Reagan, Deficit Shape Debate on Social Issues

The Reagan Administration’s seven-year effort to cut federal support of social programs has left a big footprint on the landscape of the 1988 presidential race.

The monumental budget deficits of recent years have inhibited the Democratic candidates, who are not echoing the calls of previous presidential election years for massive new spending programs. At the same time, sensing some erosion of Reagan’s influence, many of them are advocating increased federal funding of some existing programs, such as day care for children and long-term care for the elderly.

Nor are the Republicans attacking these popular programs directly. But, in recognition of the deficits, they are typically calling for greater financial support by state and local governments.

Cuts ‘Went Too Far’

“People feel Reagan went too far” in cutting social programs, said Robert Greenstein, director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “but there is little sympathy for making the world look the way it did before Ronald Reagan.”

In written responses to a questionnaire submitted by The Times, all candidates agreed that job training should be part of any welfare reform, but Republicans were more likely than Democrats to require welfare recipients to work. And Republicans generally opposed a minimum income for welfare families, while Democrats typically favored it.

The issue of increasing the $3.35-per-hour minimum wage produced a clear split, with all Republicans opposed and all Democrats in favor.

Sharp party distinctions also emerged on whether the government should regulate industries, especially airlines and the telephone companies.

For example, Republican Alexander M. Haig Jr. said: “In general, the less regulation, the better.”

But Sen. Albert Gore Jr., a Tennessee Democrat, accused the Administration of a “blind pursuit of deregulation” and called the deregulation of airlines in 1978--under the Administration of Jimmy Carter--”the most troubling case study of transportation deregulation.”

Day-Care Funding

As for big-ticket social programs, most of the Democratic candidates supported more federally assisted day care for the children of working mothers. Increasing their sense of urgency is the popularity of proposals to require welfare recipients to work--a requirement that would necessitate day care in a great many cases.

Among Democrats, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis and Missouri Rep. Richard A. Gephardt all favored providing day care as part of employment and training programs for poor people.

Gore called for incentives to employers who sponsor on-site child-care centers “where feasible and desirable.” And Former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt said he would create a “universal voucher system” that would be “scaled to income and funded jointly by the federal government and the states.”

Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois asserted that the government “has not provided enough assistance or leadership.” The government, he said, should “expand the availability of early childhood options for parents and child-care providers, particularly in disadvantaged communities.”

Federal aid for day care is now provided in a $2.5-billion annual grant to the states for a variety of social services. The states, in an innovation proposed by Reagan, have wide latitude to decide how much of the grants to use for day care and how much for other services.

Defends Reagan Policies

Among Republican candidates, Vice President George Bush, who called himself the Administration’s “co-pilot,” emerged in the survey as the most vigorous defender of Reagan’s domestic spending policies.

Discussing day care, Bush said: “The responsibility for raising children belongs, above everyone else, to parents and not to the federal government. . . . We must be careful not to enact programs that would prejudice the incentives for traditional child-rearing among the poor and all Americans.”

He advocated “experimenting at the state and local levels” and encouraging parents to use the tax credit for child-care expenses and to enroll their children in the Head Start program.

New York Rep. Jack Kemp, agreeing with Bush, said the government “must not infringe on the duties and rights of parents in deciding appropriate day care for children.” He advocated increasing the personal tax exemption and “allowing state and local governments to take the lead” on providing day care.

Haig said education and job-training programs should have a day-care component, but he added that the costs “should not be borne entirely by the federal government or by any government.”

Splits With Republicans

Kansas Sen. Bob Dole split with other Republicans on this issue, saying day-care programs should be financed as part of welfare. The “investment in child care is often critical” in encouraging people on welfare to enter the work force full time, he said.

Former Delaware Gov. Pierre S. (Pete) du Pont IV and former TV evangelist Pat Robertson, both Republicans, answered no questions on social programs and the role of government.

Asked about welfare, all the Democrats registered their support for reform that includes training and education for recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children. But they differed on some issues.

Babbitt took the toughest stance on whether welfare recipients should be required to work. “If you are not working and if you are not trying,” he said, “then you have no business drawing subsidies for your sloth.”

