To the Congress of the United States: "Information of the State of the Union," which our Constitution directs shall be communicated from time to time to the Congress by the President, must consist above all of information about the well-being of the American people. As the opening words of the Constitution proclaim, America began with "We the People." The people are the Union, and its condition depends wholly on theirs. While the Nation's land and resources, its communities, its economy, and its political institutions are also vital concerns to be addressed in my reports to the Congress this year, all of these in the final analysis are no more than means to a greater end. For each of them must ultimately be measured according to a single standard: what will serve the millions of individual Americans for whom all public officials serve as trustees. Too often in the past that standard has not prevailed. Too often public policy decisions have been founded not on the long-run interests of all the people, but on the short-run interests of special groups of people. Programs once set in motion tend to stay in motion--sometimes long after their useful life has ended. They acquire a constituency of their own, even within the Government, and they cannot easily be reformed or stopped. Means come to be regarded as ends in themselves. And no one suffers more than the people they were designed to serve. Despite all of the factors which conspire to hinder both the executive and the legislative branches in being as objective and analytical as we should be about the soundness of activities that continue from year to year supposedly in the public interest, we can and must discipline ourselves to take a larger view. As we consider the subject of human resources in this fourth section of my 1973 State of the Union Message, we must not confine ourselves solely to a discussion of the year past and the year ahead. Nor can we be content to frame the choices we face in strictly governmental and programmatic terms--as though Federal money and programs were the only variables that mattered in meeting human needs. FULFILLING THE AMERICAN DREAM I am irrevocably committed, as Presidents before me have been and as I know each Member of the Congress is, to fulfilling the American dream for all Americans. But I also believe deeply that in seeking progress and reform we must neither underestimate our society's present greatness, nor mistake the sources of that greatness. To do so would be to run a serious risk of damaging, with unproven panaceas applied in excessive haste and zeal, the very institutions we seek to improve. Let us begin then, by recognizing that by almost any measure, life is better for Americans in 1973 than ever before in our history, and better than in any other society of the world in this or any earlier age. No previous generation of our people has ever enjoyed higher incomes, better health and nutrition, longer life-expectancy, or greater mobility and convenience in their lives than we enjoy today. None before us has had a better chance for fulfillment and advancement in their work, more leisure time and recreational opportunities, more widespread access to culture and the arts, or a higher level of education and awareness of the world around them. None has had greater access to and control over the natural and human forces that shape their lives, or better protection against suffering, inhumanity, injustice, and discrimination. And none has enjoyed greater freedom. Secondly, let us recognize that the American system which has brought us so far so fast is not simply a system of Government helping people. Rather it is a system under which Government helps people to help themselves and one another. The real miracles in raising millions out of poverty, for example, have been performed by the free-enterprise economy, not by Government anti-poverty programs. The integration of one disadvantaged minority after another into the American mainstream has been accomplished by the inherent responsiveness of our political and social system, not by quotas and coercion. The dramatic gains in health and medical care have come primarily through private medicine, not from federally-operated systems. Even where the public sector has played a major role, as in education, the great strength of the system has derived from State and local governments' primacy and from the diverse mixture of private and public institutions in the educational process--both factors which have facilitated grass roots influence and popular participation. We should not tamper lightly, then, with the delicately balanced social, economic, and political system which has been responsible for making this country the best place on earth to live--and which has tremendous potential to rectify whatever shortcomings may still persist. But we Americans--to our great credit--are a restless and impatient people, a nation of idealists. We dream not simply of alleviating poverty, hunger, discrimination, ignorance, disease, and fear, but of eradicating them altogether--and we would like to do it all today. During the middle and late 1960's, under the pressure of this impatient idealism, Federal intervention to help meet human needs increased sharply. Provision of services from Federal programs directly to individuals began to be regarded as the rule in human resources policy, rather than the rare exception if had been in the past. The Government in those years undertook sweeping, sometimes almost utopian, commitments in one area of social concern after another. The State and local governments and the private sector were elbowed aside with little regard for the dislocations that might result. Literally hundreds of new programs were established on the assumption that even the most complex problems could be quickly solved by throwing enough Federal dollars at them. Well-intentioned as this effort may have been, the results in case after case amounted to dismal failure. It was a classic case of elevating means to the status of ends in themselves. Hard evidence of actual betterment in people's lives was seldom demanded. Ever-larger amounts of funds, new agencies, and increased staff were treated as proof enough of success, simply because the motive was compassionate. The American people deserve better than this. They deserve compassion that works--not simply compassion that means well. They deserve programs that say yes to human needs by saying no to paternalism, social exploitation and waste. Protecting and enhancing the greatness of our society is a great goal. It is doubly important, therefore, that we not permit the worthiness of our objective to render us uncritical or careless in the means we select for attaining that objective. It will increase our greatness as a society, for example, to establish the principle that no American family should be denied good health care because of inability to pay. But it will diminish our greatness if we deprive families of the freedom to make their own health care arrangements without bureaucratic meddling. It will increase our greatness to ensure that no boy or girl is denied a quality education. But it will diminish our greatness if we force hundreds of thousands of children to ride buses miles away from their neighborhood schools in order to achieve an arbitrary racial balance. It will increase our greatness to establish an income security system under which no American family will have to suffer for lack of income or break up because welfare regulations encourage it. But it would erode the very foundations of our stability and our prosperity if we ever made it more comfortable or more profitable to live on a welfare check than on a paycheck. PRINCIPLES FOR THE 1970's Consistently since 1969, this Administration has worked to establish a new human resources policy, based on a healthy skepticism about Federal Government omniscience and omnicompetence, and on a strong reaffirmation of the right and the capacity of individuals to chart their own lives and solve their own problems through State and local government and private endeavor. We have achieved a wide variety of significant reforms. Now the progress made and the experience gained over the past four years, together with the results of careful program reviews which were conducted over this period, have prepared us to seek broader reforms in 1973 than any we have requested before. In the time since the outlines of these proposals emerged in the new budget, intense controversy and considerable misunderstanding about both their purposes and their effects have understandably arisen among persons of goodwill on all sides. To provide a more rational, less emotional basis for the national debate which will--and properly should--surround my recommendations, I would invite the Congress to consider four basic principles which I believe should govern our human resources policy in the 1970's: --Government at all levels should seek to support and nurture, rather than limit, the diversity and freedom of choice which are hallmarks of the American system. The Federal Government in particular must work to guarantee an equal chance at the starting line by removing barriers which might impede an individual's opportunity to realize his or her full potential. --The Federal Government should concentrate more on providing incentives and opening opportunities, and less on delivering direct services. Such programs of direct assistance to individuals as the Federal Government does conduct must provide evenhanded treatment for all, and must be carefully designed to ensure that the benefits are actually received by those who are intended to receive them. --Rather than stifling initiative by trying to direct everything from Washington, Federal efforts should encourage State and local governments to make those decisions and supply those services for which their closeness to the people best qualifies them. In addition, the Federal Government should seek means of encouraging the private sector to address social problems, thereby utilizing the market mechanism to marshal resources behind clearly stated national objectives. --Finally, all Federal policy must adhere to a strict standard of fiscal responsibility. Ballooning deficits which spent our economy into a new inflationary spiral or a recessionary tailspin in the name of social welfare would punish most cruelly the very people whom they seek to help. On the other hand, continued additions to a personal tax burden which has already doubled since 1950 would reduce incentives for excellence and would conflict directly with the goal of allowing each individual to keep as much as possible of what he or she earns to permit maximum personal freedom of choice. The new post of Counsellor to the President for Human Resources, which I have recently created within the Executive Office of the President, will provide a much needed focal point for our efforts to see that these principles are carried out in all Federal activities aimed at meeting human needs, as well as in the Federal Government's complex relationships with State and local governments in this field. The coordinating function to be performed by this Counsellor should materially increase the unity, coherence, and effectiveness of our policies. The following sections present a review of the progress we have made over the past four years in bringing each of the various human resources activities into line with these principles, and they outline our agenda for the years ahead. HEALTH I am committed to removing financial barriers that would limit access to quality medical care for all American families. To that end, we have nearly doubled Federal outlays for health since the beginning of this Administration. Next year, they will exceed $30 billion. Nearly 60 percent of these funds will go to finance health care for older Americans, the disabled, and the poor, through Medicare and Medicaid. But we have taken significant steps to meet other priority needs as well. In the last four years, funding for cancer and heart and lung disease research has more than doubled; it will amount to more than three-quarters of a billion dollars in 1974. We have supported reform of the health care delivery system and have proposed legislation to assist in the development of health maintenance organizations on a demonstration basis. We have increased funds for programs which help prevent illness, such as those which help carry out our pure food and drug laws and those which promote consumer safety. We have declared total war on the epidemic problem of drug abuse--and we are winning that war. We have come a long way toward our goal of creating sufficient treatment services so that any addict desiring treatment can obtain it. We are also making substantial investments in research to develop innovative treatment approaches to drug abuse. I will report in greater detail on our anti-drug effort in a later section of this year's State of the Union message. Strong measures have been taken to ensure that health care costs do not contribute to inflation and price people out of the care they need. The rate of increase in physicians' fees was cut by two-thirds last year alone, and hospital price rises have also been slowed. To build on these gains, controls on the health services industry have been retained and will be strengthened under Phase III of the Economic Stabilization Program. A major goal of this Administration has been to develop an insurance system which can guarantee adequate financing of health care for every American family. The 92nd Congress failed to act upon my 1971 proposal to accomplish this goal, and now the need for legislation has grown still more pressing. I shall once again submit to the Congress legislation to help meet the Nation's health insurance needs. Federal health policy should seek to safeguard this country's pluralistic health care system and to build on its strengths, minimizing reliance on Government-run arrangements. We must recognize appropriate limits to the Federal role, and we must see that every health care dollar is spent as effectively as possible. This means discontinuing federally funded health programs which have served their purpose, or which have proved ineffective, or which involve functions more suitably performed by State and local government or the private sector. The Hill-Burton hospital grants program, for example, can no longer be justified on the basis of the shortage of hospital facilities which prompted its creation in 1946. That shortage has given way to a surplus--so that to continue this program would only add to the Nation's excess of hospital beds and lead to higher charges to patients. It should be terminated. We are also proposing to phase out the community mental health center demonstration program while providing funding for commitments to existing arrangements extending up to eight years. This program has helped to build and establish some 500 such centers, which have demonstrated new ways to deliver mental health services at the community level. Regional Medical Programs likewise can now be discontinued. The planning function they have performed can better be conducted by comprehensive State planning efforts. A second function of these programs, the continuing education of physicians who are already licensed, is an inappropriate burden for Federal taxpayers to bear. EDUCATION 1973 must be a year of decisive action to restructure Federal aid programs for education. Our goal is to provide continued Federal financial support for our schools while expanding State and local control over basic educational decisions. I shall again ask the Congress to establish a new program of Education Revenue Sharing. This program would replace the complex and inefficient tangle of approximately 30 separate programs for elementary and secondary education with a single flexible authority for use in a few broad areas such as compensatory education for the disadvantaged, education for the handicapped, vocational education, needed assistance in federally affected areas, and supporting services. Education Revenue Sharing would enlarge the opportunities for State and local decision-makers to tailor programs and resources to meet the specific educational needs of their own localities. It would mean less red tape, less paper work, and greater freedom for those at the local level to do what they think is best for their schools--not what someone in Washington tells them is best. It would help to strengthen the principle of diversity and freedom in education that is as old as America itself, and would give educators a chance to create fresher, more individual approaches to the educational challenges of the Seventies. At the same time, it would affirm and further the national interest in promoting equal educational opportunities for economically disadvantaged children. If there is any one area of human activity where decisions are best made at the local level by the people who know local conditions and local needs, it is in the field of primary and secondary education. I urge the Congress to join me in making this year, the third in which Education Revenue Sharing has been on the legislative agenda, the year when this much needed reform becomes law. The time has also come to redefine the Federal role in higher education, by replacing categorical support programs for institutions with substantially .increased funds for student assistance. My budget proposals have already outlined a plan to channel much more of our higher education support through students themselves, including a new grant program which would increase funds provided to $948 million and the number assisted to over 1,500,000 people--almost a five-fold increase over the current academic year. These proposals would help to ensure for the first time that no qualified student seeking postsecondary education would be barred from attaining it by a lack of funds--and they would at the same time reinforce the spirit of competition among institutions that has made American higher education strong. I urge their prompt enactment. As we work to eliminate the unnecessary bureaucratic constraints currently hampering Federal education aid, we will also be devoting more attention to educational research and development through the new National Institute of Education. Funding for NIE will increase by almost 50 percent in fiscal year 1974, reaching $162 million. Finally, in order to enhance the diversity provided by our mixed educational system of public and private schools, I will propose to the Congress legislation to provide a tax credit for tuition payments made by parents of children who attend non-public elementary and secondary schools. MANPOWER The Federal manpower program is a vital part of our total effort to conserve and develop our human resources. Up to the present time, however, the "manpower program" has been not a unified effort, but a collection of separate categorical activities, many of them overlapping. These activities now include such programs as Manpower Development and Training Act Institutional Training programs, on-the-job training, Neighborhood Youth Corps, Public Service Careers, Operation Mainstream, and the Concentrated Employment Program. The net effect of several such programs operating in a single city seldom amounts to a coherent strategy for meeting the needs of people in that community. While many well-run local programs are more than worth what they cost, many other individual projects are largely ineffective--and their failure wastes money which could be used to bolster the solid accomplishments of the rest. Manpower programs ought to offer golden "second chances" for the less fortunate to acquire the skills and work habits which will help them become self-supporting, fully productive citizens. But as presently organized and managed, these second chance opportunities too often become just another dead-end exercise in frustration, rather than a genuine entree into a good job. I believe that the answer to much of this problem lies in our program of Manpower Revenue Sharing--uniting several previously fragmented manpower activities under a single umbrella and then giving most of the responsibility for running this effort to those governments which are closest to the working men and women who need assistance. In the next 16 months, administrative measures will be taken to institute this needed reform of the manpower system within the present legal framework. Manpower Revenue Sharing assistance will be freed from unnecessary Federal constraints, and aimed at developing jobs, equipping unemployed workers with useful work skills, and moving trainees into regular employment. WELFARE With the failure of the past two Congresses to enact my proposals for fundamental reform of the Nation's public assistance system, that system remains as I described it in a message last year--"a crazy quilt of injustice and contradiction that has developed in bits and pieces over the years." The major existing program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), is as inequitable, inefficient, and inadequate as ever. --The administration of this program is unacceptably loose. The latest national data indicate that in round numbers, one of every 20 persons on the AFDC rolls is totally ineligible for welfare; 3 more are paid more benefits than they are entitled to; and another is underpaid. About one-quarter of AFDC recipients, in other words, are receiving improper payments. --Complex program requirements and administrative red tape at the Federal and State levels have created bureaucracies that are difficult to manage. --Inconsistent and unclear definitions of need have diluted resources that should be targeted on those who need help most. --Misguided incentives have discouraged employable persons from work and induced fathers to leave home so that their families can qualify for welfare. After several years of skyrocketing increases, however, outlays for this program have begun to level off. This results from the strong resurgence of our economy and expansion of the job market, along with some management improvements in the AFDC program and strengthened work requirements which were introduced into the program last year. Since the legislative outlook seems to preclude passage of an overall structural reform bill in the immediate future, I have directed that vigorous steps be taken to strengthen the management of AFDC through administrative measures and legislative proposals. Under these reforms, Federal impediments to efficient State administration of the current AFDC system will be removed wherever possible. Changes will be proposed to reduce the complexities of current eligibility and payment processes. Work will continue to be required of all those who can reasonably be considered available for employment, while Federal funds to help welfare recipients acquire needed job skills will increase. One thing is certain: the welfare mess cannot be permitted to continue. A system which penalizes a person for going to work and rewards a person for going on welfare is totally alien to the American tradition of self-reliance and self-respect. That is why welfare reform has been and will continue to be one of our major goals; and we will work diligently with the Congress in developing ways to achieve it. NUTRITION During the past four years, Federal outlays for food assistance have increased more than three-fold. Food stamp and food distribution programs for needy families have been extended to virtually every community in the country. More than 15 million persons are now receiving food stamps or distributed foods, more than double the 1969 total. More than 8 million schoolchildren' are now being provided with free or reduced-price lunches-up from only 3 million in 1969. We have made great strides toward banishing hunger and malnutrition from American life--and we shall continue building on that progress until the job is done. OLDER AMERICANS One measure of the Nation's devotion to our older citizens is the fact that programs benefitting them--including Social Security and a wide range of other activities-now account for nearly one-fourth of the entire Federal budget. Social Security benefits levels have been increased 51 percent in the last four years--the most rapid increase in history. Under new legislation which I initially proposed, benefits have also become inflation-proof, increasing automatically as the cost of living increases. Over 1 I/2 million older Americans or their dependents can now receive higher Social Security benefits while continuing to work. Nearly 4 million widows and widowers are also starting to receive larger benefits--$1 billion in additional income in the next fiscal year. And millions of older Americans will be helped by the new Supplemental Security Income program which establishes a Federal income floor for the aging, blind, and disabled poor. Nevertheless, we are confronted with a major item of unfinished business. Approximately two-thirds of the twenty million persons who are 65 and over own their own homes. A disproportionate amount of their fixed income must now be used for property taxes. I will submit to the Congress recommendations for alleviating the often crushing burdens which property taxes place upon many older Americans. I also ask the cooperation of the Congress in passing my 1974 budget request for $200 million to fund the programs of the Administration on Aging--a funding level more than four times that appropriated for AoA programs in fiscal year 1972. Half of this amount will be devoted to nutrition projects for the elderly, with the remainder going to assist States and localities in developing comprehensive service programs for older Americans. In 1973, we shall continue to carry out the commitment I made in 1971 at the White House Conference on Aging: to help make the last days of our older Americans their best days. ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY No one who started life in a family at the bottom of the income scale, as I did and as many Members of the Congress did, can ever forget how that condition felt, or ever turn his back on an opportunity to help alleviate it in the lives of others. We in the Federal Government have such an opportunity to help combat poverty. Our commitment to this fight has grown steadily during the past decade, without regard to which party happened to be in power, from under $8 billion in total Federal anti-poverty expenditures in 1964 to more than $30 billion in my proposed budget for 1974. And we have moved steadily closer to the goal of a society in which all our citizens, regardless of economic status, will have both the resources and the opportunity to fully control their own destinies. At the beginning of this period, when Government found itself unprepared to respond to the sharp new national awareness of the plight of the disadvantaged, creation of an institutional structure separate from the regular machinery of Government and specifically charged with helping the poor seemed a wise first step to take. Thus the Office of Economic Opportunity was brought into being in 1964. A wide range of useful anti-poverty programs has been conceived and put into operation over the years by the Office of Economic Opportunity. Some programs which got their start within OEO have been moved out into the operating departments and agencies of the Government when they matured, and they are thriving there. VISTA, for example, became part of ACTION in 1971, and Head Start was integrated with other activities focused on the first five years of life under HEW's Office of Child Development. OEO's other programs have now developed to a point where they can be similarly integrated. Accordingly, in keeping with my determination to make every dollar devoted to human resources programs return 100 cents worth of real benefits to the people who most need those benefits, I have decided that most of the anti-poverty activities now conducted by the Office of Economic Opportunity should be delegated or transferred into the Cabinet departments relating to their respective fields of activity. Adhering strictly to statutory procedures, and requesting Congressional approval whenever necessary, I shall take action to effect this change. This reorganization will increase the efficiency of the various programs by grouping them 'with other functionally related Federal efforts and by minimizing the overhead costs which in the past have diverted too much money from human needs into staff payrolls and administrative expenses. Funding for the transferred activities will stay level, or in many cases will even increase. The only major OEO program for which termination of Federal funding is recommended in my budget is Community Action. New funding for Community Action activities in fiscal year 1974 will be at the discretion of local communities. After more than 7 years of existence, Community Action has had an adequate opportunity to demonstrate its value within the communities it serves, and to build locally based agencies. OEO has taken steps to help Community Action agencies put down local roots through a program of incentives and training, and has incorporated the basic community action concept--participation in programs by the people whom the programs seek to serve--into all Federal anti-poverty activities. Further Federal spending on behalf of this concept, beyond the $2.8 billion which has been spent on it since 1965, no longer seems necessary or desirable. LEGAL SERVICES One other economic opportunity effort deserving special mention is the Legal Services Program. Notwithstanding some abuses, legal services has done much in its seven-year history to breathe new life into the cherished concept of equal justice for all by providing access to quality legal representation for millions of Americans who would otherwise have been denied it for want of funds. The time has now come to institutionalize legal services as a permanent, responsible, and responsive component of the American system of justice. I shall soon propose legislation to the Congress to form a legal services corporation so constituted as to permit its attorneys to practice according to the highest professional standards, provided with safeguards against politicization of its activities, and held accountable to the people through appropriate monitoring and evaluation procedures. CIVIL RIGHTS Protecting the civil rights of every American is one of my firmest commitments as President. No citizen should be denied equal justice and equal opportunity in our society because of race, color, sex, religion, or national origin. This Administration has steadily increased the Federal financial commitment in this field. Outlays for civil rights and equal opportunity in 1974 will pass $3 billion--3 1/2 times what they were when we took office. We have worked hard--and with good results--to end de jure school segregation, to promote equal job opportunity, to combat housing discrimination, to foster minority business enterprise, to uphold voting rights, to assist minority higher education, to meet minority health problems like sickle cell anemia, and to make progress on many other fronts. Now that equal opportunity is clearly written into the statute books, the next and in many ways more difficult step involves moving from abstract legal rights to concrete economic opportunities. We must ensure real social mobility--the freedom of all Americans to make their own choices and to go as far and as high as their abilities will take them. Legislation and court decisions play a major part in establishing that freedom. But community attitudes, government programs, and the vigor of the economic system all play large parts as well. I believe that we have made progress, and we shall continue building on that progress in the coming year: --The Department of Justice will expand its efforts to guarantee equal access to, and equal benefit from, Federal financial assistance programs. --The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will receive additional resources to carry out its expanded responsibilities. --The Civil Service Commission will expand its monitoring of equal employment opportunities within the Federal Government. --Efforts to assure that Federal contractors provide equal access to job opportunities will be expanded. --The Small Business Administration will expand its loan program for minority business by nearly one-third. --The Commission on Civil Rights will receive additional resources to carry out its newly granted responsibilities. Additionally, in the year ahead, we will continue to support ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution so that American women--not a minority group but a majority of the whole population--need never again be denied equal opportunity. THE AMERICAN INDIAN For Indian people the policy of this Administration will continue to be one of advancing their opportunities for self- determination, without termination of the special Federal relationship with recognized Indian tribes. Just as it is essential to put more decision-making in the hands of State and local governments, I continue to believe that Indian tribal governments should assume greater responsibility for programs of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare which operate on their reservations. As I first proposed in 1970, I recommend that the Congress enact the necessary legislation to facilitate this take-over of responsibility. Also, I recommend that the 1953 termination resolution be repealed. Meanwhile the new statutory provisions for Indian tribal governments under General Revenue Sharing will assist responsible tribal governments in allocating extra resources with greater flexibility. I shall also propose new legislation to foster local Indian self-determination by developing an Interior Department program of bloc grants to Federally recognized tribes as a replacement for a number of existing economic and resource development programs. The primary purpose of these grants would be to provide tribal governments with funds which they could use at their own discretion to promote development of their reservations. Indian tribal organizations and Indians seeking to enter business need easier access to loan and credit opportunities; I proposed in 1970 and will again propose legislation to accomplish this objective. Because Indian rights to natural resources need better protection, I am again urging the Congress to create an Indian Trust Counsel Authority to guarantee that protection. In the two and one-half years that Indians have been waiting for the Congress to enact the major legislation I have proposed, we have moved ahead administratively whenever possible. We have restored 21,000 acres of wrongfully acquired Government land to the Yakima Tribe. We have filed a precedent-setting suit in the Supreme Court to protect Indian water rights in Pyramid Lake. My fiscal year 1974 budget proposes total Federal outlays of $1.45 billion for Indian affairs, an increase of more than 15 percent over 1973. To accelerate organizational reform, I have directed the Secretary of the Interior to transfer day 'to day operational activities of the Bureau of Indian Affairs out of Washington to its field offices. And I am again asking the Congress to create a new Assistant Secretary position within the Interior Department to deal with Indian matters. VETERANS With the coming of peace, the Nation's inestimable debt to our veterans and their dependents will continue to command a high priority among the human resource efforts of this Administration. During the past four years, I have twice signed legislation increasing the allowances for educational assistance to veterans. Nearly e million veterans are now in some form of training under the GI Bill for Vietnam-era veterans. Pension payments to veterans or their survivors who need income support have also been raised twice and the test of need has been greatly improved, including a more equitable formula for adjusting the VA pension rate when other sources of income, such as Social Security, are increased. The VA pension program now directly benefits over 2 million individuals. Compensation payments for service related disabilities have been raised on two occasions, and more than e million veterans of all wars now receive this benefit. The service-disabled veteran deserves special concern. In addition to top-priority consideration in medical care, my budget calls for VA outlays to provide disabled Vietnam-era veterans with vocational rehabilitation, housing grants, and specially equipped automobiles to be nearly doubled in 1974 compared to their 1971 level. Disability compensation is also being intensively reviewed to ensure that disabled veterans will receive compensation payments which fully recognize their earnings impairment. VA guaranteed home loans for veterans have risen by almost two-thirds since we took office. And high-priority job programs have decreased the unemployment rate among Vietnam-era veterans by almost one-third during the past year alone. Dramatic progress has been made in the veterans medical care program. A high level of construction and modernization of VA medical facilities has been carried on. The total number of medical care personnel staffing VA facilities has increased by one-sixth since 1969. The total number of veterans treated--both in VA facilities and as outpatients--has risen to new highs. Beneficiaries treated as hospital inpatients will go over the million mark in fiscal 1974 for the first time. Outpatient visits will climb to almost 14,000,000--about twice the level of 1969. Since 1969, there has also been a steady shortening of the average length of stay in VA hospitals, a highly desirable objective from every viewpoint. This means that VA hospitals have fewer patients in bed on an average day, with shorter waiting lists, even though the total number of patients treated has gone up. Misunderstanding these statistics, some have sought to establish by law a numerical minimum average daily patient census in VA hospitals. But such a fixed daily census would represent a backward step: it would force a sharply increased length-of-stay--an effect that is medically, economically, and socially undesirable. It is far better that our veterans be restored to their families and jobs as rapidly as feasible, consistent with good medical care. A fixed patient census would tie the hands of those seeking to serve veterans' health needs; I urge the Congress not to enact such a requirement. The Congress is now studying several bills involving the VA pension program and cemetery and burial benefits for veterans. I hope that the Congress will work to see that the veterans pension program is realistically structured and compatible with other major income maintenance programs. On the burial benefits question, I urge that legislative action be deferred until completion of a study currently being conducted by the Administrator of Veterans Affairs to determine the most equitable approach to improving burial and cemetery benefits for veterans. The Administrator's recommendations will be made available to the Congress in the near future. CONSUMER AFFAIRS The self-reliance and resourcefulness of our people when they enter the marketplace as consumers, the generally high standard of ethics and social responsibility upheld by business and industry, and the restrained intervention of government at various levels as a vigorous but not heavy-handed referee of commerce-that combination of factors, in that order, has been largely responsible for confounding predictions that American capitalism would breed its own downfall in the 20th century. We must build on each of these strengths in our efforts to protect the rights of the consumer as well as the vigor of the free enterprise economy in the 1970's. Early in 1971, after the Congress had failed to act on my "Buyer's Bill of Rights" proposal for a new Office of Consumer Affairs directly under the President, I established such an office by executive order. Under the direction of my Special Assistant for Consumer Affairs, OCA has helped to create a stronger consumer consciousness throughout the executive branch. This office is now ready to integrate its operations more fully with the line departments of the Government, and has accordingly been transferred into the Department of Health, Education and Welfare-the logical base for an agency concerned with human well-being. From this new base the Office of Consumer Affairs will continue its policy formation role and educational efforts, and will also take on additional responsibilities, including representing consumer interests in testimony before the Congress and acting as a general ombudsman for the individual consumer. VOLUNTARY ACTION Many thousands of Americans already are volunteering their time to meet human needs in their communities--fighting disease, teaching children to read, working to solve local social problems. But now we must do more to tap the enormous reservoir of energy represented by millions of other potential citizen volunteers. That is why three years ago I encouraged a number of our leading citizens to create the National Center for Voluntary Action to support private volunteer efforts; that is why two years ago I established the new ACTION agency to strengthen Federal volunteer programs. We must now continue seeking new avenues of citizen service. As we turn from the concerns of war, may all Americans accept the challenge of peace by volunteering to help meet the needs of their communities--so that we can mobilize a new army of concerned, dedicated, able volunteers across the Nation. ARTS AND HUMANITIES I know that many in the Congress share the concern I have often expressed that some Americans, particularly younger people, lost faith in their country during the 1960's. I believe this faith is now being reborn out of the knowledge that our country is moving toward an era of lasting peace in the world, toward a healthier environment, and toward a new era of progress and equality of opportunity for all our people. But renewed faith in ourselves also arises from a deeper understanding of who we are, where we have come from, and where we are going--an understanding to which the arts and the humanities can make a great contribution. Government has a limited but important function in encouraging the arts and the humanities--that of reinforcing local initiatives and helping key institutions to help themselves. With the approach of our Bicentennial, we have a special opportunity to draw on the enrichment and renewal which cultural activity can provide in our national life. With this in mind, my 1974 budget requests further expansion of the funds for the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities, to a new high of $168 million. I ask continued full support from the Congress for this funding. SAYING YES Carl Sandburg spoke volumes about this country's past and future in three simple words that became the title for one of his greatest poems: "The People, Yes." America has risen to greatness because again and again when the chips were down, the American people have said yes--yes to the challenge of freedom, yes to the dare of progress, and yes to the hope of peace--even when defending the peace has meant paying the price of war. America's greatness will endure in the future only if our institutions continually rededicate themselves to saying yes to the people--yes to human needs and aspirations, yes to democracy and the consent of the governed, yes to equal opportunity and unlimited horizons of achievement for every American. 1973 is a year full of opportunity for great advances on this front. After more than a decade of war, we have successfully completed one of the most unselfish missions ever undertaken by one nation in the defense of another. Now the coming of peace permits us to turn our attention more fully to the works of compassion, concern, and social betterment here at home. The seriousness of my commitment to make the most of this opportunity is demonstrated by the record level of funding for human resource programs proposed in our new budget--$125 billion in all-nearly twice the amount that was being spent on such programs when I took office in 1969. This is both a generous budget and a reform budget. The reforms it proposes will put muscle behind the generosity it intends. The overall effect of these reforms will be the elimination of programs that are wasteful so that we can concentrate on programs that work. They will make possible the continued growth of Federal efforts to meet human needs-while at the same time helping to prevent a runaway deficit that could lead to higher taxes, higher prices, and higher interest rates for all Americans. The opportunity is ours, executive and legislative branches together, to lead America to a new standard of fairness, of freedom, and of vitality within our federal system. We can forge a new approach to human services in this country--an approach which will treat people as more than mere statistics--an approach which recognizes that problems like poverty and unemployment, health care and the costs of education are more than cold abstractions in a government file drawer. We know how tough these problems are, because many of us grew up with them ourselves. But we also know that with the right kind of help and the right kind of spirit they can be overcome. Let us give all our citizens the help they need. But let us remember that each of us also bears a basic obligation to help himself and to help our fellowman, and that no one else can assume that obligation for us--least of all the Federal Government. If we shirk our individual responsibility, the American dream will never be more than a dream. But if the people say yes to this challenge, if government says yes to the people-and if all of us in Washington say no to petty quarrels and partisanship and yes to our public trust--then we can truly bring that dream to life for all Americans in the new day of peace that is dawning. RICHARD NIXON 
The White House, 
March 1, 1973.
