Gingrich Hopes Loan Ends Scandal

House Speaker Newt Gingrich hopes to put his political woes to rest by paying a $300,000 ethics penalty with a personal loan. But the move has sparked fresh attacks from Democrats because the loan is coming from Bob Dole. Democrats challenged the propriety of the loan, which does not obligate Gingrich to pay the 10 percent interest or principal for eight years. "Is this just another example of business as usual, where politicians and lobbyists work out a deal which no one else in America could get?" asked Michigan Democrat David Bonior. Republicans called the decision the most honorable option.

Korean Talks Set to Resume

Negotiators for the United States, North Korea and arch-rival South Korea are scheduled to resume talks today aimed at setting the stage for Korean peninsula peace talks. U.S. officials said yesterday that no new U.S. food aid pledges are expected before North Korea responds conclusively to a proposal for peace talks. They told Reuters North Korea began Wednesday's crucial meeting in New York by essentially accepting a U.S.-South Korean proposal for four-party peace talks but then tied that acceptance to a new demand for international assistance to meet severe food shortages. The U.S. is hoping Pyongyang will respond positively to the proposal when talks involving negotiators meet again today.

Agencies Press for Food Aid

U.S. humanitarian aid agencies are urging the Clinton administration to drop demands for concessions from North Korea and ship massive food aid to curb starvation there. Seventeen groups said yesterday statements by senior U.S. officials had raised concerns that the administration was hesitating to ship the food aid in hopes that the food crisis would prompt major policy changes by Pyongyang. "It is clear from the statements...and from the administration's limited response to the food crisis that it is trying to use famine as a weapon to extract from the North Korean regime concessions which would entail fundamental changes in its military and economic policies," they said.

Mich. Economist Eyed for Fed

A U.S. official says University of Michigan economist Edward Gramlich is emerging as one of President Clinton's likely nominees to the Federal Reserve Board. Two vacancies on the central bank's board opened up this year with the departure of Janet Yellen for the White House Council of Economic Advisers and Lawrence Lindsey for the conservative American Enterprise Institute think-tank. Gramlich, the dean of the University of Michigan's School of Public Policy, has been described as a top-flight economist whose research has ranged from poverty and income distribution to the economics of major league baseball.

Senate to Debate Arms Pact

The Senate has scheduled a debate next week on a global treaty outlawing chemical weapons, finally prying the pact from the grip of Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms. Under a schedule agreed to unanimously following torturous negotiations with the North Carolina Republican, the Senate will debate the treaty for up to 18 hours starting at 10 a.m. Wednesday, with a final vote expected Thursday. The treaty must not only get a two-thirds majority vote to win approval, but must also survive votes on amendments that its supporters say would kill U.S. participation in the pact.

Schumer to Challenge D'Amato

Democratic Rep. Charles Schumer of New York says he plans to run for the Senate next year against three-term Republican incumbent Alfonse D'Amato. "I'm excited about my choice because I know it's the right fix," Schumer, 46, said in a statement released yesterday. Schumer was first elected to the House in 1980 from Brooklyn. He is best known as one of the chief sponsors of the Brady bill, which imposed a five-day waiting period for handgun sales. D'Amato, 59, was elected to the Senate in 1980. He is chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and is often called "Senator Pothole" because of the effort he makes to deal with local issues.

Senators Try to Aid Immigrants

A bipartisan coalition of senators has unveiled a bill to preserve aid to hundreds of thousands of elderly and disabled legal immigrants who will lose benefits this summer under a controversial welfare law. The legislation sponsored by California Democrat Dianne Feinstein, Rhode Island Republican John Chafee and others would guarantee that legal immigrants who were receiving Food Stamp and disability aid when the welfare law was signed last year will continue to get federal checks. Under the law, legal immigrants now receiving disability and nutrition aid must be terminated from the rolls by Aug. 22. Those who were not on the rolls before August, when the law took effect, are already ineligible for most federal benefit programs.

Bill Would Boost Airwave Sales

A key lawmaker says he will introduce a bill next week to maximize the money the government raises from the sale of the nation's airwaves. "There's got to be some appreciation for the market," Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, told a news conference yesterday. The Commerce Committee chairman noted the problems that wireless phone carriers are experiencing on Wall Street. The recent drop in the value of spectrum sold by the government has made it tougher for the carriers to raise money from investors. Critics of the current airwave-sales policy charge that the government is selling off too much spectrum over too short a period of time, driving down its price and the amount of money the government can fetch from airwave auctions.

U.S. House Urges Mobutu to Quit

The U.S. House of Representatives has unanimously passed a resolution urging a peaceful end to Zaire's civil war and calling for the resignation of President Mobutu Sese Seko. "Today the U.S. House of Representatives goes on record saying formally that Mobutu must go. He must go now. He has no role to play in Zaire," said Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the International Relations Subcommittee on Africa. Royce, a California Republican, said yesterday the resolution was directed against Mobutu, but it also called on the Clinton administration to support democratic, multiparty elections in the war-torn African nation.

Foreign Affairs Merger OK'ed

President Clinton has approved a broad reorganization of foreign affairs operations that would merge two independent agencies with the State Department and aims to appease critics who are blocking administration priorities, officials said. The plan, worked out by Vice President Al Gore, would integrate the U.S. Information Agency and the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency into the State Department over the next two years. The independent Agency for International Development, which administers development aid and humanitarian assistance, would also be partly subsumed by the State Department but would still retain considerable autonomy.

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