8TH DISTRICT CONGRESS: EMERSON BRINGS CONSERVATIVE APPROACH TO JOB

Why are you running for Congress this year?

I am running because I think change I have long fought for is on the verge of occurring. I don't think the agenda that I have felt strongly about has been addressed during the time that I have served Congress. I am a conservative who has always served in the liberal majority. We're on the verge of a very dramatic change in the direction of Congress and the country. Having invested as much time as I have and having tried to bring about change in direction to what I believe is important to the 8th District. I thought it was worth it a number of times to try to get it done. I don't think it will all be done with this Congress. I think we are going to have also a different President. But I think we will have a majority conservative, ideological majority in Congress.

What effect does party affiliation have on your campaign?

In Southeast Missouri, the majority of people are conservatives. I would like to see us choose up as liberals and conservatives instead of Republicans and Democrats. In that case this district would probably be 75 to 25. I consider myself, I don't knock being a Republican, but I think first as a conservative. I am more interested in the philosophy than I am the party label.

What do you feel that you have to offer citizens of the 8th Congressional District?

Faithfulness to their interests and continued commitment to serving them, regardless of the party. Contrary to what I have heard things were done in the past, we will never ask anybody what their politics are when they come for help. The role I play is one of an ombudsman as well as a legislator. We try to help everybody if they have some merit to their case.

Discuss briefly your background and experience that has prepared you to serve in Congress.

I have had a lifelong interest in government and politics. I have pursued different interests through my life as a result of that, including my 14 years in the House of Representatives. I initially ran for Congress because I was frustrated with the way the process was working, which I didn't think was very well. But I must confess not knowing the meaning of frustration until I got there. I have become increasingly frustrated in the course of my service there, but I think that is about to change. I think it may have taken 14 years for the country to figure out it is as conservative as I really think it is.

What distinguishes you from the other candidates running this year in the 8th District?

I am running on my own positive record. My record of service and listening to the people in this district and representing their interests in Washington. Frankly, I haven't paid attention to the platform of my two opponents. I am running on my own positive merits. I haven't mentioned their names and don't intend to.

There are many problems facing the country, but what do you feel is the ONE biggest problem facing the United States today?

I think the biggest problem facing the United States is a pervasive concern for our moral direction. I think there is a feeling that we have drifted from our moral bearings of 50, maybe 35 years ago. That has been eroded through a lot of legislative, liberal, left-wing legislative proposals and Supreme Court opinions. I think we have lost some of the moral bearing we used to have, but I believe it can be reclaimed. That a conservative majority will focus more on laws that will better represent the views of the American people in that regard. That is a very pervasive issue, the moral bearing issue. It pervades economic issues and social issues. It is really fundamental.

What do you feel is the biggest problem facing the people of the 8th Congressional District, and how do you as a representative intend to address that problem?

I think that our most basic concern and issue is jobs and economic growth and development. In that regard I think we have made a lot of progress. I think we have come a long way in terms of our infrastructure improvement. I have noticed the aggressiveness of the communities in seeking the placement of different manufacturing facilities and economic entities in our communities. I am proud of the role I have played on the transportation committee, public works and transportation committee in helping improve and set the course for the improvement of a better infrastructure, highways, and waterways in particular because of their direct importance to our region. Certainly our trade interests in the agriculture arena, all those things are helping the job climate in our region, which I think has steadily improved over the years.

What can be done to expand economic development opportunities in the 8th District?

That is a very complex question that doesn't have a single simple answer. We do have a very, well-qualified work force. Economic policies that I would favor in the form of lower taxes and less regulation would lead to greater investment in the area. That in turn would lead to greater job creation. Shortly before I left Washington, the chairman of the board of Briggs and Stratton, which has a major manufacturing facility in Poplar Bluff, came to see me with some very heart-felt good news. He said that their operation in Poplar Bluff had been so positive and successful that they were going to open another plant in the 8th District in Rolla. That happens a lot. It doesn't get reported. People and plant managers who come from other places tell me that we have a uniquely qualified work force here. With as good a work ethic, if not better, than they have seen anywhere else.

How serious is the health-care problem? Is it a crisis?

I think health care is a crisis for some people. Is it a crisis for American society at large? No. Another thing that we found in the course of the two-year debate is that most people are really rather comfortable in their circumstances with health care they have. Not everyone. Don't let me give any impression that 100 percent are happy because they aren't. But the overwhelming majority in their circumstances they are properly covered. I have thousands of letters from people indicating that. People saying I would just like to be left alone thank you.

What role should the federal government play in providing all Americans access to health care?

I am not sure what form that should take other than perhaps there could be some government pooling that people could tap into when it wasn't available in the private sector. That might be one solution. I think what you are going to see is insurance companies themselves fixing a lot of the problems that it was perceived that Clinton's approach might fix. Insurance companies realize there are some things they could do differently rather than have the heavy hand of government laid on them. Perhaps they will try to straighten some of those issues out themselves so the necessity of government intervention won't be as threatening as it was.

