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Special Message to the Congress on Legislative Reform.

October 13, 1969

To the Congress of the United States:

In the nine months since Inauguration, a number of issues have arisen clearly calling for the Congress and the Administration to work together.

One such issue was the extension of the surtax, where our economic security was involved. Another was authority to build the Safeguard ballistic missile defense, where the national safety was the issue. On both occasions, when the time came to be counted, Congress subordinated partisan concerns and voted the country's interest.

The continuance of this working partnership between a Congress heavily Democratic and a Republican Administration, on occasions where great issues are involved, is imperative for the good of our country. I hope this partnership will survive the "spirit of party" that grows more evident weekly in the national capital. Yet, in recent days, the call to partisan combat has grown more compelling.

I am aware that members of the Administration have criticized the Democratic-controlled Congress for "dragging its feet" in the enactment of legislation, for holding hearings thus far on only half the Administration proposals before it, for having enacted but a single appropriations bill for fiscal 1970, a full quarter of the way through the fiscal year. From Capitol Hill there have come similar charges--that the Administration has been laggard in proposing legislation, that the Executive Departments have been slow in giving the Congress the reports it has requested, that some of the most far-reaching Administration proposals have only lately been sent to the Congress, and so cannot be acted upon by the end of the year.

If a working partnership between men of differing philosophies and different parties is to continue, then candor on both sides is required. There may be merit in both charges; neither the Democratic Congress nor the Republican Administration is without fault for the delay of vital legislation.

But, in my view, the American people are not interested in political posturing between the Executive Branch and Capitol Hill. We are co-equal branches of government, elected not to maneuver for partisan advantage, but to work together to find hopeful answers to problems that confound the people all of us serve.

Both the President and Congress have been commissioned by the same American people, for a limited time, to achieve objectives upon which the great majority agree. For our part, we are willing to travel more than half-way to work with Congress to accomplish what needs to be done. The time for staking out political claims will come soon enough.

Let us resolve, therefore, to make the legislative issue of the 1970 campaign the question of who deserves greater credit for the Ninety-First Congress' record of accomplishment, not which of us should be held accountable because it did nothing. The country is not interested in what we say, but in what we do--let us roll up our sleeves and go to work. Before us are urgent legislative priorities.

The legislative program of this Administration differs fundamentally from that of previous administrations. We do not seek more and more of the same. We were not elected to pile new resources and manpower on the top of old programs. We were elected to initiate an era of change. We intend to begin a decade of government reform such as this nation has not witnessed in half a century. Some months ago, a Washington columnist wrote in some pessimism that if ours is not to be an age of revolution then it must become an age of reform. That is the watchword of this Administration: Reform.

Reform of the draft. I have asked Congress to make the most extensive changes in the way we select young men for military service since the draft became an accepted feature of American life. We have the administrative power--and we will exercise it if Congress fails to act-to make far-reaching reforms in the selective service system, reducing the period of prime vulnerability for young Americans from seven years to 12 months. However, we need Congressional approval to shift from the inequitable requirement of choosing the "oldest first" to the more just method of random selection. I asked Congress five months ago for this power; I ask again today. Basic fairness to our young people is the prime reason for this recommendation. I see no reason why this vital piece of legislation cannot be enacted now.

Reform of the welfare system. Last summer I asked Congress to make the most sweeping changes in the American system of welfare since the beginning of the New Deal. Last week legislation went to Congress outlining the proposal I have made for a new family assistance system to replace the demeaning and bankrupt system that now exists.

Under the present system, sometimes a father must desert his wife and children to make them eligible for benefits. Under the present system, some mothers with three children must survive with only $39 a month for the entire family to live on.

The family assistance system is built on a different set of principles. It provides incentives for families to stay together. It provides economic rewards for men and women on welfare who enter training programs and search out jobs. It provides a floor under income that assures the minimum necessary for food and clothing and shelter.

