foundation, visit parking stalls in an adjacent two level parking "Micron has been a great partner its Web site, www.micron.com/foun- structure. One of the unique features of the building is the plaza andriverwalk parkway in helping the College of Engineering dation. that runs on the back of the office building, teach and train students with the Micron Technology, Inc., is one along the Logan River. knowledge and skills they will of the world's leading providers of need to create tomorrow's techadvanced semiconducter solutions The building is located on the site being nologies and services," said Scott and is at the forefront of digital inno- developed along with a 115 room Marriott Hinton, dean of USU's College of vation. To learn more, visit www. hotel, 32,000 sq. ft. conference center, and Engineering. micron.com. restaurant. Construction began recently on these buildings which are expected to be comThe Micron Technology To learn more about USU's elecpleted in about 12 months. Also completed Foundation, Inc., is a private, nontrical and computer engineering on the site is 15,000 square foot retail buildprofit organization established in department, visit www.ece.usu.edu. ing which houses the Planet Fitness athletic 1999 by Micron Technology, Inc., to facility. The Riverwoods project is being developed by Wasatch Development Associates. Encompassing more than 30 acres the mixed use development will eventually include additional retail, restaurant and office facilities, Reid said. "Far from keeping Osama accommodation of the Soviet Union. conferencing facilities and high end residenbin Laden on the run, President Bush "Now we're at the start of a new tial housing. For further information about has distracted us from tracking down century, and the same debate is once The Riverwoods project contact Darren Child, a resurgent al Qaida." again unfolding, this time regard755-2051 or dchild@netwastch.com. Bush's remarks were his second ing my policy in the Middle East," in two days alleging inaction on Bush said. "Once again, voices in Capitol Hill, which has been led by Washington are arguing that the Democrats since January. This speech watchword of the policy should be focused on measures related to the stability." war on terror, while Wednesday's Bush said any denial of war is danCustomer service and marketing experts emphasized disputes between the gerous. will speak at a Partners in Business Seminar White House and Congress over "History teaches us that underesat Utah State University Nov. 7-8. domestic issues. timating the words of evil, ambitious The 17th Annual Partners in Business Bush argued the current debate men is a terrible mistake," Bush said. Customer Service and Marketing Seminar over the Iraq war and the adminis"Bin Laden and his terrorist allies will feature former CEO of NuSkin tration's anti-terror methods harkens have made their intentions as clear as Enterprises Steven Lund; vice president of back to debates decades ago over Lenin and Hitler before them. And shopper marketing at Frito-Lay Inc. Jeff resisting action when Soviet founder the question is, will we listen?" Swearingen; and president and CEO of BCC Vladimir Lenin first talked about Said Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-.N.Y., Consulting Mike Kennedy. Lund has been launching a communist revolution, running for the 2008 Democratic with NuSkin Enterprises since its founding in when Adolf Hitler began moves to presidential nomination: "Americans 1984 and now serves as vice chairman of the establish an "Aryan superstate" in board of directors. He will discuss the benGermany, and in the early days of efits of adopting a direct-selling method. H See BUSH, page 4 the Cold War when some advocated As vice president of shopper marketing, Swearingen is responsible for leading the strategic development of marketing plans for Frito-Lay North America. Swearingen will talk about how companies can find unique ways to elevate their brand in a changing retail environment, said Shannon Kuwitzky, , each year, and with the help of the commuseminar coordinator. Kennedy has more than ; nity, Chi Omega donates about 1,300 cans 25 years experience with customer service in • of food to .the pantry each year. the contact center industry. He will discuss ; "It's fun. I like this," said Charlie Viator, what it takes to deliver world-class customer ! a 3-year-old dressed as a pirate who particiservice. pated in the carnival's activities. Other experts speaking include top The carnival featured tables set up by executives fromcompanies such as Flying several organizations on campus with J, Overstock.com, Zion's Bank, Comcast, games and activities for kids to win candy Discover Financial, The SCO Group, or prizes. The activities ranged from tossing Backcountry.com, Blendtec and Enterprise balls into plastic cups filled with goldfish Rent-A-Car. and candy at the Sigma Chi table to mixing Partners in Business is a non-profit orgaslime at the USU Chemistry Club's table. nization within the College of Business that Other activities included throwing balls is managed entirely by students under the into bowls floating in a plastic swimming direction of Bob Miller, executive director of pool, pin the nose on the pumpkin, fishing the Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence. and face painting. The program began in 1970 as a way to bridge For more information about the sorority the gap between business students and their and its service efforts, visit its Web site at future employers. Tickets are still available for www.chiomega.com/alphagamma. the two-day seminar. Interested persons may -bri.jones@aggiemaiLusa.edu register at the Partners in Business Web site at www.partnersusu.org or by phoning (800) LEXEE SAVAGE, 5 years old, got her face 472-9965. painted Wednesday by Kara Bergloff, junior Micron: $1 million going to center Bush critical of Dems' attitude toward terror WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush compared Congress' Democratic leaders Thursday to people who ignored the rise of Lenin and Hitler early in the last century, saying "the world paid a terrible price" then and risks similar consequences for inaction today. Bush accused Congress of stalling important pieces of the fight to prevent new terrorist attacks by: dragging out and possibly jeopardizing confirmation of Michael Mukasey as attorney general, a key part of his national security team; failing to act on a bill governing eavesdropping on terrorist suspects; and moving too slowly to approve spending measures for the Iraq war, Pentagon and veterans programs. "Unfortunately, on too many issues, some in Congress are behaving as if America is not at war," Bush said during a speech at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. "This is no time for Congress to weaken the Department of Justice by denying it a strong and effective leader.... It's no time for Congress to weaken our ability to intercept information from terrorists about potential attacks on the United States of America. And this is no time for Congress to hold back vital funding for our troops as they fight al-Qaida terrorists and radicals in Afghanistan and Iraq." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said lawmakers refuse to give Bush a blank check for "his directionless war" in Iraq and will not rubber stamp his attorney general choice. And he said Bush is the one who has taken his focus off the real threats to security. "It is because of the administration's mismanagement of the war that we stand unready for the next attack," Partners in Business on campus this week Carnival: Activities for children organized as food drive \M continued from page 3 majoring in business. Activities included face painting and mixing slime with the Chemistry Club. GIDEON OAKES photo [MCompiled from staff and media reports i t |