Special Message to the Congress on Forthcoming Legislative Proposals Concerning Domestic Programs.

To the Congress of the United States:

As the members of Congress know, I have had under consideration the question of whether to send to the Congress this year a message on the State of the Union. I have decided against doing so. However, to assist Congress in formulating its plans, I would like to indicate at this time some of the principal legislative proposals that I will be sending in the weeks immediately ahead, and to report on the development of Administration plans and priorities as they relate to domestic programs.

The first twelve weeks of the new Administration have been devoted intensively to the pursuit of peace abroad, and to the development of new structures and new programs for the pursuit of progress at home.

Peace has been the first priority. It concerns the future of civilization; and even in terms of our domestic needs themselves, what we are able to do will depend in large measure on the prospects for an early end to the war in Viet Nam.

At the same time, the first days of this Administration have afforded us a unique opportunity to study the nation's domestic problems in depth, and to overhaul and re-tool the complex machinery of the Executive Office.

A systematic review of domestic programs and policies has led to a series of recommendations which I will begin sending to Congress this week. Among those recommendations will be:

--An increase in Social Security benefits, to take account of the rise in living costs.

--New measures to combat organized crime, and to crack down on racketeers, narcotics traffickers and peddlers of obscenity.

--A program of tax credits, designed to provide new incentives for the enlistment of additional private resources in meeting' our urgent social needs.

--A program to increase the effectiveness of our national drive for equal employment opportunity.

--A comprehensive reorganization of the Post Office Department.

--A program for the District of Columbia, including home rule and Congressional representation.

--A start on sharing the revenues of the Federal government, so that other levels of government where revenue increases lag behind will not be caught in a constant fiscal crisis.

--A far-reaching new program for development of our airways and airports, and our mass transit systems.

--A comprehensive labor and manpower program, including job training and placement, improvements in unemployment insurance, and proposals to help guarantee the health and safety of workers.

--Reform of the tax structure. The burden of taxation is great enough without permitting the continuance of unfairness in the tax system. New legislation will be proposed to prevent several specific abuses this year, and plans will be set in motion for a comprehensive revision of our tax structure by 1970, the first since 1954. The legislative proposals of the next few weeks are a beginning. They form part of a responsible approach to our goal of managing constructive change in America.

This is not law we seek in order to have it "on the books," but law that we need in action. It is designed, not to look appealing in the record, but to take effect in our lives.

It will be the goal of this Administration to propose only legislation that we know we can execute once it becomes law. We have deliberated long and hard on each of these measures, in order to be sure we could make it work. Merely making proposals takes only a typewriter; making workable proposals takes time. We have taken this time.

In other areas, where more time is needed, we will take more time. I urge the Congress to join with this Administration in this careful approach to the most fundamental issues confronting our country. Hasty action or a seeking after partisan advantage either by the Congress or Executive Branch can only be self-defeating and aggravate the very ills we seek to remedy.

For example, one area of deep concern to this Administration has to do with the most dependent constituency of all: the child under five. I have announced a commitment to the first five years of life as one of the basic pledges of this Administration. Head Start was one promising idea for bettering the environment and nutrition of young children; there also are many others. We have already begun enlarging the scope of our commitment in this vital field, including the establishment of an Office of Child Development within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. We hope that this enlarging commitment will be accompanied by an enlarging of the base of knowledge on which we act. We are not beginning with "massive" programs that risk tripping over their own unreadiness. Rather, our proposals will include step-by-step plans, including careful projections of funding requirements. Equally important, though Federally supported, they will embrace a network of local programs that will enlist voluntary participation.

These legislative proposals are, of course, being prepared within the context of other Administration actions which bear on domestic program development.

On taking office, I could see that whether measured in terms of its ability to respond, to decide or to implement, the Executive Branch simply was not structured to meet the emerging needs of the 1970s. Therefore my first moves were organizational.

The National Security Council was revitalized. The Urban Affairs Council was created, so that the problems of our cities could be approached in the broader perspective they now require. A Cabinet Committee on Economic Policy was established, to bring greater coherence to the management of our nation's economic prosperity. The system of Federal regional offices was reorganized so that for the first time, related agencies will have common regional headquarters and common regional boundaries. An Office of Intergovernmental Relations was set up, to smooth the coordination of Federal, State and local efforts.

In specific operational areas, we removed postmasterships from politics, started an overhaul of the Office of Economic Opportunity and its programs, and streamlined the administration of the various manpower programs.

One purpose of this early emphasis on organizational activity was to get the decision-making process in order before moving to the major decisions.

At the same time, I sent more than 100 directives¹ to the heads of the various departments and agencies, asking their carefully considered recommendations on a wide range of domestic policy issues. The budget was submitted to an intensive review, and throughout the Administration we addressed ourselves to the critical question of priorities.

