Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 29, 1994 TAG: 9404290109
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
WASHINGTON - Unless Congress forces all employers to provide health insurance for their workers, there won't be any new drug benefits or long-term coverage for the elderly, President Clinton told seniors' advocates.
Clinton, whose sweeping reform plan has encountered heavy opposition on Capitol Hill, complained Thursday about an ``air of unreality'' in the health reform debate.
``Don't let anybody tell you this is a government-run program. It's not,'' Clinton told more than 1,000 people at the annual conference of the National Council on the Aging, which is backing his plan.
``The truth is, the big debate on Capitol Hill is over whether all American employers and their employees, who either have no insurance today or woefully inadequate insurance, will have to assume some responsibility for providing this health care,'' said the president.
- Associated Press
Welfare reform bill would curb benefits
WASHINGTON - Young, unwed mothers would lose welfare benefits and states would be handed the task of caring for many poor children under a Republican welfare reform bill introduced Thursday.
The bill, sponsored by first-term Rep. Jim Talent of Missouri, was one of three bills filed Thursday on the popular election-year issue.
Talent said his bill is intended to reduce out-of-wedlock births, require more welfare recipients to work and cap welfare costs to the federal government.
``We must remove the enormous economic subsidy for people to form families that are dysfunctional,'' Talent said at a news conference. ``It is too late for minor changes that leave fundamental problems in place.''
The bill drew support from several conservative groups, including the Christian Coalition, Eagle Forum and the American Conservative Union.
The premise behind the measure is that the millions of children born each year to poor, unwed mothers are a direct result of a welfare system that pays them more for having children than they could earn at a job or by getting married.
The prime Senate sponsor, Sen. Lauch Faircloth, R-N.C., said the legislation could save U.S. taxpayers $80 billion over the next five years.
- Associated Press
1 Republican favors assault weapon ban
WASHINGTON - Proponents of a ban on assault-style weapons got the unexpected support Thursday of Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., as the House Judiciary Committee approved a measure to prohibit 19 such firearms.
``I can see a lot of danger in their proliferation,'' Hyde, a senior Republican on the committee, told reporters after he became the sole GOP member voting for the bill that passed 20-15. Two Democrats opposed it - Committee Chairman Jack Brooks of Texas and Rep. Rick Boucher of Virginia.
- Associated Press
by CNB