Gephardt opposed “requiring welfare recipients to ‘work off’ the benefits in dead-end jobs.” But he said he favors “requiring welfare recipients to participate in education, job training and job search activities so that they can find living-wage jobs with a real future.”

Dukakis favored a federal program modeled after one in his state, providing day-care services, job training and health insurance. “By helping people get off welfare, we have saved millions of dollars,” Dukakis said, “while at the same time increasing AFDC grant levels by 47% over the last four years.”

Jackson, a civil rights leader from Chicago, said he supports a minimum welfare benefit equal to 15% of a state’s median income. He also favored pending legislation that would extend AFDC eligibility to two-parent families. At present, states may decide whether to allow benefits to two-parent families.

Simon, advocating the most ambitious federal attack on poverty and joblessness, said he would “put unemployed people back to work in meaningful public-sector jobs” that “would come out of the enormous $1.5-trillion worth of infrastructure repairs on the country’s waiting list.” The jobs “would pay minimum wage or a tad more than welfare or unemployment benefits,” Simon said. They would be four-day-a-week jobs, leaving one day “for required job hunting.”

While Democrats stressed jobs and training--with strong federal leadership--as a way off welfare, other Republicans joined Bush in advocating a shift from federal to state control of welfare and social programs and more reliance on the private sector.

Said Dole: “I am not prepared to support a guaranteed family income financed through the welfare system, but I am prepared to put money into state efforts to increase opportunities for people to get off welfare and to encourage the states to redirect any resulting savings towards increased benefits.”

Favors Tax Exemption

Kemp said he favors a plan allowing the poor to “find real jobs in the private sector.” That includes exempting the working poor from taxes until they earn more than 150% of the federal poverty level.

The Health and Human Services Department says a family of four is poor if it earns less than $11,200. Thus under Kemp’s plan, four-member families would be exempt from paying taxes on earnings up to $16,800, compared to $12,800 in tax-free earnings allowed by current law in 1988.

Haig said the “welfare problem is best handled on a local and state basis” because the problems of the poor “cannot be managed from Washington.” He said that “work is the way out of welfare, and required work is one way to encourage social responsibility.”

The government’s role in taking care of the environment has been one of the more contentious issues throughout the Reagan Administration.

Environmentalists have charged that the Administration allowed big business to plunder the environment with toxic wastes, pesticides and herbicides. The Administration insists that it has simply loosened unnecessary regulatory restrictions on business.

In his response to whether there should be more health, safety and environmental regulation, Bush summed up the Administration position. As chairman of the President’s Task Force on Regulatory Relief, he said, he led the drive “to remove unnecessary government regulation,” an effort that will save businesses $150 billion over a 10-year period and eliminate 300 million hours of government paper work.

Support Less Regulation

The other Republicans similarly supported reduced regulations on businesses, but all asserted that they also favor government standards to protect health, safety and the environment.

Democrats, on the other hand, heaped criticism on current policies and vowed to improve federal enforcement of laws on health, safety and the environment.

Said Dukakis: “The current Administration has had a miserable environmental record on nuclear power, on toxic waste, on clean water, on offshore drilling, on safety in the workplace.”

Asked about the $3.35-an-hour minimum wage, Jackson and Gephardt said it should be raised until it reaches half of the average wage in private industry. Simon advocated a 50-cent-an-hour increase, while Babbitt said he supports increasing the wage until it reaches $4.50 an hour and then linking it to wage gains throughout the economy. Gore said the wage should be at least as high as the government’s poverty index. Dukakis, without being specific, supported a higher minimum wage.

The Republicans, by contrast, responded negatively. Haig and Kemp said wages should be decided by employers and employees, not the federal government. Bush and Dole suggested that mandatory increases could actually harm the groups they are designed to help.

“We should be careful that anything done in this area must not reduce the chances of the most disadvantaged--minorities, teen-agers--to get a job in the first place,” Dole said. “We might be better off if we put more emphasis on job creation than on the minimum wage.”

