March 10 - The Daily Iowan Historic Newspapers - University of Iowa

4A- The Daily Iowan - Iowa City, Iowa - Th11J11day, Mim:h 10, 2005
NEWS
House divided Young lcids goi~ high tech Ace
on S.ocial · ·
Security ·plan
BY DAVID ESPO
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - House
Republicans vowed to pursue
politically problematic Social
Security legislation on Wednesday,
alternately criticizing
Democrats as obstructionists and
appealing for their cooperation.
One prominent Democrat
declined the challenge. "Private
accounts will not be on the table
if you are looking fo~ bipartisanship,"
said New York Rep.
Charles Rangel, reflecting the
sentiment of party leaders.
But Republican Rep. Jim
McCrery of Louisiana said, "If
you want to be serious players,
then you will stop this nonsense
of saying, 'We won't [accept] personal
accounts.' " He said of
President Bush's proposal, "if
structured properly, it can be a
very constructive reform."
The partisan differences persisted
despite sobering testimony
from Comptroller General
David Walker, the leadoff witness
at the first Social Security
hearing of the year at the House
Ways and Means Committee.
While the program faces no
immediate financial crisis, he
told lawmakers, "time is work­
. ing against us. The sooner you
act, the less dramatic the
changes that have to be made."
Beyond that, he said Congress
faces a larger challenge.
Social Security, Medicare, and
Medicaid combined "represent
an unsustainable burden on
future generations," said Walker,
who heads the Government
Accountability Office, a nonpartisan
congressional agency.
"Absent meaningful changes
to these programs, the nation
will ultimately have to choose
among persistent, escalating federal
deficits, huge tax increases,
and/or dramatic budget cuts."
Medicare is the federal government's
health-care program
for seniors. Medicaid 1s a statefederal
health-care program for
low-income people.
Walker offered his assessment
as Bush renewed a call for
bipartisanship in support of the
'This is a debt to
future generations of
Americans, and unless we
do something about it
we're not going to be
able to pay for it without
wrecking the economy.'
- President Bush
issue he has made the centerpiece
of his domestic agenda.
"This is a debt to future generations
of Americans, and unless
we do something about it we're
not going to be able to pay for it
without wrecking the economy,"
Bush said in Columbus, Ohio.
He called on Congress in January
to craft legislation that
would achieve two goals-place
Social Security on a permanently
stable financial foundation
and at the same time offer
younger workers a chance to
create personal accounts
financed by payroll taxes.
Under his plan, retirees and
workers 55 and older would
receive current benefits without
change. Younger workers would
get a lower guaranteed government
benefit at retirement than
currently envisioned, on the
assumption that their personal
account earnings would make
up at least part of the difference.
Under the administration's
plans, younger workers who
decided against private accounts
also would face a cut in their
guaranteed government benefit.
Some Republicans have been
skittish about tackling the issue,
fearing a political backlash. Congressional
Democrats are virtually
unanimous in opposition,
accusing the administration of
seeking benefit cuts to pay for
privatization for the program.
Whatever their concerns,
Republicans are determined to
"forge ahead" with the issue,
Rep. Deborah Pryce, R-Ohio,
told reporters after a regular
weekly closed-door meeting of
the rank and file.
UNITED STATES SENATE LEGISLATION
Senate nears approval
of bankruptcy bill
BY MARCY GORDON
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - The Senate
marched Wednesday toward
passage of landmark legislation
that would make it harder to
erase medical bills, credit-card
charges, and other debts by
declaring bankruptcy.
Democratic opponents made
last-ditch attempts to soften the
bill's effect and restrict practices of
the credit industry that they said
were especially hurting the poor.
Not a dent was made in the
legislation, which was armorplated
by the Senate's Republican
majority against amendments
and enjoyed bipartisan support.
With Senate passage expected
today and House approval likely
· next month, the bill would deliver
to President Bush the second of
his pro-business legislative priorities
since the GOP augmented
its majorities in both chambers in
November's elections.
Ordering the most sweeping
overhaul of U.S. bankruptcy
laws in a quarter-century, the
legislation would rework the
centuries-old system - created
soon after the Republic was
founded - under which indebted
people meet their obligations
to creditors while also being able
to get a fresh start.
lt would establish a new
income-based test for measuring
a debtor's ability to repay debts,
require people in bankruptcy to
pay for credit counseling, stiffen
some legal requirements for
debtors in the bankruptcy
process while easing some for
creditors, and enable credit-card
issuers, retailers, and other consumer
lenders to recover more
of what is owed them.
Opponents say it would fall
hard on low-income working
people, single mothers, minorities,
and the elderly and would
remove a safety net for those
who have lost their jobs or face
mounting medical bills.
"The bankruptcy courts are
filled with cases of hardworking
single mothers who were pushed
over the financial brink because
they failed to get the child support
they deserve," said Sen. Edward
Kennedy, D-Mass., author of an
amendment addressing single
~nts. "Yet this bill would only
tighten the screws, looking to
squeeze out a few more dollars fur
the credit-card companies."
Backers have been pushing
the legislation for eight years,
arguing that bankruptcy frequently
is the last refuge of
gamblers, impulsive shoppers,
divorced or separated fathers
avoiding child support, and multimillionaires
- often celebrities
- who buy mansions in
states with liberal homestead
exemptions to shelter assets
from creditors.
New personal bankruptcy filings
declined to 1,599,986 from
1,613,097 in the year ending
last June 30, breaking an
upward trend of recent years.
BY GENARO C. ARMAS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - It wasn't
too long ago that a kid with a
stereo and television in his room
might have been the coolest on
the block. Now, that just makes
him one of the crowd.
In the· past five years, many
children's rooms have evolved
into multimedia centers, with
cable or satellite hookups, computers,
and video-ga':me consoles.
For instance, 20 percent of
youngsters age 8 to 18 can surf
the web from their bedrooms,
double the figure from 1999,
according to a Kaiser Family
Foundation survey released
Wednesday.
That has helped turn kids into
"media multitaskers,"
researchers suggest. Nearly onethird
of kids say they chat on the
phone, surf the web, instant
message, watch Tv, or listen to
music "most of the time" whlle
doing their homework.
What effect this behavior has
on the often fragile ability of
kids to focus is unclear because
detailed research is fairly new,
said Vicky Rideout, the foundation
vice president who directed
the study.
"We are not necessarily saying
that kids spending more time
with more media is a bad thing,"
she said. "This is something all
parents have to decide based on
what age their kids are, how
they are doing in school, and the
parents' own values."
Some of the blame - or
Study finds media-saturated youth
A new studj has found young people ages 8 to 18 have an
unprecedented amount of media In their daily lives and
surroundings, spending up to six and a half hours a day in mediarelated
activities.
Av-. tlrM 8- to 1 e-y....olda HOURS: IIINIT!8
spent per day ••. 0 :30 1 :00 1 :30 2:00 2:30 3:00 3:30
Watching TV -::::::::~ 3:04
Hanging out with parents • 2;17 i
Hanging out with friends• •••••• 2;16 i
In physical activity ~:25 1 · l
Hobbies or other activities · 1 :00 l · ~
listening to the radio !.55
Taldng on the phone• 1 ;53 . :
Doing homewort