Copyright 2000 Gannett Company, Inc.
USA TODAY
February 16, 2000, Wednesday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 8A
LENGTH: 617 words
HEADLINE:
High heating oil prices troubling to Clinton
BYLINE:
Paul Leavitt; With staff and wire reports
BODY:
President Clinton said Tuesday that the soaring cost of home heating
oil
is "deeply troubling" and that he has "not closed off any
options" for
possible assistance. The administration has released
$ 200 million from the
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program
and "we can release more," the
president said. But he admitted
the program doesn't help middle-income
families "that are just
getting killed by this."
The
administration has declined to release oil from the 569-million-barrel
Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which was created in 1975 after the
Arab
oil embargo. Officials said that stockpile is to be used
only if there is a
disruption in supplies, not to control prices.
Clinton's comments
came as Energy Secretary Bill Richardson heads
to Boston for a heating oil
summit today at which oil distributors
might explain why supplies are so
tight and expensive. Richardson
is not expected to announce any new relief
measures.
In the Northeast, the world's biggest heating oil market,
prices
have more than doubled from a year ago, to more than $ 2 a gallon.
TRADE GOALS: House Republican leaders laid out their trade
priorities for Congress this year.
They will push for a vote by
August to end Congress' annual review
of whether to allow normal
trade with China, and grant what's
known as permanent
trade status. The change is necessary before
China could join the
World Trade Organization (WTO), which sets
global trade rules.
Another goal, GOP leaders said, is to pass a bill by April that
would give new trade privileges to countries in Africa, the Caribbean
and Latin America. More than 70 countries in those regions would
gain
duty-free access to U.S. markets.
The leadership also wants to shore
up U.S. leadership in global
trade organizations by defeating a resolution
that calls for withdrawal
from the WTO. House Rules Chairman David Dreier,
R-Calif., opposes
the move and said, "I'm very confident of victory."
NEW FIGHTER: The Navy said its upgraded F-18 Super Hornet
meets
the need for a new carrier-based strike fighter and is ready
for full-scale
production. Plans call for buying 548 of the new
model E attack jets over 10
years at a cost, including development,
of $ 47 billion. If Congress
approves, the first squadron could
be deployed in 2002. Navy officials said
the jet got the highest
ratings possible during six months of testing.
Congressional critics
question whether the jet advances the Navy's
effectiveness enough
to justify the cost.
GAY MARRIAGE: Rep.
Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., introduced legislation
that would end what
gay-rights advocates say is discrimination
in immigration law. The bill
would allow U.S. citizens who are
in permanent relationships to sponsor
their partners for immigration.
Current law allows sponsorship only for a
person who is married,
and the government does not recognize same-sex
marriage.
CLINTON SCANDALS: President Clinton disputed a
Washington
Times report that said the White House hid thousands of
internal
e-mails relating to investigations into alleged wrongdoing by
the president and others. Clinton said the White House had complied
with
every request for documents. The newspaper quoted former
White House
computer operations chief Sheryl Hall as saying officials
covered up the
fact that electronic messages from August 1996
to November 1998 had not been
surrendered, as required by law.
The report said the e-mails pertained to a
number of scandals,
including White House possession of background files on
former
members of Republican administrations, campaign-finance abuses
and the president's affair with Monica Lewinsky.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO, b/w, AP; Richardson:
Visits Boston today
LOAD-DATE: February 16, 2000
