January 14, 1992

A daily report on national politics begins today. Page A18.

Going beyond the censure issued last week by another Wall Street credit monitor, Standard & Poor's today lowered its rating on a wide range of New York State securities, including the bonds regarded as the state's safest investment. The downgrading will force a state that is struggling to close multibillion-dollar budget gaps to pay millions of dollars in additional interest costs on the sale of new bonds. Just as damaging, it may also affect the creditworthiness of bonds sold by dozens of school districts from East Islip to Niagara Falls.

Nearly 10 years after the first of several forays into the personal computer market, the Digital Equipment Corporation is starting a major campaign to sell the desktop machines -- this time, through mail-order channels. Digital is slashing the prices of its current PC line by up to 50 percent, going head to head with companies like Dell Computer Inc. and Gateway 2000 for a slice of the nearly $1.5 billion mail-order market for personal computers. According to the International Data Corporation, the mail-order business makes up 5 percent of the $26.9 billion market.

Seeking to salvage more than five years of talks on liberalizing world trade, officials of the world's principal trading nations agreed today to begin a four-track negotiation process aimed at resolving the most hotly disputed issues by mid-April. The new approach, announced on the first day of the latest phase of the GATT negotiations, will be based on a compromise proposal presented in December and will try to deal with the most contentious topics, including agricultural subsidies, without unraveling the broader proposal.

The New Jersey Senate approved and sent to the Governor tonight a package of welfare revisions that would cut off additional benefits to welfare mothers who have more children and cut or eliminate payments to those who refuse to train for work or go to school. Gov. Jim Florio is said to favor the basic intent of the legislation, to reduce welfare dependency, but he has not said whether he will sign it. If he does, and the Federal Government approves, New Jersey will become the first state in the nation to ban welfare benefits for additional children. At least two other states are considering such a policy. Strong Opposition Even with Governor Florio's signature, the sweeping welfare revision, which contains incentives as well as punitive measures, cannot take effect without waivers of some Federal regulations. Among the provisions that would require waivers are the end of benefits for additional children born to welfare mothers and modifications in grant formulas for married couples or women who marry while in the welfare program.