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Letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives on Revisions in the 1970 Labor-HEW-OEO Appropriations Measure.

February 03, 1970

Dear Mr. Speaker:

In my January 27 message vetoing the Labor-HEW-OEO appropriations bill, I assured the Congress that "If the veto is sustained, I will immediately seek appropriations which will assume the funds necessary to provide for the needs of the Nation in education and health."

Now that the veto has been sustained, I am sending to you proposed revisions of my original 1970 appropriation request for the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, on which I hope we can agree promptly. For all other agencies and programs covered by H.R. 13111 as enacted by the Congress, I find acceptable, and would approve, the amounts the Congress provided in the vetoed bill.

My proposal would increase HEW appropriations for fiscal 1970 by $449,097,000 over the 1970 budget proposals I made in April 1969, with outlays between now and June 30 rising above the April estimate by $210,675,000. I would add the following amounts to selected programs.

• $238.0 million for federally impacted areas

• $70.0 million for basic vocational education grants

• $40.0 million to provide additional grants to States for support of supplementary school programs $25.0 million to assist in improvement of educational services to the disadvantaged through Title I

• $24.8 million for public library services, training of teachers and research and training of the handicapped

• $29.7 million to intensify health research in high priority fields and to strengthen medical schools and other institutions training persons for delivery of health services

• $10.0 million to accelerate the acquisition of rubella vaccine

• $7.0 million for intensification of air pollution control and research efforts

• $4.3 million to expand support for alcoholism treatment and rehabilitation projects and further strengthening of the food and drug program.

These and other changes are summarized in the attached table.1 With respect to the impacted area program and the Office of Economic Opportunity, the necessary changes in appropriations language are included. Secretary Finch and Director Rumsfeld will provide any additional information needed by the Congress.

1The table is printed in House Document 91-218 (91st Cong., 2d sess.).

The attachment includes the recommendations contained in my veto message on the impacted area school aid program. Until we reach agreement on basic reform of this program, I propose a temporary solution which would provide a greater degree of equity in the allocation of funds and avoid undue hardship for any school district. My proposal provides full funding for children whose parents live and work on Federal installations, partial funding for children whose parents do not live on Federal installations, and a "No Hardship Clause" guaranteeing that as a result of these changes no school district will have a budget less than 95% of what it had in 1969.

I also request that the Congress restore funds for two priority education programs which were reduced from my original budget:

• $10.0 million for projects to prevent school dropouts.

• $9.5 million to initiate needed experimentation and evaluation to improve school performance.

Both are designed to find new ways to deal with problems where the old ways have been found to be inadequate.

For the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), I request the Congress to restore the provision which would permit the Executive to allocate funds without specific earmarking as between the various authorized programs.

The amount available for OEO programs is not at issue. Rather the issue is the effective use of resources. To impose rigid earmarking covering the full fiscal year with less than five months remaining will disrupt many OEO programs. We would be forced to increase some programs well beyond planned spending levels and to make damaging reductions in others.

The proposals I transmit today provide a basis for resolving the differences between the Executive Branch and the Congress on the 1970 appropriations for HEW and OEO. They offer a temporary solution to the impacted area aid problem and propose appropriations for other high priority programs in amounts which I believe can be effectively used in the remaining months of the current fiscal year.

These proposals will enable us to carry out the purposes of the Federal Government in the fields of education and health on a basis which does not contribute unduly-as did the bill originally enacted by Congress--to inflationary pressures which today are of serious concern to the entire Nation.

I urge the Congress to act favorably and promptly on these proposals in order that we may complete action on the 1970 budget and turn our attention to the

1971 budget which is being transmitted today.

Sincerely,

RICHARD NIXON

[Honorable John W. McCormack, Speaker of the House of Representatives]

Note: The letter was dated February 2, 1970, and released on February 3, 1970.

The appropriations were provided by the Departments of Labor, and Health, Education, and Welfare, and Related Agencies Appropriation Act of 1970, approved March 5, 1970 (Public Law 91-204, 84 Slat. 23).

Richard Nixon, Letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives on Revisions in the 1970 Labor-HEW-OEO Appropriations Measure. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/240264

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