The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

the most be good evening i'm jim lehrer on the

newshour tonight susan denser updates the medicare commissions problems coming to an agreement on a home and tells the story of us versus foreign steel and we get the official irish and british views on the state of the peace in northern ireland and all follows us or rhythm is this tuesday i wrote to an atm fee to the world is the biggest challenge of the new century because by the time the baby is old enough to vote the world will have nearly two billion dollars into the world and by travelers that was invested in the natural gas company into their business and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by the annual financial support from viewers like you the bipartisan medicare panel was expected to adjourn tonight without agreeing on a formal recommendation the seventeen member commission was said to be one vote short of

approving a rescue proposal president clinton said he will send congress a plan of his own instead he said it will cover prescription drugs and require fifteen percent of future surpluses to be dedicated to medicare those provisions were not part of the commission's track we'll have more on the story right after the news summary there was joy of the new york stock exchange florida david dow jones industrial average lost fifteen thousand threshold for the first time in history but it didn't last long on the dow closed down twenty eight points at ninety nine thirty at least forty they were killed in a wreck of an amtrak train south of chicago last night rescue workers searched today for a four passenger still missing the train called the city of new orleans smashed into a still hauling truck at the illinois town of bourbon a truck rumble strips the truck driver survived more than one hundred passengers were injured most of the fatalities occurred when a sleeping car rammed into an engine and burst into

flames president biden had this comment our thoughts and prayers are with all those people who were involved in this morning's amtrak crash in illinois we dispatched safety officials from the national transportation safety board and other federal investigators the site but to lead the investigation i want to know that we will do everything we can help the victims and their families and ensure that the investigation moves forward with great care and speed overseas today there was a major split between the executive and legislative branches of the european union all twenty appointed executives who administer the fifty nation group resigned in brussels they said it was in response to allegations of corruption and management and mismanagement those accusations were in a report commissioned by the use elected parliament north korea agreed to allow the united states to examine a suspected underground nuclear weapons site the state department said today it's located in the northwestern part of the country a department spokesman james

rubin made the announcement the north koreans have agreed to multiple site visits by us team to the underground site at qom chang at the first site will be her first visit to the site will be in may nineteen ninety nine with our visits continuing as long as our concerns about the site remained during each visit us team will have access to the entire site and the negotiations we did not agree to north korean demands for compensation in return for this access rubin said the agreement was an important step in the us effort to stop nuclear proliferation security at the five nuclear weapons labs in the united states has been dramatically tightened according to energy secretary bill richardson he told the senate armed services committee today counterintelligence officers have been hired workers authorized to seize sensitive material must now take a lie detector test he was asked about

reports that employee gave china nuclear secrets he said he did not yet know the extent of that that magazine publisher steve forbes ever the republican presidential race today he became the first person in a fire his candidacy internet and web site he said as reflected his new information age campaign forbes ran unsuccessfully for the nomination in nineteen ninety six he's the fourth to formally announce this time with more expected first lady hillary clinton told a grand jury she did not monitor the financial records of the whitewater land they'll she said sell in videotaped testimony recorded last april and played today at the trial of susan mcdougal and little rock and noble and her husband were partners of the titans on a resort property investment transactions in that venture led to an investigation by independent counsel kenneth starr and that's it for the newshour tonight now it's on to the collapse of the medicare reform commission us versus foreign steel and two

views of the northern ireland peace as the medicare story as reported by susan denser of our health needed a partnership with an image a kaiser family foundation by design the sixty member bipartisan medicare commission was composed of equal numbers of democrats and republicans but as the panel prepared for its final vote today it was disagreement among democrats that seem most likely to sink the reform plan of the panel's chairman senator john breaux of louisiana although bros plan had already garner the support of democratic senator bob kerrey of nebraska and the panel's eight republicans negotiations to bring more democrats onboard fell apart only recently at a press conference yesterday in roebling that on the top democrat in the white house president clinton do i wish that he would endorse of the answer is obviously yes and disappointed if he doesn't and answers also

