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1/21/76 - Talking Points: Sub-Cabinet Budget Briefing (Includes draft)
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1252653
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1/21/76 - Talking Points: Sub-Cabinet Budget Briefing (Includes draft)
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President's Speeches and Statements Reading Copies (Ford Administration)
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1976-01-21
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1976
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The original documents are located in Box 22, "1/21/76 - Talking Points: Sub-Cabinet
Budget Briefing (Includes draft)" of the President's Speeches and Statements: Reading
Copies at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Gerald Ford donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Digitized from Box 22 of President's Speeches and Statements: Reading Copies at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
THE PRESIDENT HAS SEEN
TALKING POINTS:
SUB-CABINET BUDGET BRIEFING
JANUARY 21, 1976
-I-
THANK YOU, MR VICE PRESIDENT
IT IS A PLEASURE TO WELCOME MEMBERS OF THE
"SUB-CABINET" TO THE WHITE HOUSE THIS AFTERNOON
-2-
I'LL BE WELCOMING YOUR WIVES AND HUSBANDS HERE ON FRIDAY
MORNING WHEN I'LL DO MY BEST TO EXPLAIN TO THEM WHY YOU'VE
BEEN STAYING AT THE OFFICE so MUCH IN RECENT WEEKS
I HOPE YOU'VE ALL BEEN WORKING ON THE BUDGET
-3-
BEFORE WE PROCEED TO THE BUSINESS AT HAND,
LET ME SAY A WORD OF THANKS TO EACH OF YOU FOR THE VERY
GOOD JOB YOU ARE DOING AS LEADERS OF THIS ADMINISTRATION
-4-
WE HAVE ONE OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED AND MOST
ACTIVE CABINETS -- AND SUB-CABINETS -- IN RECENT HISTORY
YOU ARE PLAYING A VERY SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN HELPING ME
CREATE AND IMPLEMENT SOUND POLICIES FOR PROGRESS FOR THE
AMERICAN PEOPLE, AND I THANK YOU FOR IT
-5-
IN MY STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS MONDAY NIGHT,
I SPOKE OF THE NEED FOR MORE COMMON SENSE, A NEW REALISM,
A BETTER BALANCE BETWEEN GOVERNMENT ACTIVITY AND PRIVATE
EFFORTS
THESE ARE NOT JUST SLOGANS FOR AN ELECTION YEAR --
THEY ARE THE UNDERLYING THEMES AND COMMITMENTS OF THIS
ADMINISTRATION, AND THEY ARE NECESSARY INGRED IENTS FOR THIS
NATION'S SUCCESS IN ITS THIRD CENTURY OF INDEPENDENCE.
-6-
THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF THIS COMMON SENSE
APPROACH TO GOVERNMENT IS THE REALIZATION THAT WE DO NOT HAVE
THE RESOURCES TO IMMEDIATELY SOLVE EVERY ONE OF THE NATION'S
PROBLEMS AND ACHIEVE ALL OF OUR AMBITIOUS AND WELL-INTENTIONED
GOALS.
-7-
WE ARE COMMITTED TO HOLDING DOWN THE GROWTH
OF FEDERAL SPENDING.
OUR BUDGET THIS YEAR REFLECTS THAT COMMITMENT
ON EVERY PAGE
NO DEPARTMENT OR AGENCY HAS BEEN
EXCEPTED, AND NONE HAS BEEN CALLED UPON TO BEAR AN
UNFAIR SHARE OF THE BURDEN
#
-8-
OUR FISCAL YEAR 1977 BUDGET - - -
*** SETS A COURSE THAT SHOULD PUT THE
THE 1979 BUDGET IN BALANCE
*** PERMITS AND ENCOURAGES REAL, STEADY
ECONOMIC GROWTH
-9-
* * * ARRESTS THE RAPID GROWTH IN FEDERAL SPENDING
THE RATE OF GROWTH PROPOSED IS 5.5 PERCENT, LESS THAN HALF
THE AVERAGE GROWTH RATE OF LAST TEN YEARS
*** STRIKES A BETTER BALANCE BETWEEN THOSE
WHO PAY TAXES AND THOSE WHO BENEFIT FROM FEDERAL SPENDING
-10-
***
PROPOSES TAX CUTS FOR INDIVIDUALS,
GROWTH
TAX INCENTIVES FOR BUSINESS INVESTMENT AND
*** GIVES HIGH PRIORITY TO ENERGY RESEARCH
AND DEVELOPMENT
A RECORD RESEARCH BUDGET OVERALL
-II-
***
STRIKES A BETTER BALANCE BETWEEN
NATIONAL DEFENSE REQUIREMENTS AND SOCIAL NEEDS
*** STRIKES A BETTER BALANCE BETWEEN
FEDERAL CONTROL AND STATE-LOCAL AUTHORITY
CONSOLIDATES SOME FEDERAL PROGRAMS, REPLACES OTHERS
WITH BLOCK GRANTS
Education
Health
child
Social Aeroicas
CONCLUSION
_12_
OUR GOAL IS TO RESTORE THE TRULY FEDERAL SYSTEM
WHICH OUR FOREFATHERS ENVISIONED AND ESTABLISHED IN THE
CONSTITUTION
WE HOPE TO GIVE MORE RESPONSIBILITY
AND AUTHORITY BACK TO THE STATES AND THEIR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
WE DO NOT WANT TO DISMANTLE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT --
WE WANT TO MAKE IT WORK BETTER, MORE EFFICIENTLY,
AND MORE EFFECTIVELY
-13-
IT MAY BE A REVOLUTIONARY IDEA FOR A PRESIDENT --
OR ANY POLITICIAN -- TO PROMISE PEOPLE THAT HE WON'T DO