CANDIDATES AND THE ISSUES: SOCIAL PROGRAMS/ROLE OF GOVERNMENT

REPUBLICANS Vice President George Bush Q: Do you favor federally financed day care as an incentive for poor people to find work? A: Advocates “experimenting at the state and local levels” and using “available resources,” such as the dependent care tax credit and Head Start program. Q: Should the federal government help pay for long-term care for the elderly? A: Asserts that the Reagan Administration has proposed “a far-reaching catastrophic care proposal that will remove the risk of financial ruin” from long-term hospitalization. Q: Do you prefer getting the federal government out of the welfare system, leaving it alone or federalizing welfare? A: Supports “reduced dependency by the poor on welfare” and believes states and cities “should handle more of the responsibilities” of welfare programs. Q: Should there be more or less federal economic regulation of industry, particularly of the airline and telephone industries? Should there be more or less health, safety and environmental regulation? A: Favors Administration’s effort “to remove unnecessary government regulation.” Says this has been achieved without compromising environment, health or safety. Kansas Sen. Bob Dole Q: Do you favor federally financed day care as an incentive for poor people to find work? A: Committed to financing child care “as part of our welfare programs.” Q: Should the federal government help pay for long-term care for the elderly? A: Advocates “a comprehensive financing solution” that involves both the public and private sectors. Believes private health industry “plays little or no role at this time.” Q: Do you prefer getting the federal government out of the welfare system, leaving it alone or federalizing welfare? A: Would “put money into state efforts” to get people off welfare and use resulting savings to increase benefits for those remaining on the rolls. Q: Should there be more or less federal economic regulation of industry, particularly of the airline and telephone industries? Should there be more or less health, safety and environmental regulation? A: Prefers “a minimum of economic regulation.” Believes government has “an important role to play” in providing standards for health, safety and environment. Former Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. Q: Do you favor federally financed day care as an incentive for poor people to find work? A: Supports day care as “part of a larger program” for job seekers, but be lieves no govern ment--federal or state--should pay entire cost. Q: Should the federal government help pay for long-term care for the elderly? A: Calls for “a combination of public and private insurance” to prevent elderly from being “left destitute and penniless” in the event of catastrophic illness. Q: Do you prefer getting the federal government out of the welfare system, leaving it alone or federalizing welfare? A: Asserts that while the federal government has a role to play, “the welfare problem is best handled on a local and state basis.” Q: Should there be more or less federal economic regulation of industry, particularly of the airline and telephone industries? Should there be more or less health, safety and environmental regulation? A: Believes that “in general, the less regulation, the better.” Favors enforcing “necessary government regulations” on health, safety and environment. New York Rep. Jack Kemp Q: Do you favor federally financed day care as an incentive for poor people to find work? A: Opposes establishing national program. Supports increasing personal tax exemption for families and having state and local governments take more responsibility for solutions. Q: Should the federal government help pay for long-term care for the elderly? A: Believes “affordable private-sector insurance” should be developed to bridge “significant gaps” in health care coverage. Q: Do you prefer getting the federal government out of the welfare system, leaving it alone or federalizing welfare? A: Supports “welfare reform that will reduce welfare dependency and allow the poor to find real jobs in the private sector.” Advocates exempting from income taxes those earning up to 150% of the poverty level. Q: Should there be more or less federal economic regulation of industry, particularly of the airline and telephone industries? Should there be more or less health, safety and environmental regulation? A: Favors deregulation efforts over last 10 years but supports “stringent standards” to protect health, safety and environment. Former Delaware Gov. Pierre S. (Pete) du Pont IV and Pat Robertson did not respond.