To the Congress of the United States: "Information of the State of the Union," which our Constitution directs shall be communicated from time to time to the Congress by the President, must consist above all of information about the well-being of the American people. As the opening words of the Constitution proclaim, America began with "We the People." The people are the Union, and its condition depends wholly on theirs. While the Nation's land and resources, its communities, its economy, and its political institutions are also vital concerns to be addressed in my reports to the Congress this year, all of these in the final analysis are no more than means to a greater end. For each of them must ultimately be measured according to a single standard: what will serve the millions of individual Americans for whom all public officials serve as trustees. Too often in the past that standard has not prevailed. Too often public policy decisions have been founded not on the long-run interests of all the people, but on the short-run interests of special groups of people. Programs once set in motion tend to stay in motion--sometimes long after their useful life has ended. They acquire a constituency of their own, even within the Government, and they cannot easily be reformed or stopped. Means come to be regarded as ends in themselves. And no one suffers more than the people they were designed to serve. Despite all of the factors which conspire to hinder both the executive and the legislative branches in being as objective and analytical as we should be about the soundness of activities that continue from year to year supposedly in the public interest, we can and must discipline ourselves to take a larger view. As we consider the subject of human resources in this fourth section of my 1973 State of the Union Message, we must not confine ourselves solely to a discussion of the year past and the year ahead. Nor can we be content to frame the choices we face in strictly governmental and programmatic terms--as though Federal money and programs were the only variables that mattered in meeting human needs. FULFILLING THE AMERICAN DREAM I am irrevocably committed, as Presidents before me have been and as I know each Member of the Congress is, to fulfilling the American dream for all Americans. But I also believe deeply that in seeking progress and reform we must neither underestimate our society's present greatness, nor mistake the sources of that greatness. To do so would be to run a serious risk of damaging, with unproven panaceas applied in excessive haste and zeal, the very institutions we seek to improve. Let us begin then, by recognizing that by almost any measure, life is better for Americans in 1973 than ever before in our history, and better than in any other society of the world in this or any earlier age. No previous generation of our people has ever enjoyed higher incomes, better health and nutrition, longer life-expectancy, or greater mobility and convenience in their lives than we enjoy today. None before us has had a better chance for fulfillment and advancement in their work, more leisure time and recreational opportunities, more widespread access to culture and the arts, or a higher level of education and awareness of the world around them. None has had greater access to and control over the natural and human forces that shape their lives, or better protection against suffering, inhumanity, injustice, and discrimination. And none has enjoyed greater freedom. Secondly, let us recognize that the American system which has brought us so far so fast is not simply a system of Government helping people. Rather it is a system under which Government helps people to help themselves and one another. The real miracles in raising millions out of poverty, for example, have been performed by the free-enterprise economy, not by Government anti-poverty programs. The integration of one disadvantaged minority after another into the American mainstream has been accomplished by the inherent responsiveness of our political and social system, not by quotas and coercion. The dramatic gains in health and medical care have come primarily through private medicine, not from federally-operated systems. Even where the public sector has played a major role, as in education, the great strength of the system has derived from State and local governments' primacy and from the diverse mixture of private and public institutions in the educational process--both factors which have facilitated grass roots influence and popular participation. We should not tamper lightly, then, with the delicately balanced social, economic, and political system which has been responsible for making this country the best place on earth to live--and which has tremendous potential to rectify whatever shortcomings may still persist. But we Americans--to our great credit--are a restless and impatient people, a nation of idealists. We dream not simply of alleviating poverty, hunger, discrimination, ignorance, disease, and fear, but of eradicating them altogether--and we would like to do it all today. During the middle and late 1960's, under the pressure of this impatient idealism, Federal intervention to help meet human needs increased sharply. Provision of services from Federal programs directly to individuals began to be regarded as the rule in human resources policy, rather than the rare exception if had been in the past. The Government in those years undertook sweeping, sometimes almost utopian, commitments in one area of social concern after another. The State and local governments and the private sector were elbowed aside with little regard for the dislocations that might result. Literally hundreds of new programs were established on the assumption that even the most complex problems could be quickly solved by throwing enough Federal dollars at them. Well-intentioned as this effort may have been, the results in case after case amounted to dismal failure. It was a classic case of elevating means to the status of ends in themselves. Hard evidence of actual betterment in people's lives was seldom demanded. Ever-larger amounts of funds, new agencies, and increased staff were treated as proof enough of success, simply because the motive was compassionate. The American people deserve better than this. They deserve compassion that works--not simply compassion that means well. They deserve programs that say yes to human needs by saying no to paternalism, social exploitation and waste. Protecting and enhancing the greatness of our society is a great goal. It is doubly important, therefore, that we not permit the worthiness of our objective to render us uncritical or careless in the means we select for attaining that objective. It will increase our greatness as a society, for example, to establish the principle that no American family should be denied good health care because of inability to pay. But it will diminish our greatness if we deprive families of the freedom to make their own health care arrangements without bureaucratic meddling. It will increase our greatness to ensure that no boy or girl is denied a quality education. But it will diminish our greatness if we force hundreds of thousands of children to ride buses miles away from their neighborhood schools in order to achieve an arbitrary racial balance. It will increase our greatness to establish an income security system under which no American family will have to suffer for lack of income or break up because welfare regulations encourage it. But it would erode the very foundations of our stability and our prosperity if we ever made it more comfortable or more profitable to live on a welfare check than on a paycheck. PRINCIPLES FOR THE 1970's Consistently since 1969, this Administration has worked to establish a new human resources policy, based on a healthy skepticism about Federal Government omniscience and omnicompetence, and on a strong reaffirmation of the right and the capacity of individuals to chart their own lives and solve their own problems through State and local government and private endeavor. We have achieved a wide variety of significant reforms. Now the progress made and the experience gained over the past four years, together with the results of careful program reviews which were conducted over this period, have prepared us to seek broader reforms in 1973 than any we have requested before. In the time since the outlines of these proposals emerged in the new budget, intense controversy and considerable misunderstanding about both their purposes and their effects have understandably arisen among persons of goodwill on all sides. To provide a more rational, less emotional basis for the national debate which will--and properly should--surround my recommendations, I would invite the Congress to consider four basic principles which I believe should govern our human resources policy in the 1970's: --Government at all levels should seek to support and nurture, rather than limit, the diversity and freedom of choice which are hallmarks of the American system. The Federal Government in particular must work to guarantee an equal chance at the starting line by removing barriers which might impede an individual's opportunity to realize his or her full potential. --The Federal Government should concentrate more on providing incentives and opening opportunities, and less on delivering direct services. Such programs of direct assistance to individuals as the Federal Government does conduct must provide evenhanded treatment for all, and must be carefully designed to ensure that the benefits are actually received by those who are intended to receive them. --Rather than stifling initiative by trying to direct everything from Washington, Federal efforts should encourage State and local governments to make those decisions and supply those services for which their closeness to the people best qualifies them. In addition, the Federal Government should seek means of encouraging the private sector to address social problems, thereby utilizing the market mechanism to marshal resources behind clearly stated national objectives. --Finally, all Federal policy must adhere to a strict standard of fiscal responsibility. Ballooning deficits which spent our economy into a new inflationary spiral or a recessionary tailspin in the name of social welfare would punish most cruelly the very people whom they seek to help. On the other hand, continued additions to a personal tax burden which has already doubled since 1950 would reduce incentives for excellence and would conflict directly with the goal of allowing each individual to keep as much as possible of what he or she earns to permit maximum personal freedom of choice. The new post of Counsellor to the President for Human Resources, which I have recently created within the Executive Office of the President, will provide a much needed focal point for our efforts to see that these principles are carried out in all Federal activities aimed at meeting human needs, as well as in the Federal Government's complex relationships with State and local governments in this field. The coordinating function to be performed by this Counsellor should materially increase the unity, coherence, and effectiveness of our policies. The following sections present a review of the progress we have made over the past four years in bringing each of the various human resources activities into line with these principles, and they outline our agenda for the years ahead. HEALTH I am committed to removing financial barriers that would limit access to quality medical care for all American families. To that end, we have nearly doubled Federal outlays for health since the beginning of this Administration. Next year, they will exceed $30 billion. Nearly 60 percent of these funds will go to finance health care for older Americans, the disabled, and the poor, through Medicare and Medicaid. But we have taken significant steps to meet other priority needs as well. In the last four years, funding for cancer and heart and lung disease research has more than doubled; it will amount to more than three-quarters of a billion dollars in 1974. We have supported reform of the health care delivery system and have proposed legislation to assist in the development of health maintenance organizations on a demonstration basis. We have increased funds for programs which help prevent illness, such as those which help carry out our pure food and drug laws and those which promote consumer safety. We have declared total war on the epidemic problem of drug abuse--and we are winning that war. We have come a long way toward our goal of creating sufficient treatment services so that any addict desiring treatment can obtain it. We are also making substantial investments in research to develop innovative treatment approaches to drug abuse. I will report in greater detail on our anti-drug effort in a later section of this year's State of the Union message. Strong measures have been taken to ensure that health care costs do not contribute to inflation and price people out of the care they need. The rate of increase in physicians' fees was cut by two-thirds last year alone, and hospital price rises have also been slowed. To build on these gains, controls on the health services industry have been retained and will be strengthened under Phase III of the Economic Stabilization Program. A major goal of this Administration has been to develop an insurance system which can guarantee adequate financing of health care for every American family. The 92nd Congress failed to act upon my 1971 proposal to accomplish this goal, and now the need for legislation has grown still more pressing. I shall once again submit to the Congress legislation to help meet the Nation's health insurance needs. Federal health policy should seek to safeguard this country's pluralistic health care system and to build on its strengths, minimizing reliance on Government-run arrangements. We must recognize appropriate limits to the Federal role, and we must see that every health care dollar is spent as effectively as possible. This means discontinuing federally funded health programs which have served their purpose, or which have proved ineffective, or which involve functions more suitably performed by State and local government or the private sector. The Hill-Burton hospital grants program, for example, can no longer be justified on the basis of the shortage of hospital facilities which prompted its creation in 1946. That shortage has given way to a surplus--so that to continue this program would only add to the Nation's excess of hospital beds and lead to higher charges to patients. It should be terminated. We are also proposing to phase out the community mental health center demonstration program while providing funding for commitments to existing arrangements extending up to eight years. This program has helped to build and establish some 500 such centers, which have demonstrated new ways to deliver mental health services at the community level. Regional Medical Programs likewise can now be discontinued. The planning function they have performed can better be conducted by comprehensive State planning efforts. A second function of these programs, the continuing education of physicians who are already licensed, is an inappropriate burden for Federal taxpayers to bear. EDUCATION 1973 must be a year of decisive action to restructure Federal aid programs for education. Our goal is to provide continued Federal financial support for our schools while expanding State and local control over basic educational decisions. I shall again ask the Congress to establish a new program of Education Revenue Sharing. This program would replace the complex and inefficient tangle of approximately 30 separate programs for elementary and secondary education with a single flexible authority for use in a few broad areas such as compensatory education for the disadvantaged, education for the handicapped, vocational education, needed assistance in federally affected areas, and supporting services. Education Revenue Sharing would enlarge the opportunities for State and local decision-makers to tailor programs and resources to meet the specific educational needs of their own localities. It would mean less red tape, less paper work, and greater freedom for those at the local level to do what they think is best for their schools--not what someone in Washington tells them is best. It would help to strengthen the principle of diversity and freedom in education that is as old as America itself, and would give educators a chance to create fresher, more individual approaches to the educational challenges of the Seventies. At the same time, it would affirm and further the national interest in promoting equal educational opportunities for economically disadvantaged children. If there is any one area of human activity where decisions are best made at the local level by the people who know local conditions and local needs, it is in the field of primary and secondary education. I urge the Congress to join me in making this year, the third in which Education Revenue Sharing has been on the legislative agenda, the year when this much needed reform becomes law. The time has also come to redefine the Federal role in higher education, by replacing categorical support programs for institutions with substantially .increased funds for student assistance. My budget proposals have already outlined a plan to channel much more of our higher education support through students themselves, including a new grant program which would increase funds provided to $948 million and the number assisted to over 1,500,000 people--almost a five-fold increase over the current academic year. These proposals would help to ensure for the first time that no qualified student seeking postsecondary education would be barred from attaining it by a lack of funds--and they would at the same time reinforce the spirit of competition among institutions that has made American higher education strong. I urge their prompt enactment. As we work to eliminate the unnecessary bureaucratic constraints currently hampering Federal education aid, we will also be devoting more attention to educational research and development through the new National Institute of Education. Funding for NIE will increase by almost 50 percent in fiscal year 1974, reaching $162 million. Finally, in order to enhance the diversity provided by our mixed educational system of public and private schools, I will propose to the Congress legislation to provide a tax credit for tuition payments made by parents of children who attend non-public elementary and secondary schools. MANPOWER The Federal manpower program is a vital part of our total effort to conserve and develop our human resources. Up to the present time, however, the "manpower program" has been not a unified effort, but a collection of separate categorical activities, many of them overlapping. These activities now include such programs as Manpower Development and Training Act Institutional Training programs, on-the-job training, Neighborhood Youth Corps, Public Service Careers, Operation Mainstream, and the Concentrated Employment Program. The net effect of several such programs operating in a single city seldom amounts to a coherent strategy for meeting the needs of people in that community. While many well-run local programs are more than worth what they cost, many other individual projects are largely ineffective--and their failure wastes money which could be used to bolster the solid accomplishments of the rest. Manpower programs ought to offer golden "second chances" for the less fortunate to acquire the skills and work habits which will help them become self-supporting, fully productive citizens. But as presently organized and managed, these second chance opportunities too often become just another dead-end exercise in frustration, rather than a genuine entree into a good job. I believe that the answer to much of this problem lies in our program of Manpower Revenue Sharing--uniting several previously fragmented manpower activities under a single umbrella and then giving most of the responsibility for running this effort to those governments which are closest to the working men and women who need assistance. In the next 16 months, administrative measures will be taken to institute this needed reform of the manpower system within the present legal framework. Manpower Revenue Sharing assistance will be freed from unnecessary Federal constraints, and aimed at developing jobs, equipping unemployed workers with useful work skills, and moving trainees into regular employment. WELFARE With the failure of the past two Congresses to enact my proposals for fundamental reform of the Nation's public assistance system, that system remains as I described it in a message last year--"a crazy quilt of injustice and contradiction that has developed in bits and pieces over the years." The major existing program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), is as inequitable, inefficient, and inadequate as ever. --The administration of this program is unacceptably loose. The latest national data indicate that in round numbers, one of every 20 persons on the AFDC rolls is totally ineligible for welfare; 3 more are paid more benefits than they are entitled to; and another is underpaid. About one-quarter of AFDC recipients, in other words, are receiving improper payments. --Complex program requirements and administrative red tape at the Federal and State levels have created bureaucracies that are difficult to manage. --Inconsistent and unclear definitions of need have diluted resources that should be targeted on those who need help most. --Misguided incentives have discouraged employable persons from work and induced fathers to leave home so that their families can qualify for welfare. After several years of skyrocketing increases, however, outlays for this program have begun to level off. This results from the strong resurgence of our economy and expansion of the job market, along with some management improvements in the AFDC program and strengthened work requirements which were introduced into the program last year. Since the legislative outlook seems to preclude passage of an overall structural reform bill in the immediate future, I have directed that vigorous steps be taken to strengthen the management of AFDC through administrative measures and legislative proposals. Under these reforms, Federal impediments to efficient State administration of the current AFDC system will be removed wherever possible. Changes will be proposed to reduce the complexities of current eligibility and payment processes. Work will continue to be required of all those who can reasonably be considered available for employment, while Federal funds to help welfare recipients acquire needed job skills will increase. One thing is certain: the welfare mess cannot be permitted to continue. A system which penalizes a person for going to work and rewards a person for going on welfare is totally alien to the American tradition of self-reliance and self-respect. That is why welfare reform has been and will continue to be one of our major goals; and we will work diligently with the Congress in developing ways to achieve it. NUTRITION During the past four years, Federal outlays for food assistance have increased more than three-fold. Food stamp and food distribution programs for needy families have been extended to virtually every community in the country. More than 15 million persons are now receiving food stamps or distributed foods, more than double the 1969 total. More than 8 million schoolchildren' are now being provided with free or reduced-price lunches-up from only 3 million in 1969. We have made great strides toward banishing hunger and malnutrition from American life--and we shall continue building on that progress until the job is done. OLDER AMERICANS One measure of the Nation's devotion to our older citizens is the fact that programs benefitting them--including Social Security and a wide range of other activities-now account for nearly one-fourth of the entire Federal budget. Social Security benefits levels have been increased 51 percent in the last four years--the most rapid increase in history. Under new legislation which I initially proposed, benefits have also become inflation-proof, increasing automatically as the cost of living increases. Over 1 I/2 million older Americans or their dependents can now receive higher Social Security benefits while continuing to work. Nearly 4 million widows and widowers are also starting to receive larger benefits--$1 billion in additional income in the next fiscal year. And millions of older Americans will be helped by the new Supplemental Security Income program which establishes a Federal income floor for the aging, blind, and disabled poor. Nevertheless, we are confronted with a major item of unfinished business. Approximately two-thirds of the twenty million persons who are 65 and over own their own homes. A disproportionate amount of their fixed income must now be used for property taxes. I will submit to the Congress recommendations for alleviating the often crushing burdens which property taxes place upon many older Americans. I also ask the cooperation of the Congress in passing my 1974 budget request for $200 million to fund the programs of the Administration on Aging--a funding level more than four times that appropriated for AoA programs in fiscal year 1972. Half of this amount will be devoted to nutrition projects for the elderly, with the remainder going to assist States and localities in developing comprehensive service programs for older Americans. In 1973, we shall continue to carry out the commitment I made in 1971 at the White House Conference on Aging: to help make the last days of our older Americans their best days. ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY No one who started life in a family at the bottom of the income scale, as I did and as many Members of the Congress did, can ever forget how that condition felt, or ever turn his back on an opportunity to help alleviate it in the lives of others. We in the Federal Government have such an opportunity to help combat poverty. Our commitment to this fight has grown steadily during the past decade, without regard to which party happened to be in power, from under $8 billion in total Federal anti-poverty expenditures in 1964 to more than $30 billion in my proposed budget for 1974. And we have moved steadily closer to the goal of a society in which all our citizens, regardless of economic status, will have both the resources and the opportunity to fully control their own destinies. At the beginning of this period, when Government found itself unprepared to respond to the sharp new national awareness of the plight of the disadvantaged, creation of an institutional structure separate from the regular machinery of Government and specifically charged with helping the poor seemed a wise first step to take. Thus the Office of Economic Opportunity was brought into being in 1964. A wide range of useful anti-poverty programs has been conceived and put into operation over the years by the Office of Economic Opportunity. Some programs which got their start within OEO have been moved out into the operating departments and agencies of the Government when they matured, and they are thriving there. VISTA, for example, became part of ACTION in 1971, and Head Start was integrated with other activities focused on the first five years of life under HEW's Office of Child Development. OEO's other programs have now developed to a point where they can be similarly integrated. Accordingly, in keeping with my determination to make every dollar devoted to human resources programs return 100 cents worth of real benefits to the people who most need those benefits, I have decided that most of the anti-poverty activities now conducted by the Office of Economic Opportunity should be delegated or transferred into the Cabinet departments relating to their respective fields of activity. Adhering strictly to statutory procedures, and requesting Congressional approval whenever necessary, I shall take action to effect this change. This reorganization will increase the efficiency of the various programs by grouping them 'with other functionally related Federal efforts and by minimizing the overhead costs which in the past have diverted too much money from human needs into staff payrolls and administrative expenses. Funding for the transferred activities will stay level, or in many cases will even increase. The only major OEO program for which termination of Federal funding is recommended in my budget is Community Action. New funding for Community Action activities in fiscal year 1974 will be at the discretion of local communities. After more than 7 years of existence, Community Action has had an adequate opportunity to demonstrate its value within the communities it serves, and to build locally based agencies. OEO has taken steps to help Community Action agencies put down local roots through a program of incentives and training, and has incorporated the basic community action concept--participation in programs by the people whom the programs seek to serve--into all Federal anti-poverty activities. Further Federal spending on behalf of this concept, beyond the $2.8 billion which has been spent on it since 1965, no longer seems necessary or desirable. LEGAL SERVICES One other economic opportunity effort deserving special mention is the Legal Services Program. Notwithstanding some abuses, legal services has done much in its seven-year history to breathe new life into the cherished concept of equal justice for all by providing access to quality legal representation for millions of Americans who would otherwise have been denied it for want of funds. The time has now come to institutionalize legal services as a permanent, responsible, and responsive component of the American system of justice. I shall soon propose legislation to the Congress to form a legal services corporation so constituted as to permit its attorneys to practice according to the highest professional standards, provided with safeguards against politicization of its activities, and held accountable to the people through appropriate monitoring and evaluation procedures. CIVIL RIGHTS Protecting the civil rights of every American is one of my firmest commitments as President. No citizen should be denied equal justice and equal opportunity in our society because of race, color, sex, religion, or national origin. This Administration has steadily increased the Federal financial commitment in this field. Outlays for civil rights and equal opportunity in 1974 will pass $3 billion--3 1/2 times what they were when we took office. We have worked hard--and with good results--to end de jure school segregation, to promote equal job opportunity, to combat housing discrimination, to foster minority business enterprise, to uphold voting rights, to assist minority higher education, to meet minority health problems like sickle cell anemia, and to make progress on many other fronts. Now that equal opportunity is clearly written into the statute books, the next and in many ways more difficult step involves moving from abstract legal rights to concrete economic opportunities. We must ensure real social mobility--the freedom of all Americans to make their own choices and to go as far and as high as their abilities will take them. Legislation and court decisions play a major part in establishing that freedom. But community attitudes, government programs, and the vigor of the economic system all play large parts as well. I believe that we have made progress, and we shall continue building on that progress in the coming year: --The Department of Justice will expand its efforts to guarantee equal access to, and equal benefit from, Federal financial assistance programs. --The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will receive additional resources to carry out its expanded responsibilities. --The Civil Service Commission will expand its monitoring of equal employment opportunities within the Federal Government. --Efforts to assure that Federal contractors provide equal access to job opportunities will be expanded. --The Small Business Administration will expand its loan program for minority business by nearly one-third. --The Commission on Civil Rights will receive additional resources to carry out its newly granted responsibilities. Additionally, in the year ahead, we will continue to support ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution so that American women--not a minority group but a majority of the whole population--need never again be denied equal opportunity. THE AMERICAN INDIAN For Indian people the policy of this Administration will continue to be one of advancing their opportunities for self- determination, without termination of the special Federal relationship with recognized Indian tribes. Just as it is essential to put more decision-making in the hands of State and local governments, I continue to believe that Indian tribal governments should assume greater responsibility for programs of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare which operate on their reservations. As I first proposed in 1970, I recommend that the Congress enact the necessary legislation to facilitate this take-over of responsibility. Also, I recommend that the 1953 termination resolution be repealed. Meanwhile the new statutory provisions for Indian tribal governments under General Revenue Sharing will assist responsible tribal governments in allocating extra resources with greater flexibility. I shall also propose new legislation to foster local Indian self-determination by developing an Interior Department program of bloc grants to Federally recognized tribes as a replacement for a number of existing economic and resource development programs. The primary purpose of these grants would be to provide tribal governments with funds which they could use at their own discretion to promote development of their reservations. Indian tribal organizations and Indians seeking to enter business need easier access to loan and credit opportunities; I proposed in 1970 and will again propose legislation to accomplish this objective. Because Indian rights to natural resources need better protection, I am again urging the Congress to create an Indian Trust Counsel Authority to guarantee that protection. In the two and one-half years that Indians have been waiting for the Congress to enact the major legislation I have proposed, we have moved ahead administratively whenever possible. We have restored 21,000 acres of wrongfully acquired Government land to the Yakima Tribe. We have filed a precedent-setting suit in the Supreme Court to protect Indian water rights in Pyramid Lake. My fiscal year 1974 budget proposes total Federal outlays of $1.45 billion for Indian affairs, an increase of more than 15 percent over 1973. To accelerate organizational reform, I have directed the Secretary of the Interior to transfer day 'to day operational activities of the Bureau of Indian Affairs out of Washington to its field offices. And I am again asking the Congress to create a new Assistant Secretary position within the Interior Department to deal with Indian matters. VETERANS With the coming of peace, the Nation's inestimable debt to our veterans and their dependents will continue to command a high priority among the human resource efforts of this Administration. During the past four years, I have twice signed legislation increasing the allowances for educational assistance to veterans. Nearly e million veterans are now in some form of training under the GI Bill for Vietnam-era veterans. Pension payments to veterans or their survivors who need income support have also been raised twice and the test of need has been greatly improved, including a more equitable formula for adjusting the VA pension rate when other sources of income, such as Social Security, are increased. The VA pension program now directly benefits over 2 million individuals. Compensation payments for service related disabilities have been raised on two occasions, and more than e million veterans of all wars now receive this benefit. The service-disabled veteran deserves special concern. In addition to top-priority consideration in medical care, my budget calls for VA outlays to provide disabled Vietnam-era veterans with vocational rehabilitation, housing grants, and specially equipped automobiles to be nearly doubled in 1974 compared to their 1971 level. Disability compensation is also being intensively reviewed to ensure that disabled veterans will receive compensation payments which fully recognize their earnings impairment. VA guaranteed home loans for veterans have risen by almost two-thirds since we took office. And high-priority job programs have decreased the unemployment rate among Vietnam-era veterans by almost one-third during the past year alone. Dramatic progress has been made in the veterans medical care program. A high level of construction and modernization of VA medical facilities has been carried on. The total number of medical care personnel staffing VA facilities has increased by one-sixth since 1969. The total number of veterans treated--both in VA facilities and as outpatients--has risen to new highs. Beneficiaries treated as hospital inpatients will go over the million mark in fiscal 1974 for the first time. Outpatient visits will climb to almost 14,000,000--about twice the level of 1969. Since 1969, there has also been a steady shortening of the average length of stay in VA hospitals, a highly desirable objective from every viewpoint. This means that VA hospitals have fewer patients in bed on an average day, with shorter waiting lists, even though the total number of patients treated has gone up. Misunderstanding these statistics, some have sought to establish by law a numerical minimum average daily patient census in VA hospitals. But such a fixed daily census would represent a backward step: it would force a sharply increased length-of-stay--an effect that is medically, economically, and socially undesirable. It is far better that our veterans be restored to their families and jobs as rapidly as feasible, consistent with good medical care. A fixed patient census would tie the hands of those seeking to serve veterans' health needs; I urge the Congress not to enact such a requirement. The Congress is now studying several bills involving the VA pension program and cemetery and burial benefits for veterans. I hope that the Congress will work to see that the veterans pension program is realistically structured and compatible with other major income maintenance programs. On the burial benefits question, I urge that legislative action be deferred until completion of a study currently being conducted by the Administrator of Veterans Affairs to determine the most equitable approach to improving burial and cemetery benefits for veterans. The Administrator's recommendations will be made available to the Congress in the near future. CONSUMER AFFAIRS The self-reliance and resourcefulness of our people when they enter the marketplace as consumers, the generally high standard of ethics and social responsibility upheld by business and industry, and the restrained intervention of government at various levels as a vigorous but not heavy-handed referee of commerce-that combination of factors, in that order, has been largely responsible for confounding predictions that American capitalism would breed its own downfall in the 20th century. We must build on each of these strengths in our efforts to protect the rights of the consumer as well as the vigor of the free enterprise economy in the 1970's. Early in 1971, after the Congress had failed to act on my "Buyer's Bill of Rights" proposal for a new Office of Consumer Affairs directly under the President, I established such an office by executive order. Under the direction of my Special Assistant for Consumer Affairs, OCA has helped to create a stronger consumer consciousness throughout the executive branch. This office is now ready to integrate its operations more fully with the line departments of the Government, and has accordingly been transferred into the Department of Health, Education and Welfare-the logical base for an agency concerned with human well-being. From this new base the Office of Consumer Affairs will continue its policy formation role and educational efforts, and will also take on additional responsibilities, including representing consumer interests in testimony before the Congress and acting as a general ombudsman for the individual consumer. VOLUNTARY ACTION Many thousands of Americans already are volunteering their time to meet human needs in their communities--fighting disease, teaching children to read, working to solve local social problems. But now we must do more to tap the enormous reservoir of energy represented by millions of other potential citizen volunteers. That is why three years ago I encouraged a number of our leading citizens to create the National Center for Voluntary Action to support private volunteer efforts; that is why two years ago I established the new ACTION agency to strengthen Federal volunteer programs. We must now continue seeking new avenues of citizen service. As we turn from the concerns of war, may all Americans accept the challenge of peace by volunteering to help meet the needs of their communities--so that we can mobilize a new army of concerned, dedicated, able volunteers across the Nation. ARTS AND HUMANITIES I know that many in the Congress share the concern I have often expressed that some Americans, particularly younger people, lost faith in their country during the 1960's. I believe this faith is now being reborn out of the knowledge that our country is moving toward an era of lasting peace in the world, toward a healthier environment, and toward a new era of progress and equality of opportunity for all our people. But renewed faith in ourselves also arises from a deeper understanding of who we are, where we have come from, and where we are going--an understanding to which the arts and the humanities can make a great contribution. Government has a limited but important function in encouraging the arts and the humanities--that of reinforcing local initiatives and helping key institutions to help themselves. With the approach of our Bicentennial, we have a special opportunity to draw on the enrichment and renewal which cultural activity can provide in our national life. With this in mind, my 1974 budget requests further expansion of the funds for the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities, to a new high of $168 million. I ask continued full support from the Congress for this funding. SAYING YES Carl Sandburg spoke volumes about this country's past and future in three simple words that became the title for one of his greatest poems: "The People, Yes." America has risen to greatness because again and again when the chips were down, the American people have said yes--yes to the challenge of freedom, yes to the dare of progress, and yes to the hope of peace--even when defending the peace has meant paying the price of war. America's greatness will endure in the future only if our institutions continually rededicate themselves to saying yes to the people--yes to human needs and aspirations, yes to democracy and the consent of the governed, yes to equal opportunity and unlimited horizons of achievement for every American. 1973 is a year full of opportunity for great advances on this front. After more than a decade of war, we have successfully completed one of the most unselfish missions ever undertaken by one nation in the defense of another. Now the coming of peace permits us to turn our attention more fully to the works of compassion, concern, and social betterment here at home. The seriousness of my commitment to make the most of this opportunity is demonstrated by the record level of funding for human resource programs proposed in our new budget--$125 billion in all-nearly twice the amount that was being spent on such programs when I took office in 1969. This is both a generous budget and a reform budget. The reforms it proposes will put muscle behind the generosity it intends. The overall effect of these reforms will be the elimination of programs that are wasteful so that we can concentrate on programs that work. They will make possible the continued growth of Federal efforts to meet human needs-while at the same time helping to prevent a runaway deficit that could lead to higher taxes, higher prices, and higher interest rates for all Americans. The opportunity is ours, executive and legislative branches together, to lead America to a new standard of fairness, of freedom, and of vitality within our federal system. We can forge a new approach to human services in this country--an approach which will treat people as more than mere statistics--an approach which recognizes that problems like poverty and unemployment, health care and the costs of education are more than cold abstractions in a government file drawer. We know how tough these problems are, because many of us grew up with them ourselves. But we also know that with the right kind of help and the right kind of spirit they can be overcome. Let us give all our citizens the help they need. But let us remember that each of us also bears a basic obligation to help himself and to help our fellowman, and that no one else can assume that obligation for us--least of all the Federal Government. If we shirk our individual responsibility, the American dream will never be more than a dream. But if the people say yes to this challenge, if government says yes to the people-and if all of us in Washington say no to petty quarrels and partisanship and yes to our public trust--then we can truly bring that dream to life for all Americans in the new day of peace that is dawning. RICHARD NIXON The White House, March 1, 1973.
to the congress of the united states information of the state of the union which our constitution directs shall be communicated from time to time to the congress by the president must consist above all of information about the of the american people as the opening words of the constitution proclaim america began with we the people the people are the union and its condition depends wholly on theirs while the nation land and resources its communities its economy and its political institutions are also vital concerns to be addressed in my reports to the congress this year all of these in the final analysis are no more than means to a greater end for each of them must ultimately be measured according to a single standard what will serve the millions of individual americans for whom all public officials serve as trustees too often in the past that standard has not prevailed too often public policy decisions have been founded not on the interests of all the people but on the interests of special groups of people programs once set in motion tend to stay in motion sometimes long after their useful life has ended they acquire a constituency of their own even within the government and they can not easily be reformed or stopped means come to be regarded as ends in themselves and no one suffers more than the people they were designed to serve despite all of the factors which conspire to hinder both the executive and the legislative branches in being as objective and analytical as we should be about the soundness of activities that continue from year to year supposedly in the public interest we can and must discipline ourselves to take a larger view as we consider the subject of human resources in this fourth section of my 1973 state of the union message we must not confine ourselves solely to a discussion of the year past and the year ahead nor can we be content to frame the choices we face in strictly governmental and programmatic terms as though federal money and programs were the only variables that mattered in meeting human needs fulfilling the american dream i am irrevocably committed as presidents before me have been and as i know each member of the congress is to fulfilling the american dream for all americans but i also believe deeply that in seeking progress and reform we must neither underestimate our society present greatness nor mistake the sources of that greatness to do so would be to run a serious risk of damaging with unproven panaceas applied in excessive haste and zeal the very institutions we seek to improve let us begin then by recognizing that by almost any measure life is better for americans in 1973 than ever before in our history and better than in any other society of the world in this or any earlier age no previous generation of our people has ever enjoyed higher incomes better health and nutrition longer or greater mobility and convenience in their lives than we enjoy today none before us has had a better chance for fulfillment and advancement in their work more leisure time and recreational opportunities more widespread access to culture and the arts or a higher level of education and awareness of the world around them none has had greater access to and control over the natural and human forces that shape their lives or better protection against suffering inhumanity injustice and discrimination and none has enjoyed greater freedom secondly let us recognize that the american system which has brought us so far so fast is not simply a system of government helping people rather it is a system under which government helps people to help themselves and one another the real miracles in raising millions out of poverty for example have been performed by the economy not by government programs the integration of one disadvantaged minority after another into the american mainstream has been accomplished by the inherent responsiveness of our political and social system not by quotas and coercion the dramatic gains in health and medical care have come primarily through private medicine not from systems even where the public sector has played a major role as in education the great strength of the system has derived from state and local governments primacy and from the diverse mixture of private and public institutions in the educational process both factors which have facilitated grass roots influence and popular participation we should not tamper lightly then with the delicately balanced social economic and political system which has been responsible for making this country the best place on earth to live and which has tremendous potential to rectify whatever shortcomings may still persist but we americans to our great credit are a restless and impatient people a nation of idealists we dream not simply of alleviating poverty hunger discrimination ignorance disease and fear but of eradicating them altogether and we would like to do it all today during the middle and late 1960 under the pressure of this impatient idealism federal intervention to help meet human needs increased sharply provision of services from federal programs directly to individuals began to be regarded as the rule in human resources policy rather than the rare exception if had been in the past the government in those years undertook sweeping sometimes almost utopian commitments in one area of social concern after another the state and local governments and the private sector were elbowed aside with little regard for the dislocations that might result literally hundreds of new programs were established on the assumption that even the most complex problems could be quickly solved by throwing enough federal dollars at them as this effort may have been the results in case after case amounted to dismal failure it was a classic case of elevating means to the status of ends in themselves hard evidence of actual betterment in people lives was seldom demanded amounts of funds new agencies and increased staff were treated as proof enough of success simply because the motive was compassionate the american people deserve better than this they deserve compassion that works not simply compassion that means well they deserve programs that say yes to human needs by saying no to paternalism social exploitation and waste protecting and enhancing the greatness of our society is a great goal it is doubly important therefore that we not permit the worthiness of our objective to render us uncritical or careless in the means we select for attaining that objective it will increase our greatness as a society for example to establish the principle that no american family should be denied good health care because of inability to pay but it will diminish our greatness if we deprive families of the freedom to make their own health care arrangements without bureaucratic meddling it will increase our greatness to ensure that no boy or girl is denied a quality education but it will diminish our greatness if we force hundreds of thousands of children to ride buses miles away from their neighborhood schools in order to achieve an arbitrary racial balance it will increase our greatness to establish an income security system under which no american family will