answer yes the president now says he will introduce his own plan for reforming medicare and forwarded to the congress for consideration i think it is no incumbent upon me to present an alternative proposal but i wanna make it clear that i believe we owe it to the american people to make an agreement the sheer and i'm going to do my dead level best top row complain that the president declined a pressure for presidential appointees on a panel to vote for his reform plans that plan would restructure the federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled or around a concept known as premium support in essence the plan would transform medicare from a program that mainly pays doctor and hospital bills into one that allows beneficiaries to choose among a range of health plans for a privately run hmo was to the traditional medicare program on average the government would contribute eighty eight percent of the annual premium for the plan and beneficiaries would pay the rest proponents argue that the change would encourage

competition among health plans slowing the growth of medicare spending and saving trillions of dollars over the long haul this proposal deserves to be law it deserves to be law before the two thousand elections although president clinton has was supporting it grows every spring his advisors that isn't roping and has a major short runs unlike row for example the president wants to broaden affordable coverage provided to medicare beneficiaries or outpatient prescription drugs he also wants to use seven hundred billion dollars in future federal budget surpluses to shore up medicare's hospital insurance trust fund even if all the changes recommended by the commission were adopted because of the projected inflation rates in healthcare cost it would not be sufficient to stabilize the fund only by making this kind of commitment can we keep the program on farm financial ground well into the next century every independent expert agrees that medicare cannot provide for the

baby boom generation without substantial new revenues says and answers here now susan is there a simple one explanation as to why the commission couldn't richard green gene in a way i think the commission was doomed from the moment it was set up in a balanced budget act of nineteen ninety seven the commission was in effect handed some very conflicting objectives on the one hand because the population of aged is going to double over the next thirty five year spending on medicare will double vote as a share of the federal budget it has stair the economy and there was concern that that would be unsustainable and that weighs had to be found to rein in the costs of medicare on the other hand it's also broadly agree that medicare is just an inadequate benefits package for beneficiaries today if you took the top health insurance plan in the united states and said that was a hundred percent medicare is at twenty percent of that level in terms of the benefits it covers it has high deductibles doesn't cover outpatient prescription drugs and

has a number of other inadequacies you put those two objectives together in television to address them both i it's not likely that you're going to come up with a plan that pleases everybody and louis was the division roughly along those lines those who wanted to do one of the word that the first part of what you talk about on those who wanted to do the another which fixed be the beneficiary plan that was the president a summer democrats right yes that's correct and the division was in part along those lines but also it was a long other problems as well many people although they thought that the premium support plan was in concept a good way to go were troubled by the fact that many of the details were expelled out and frankly they had questions about whether it would hurt beneficiaries of a long running whether in fact medicare recipients would end up paying more for not much more in the way of benefits and they already hat so there were lots of competing our disagreements iran very many different world now just so we understand it's called the bro plan wasn't literally senator grows plan or was it a plan that he put together with the help of other members of the commission it was primarily driven by senator breaux and some

advisers to him among centrist democratic policy organizations it was also however very much supported by congressman bill thomas we saw on the piece is a republican and in general when can they give it his own planned that drew a lot of support from centrist democrats primarily they got some additional support from republicans even republicans who would have preferred a different approach in the end we're going to try a premium support yes in a row as you said in your piece i was upset that the president and put some heat on the presidential appointees so the four is for presidential appointees it was it was that an option for the president you think if he put the gate on it did they would have gone farther would've gone broke that the president in effect of probably would not have done that he appointed people who were well known to have many opinions of their own who are experts in the field and was probably unlikely that the president could muscle them into making a decision that they were loath to make any way they had serious policy substantive disagreements with the pro plan not the least of which was the question about how much in the way of new general tax revenues would

