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BOOK 97 Pv;-Alo U.S. REPRESENTATIVE DAVID WELDON - UPDATE ON FEDERAL BUDGET AND OTHER ISSUES Chairman Adams welcomed Congressman David Weldon and added that the Board is grateful for his time. Representative David Weldon thanked the Board for the opportunity to be heard. He began that there has been a lot of discussion about the budget crisis and he wanted the American people to recognize that they are talking about the future of the nation. He felt that if the country stopped borrowing, interest rates could drop as low as 5.50 on home mortgages and on car loans from 6% to 8%. He also felt that county government bond interest rates could drop dramatically. Representative Weldon commented that there have been 17 or 18 government shutdowns since 1982 all of which involved Republican presidents wanting to spend more money with Democratic senators and representatives wanting to spend less. The shutdown this time has gone around 180 degrees. They are continuing to meet daily and will continue to work to resolve the problems. Representative Weldon then gave a brief overview of some of the things currently being worked on such as regulatory relief, unfunded mandates, tort and legal reform, and beach erosion which is a serious concern here in Indian River County. His belief is that a -lot of the erosion is caused by inlets created by the Army Corps of Engineers. Representative Weldon then announced an arts competition where students can submit and display their art at the Capitol. Applications are being accepted from Indian River, Osceola and Polk Counties from any high school students who want to participate. Students can contact Representative Weldon's office or the Brevard Cultural Alliance. Commissioner Bird wanted to know what is accomplished by shutting down the government, losing productivity and causing inconvenience to the citizens, when the federal employees are then paid retroactively and end up with a paid vacation. Representative Weldon gave a brief historical perspective and stated that in prior shutdowns, Presidents vetoed appropriations bills because they were too big while President Clinton vetoed the current proposals because they were too small. Previously, Presidents gave in and signed the bill and the shutdowns never .lasted more than 2-3 days. He believed that in this case the press put the blame on the legislators and no one expected the President to allow it to last this long. They are proposing new legislation to prevent this from happening again with a provision to declare JANUARY 16, 1996 20