Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 18, 1993 TAG: 9305180301
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Goodlatte poured out his worries about possible price controls and limited choices in health care, potential loss of jobs from an energy tax, the expense of federal regulations and the Democrats' push for a striker replacement law in a talk Monday night in Roanoke.
From his four months in Congress, "there aren't enough people up there who understand business," Goodlatte told the annual meeting of the Management Association of Western Virginia at the Roanoke Airport Marriott. The freshman House member hasn't missed a vote yet, according to Sam Lionberger, chairman of the employer-employee organization.
Letters are coming in at the rate of 200 a day, he said, and they "definitely are against the president's economic plan." The congressman took the conservative view that "there is plenty to be cut from the federal budget."
When he heard of proposed Occupational Safety and Health reforms, he was pleased because "we have an over-regulated economy . . . [and] a lot of wasteful regulations." But he learned that Democrats wanted to add more OSHA rules. "You would have thought that they'd reached the limit," he added.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has estimated that regulations cost business the equivalent of $4,000 for each household in the country, he said. "We don't discuss this effect on the deficit but if business were more profitable, it would be able to pay employees more."
If approved, the energy tax probably will take from a half-million to 1 million jobs, Goodlatte predicted.
He said he supported a bill providing for a spending freeze with an eventual 2 percent increase and he believes that would balance the federal budget by 1998. But the legislation A bill that would ensure jobs for strikers "could be the most important labor issue in Congress for decades," Goodlatte said. The legislation "is unfair for the 9 of 10 people in this district and 7 of 8 in the nation who do not belong to a labor union," he said.
If organized labor wins this change, he said, its leaders no doubt will see repeal of the law guaranteeing the right to work. That law "hangs on by a slender thread."
Goodlatte has a problem with "the arrogance" of Congress in voting exemption for its members. He said he didn't see a need for a mandate in the Family and Medical Leave Act but after it passed, the 38,000 employees of Congress are not subject to the legislation. "We have the wrong mindset," he said.
One health-care option, Goodlatte said, is a medical IRA that would draw the savings from high deductibles.
Congress should take the responsibility to review the U.S. Code and remove a lot of useless regulations, he said. After several years, a law should die unless Congress votes to reinstate the measure, Goodlatte said.
by CNB