SOMETHING FOR THEM, BUT IN THIS BICENTENNIAL YEAR,
IT IS AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME
-14-
I AM COUNTING ON EACH ONE OF YOU TO HELP ME
IN THIS EFFORT
WE MUST SELL OUR PROGRAM TO THE AMERICAN
PEOPLE AND TO THE CONGRESS
IF WE ARE SUCCESSFUL,
I AM CONFIDENT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WILL RESPOND IN A POSITIVE
WAY, AND WE CAN WRITE AN IMPORTANT NEW CHAPTER IN THE
HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY
WE CAN POINT THE WAY TOWARDS
A MORE PROSPEROUS AND SECURE FUTURE FOR MANY GENERATIONS
OF AMERICANS TO COME
-15-
THANK YOU FOR COMING
THANK YOU FOR ALL
YOU HAVE DONE
END OF TEXT
(Butler)
January 20, 1976
THE PRESIDENT HAS SEEN
TALKING POINTS: SUB-CABINET BUDGET BRIEFING, JANUARY 21
It is a pleasure to welcome members of the "Sub-Cabinet" to the
White House this afternoon. I'll be welcoming your wives and husbands
here on Friday morning when I'll do my best to explain to them why
you've been staying at the office so much in recent weeks -- I hope
you've all been working on the budget.
Before we proceed to the business at hand, let me say a word of
thanks to each of you for the very good job you are doing as leaders of
this Administration. With a government establishment as big as ours, it
it literally impossible for any one man to exercise effective control and
guidance over every single area of activity.
For that reason, I have done my very best to assemble an out-
standing leadership team -- - and I have succeeded. We have one of the
most distinguished and most active Cabinets -- and sub-Cabinets -- - - in
-2-
recent history. You are playing a very significant role in helping me
create and implement sound policies for progress for the American
people, and I thank you for it.
In my State of the Union address Monday night, I spoke of the
need for more common sense, a new realism, a better balance between
government activity and private efforts. These are not just slogans for
an election year -- they are theunderlying themes for this Administration
and they are necessary ingredients for this Nation's success in its third
century of independence.
The most important immediate aspect of this common sense
approach to the government is the realization that we do not have the
resources to singlehandedly solve every one of the Nation's problems
and achieve all of our ambitious and well-intentioned goals.
Our commitment to hold down the growth of Federal spending is
based on the knowledge that if we spend ourselves into insolvency,
-3-
no one will benefit and everyone in this country will be in serious,
serious trouble.
Our budget this year reflects that commitment on every page.
No department or agency has been excepted, and none has been called
upon to bear an unfair share of the burden.
We have a budget that will ensure a strong and ready national
defense. At the same time, it will meet the legitimate social and
economic needs of 215 million Americans. It is a budget that can help
us travel much further on the road to economic recovery and real
prosperity -- not just the illusion of prosperity which is inflation's
favorite and most dangerous disguise.
It is my hope that this fiscal 1977 budget will represent a
turning point -- a very important turning point -- in the history of this
Federal government.
-4-
Our goal is to restore the truly Federal system which our fore-
fathers envisioned and established in the Constitution. We hope to give
more responsibility and authority back to the States and their local
governments. We do not want to dismantle the Federal Government --
we want to make it work better, more efficiently, and more effectively.
It may be a revolutionary idea for a President -- or any politician --
to promise people that he won't do something for them, but in this
Bicentennial year, it is an idea whose time has come.
I am counting on each of one of you to help me in that effort. We
must sell our program to the American people and to the Congress. If
we are successful, I am confident the American people will resp ond in
a positive way, and we can write an important new chapter in the history
of this country and point the way toward a prosperous and secure future
for many generations of Americans to come.
# # #