be put in to medicare everybody agrees as the president said that there isn't enough money on the table right now to support medicare as the baby boom generation retires the president had proposed a plan whereby in fact some of the publicly held government debt would be bought back and those bonds would in effect be transferred into the so called hospital insurance trust fund that was his mechanism for getting more revenues into the program breaux was said to the president look if i say yes to that i'm going to lose one of my members they don't want to go with that approach for a variety of reasons and in fact there was a lot of disagreement about whether you should explicitly put on the table a lot of new revenues from medicare anyway so all of that sort of came together and let the thing to fail breaux and the president are and have always been political allies was i always get their refund policy issues that certain that outlaws what happened this time in roads into the aloha to the press a bit although i will strike you by saying that in washington some of this is always theater that concept the president liked

the premium support plan in and i emphasize in concept it's not too much of a stretch to say that for a lot of resemblance to the president's own health care reform plan of nineteen ninety three and yeah so that was though managed competition with the notion of having private plans compete to enroll cherries and fixing the amount of contribution and female encouraging competition to contain costs that was all basically in the clinton reform plan of nineteen eighty three so in principle that was acceptable to the president as always with health care the devil is in the details the question was could a market oriented plan really work for older and sick or medicare beneficiaries would they in fact end up paying more for not much more in the way of benefits and in fact one of the final sticking points was this whole issue of prescription drug coverage the president has said repeatedly that a modernized medicare package must cover prescription drugs there was some semblance of approach fiction drug benefit in the baroque package but not enough not big enough not brought enough not subsidize

enough to satisfy the president and that also an absent father of obama credits as really part of their a proposal or so from the very beginning our to what happens next now i think the president's folks scary to put together a plan that came as a bit of a surprise to them that the president now has a listener work with or to have commissions for is to come up with agreements right in this one didn't been didn't work well i would say that many hoped to commercial work but a lot of people assume from the start even just the political composition if you have a democrat senate republicans that isn't necessarily recipe for a majority and in the traditions of the best social security reform commission that the great alan greenspan had several years of policing to think i'm obligated to report that what happens but i think i think there's a hope that now the president will put forward a plan again with the prescription drug benefit and at that is financed paid for somehow also some more elaboration on what else he would do to modernize the medicare program that will go up to the hill meanwhile senator brown has said that he's going to put his proposal into legislation

and our congressman thomas also has plans to start some legislation moving in the house all of this will come together and when i imagine will be rather furious debate where the end of this year and probably most likely carrying over into next it's difficult to imagine that all of these details could be settled in the timeframe left in this year before formal action to her yes and quite possibly to cover to be an election there remain some suspicion possibly well founded possibly not that the president would prefer to have the medicare issue to campaign on the democrats would prefer to have the medicare issue to campaign on and that to the extent they might do a deal with republicans this could hurt them in the two thousand elections well as service in journalism right now us forces foreign steel calling home and reports

the upper ohio river valley is still country since nineteen oh nine at its center nestled on hillsides in west virginia's northern panhandle a strong working class community took root around a steel mill over the year to date the city of weird and continues to rely almost exclusively on steel for its livelihood in fact we're still is the largest industrial employer in west virginia the largest deal maker in america but where king has seen better days the industry itself very sick and you're going to have to be some violence and very much why five years are seen as much because i have the you know as the steel worker and living in his town will recognize those things can happen but what the american steel industry wasn't prepared for was the kind of foreign competition had faced over the past year richard reid are working executive officer the american industry actually cannot meet

all the needs of those of the consuming markets and and so consequently rather than build that excess capacity we've actually allowed that the comment from from nine us sources imports not not a big issue not a big issue until last spring when steel makers in this country began feeling the effects of a slumping economy in asia foreign steel producers unable to sell and the suffering asian markets slipped this deal to the united states at rock bottom prices prices dropped from basically you heard june to september and about a three month period of time dropped about eighty dollars a ton and eighty dollars a ton on a hundred million tons of steel it gets out there in the marketplace is a lot of money and also in a lot of cases they were selling a product that we call bumped prices prices that were below their cost and so last september weird and eleven other domestic

steelmakers and to steel workers' unions formally complained of japan russia and brazil violated trade laws by dumping steel in the united states at prices below what it would bring in their own country there is no dispute that this has been an import search of unprecedented proportions it is of historic proportion us trade representative charlene barshefsky says the clinton administration fully supported the steel industry points the administration expedited those cases in a manner unprecedented under the dumping law are it imposed retroactive duties once the dumping decision was made and imports from the countries affected by those cases of japan brazil and russia aren't literally down to nail over all steel exports to the us in the last two months are down thirty four

