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    "localId": "7339821",
    "label": "Exchange of Remarks between the President and Gregory L. Rose, Member, National Society of YMCA Youth Governors [Ford Speech or Statement]",
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    "title": "Exchange of Remarks between the President and Gregory L. Rose, Member, National Society of YMCA Youth Governors [Ford Speech or Statement]",
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            "logicalDate": "1975-06-26",
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    "ocrText": "Digitized from Box 12 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library\nFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\nJUNE 26, 1975\nOFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY\nTHE WHITE HOUSE\nEXCHANGE OF REMARKS\nBETWEEN THE PRESIDENT\nAND\nGREGORY L. ROSE\nMEMBER, NATIONAL SOCIETY\nOF YMCA YOUTH GOVERNORS\nTHE CABINET ROOM\n10:53 A.M. EDT\nTHE PRESIDENT: Let me congratulate all of you\nGovernors. I wish we could get the same applause from\nthe duly elected Governors when they come down to the\nWhite House.\nI don't mean to be critical of them because\nthey have been very helpful in many ways, but I am very\ngrateful for your very warm reception, and I wish to\ncongratulate you on your election, your selection, and also\nthe activities in which you are participating.\nI think it is appropriate, also, to say that I\nbelieve the Reader's Digest does a fine job in making this\nprogram possible. Their support of it makes it feasible\nfor all of you to come down and get firsthand some insight\ninto the Government here, to get to know the people that\nare representing you in both the House and the Senate,\nand to talk firsthand with individuals in the Executive\nBranch of the Government.\nThe net result is in due time, and I hope soon,\nall of you can become an active participant in the\nGovernment in your respective areas, whether it is local,\nwhether it is Statewide or whether it is on the Federal\nlevel.\nLet me say parenthetically, I am confident with\nyour educational background, the experiences that you have,\nand will have, and your interest that all of you will do\nan infinitely better job when you start running things\nthan we have.\nSo, get prepared and be active because it is\nimportant for the country, as well as yourselves, that\nwhen the time comes you can do that job, which is so\nimportant.\nLet me just make an observation or two because,\nas you have talked to many, you have maybe gotten one\nside of the coin and not entirely the other, and I am not\ngoing to speak in a partisan way.\nMORE\nPage 2\nBut, there is something that I think all of you\nought to understand. You know, we have a Judicial\nBranch, an Executive Branch and a Legislative Branch,\nand they all perform a very important function.\nOur forefathers so wisely decided they didn't\nwant one person or one group in our society dominating\nall of the rest, and so they established this system of\nchecks and balances -- the Executive being checked by\nthe Judiciary, and by the Legislative, and vice versa.\nThis system has ended up giving us a\ntremendously effective Government protecting our\nindividual rights, and also giving us the flexibility\nto meet our problems.\nYou may have read, and you may have heard, there\nis a confrontation between the Executive Branch on the\none hand and the Legislative Branch on the other, probably\nbest exemplified by the four vetoes that I have exercised\nwhere, on the reconsideration by the Congress, the House of\nRepresentatives has sustained in each case the four vetoes.\nSome people are alleging that we have a stalemate,\nthat we are not making headway. Let me convince you other-\nwise.\nFirst, let me explain what the function is of a\nveto.\nThe Constitution says that a President can\nexercise a veto and that if it is to be overridden and\nthe legislation is to become law, two-thirds of the\nHouse and the Senate must override.\nNow, in the case of the four vetoes where the\nCongress has sustained by vetoes, we have not been dead-\nlocked into no action.\nThe facts are that in two of the cases, the\nfact that I vetoed what I think is bad legislation\nand where there has been a sustaining of the veto, the\nCongress has come back after reconsideration and actually\nsubmitted -- or is in the process of submitting --\nlegislation that is good legislation, or infinitely\nbetter legislation than that which was vetoed.\nMORE\nPage 3\nSo the exercise of the veto has kept the\ncountry from having a bad law on the statute books\nbecause the Congress has then understood that they\nhad to do a better job.\nIn the case of housing, I think we will have\nthat result. We will get a good housing bill.\nIn the case of the appropriation bill where\nthey increased my recommendation by $3 billion, where\nthey added to my proposal for a summer youth employment\nprogram, and where they added money over and above\nthe public service program that I recommended, added\n$3 billion with a whole raft of goodies that could\nnot be justified economically, they have now done what?