There has been a lot of talk about problems with Congress as an institution, and the need to make changes in the way it operates. How do you assess Congress and what changes or reforms do you believe are needed?

I was a member of the joint committee of the organization of Congress that was a one-year committee that was constituted and operated for the first session of the Congress just recessed. We spent a whole year holding hearings and listening to everyone who wanted to talk to us in formulating recommendations to the respective bodies to how we could do things better than they are currently being done with a view towards enhancing public confidence in the national legislative body. That recommendation was signed off in November 1993 on an 8-4 vote. Congressman David Drier of California was the ranking Republican. I was one of the equal number of Democrats and Republicans, equal number of senators and representatives who served on that committee. I joined David Drier in reporting the measures so we could keep the reform process going. Four Republicans voted no because they wanted the recommendations to be even more stringent than those that this very bipartisan group had recommended. I voted as I did believing that more stringent recommendations could be made but I wanted the process to continue. If there had been a tie vote the recommendations would have failed.

Among the recommendations that we made was to cut down on the number of subcommittees. We need to cut down on the size of the staff of committees. There needs to be more openness in the rules of the House so that bills come before the House can be amended with common sense amendments. I am a strong advocate of a two-year budget cycle. We should spend one year authorizing and studying the need for a prospective appropriation and the next year appropriating in a systematic and deliberate manner. We would find enormous cost savings for the taxpayers.

Next year, a new farm bill will be written. What direction do you think it should take?

The current farm law is very popular among producers. A lot of different producing groups have suggested what they would like to see happen is simply to extend the current farm law and adapt it for the budget considerations that will have to be taken into account. But the policies of the current farm law are among the producing elements. A lot of people would simply like to see the current law extended with understanding there are edges that have to be trimmed in accordance with budget considerations. We will start holding hearings come January but I don't think we will change too much in the farm policy.

Are you satisfied with efforts being made now to bring the budget deficit under control, and what further steps do you support?

My longstanding premise is that the American people aren't under taxed but Congress overspends. I can document for you the fact that for every new dollar raised by the feds since the end of World War II they have spent a $1.54. I wouldn't vote for the Clinton budget proposal because it attached the issue of deficit reduction in my view erroneously. It did constitute the largest tax increase in history. The stimulus package that preceded the budget was one I also opposed because it included a great number erroneous taxes that would have been devastating to our region of the world, the country, the state. The BTU tax I refer to most especially and the barge fuel tax that would have hit us and agriculture especially hard.

What direction should be taken with welfare reform in the United States?

Welfare reform is probably more complex than the health-care reform. I served for nine years as the ranking Republican on the select committee on hunger, which wasn't a legislative committee but an oversight committee. I would say half of what that committee and I did was study the complexity of the welfare system. We have a welfare maintenance system in this country that is keeping people alive but it isn't really helping them beyond that. There is no kicker in the system that helps people get up and off the system. Therein is where we have to reform welfare. Reforming welfare system is a lot more complicated than people think it is.

There are 125 separate social welfare programs in this country, and not one of them is very well hooked up to the others. We need is a high level of integration and consolidation of those programs to [eliminate?] elevate duplication. They should be focused to help people who really need help. We do need a safety net. But it should be better designed to eliminate fraud than it currently is. Another serious problem in the welfare system is the lack of automation. Most county welfare offices in the country are calculated manually. So the catch words, I don't mean to be trite but they do have some meaning when you are thinking about welfare reform, consolidation, integration, and automation. Let's cut these 125 down to 10 and have them work right. [Know what it is we really are dealing with and have overlapping jurisdiction and duplication and things lost in the paperwork file because we aren't using computers. ? ]

What do you see as the role of the U.S. military in the post-Cold War era?

It is still a dangerous world. We may have already reduced military strength beyond that which is prudent. President Clinton in his campaign in 1992 purposely downplayed the role of the United States in world affairs. But I think that America will be called upon as the only remaining super power for at least an opinion in matters of foreign affairs. I think we have to be very careful in this post-Cold War era to ensure that our involvement is limited to those incidents in which the strategic and economic interests of the United States are directly involved. We have also got to find the means of engaging other regions or nations of the world that have considerable wealth to contribute their share to the solutions. I see the Bosnian situation as something crying for a European solution. I think the African problems are something in which South Africa could be of a much higher degree of assistance than it already has been. The United States can't pay for it all. We have got to have a better understanding with the other nations of the world about a division of responsibility.

From your campaign experience, how do you think people feel about government, and what can be done to improve their feelings?

Well, I think people are very frustrated with government and I think it is because government, the administration, and the Congress haven't been on the agenda the people want addressed. As I said earlier in this discussion, I think people are figuring that out. They know who is trying to address their agenda and who isn't.

How much do you intend to spend on this campaign?

In this election cycle that we will have raised and spent between $350,000 and $400,000.

BIOGRAPHY

Bill Emerson

Age: 56

Party: Republican

Hometown: Cape Girardeau

Political experience: First elected to the House in 1980.

Opponents: Jay Thompson, Democrat; Greg Tlapek, Libertarian

Elections Day: Tuesday, Nov. 8