set but the damage was done because it couldn't compete with corn feel i've cut rate prices written was forced to lay off eight hundred fifty workers in the last year jean harris was not one of them he's a third generation steel worker with substantial sing it is also the elected mayor of weird what's been the impact of layoffs on that well right now where congress were not see any impact the romans wore as that's concerned on the city at this point and certainly our businesses in town are being impacted by the house is obviously people are not buying cars by bob lives like they might normally do because the situation not knowing what's going to happen tomorrow but the most difficult part for my position is to have to go out and see people and try to understand the situation and try to help them as best we can the main reason the american steel industry managed to survive even worse over the past ten years is the dramatic institutional changes that may companies downsize significantly retooled their

milk using advanced technology anyone who thinks steele is a smoke stack industry doesn't know anything about steel or the remarkable remarkable turnaround in this industry in the last decade a lot of our equipment today is run by computers we've upgraded people saw the capabilities we've taken employment levels down but productivity is going up word and steals workers and officials say they took all the right steps to ensure they could compete against any steel maker in the world they say they're in trouble now only because others broke the rules of washed away by the flood of imported feel the flames the clinton administration in january the workers staged a march and rally in washington and enlisted the support of their

elected representatives republicans and democrats this administration would rather spend the house a jar is while american jobs around in a sea of thieves steal from abroad this administration's plans aside while foreign steel floods and of this country and weiss's away family and community the steelworkers and weird and still remember the nineteen ninety two visit of then candidate bill clinton who promised to protect their own practices that now have caused many workers their jobs own apartments are we enforce strictly the anti doping laws in the laws against unfair subsidized deal being dumped into this country that's not fair if their guidelines are there still are not good for hours they should have access to our markets it should be here or he was over you would stop and portugal

and it's hard you know i mean i might enjoy it i have a sick daughter no worries in the benefits you know what we can get out of this trip i blame us think well listen al gore in that agreement and three guys are worried about the global and the artist community and everywhere else been a carrot not a lot of people were just been working there were you know still industry itself but during his recent state of the union president clinton restated his pledge to protect you i have already informed the government of japan that that nation sudden surge of steel imports in our country is not reversed america will respond air your overall steel exports to the us must return to pre crisis levels quickly or we will self initiate trading actions against japanese steel in the case of russia the commerce

department negotiating a comprehensive agreement severely limiting russian steel exports to the united states where imports come into this country they had best be fairly traded where the united states stands ready as we have and steel to take very dramatic action against those unfairly traded goods that is something we can protect our workers from and we intend to do just that tomorrow however the house of representatives will debate and vote on legislation that would restrict foreign steel imports to pre crisis levels and they consider sites are nine seven five members of the house ways and means committee debated the bill last week and argued whether the harm it could do out ways the good i support the legislation before us severe collected the effect of the least preserving our industry here a nice decent job to unite states not as a protectionist which would force a remedy for those who have

illegally taken advantage of the us market i will oppose this bill and will recommend that the house defeated in fact in very recent weeks we've seen improvements already as steel imports have been coming down and are projected to continue to follow the clinton administration opposes the legislation as well if we were strict steel imports into this country without following proper trade law procedure probably safe other countries do the same on our agriculture products or on our steal intensive capital goods exports other countries would feel perfectly within their rights to do exactly the same thing that was as we just didn't steal we're john mayer and steel worker dean harris says he isn't convinced new legislation is needed but that something needs to be done you know we've never asked for anything from the president rather

than have other countries bob on the walls are already on the books we'll want to last we don't as for the last us nothing for many but we asked a little pop bottle that's way we are raised in weird that's weird way we expect the administration to carry on your three brothers nonetheless as vivid in january hundreds of steel workers are preparing to converge on washington to push for a law to set still quotas hoping for a house vote tomorrow large enough to override president of egypt say so still to come on the newshour tonight the irish and the british views of northern iowa and peace but first this is blood week on public television so we're taking a short break now so your public television station can ask for your support that support helped keep programs like ours on the air those stations not taken a pledge break the newshour continues now with excerpts

