Tax cut compromise, highway bill debated
Without a tax extension,
more taxpayers would be
open to an alternative
minimum tax.
DAVID ESPO & MARY DA RYMPLE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITERS
WASHINGTON — President Bush
and the Republican-controlled Con
gress deadlocked over tax cut legisla
tion on Wednesday, but a White
House concession breathed new life
into a separate election-year measure,
a long-stalled highway bill.
Several Republican congressional
and administration officials said the
president rejected as insufficient an
offer by GOP leaders for a two-year
extension of expiring tax cuts for par
ents, married couples and workers.
Bush, in the midst of a difficult re
election campaign, wants a five-year
extension of the tax cuts, which are
scheduled to expire on Dec. 31.
"It would be nice to do it now, but
if it's not just the right package, I'll
wait and do it later," said Senate Ma
jority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. White
House and congressional aides both
predicted an effort to revive the tax cut
measure in the fall. Other officials
said a vote was possible this fall, after
the political conventions.
On the highway bill, congressional
GOP sources said that Bush was will
ing to accept a six-year measure cost
ing just under $284 billion— the level
he has threatened previously to veto.
That's nearly $30 billion higher than
the president initially proposed but
far below the $318 billion provided in
a Senate-passed measure.
Several of these congressional offi
cials, who agreed to describe private dis
cussions on condition of anonymity,
said that under the proposal, Congress
would rescind several billion dollars of
highway money it approved in
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previous years but has yet to be spent.
Several Republicans said Bush con
veyed his views on both the tax cut
bill and the highway measure in a
brief Oval Office conversation with
Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. John
Feehery, Hastert's spokesman, de
clined comment.
Together, the tax and highway bills
underscore the difficulty confronting
Republicans as they attempt to enact
legislation that exposes divisions with
in their own ranks. While most GOP
lawmakers favor tax cuts, many also are
eager for a costly highway bill, hoping
it will create construction jobs at home.
Yet for many, these priorities bump up
against a desire to restrain deficits.
The House and Senate have yet to
agree on an overall budget for the
year— an impasse that stems largely
from disagreement over the wisdom
over the wisdom of additional large
tax cuts in an era of record deficits.
Democrats have sought to turn such
disputes to their political advantage.
'The American public is seeing a Con
gress that is dysfunctional," said House
Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md.
Many conservative lawmakers
prefer a five-year extension of expir
ing tax cuts, hoping not only for the
economic benefit but also for the po
litical boost on an issue that favors
the GOP.
Frist and Hasten agreed late Tuesday
on the two-year extension instead, a
compromise designed to gain the sup
port of Senate GOP moderates who
fear the bill's impact on record deficits.
Before Bush torpedoed the propos
al, Frist made clear he'd like to see the
tax cuts extended more than two
years, perhaps permanently.
"Is that asking too much at this junc
ture?" he said. "I don't think so, but I've
got a lot of people to consider."
That was a reference to moderate
Senate Republicans as well as De
mocrats who said they wanted a
shorter-term bill.
"Our members are hungry for
something that will pass," said Stuart
Roy, spokesman for House Majority
Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas. "They
want to get something that prevents
the tax increase."
"1 think the two-year deal ought to
fly," said Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.
Under current law, a child tax credit
now pegged at $ 1,000 would revert to
$700 on Jan. 1, 2005. Also, a portion
of income currently taxed at 10 per
cent would face a levy of 15 percent.
Additionally, some couples would be
hit by a so-called marriage penalty
that Congress eased last year.
Failure to enact an extension would
also expose more taxpayers to the al
ternative minimum tax. Originally de
signed to prevent wealthy individuals
from avoiding taxes, the AMT now
falls on an increasing number of mid
dle class families.
Congressional negotiators on the
highway measure said they would
meet on Thursday, and House bar
gainers are expected to seek agree
ment on a compromise that meets
Bush's new conditions.
It was unclear how the Senate would
respond. Earlier this week, Sen. Jim In
hofe, R-Okla., outlined a $289 billion
measure and described it as "the only
compromise that is sellable."
Several senators of both parties said
they favor a larger measure.
David Espo and Mary Dalrymple are
writers for the Associated Press.
DONNER
continued from page 1
this indicates hunting was taking
place because some of the shot
appears deformed from impact
with bone.
After determining if any of the re
mains are human, Tasa said he will be
look for tool marks and other evi
dence that the flesh from those bones
was processed for consumption. The
sheer number of bone fragments—
several thousand in all— makes this a
daunting task.
"It's going to take several months
to go through the entire assem
blage, "Tasa said.
After the bone has been analyzed,
Tasa and Schablitsky will send some
of the larger pieces to a forensic lab
for DNA analysis, hoping to link the
remains to living relatives of the
Donners.
Tasa said all of the bones found at
the site have been "calcined," mean
ing that they were broken up and
then boiled down to make a broth
called "bone grease." This process is
used to extract as many nutrients
from bone as possible.
Researchers at the site are also using
this opportunity to study a starvation
diet and learn to recognize it archeo
logically.
The Alder Creek site was discovered
by archeologists Donald Hardesty
and Susan Lindstrom in 1990. At the
time, Hardesty and Lindstrom could
not confirm that the site was the infa
mous Donner encampment but, pri
vately, they had their suspicions.
Years later, Schablitsky was inter
viewed by the Discovery Channel for
her doctoral work on extracting DNA
from artifacts. During an interview
with Discovery Channel officials,
Schablitsky mentioned the Donner
party camp site.
University of Oregon
Disability Services
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support to students with documented physical,
learning, and psychological disabilities.
• Academic Advising
• Adaptive Technology
• Books on Tape
S • Classroom Relocation
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(Services dependent upon individual documented
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346-1155 disabsrv@darkwing.uoregon.edu
interviews by appointment
Last summer, the Discovery Chan
nel helped fund a dig at the site. Sch
ablitsky said the team returned this
summer, because they wanted to get
more samples before they began
their analysis.
Among the artifacts, Schablitsky
found a piece of writing slate, probably
owned by teacher Tamzene Donner.
"Finding pieces of the writing slate
brings to my mind a vignette of
(Tamzene) trying to normalize the sit
uation by teaching her children arith
metic and spelling around the fire,"
Schablitsky said.
Both Schablitsky and Tasa will
teach classes this fall at the Universi
ty. Tasa will teach Human Biological
Variation, Anthropology 362. Sch
ablitsky will teach Historical Arche
ology, Anthropology 510. Both plan
to weave portions of the Donner dig
into their classes.
benbrown@dailyemerald.com
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