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Show : Congressman urged to vote 'no' on pay raise r ). ej. Constituents who attended 4 Congressman Howard Nielson's ;j0 town meeting last Thursday event eve-nt ning in Pleasant Grove urged him 3oi to vote against the proposed salary 3 1( increase for senators and congress- yt( man. Afairlylargecrowd, probably 98 riK per cent senior citizens, quizzed the aai congressman about the proposed hal salary increase and urged him to an use his influence to get it voted hg down. ait. Congressman Nielson said the am honorariums that congressmen lis and senators received for giving of, speeches should be outlawed, ft; A minimum wage increase for on the congressmen and senators Too would then be alright, he said. mt He told a story about a former th, professional baseball player who is anj now a congressman. The ex-ball-anj player was talking to some report- ers and he asked them how many of nds them felt that they could play sec-eai sec-eai ond base on a professional ball uij team. Only one or two raised their hands. He then asked them how many -i felt that they could be a congress-I congress-I man. All of them raised their hands. Nielson said the man had made his point about congressman being a dime a dozen, so to speak. provide child care to the public. The government can give tax credit and other assistance, but not provide the funding for child care. He also cautioned the senior citizens that the new catastrophic insurance plan is not a good one and they will be disappointed when they get their first bill. The congressman said that where it says in the preamble to the Constitution to "promote the general gen-eral welfare," it does not mean to "provide the general welfare." Nielson added that he and other congressmen feel that the catastrophic cata-strophic insurance program should be repealed. He said he was dead set against it. He said it is forcing people to give up insurance that they have paid on for years and are entitled to. "Good private insurance was already available. This will add a lot of cost to the senior citizens," Nielson explained. He was asked if the legislature can do anything about the escalation escala-tion of medical costs as a result of the malpractice insurance rates doctors have to pay. He said some bills have been introduced but none have been passed yet which would limit the amount that could be awarded in a than bailing out a hardware store owner if his business failed," he stated. In regards to fraud and abuse in government contracts, Congressman Congress-man Nielson said that the abuse and overcharges ought to be stopped somehow. "Many things could be done if things were just tightened up," he said. "Not just in defensebut also in education, universities, hospitals, etc." The congressman noted that surplus government property had been opened up for the homeless people in an effort to help them. He stated that many of these people should be in institutions but are out on the streets because of someone's wierd ideas on civil rights. One citizen was concerned about the United States showing more interest in other countries than in our own country. Nielson said that the U. S. needs to defend Germany, Japan and Korea because they are not allowed to build up their own defenses. They want us to protect them and we have to do this. Actually, he said, this is what keeps Russia concerned. Nielson said he would vote for the Federal Reserve to be audited. The members should not have burgh, Calif, steel mills, leaving Geneva Steel then with an inroad which has been beneficial. Nielson said that on Feb. 6 a health conference will be held and the pollution caused by Geneva and other sources in the valley will be discussed. He said Utah County has such a bad carbon monoxide problem be-. be-. cause of the number of cars in the area. A citizen who enjoys rock-hounding rock-hounding asked the congressman about the BLM lands which are to be closed near Dugway. Nielson said that 5 million acres have been proposed to be placed in a wilderness designation which does not allow any motorized vehicle ve-hicle travel at all. He said he did not know if Dugway was included in the proposal pro-posal or not. He said that some people say that 1 million acres added to the wilderness area wouldbetoomuch. Yet proponents of the proposal say that 1 million is the least acceptable accept-able figure in the proposal. One citizen stated that spies and traitors to the country ought to be dealt with more severely. Nielson Niel-son said that the death penalty for murder in a drug crime was passed in the last session of the congress. seven year terms, as that is too long, he said. Questioned about the CUP, Nielson said tht t the Utah delegation delega-tion is divided on the issue. He said that they do not need to add $200 million more to the CUP funds. He said they should exist on what they already have appropriated. He said the economy needs the development of steel and copper in Utah. Kennecott must stay viable. It is owned by people out of the country and this is not all bad because be-cause it has provided people with many jobs that would not havebeen possible if the company was closed from lack of an in- country owner, he stated. The congressman said that they had passed legislation which limited lim-ited steel imports. Therefore, Ko-rps Ko-rps was not nble to flood Pitts- raise should not start until the next term in 1991. The congressman also stated that no CEO would be left in a 1 company if that company showed 1 deficit spending. He feels it should be the same way for the congressmen congress-men and senators. He urged citizens everywhere to hold their congressmen responsible. respon-sible. "Write letters to them," he said. "Incidently, I have better retire-ment retire-ment benefits after six years in congress than after 25 years at BYU," the congressman quipped. Congressman Nielson, who had just been sworn in for his new term on Tuesday, told those present that the 100th congress, the one just past, did not cut the federal deficit at all. He said the congress this year would like to cut at least $68 billion this year. He stated that the federal government gov-ernment should not be required to Nielson added that the public who sit on juries are too sympathetic sympa-thetic to the victims and feel that big companies can afford to pay the judgment. He said that one half of the general practitioners in Utah County will no longer deliver babies ba-bies because of the malpractice insurance costs. Health care goes up much faster than the cost of living and the seniors' sen-iors' Social Security is based on the cost of living only, he noted. He mentioned that there are 270 lawyers in congress and they feel that bills which would limit the amount which could be awarded in judgments are anti-lawyer and they will not pass them. Another question was asked regarding bailing out savings and loans. He said it is not the people's obligation to pay for other people's mistakes. "A savings and loan should not be bailed out anymore |
