Dwight D. Eisenhower photo

Statement by the President on the Annual Budget Message.

January 19, 1959

[Recorded on film and tape]

Fellow Citizens:

Today I have sent to the Congress the Budget of the United States.

The Budget is the annual governmental plan for spending your Federal tax money, which amounts to one dollar out of every five that all our people earn. It comprises the proposals of the Government for assuring the safety of our Nation, the well-being of our people and their continuing prosperity. The program that I have sent to the Congress will enable us to provide wisely for all these needs and will, at the same time, allow us to live within our means.

The Budget is in balance.

This is important, because if the Government does not live within its means, every American suffers. When the Government continues to run deficits, inflation is the end result. And inflation means rising costs to every housewife, a falling value to every pay envelope, and a threat to the prosperous functioning of our economy. Every citizen, no matter where he lives or what he does, has a vital stake in preventing inflation.

The President has the duty of representing all the interests of the entire nation in his Budget recommendations.

But it is Congress--and Congress alone--that must enact the legislation to carry out these recommendations.

The program in this Budget provides for:

--Accelerated modern weapons development, and a strong and adequate national defense program;

--Increases for dramatic exploration of outer space;

--The greatest investment for public works programs in the Nation's history;

--Additional help to local communities to improve the health, education and welfare of citizens.

Many more programs are provided for in this balanced budget.

In the Government, as in your family, it is not possible to do all that everyone would like to do--all at the same time. A budget is a way to schedule priorities. And whatever choices are made, there will be objections from pressure groups that would put their own interests before the common welfare--that would like to see the Government spend more for their special projects. The Budget is not designed for special interests; the real purpose is to promote the good of all America.

I intend to do everything within my power to keep our country strong, our economy expanding, and Federal spending at a level that will make these objectives possible of attainment. I hope you will help.

Thank you.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Statement by the President on the Annual Budget Message. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/234894

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