[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 8 (Tuesday, January 23, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E58-E59]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       1995 QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS

                                 ______


                       HON. ANTHONY C. BEILENSON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 23, 1996

  Mr. BEILENSON. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to 
share with my colleagues the results of the survey I sent to the 
residents of the district I represent last July, which over 15,000 
people answered. I found the questionnaire enormously valuable in 
learning how my constituents feel about Federal spending priorities and 
other controversial matters before Congress, and I thought other 
Members would also find these results interesting.
  The questionnaire asked respondents to show how they would cut the 
Federal budget by choosing from a list of 39 categories, covering 
virtually all Federal spending. A majority of those responding 
supported cutting spending in only eight areas: defense, civil service 
and military pensions, food stamps, Aid to Families with Dependent 
Children, foreign aid, farm subsidies, general government, and 
Congress.
  The results also showed strong support for most ``safety net'' 
programs: to more than one-quarter, and in most cases fewer, 
respondents favored cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, 
unemployment compensation, Supplemental Security Income [SSI], or child 
nutrition.
  In addition, there was solid support for programs that provide 
health, safety, and quality-of-life services: only 10 percent to 20 
percent of respondents supported cutting transportation, law 
enforcement, health research, public health, environmental protection, 
national parks, disaster assistance, water resource projects, science 
research, or food and drug safety.
  Clearly, there was strong opposition among the respondents to most of 
the spending cuts being promoted by the Republican majority in 
Congress. However, the one large category of Federal spending that a 
majority would like to see cut--defense--is one of the few areas 

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that would escape cuts under the Republican budget plan.
  The results also pointed to strong opposition to several other issues 
being promoted by the Republican leadership in Congress, such as 
weakening environmental protection laws, repealing the ban on assault 
weapons, allowing Government-sanctioned prayer in public schools, and 
curbing access to abortion. However, on the matter of immigration 
control, significant majorities supported two proposals that have more 
support among Republican than Democratic Members: denying automatic 
citizenship to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants, and reducing 
the number of legal immigrants admitted to the United States each year.
  The complete resulted of the survey follow:

     Congressman Anthony C. Beilenson's 1995 Questionnaire Results


                  How Would You Cut Federal Spending?

       From a list of the programs and activities financed by the 
     federal government, you were asked to indicate which ones you 
     favored cutting. Here are the results:

                          PROGRAM/SPENDING AREA                         
      [In order of percentage of federal budget/amount of spending]     
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                         1995        1995               
                                      Percentage   spending   Percentage
                                      of Federal      in          who   
                                       spending    billions     support 
                                       (approx.)    (est.)      cutting 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Social Security.....................          22     $334             25
Defense.............................          18      270             53
Interest on the national debt.......          15      234            (2)
Medicare (health care for the                                           
 elderly)...........................          10      154             24
Medicaid (health care for the poor,                                     
 and nursing home care).............           6       88             25
Federal civilian and military                                           
 pensions...........................           4       65             55
Transportation (highways, mass                                          
 transit, railroads, airports, and                                      
 safety)............................           3       38             16
Food stamps.........................           2       26             55
Education and student financial aid.           2       26             28
Housing subsidies...................           2       26             48
Supplemental Security Income                                            
 (payments to impoverished elderly                                      
 and disabled)......................           2       25             17
Unemployment compensation...........           1       22             25
Veterans' benefits..................           1       20             15
Aid to Families with Dependent                                          
 Children (welfare).................           1       17             55
Law enforcement, FBI, courts and                                        
 prisons............................           1       16             14
Foreign aid.........................         (1)       14             74
Space program (NASA)................         (1)       13             40
Farm subsidies......................         (1)       13             73
Job training and employment-related                                     
 services...........................         (1)       13             27
General government (IRS, customs,                                       
 etc.)..............................         (1)       13             56
Health research.....................         (1)       12             14
Community and regional development..         (1)       12             43
Public health.......................         (1)       10             13
Child nutrition (includes school                                        
 lunch program).....................         (1)        8             27
Environmental protection and toxic                                      
 waste clean-up.....................         (1)        7             20
Energy conservation, research and                                       
 development........................         (1)        6             22
National parks, forests and wildlife                                    
 refuges............................         (1)        5             13
Disaster assistance.................         (1)        5             12
Water resource projects.............         (1)        4             14
Science research....................         (1)        4             16
Head Start..........................         (1)        4             30
Congress............................         (1)        2             69
International peacekeeping..........         (1)        2             47
Food and drug safety................         (1)        1             11
National service program                                                
 (AmeriCorps).......................         (1)        0.50          33
Border Patrol.......................         (1)        0.46           5
National Endowments for the Arts and                                    
 Humanities.........................         (1)        0.33          41
Public broadcasting (TV and radio)..         (1)        0.29          33
The White House.....................         (1)        0.20          46
Other...............................           1       19             31
                                     -----------------------------------
      Total.........................         100    1,530               
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Indicates less than 1% of the budget.                               
(2) Cannot be cut unless borrowing is cut.                              

       Environmental protection: Do you support relaxing 
     environmental protection laws?
       Yes: 33%
       No: 67%
       Assault weapons: Do you support repealing the ban on 
     assault weapons?
       Yes: 21%
       No: 79%
       Illegal immigration: Do you support eliminating the 
     automatic granting of citizenship to U.S.-born children of 
     illegal immigrants?
       Yes: 83%
       No: 17%
       Legal immigration: Do you support reducing the number of 
     people who are allowed to legally immigrate to the U.S. each 
     year?
       Yes: 77%
       No: 23%
       School prayer: Do you support a Constitutional amendment 
     that would permit government-sanctioned prayer in public 
     schools?
       Yes: 36%
       No: 64%
       Business subsidies: Do you support efforts to reduce tax 
     breaks and programs that subsidize American businesses?
       Yes: 66%
       No: 34%
       Abortion: Do you think Congress should act to restrict 
     access to abortion?
       Yes: 22%
       No: 78%

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