from president clinton's speech today the government ministers from fifty african nation they're gathering at the state department was the first and largest of its kind strickland reflected on his own the year since his africa trip but he also looked ahead we have a lot of ground for too much of this century the relationship between the united states and africa was played by indifference on our report this conference represents an unparalleled opportunity to raise our growing cooperation to the next level they're in the next few days we want to talk about how these programs worked in hear from you about how we can do better at members of my cabinet will meet their african counterparts the message i want your leaders take home is this is a partnership with substance backed by a long term commitment this is truly a relationship for the long haul we've been to separate and to enable

we must end but building a better common future we need to strive together to do better with a clear vision of what we want to belong africa obviously matters to the thirty million americans who trace their roots there but africa matters to all americans it provides thirty percent of our oil nearly as much as the middle east over a hundred thousand american jobs depend upon our exports to africa there could be millions more when africa realizes its potential as africa grows it will meet what we produce and we will meet what africa produces ten years from now we won't see more growth rates above five percent a generation from now we won't see a larger middle class more jobs and consumers more african exports driving schools deal with children boys and girls with high expectations and a reasonable chance of fulfilling them but we need the tools to get there are the tools of a trade and investment as i

said when i was in africa this must not be a choice between eighteen trade we must have both in my budget request for the next fiscal year and asked for an increase of ten percent and developments assist african with the aid is about quality and quantity or a prose or to vote with your involvement was added about the hesitations needed to sustain democracy and reduce poverty and increased independence you expand opportunity we also need trade administration strongly supports the african growth and opportunity act which i said in my set of the union address we will work to pass in this session of congress the act represents the first step in creating for the first time in our history a general framework for us africa trade relations it provides immediate benefits the nation's modernizing their economies and offers incentives to others didn't sign it increases us assistance probably it where it will do the most

good one a most serious issues we must do it together and one of the truly global importance is that a relief the day i asked the international community to take actions which could result in forgiving seventy billion dollars in global that relief well will that our goal is to ensure that no country committed to fundamental reform is left with a debt burden that keeps it from meeting its people's basic human needs and spurring growth we should provide extraordinarily for countries making extraordinary efforts to bill worthen of comics we're is all the health law are the hurdles left by past mistakes i believe represents a strong achievable an important step forward there are many friends of africa and congress and many strong opinions about how best to help africa well that will quickly found instances we cannot afford a house

divided africa needs action now this weekend first lady hillary clinton is scheduled to begin at touro for the countries represented algeria egypt morocco and tunisia i oh yeah oh yeah now the northern ireland's story and the phil ponce a prominent catholic human rights lawyer was killed by a car bomb in northern ireland monday and extremist protestant group claimed responsibility for the murder of rose mary nelson this comes after months of relative peace in the british province it's been almost a year since the landmark good friday peace agreement was signed by both republicans are nationalists who see closer ties with the republic of ireland and unionists are loyalists who favor continued union with britain the deal was brokered

by former us senate majority leader george mitchell and backed by irish prime minister bertie ahern and british prime minister tony blair i believe that today i said when i arrived here a wednesday night but i felt the hand of history upon us today i hope that the burden of history and a long lost start to be lifted from our shoulders the agreement calls for a new northern ireland assembly and the cabinet called the executive that would give self rule to the six county problems for the first time since nineteen seventy two all signers agreed the disarming or decommissioning paramilitary groups including the irish republican army should be part of the plan but they struggled with the wording and could only agree to attempt to disarm within two years to a commission headed by a canadian general john de chest away elisa found weapons and ammunition stashed to rob the region they believe these stockpiles belong to the paramilitary