have to suffer for lack of income or break up because welfare regulations encourage it but it would erode the very foundations of our stability and our prosperity if we ever made it more comfortable or more profitable to live on a welfare check than on a paycheck principles for the 1970 consistently since 1969 this administration has worked to establish a new human resources policy based on a healthy skepticism about federal government omniscience and omnicompetence and on a strong reaffirmation of the right and the capacity of individuals to chart their own lives and solve their own problems through state and local government and private endeavor we have achieved a wide variety of significant reforms now the progress made and the experience gained over the past four years together with the results of careful program reviews which were conducted over this period have prepared us to seek broader reforms in 1973 than any we have requested before in the time since the outlines of these proposals emerged in the new budget intense controversy and considerable misunderstanding about both their purposes and their effects have understandably arisen among persons of goodwill on all sides to provide a more rational less emotional basis for the national debate which will and properly should surround my recommendations i would invite the congress to consider four basic principles which i believe should govern our human resources policy in the 1970 government at all levels should seek to support and nurture rather than limit the diversity and freedom of choice which are hallmarks of the american system the federal government in particular must work to guarantee an equal chance at the starting line by removing barriers which might impede an individual opportunity to realize his or her full potential the federal government should concentrate more on providing incentives and opening opportunities and less on delivering direct services such programs of direct assistance to individuals as the federal government does conduct must provide evenhanded treatment for all and must be carefully designed to ensure that the benefits are actually received by those who are intended to receive them rather than stifling initiative by trying to direct everything from washington federal efforts should encourage state and local governments to make those decisions and supply those services for which their closeness to the people best qualifies them in addition the federal government should seek means of encouraging the private sector to address social problems thereby utilizing the market mechanism to marshal resources behind clearly stated national objectives finally all federal policy must adhere to a strict standard of fiscal responsibility ballooning deficits which spent our economy into a new inflationary spiral or a recessionary tailspin in the name of social welfare would punish most cruelly the very people whom they seek to help on the other hand continued additions to a personal tax burden which has already doubled since 1950 would reduce incentives for excellence and would conflict directly with the goal of allowing each individual to keep as much as possible of what he or she earns to permit maximum personal freedom of choice the new post of counsellor to the president for human resources which i have recently created within the executive office of the president will provide a much needed focal point for our efforts to see that these principles are carried out in all federal activities aimed at meeting human needs as well as in the federal government complex relationships with state and local governments in this field the coordinating function to be performed by this counsellor should materially increase the unity coherence and effectiveness of our policies the following sections present a review of the progress we have made over the past four years in bringing each of the various human resources activities into line with these principles and they outline our agenda for the years ahead health i am committed to removing financial barriers that would limit access to quality medical care for all american families to that end we have nearly doubled federal outlays for health since the beginning of this administration next year they will exceed 30 billion nearly 60 percent of these funds will go to finance health care for older americans the disabled and the poor through medicare and medicaid but we have taken significant steps to meet other priority needs as well in the last four years funding for cancer and heart and lung disease research has more than doubled it will amount to more than of a billion dollars in 1974 we have supported reform of the health care delivery system and have proposed legislation to assist in the development of health maintenance organizations on a demonstration basis we have increased funds for programs which help prevent illness such as those which help carry out our pure food and drug laws and those which promote consumer safety we have declared total war on the epidemic problem of drug abuse and we are winning that war we have come a long way toward our goal of creating sufficient treatment services so that any addict desiring treatment can obtain it we are also making substantial investments in research to develop innovative treatment approaches to drug abuse i will report in greater detail on our effort in a later section of this year state of the union message strong measures have been taken to ensure that health care costs do not contribute to inflation and price people out of the care they need the rate of increase in physicians fees was cut by last year alone and hospital price rises have also been slowed to build on these gains controls on the health services industry have been retained and will be strengthened under phase iii of the economic stabilization program a major goal of this administration has been to develop an insurance system which can guarantee adequate financing of health care for every american family the 92nd congress failed to act upon my 1971 proposal to accomplish this goal and now the need for legislation has grown still more pressing i shall once again submit to the congress legislation to help meet the nation health insurance needs federal health policy should seek to safeguard this country pluralistic health care system and to build on its strengths minimizing reliance on arrangements we must recognize appropriate limits to the federal role and we must see that every health care dollar is spent as effectively as possible this means discontinuing federally funded health programs which have served their purpose or which have proved ineffective or which involve functions more suitably performed by state and local government or the private sector the hospital grants program for example can no longer be justified on the basis of the shortage of hospital facilities which prompted its creation in 1946 that shortage has given way to a surplus so that to continue this program would only add to the nation excess of hospital beds and lead to higher charges to patients it should be terminated we are also proposing to phase out the community mental health center demonstration program while providing funding for commitments to existing arrangements extending up to eight years this program has helped to build and establish some 500 such centers which have demonstrated new ways to deliver mental health services at the community level regional medical programs likewise can now be discontinued the planning function they have performed can better be conducted by comprehensive state planning efforts a second function of these programs the continuing education of physicians who are already licensed is an inappropriate burden for federal taxpayers to bear education 1973 must be a year of decisive action to restructure federal aid programs for education our goal is to provide continued federal financial support for our schools while expanding state and local control over basic educational decisions i shall again ask the congress to establish a new program of education revenue sharing this program would replace the complex and inefficient tangle of approximately 30 separate programs for elementary and secondary education with a single flexible authority for use in a few broad areas such as compensatory education for the disadvantaged education for the handicapped vocational education needed assistance in federally affected areas and supporting services education revenue sharing would enlarge the opportunities for state and local to tailor programs and resources to meet the specific educational needs of their own localities it would mean less red tape less paper work and greater freedom for those at the local level to do what they think is best for their schools not what someone in washington tells them is best it would help to strengthen the principle of diversity and freedom in education that is as old as america itself and would give educators a chance to create fresher more individual approaches to the educational challenges of the seventies at the same time it would affirm and further the national interest in promoting equal educational opportunities for economically disadvantaged children if there is any one area of human activity where decisions are best made at the local level by the people who know local conditions and local needs it is in the field of primary and secondary education i urge the congress to join me in making this year the third in which education revenue sharing has been on the legislative agenda the year when this much needed reform becomes law the time has also come to redefine the federal role in higher education by replacing categorical support programs for institutions with substantially funds for student assistance my budget proposals have already outlined a plan to channel much more of our higher education support through students themselves including a new grant program which would increase funds provided to 948 million and the number assisted to over people almost a increase over the current academic year these proposals would help to ensure for the first time that no qualified student seeking postsecondary education would be barred from attaining it by a lack of funds and they would at the same time reinforce the spirit of competition among institutions that has made american higher education strong i urge their prompt enactment as we work to eliminate the unnecessary bureaucratic constraints currently hampering federal education aid we will also be devoting more attention to educational research and development through the new national institute of education funding for nie will increase by almost 50 percent in fiscal year 1974 reaching 162 million finally in order to enhance the diversity provided by our mixed educational system of public and private schools i will propose to the congress legislation to provide a tax credit for tuition payments made by parents of children who attend elementary and secondary schools manpower the federal manpower program is a vital part of our total effort to conserve and develop our human resources up to the present time however the manpower program has been not a unified effort but a collection of separate categorical activities many of them overlapping these activities now include such programs as manpower development and training act institutional training programs training neighborhood youth corps public service careers operation mainstream and the concentrated employment program the net effect of several such programs operating in a single city seldom amounts to a coherent strategy for meeting the needs of people in that community while many local programs are more than worth what they cost many other individual projects are largely ineffective and their failure wastes money which could be used to bolster the solid accomplishments of the rest manpower programs ought to offer golden second chances for the less fortunate to acquire the skills and work habits which will help them become fully productive citizens but as presently organized and managed these second chance opportunities too often become just another exercise in frustration rather than a genuine entree into a good job i believe that the answer to much of this problem lies in our program of manpower revenue sharing uniting several previously fragmented manpower activities under a single umbrella and then giving most of the responsibility for running this effort to those governments which are closest to the working men and women who need assistance in the next 16 months administrative measures will be taken to institute this needed reform of the manpower system within the present legal framework manpower revenue sharing assistance will be freed from unnecessary federal constraints and aimed at developing jobs equipping unemployed workers with useful work skills and moving trainees into regular employment welfare with the failure of the past two congresses to enact my proposals for fundamental reform of the nation public assistance system that system remains as i described it in a message last year a crazy quilt of injustice and contradiction that has developed in bits and pieces over the years the major existing program aid to families with dependent children afdc is as inequitable inefficient and inadequate as ever the administration of this program is unacceptably loose the latest national data indicate that in round numbers one of every 20 persons on the afdc rolls is totally ineligible for welfare 3 more are paid more benefits than they are entitled to and another is underpaid about of afdc recipients in other words are receiving improper payments complex program requirements and administrative red tape at the federal and state levels have created bureaucracies that are difficult to manage inconsistent and unclear definitions of need have diluted resources that should be targeted on those who need help most misguided incentives have discouraged employable persons from work and induced fathers to leave home so that their families can qualify for welfare after several years of skyrocketing increases however outlays for this program have begun to level off this results from the strong resurgence of our economy and expansion of the job market along with some management improvements in the afdc program and strengthened work requirements which were introduced into the program last year since the legislative outlook seems to preclude passage of an overall structural reform bill in the immediate future i have directed that vigorous steps be taken to strengthen the management of afdc through administrative measures and legislative proposals under these reforms federal impediments to efficient state administration of the current afdc system will be removed wherever possible changes will be proposed to reduce the complexities of current eligibility and payment processes work will continue to be required of all those who can reasonably be considered available for employment while federal funds to help welfare recipients acquire needed job skills will increase one thing is certain the welfare mess can not be permitted to continue a system which penalizes a person for going to work and rewards a person for going on welfare is totally alien to the american tradition of and that is why welfare reform has been and will continue to be one of our major goals and we will work diligently with the congress in developing ways to achieve it nutrition during the past four years federal outlays for food assistance have increased more than food stamp and food distribution programs for needy families have been extended to virtually every community in the country more than 15 million persons are now receiving food stamps or distributed foods more than double the 1969 total more than 8 million schoolchildren are now being provided with free or from only 3 million in 1969 we have made great strides toward banishing hunger and malnutrition from american life and we shall continue building on that progress until the job is done older americans one measure of the nation devotion to our older citizens is the fact that programs benefitting them including social security and a wide range of other account for nearly of the entire federal budget social security benefits levels have been increased 51 percent in the last four years the most rapid increase in history under new legislation which i initially proposed benefits have also become increasing automatically as the cost of living increases over 1 million older americans or their dependents can now receive higher social security benefits while continuing to work nearly 4 million widows and widowers are also starting to receive larger benefits 1 billion in additional income in the next fiscal year and millions of older americans will be helped by the new supplemental security income program which establishes a federal income floor for the aging blind and disabled poor nevertheless we are confronted with a major item of unfinished business approximately of the twenty million persons who are 65 and over own their own homes a disproportionate amount of their fixed income must now be used for property taxes i will submit to the congress recommendations for alleviating the often crushing burdens which property taxes place upon many older americans i also ask the cooperation of the congress in passing my 1974 budget request for 200 million to fund the programs of the administration on aging a funding level more than four times that appropriated for aoa programs in fiscal year 1972 half of this amount will be devoted to nutrition projects for the elderly with the remainder going to assist states and localities in developing comprehensive service programs for older americans in 1973 we shall continue to carry out the commitment i made in 1971 at the white house conference on aging to help make the last days of our older americans their best days economic opportunity no one who started life in a family at the bottom of the income scale as i did and as many members of the congress did can ever forget how that condition felt or ever turn his back on an opportunity to help alleviate it in the lives of others we in the federal government have such an opportunity to help combat poverty our commitment to this fight has grown steadily during the past decade without regard to which party happened to be in power from under 8 billion in total federal expenditures in 1964 to more than 30 billion in my proposed budget for 1974 and we have moved steadily closer to the goal of a society in which all our citizens regardless of economic status will have both the resources and the opportunity to fully control their own destinies at the beginning of this period when government found itself unprepared to respond to the sharp new national awareness of the plight of the disadvantaged creation of an institutional structure separate from the regular machinery of government and specifically charged with helping the poor seemed a wise first step to take thus the office of economic opportunity was brought into being in 1964 a wide range of useful programs has been conceived and put into operation over the years by the office of economic opportunity some programs which got their start within oeo have been moved out into the operating departments and agencies of the government when they matured and they are thriving there vista for example became part of action in 1971 and head start was integrated with other activities focused on the first five years of life under hew office of child development oeo other programs have now developed to a point where they can be similarly integrated accordingly in keeping with my determination to make every dollar devoted to human resources programs return 100 cents worth of real benefits to the people who most need those benefits i have decided that most of the activities now conducted by the office of economic opportunity should be delegated or transferred into the cabinet departments relating to their respective fields of activity adhering strictly to statutory procedures and requesting congressional approval whenever necessary i shall take action to effect this change this reorganization will increase the efficiency of the various programs by grouping them other functionally related federal efforts and by minimizing the overhead costs which in the past have diverted too much money from human needs into staff payrolls and administrative expenses funding for the transferred activities will stay level or in many cases will even increase the only major oeo program for which termination of federal funding is recommended in my budget is community action new funding for community action activities in fiscal year 1974 will be at the discretion of local communities after more than 7 years of existence community action has had an adequate opportunity to demonstrate its value within the communities it serves and to build locally based agencies oeo has taken steps to help community action agencies put down local roots through a program of incentives and training and has incorporated the basic community action concept participation in programs by the people whom the programs seek to serve into all federal activities further federal spending on behalf of this concept beyond the billion which has been spent on it since 1965 no longer seems necessary or desirable legal services one other economic opportunity effort deserving special mention is the legal services program notwithstanding some abuses legal services has done much in its history to breathe new life into the cherished concept of equal justice for all by providing access to quality legal representation for millions of americans who would otherwise have been denied it for want of funds the time has now come to institutionalize legal services as a permanent responsible and responsive component of the american system of justice i shall soon propose legislation to the congress to form a legal services corporation so constituted as to permit its attorneys to practice according to the highest professional standards provided with safeguards against politicization of its activities and held accountable to the people through appropriate monitoring and evaluation procedures civil rights protecting the civil rights of every american is one of my firmest commitments as president no citizen should be denied equal justice and equal opportunity in our society because of race color sex religion or national origin this administration has steadily increased the federal financial commitment in this field outlays for civil rights and equal opportunity in 1974 will pass 3 billion 3 times what they were when we took office we have worked hard and with good results to end de jure school segregation to promote equal job opportunity to combat housing discrimination to foster minority business enterprise to uphold voting rights to assist minority higher education to meet minority health problems like sickle cell anemia and to make progress on many other fronts now that equal opportunity is clearly written into the statute books the next and in many ways more difficult step involves moving from abstract legal rights to concrete economic opportunities we must ensure real social mobility the freedom of all americans to make their own choices and to go as far and as high as their abilities will take them legislation and court decisions play a major part in establishing that freedom but community attitudes government programs and the vigor of the economic system all play large parts as well i believe that we have made progress and we shall continue building on that progress in the coming year the department of justice will expand its efforts to guarantee equal access to and equal benefit from federal financial assistance programs the equal employment opportunity commission will receive additional resources to carry out its expanded responsibilities the civil service commission will expand its monitoring of equal employment opportunities within the federal government efforts to assure that federal contractors provide equal access to job opportunities will be expanded the small business administration will expand its loan program for minority business by nearly the commission on civil rights will receive additional resources to carry out its newly granted responsibilities additionally in the year ahead we will continue to support ratification of the equal rights amendment to the constitution so that american women not a minority group but a majority of the whole population need never again be denied equal opportunity the american indian for indian people the policy of this administration will continue to be one of advancing their opportunities for determination without termination of the special federal relationship with recognized indian tribes just as it is essential to put more in the hands of state