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News stories from Saturday March 21, 1981
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Democrats are planning lesser cuts than President Reagan proposes for child nutrition, student loans, Medicaid, job training and other social welfare programs. Although their total budget cuts will be about equal to the President's, their emphasis will be different, according to Representative Richard Gephardt of Missouri, a key moderate on the House Budget Committee. [New York Times]
- The issue of Sundays off is at the heart of disputes separating the United Mine Workers and the Bituminous Coal Operators Association in negotiations for a new contract. The miners are set to strike after midnight Thursday. Productivity and work schedules would change if the operators have their way in amending the contract to take better advantage of such new technology as the "longwall" machine, which loads coal at 13 tons a minute. [New York Times]
- Visas obtained with bribes or other fraudulent means are being used by hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens to enter the United States and take up residence here. The annual number of "overstayers" is about equal to the number of illegal aliens who surreptitiously cross the border. There are indications that some of the fraudulently obtained visas may be issued by American diplomats and employees of American embassies. [New York Times]
- Talks to prevent a national strike in Poland on Monday were scheduled to start tomorrow between the Solidarity union and the government. Workers called for a general strike following the police attack on union activists in the city of Bydoszcz last week. Lech Walesa, Solidarity's leader, told several thousand union members who gathered in Warsaw that "we want to settle the problem without further conflict," and that Prime Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski "can be trusted." [New York Times]
- Despite "outright pacifist sentiments" in Europe, the United States is determined to deal with the Soviet Union from a position of strength, President Reagan's national security adviser said in an address on the "mood of Europe" before the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. This was Richard Allen's first formal public statement since the Reagan administration took office. [New York Times]
- China has been reassured that the Reagan administration is committed to carrying out the normalization agreement negotiated by the Carter administration. President Reagan, who has leaned more toward Taiwan and has criticized the Carter pact, personally affirmed his commitment to Peking, administration officials said.
The warm relations with Peking begun during the Carter administration have cooled since President Reagan took office. American business interest in China has waned. The once close American community in Peking has been increasingly strained, and diplomatic relations between Peking and Washington have become stiffly correct since the departure of Ambassador Leonard Woodcock, a Carter appointee. [New York Times]
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