The Burlington Free Press from Burlington, Vermont • Page 17

SB THE BURLINGTON FREE PRESS SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1992 House candidates show stark differences in philosophies By Toya Hill spending, making those who caused the savings and loan crisis pay for it, and creating a national health care system. Young suggested cutting the budget of every agency and restoring the funding if it could be justified. He said he would recommend cutting congressional and White House staffs, among other things. Another hot topic during the discussion was health care, following a question submitted by Tom Dunkley of Burlington. Sanders, who has talked about a universal health care plan for several years, again sounded his call for a single-payer, Canadian-style system.

Philbin, an insurance underwriter, suggested shifting to a single administrative system run by the public and the private sectors, alternate health care providers, a core plan of insurance throughout the country and a national fee for procedures. Young acknowledged that there needs to be a universal health care system, but spoke in generalities such as including long-term care and preventative medicine and perhaps placing additional taxes on things that can cause health problems, such as alcohol and tobacco, for partial funding. Diamonstone answered this and many of the other questions of the afternoon by pointing to Iraq. He opposes the violence that he claims the U.S. is waging against Iraq.

The debate was also full of discussion on abortion. Philbin opposes abortion in all cases except to save the life of the mother, Sanders and Young support abortion, and Diamondstone, who shuns the labels used in the abortion debate, supports choice in any form. Free Press Staff Writer MIDDLEBURY If Saturday's political debate among the four major U.S. House candidates was an indication of what the next 38 days will be like, the lines should be clearly drawn for voters come Nov. 3.

With the exception of Democrat Lewis Young, who seemed to be swallowed up in the pool of clearly defined candidates, all the office-seekers present etched themselves into distinct philosophical niches on issues such as ANALYSIS health care, abor- tion and the national debt. In doing so, the all-male, all-white slate U.S. Rep. Bernard Sanders, Republican Timothy Philbin, Liberty Union candidate Peter Diamondstone, and Young exchanged angry and often nasty verbal blows at each other while being egged on by a artisan audience. Diamondstone was not invited to the debate, but showed up anyway.

In terms of the issues, the candidates were each given a chance to repond to questions submitted by Free Press readers. "What priority do you give for paying off the national debt and how would you do it?" asked Peter Mallett of Georgia Plains. "We have to change how we elect and select people," Philbin said. The candidates that take money from politi-; cal action committees are being bought and sold, he said. Philbin called for a line-item veto for the president and zero-based budgeting 15l A') rf ITT MARK 8ASAHARA, Free Press Rep.

Bernard Sanders, (standing) speaks in Middlebury during Saturday's debate among U.S. House candidates. Also participating were (from left) Peter Diamondstone, Liberty Lewis Young, a Democrat; and Tim Philbin, a Republican. for every department. "How can we as a gry nation justify spending money on operas with a list of ways he would cut the federal debt.

His items included taxing the wealthy, significantly cutting military Sanders, snapping that Philbin and museums when children are hun hadn't answered the question, retorted Readers Question the Candidates barely scratch the surface. You have to deal with the deficit in the ways that I've suggested: military spending, getting the wealthy to pay er nickel in the deficit for the bailout. You need a national health care system to control escalating health care costs Lewis Young: Can we neled into that Diamondstone: I want a single class of medical care for all of us on a federal, state, local and county level. The Canadian plan is in Peter Mallett Tom Dunkley the process of ever hope to pay off $4 trillion? failing. The British plan is in the the auspices of a local health care clinic, doctor or hospital.

A core plan of insurance throughout the country that people can choose the same core whether you are public or private or non-profit insurance. Sanders: The present health care system is a disaster. It is disintegrating and we don't need band-aid solutions. We need a single-payer, national health care system guaranteeing heattfy care for all people I'm very proud to have introduced H.R- the Comprehensive Universal National Health Care System which the Congressional Research Service listed as one of the half-dozen major health care initiatives offered in Congress. Not bad for a freshman.