The present system has led this country into a morass. It has laid a heavier and heavier burden on the American taxpayer. It has loaded the relief rolls with more and more families even in times of rising prosperity and low unemployment. I ask that Congress begin hearings on the new family assistance system at once. The welfare system should be abandoned as quickly as we can discard it and a new system established in its place.

Reform of the tax code. In April I recommended to Congress the most comprehensive set of tax reforms in many years. Subsequently the House of Representatives responded with an even more far-reaching proposal of its own. The national momentum behind tax reform--to make the code more fair and equitable, to shift part of the burden from those who have borne too much for too long to the shoulders of others who have not carried their fair share--must not be allowed to dribble away while a partisan wrangle goes on over who deserves the political credit. We will give Congress as much assistance and as many hours of labor as it requires to enact extensive and responsible reform in this calendar year.

I do ask, however, that Congress, in acting on this major reform, not compromise this Administration's effort to combat the most unjust tax of all, inflation. Specifically, I ask that Congress not convert this historic tax reform legislation into a sharp tax reduction that would unbalance the Federal budget and neutralize our campaign to halt the rising cost of living. I ask again that Congress repeal the seven per cent investment tax credit, and extend for another six months the income tax surcharge at one-half the present rate. To fail to take these steps would be an abdication by Congress of its vital role in controlling inflation.

Revenue reform. For the first time in the history of this government, we have recommended a national policy of permanent sharing of the Federal income tax revenues with the States and lesser political units in the country. For years, political students and leaders have contended that governments at the State, county and local levels have lost their creativity and lost the capacity to respond because they lack access to the great source of growing revenues available to the Federal government. I have recommended that Congress set aside a rising portion of Federal revenues each year and transmit them directly back to the States and communities to spend as they see fit and not as Washington sees fit. This concept has been debated by both parties and recommended by their majorities for years. The time has come to move it off the plane of discussion to make it a reality. I urge the Congress to move.

Postal reform. For more than a decade the American people have complained increasingly of the rising cost of postal service accompanied step by step with declining service. Today the United States postal system is inferior to that of many countries of Western Europe; it is grossly inadequate to the needs of our society. The nation has known this for years. I have acted in that knowledge--recommending that the existing postal system be scrapped, that a government-owned corporation replace the United States Post Office, that business principles replace partisanship in its management, and that merit and performance-rather than political affiliation--be the new criteria for appointment and advancement. Three years ago this month the Chicago postal system, a microcosm of the national system, collapsed under a flood of mail. The rapid delivery of mail is not a partisan issue. Distinguished leaders, of both parties, have endorsed the precise reform I have recommended. There is no reason why the Congress cannot enact the most complete reform of the United States Post Office in the nation's history--by the close of this session.

I am aware of the setback which postal reform sustained in a House Committee on October 8. That action must be reversed. I shall persist in behalf of both the taxpayers and the mail users in this country to press for this urgently needed reform. I still believe enactment should come by the end of this session of the Ninety-First Congress.

Here I must again urge responsible Congressional action, and promptly, on the proposed increase in postal rates for all three classes of mail. When this Administration entered office in January, it confronted a deficit in the postal budget for fiscal year 1970 of more than $1.2 billion. We are already three months into that fiscal year--and this deficit is being underwritten by the taxpayers, rather than the users of the postal service, who should rightly bear the cost. I recognize that such a measure is hardly a political delight. Yet it is required in the interest of equity and fiscal integrity. I request the Congress to face up to this task.

Manpower reform. The history of the 1960s chronicles an intense political debate that has resulted in the old centralism of the thirties losing converts to the new federalism of the seventies. More and more progressive men in both parties have become convinced from the failures of programs run from Washington that important areas of government decision-making must be returned to the regions and locales where the problems exist.

