March 24, 1995 -CBS World News Roundup – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
March 24, 1995 – A busy day on Capitol Hill, with passage of the Line-Item Veto 69-29, President Clinton got what President Reagan had been asking for. It enabled the President the remove “pork barrel” spending so it can’t be loaded on to “Christmas Tree” bills that were too important to veto. To many, it showed that the Republicans, who were in the majority, that they were serious about cutting the budget. Also moving to the Congressional spotlight was the issue of Welfare reform. It appeared that the House was poised to approve its version of welfare reform after working its way through 30 amendments. One of those amendments would have eliminated Federal management of Food Stamps by giving the states block grants. However, Democrats still opposed the GOP Welfare Reform bill saying the problem still remained; eliminating School Lunch programs and reducing Food stamps for the working poor. The next step would be sending the bill to the Senate, where the House version of the bill was likely to be changed beyond recognition.
Also up was a bill introduced by Republicans Arlen Specter and Orrin Hatch which would end years of delay in carrying out death penalty sentences, saying it was a matter of fairness and criminals would get a message if the bill was passed. Also up was the issue of Affirmative Action
Meanwhile, across the Pacific to Tokyo where the subway attack earlier in the week where police were still busy confiscating chemicals in the possession of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult. Meanwhile, Aum leader released a video tape claiming the group wasn’t responsible for the attack, but intimated the U.S. Military was behind the attack which took 10 lives. In a curious twist, there was growing evidence that Japanese authorities were aware that a gas attack on Tokyo was imminent. Sources said the National Police Agency suddenly began stockpiling gasmasks the week before, and that an unusually large number of Police were in the streets early Monday morning, just hours before the attack on the Tokyo subway.
And that’s just a little of what went on, this March 24, 1995 as reported by The CBS World News Roundup.
