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Remarks of the President to the Bipartisan Group of Mayors [Ford Speech or Statement]
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7342335
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Remarks of the President to the Bipartisan Group of Mayors [Ford Speech or Statement]
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White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
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1976
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Digitized from Box 20 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JANUARY 29, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
TO THE
BIPARTISAN GROUP OF MAYORS
THE STATE DINING ROOM
2:07 P.M. EST
Members of the Cabinet, distinguished mayors from
around the country, ladies and gentlemen:
I am delighted to see all of you here. I have had the
opportunity to meet with many of the officers of your organiza-
tion, representatives of the Mayors throughout the country, but
it is nice to have an opportunity to say a few words to a
group that represents so many people and a group that on a day-to
day basis, works trying to solve the problems that we have
throughout the country in municipal or other local areas.
I know you are going to meet with some of the
Cabinet members and others to dsicuss specifics so I will
try to stay away from some of the details.
I like to talk very frankly about the things that
I see as most important from your point of view and from the
point of view of the Government and the people as a whole.
And let me be very categorical. I think general revenue
sharing is in very deep trouble, and unless the mayors and the
county officials and Governors get to work, working with us,
you are going to end up with no general revenue sharing bill
before Congress quits.
This has to be a massive joint effort. The present
law, as you know, expires December 31. Under that law, some
$30 billion will have been made available to States and to
local units of Government. In the Message that I sent up
to Congress last year, eight months ago, there has not been
any forward movement in the Congress on the legislation.
If Congress adjourns sometime in the fall without
acting on it, there won't be any authorization for the
$6 billion 500 million I put in the budget for States and
local units of Government.
I was talking to some Governors the other day and
they were asking me about it. They have to make up their
budgets some time in 1976 for the calendar or fiscal year
that begins January 1 and if Congress quits without acting
on it, they can't make up a budget to include this kind of
general revenue sharing money. And I suspect the same thing
happens with municipalities.
MORE
Page 2
So if you want a general revenue sharing bill, you
have to move -- working with us, with the Governors and with
county officials. Time is getting very short. Congress has
two or three recesses between now and when they are going to
adjourn and the days for affirmative legislative action are
getting smaller and smaller and I think we have to launch a
massive effort to get some action. Time is of the essence.
Now let's talk about some of the other programs that
all of you work with on a day-to-day basis, where the
Government can be helpful, has been helpful, where the concept
of block grant programs, I believe, has been beneficial to
the recipients -- those you serve and yourselves.
Let's talk about the community development program.
In the budget that I sent up a week or ten days ago, we
recommended $3.2 billion -- $450 million more than in the
current fiscal year. We recognize that all of you in
communities have special problems and we are trying to make
sure, under the Community Development Act of 1974, that you
are going to not only get the benefit of the consolidation of
categorical grant programs where there are seven cut down
to one, but we also recognize that with a better way to
deliver those services, you are going to get more money.
So when I hear criticism that this Administration
is not responsive to the needs of local units of Government,
the facts tell a different story.
Now I would like to say a word or two about four
other programs that we are seeking to consolidate so that
at the local level you can do a better job of delivering the
services -- health, education, social services, child
nutrition.
The health programs under the categorical grant
system, I think, have not been delivered as well as they
should, and let me illustrate why they can't be delivered
effectively. Let me show you how these health services are
delivered. $10 billion from the Federal Government to
States and local units of Government delivering health services,
some 15 different basic programs, $10 billion. You can't
possibly deliver the services effectively with that kind of
a system, and what we are trying to do is consolidate these
programs so that the money goes from the Federal Government,
that is important, without any matching fund requirement so that
the people who are the beneficiaries get the services much more
effectively.
Now we have the same problem in primary, elementary
and secondary education. The chart looks as bad, if not
worse, and what we have recommended in the case of education
is the consolidation of -- I think there are 27 programs
in this area. So you can imagine it looks much worse than
this one with only 15, and we are recommending $3 billion 300 million
with $150 million bonus so that nobody can say that we weren't
responsive. But nobody can defend that kind of a system.
MORE
Page 3
In the case of child nutrition, it is a little
different, but there are some 15 programs there. What we
found was that under the programs as they exist currently,
around 700,000 children who come from families above the
poverty line are getting benefits and more or less a
corresponding number of children below the poverty line are
not getting the benefits. Now I don't think you can defend
that. Giving money to the families above the poverty line
and depriving children from families below the poverty line,
will anybody stand up and defend that? I can't.
So what we want to do is to make certain and make
positive that the children of those families that are below the
poverty line get the benefits. It is just that simple.
It is a better program, and it won't go through the red tape
of some 15 categorical grant programs.
And the same is true in social services. Again
we are trying to make sure that the recipient gets
the benefit as intended by the Congress with Federal money,
no matching money. We are trying to help you so you will
have responsibility and the ability and the capability to run
the programs.
We need your help to convince Congress that this is
not the way to do it,and what we are proposing is a better
way to do it.
Let me recapitulate the benefits. We are taking the
services that are now being provided with Federal dollars
requiring matching and saying to all of you elected officials
and your administrative helpers, we will give you the Federal
dollars, not require matching and expect you to run these pro-
grams properly and effectively.
Oh, I know there are some people who say you can't
trust local officials, you can't trust the Governors. I don't
believe that. I have a lot of faith in you people and I
happen to think that if you don't do the job, your constituents
reflect that, but I think you will. And I believe not in
taking a Federal program, removing the Federal money and
dumping the requirement on State and local units of Government.
That is not the way to solve the problem. The way to solve
it is to give you the money, give you the responsibility
and know that you will carry out what the American people
really believe in.
I just walked over with Secretary Coleman and
we have some good news on legislation that finally got through
the Congress yesterday. It is the rail bill that involves
around $6 billion 800 million that gives us the opportunity
to help railroads, particularly in the Northeast corridor,
gives US the opportunity to get some regulatory reform.
MORE
Page 4
One thing that Secretary Coleman told me as we
walked over was that in this legislation -- legislation that
we recommended and finally got the Congress to agree to --
there is money in there for some 30,000 to 40,000 jobs in
the rehabilitation of rail beds and a wide variety of other
programs, and Secretary Coleman has promised me that there will
be immediate implementation of that legislation. We not only
need our rail system working better, but we can also, in a
constructive way, rehabilitate the railroads so that they
can provide the services both for freight as well as
passenger service.
There are a number of other programs that I know
will interest you and you, undcubtedly, have a great many
questions that you might like to ask. But if we work together --
general revenue sharing, some of these consolidation programs --
if we work in unison, we can achieve a great deal. I happen
to think that we are on the right course in trying to get
over the hump of the recession that we had in 1975 where we
had very high inflation and unemployment, much too high,
but by a firm, steady, constructive program of trying to
watch the expenditure of Federal dollars and not going for
some of these quick fixes that some people advocated, the
rate of inflation is going down. The rate of unemployment is
headed in the right direction -- down. And we are laying
the foundation for a healthy economy with the emphasis --
with the emphasis -- on the private sector and that is where
you get your tax money.
If you have a healthy economy, you can collect and
will collect money at the local level to provide the services
that your constituents require and it will give us an
opportunity to help you with Federal dollars in better managed
programs such as we have proposed.
I am an optimist about America. I believe the system
that has given us all these blessings for some 200 years is
a better system than some Government-managed economy, and
working together we can, I think, give us a good year in 1976
and an even better year in 1977.
Thank you very, very much.
END
(AT 2:22 P.M. EST)