I have attempted to take that conclusion out of the forum of debate and into the arena of action--Congress. I have recommended that management of a Federal program--the multi-billion dollar manpower training program--be consolidated, and turned over in a three-stage operation to the States and communities to run in a way that fits the needs of the immediate areas involved. No reform of this magnitude has been attempted since centralism became the dominant national trend at the depths of the depression. This recommendation represents the beginning of a revitalized federalism, the gradual transfer of greater power and responsibility for the making of government decisions to governments closest to the people. I urge swift Congressional action.

Social security reform. I have requested an across-the-board increase of ten percent in Social Security benefits to compensate elderly Americans for the losses they are suffering because of an inflation they could do nothing either to prevent or avoid. In addition, I have proposed a new reform, an escalator in Social Security to insure that benefits will rise correspondingly whenever the cost of living goes up. When this reform is enacted, never again will those Americans least able to afford it be made to bear the brunt of inflation. These necessary steps can and should be taken by Congress before the end of this year.

One word of caution. I know the political temptations here. Why not balloon the benefits now, far above 10 percent, for political rewards in 1970? I remind the Congress that it is long since time that we stopped the political over-reactions which fuel the inflation that robs the poor, the elderly, and those on fixed incomes. I urge Congress to hold to this 10 percent figure--and let the new escalator protect older Americans against the possibility of future inflation.

A second reform I have proposed is to alter the system of social security to encourage and reward the workers who want to go on working past age 65-rather than discourage them. I ask Congress to enact this measure without delay.

Reform of the grant-in-aid system. Among the first major pieces of legislation I asked of Congress was authority to make uniform the requirements for participation in many grant-in-aid programs that have proliferated in the last five years. If we are granted the power to draw these programs together, to group them by function--setting far more simple regulations--then States and communities will participate more and Congress' original purposes will be better served. We need that authority now. I know of no reason for delay.

Electoral reform. While I originally favored other methods of reforming the electoral college system, I have strongly endorsed the direct popular election plan approved by the House. I hope the Senate will concur so that final favorable action can be completed before the end of this session. This must be done if we are to have this needed reform amended to the Constitution in time for the presidential election of 1972.

D.C. Government reform. For years there has been broad support for granting the people of Washington, D.C., the same right to Congressional representation other Americans have always prized, and the right to conduct their public business themselves. The Federal city has been a federal colony far too long. Months ago I presented to Congress a program to bring about the orderly transfer of political power to the people of this community. I recommended a constitutional amendment giving the District of Columbia at least one representative in the House and such additional representatives as Congress may approve, and providing for the possibility of two United States Senators. I urged Congress further to grant the city one non-voting Congressional representative in the interim, and recommended creation of a commission to prepare and present to Congress and the President a program to improve the efficiency and competence of the District Government-looking to the day of complete self-government. Favorable action has been taken by the Senate. I ask that this work be completed before the end of the year.

OEO reform. I have provided the Office of Economic Opportunity with a new director, a new structure, and added responsibilities as the research and development arm of the nation's effort to deal with the problems of the poor. OEO is now strengthening its present operating programs, including the Community Action Agencies, VISTA, Legal Services, Neighborhood Health Centers, Family Planning, Emergency Food, Rural, Older Persons, Indian and Migrant Programs. In addition, there is new emphasis on research, the evaluation of existing Federal social programs, and developing and testing new approaches in community and economic development, manpower and education, to assist the poor to move into the economic life of the nation. I have asked for a two-year extension of the existing legislation, without crippling amendments. I believe that a reformed OEO has a major and continuing role to play in our national life. Here again, there is no need or justification for further delay.

In recent years the Federal Government has suffered a precipitous decline in public confidence. The reason can be found in the chronic gap that exists between the publicity and promise attendant to the launching of a new Federal program-and that program's eventual performance. If confidence in government is to be restored, the gap must be closed.

