Statement by the President Following Senate Committee Action on the Tax Bill.

I WANT to commend the members of the Senate Finance Committee who, under the impartial chairmanship of Senator Harry Byrd, have acted with vigor and bipartisan dispatch in approving the single most important domestic economic measure to come before the United States Congress in the last 15 years--the tax bill. It is a good bill-one designed to keep this Nation moving toward ever higher levels of prosperity for all of our citizens. When the proposed bill is passed by the Senate, it would appear that differences between it and the House bill can be readily resolved in conference.

The Senate Finance Committee has demonstrated the ability of the Congress to respond clearly and promptly to pressing national needs. I am confident that the entire Senate will now move with equal dispatch to enact the tax bill.

Each day's delay in the passage of this bill withholds from our economic bloodstream $30 million that could be pumped into the economy daily by lowering withholding rates from 18 percent to 14 percent. Each day's delay produces business uncertainty and holds off business investment decisions that would create new jobs.

I would hope that such amendments as those relating to the field of education tax credits and deductions and excise taxes that go beyond the scope of the House and Senate committee versions of the bill can be deferred until they can be given further study.

There are many problems ahead. There is a crying need to eliminate poverty, reduce unemployment, improve education, and to further the goal of civil rights. No single piece of legislation can help as much in solving those problems as the tax bill. We need it urgently. We need it now. The Nation is looking to the Congress for rapid final passage.