I think that until we get the philosophy straight, we cannot get a program straight.

The CHAIRMAN. Somewhere along the way, it seems to me that we lost our way on this human question.

You know, our founding documents, as you would know so well, are so powerful about our view of each individual person in this country and how we were tied together, one for all and all for one, and each person had this great important standing under the law and under the notion of the gift of life that comes from God and such.

At that time, we had other terrible problems, as you know, in terms of our attitude as to who qualified and whether persons of one race or another qualified.

But today, we understand that what we're talking about here is a universal statement about what we're really all about as a country.

Those founding documents today are what we ought to bring in here and measure everything against.

Mr. JACOB. That's right.

The CHAIRMAN. When I bring your plan in, and I measure your plan against the founding documents, your plan meets the statements of the founding documents, about life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness and equity and justice in our society. It keys right exactly to it.

When I listened the other night to the plan that was being laid out in the State of the Union Message, I thought large parts of itI couldn't trace the connection back to the founding documents in terms of that foundation of equity and concern about each citizen in the country equally and the things that were left out altogether. We didn't get any details on health care, for example. But isn't the health care of each person in this country important, both as just a human issue, as a decency issue? If there's somebody down the street that we don't know that's got a medical problem or medical need, don't we want that need met for that person just like we want it met for ourselves or somebody in our family?

I would certainly hope and pray that we do as a Nation, that we have not lost sight of that kind of a sense of affiliation with one another and a sense of caring.

But more than that, if we're not doing the things that health insurance would bring us, like prenatal care to an expectant mother who is carrying a child, and that child doesn't receive the help that it needs when it's still within its mother, in the way of nutrition and medical care and so forth, that child can lose its chance before it ever arrives.

And you go into the neonatal clinics now across my State or across the country and you see these tiny underweight babies in there struggle to stay alive, and the wonderful medical science trying to help them. But you look at that and you say to yourself, why aren't we paying attention to our human needs? Why don't people come first?

How was it that people ended up getting moved to the back of the line and other things got moved to the front of the line?

How do we reverse that and get people back up as our first priority? Not just a few. Not just the well-to-do. Not just those that are

living off family trust fund income that have generated a lot of this philosophy that took us off on this side road back in the early 1980's. But instead, to go to a philosophy that says that of our 250 million Americans, each one's important. Each one's precious. We want each one to have a chance, the maximum chance to prosper. Good for them. Good for their family. Good for their community. Good for America.

It all ought to start and finish right there. And if it meets that test, then we ought to do it.

I think what you've brought us meets that test, and I thank you for it.

Mr. JACOB. Thank you, Senator.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, President Jacob.

The committee stands in recess and we'll resume again with other hearings later.

[Whereupon, at 1:08 p.m., the committee was recessed.]

[Prepared statements and response to written questions follow:]

MR. CHAIRMAN. MY NAME IS KURT SCHMOKE AND I AM THE MAYOR OF BALTIMORE. I AM APPEARING BEFORE YOU TODAY ON BEHALF OF THE UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF MAYORS, REPRESENTING MAYORS OF CITIES OVER 30,000 IN POPULATION.

MR. CHAIRMAN, AND MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE. THERE IS SO MUCH TO SAY I HARDLY KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN. HOWEVER, LET ME QUICKLY TRY TO SUMMARIZE MY REMARKS.

FIRST AND FOREMOST.

AMERICA'S CITIES ARE IN CRISIS. THE CURRENT ECONOMIC RECESSION HAS COMPOUNDED OVER A DECADE OF SPENDING CUTS AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL. EXPERIENCING THE FISCAL WOES THAT CITIES HAVE HAD TO DEAL WITH THROUGHOUT THE EIGHTIES.

AND NOW, STATE GOVERNMENTS ARE

THE ACCOMPANYING CHART SHOWS JUST HOW POORLY CITIES HAVE BEEN TREATED OVER THE PAST TWELVE YEARS. AS YOU CAN SEE, IF CERTAIN KEY URBAN SPENDING PROGRAMS HAD BEEN ALLOWED JUST TO REMAIN AT A STEADY FUNDING LEVEL, OR AT THE 1981 FUNDING LEVEL, THE FY 1993 BUDGET WOULD FUND THEM AT A LEVEL OF $37.3 BILLION DOLLARS.

THE AMOUNT REQUESTED BY THE PRESIDENT IN HIS BUDGET, WHICH WAS RELEASED JUST YESTERDAY, HOWEVER, CONTAINS JUST $13.1 BILLION DOLLARS. THIS REPRESENTS A REAL DECREASE OF NEARLY 65 PERCENT OVER THE PAST TWELVE YEARS.

YET, AS WE TRY TO REORIENT SPENDING PRIORITIES IN THE POSTCOLD WAR PERIOD SO THAT WE CAN GAIN SOME COMPETITIVE FOOTING WITH OUR ECONOMIC COMPETITORS SUCH AS GERMANY AND JAPAN, WE ONCE AGAIN SEE THE PRESIDENT PROPOSING A LITANY OF PROGRAM TERMINATIONS AND REDUCTIONS WHICH ONLY EXACERBATE THE URBAN FISCAL CRISIS.