This is the purpose of the foregoing proposals and great goal of this Administration--not to establish some new arithmetical record for the number of programs proposed, but to do more than other Administrations have done--to devise new approaches, to make the worthy old programs work, and to make old institutions responsive. It is for this that we prize the mechanics and engineers of government who retool and improve its machinery as much as we do the planners and the idea men who develop new programs and new agencies. There is little publicity and less glamor in the labor of the mechanics and engineers of government but, with billions in tax dollars invested in scores and scores of on-going Federal programs, the need is certainly greater. Let us together make government's performance and responsiveness more commensurate with its size.

Reform of foreign aid. Our foreign aid program, sent to Congress in May, differs from earlier programs in three significant ways. First, it would place greater emphasis on technical assistance, especially in the areas of agriculture, education and family planning, where the return would be greatest when measured in terms of national and human development. Second, the new program would create an Overseas Private Investment Corporation to provide a greater thrust for the channeling of private investment to the low income countries. Third, it would increase the share of our assistance contributed through multilateral institutions.

I know of the economic miracles which foreign aid has helped create in Western Europe and in parts of Asia. I know also that our program is far from perfect. With this in mind, I have recently appointed a Presidential Task Force on International Development, charged with proposing new approaches to aid for the 1970s.

One fundamental question must be faced as Congress prepares to vote on this issue: will we in the United States live out our lives in comparative affluence, while denying reasonable help to those who are our neighbors in the world community and who are struggling to help themselves achieve a better life? To enable us to answer this question positively, I have requested $2.7 billions the smallest request in the history of the U.S. aid program but an amount vitally needed to maintain our relationship with the developing world.

In addition to the reforms already cited, I have made other recommendations that call for new commitments by the Federal government, and offer more hopeful avenues of progress than the paths of the past.

Specifically, I have asked Congress to:

--establish a national computer Job Bank, which would enable the unemployed and the employer to come together through a computer matching system. The bank would have "branches" in every major labor market in the country. No longer would men have to go without work solely because they did not know where to find jobs.

--commit this country to the most extensive improvement of the nation's air facilities in history. Under this program, the annual Federal appropriation for improving air facilities will rise from $93 million a year-the average of the last decade--to $250 million annually over the next decade. I have proposed further aid for airport development of $2.5 billion dollars in Federal funds in the next ten years to be matched dollar-for-dollar by the States and local governments. This will mean an added $5 billion in funds for airport development. It will mean a running start on the national effort to build for the doubling of airline traffic expected by 1975 and its tripling by 1980.

--commit this country to the redevelopment of the nation's deteriorating public transportation system by providing an unprecedented measure of Federal support. In the six-year period ending with fiscal 1970, some $800 million will have been authorized by Congress to aid the nation's deteriorating public transit industry. I have proposed raising that commitment to $3.1 billion over the next five years and to a total of $10 billion over the next twelve.

--enact the most extensive improvements in the Federal-State unemployment system in a decade, with coverage extended to an additional 4.8 million workers, mostly low-in. come, with an automatic extension of benefits to workers during times of high unemployment.

--enact the strongest mine health and safety bill in history, one which empowers the Secretary of the Interior to upgrade health and safety standards for coal mines as the technology develops.

--establish a national occupational health and safety board, with power to set standards to protect workers.

--empower the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to bring suit in a Federal District Court to enforce federal laws against discrimination.

--ban literacy tests as a prerequisite for voting throughout the United States.

NEW INITIATIVES

The hungry. For many years, in this richest of societies, we have heard rumors of malnourished children and hungry men and women. Now we know these rumors are true. This realization has prompted us to a commitment--that we eliminate every vestige of hunger and malnutrition from America. I have asked Congress to help us assure that every American family can have a nutritionally complete diet; I have asked that the poorest members of our national community be provided with food stamps free of cost.

The Senate has shown a willingness to join in this commitment and has acted with dispatch. I urge the House to move so as not to prolong any further the day when the ancient curse of malnutrition and hunger is eliminated in this most modern of nations.

population. There is a widely-recognized correlation between population growth and poverty in the underdeveloped nations of the world. I have asked Congress to support our endorsement of those individuals and organizations seeking voluntary answers to this global question in other lands.