and local governments i continue to believe that indian tribal governments should assume greater responsibility for programs of the bureau of indian affairs and the department of health education and welfare which operate on their reservations as i first proposed in 1970 i recommend that the congress enact the necessary legislation to facilitate this of responsibility also i recommend that the 1953 termination resolution be repealed meanwhile the new statutory provisions for indian tribal governments under general revenue sharing will assist responsible tribal governments in allocating extra resources with greater flexibility i shall also propose new legislation to foster local indian by developing an interior department program of bloc grants to federally recognized tribes as a replacement for a number of existing economic and resource development programs the primary purpose of these grants would be to provide tribal governments with funds which they could use at their own discretion to promote development of their reservations indian tribal organizations and indians seeking to enter business need easier access to loan and credit opportunities i proposed in 1970 and will again propose legislation to accomplish this objective because indian rights to natural resources need better protection i am again urging the congress to create an indian trust counsel authority to guarantee that protection in the two and years that indians have been waiting for the congress to enact the major legislation i have proposed we have moved ahead administratively whenever possible we have restored acres of wrongfully acquired government land to the yakima tribe we have filed a suit in the supreme court to protect indian water rights in pyramid lake my fiscal year 1974 budget proposes total federal outlays of billion for indian affairs an increase of more than 15 percent over 1973 to accelerate organizational reform i have directed the secretary of the interior to transfer day day operational activities of the bureau of indian affairs out of washington to its field offices and i am again asking the congress to create a new assistant secretary position within the interior department to deal with indian matters veterans with the coming of peace the nation inestimable debt to our veterans and their dependents will continue to command a high priority among the human resource efforts of this administration during the past four years i have twice signed legislation increasing the allowances for educational assistance to veterans nearly e million veterans are now in some form of training under the gi bill for veterans pension payments to veterans or their survivors who need income support have also been raised twice and the test of need has been greatly improved including a more equitable formula for adjusting the va pension rate when other sources of income such as social security are increased the va pension program now directly benefits over 2 million individuals compensation payments for service related disabilities have been raised on two occasions and more than e million veterans of all wars now receive this benefit the veteran deserves special concern in addition to consideration in medical care my budget calls for va outlays to provide disabled veterans with vocational rehabilitation housing grants and specially equipped automobiles to be nearly doubled in 1974 compared to their 1971 level disability compensation is also being intensively reviewed to ensure that disabled veterans will receive compensation payments which fully recognize their earnings impairment va guaranteed home loans for veterans have risen by almost since we took office and job programs have decreased the unemployment rate among veterans by almost during the past year alone dramatic progress has been made in the veterans medical care program a high level of construction and modernization of va medical facilities has been carried on the total number of medical care personnel staffing va facilities has increased by since 1969 the total number of veterans treated both in va facilities and as outpatients has risen to new highs beneficiaries treated as hospital inpatients will go over the million mark in fiscal 1974 for the first time outpatient visits will climb to almost about twice the level of 1969 since 1969 there has also been a steady shortening of the average length of stay in va hospitals a highly desirable objective from every viewpoint this means that va hospitals have fewer patients in bed on an average day with shorter waiting lists even though the total number of patients treated has gone up misunderstanding these statistics some have sought to establish by law a numerical minimum average daily patient census in va hospitals but such a fixed daily census would represent a backward step it would force a sharply increased an effect that is medically economically and socially undesirable it is far better that our veterans be restored to their families and jobs as rapidly as feasible consistent with good medical care a fixed patient census would tie the hands of those seeking to serve veterans health needs i urge the congress not to enact such a requirement the congress is now studying several bills involving the va pension program and cemetery and burial benefits for veterans i hope that the congress will work to see that the veterans pension program is realistically structured and compatible with other major income maintenance programs on the burial benefits question i urge that legislative action be deferred until completion of a study currently being conducted by the administrator of veterans affairs to determine the most equitable approach to improving burial and cemetery benefits for veterans the administrator recommendations will be made available to the congress in the near future consumer affairs the and resourcefulness of our people when they enter the marketplace as consumers the generally high standard of ethics and social responsibility upheld by business and industry and the restrained intervention of government at various levels as a vigorous but not referee of combination of factors in that order has been largely responsible for confounding predictions that american capitalism would breed its own downfall in the 20th century we must build on each of these strengths in our efforts to protect the rights of the consumer as well as the vigor of the free enterprise economy in the 1970 early in 1971 after the congress had failed to act on my buyer bill of rights proposal for a new office of consumer affairs directly under the president i established such an office by executive order under the direction of my special assistant for consumer affairs oca has helped to create a stronger consumer consciousness throughout the executive branch this office is now ready to integrate its operations more fully with the line departments of the government and has accordingly been transferred into the department of health education and logical base for an agency concerned with human from this new base the office of consumer affairs will continue its policy formation role and educational efforts and will also take on additional responsibilities including representing consumer interests in testimony before the congress and acting as a general ombudsman for the individual consumer voluntary action many thousands of americans already are volunteering their time to meet human needs in their communities fighting disease teaching children to read working to solve local social problems but now we must do more to tap the enormous reservoir of energy represented by millions of other potential citizen volunteers that is why three years ago i encouraged a number of our leading citizens to create the national center for voluntary action to support private volunteer efforts that is why two years ago i established the new action agency to strengthen federal volunteer programs we must now continue seeking new avenues of citizen service as we turn from the concerns of war may all americans accept the challenge of peace by volunteering to help meet the needs of their communities so that we can mobilize a new army of concerned dedicated able volunteers across the nation arts and humanities i know that many in the congress share the concern i have often expressed that some americans particularly younger people lost faith in their country during the 1960 i believe this faith is now being reborn out of the knowledge that our country is moving toward an era of lasting peace in the world toward a healthier environment and toward a new era of progress and equality of opportunity for all our people but renewed faith in ourselves also arises from a deeper understanding of who we are where we have come from and where we are going an understanding to which the arts and the humanities can make a great contribution government has a limited but important function in encouraging the arts and the humanities that of reinforcing local initiatives and helping key institutions to help themselves with the approach of our bicentennial we have a special opportunity to draw on the enrichment and renewal which cultural activity can provide in our national life with this in mind my 1974 budget requests further expansion of the funds for the national foundation on the arts and the humanities to a new high of 168 million i ask continued full support from the congress for this funding saying yes carl sandburg spoke volumes about this country past and future in three simple words that became the title for one of his greatest poems the people yes america has risen to greatness because again and again when the chips were down the american people have said yes yes to the challenge of freedom yes to the dare of progress and yes to the hope of peace even when defending the peace has meant paying the price of war america greatness will endure in the future only if our institutions continually rededicate themselves to saying yes to the people yes to human needs and aspirations yes to democracy and the consent of the governed yes to equal opportunity and unlimited horizons of achievement for every american 1973 is a year full of opportunity for great advances on this front after more than a decade of war we have successfully completed one of the most unselfish missions ever undertaken by one nation in the defense of another now the coming of peace permits us to turn our attention more fully to the works of compassion concern and social betterment here at home the seriousness of my commitment to make the most of this opportunity is demonstrated by the record level of funding for human resource programs proposed in our new budget 125 billion in twice the amount that was being spent on such programs when i took office in 1969 this is both a generous budget and a reform budget the reforms it proposes will put muscle behind the generosity it intends the overall effect of these reforms will be the elimination of programs that are wasteful so that we can concentrate on programs that work they will make possible the continued growth of federal efforts to meet human at the same time helping to prevent a runaway deficit that could lead to higher taxes higher prices and higher interest rates for all americans the opportunity is ours executive and legislative branches together to lead america to a new standard of fairness of freedom and of vitality within our federal system we can forge a new approach to human services in this country an approach which will treat people as more than mere statistics an approach which recognizes that problems like poverty and unemployment health care and the costs of education are more than cold abstractions in a government file drawer we know how tough these problems are because many of us grew up with them ourselves but we also know that with the right kind of help and the right kind of spirit they can be overcome let us give all our citizens the help they need but let us remember that each of us also bears a basic obligation to help himself and to help our fellowman and that no one else can assume that obligation for us least of all the federal government if we shirk our individual responsibility the american dream will never be more than a dream but if the people say yes to this challenge if government says yes to the if all of us in washington say no to petty quarrels and partisanship and yes to our public trust then we can truly bring that dream to life for all americans in the new day of peace that is dawning richard nixon the white house march 1 1973
congress united states information state union constitution directs shall communicated time time congress president must consist information american people opening words constitution proclaim america began people people union condition depends wholly nation land resources communities economy political institutions also vital concerns addressed reports congress year final analysis means greater end must ultimately measured according single standard serve millions individual americans public officials serve trustees often past standard prevailed often public policy decisions founded interests people interests special groups people programs set motion tend stay motion sometimes long useful life ended acquire constituency even within government easily reformed stopped means come regarded ends one suffers people designed serve despite factors conspire hinder executive legislative branches objective analytical soundness activities continue year year supposedly public interest must discipline take larger view consider subject human resources fourth section 1973 state union message must confine solely discussion year past year ahead content frame choices face strictly governmental programmatic terms though federal money programs variables mattered meeting human needs fulfilling american dream irrevocably committed presidents know member congress fulfilling american dream americans also believe deeply seeking progress reform must neither underestimate society present greatness mistake sources greatness would run serious risk damaging unproven panaceas applied excessive haste zeal institutions seek improve let us begin recognizing almost measure life better americans 1973 ever history better society world earlier age previous generation people ever enjoyed higher incomes better health nutrition longer greater mobility convenience lives enjoy today none us better chance fulfillment advancement work leisure time recreational opportunities widespread access culture arts higher level education awareness world around none greater access control natural human forces shape lives better protection suffering inhumanity injustice discrimination none enjoyed greater freedom secondly let us recognize american system brought us far fast simply system government helping people rather system government helps people help one another real miracles raising millions poverty example performed economy government programs integration one disadvantaged minority another american mainstream accomplished inherent responsiveness political social system quotas coercion dramatic gains health medical care come primarily private medicine systems even public sector played major role education great strength system derived state local governments primacy diverse mixture private public institutions educational process factors facilitated grass roots influence popular participation tamper lightly delicately balanced social economic political system responsible making country best place earth live tremendous potential rectify whatever shortcomings may still persist americans great credit restless impatient people nation idealists dream simply alleviating poverty hunger discrimination ignorance disease fear eradicating altogether would like today middle late 1960 pressure impatient idealism federal intervention help meet human needs increased sharply provision services federal programs directly individuals began regarded rule human resources policy rather rare exception past government years undertook sweeping sometimes almost utopian commitments one area social concern another state local governments private sector elbowed aside little regard dislocations might result literally hundreds new programs established assumption even complex problems could quickly solved throwing enough federal dollars effort may results case case amounted dismal failure classic case elevating means status ends hard evidence actual betterment people lives seldom demanded amounts funds new agencies increased staff treated proof enough success simply motive compassionate american people deserve better deserve compassion works simply compassion means well deserve programs say yes human needs saying paternalism social exploitation waste protecting enhancing greatness society great goal doubly important therefore permit worthiness objective render us uncritical careless means select attaining objective increase greatness society example establish principle american family denied good health care inability pay diminish greatness deprive families freedom make health care arrangements without bureaucratic meddling increase greatness ensure boy girl denied quality education diminish greatness force hundreds thousands children ride buses miles away neighborhood schools order achieve arbitrary racial balance increase greatness establish income security system american family suffer lack income break welfare regulations encourage would erode foundations stability prosperity ever made comfortable profitable live welfare check paycheck principles 1970 consistently since 1969 administration worked establish new human resources policy based healthy skepticism federal government omniscience omnicompetence strong reaffirmation right capacity individuals chart lives solve problems state local government private endeavor achieved wide variety significant reforms progress made experience gained past four years together results careful program reviews conducted period prepared us seek broader reforms 1973 requested time since outlines proposals emerged new budget intense controversy considerable misunderstanding purposes effects understandably arisen among persons goodwill sides provide rational less emotional basis national debate properly surround recommendations would invite congress consider four basic principles believe govern human resources policy 1970 government levels seek support nurture rather limit diversity freedom choice hallmarks american system federal government particular must work guarantee equal chance starting line removing barriers might impede individual opportunity realize full potential federal government concentrate providing incentives opening opportunities less delivering direct services programs direct assistance individuals federal government conduct must provide evenhanded treatment must carefully designed ensure benefits actually received intended receive rather stifling initiative trying direct everything washington federal efforts encourage state local governments make decisions supply services closeness people best qualifies addition federal government seek means encouraging private sector address social problems thereby utilizing market mechanism marshal resources behind clearly stated national objectives finally federal policy must adhere strict standard fiscal responsibility ballooning deficits spent economy new inflationary spiral recessionary tailspin name social welfare would punish cruelly people seek help hand continued additions personal tax burden already doubled since 1950 would reduce incentives excellence would conflict directly goal allowing individual keep much possible earns permit maximum personal freedom choice new post counsellor president human resources recently created within executive office president provide much needed focal point efforts see principles carried federal activities aimed meeting human needs well federal government complex relationships state local governments field coordinating function performed counsellor materially increase unity coherence effectiveness policies following sections present review progress made past four years bringing various human resources activities line principles outline agenda years ahead health committed removing financial barriers would limit access quality medical care american families end nearly doubled federal outlays health since beginning administration next year exceed 30 billion nearly 60 percent funds go finance health care older americans disabled poor medicare medicaid taken significant steps meet priority needs well last four years funding cancer heart lung disease research doubled amount billion dollars 1974 supported reform health care delivery system proposed legislation assist development health maintenance organizations demonstration basis increased funds programs help prevent illness help carry pure food drug laws promote consumer safety declared total war epidemic problem drug abuse winning war come long way toward goal creating sufficient treatment services addict desiring treatment obtain also making substantial investments research develop innovative treatment approaches drug abuse report greater detail effort later section year state union message strong measures taken ensure health care costs contribute inflation price people care need rate increase physicians fees cut last year alone hospital price rises also slowed build gains controls health services industry retained strengthened phase iii economic stabilization program major goal administration develop insurance system guarantee adequate financing health care every american family 92nd congress failed act upon 1971 proposal accomplish goal need legislation grown still pressing shall submit congress legislation help meet nation health insurance needs federal health policy seek safeguard country pluralistic health care system build strengths minimizing reliance arrangements must recognize appropriate limits federal role must see every health care dollar spent effectively possible means discontinuing federally funded health programs served purpose proved ineffective involve functions suitably performed state local government private sector hospital grants program example longer justified basis shortage hospital facilities prompted creation 1946 shortage given way surplus continue program would add nation excess hospital beds lead higher charges patients terminated also proposing phase community mental health center demonstration program providing funding commitments existing arrangements extending eight years program helped build establish 500 centers demonstrated new ways deliver mental health services community level regional medical programs likewise discontinued planning function performed better conducted comprehensive state planning efforts second function programs continuing education physicians already licensed inappropriate burden federal taxpayers bear education 1973 must year decisive action restructure federal aid programs education goal provide continued federal financial support schools expanding state local control basic educational decisions shall ask congress establish new program education revenue sharing program would replace complex inefficient tangle approximately 30 separate programs elementary secondary education single flexible authority use broad areas compensatory education disadvantaged education handicapped vocational education needed assistance federally affected areas supporting services education revenue sharing would enlarge opportunities state local tailor programs resources meet specific educational needs localities would mean less red tape less paper work greater freedom local level think best schools someone washington tells best would help strengthen principle diversity freedom education old america would give educators chance create fresher individual approaches educational challenges seventies time would affirm national interest promoting equal educational opportunities economically disadvantaged children one area human activity decisions best made local level people know local conditions local needs field primary secondary education urge congress join making year third education revenue sharing legislative agenda year much needed reform becomes law time also come redefine federal role higher education replacing categorical support programs institutions substantially funds student assistance budget proposals already outlined plan channel much higher education support students including new grant program would increase funds provided 948 million number assisted people almost increase current academic year proposals would help ensure first time qualified student seeking postsecondary education would barred attaining lack funds would time reinforce spirit competition among institutions made american higher education strong urge prompt enactment work eliminate unnecessary bureaucratic