EMERSON CITES `ENEMY AT HOME'; GOVERNMENT OVERREGULATION CRITICIZED

SIKESTON -- U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson says she is working to get government out of America's schools, homes and personal pocketbooks.

The Cape Girardeau Republican was the featured speaker at the Rural Restoration Conference luncheon Monday at the Ramada Inn.

American colonists fought a revolution over that very issue, Emerson said.

"Today, the fight is not with a foreign power, but it is with an enemy right here at home," she said.

Emerson, who is seeking re-election to a second term in Congress, said the enemy is the heavy hand of federal government.

The three-day conference began Sunday and ends Tuesday. About 100 people are attending the conference, designed to provide farmers with information on marketing and other agricultural planning, and spiritual help.

The annual conference is sponsored by Adopt a Farm Family of America, headed by Peter C. Myers, a Sikeston-area farmer and former U.S. deputy secretary of agriculture.

Myers, a Republican, plans to challenge state Rep. Joe Heckemeyer this fall for the 160th District seat.

Emerson said some federal officials want to regulate everything about education.

The congresswoman said the federal government spends $32 billion a year on education. She suggested Congress give it back to "we the people instead of we the government."

"Just maybe we need to put prayer back in the public schools," she said.

Emerson said the nation should also throw out the national teachers' unions. She said the unions have supported the Department of Education's efforts to regulate the nation's local school districts.

Emerson praised the productivity of farmers. "You are indeed the world's greatest production machine. It is a machine that is the envy of the world."

She said agriculture drives the nation's economy. "Each farmer produces enough to feed himself and 160 other people," Emerson said.

She decried what she sees as the moral decline of the nation. She quoted Abraham Lincoln, who said that the nation had forgotten God.

Emerson commented briefly on the White House sex scandal in answer to questions from the audience.

"I am embarrassed that I have to explain explicit information to my daughter," she said.

But she declined to discuss the issue further. House members need to remain unbiased in the event that they must consider impeachment proceedings against the president, she said.

During a panel discussion with three Missouri farmers, Emerson voiced concern about environmental initiatives designed to deal with everything from global warming to clean water.

Some environmentalists, she said, want to do away with citizens' private-property rights.

Farmer and panelist Ron Hardeke of Owensville suggested that humans should be added to the list of endangered species because of the efforts of Vice President Al Gore and other environmentalists.

"They value the earth more than the people," he said.

Emerson opposes the Clinton administration's proposal to cut funding for the Corps of Engineers from $1.5 billion to $750 million. Such a cut would stop some flood-control projects "dead in their tracks," she said.

Emerson said she and others in Congress would work to restore funding for the agency.

Emerson said Congress has done little since convening this year. Lawmakers have been in session 10 days.

"You all are much better off with us being home," she said.