MR. CHAIRMAN, THE UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF MAYORS, A BIPARTISAN ORGANIZATION, SUPPORTS A STRONG DEFENSE. THAT NATIONAL SECURITY, HOWEVER, MUST BEGIN HERE AT HOME. CAN ANYONE JUSTIFY TO AMERICA'S CITIES AND THEIR CITIZENS WHY IT IS NECESSARY TO SPEND $18.7 BILLION TO PROTECT NORWAY FROM A SOVIET THREAT WHICH DOES NOT EXIST. CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN WHY AMERICA IS CURRENTLY SPENDING OVER $150 BILLION A YEAR TO PROTECT GERMANY OR JAPAN WHEN WE REMAIN THE ONLY SUPERPOWER ON THE GLOBE.

WE MUST PRESERVE OUR INTERNATIONAL COMMITMENTS ABROAD. BUT IT IS TIME TO REINVEST IN AMERICA SO THAT WE CAN MOUNT A FIRST-CLASS CHALLENGE ON THE ECONOMIC BATTLEFIELD. FOR THAT IS THE BATTLE OF

THE FUTURE.

THE UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF MAYORS RELEASED AN ANALYSIS OF THE PRESIDENT'S BUDGET JUST ONE HOUR AGO. TO OUR AMAZEMENT, THE BUDGET DOES NOT OFFER AN ECONOMIC STIMULUS PROPOSAL WHICH ADDRESSES THE IMMEDIATE NEED TO PUT AMERICA AND AMERICANS BACK TO WORK.

THE MAYORS MET IN WASHINGTON JUST LAST WEEK AND ADOPTED AN EMERGENCY ECONOMIC STIMULUS PACKAGE TOTALLING SOME $35 BILLION. WE HAVE ADVANCED A COPY OF OUR PROPOSAL TO ALL MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND THE ADMINISTRATION. WE ADOPTED THIS PROPOSAL UNANIMOUSLY. DEMOCRATIC AND REPUBLICAN MAYORS FROM EVERY REGION OF THE COUNTRY ENDORSED THIS CONCEPT. IN FACT, MAYOR RUBACH, THE DISTINGUISHED REPUBLICAN MAYOR OF MESA, ARIZONA, WHO IS SITTING HERE WITH ME TODAY JOINED TWO OTHER REPUBLICAN MAYORS IN ADDRESSING A LETTER TO THE VICE-PRESIDENT ASKING HIM TO INCLUDE OUR STIMULUS PROPOSALS IN THE PRESIDENT'S STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS JUST LAST FRIDAY.

THE CONFERENCE OF MAYORS WAS DEEPLY DISAPPOINTED THAT THE ADMINISTRATION HAS TURNED A DEAF EAR ON THIS PROPOSAL. THIS IS AN EMERGENCY AND IT DEMANDS AN EMERGENCY RESPONSE.

I WOULD LIKE TO BRING TO THE COMMITTEE'S ATTENTION SOME DOCUMENTS WHICH I HAVE BROUGHT WITH ME TODAY AND ASK THAT THEY BE INCLUDED IN THE OFFICIAL HEARING RECORD: THEY INCLUDE A COPY OF THE ECONOMIC STIMULUS PACKAGE PASSED BY THE MAYORS LAST WEEK; A COPY OF THE U.S. CONFERENCE OF MAYORS ANALYSIS OF THE PRESIDENT'S BUDGET; AND A COPY OF TWO REPORTS RELEASED BY THE CONFERENCE OF MAYORS LAST YEAR.

MR. CHAIRMAN, MY DISTINGUISHED COLLEAGUE AND FRIEND SENATOR SARBANES JOINED WITH SENATOR SASSER SEVERAL WEEKS AGO AND OUTLINED A PROPOSAL FOR DEALING WITH BOTH THE SHORT- AND LONG-TERM PROBLEMS FACING THIS ECONOMY. THE MAYORS APPLAUD THIS EFFORT.

WE HAVE BEEN ASKED TO FILL IN THE BLANKS, SO TO SPEAK, WITH SPECIFIC PROGRAMMATIC PROPOSALS WHICH WILL GUARANTEE THAT EMERGENCY MONIES CAN AND WILL BE SPENT IMMEDIATELY TO PUT PEOPLE BACK TO WORK AND GET AMERICA MOVING. THE UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF MAYORS RELEASED A 62-CITY STUDY LAST OCTOBER WHICH SHOWED THAT 74 PERCENT OF THE CITIES RESPONDING ARE POSTPONING CAPITAL PROJECTS BECAUSE OF THE RECESSION.

THERE ARE PROJECTS READY TO GO. THERE ARE PEOPLE READY TO WORK. THERE IS WORK WHICH NEEDS TO BE DONE. LET'S DO IT.

THE MOST EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE WAY IN WHICH CONGRESS CAN ADDRESS THE URGENT NEEDS OF THE CITIES IS TO PASS A TARGETED FISCAL ASSISTANCE BILL WHICH TARGETS AID DIRECTLY TO CITIES. HOUSE GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN CONYERS HAS OFFERED THE LOCAL PARTNERSHIP ACT AND AMENDED IT SO THAT $15 BILLION COULD BE DELIVERED IMMEDIATELY TO NEEDY CITIES.

IT IS NOT GENERAL REVENUE SHARING. IT IS TARGETED TO CITIES IN FISCAL DISTRESS. THE EMERGENCY $15 BILLION MUST BE SPENT IN TWELVE MONTHS OR GIVEN BACK. ADDITIONALLY, THE MAYORS SUGGEST THAT THE MONIES BE SPENT SPECIFICALLY IN THE AREAS OF PUBLIC SAFETY,