groups as seventy one point one two last may there were celebrations in the mostly catholic republican violent end in mostly protestant northern ireland after voters ratify the peace plan northern ireland in june voters in northern ireland picked a one hundred feet member national assembly but the violence did not end in july three younger brothers and only money were killed when a molotov cocktail was thrown into the home where they lived with their catholic mother and her protestant boyfriend then in august in the town of omar a car bomb killed twenty eight people and wounded two hundred twenty others or radical republican group calling itself the real ira claimed responsibility the new national assembly and executive cabinet were supposed to begin work last

wednesday but david trimble the unionist picked to be the new chief executive would not let shin faint take its two seats in the cabinet or allow the group to start working until the ira took steps to disarm the british officer and char richard northern ireland marjorie milan has postponed the start of the assembly for three weeks gerry adams and other leaders of shin fein the political arm of the ira argue the good friday plan does not require such an act by the ira the british government has given the parties until the end of march to resolve the disarmament issue once again the deadline falls during the week of good friday earlier today i spoke with irish prime minister bertie ahern who is in washington for st patrick's day this prime minister for slow walking thank you for speaking with us at a very much less than at home this prime minister the iraqis not disarming the government that was supposed be in place in northern ireland is not in place killings continue many people in this country are under the impression that the good friday agreement has come undone as a no i think of which is set

to roll troops at the other side of that is that the in the killing this week was the first of the year in our terms about his gold for we haven't daily effort for twenty years it's bad that we've had any particular belief of it such a prominent as human rights and civil rights lawyer was blown up and but in the end the progress thats been made has financed elections are over the assembly is in place now i think the executive is ready to be set up and the british are shifting a lot of structures that were in cuba are all in place we have one major issue still on resolved us how to deal with the condition of our farms are accused the commencement of the fact is that the one issue that is stopping us moving on that with all of the other things that are in place and about of course is what's next in line and this week in washington and i was prime minister on that issue and you have a close relationship with with republicans would slow motion fan and yet you've been up front in

asking that they be sensitive to the other side interesting than the commissioner disarming want to be taken as well i think that the difficulty is that why lincoln the good friday agreements that was no pre conditions that we had in understanding where we would we would get to and thus we would try several key executive out what else the commissioner should be resolved is not possible for the oversight to do that and they have a little room to maneuver so politically is not a fossil is for them to set up executive the new cabinet unless they are re starts taking an active in efforts to to decommission to disarm akbar that there be an understanding that when they would do less because as it arises from the section of the commission into good friday agreement which states that there will be at the commission of arms within a two year period the iranian stated that that is not their intention and so that creates our own certainty and doubt in the minds of human that's so what we need to do is to bring the certainty that that deadline will be achieved and that's the good

offices ocean painted influenced all of that they can influence in the irate that will be true at arms and we have to find a song acceptable and balance between fortune thing and you'll see you know just how we can move forward and that is not easy to do what i think it is nine percent to do if we're to get these things to work and work very quickly not the iran makes the point that under the letter of the agreement there is no requirement that they disarmed at this point and a further they argue that this is a this the objections are just another step on the part of the union is to keep them out of power it responded they do at and if that was their their stated position i think it's been made clear that they will disarm then older to leverage a lot of the agreement which would be by this time next year i think that would be remarkably unhealthful to do that from three weeks after the agreements but stated that they have no intention of the commissioner arms it when the two years are afterwards and and i can understand their arguments but i can equally understand the arguments that appeals to units

we must do as they are negotiators and one of the key current course of the treatment is to find an acceptable way of satisfying both should fame their understanding of the agreement and at the same time a political resolution for pretty eunice so that they can move all together is remembered the key point about this film is that all of these people are going to sit down in government together to rome to northern ireland and the level of force and confidence between them has to be strong start and or so unless we resolve this issue it will not be strong <unk> getting back to the issue of the death of rosemary nelson is actually make it harder for the oh for the ira for sinn fein to to give if they see that somebody's their community was was recently and was recently i think it is that it puts more pressure on i think it will make it the people and the nationalists in republican communities out more hard line on these issues and it does occur is that this and a splinter line this

