Gerald R. Ford photo

Statement on Signing the Joint Funding Simplification Act of 1974.

December 05, 1974

I HAVE today signed into law the Joint Funding Simplification Act of 1974.

This is significant legislation. It is a further step in our continuing effort to simplify and streamline grant administration. I am pleased that the legislation had strong bipartisan support in both Houses of Congress.

The act will simplify funding and other procedures in cases where a grantee receives assistance from two or more different agencies or programs within an agency. It provides a means by which funds, procedures, and administrative requirements of related programs can be brought together simply and speedily to support a particular project or group of projects for which Federal assistance is being sought.

More specifically, it provides a basis for:

--meeting interrelated needs with one comprehensive plan for receiving

grants from several Federal agencies through one Federal funding source;

--receiving Federal funds at the same time as the grantee's own planning and funding cycles;

--simplifying and standardizing administrative requirements; --simplifying paperwork and recordkeeping;

--reporting progress to one Federal agency rather than several;

--replacing separate Federal agency audits with a single audit by only one agency.

The procedures which this act provides have been tested in a number of pilot projects throughout the country with most encouraging results. Not only are the recipients of grants in a better position to apply Federal assistance more effectively but taxpayers will be able to expect more from each tax dollar thus expended.

However, we must not rest here. The explosive growth of Federal grants in recent years makes it imperative that we continue an unrelenting effort towards further improvement in grant administration.

NOTE.: As enacted, the bill (S. 2299), approved December 5, 1974, is Public Law 93-510 (88 Stat. 1604).

Gerald R. Ford, Statement on Signing the Joint Funding Simplification Act of 1974. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/256097

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