EMERSON; CONGRESSMAN FILES FOR SEVENTH TERM

Bill Emerson is in Jefferson City today to file for his seventh term in Congress.

"I am not officially opening my re-election campaign," Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, said Wednesday. "I will do that later."

Emerson, who was speaker during a meeting of the Cape Girardeau Lions Club Wednesday, said he is looking forward to another term in Congress.

"This is a great time in the world to be alive," he said. "The Berlin Wall has been torn down, The Soviets' Iron Curtain has disappeared, trade prospects with Eastern Europe are looking good and we see some good things for the economy."

Emerson, who is in his 12th year in Congress, discussed the economy, national health care, the line item veto, the federal budget and other topics during his speech.

"I never thought I'd see the day that communism would end in the Soviet Union," Emerson told the group. "We've spent trillions of dollars on cold wars, and hot wars, but that doesn't have to happen any more."

Emerson said that last year's war in the Persian Gulf proved "we're well prepared defensively."

"We deployed the best-trained personnel and equipment in the world," he said. "We proved a lot of people wrong who were saying we would have to be in the Gulf area several years. We had to do what we did, and we performed well in doing it."

Emerson, in discussing the budget and line item veto, said he felt it would take a conservative Congress to pass a balanced budget bill and provide a line item veto for the president.

"I have voted for these two proposals in the past," Emerson said. "But, we need 217 others to pass the measures in the House. Then, we need the approval of 51 senators.

"We need a wholesale change in Washington," he said. "Congress has as much to do with things happening as the president. I can see some changes becoming a reality."

Emerson said that reapportionment could cause some major shakeups.

"Some legislators will be retiring because of reapportionment," he said. "Some interesting races will be created. I believe that with reapportionment a result of the 1990 census that we can get a conservative majority in Congress, and things can start to happen."

Emerson said he tired of hearing "negatives" by the national news media and others.

"The economy may be in the doldrums, but our economy is still bigger than the economies of Japan and Europe combined," said Emerson. "We have no better agriculture trade partner than Japan. The beef market opened up there in 1987, and Japan has purchased more than $3 billion worth of beef from the U.S. and other countries since then.

"Some of that beef is Southeast Missouri beef," added Emerson. "Right now, we're sitting here on the Mississippi River in good shape to take advantage of the trade situation. We have the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority, we have good north-south roads, and prospects are good for better east-west roads with this week's approval of the increased motor fuel tax by the Missouri Legislature."

Concerning national health care, Emerson said he would favor some sort of tax credits to allow people to purchase their own health insurance.

"There are 40 to 50 national health proposals out there," he said. "I realize there is a problem. But we don't want to rush into something that will create a new bureaucracy."

Emerson talked about tax cuts.

"Both Democrats and Republicans have called for tax cuts," he said. "But, there's nothing concrete in the hopper now. A lot of items have been discussed and will be addressed."

He said there is a lot of interest in the capital gains tax cuts.

"A lot of people see this as a means of helping the rich," said Emerson. "But, that's not the case. Sixty percent of capital gains cuts would help people with incomes under $50,000. I have received hundreds of letters from owners of small businesses, farmers and property owners who would favor a cut in the capital gains tax."

Emerson said he believes the new federal highway act will provide a jump-start for the U.S. economy by providing federal funding for highway construction.

"With the new 6-cent fuel tax approved in Missouri, you are going to see as many as 30,000 new jobs in this state," he said.

"We have too much `negativisms' out there, but we can rise above our economics problems," said Emerson. "A lot of countries are fighting to be like the U.S."