\nThey have taken the summer youth program which I have\nrecommended, they added a few minor items, but basically\nthey appropriated the money that I proposed.\nIn the case of housing, it appears they are\ngoing to more or less go along with the recommendations\nthat I made.\nWhat I am saying is our forefathers gave\nto a President a tool to get the Congress to think, to\nreconsider and to come back with something that is\nmore acceptable to the Executive Branch of the Govern-\nment, a program that is a better program for the people\nas a whole, and that is what we really want.\nWe don't want legislation that is indefensible;\nwe want legislation that financially and otherwise\nis in the best interest of all the people.\nNow, there is another problem that you may\nhave heard about; it is a little different. It is\ntraditional that a President recommends legislation.\nThis is the system, the way it works.\nUsually it is recommended in what we call a\nState of the Union message, given when Congress reconvenes,\nbut it can be done on other occasions -- like I am\nsending up today a proposal for what we call a Uranium\nEnrichment Program, which is of vital importance for\nus to build facilities to supply our nuclear power,\nand to supply to foreign customers the necessary ingredients.\nBut the point that I want to make here is in\nJanuary I submitted a very comprehensive energy program\nthat would, if enacted into law, get the American\npeople to conserve energy which is necessary; and\nsecondly, the program I have proposed would stimulate\ndomestic sources of energy because the United States today\nis very vulnerable to the foreign oil producers.\nMORE\nPage 4\nIf we had an oil embargo today, we would be\nworse off in gasoline, in fuel oil, in all crude oil\nproducts, than we were in 1973.\nHow many of you can remember standing at the\ngas station? You could not get gas unless you waited\na long time. How many of you can remember the other\ninconveniences that you had to go through because\nthere was an oil embargo?\nIf we had an oil embargo today, we would be\nworse off because Congress has not enacted, as I\nrecommended, or they have not enacted something that\nthey have proposed.\nSo in this case there has to be some push on the\nCongress from me, from the American people, to get off\ndead center and enact an energy program. Otherwise,\nwe will be more and more vulnerable to foreign sources,\nand we cannot afford that from the point of view of\nour country's national security, our country's economic\nprosperity; and therefore, as you go back home_ and have\nan opportunity to talk to others, please get your friends,\nas well as yourselves, to get Congress to move ahead\nin the field of energy, either on the program that I\nhave recommended or some program that they will put\ntogether. We cannot condone a lack of action on the\npart of the Congress in the field of energy.\nThis is a little different problem from the\nveto problem that I discussed earlier, but it is all\npart of how our Government works. In each case, what\nis being done in the case of vetoes and better legislation,\nthat is part of our Constitution. In the case of no\naction, that is the prerogative of the Congress.\nI think it is wrong where they don't do anything,\nbut at least that is their prerogative, and the way\nto get the Congress to move -- and I spent 25 years there\nSO I know a little bit about how the Congress either\nworks or does not work, and I know that if people back\nin their respective districts or respective States say,\n\"Move,\" the Members of Congress will act, and act, I think,\nin most cases, responsibly.\nWell, this is a great opportunity for me to\ntalk to not only leaders in your own right, but prospective\nleaders in the future.\nGood luck, and I am confident after most of us\nwho are here now are out of the picture, we can look and\nsay those young Governors that came down to Washington\nin this program are doing a better job than we did.\nGood luck, and the very best to you.\nThank you.\nMORE\nPage 5\nMR. ROSE: Mr. President, it is my privilege\nand honor, being Youth Governor from Michigan, to\npresent you at this time a current certificate of your\nmembership in the National Society of YMCA Youth\nGovernors, of which we are all members, of which\nthere are about 500 members, starting in 1962, through-\nout the United States.\nAs a small symbol of our appreciation, I\nwould like to present you this book \"Mankind and the\nTurning Point,\" which we would appreciate your reading.\n(Laughter)\nTHE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Gregory,\nand thank all of you.\nI never made it as a Governor (Laughter) so I\nam glad to be a part of the Society of Governors.\nI thank you for thinking of me, and I will\nmake an effort; I will do my best to try and read it.\nThank you, and good luck to you.\nI congratulate the YMCA. I congratulate the\nReader's Digest. And most importantly, I congratulate\nall of you.\nThe very best to you.\nThank you very, very much.\nEND\n(AT 11:06 A.M. EDT)"
}