Federal Agency Consumer Programs Remarks Announcing the Release of 35 Agency Programs.

Congressman Rosenthal, Congressman Scheuer, distinguished members of my Cabinet who will be appearing later on this program, Esther Peterson, and Americans who are interested in fairness and equity and the protection of consumers in our country:

This is a time of economic challenge for America, a time when decisions are difficult both to make and to implement. It's a time when many people are concerned about the future. It's a time when it's important, even imperative, that Government demonstrate its commitment to preserving the utmost degree of care and concern about troubled American families.

I'm delighted that so many of the top agency heads are here this morning to demonstrate their commitment to the consumer programs that we will outline for you today.

In my State of the Union speech a year ago last January, I pointed out that we must have a stronger voice for consumers in our Government and throughout the country. And last September, I signed an Executive order which is designed to put that commitment into motion.

Today, I'm pleased to share with you some of the fruits of a lot of hard work, both by those on the platform and those seated before me. This final publication by 35 different Federal agencies of their new programs and procedures for consumers will indeed be an historic development in our Government.

One of the things that I set out to do when I was first inaugurated, in fact when I was first a candidate for President, was to bring the Government closer to the people. This is one viable and forceful way to accomplish that goal.

For that closeness to be realized, the Government in all its aspects must listen to what people have to say. This is not always easy in the frantic daily life of even the most enlightened bureaucrat or the most enlightened President. The doors have got to be opened to Government, and the doors have got to be kept open, because of a lot of very highly paid and very competent lobbyists are determined to make sure that those doors are closed and kept closed.

In our working lives here in Washington and throughout the country, we all have different roles to play, but one thing we have in common—all of us are consumers. And when we protect consumers, we protect ourselves, and we protect those who look to us for leadership. That's what the consumers want, and that's what these consumer programs today will accomplish.

As you know, I fought side-by-side with almost everyone in this room to set up a separate consumer protection agency for the Government. This was not possible to accomplish because the special interest lobbyists pulled out all the stops, and they prevailed temporarily. But we've not yet lost that war.

Together, we've had to come up with some additional ways to accomplish as much as possible of the same goals that were envisioned with the consumer protection agency itself—the goal of making the ordinary citizen just get a fair deal, a fair shake from government.

Two years ago, I issued an Executive order designed to improve Government regulations. That order gave, among other things, consumers more time to comment and to express their own concerns before the order became final.

I created a Regulatory Council to bring together all the major regulatory agencies in the Federal Government under one organization, which is informal in nature but very effective, to set out a calendar for the issuing of regulations to let the people who would be affected by them comment and criticize and maybe even delay or cancel the regulations that were in prospect. The bringing together of all the regulatory agencies into one place for discussions of their future actions has indeed been a very successful event and helpful to us all.

I proposed a bill to the Congress to extend public participation funding throughout the Government. Quite often, those who suffer most by government action or by action from an unenlightened private sector representative are least able to pay for a trip to Washington or a voice that needs to be clearly heard. And in the meantime, before this bill passes, I've urged agencies to use their existing authority to aid all those who otherwise could not participate effectively in expressing their views to Government agencies and to others.

We've begun to install toll free telephone lines so that consumers throughout the Nation or representatives of consumer groups who are highly knowledgeable and who are constantly studying how best to present their views can have access to Government agencies and to consumer advisers in the Government without any cost to themselves and without the necessity of a trip to Washington. It also prevents them from getting the runaround because along with the toll free numbers is a clear description of how they can best approach the Government and to whom they will be speaking. And we've put into distribution now a Consumers Resource Handbook that lets people know how they can call in to the Government to get help and information and to express their displeasure or their suggestions.

So, the education program is now moving beyond the leadership positions themselves and is being distributed on a local basis throughout the Nation to those who have a crucial interest in dealing with the Government more effectively. The Executive order on Federal Consumer Programs, the one that has led to today's announcements, is a keystone of my commitment to consumers, pending the passage of consumer protection agency legislation in the future.

This order sets up a single, tough standard for the protection of consumer interests. And after months of hard work, 35 agencies are issuing their final consumer programs today. Each agency has named a senior person, as I requested, to look after consumer matters. That consumer representative will report directly to the head of the agency itself to make sure that there is a regular, routine, incisive, effective consumer representative at the top level within each agency. This will permit the agency head and, indirectly, myself to pay attention to the ways that the policy of that agency might affect adversely or beneficially the consumers of our country.

This arrangement, by the way, just coincidentally happens to be patterned after the arrangement between Esther Peterson and myself. She had some influence in devising the procedure and the organizational structure, and I can tell you without any doubt of being contradicted by anyone who knows us, that if the agencies themselves and their consumer representatives function as well as Esther makes me function as President, then the consumers will achieve great benefit from this entire arrangement, and this will be a bright new day for consumers.

She advises me, by the way, not just on narrowly focused consumer issues but on any other aspect of Government that has an adverse effect on American families or which can be beneficial to the quality of life of Americans. She works closely with other members of the White House staff. She's involved in the drafting of legislation. She's involved in the implementation of programs once they are authorized by law and financed through the appropriations committee, and she also makes sure that consumers have an identifiable person within the White House to whom they can relay suggestions or express their concerns. If and when this is done in each one of these 35 agencies, as a result of today's announcements, then there's no doubt in my mind that there will be a tremendous expansion of the beneficial influence of consumers throughout the Government itself.

We have, in effect, created a Government-wide system of Esther Petersons, and nothing could be better for the consumers.

Well, I'm going to leave it up to Esther to outline the program to you in detail. I know you are intensely interested in it, and I have asked Bill Miller, the Secretary of Treasury, to give you his analysis of the program from the perspective of a major Cabinet officer. Some of the other agency heads here may also want to participate in the program this morning.

Let me close by saying that I want to emphasize that these programs are important not just to you, but also they are very important to me.

I've informed the agencies directly of my personal concern about the effectiveness with which they will carry out the Executive order and their present plans. There is no doubt in my mind that despite a stringent budget commitment which I share with the Congress, that these consumer programs will be implemented effectively. They have been very carefully developed; they are based on extensive consultation not only within the agencies and with me and Esther Peterson, but also extensive consultation with the public. They are designed in a very deliberate way to make the Government better able to address the needs of consumers.

We are trying to lock the consumer perspective into the basic structure of the Federal Government and not make this an ad hoc relationship that comes and goes only with a major or a minor crisis. I want the entire Federal Government to think like a consumer would think so that the relationship is continuous, it's natural, it's routine, and it's effective. That's our goal and, with your help, we've made major progress toward that goal.

Let me just add my thanks for all the work that has gone into the consumer programs that will be unveiled to you today-hard work by scores of top representatives in the agencies themselves, by consumer groups, and by individuals who took the time to comment on the draft proposals which were published last December, and especially by Esther Peterson and her staff. All of you are not only to be thanked but to be congratulated'.

Our next task is to monitor very closely the progress that we make after today. If there are defects in the proposals made, if there are inadequacies in the care for the rights of consumers, I want you to let us know. Direct it to me or to the head of the agency involved, or the ultimate appeal would be to Esther Peterson herself. From now on, the voice of consumers will be clear, and I hope the voice of consumers will be loud and it will be heard in the halls of Government.

This is a good day, in my opinion, for our country and for the consumers of our Nation, and I'm deeply grateful to Esther Peterson, whom I now present to you to speak for me, on her own, and for you.

Thank you very much.