constraints currently hampering federal education aid also devoting attention educational research development new national institute education funding nie increase almost 50 percent fiscal year 1974 reaching 162 million finally order enhance diversity provided mixed educational system public private schools propose congress legislation provide tax credit tuition payments made parents children attend elementary secondary schools manpower federal manpower program vital part total effort conserve develop human resources present time however manpower program unified effort collection separate categorical activities many overlapping activities include programs manpower development training act institutional training programs training neighborhood youth corps public service careers operation mainstream concentrated employment program net effect several programs operating single city seldom amounts coherent strategy meeting needs people community many local programs worth cost many individual projects largely ineffective failure wastes money could used bolster solid accomplishments rest manpower programs ought offer golden second chances less fortunate acquire skills work habits help become fully productive citizens presently organized managed second chance opportunities often become another exercise frustration rather genuine entree good job believe answer much problem lies program manpower revenue sharing uniting several previously fragmented manpower activities single umbrella giving responsibility running effort governments closest working men women need assistance next 16 months administrative measures taken institute needed reform manpower system within present legal framework manpower revenue sharing assistance freed unnecessary federal constraints aimed developing jobs equipping unemployed workers useful work skills moving trainees regular employment welfare failure past two congresses enact proposals fundamental reform nation public assistance system system remains described message last year crazy quilt injustice contradiction developed bits pieces years major existing program aid families dependent children afdc inequitable inefficient inadequate ever administration program unacceptably loose latest national data indicate round numbers one every 20 persons afdc rolls totally ineligible welfare 3 paid benefits entitled another underpaid afdc recipients words receiving improper payments complex program requirements administrative red tape federal state levels created bureaucracies difficult manage inconsistent unclear definitions need diluted resources targeted need help misguided incentives discouraged employable persons work induced fathers leave home families qualify welfare several years skyrocketing increases however outlays program begun level results strong resurgence economy expansion job market along management improvements afdc program strengthened work requirements introduced program last year since legislative outlook seems preclude passage overall structural reform bill immediate future directed vigorous steps taken strengthen management afdc administrative measures legislative proposals reforms federal impediments efficient state administration current afdc system removed wherever possible changes proposed reduce complexities current eligibility payment processes work continue required reasonably considered available employment federal funds help welfare recipients acquire needed job skills increase one thing certain welfare mess permitted continue system penalizes person going work rewards person going welfare totally alien american tradition welfare reform continue one major goals work diligently congress developing ways achieve nutrition past four years federal outlays food assistance increased food stamp food distribution programs needy families extended virtually every community country 15 million persons receiving food stamps distributed foods double 1969 total 8 million schoolchildren provided free 3 million 1969 made great strides toward banishing hunger malnutrition american life shall continue building progress job done older americans one measure nation devotion older citizens fact programs benefitting including social security wide range account nearly entire federal budget social security benefits levels increased 51 percent last four years rapid increase history new legislation initially proposed benefits also become increasing automatically cost living increases 1 million older americans dependents receive higher social security benefits continuing work nearly 4 million widows widowers also starting receive larger benefits 1 billion additional income next fiscal year millions older americans helped new supplemental security income program establishes federal income floor aging blind disabled poor nevertheless confronted major item unfinished business approximately twenty million persons 65 homes disproportionate amount fixed income must used property taxes submit congress recommendations alleviating often crushing burdens property taxes place upon many older americans also ask cooperation congress passing 1974 budget request 200 million fund programs administration aging funding level four times appropriated aoa programs fiscal year 1972 half amount devoted nutrition projects elderly remainder going assist states localities developing comprehensive service programs older americans 1973 shall continue carry commitment made 1971 white house conference aging help make last days older americans best days economic opportunity one started life family bottom income scale many members congress ever forget condition felt ever turn back opportunity help alleviate lives others federal government opportunity help combat poverty commitment fight grown steadily past decade without regard party happened power 8 billion total federal expenditures 1964 30 billion proposed budget 1974 moved steadily closer goal society citizens regardless economic status resources opportunity fully control destinies beginning period government found unprepared respond sharp new national awareness plight disadvantaged creation institutional structure separate regular machinery government specifically charged helping poor seemed wise first step take thus office economic opportunity brought 1964 wide range useful programs conceived put operation years office economic opportunity programs got start within oeo moved operating departments agencies government matured thriving vista example became part action 1971 head start integrated activities focused first five years life hew office child development oeo programs developed point similarly integrated accordingly keeping determination make every dollar devoted human resources programs return 100 cents worth real benefits people need benefits decided activities conducted office economic opportunity delegated transferred cabinet departments relating respective fields activity adhering strictly statutory procedures requesting congressional approval whenever necessary shall take action effect change reorganization increase efficiency various programs grouping functionally related federal efforts minimizing overhead costs past diverted much money human needs staff payrolls administrative expenses funding transferred activities stay level many cases even increase major oeo program termination federal funding recommended budget community action new funding community action activities fiscal year 1974 discretion local communities 7 years existence community action adequate opportunity demonstrate value within communities serves build locally based agencies oeo taken steps help community action agencies put local roots program incentives training incorporated basic community action concept participation programs people programs seek serve federal activities federal spending behalf concept beyond billion spent since 1965 longer seems necessary desirable legal services one economic opportunity effort deserving special mention legal services program notwithstanding abuses legal services done much history breathe new life cherished concept equal justice providing access quality legal representation millions americans would otherwise denied want funds time come institutionalize legal services permanent responsible responsive component american system justice shall soon propose legislation congress form legal services corporation constituted permit attorneys practice according highest professional standards provided safeguards politicization activities held accountable people appropriate monitoring evaluation procedures civil rights protecting civil rights every american one firmest commitments president citizen denied equal justice equal opportunity society race color sex religion national origin administration steadily increased federal financial commitment field outlays civil rights equal opportunity 1974 pass 3 billion 3 times took office worked hard good results end de jure school segregation promote equal job opportunity combat housing discrimination foster minority business enterprise uphold voting rights assist minority higher education meet minority health problems like sickle cell anemia make progress many fronts equal opportunity clearly written statute books next many ways difficult step involves moving abstract legal rights concrete economic opportunities must ensure real social mobility freedom americans make choices go far high abilities take legislation court decisions play major part establishing freedom community attitudes government programs vigor economic system play large parts well believe made progress shall continue building progress coming year department justice expand efforts guarantee equal access equal benefit federal financial assistance programs equal employment opportunity commission receive additional resources carry expanded responsibilities civil service commission expand monitoring equal employment opportunities within federal government efforts assure federal contractors provide equal access job opportunities expanded small business administration expand loan program minority business nearly commission civil rights receive additional resources carry newly granted responsibilities additionally year ahead continue support ratification equal rights amendment constitution american women minority group majority whole population need never denied equal opportunity american indian indian people policy administration continue one advancing opportunities determination without termination special federal relationship recognized indian tribes essential put hands state local governments continue believe indian tribal governments assume greater responsibility programs bureau indian affairs department health education welfare operate reservations first proposed 1970 recommend congress enact necessary legislation facilitate responsibility also recommend 1953 termination resolution repealed meanwhile new statutory provisions indian tribal governments general revenue sharing assist responsible tribal governments allocating extra resources greater flexibility shall also propose new legislation foster local indian developing interior department program bloc grants federally recognized tribes replacement number existing economic resource development programs primary purpose grants would provide tribal governments funds could use discretion promote development reservations indian tribal organizations indians seeking enter business need easier access loan credit opportunities proposed 1970 propose legislation accomplish objective indian rights natural resources need better protection urging congress create indian trust counsel authority guarantee protection two years indians waiting congress enact major legislation proposed moved ahead administratively whenever possible restored acres wrongfully acquired government land yakima tribe filed suit supreme court protect indian water rights pyramid lake fiscal year 1974 budget proposes total federal outlays billion indian affairs increase 15 percent 1973 accelerate organizational reform directed secretary interior transfer day day operational activities bureau indian affairs washington field offices asking congress create new assistant secretary position within interior department deal indian matters veterans coming peace nation inestimable debt veterans dependents continue command high priority among human resource efforts administration past four years twice signed legislation increasing allowances educational assistance veterans nearly e million veterans form training gi bill veterans pension payments veterans survivors need income support also raised twice test need greatly improved including equitable formula adjusting va pension rate sources income social security increased va pension program directly benefits 2 million individuals compensation payments service related disabilities raised two occasions e million veterans wars receive benefit veteran deserves special concern addition consideration medical care budget calls va outlays provide disabled veterans vocational rehabilitation housing grants specially equipped automobiles nearly doubled 1974 compared 1971 level disability compensation also intensively reviewed ensure disabled veterans receive compensation payments fully recognize earnings impairment va guaranteed home loans veterans risen almost since took office job programs decreased unemployment rate among veterans almost past year alone dramatic progress made veterans medical care program high level construction modernization va medical facilities carried total number medical care personnel staffing va facilities increased since 1969 total number veterans treated va facilities outpatients risen new highs beneficiaries treated hospital inpatients go million mark fiscal 1974 first time outpatient visits climb almost twice level 1969 since 1969 also steady shortening average length stay va hospitals highly desirable objective every viewpoint means va hospitals fewer patients bed average day shorter waiting lists even though total number patients treated gone misunderstanding statistics sought establish law numerical minimum average daily patient census va hospitals fixed daily census would represent backward step would force sharply increased effect medically economically socially undesirable far better veterans restored families jobs rapidly feasible consistent good medical care fixed patient census would tie hands seeking serve veterans health needs urge congress enact requirement congress studying several bills involving va pension program cemetery burial benefits veterans hope congress work see veterans pension program realistically structured compatible major income maintenance programs burial benefits question urge legislative action deferred completion study currently conducted administrator veterans affairs determine equitable approach improving burial cemetery benefits veterans administrator recommendations made available congress near future consumer affairs resourcefulness people enter marketplace consumers generally high standard ethics social responsibility upheld business industry restrained intervention government various levels vigorous referee combination factors order largely responsible confounding predictions american capitalism would breed downfall 20th century must build strengths efforts protect rights consumer well vigor free enterprise economy 1970 early 1971 congress failed act buyer bill rights proposal new office consumer affairs directly president established office executive order direction special assistant consumer affairs oca helped create stronger consumer consciousness throughout executive branch office ready integrate operations fully line departments government accordingly transferred department health education logical base agency concerned human new base office consumer affairs continue policy formation role educational efforts also take additional responsibilities including representing consumer interests testimony congress acting general ombudsman individual consumer voluntary action many thousands americans already volunteering time meet human needs communities fighting disease teaching children read working solve local social problems must tap enormous reservoir energy represented millions potential citizen volunteers three years ago encouraged number leading citizens create national center voluntary action support private volunteer efforts two years ago established new action agency strengthen federal volunteer programs must continue seeking new avenues citizen service turn concerns war may americans accept challenge peace volunteering help meet needs communities mobilize new army concerned dedicated able volunteers across nation arts humanities know many congress share concern often expressed americans particularly younger people lost faith country 1960 believe faith reborn knowledge country moving toward era lasting peace world toward healthier environment toward new era progress equality opportunity people renewed faith also arises deeper understanding come going understanding arts humanities make great contribution government limited important function encouraging arts humanities reinforcing local initiatives helping key institutions help approach bicentennial special opportunity draw enrichment renewal cultural activity provide national life mind 1974 budget requests expansion funds national foundation arts humanities new high 168 million ask continued full support congress funding saying yes carl sandburg spoke volumes country past future three simple words became title one greatest poems people yes america risen greatness chips american people said yes yes challenge freedom yes dare progress yes hope peace even defending peace meant paying price war america greatness endure future institutions continually rededicate saying yes people yes human needs aspirations yes democracy consent governed yes equal opportunity unlimited horizons achievement every american 1973 year full opportunity great advances front decade war successfully completed one unselfish missions ever undertaken one nation defense another coming peace permits us turn attention fully works compassion concern social betterment home seriousness commitment make opportunity demonstrated record level funding human resource programs proposed new budget 125 billion twice amount spent programs took office 1969 generous budget reform budget reforms proposes put muscle behind generosity intends overall effect reforms elimination programs wasteful concentrate programs work make possible continued growth federal efforts meet human time helping prevent runaway deficit could lead higher taxes higher prices higher interest rates americans opportunity executive legislative branches together lead america new standard fairness freedom vitality within federal system forge new approach human services country approach treat people mere statistics approach recognizes problems like poverty unemployment health care costs education cold abstractions government file drawer know tough problems many us grew also know right kind help right kind spirit overcome let us give citizens help need let us remember us also bears basic obligation help help fellowman one else assume obligation us least federal government shirk individual responsibility american dream never dream people say yes challenge government says yes us washington say petty quarrels partisanship yes public trust truly bring dream life americans new day peace dawning richard nixon white house march 1 1973
congress united state information state union constitution direct shall communicate time time congress president must consist information american people open word constitution proclaim america begin people people union condition depend wholly nation land resource community economy political institution also vital concern address report congress year final analysis mean great end must ultimately measure accord single standard serve million individual americans public official serve trustee often past standard prevail often public policy decision found interest people interest special group people program set motion tend stay motion sometimes long useful life end acquire constituency even within government easily reform stopped mean come regard end one suffers people design serve despite factor conspire hinder executive legislative branch objective analytical soundness activity continue year year supposedly public interest must discipline take large view consider subject human resource fourth section 1973 state union message must confine solely discussion year past year ahead content frame choice face strictly governmental programmatic term though federal money program variable matter meet human need fulfil american dream irrevocably commit president know member congress fulfil american dream american also believe deeply seek progress reform must neither underestimate society present greatness mistake source greatness would run serious risk damage unproven panacea apply excessive haste zeal institution seek improve let u begin recognize almost measure life well american 1973 ever history well society world earlier age previous generation people ever enjoy high income well health nutrition longer great mobility convenience live enjoy today none u good chance fulfillment advancement work leisure time recreational opportunity widespread access culture arts high level education awareness world around none great access control natural human force shape live good protection suffer inhumanity injustice discrimination none enjoy great freedom secondly let u recognize american system bring u far fast simply system government help people rather system government help people help one another real miracle raise million poverty example perform economy government program integration one disadvantage minority another american mainstream accomplish inherent responsiveness political social system quota coercion dramatic gain health medical care come primarily private medicine system even public sector play major role education great strength system derive state local government primacy diverse mixture private public institution educational process factor facilitate grass root influence popular participation tamper lightly delicately balance social economic political system responsible make country best place earth live tremendous potential rectify whatever shortcoming may still persist american great credit restless impatient people nation idealists dream simply alleviate poverty hunger discrimination ignorance disease fear eradicate altogether would like today middle late 1960 pressure impatient idealism federal intervention help meet human need increase sharply provision service federal program directly individual begin regarded rule human resource policy rather rare exception past government year undertake sweep sometimes almost utopian commitment one area social concern another state local government private sector elbow aside little regard dislocation might result literally hundred new program establish assumption even complex problem could quickly solve throw enough federal dollar effort may result case case amount dismal failure classic case elevate mean status end hard evidence actual betterment people live seldom demanded amount fund new agency increase staff treat proof enough success simply motive compassionate american people deserve good deserve compassion work simply compassion mean well deserve program say yes human need say paternalism social exploitation waste protect enhance greatness society great goal doubly important therefore permit worthiness objective render u uncritical careless mean select attain objective increase greatness society example establish principle american family deny good health care inability pay diminish greatness deprive family freedom make health care arrangement without bureaucratic meddling increase greatness ensure boy girl deny quality education diminish greatness force hundred thousand child ride bus mile away neighborhood school order achieve arbitrary racial balance increase greatness establish income security system american family suffer lack income break welfare regulation encourage would erode foundation stability prosperity ever make comfortable profitable live welfare check paycheck principle 1970 consistently since 1969 administration work establish new human resource policy base healthy skepticism federal government omniscience omnicompetence strong reaffirmation right capacity individual chart live solve problem state local government private endeavor achieve wide variety significant reform progress make experience gain past four year together result careful program review conduct period prepare u seek broad reform 1973 request time since outline proposal emerge new budget intense controversy considerable misunderstanding purpose effect understandably arise among person goodwill side