The Baltimore Sun
TAX CUT WARS: Last week's tax-cut bidding war by Republicans and Democrats has now been replaced by this week's competition . . . in reducing federal spending. The switch is welcome . . . Perhaps the two great political parties have discovered that the American people know there is no free lunch - that reductions in government revenue without offsetting slashes in spending . . . threaten the nation's future.The fact is, as most liberal and conservative economists agree, there is no justification for major tax reductions in the midst of a strong recovery. How much better it would be if both parties put all their stress this year on reducing government spending.
The Philadelphia Inquirer
SUSPENDING STUDENTS: Educators often cite the following truism: A student's body must be in the student's seat before the student's brain can be engaged. Yet, when it comes to suspending students from . . . public schools, the vital connection between attendance and learning gets lost. Some (alternative) programs include peer counseling and conflict resolution, . . . in-school suspension, where children leave their classes but stay in the building . . . and do real schoolwork . . . (and) alternative placement centers . . . (for) pupils who cause repeated and/or serious discipline problems. These and other alternatives must be tried, to make suspension what it truly is - the punishment of last resort.
The Wall Street Journal
CARTER IN BOSNIA: So former President Jimmy Carter has invaded Bosnia, extending his peacekeeping efforts there at the invitation of Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic. In his invitation, Karadzic promised to respect human rights . . . Meanwhile, however, Serb gunners continued to shell Bihac, and 1,200 Bangladeshi peacekeepers remained cut off and pinned down.
North Korea, the object of a previous Carter mission, just shot down an American helicopter. All is quiet, however, in Haiti. When Carter finishes in Bosnia, maybe he could do something about the Red Army troops moving on Chechnya.
The New York Times
GINGRICH FINANCES: . . . the GOP takeover (of Congress) was helped by success in raising money - much of it in large, still-undisclosed gifts from special interests. The money . . . flowed to support an interlocking set of political and financial entities dubbed "Newt Inc." by Washington insiders. (Speaker-designate) Newt Gingrich's refusal to disclose fully this financial network raises the ugly possibility that he will copy the seedy tendency of the Democrats in Congress to stall on campaign finance reform. If Gingrich wants to see what financial secrecy and fudging on political reform will do to his bright hopes, he has only to look at the Democratic wreckage around him.
Christian Science Monitor
AMTRAK SERVICE: The budget cuts announced . . . by Amtrak represent a last-ditch effort to preserve national passenger rail service. Amtrak is seeking to close a budget gap of nearly $200 million by reducing the frequency of trains and laying off about a fifth of its staff.
But the future for passenger trains in the United States may not be all that bleak. Amtrak plans this winter to award a contract for 26 new high-speed trains to serve the Northeast corridor from Boston to Washington.
Electric cars, new or improved mass transit, and minimal-noise aircraft may all have a part in the transportation mix of the future. But the Amtrak project for high-speed trains strongly suggests that in certain sections of the country, rail should be part of that mix.