¹See Appendix C.

One priority that has emerged clearly and compellingly is that we must put a halt, swiftly, to the ruinous rise of inflationary pressures. The present inflationary surge, already in its fourth year, represents a national self-indulgence we cannot afford any longer. Unless we save the dollar, we will have nothing left with which to save our cities--or anything else. I have already outlined certain steps that will be required:

--Continuation of the monetary policies the Federal Reserve authorities are now pursuing.

--A reduction of fiscal year 1970 expenditures by $4 billion below the best current estimate of the budget expenditures recommended by the last Administration.

--Continuation of the income tax surcharge for another year.

--Postponing of the scheduled reductions in telephone and passenger car excise taxes.

--Enactment of user charges equal in revenue to those now in the budget.

--An increase in postal charges.

These steps are not pleasant medicine. Medicine to combat inflation is never pleasant. But we can no longer delay taking it.

Another priority is the control of crime. On January 31, I announced a detailed plan for combatting crime in the District of Columbia, recognizing that the Federal city should be made a model of law observance and law enforcement. The crime-control package soon to be submitted to Congress will make clear the Federal Government's commitment, nationwide, to assisting local authorities in protecting the lives, rights and property of their citizens.

An equally pressing priority is the entire complex of needs that we commonly group under the heading, "the problems of the cities"--but which in fact reach beyond the cities, and include the distresses of rural America as well.

Our policy review has strengthened my conviction that in approaching these problems, America needs a new direction-not a turning away from past goals, but a clear and determined turn toward new means of achieving those goals.

One example is hunger and malnutrition. The failure of past effort to combat these problems has been made shockingly clear. Our new programs will be both vigorous and innovative.

Another example is welfare. Our studies have demonstrated that tinkering with the present welfare system is not enough. We need a complete re-appraisal and re-direction of programs which have aggravated the troubles they were meant to cure, perpetuating a dismal cycle of dependency from one generation to the next. Therefore, I will be submitting to Congress a program providing for the reform of the welfare system.

In the field of social legislation, we now have a hodge-podge of programs piled on programs, in which too often the pressure to perpetuate ill-conceived but established ones has denied needed resources to those that are new and more promising.

We have learned that too, often government's delivery systems have failed: though Congress may pass a law, or the President may issue an order, the intended services never reach the intended recipients. Last week, for example, in announcing a $200 million program for rebuilding riot-torn areas, I noted that after two, three and even four years nothing had been done, and cited this as evidence of the growing impotence of government. The crucial point here is that whereas in the past, "leave it to the states" was sometimes a signal for inaction by design, now "leave it to Washington" has become too often a signal for inaction by default. We have to design systems that go beyond "commitment," and guarantee performance.

If there is one thing we know, it is that the Federal Government cannot solve all the nation's problems by itself; yet there has been an over-shift of jurisdiction and responsibility to the Federal Government. We must kindle a new partnership between government and people, and among the various levels of government.

Too often, Federal funds have been wasted or used unwisely--for example, by pouring them into direct grants, when more money could have been made available at less cost by the use of incentives to attract private funds.

The programs I will submit have been drawn with those principles in mind. Among their aims are:

--To supplement Federal funds with private funds, through the use of "seed money" devices such as tax credits and loan guarantees.

--To enlist the great, vital voluntary sector more fully, using the energies of those millions of Americans who are able and eager to help in combatting the nation's ills.

--To help rebuild state and local institutions, so that they both merit and gain a greater measure of confidence on the part of their own citizens.

--To streamline the administration of Federal programs, not only for efficiency and economy, but to improve the certainty of delivery and to cut away the clouds of confusion that now surround not only their operation, but often their purposes.

--To make maximum use of the new knowledge constantly being gained, as, for example, in our commitment to the first five years of life.

These programs will not carry extravagant promises. The American people have seen too many promises, too many false hopes raised, too much substitution of the easy slogan for the hard performance.

Neither will they carry large price-tags for the coming fiscal year. We must recognize, however, that in the long run progress will not come cheaply; and even though the urgency of controlling inflation dictates budget cuts in the short run, we must be prepared to increase substantially our dollar investment in America's future as soon as the resources become available.

This Administration will gladly trade the false excitement of fanfare for the abiding satisfaction of achievement. Consolidation, coordination and efficiency are not ends in themselves; they are necessary, means of making America's government responsive to the legitimate demands for new departures.

Quietly, thoughtfully, but urgently, the members of this Administration have moved in these first few months to redirect the course of the nation. I am confident of the direction, and convinced that the time to take it has come.

RICHARD NIXON

The White House

April 14, 1969