Lyndon B. Johnson photo

Statement by the President Upon Signing Bill Extending the Incentive Awards Program to Members of the Armed Forces.

September 23, 1965

I HAVE today signed Public Law 89-198, which authorizes the establishment of an incentive cash award program for members of the Armed Forces. Under this program, cash awards of up to $25,000 will be made to military personnel for suggestions, inventions, or scientific achievements which contribute to the efficiency and economy of Government operations. The law extends the cash incentive concept already in force in the Federal civil service to our men and women in uniform.

The cost saving program of the Department of Defense has already reached an annual level of savings of $4.6 billion each year.

On the basis of experience with the cash incentive programs elsewhere in the Government this new program can be expected to produce additional savings of more than $180 million a year at an approximate annual cost of less than 4 percent.

This Nation is a nation of peace, but there is one war to which I am committed, which we will wage on every front with every possible weapon--that is the war on waste and inefficiency. I am asking our men and women in uniform to join me in this effort.

I have today instructed the Secretary of Defense personally to bring this campaign to the attention of every member of our Military Establishment, at home and around the world. He will designate one of his principal assistants to conduct this special program.

Note: The statement was read by Bill D. Moyers, Special Assistant to the President, at his news conference at 4:20 p.m. on Thursday, September 23, 1965, in his office at the White House. It was not made public in the form of a White House press release.

As enacted, the bill (H.R. 8333) is Public Law 89--198 (79 Stat. 830).

Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President Upon Signing Bill Extending the Incentive Awards Program to Members of the Armed Forces. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/240462

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