We're spending between 65 million and 100 billion a year in waste, in administrative costs, in bureaucracy, in pushing papers through 1,500 separate, private insurance companies. The private insurance companies, my friends, are not there to provide health care for you or for me. What they are there to do is to make as much money as they can possibly make for themselves. The following are verbatim excerpts from answers given to questions submitted by readers at The Burlington Free Press debate Saturday: Peter Mallett of Georgia Plains: What priority do you give to paying off the national debt, and how would you do it? Timothy Philbin: We have to change three basic things that I talk about. How we elect and select people.

You want somebody to go down there and look at it from our perspective and make sure they look at it from our perspective, not from where they get their cash. I want a line-item veto for the president. Democrat, Republican, it makes no difference to me at this point because I want the pork-barrel spending to stop. I want to see that we have zero-based budgeting. And I want performance standards.

How can we as a nation justify spending money on operas and museums when children are hungry? Bernard Sanders: I want to tax the wealthiest people, whose incomes have soared in the last decade while taxes on the rich have gone down. We could ask them to start paying their fair share of taxes, use some of that money to deal with the deficit crisis. I think we can make significant cuts in military spending, and use some of that money to rebuild America. Not anoth- don't want to invade the franking privilege because I think it is important for a congressperson to say as much as possible when it makes sense. Philbin: Specifically do away with their pension plans.

Do away with their tax-savings plan. Do not allow people who are in Congress to use franking privileges in the year of their election. Cut their office staffs by more than half. Do away with their special medical programs. Make them pay for their own health spas.

Allow free competition to negotiate such things as banking privileges. The money that we save approximately $1 billion should be turned over to the veterans of this country who were cheated out of their benefits by the United States Congress Tom Dunkley of Burlington: What would your approach be to the health care problem and specifically how would you provide aid for long-term care? Young: We've got 35 million people in this country without any coverage whatsoever. And many of us who are covered find the coverage is inadequate. particularly in the terms of things like long-term care. Long-term care should be part of the universal health care plan.

It would probably have to be funded through a payroll deduction similar to FICA with employer contributions and a lot of the money now used for Medicare and Medicaid could be chan- process of failing. Plans all over the world are in the process of failing because they allow more than one level of care. The first thing is that it has to be totally a tax-paid-for plan. Philbin: I'd like us to shift to a single administrative system. Eveyone would recieve something like a credit card system.

Stop the cost shift. With the dollars that we saved in administration we could increase Medicare and Medicaid funding. Tort reform. Instead of juries let's have referee systems so that people who are injured could negotiate those. Let us have midwives and physicians assistants so they can provide emergency medicine under their fair share Mary Bren of taxes.

I believe I spent less than 25 percent of the allocated monies given to me for the franking privilege. I've sent out one statewide mailing on health care in two years. The second area I think we can impact in both the White House and Congress (is) we can cut back staffs. Young: Specific list of perks. I don't have a specific list.

I have not been involved in the Congress. I've heard about special treatment at the barber shops, special parking and staff. Whatever it is, I'm not used to that kind of stuff and I'm not used to it. I'm a Yankee. I don't need to be pampered.

Peter Diamondstone: One of the things that I find is that the congressional staff as opposed to the staff for the White House, really perform very useful services. we find very often disagreement on projections, for example, on what the cost of an bailout would be from a congressional staff as opposed to a Senate staff or a presidential staff. And I don't really want to invade any of those things and I The first step is you have to balance the national annual budget. We have to start cutting the budget of every agency. I don't know about zero-based budgeting, but I think we might consider cutting everybody's, say, arbitrarily, 10 percent, and restore the funding to them if they can justify it dollar by dollar.

I say that a Congress that presents us with a balanced budget might deserve a pay raise. Mary Breen, Burlington: What specific personal perks do you propose eliminating to reduce my cost as a taxpayer of the $2.8 billion it costs to run Congress? Would you apply this savings to reduce the deficit? Sanders: I was one of the first co-sponsors of legislation to do away with all congressional perks, and I think we should do that. But you shouldn't kill yourself thinking that will have a significant impact on the defict. You could wipe out every nickel the Congress has and you would HOME SECURITY You can now PROTECT your home for only $195 with an ADT HOME SECURITY system, original ly Driced at $395, plus $19.95 monthly monitorinq fee. A SAVINGS of over 50.

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