Letter to the Speaker Transmitting Supplemental Appropriations Request for Civil Rights.

Sir:

I have the honor to transmit herewith for the consideration of the Congress proposed supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year 1965 in the amount of $13,088,000 to support programs authorized by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The details of these proposed appropriations are set forth in the attached letter from the Director of the Bureau of the Budget, with whose comments and observations thereon I concur.

Passage of the Civil Rights Act will earn for the 88th Congress a place of honor among those who have fought for human dignity in our history. By enacting this Charter, the Congress has assured that we shall achieve ultimate victory in the long struggle to guarantee the fundamental rights of every American citizen.

I am sure that the Congress which enacted this Charter will wish promptly to provide the funds necessary to implement it. Though some activities can and will be started immediately without additional financing, money is needed to support programs to increase popular understanding of the law, to provide help in coping with the problems caused by its initial impact, and to increase the Federal Government's capacity to enforce it. The modest request I make today will allow us to begin these vital tasks.

I wish to emphasize the importance I attach to early action on this request. The more promptly we are able to make effective the Act's protections, the sooner justice will be provided to all our citizens in the manner prescribed by the Constitution. To delay that justice would be to deny it.

Respectfully yours,

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

[The Speaker of the House of Representatives]