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Bush’s hopes for budget rely on economic boost BY CURT ANDERSON ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON - The Bush ad ministration is pinning its bud get hopes on a rapid, robust eco nomic recovery driven by its huge tax cut despite figures re leased Wednesday that show a steep drop in the government sur pluses projected for 2001 and 2002. The White House Office of Management and Budget is ex pecting an economic rebound next year, including a growth rate of 3.2 percent in gross do mestic product. That’s nearly double the anemic 1.7 percent rate forecast for this year and higher than the 2.8 percent rate consensus of many private econ omists. Budget Director Mitch Daniels said the 10-year, $1.35 trillion tax cut President Bush signed into law in June - coupled with re strained government spending and the Federal Reserve’s inter est rate cuts - would boost U.S. economic growth and fortify the budget bottom line. “Economic growth is the key _ to continuing this very strong fis cal picture,” Daniels told re porters. "A return to economic growth will be the focus of the president and the administration in the months ahead.” The impact of the economic slowdown and the $40 billion in tax refund checks was apparent in the midyear budget outlook re leased Wednesday by the White House. It estimated a fiscal 2001 surplus of $158 billion, only $1 bil lion above the tax receipts that flow to Social Security. The revi sion is $123 billion less than the last estimate in April but the sur plus still will be the second largest ever. A similarly tiny non-Social Se curity surplus of $1 billion is now expected in fiscal 2002, which be gins Oct. 1. That represents a $58 billion drop from the April esti mate, for an overall surplus of $173 billion next year that is al most entirely Social Security. An even starker view of the shrinking surplus may come when the nonpartisan Congres sional Budget Office issues a ri val forecast next week. Budget analysts widely believe the CBO projections will show a less fa vorable 2001 surplus and be less aggressive in predicting future economic growth rates. Despite the near-term decline, the OMB expects am overaill sur plus of more than $3.1 trillion over 10 years - down from $5.6 trillion before the tax cut and oth er changes - even accounting for the tax cut and proposed spend ing increases. Among these spending increases: $198 billion more for defense and $37 billion extra for a Medicare overhaul that includes a prescription drug benefit. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said the administration’s growth forecast is unrealistic and that Bush will be forced to dip into So cial Security and Medicare trust funds to keep the tax cut and still pay for defense, education and other priorities. "They have got a phony bud get, and they’re going to have nothing but trouble because they tried to make their big tax cut fit in,” Conrad said. Space shuttle returns to Earth BY MARCIA DUNN AP AEROSPACE WRITER CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Discovery glided to a landing Wednesday, bringing home three spacefarers who spent nearly six months aboard the international space station. Russian cosmonaut Yuri Us achev and his American crew mates, Susan Helms and Jim Voss, were weak and wobbly af ter spending so much time in weightlessness but managed to walk off the shuttle, instead of be ing carried off on stretchers. Shuttle commander Scott Horowitz reported that all three were doing great. "In fact, we were surprised,” Horowitz said after he and the six others who returned aboard Dis covery left the shuttle. "It looked like they were doing a little bet ter than us when we got off the vehicle today, so they’re real troupers. They had a great mis sion.” Their homecoming was de layed 11/2 hours by dark clouds and rain near the landing strip. When Mission Control finally gave Discovery clearance to land, the three former space station residents cheered so loudly that the rest of the crew, seated up stairs, could hear them without the intercom. The midafternoon landing ended a 167-day mission for Us achev, Helms and Voss, just 21 days shy of NASA’s space en durance record. They circled Earth about 2,600 times and logged 70 million miles during the adventure. About 300 people gathered along the Kennedy Space Center runway to welcome back Discov ery and, in particular, the space station’s second resident crew. Among the well-wishers: the wives and daughters of Usachev and Voss and the parents of Helms, who is single. The reunion “made my heart beat fast,” said shuttle astronaut Daniel Barry. BUY^rMEAL Columbia I Lady Street ; Downtown location only )- _ | 1307 Main Stieet I A!a*Mmm . M iM. i 4 * J >. i i wummmrnBimm | j wSf. J f | - % M| -SK§-4 JM Asda Ad a A m ** ^n^Tr^EF1 '2^75 y> 1 ’^Jfii 41311i^BaBBBHjm Apply Yourself. Literally. Attend the Fall Scholarship Workshop Series If you don’t apply you won’t win. Attending a Scholarship Workshop is the first step in the application process for national scholarships, grants, and fellowships. Faculty and staff will explain the merits and requirements of individual competitions. Applicants must be U.S. citizens. First-year students and sophomores are encouraged to attend workshops to begin the process of becoming a scholar. Plan to attend and Apply Yourself, literally. Marshall Scholarship & Rhodes Scholarship Udail Scholarship (for advanced study in Britain) (for sophomores & juniors interested in environmental public policy issues) Monday, August 27, 4 p.m. Wednesday, September 26, 4 p.m. Gressette Room, Harper College Gressette Room, Harper College Fulbright Scholarship Mellon Scholarship (research and study abroad for graduating seniors and graduate students) (for graduate work, post-secondary teaching in humanistic studies) Wednesday, August 29, 4 p.m. Tuesday, October 23, 4 p.m. Gressette Room, Harper College Harper College Conference Room Truman Scholarship NSEP Scholarship (attention juniors - for graduate work in public service or government) (study abroad for undergraduata and graduate s,udents) Tuesday, September 11, 4 p.m. Monday, October 29, 5:30 p.m. Harper College Conference Room Russell House 305 NSF Graduate Fellowship State Farm Fellowship (for graduate study & research in science, math, and engineering) (for campus leaders preparing for careers in business) Wednesday, September 12, 4 p.m. Wednesday, November 7, 4 p.m. Gressette Room, Harper College Gressette Room, Harper College Goldwater Scholarship Rotary Scholarship (sophomores & juniors involved in science, math or engineertng research) (study abroad for all majors or degree levels) Monday, September 17,4 p.m. Monday, November 12,4 p.m. Gressette Room, Harper College Gressette Room, Harper College The Office of Fellowships and Scholar Programs Helping students apply themselves for national fellowships and scholarships Harper College, Room 101 on the USC Horseshoe (803) 777-0958 • www.sc.edu/ofsp • USCFellowships® gwm.sc.edu _*-*-a---’ When it comes to developing an intelligent retirement plan, so many smart investors come from a single school of thought: TIAA-CREF. 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