provide rational less emotional basis national debate properly surround recommendation would invite congress consider four basic principle believe govern human resource policy 1970 government level seek support nurture rather limit diversity freedom choice hallmark american system federal government particular must work guarantee equal chance start line remove barrier might impede individual opportunity realize full potential federal government concentrate provide incentive open opportunity less deliver direct service program direct assistance individual federal government conduct must provide evenhanded treatment must carefully design ensure benefit actually receive intended receive rather stifle initiative try direct everything washington federal effort encourage state local government make decision supply service closeness people best qualifies addition federal government seek mean encouraging private sector address social problem thereby utilize market mechanism marshal resource behind clearly state national objective finally federal policy must adhere strict standard fiscal responsibility balloon deficit spend economy new inflationary spiral recessionary tailspin name social welfare would punish cruelly people seek help hand continue addition personal tax burden already double since 1950 would reduce incentive excellence would conflict directly goal allow individual keep much possible earns permit maximum personal freedom choice new post counsellor president human resource recently create within executive office president provide much need focal point effort see principle carry federal activity aim meet human need well federal government complex relationship state local government field coordinate function perform counsellor materially increase unity coherence effectiveness policy follow section present review progress make past four year bring various human resource activity line principle outline agenda year ahead health commit remove financial barrier would limit access quality medical care american family end nearly double federal outlay health since begin administration next year exceed 30 billion nearly 60 percent fund go finance health care old american disable poor medicare medicaid take significant step meet priority need well last four year fund cancer heart lung disease research double amount billion dollar 1974 support reform health care delivery system propose legislation assist development health maintenance organization demonstration basis increase fund program help prevent illness help carry pure food drug law promote consumer safety declare total war epidemic problem drug abuse win war come long way toward goal create sufficient treatment service addict desire treatment obtain also make substantial investment research develop innovative treatment approach drug abuse report great detail effort later section year state union message strong measure take ensure health care cost contribute inflation price people care need rate increase physician fee cut last year alone hospital price rise also slow build gain control health service industry retain strengthened phase iii economic stabilization program major goal administration develop insurance system guarantee adequate financing health care every american family 92nd congress fail act upon 1971 proposal accomplish goal need legislation grow still press shall submit congress legislation help meet nation health insurance need federal health policy seek safeguard country pluralistic health care system build strength minimize reliance arrangement must recognize appropriate limit federal role must see every health care dollar spend effectively possible mean discontinue federally fund health program serve purpose proved ineffective involve function suitably perform state local government private sector hospital grant program example longer justified basis shortage hospital facility prompt creation 1946 shortage give way surplus continue program would add nation excess hospital bed lead high charge patient terminate also propose phase community mental health center demonstration program provide fund commitment exist arrangement extend eight year program help build establish 500 center demonstrate new way deliver mental health service community level regional medical program likewise discontinue plan function perform well conduct comprehensive state planning effort second function program continue education physician already licensed inappropriate burden federal taxpayer bear education 1973 must year decisive action restructure federal aid program education goal provide continue federal financial support school expand state local control basic educational decision shall ask congress establish new program education revenue share program would replace complex inefficient tangle approximately 30 separate program elementary secondary education single flexible authority use broad area compensatory education disadvantage education handicap vocational education need assistance federally affect area support service education revenue share would enlarge opportunity state local tailor program resource meet specific educational need locality would mean less red tape less paper work great freedom local level think best school someone washington tell best would help strengthen principle diversity freedom education old america would give educator chance create fresher individual approach educational challenge seventy time would affirm national interest promote equal educational opportunity economically disadvantage child one area human activity decision best make local level people know local condition local need field primary secondary education urge congress join make year third education revenue share legislative agenda year much need reform become law time also come redefine federal role high education replace categorical support program institution substantially fund student assistance budget proposal already outline plan channel much high education support student include new grant program would increase fund provide 948 million number assist people almost increase current academic year proposal would help ensure first time qualify student seek postsecondary education would bar attain lack fund would time reinforce spirit competition among institution make american high education strong urge prompt enactment work eliminate unnecessary bureaucratic constraint currently hamper federal education aid also devote attention educational research development new national institute education funding nie increase almost 50 percent fiscal year 1974 reach 162 million finally order enhance diversity provide mixed educational system public private school propose congress legislation provide tax credit tuition payment make parent child attend elementary secondary school manpower federal manpower program vital part total effort conserve develop human resource present time however manpower program unify effort collection separate categorical activity many overlap activity include program manpower development training act institutional training program train neighborhood youth corps public service career operation mainstream concentrated employment program net effect several program operate single city seldom amount coherent strategy meeting need people community many local program worth cost many individual project largely ineffective failure waste money could use bolster solid accomplishment rest manpower program ought offer golden second chance less fortunate acquire skill work habit help become fully productive citizen presently organize manage second chance opportunity often become another exercise frustration rather genuine entree good job believe answer much problem lie program manpower revenue share uniting several previously fragment manpower activity single umbrella give responsibility run effort government closest work men woman need assistance next 16 month administrative measure take institute need reform manpower system within present legal framework manpower revenue share assistance free unnecessary federal constraint aim develop job equip unemployed worker useful work skill move trainee regular employment welfare failure past two congress enact proposal fundamental reform nation public assistance system system remain described message last year crazy quilt injustice contradiction develop bit piece year major exist program aid family dependent child afdc inequitable inefficient inadequate ever administration program unacceptably loose late national data indicate round number one every 20 person afdc roll totally ineligible welfare 3 pay benefit entitle another underpaid afdc recipient word receive improper payment complex program requirement administrative red tape federal state level create bureaucracy difficult manage inconsistent unclear definition need diluted resource target need help misguide incentive discourage employable person work induced father leave home family qualify welfare several year skyrocket increase however outlays program begin level result strong resurgence economy expansion job market along management improvement afdc program strengthen work requirement introduce program last year since legislative outlook seem preclude passage overall structural reform bill immediate future direct vigorous step take strengthen management afdc administrative measure legislative proposal reform federal impediment efficient state administration current afdc system remove wherever possible change propose reduce complexity current eligibility payment process work continue require reasonably consider available employment federal fund help welfare recipient acquire need job skill increase one thing certain welfare mess permit continue system penalize person go work reward person go welfare totally alien american tradition welfare reform continue one major goal work diligently congress develop way achieve nutrition past four year federal outlay food assistance increase food stamp food distribution program needy family extend virtually every community country 15 million person receive food stamp distribute food double 1969 total 8 million schoolchildren provide free 3 million 1969 make great stride toward banish hunger malnutrition american life shall continue build progress job do old american one measure nation devotion old citizen fact program benefit include social security wide range account nearly entire federal budget social security benefit level increase 51 percent last four year rapid increase history new legislation initially propose benefit also become increase automatically cost living increase 1 million old american dependent receive high social security benefit continue work nearly 4 million widow widower also start receive large benefit 1 billion additional income next fiscal year million older american help new supplemental security income program establish federal income floor age blind disabled poor nevertheless confront major item unfinished business approximately twenty million person 65 home disproportionate amount fixed income must use property tax submit congress recommendation alleviate often crush burden property tax place upon many old american also ask cooperation congress pass 1974 budget request 200 million fund program administration age fund level four time appropriate aoa program fiscal year 1972 half amount devote nutrition project elderly remainder go assist state locality develop comprehensive service program older american 1973 shall continue carry commitment make 1971 white house conference age help make last day old american best day economic opportunity one start life family bottom income scale many member congress ever forget condition felt ever turn back opportunity help alleviate live others federal government opportunity help combat poverty commitment fight grow steadily past decade without regard party happen power 8 billion total federal expenditure 1964 30 billion propose budget 1974 move steadily closer goal society citizens regardless economic status resource opportunity fully control destiny begin period government find unprepared respond sharp new national awareness plight disadvantaged creation institutional structure separate regular machinery government specifically charge help poor seem wise first step take thus office economic opportunity bring 1964 wide range useful program conceive put operation year office economic opportunity program get start within oeo move operating department agency government mature thriving vista example become part action 1971 head start integrated activity focus first five year life hew office child development oeo program develop point similarly integrate accordingly keep determination make every dollar devote human resource program return 100 cent worth real benefit people need benefit decide activity conduct office economic opportunity delegate transferred cabinet department relate respective field activity adhere strictly statutory procedure request congressional approval whenever necessary shall take action effect change reorganization increase efficiency various program group functionally relate federal effort minimize overhead cost past diverted much money human need staff payroll administrative expense fund transferred activity stay level many case even increase major oeo program termination federal funding recommend budget community action new funding community action activity fiscal year 1974 discretion local community 7 year existence community action adequate opportunity demonstrate value within community serf build locally base agency oeo take step help community action agency put local root program incentive train incorporated basic community action concept participation program people program seek serve federal activity federal spending behalf concept beyond billion spent since 1965 longer seem necessary desirable legal service one economic opportunity effort deserve special mention legal service program notwithstanding abuse legal service do much history breathe new life cherish concept equal justice provide access quality legal representation million american would otherwise deny want fund time come institutionalize legal service permanent responsible responsive component american system justice shall soon propose legislation congress form legal service corporation constitute permit attorney practice accord high professional standard provide safeguard politicization activity hold accountable people appropriate monitor evaluation procedure civil right protect civil right every american one firm commitment president citizen deny equal justice equal opportunity society race color sex religion national origin administration steadily increase federal financial commitment field outlay civil right equal opportunity 1974 pas 3 billion 3 time take office work hard good result end de jure school segregation promote equal job opportunity combat housing discrimination foster minority business enterprise uphold voting right assist minority high education meet minority health problem like sickle cell anemia make progress many front equal opportunity clearly write statute book next many way difficult step involve move abstract legal right concrete economic opportunity must ensure real social mobility freedom american make choice go far high ability take legislation court decision play major part establish freedom community attitudes government program vigor economic system play large part well believe make progress shall continue build progress come year department justice expand effort guarantee equal access equal benefit federal financial assistance program equal employment opportunity commission receive additional resource carry expand responsibility civil service commission expand monitor equal employment opportunity within federal government effort assure federal contractor provide equal access job opportunity expand small business administration expand loan program minority business nearly commission civil right receive additional resource carry newly grant responsibility additionally year ahead continue support ratification equal right amendment constitution american woman minority group majority whole population need never deny equal opportunity american indian indian people policy administration continue one advance opportunity determination without termination special federal relationship recognize indian tribe essential put hand state local government continue believe indian tribal government assume great responsibility program bureau indian affair department health education welfare operate reservation first propose 1970 recommend congress enact necessary legislation facilitate responsibility also recommend 1953 termination resolution repeal meanwhile new statutory provision indian tribal government general revenue share assist responsible tribal government allocate extra resource great flexibility shall also propose new legislation foster local indian develop interior department program bloc grant federally recognize tribes replacement number exist economic resource development program primary purpose grant would provide tribal government fund could use discretion promote development reservation indian tribal organization indian seek enter business need easy access loan credit opportunity propose 1970 propose legislation accomplish objective indian right natural resource need good protection urge congress create indian trust counsel authority guarantee protection two year indian wait congress enact major legislation propose move ahead administratively whenever possible restored acre wrongfully acquire government land yakima tribe file suit supreme court protect indian water right pyramid lake fiscal year 1974 budget proposes total federal outlay billion indian affair increase 15 percent 1973 accelerate organizational reform direct secretary interior transfer day day operational activity bureau indian affair washington field office ask congress create new assistant secretary position within interior department deal indian matter veteran come peace nation inestimable debt veteran dependent continue command high priority among human resource effort administration past four year twice sign legislation increase allowance educational assistance veteran nearly e million veteran form train gi bill veterans pension payment veterans survivor need income support also raise twice test need greatly improve include equitable formula adjust va pension rate source income social security increase va pension program directly benefit 2 million individual compensation payment service related disability raise two occasion e million veteran war receive benefit veteran deserve special concern addition consideration medical care budget call va outlay provide disabled veteran vocational rehabilitation housing grant specially equip automobile nearly double 1974 compare 1971 level disability compensation also intensively review ensure disabled veteran receive compensation payment fully recognize earnings impairment va guarantee home loan veteran rise almost since take office job program decrease unemployment rate among veteran almost past year alone dramatic progress make veteran medical care program high level construction modernization va medical facility carry total number medical care personnel staff va facility increase since 1969 total number veteran treat va facility outpatient rise new high beneficiary treat hospital inpatient go million mark fiscal 1974 first time outpatient visit climb almost twice level 1969 since 1969 also steady shorten average length stay va hospital highly desirable objective every viewpoint mean va hospital few patient bed average day shorter wait list even though total number patient treat go misunderstand statistic seek establish law numerical minimum average daily patient census va hospital fix daily census would represent backward step would force sharply increased effect medically economically socially undesirable far good veteran restored family job rapidly feasible consistent good medical care fix patient census would tie hand seek serve veteran health need urge congress enact requirement congress study several bill involve va pension program cemetery burial benefit veteran hope congress work see veterans pension program realistically structure compatible major income maintenance program burial benefit question urge legislative action defer completion study currently conduct administrator veteran affair determine equitable approach improve burial cemetery benefit veteran administrator recommendation make available congress near future consumer affair resourcefulness people enter marketplace consumer generally high standard ethic social responsibility upheld business industry restrain intervention government various level vigorous referee combination factor order largely responsible confound prediction american capitalism would breed downfall 20th century must build strength effort protect right consumer well vigor free enterprise economy 1970 early 1971 congress fail act buyer bill right proposal new office consumer affair directly president establish office executive order direction special assistant consumer affair oca help create strong consumer consciousness throughout executive branch office ready integrate operation fully line department government accordingly transfer department health education logical base agency concern human new base office consumer affair continue policy formation role educational effort also take additional responsibility include represent consumer interest testimony congress act general ombudsman individual consumer voluntary action many thousand american already volunteer time meet human need community fight disease teach child read work solve local social problem must tap enormous reservoir energy represent million potential citizen volunteer three year ago encourage number lead citizen create national center voluntary action support private volunteer effort two year ago establish new action agency strengthen federal volunteer program must continue seek new avenue citizen service turn concern war may americans accept challenge peace volunteer help meet needs community mobilize new army concern dedicate able volunteer across nation art humanity know many congress share concern often express american particularly young people lose faith country 1960 believe faith reborn knowledge country move toward era last peace world toward healthy environment toward new era progress equality opportunity people renew faith also arise deep understand come go understanding art humanity make great contribution government limit important function encourage art humanity reinforce local initiative help key institution help approach bicentennial special opportunity draw enrichment renewal cultural activity provide national life mind 1974 budget request expansion fund national foundation art humanities new high 168 million ask continue full support congress fund say yes carl sandburg speak volume country past future three simple word become title one great poems people yes america rise greatness chip american people say yes yes challenge freedom yes dare progress yes hope peace even defend peace mean pay price war america greatness endure future institution continually rededicate say yes people yes human need aspiration yes democracy consent govern yes equal opportunity unlimited horizon achievement every american 1973 year full opportunity great advance front decade war successfully complete one unselfish mission ever undertake one nation defense another come peace permit u turn attention fully work compassion concern social betterment home seriousness commitment make opportunity demonstrate record level funding human resource program propose new budget 125 billion twice amount spent program take office 1969 generous budget reform budget reform propose put muscle behind generosity intend overall effect reform elimination program wasteful concentrate program work make possible continued growth federal effort meet human time help prevent runaway deficit could lead high tax higher price high interest rate americans opportunity executive legislative branch together lead america new standard fairness freedom vitality within federal system forge new approach human service country approach treat people mere statistic approach recognize problem like poverty unemployment health care cost education cold abstraction government file drawer know tough problem many u grow also know right kind help right kind spirit overcome let u give citizen help need let u remember u also bear basic obligation help help fellowman one else assume obligation u least federal government shirk individual responsibility american dream never dream people say yes challenge government say yes u washington say petty quarrel partisanship yes public trust truly bring dream life americans new day peace dawn richard nixon white house march 1 1973