group used for a sophisticated technology in this explosive and rotary who'd been over here in front of the house committee out last year and it stays on the path to find out if she was on the tracks for our civil rights work was out there it was being attacked and so the fact that she's now been assassinated of course that is something that is going to have put up a lot of fighters into the marshes community understandably so astronomers are getting back to the issue of a decommissioning of disarming are you saying but it might be possible to promote an agreement whereby the iranians is that we have to start turning in weapons that maybe some kind of a strong assurance of eventual progress that could conceivably be helpful but it would be helpful it may not resolve everything but i think it would definitely be helpful because the concern of unions and many others too is that the arms would never go out of circulation and thereby even if they're not useful paramilitary activity take abuse for criminality

and other issues of that is a concern of a genuine democrats and so i think that will be of it on the other side of the unions would say they need an actual starts to the masses but i would have to try to go see four what that could mean for the agreement is general john shasta lake and an independent group of out of the martian on a british people have worked under the commission body and they are trying to the structure of something that they could say that can allow both sides to move forward and within the art of politics and compromise negotiations that those all those words are things that we can work together it in his position is that an awful thing for all the commission but they're looking for it just as a signal that this is going to happen on the other side and i think the republican movement are saying that they are and the commission to the fire agreement which says that they will use the best deficit has to happen this time next year so while the differences are immense out there are areas for compromise they knew the key players are in washington right now

what role can president clinton clear what role would you like for the president to play and this is sort of the key opportunity for us to do to break this impasse it is yes i think in this instance how what i would like him to try to do is to explain to the characters or to the parties just how near we are to a historic breakthrough a really historic breakthrough but even compared to last year that we now have in place structures of parliament's and gordon smith ministrations on the north so basis for the whole lot of the violence and this is just truly historic i want to acquire now is that as the last resolution this issue of that to try and get the two parties at the fine dearie of compromise at two to get over this last four and i think maybe as an outsider on this as a person who has been so helpful to the boss as an instrumental in making so much that that protect them and put pressure on the parties and also the progress was that he will be able to accuse his good office to do that so it can i think what he says is very well listen to by all the parties

as prime minister i think you for journalists different then later in the day to day margaret warner talked with a british official in charge of northern ireland and margery marjorie mo rocca might affect a terrific serving with us think of having me he just heard prime minister of current assessment the situation what is your take on this why do you think this impasse has been so difficult to resolve agree with that they promised to a show about it and said i think it's difficult for a number of reasons though one being hit that we can the good friday agreement was tough and a senator mitchell said it was essential to the process implementing it is equally tough because what happened in those talks is that everybody wanted a bit of the agreement that we finally ended up with you wanted a serrated prisoner releases i wanted an assembly somebody else wanted a human rights commission on equality commission will stuck with it supported it because of the scene we wanted to know what's happening with that package having been passed by

the assembly and by the people both north and south and referendum is that we're implementing it and it's always harder because people see exactly what the others wanted an implementing a default a hollow full with isolation of it hits them say it's tough it's difficult to away a day is what we said we would do more we were asked to do by the parties is implemented the good friday agreement does the british government at least for now stand behind david trimble the union this year when he says he cannot let champagne take these two posts in the cabinet until they start decommissioning i don't disagree with the conclusion of the statement but to look at it in the way that the question is lost means there are winners and there are losers but if you look at it in that way you will never find a way through because any process as winners or losers it'd be very difficult to work in northern ireland what one has to do is say that yes

as an impression clinton put it very well when he said that the good friday and when greenland has to be implemented in to the letter and spirit now good friday agreement furbish inflamed as betty hearn said they stuck by letter they've done it and in the same way the union is in terms of the spirit of the agreement needs it in its completion need all dimensions which is really great was that to most simple as a justification for the position they fold but for it to work both have to happen decommissioning is the last us is the formation of executive so you're saying really that both of these leaders gerry adams and they've tripled world both have to get further yes but not just that and i think what's important for the rest of this politically it's about six week in america now is to realize the fears and distrust that exist on both communities and again betty hearn got it right when he said that what we need is trust and confidence and i have this week

