EMERSON TALKS UP BUDGET AMENDMENT

Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson met with about 15 Cape Girardeau residents Sunday at the Cape Girardeau Public Library to discuss -- well, whatever they wanted.

For a little more than an hour, Emerson discussed education, the environment, taxes, term limits, a balanced budget amendment and her marital status.

State Rep. David Schwab, R-Jackson, was in the audience for the town hall meeting and also fielded a couple of state-related questions.

"I think it's great for people to have direct input to the person that represents them in Congress," he said. "It's interesting to hear people's thoughts and concerns. We're so busy with the issues we're working on, it's very important that we represent all the people of the district."

Emerson, R-Mo., spent a great deal of the meeting talking about a balanced budget amendment and even asked for a show of hands of everyone who favors such an amendment. The majority of people in the room raised their hands. Emerson said she would be asking for this kind of response in all the town meetings she would be attending this month.

Emerson said the budget President Clinton has proposed will be balanced until the year he leaves office but not beyond. An amendment to the Constitution regulating the budget would assure a reduction in the deficit regardless of who was in the White House, she said.

"There is some controversy that a balanced budget amendment would negatively impact Medicare," she said. "Nothing affects Medicare more than a $5 trillion deficit."

Emerson also touched on her desire to do away with the Department of Education and route the money saved into state education programs.

One man in the audience noticed Emerson was wearing an engagement ring and asked her if she was going to be changing her name soon. She replied that it was the engagement ring her late husband Bill Emerson had given her.

Since taking office in November, Emerson has been named to three congressional committees: agriculture, transportation and public works. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported last weekend that she has received about $411,000 in agriculture PAC money since being named to the agriculture committee.

The money is being used to pay off Emerson's debts from an abbreviated campaign last year in which she joined the race about four months before the election. Lloyd Smith, Emerson's spokesperson, said she raised and spent about $750,000 over that period of time.

Smith said Emerson has a full-time staffer whose job is to raise money for her next campaign. He said Emerson's camp is hoping to have at least $100,000 set aside by March for the next election.

Emerson said receiving campaign contributions from corporations doesn't influence her decisions on issues because it is such a common aspect of campaigning. She also said it would be difficult for Congress to endorse campaign funding reform.

"In the whole scheme of things, if you are raising $800,000, a $500 contribution doesn't necessarily have a very big impact whatsoever," she said. "I think it's way overrated that people think there is an influence.

"Personally I don't think you should have politicians involved in the reform of campaign finance laws because they're too big of stake-holders in that. It's like voting on your own pay increase; anything you do will perhaps be looked at as self-serving."

Emerson said she would be attending these kinds of town meetings whenever her schedule allows.

"I like to be with people," she said. "I like to be in your face. I think more people need to be involved in public policy."