DEMOCRATS Former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt Q: Do you favor federally financed day care as an incentive for poor people to find work? A: Advocates a “universal voucher system” funded jointly by the federal government and states and pegged to family income. Q: Should the federal government help pay for long-term care for the elderly? A: Favors a federal program to deal with long-term care for the elderly in nursing homes and for the disabled. Q: Do you prefer getting the federal government out of the welfare system, leaving it alone or federalizing welfare? A: Would “federalize Medicaid and establish a federal floor” for Aid to Families with Dependent Children and the food stamp program. Q: Should there be more or less federal economic regulation of industry, particularly of the airline and telephone industries? Should there be more or less health, safety and environmental regulation? A: Believes “government should step in if the market fails.” Favors a “strong role” in areas of health, safety and environment. Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis Q: Do you favor federally financed day care as an incentive for poor people to find work? A: Favors an employment training program for welfare families that includes day-care services. Q: Should the federal government help pay for long-term care for the elderly? A: Yes. Q: Do you prefer getting the federal government out of the welfare system, leaving it alone or federalizing welfare? A: Supports welfare reform that includes “real training for real jobs” and federally financed health insurance on jobs where no insurance is provided. Q: Should there be more or less federal economic regulation of industry, particularly of the airline and telephone industries? Should there be more or less health, safety and environmental regulation? A: Does not favor “re-regulation” of airlines but advocates “stiffer enforcement of antitrust laws.” Would place “high priority” on enforcing health, safety and environmental laws. Missouri Rep. Richard A. Gephardt Q: Do you favor federally financed day care as an incentive for poor people to find work? A: Believes it is the “responsibility of the federal government” to provide day-care services to parents in education and job-training programs. Q: Should the federal government help pay for long-term care for the elderly? A: Supports “continuing and strengthening the social safety net for the elderly . . . . The federal government must increase its contributions to long-term care financing.” Q: Do you prefer getting the federal government out of the welfare system, leaving it alone or federalizing welfare? A: Believes “we need to improve our efforts.” Would require welfare recipients to participate in education programs, job training and job search activities. Q: Should there be more or less federal economic regulation of industry, particularly of the airline and telephone industries? Should there be more or less health, safety and environmental regulation? A: Lists more minuses than pluses resulting from deregulation. Says government “has responsibilities to protect” the public’s safety. Tennessee Sen. Albert Gore Jr. Q: Do you favor federally financed day care as an incentive for poor people to find work? A: Favors a “strong national policy” that includes providing incentives to employers that sponsor on-site child care centers. Q: Should the federal government help pay for long-term care for the elderly? A: Advocates reducing medical costs and favors “a comprehensive long-term care policy” without “resorting to a standardized national health care system.” Q: Do you prefer getting the federal government out of the welfare system, leaving it alone or federalizing welfare? A: Supports legislation that would provide “remedial education and job training” and “better enforcement of child support laws.” Q: Should there be more or less federal economic regulation of industry, particularly of the airline and telephone industries? Should there be more or less health, safety and environmental regulation? A: Believes transportation deregulation “has caused chaos and diminished the quality of services.” Says government “has a positive role to play” in supervising industry on safety. Rev. Jesse Jackson Q: Do you favor federally financed day care as an incentive for poor people to find work? A: Believes day care should be “an essential element of employment programs” but believes both the private and public sectors should provide and finance the services. Q: Should the federal government help pay for long-term care for the elderly? A: Supports coverage of catastrophic health problems. Believes financing long-term care for the elderly “must be the next priority.” Q: Do you prefer getting the federal government out of the welfare system, leaving it alone or federalizing welfare? A: Believes government “should play a strong role.” Supports minimum benefit for welfare families and would extend Aid to Families with Dependent Children to two-parent families. Q: Should there be more or less federal economic regulation of industry, particularly of the airline and telephone industries? Should there be more or less health, safety and environmental regulation? A: Believes that sufficient rules exist to protect consumers but that they are not being enforced. Illinois Sen. Paul Simon Q: Do you favor federally financed day care as an incentive for poor people to find work? A: Advocates increased federal assistance in fashioning “a comprehensive child-care program” that would provide “flexibility and choice to parents.” Q: Should the federal government help pay for long-term care for the elderly? A: Supports “a national long-term care program” for nursing-home residents and more assistance for home-based programs. Q: Do you prefer getting the federal government out of the welfare system, leaving it alone or federalizing welfare? A: Advocates legislation guaranteeing jobs paying either the minimum wage or 10% more than payments received from unemployment compensation or welfare, whichever is higher. Q: Should there be more or less federal economic regulation of industry, particularly of the airline and telephone industries? Should there be more or less health, safety and environmental regulation? A: Says amount of needed regulation varies from industry to industry. Advocates hiring more air traffic controllers. Calls for curtailing use of pesticides and herbicides.