caleb people are talking of mixing socially that some of that trust and confidence will be found but it isn't the case case of not just sinn fein in the uk but this is the warmest himself everybody has to play their part and movements will not just to be careful if we think that will now where is that northern ireland public in all this because last year they did get a significant impetus when they voted to approve the good friday agreement and certainly by their vote rejected the catholic voters were over ninety percent support so anyway for them now to exert pressure and to simply say we want you to make this work life in that pressure is there and there have been a bit of a change of its felt in northern ireland in the last couple of weeks when there is more via a fitting end desire to make progress then in the last couple of months we've got a lot of detail of tough negotiations without the public saying much but i believe now there is a i feel that progress should be made

but to be honest with you in your viewers there is no doubt that the kinds of support that the agreement had back a year ago is still there in the sense that both communities want this to work i don't want them back on the road to violence and they want to see progress but when asked if these power poles across the northern ireland and some of your viewers will have read them you kind of polls taken the conclusion you won't because of the question it's better but i think there is no doubt that there is clearly a belief among the people of northern ireland they want to make progress but there's also the beginning of a go go is of a question mark as this is going to work a local issue when trust in the psych placed right said that is beginning to develop which is why i think it's important artisan tactics in the run up to what is an actual deadline the week of the twenty ninth in the run up to east of the progress is made

because if not we learned after the anniversary of the the agreement way into a potentially difficult time at the parades were into the projections for the european parliament new a backdrop that i would like negotiations to continue drilling there've been a number of compromise ideas put on the table you heard the prime minister talk about fact that maybe i really set a date certain to begin the commissioning their other ideas that maybe that decommissioning can begin the day that the sinn fein ministers are take part in the first part of the government would the british government encouraged david trimble to accept a compromise i think it is they wouldn't accept and wife and this is what's important to remember it's not just tremble it's not just adams both sides have to move and we will work as hard and i know president clinton will say well the big league is tuned to larger bits of patrick's day and i hope that he delivers the same message that this is a difficult time matilda progress everybody's got to move with that understand the difficulties that all

sides have taken their communities with them because there's fear that this is going to deliver for them among some elements so you what do you agree then with the prime minister when he said that he believes are true when adams had very little room to maneuver politically i believe they both have little room for maneuver but i also agree with bertie ahern that they both have some and i think it is possible for everybody because whenever it was decommissioning executive whatever issue it certainly does to find a way of working together because we could find agreement on the twenty nine percent is that a festivus this month but unless they are able to work together what do you specifically want the president to say when he meets separately with both adams and tremble tomorrow do you think he's going to be able to do you looking for and actually negotiate an ideal candidate stick with impossible to get the president to negotiate in the

anime think they will what's the present will do it he will decide is open to take their orders from a anybody else and it said but what i hope comes out of the oven they are the meetings with president clinton on the meetings this week is that people when i said it's difficult for both sides there's fear and distrust in both communities that we all got to take a role in his openness not just monitored images we all have a part to play but i think if people begin to understand that and then encourage everybody to take an extra step we haven't come this far made this amount of progress this time last year we had nothing we have made incredible progress party leaders particularly show the determination courage to moving forward now that everybody can play one extra step then the tragedy a savior will not be around iraq thank you madam secretary and gridlock thank you very much i did

again the other major stories of this tuesday medicare reform now was to adjourn tonight without agreeing on a rescue plan to submit to congress the dow jones industrial average briefly crossed the ten thousand threshold but closed down twenty eight points and ninety nine thirty and north korea agreed to allow us inspectors to examine a suspected underground nuclear weapons site will see online again here tomorrow evening i'm jim lehrer thank you and goodnight brought to you in part by adm keating the world is the biggest challenge of the new century which is why the union's conducting research into aquaculture and other sources at lse and by simon smith barney and by the

corporation for public broadcasting and by the annual financial support from viewers like you the pain thank you many thanks video cassettes of the newshour with jim lehrer are available from pbs video call one eight hundred three to eight pbs won out oh yeah it's b