I HAVE TODAY signed a bill authorizing the disposal from our national stockpiles of 1.9 million tons of surplus metallurgical grade manganese ore.
This manganese can now be made available to our steel mills and other consumers. And it will return substantial funds to the Federal Treasury when the sales are made.
I am especially pleased to note that this is the 19th such stockpile disposal bill I have signed this year, out of the 26 placed before the Congress.
I also received today a report from the General Services Administration summarizing the results of our stockpile disposal program for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1966.
It is a record of outstanding achievement.
The $1 billion sales goal set for fiscal year 1966 was not only met, but surpassed. The Government sold $1.028 billion worth of metals and materials no longer needed in our stockpiles--an amount nearly equal to all sales made since the stockpile disposal program began in 1958.
Under this program, over $925 million in cash was returned to the Treasury in fiscal year 1966. This is welcome news for every taxpayer. And more than 1,000,000 tons of surplus materials moved from stockpiles to factories and smelters, including 273,000 tons of aluminum, 528,000 tons of copper, 130,000 tons of rubber, and 179,000 tons of zinc.
Our stockpile disposal program has helped to strengthen our unparalleled prosperity and abundance. To our fighting men in Vietnam, it has helped assure a steady flow of arms and equipment. To factories and mills across the Nation, it has meant the availability of a wide range of key materials in short supply--from aluminum to vanadium.
It is renewed testimony to the gains that can be achieved when the Congress, industry, and the executive branch work together with unity of purpose, and with will and determination.
I hope that the Congress will write a perfect record by adding the seven remaining bills to the 19 it has already passed.
Every American taxpayer has cause to be grateful to the Congress, to GSA Administrator Lawson Knott, and to all the people, in Government and out, who have helped us reap the benefits of prudence and economy.
Note: As enacted, the bill (H.R. 13772) is Public Law 89-539 (80 Stat. 348).
The statement was not made public in the form of a White House press release. As printed above, it follows the text made available by the White House Press Office.
For statements by the President upon signing previous stockpile disposal bills, see Items 173, 206, 218, 283.
Prior to adjournment on October 22 the 89th Congress enacted 4 of the 7 remaining bills, which the President signed on November 2 (see Item 572). With respect to the last three bills (for the disposal of silicon carbide, metallurgical grade bauxite, and diamond tools), hearings were held by the House Armed Services Committee, but the bills were not reported out.
The text of the General Services Administration report to which the President referred was not made public.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President on the Stockpile Disposal Program. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/239130