Gingrich Says He Opposes U.S. Version of 187

Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), the incoming Speaker of the House, said Sunday he does not support a national version of California’s Proposition 187, adding that a better solution is to “seal off” the border.

But Gingrich said that if he lived in California, he probably would have voted for the initiative “out of frustration” because the federal government has not done its job of keeping illegal immigrants out.

He suggested that the U.S. Border Patrol should be boosted from about 5,000 officers to 10,000.

“Now, if you know it’s costing you $3 billion a year in California alone with illegal aliens, the 10,000 (agents for) border patrols is a very inexpensive investment,” Gingrich said on NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press.”

Striking a note that will be music to the ears of Gov. Pete Wilson and his counterparts in Florida, Texas, New York and other states with large numbers of illegal immigrants, Gingrich declared that until the borders are secured, the federal government should either excuse states from paying for services for illegal immigrants or pick up the bill.

“I’ve told Gov. Wilson this, I believe that the federal government should either relieve mandates and allow states to manage the problem or the federal government should pay for it,” he said.

Some observers have suggested that the new Republican-controlled Congress enact a national version of Proposition 187, which denies illegal immigrants public education and non-emergency health care. But Gingrich’s opposition could be a substantial obstacle to any such move.

The incoming Speaker’s comments came during a wide-ranging interview in which he conceded that while the “contract with America,” the House GOP’s agenda for the new Congress, calls for a vote on term limits for federal lawmakers, he does not believe there is any chance such a measure will pass this session.

He also claimed that up to a quarter of White House staff members used illegal drugs in the four or five years before they began their jobs. He said those figures were proof that “you’ve got scattered throughout this Administration counterculture people.”

He did not name any individuals, nor did he name the source of his information.

Gingrich said he “had a senior law enforcement official tell me that in his judgment, up to a quarter of the White House staff, when they first came in, had used drugs in the last four or five years.”

He said the Administration had “huge problems getting people through security clearance” because there were so many people “who had a lot of things that weren’t very easy to clear.”

White House senior adviser George Stephanopoulos on Sunday said Gingrich’s charge was “irresponsible” and said that this White House adheres to rules for random drug testing.

Gingrich’s remarks came as he tried to explain his recent statement that the President and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton were “counterculture McGoverniks.”

He said his point in referring to Clinton as a member of the “counterculture” was not about his attitude 25 years ago but about the people in his Administration today.

Clinton’s hiring of people who had used drugs in recent years is “a current attitude about a current position on a current problem,” he said.

Gingrich also defended his welfare reform plan, which would bar states from paying welfare benefits to children whose paternity is not established and to those born out of wedlock to women under age 18.

The money saved would be used to establish and maintain orphanages and group homes for unwed mothers and promote adoption.

During a speech last week, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, called that idea “unbelievable and absurd.”

Gingrich countered that she should see a video of “Boys Town,” the 1938 film starring Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney that portrays Father Edward Flanagan, who founded the first Boys Town home for troubled youth in Omaha in 1917.

Gingrich mentioned two Chicago boys that he said would have been better off in such a home. One was a 5-year-old who was dropped to his death from the 14th floor of a public housing project by two older children who were angry with him because he refused to steal candy for them. The other was Robert Sandifer, an 11-year-old murder suspect who was shot in the head, allegedly executed by two fellow gang members.

“I don’t understand liberals who live in enclaves and safety who say: ‘Oh, this would be a terrible thing. Look at the Norman Rockwell family that would break up.’ The fact is we are allowing a brutalization and a degradation of children in this country,” he said.

But Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), the incoming Senate minority leader, took issue with Gingrich’s proposal. He said on CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation” that sending children to orphanages is exactly the kind of Republican initiative that the Democratic minority will fight.

“We’re going to have to confront them when it comes to extreme measures like that, but we will work with them where we can,” he said.

Daschle cited a recent study conducted for Time magazine by the Child Welfare League of America, which projected that if one-quarter of the estimated 1 million children affected by the welfare cutoffs in the Gingrich plan ended up in orphanages, the additional cost to the public would be $8 billion.

According to the organization, the yearly cost to the public to support a child living with his or her mother is $2,644, with a foster family $4,800 and in an orphanage $36,000.

Times wire services also contributed to this story.

‘Contract With America’

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