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                        EYE ON NEW YORK:
                            GOP, RR &
                     PATAKI ADMINISTRATION
                         NEWS & UPDATES
                                
                           Pass It On
       Volume 2, Number 42            February 29, 1996
                                
                     E-Mail: dems@global1.net
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                         IN THIS ISSUE:

Join the Battle Against the Pataki Budget: 
     Call Albany for Free
News From the House
     GOP "Discovers" Working America
     ...and more
About EONY

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

"On the whole, the [liberal] press, as usual, was partly pitiful
and partly contemptible, and only a few honest 
newspapers...[blah, blah, blah...]"

A. Hitler, "Mein Kampf"

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JOIN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE PATAKI BUDGET

        The Pataki budget is being fought by many different
groups on many different fronts.

        The NYS AFL-CIO has created a special hotline number to
help union members and their families to telephone Pataki and
their local legislators to express their opposition to Pataki's
draconian budget proposal. The proposed budget will be
devastating to communities and families throughout the state, if
the Legislature passes the budget.

        The special telephone number established by the NYS
AFL-CIO is 1-800-SOS-6336.

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GOP DISCOVERS WORKING AMERICA

House of Representatives - February 28, 1996

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I have always been a little skeptical
about death bed conversions, and as the bells toll for the
demise of the Gingrich Republican revolution, we are witnessing
an epidemic of conversions among my Republican colleagues.

Suddenly the Republican Party has discovered working America.

They are desperately trying to convince the hard-working
families of this country who are struggling to get ahead that
the Republican Party is their friend. But, in fact, since taking
control of this Congress, they advanced an extreme agenda that
would hurt working men and women of this country. Their budget
would let companies raid pension funds. They would deny the
children of working families college loans. Their budget would
cut Medicare and long-term care, denying families a dignified
retirement. And they would deny a raise in wages so that, in
fact, people could pay their bills every week.

But they, in fact, would provide to the wealthiest in this
Nation a tax break, and tax breaks that would allow them to
continue to reap the benefits.

Mr. Speaker, what the Republican Party really does not
understand is that the American people are too smart to fall for
this. They did not buy Newt Gingrich's extreme agenda, and they
will not buy this election-year gimmick either.

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GOP AGENDA HOSTILE TO MIDDLE AMERICA

House of Representatives - February 28, 1996

Mr. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, it is no wonder that the
Republican program for the last 14 months is so far away from
the needs and the hopes and the aspirations of America's working
families. When you consider at the end of last year when the
Republicans came together to discuss how they were doing and
what they were going to do this year, one of their honored
speakers was Al Dunlop, a man who went to Scott Paper Co. and 2
years later fired thousands of workers with little or no notice
and walked away with $100 million in his pocket. He advised the
Republican caucus to forget the working-class issues, they did
not matter.

Well, they matter to millions of Americans, to millions of
Americans who are worried about losing their job, and with that
losing their health care; about losing their job, and with that
the ability to pay for their children's education. And what do
we see cuts in education for their children. We see cuts in
student loans for their children. We see them trying to keep the
health care bill that would make health care portable from one
employer to another from coming to the floor. What we see is an
agenda that is outright hostile to middle America and to the
working families of this country.

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DO NOT DESTROY AMERICAN WORKING FAMILIES

House of Representatives - February 28, 1996

Mrs. MINK of Hawaii. Mr. Speaker, the House is about to debate
the farm bill, and it will be a contest of the wills of both
sides of this Chamber in its dedication to the concept of jobs.

One of the most interesting developments in the Republican
Presidential race is that they have discovered that jobs are
uppermost in people's minds. In debating the farm bill, I hope
that this House will keep in mind the fact that we are talking
about jobs, not about commodities.

There is this wholesale effort to try to destroy the farm
community. I come from a farming district. Sugar is an
important commodity. If they do away with the sugar program, it
will mean 6,000 jobs in my district alone.

And so when we come to this floor to talk about the farm bill,
it is not commodities. It is not some abstract notion about
something that we put on the table to consume. It is thousands
of jobs in the sugar industry alone. It is 420,000 jobs that are
about to be eliminated.

So, focus on what the American people are concerned about. It
is jobs in America. Let us not destroy our American working
families.

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GOP EXTREMIST AGENDA WRONG APPROACH

House of Representatives - February 28, 1996

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, our constituents are worried about
jobs. They see downsizing in their communities. They are
concerned about wages because the economy continues to be a
problem for many Americans. But the answer is not the GOP
extremist agenda that basically protects the rich and the
powerful but threatens the health, safety, and security of
America's working families.

The Republican leadership over the last year has been putting
forth this extremist agenda at the expense of the middle class,
at the expense of the average working American. They have tried
to put into place tax breaks for large corporations and for
wealthy Americans. They have tried to cut taxes, or they have
tried to eliminate tax credits, the earned income tax credits
for working Americans at the lower end of the income spectrum.

At the same time, you see the President suggesting that we do
things to help the average working American. The President has
talked about tax cuts for families. He has talked about doing
things for education, such as your ability to deduct tuition
that you pay for your student, your children that are in
college. It really is terrible that we continue to see this GOP
extremist agenda that hurts the average working American, and I
hope that now that we are back in session and we are away from
this 3-week break that we are starting to see some action in
this Congress to help the average working American.

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PUTTING THE SQUEEZE ON WORKING FAMILIES

House of Representatives - February 28, 1996

Mr. STUPAK. Mr. Speaker, the last speaker in the well said let
us take a look at the Republican plan, and let us take a look at
what they have done. Republicans say they stand up for working
people, when they fought for policies that have squeezed
working families and denied them and their children needed
opportunities. They have refused to raise the minimum wage. They
have passed higher taxes for working families. They have passed
a Medicare premium that will increase on 37 million
beneficiaries. They have passed the corporate raid on workers'
pensions. Your pensions are no longer safe with this new
Republican majority. They have passed the repeal of the Medicaid
guarantee on nursing home coverage.

Mr. Speaker, I hope America will take a look at the Republican
record and their plan and see that it is nothing but putting a
squeeze on working families and unwilling to cooperate with the
majority of people in this country.

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