To approach this question as it applies at home, I have called on Congress to create a national commission to undertake now a study of how the nation is to provide for the 100 million new Americans expected before the turn of the century.

Beyond this, I have asked that a new philosophy become American government policy. We will interfere with no American's freedom of choice; we will infringe upon no one's religious convictions; but we shall not deny to any American woman the family planning assistance she may desire but cannot afford. That is the goal I ask Congress to support.

THE CONTROL OF CRIME

There is no greater need in this free society than the restoration of the individual American's freedom from violence in his home and on the streets of his city or town. Control and reduction of crime are among the first and constant concerns of this Administration. But we can do little more unless and until Congress provides more tools to do the job. No crisis is more urgent in our society. No subject has been the matter of more legislative requests from this Administration. Yet, not a single one of our major recommendations on crime has been acted upon favorably. I have not even received yet the budget appropriation for the Department of Justice for this fiscal year which is three months old. In light of the rising crime statistics in the country--and in the nation's capital--I again call upon Congress to become a full-fledged ally in this national campaign.

Organized crime. To intensify the national effort against organized crime, I have asked for an arsenal of new legal weapons:

--a doubling of existing resources for the organized crime effort;

--authority for Justice Department agents to enter any community and shut down large-scale gambling operations;

--a modern general witness immunity statute under which witnesses in Federal criminal cases could be compelled to testify under threat of a prison sentence for contempt;

--finally, because organized crime would shrivel up without its enormous gambling resources, and because illegal gambling on a large scale cannot go on without cooperation of corrupt law enforcement, I have asked Congress to make corruption of local authorities who are tied in with such gambling operations a Federal crime. I must stress the great urgency of these measures. Let the Congress act--now.

D.C. crime. To deal with the increase in crime in the District of Columbia I have asked for an expansion and strengthening of the entire system of law enforcement and criminal justice, including a fundamental reorganization of the courts. I have stressed the urgent need for more police, more judges, more prosecutors, more courtroom space, a new public defender's office, better penal and rehabilitation facilities and reform in the procedures for dealing with juvenile offenders. Crime in the District of Columbia continues to rise to new records with each month. We cannot contain or control it with existing resources; we need more men and money; we need a speedier trial system and, as important as any other measure, the power to keep hard-core criminal repeaters in the District of Columbia off the streets, so they are not committing five and six crimes before they are ever brought to trial. The Congress should act--now.

Narcotics. In the Federal effort against the illicit narcotics trade, I have submitted a major revision of all Federal narcotics laws and requested more men and money to deal with a problem that long ago outstripped the capacity of government at every level. Existing manpower and resources are stretched to their elastic limits--they are demonstrably inadequate. We have to have the cooperation of Congress to attack this terrible problem. Let's get at it--now.

Pornography. To prevent the use of the nation's postal system for the mailing of unsolicited sex-oriented materials to families that do not want the material and to children to whom it might do psychological harm, I offered three legislative proposals that will protect American citizens from the barrages of the filth peddlers, and will also be consistent with the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court interpreting the First Amendment. These bills are still in Congress. I ask that they be promptly enacted.

These are among my major legislative proposals in these first nine months in office. I believe they speak directly to the needs of a nation in distress. I can see no legitimate reason why--with good will and cooperation between us--we cannot make the great majority of these urgently needed programs law before the end of the year. We should have all of them--as well as the others now pending--on the statute books well before the Ninety-First Congress enters the history books.

To that end, I again pledge the cooperation of this Administration.

RICHARD NIXON

The White House

October 13, 1969

Note: On October 10, 1969, the White House Press Office released the text of a news briefing on the President's message on legislative reform by Bryce N. Harlow, Assistant to the President.

Richard Nixon, Special Message to the Congress on Legislative Reform. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/239792

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