Weekly Radio Report: President Eisenhower; Federal Spending and Civil Rights

Item

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c031_051.mp3

c031_051_tr.txt

Transcription (Scripto)

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Extent (Dublin Core)

5 Minutes, 33 Seconds

File Name (Dublin Core)

c031_051

Title (Dublin Core)

Weekly Radio Report: President Eisenhower; Federal Spending and Civil Rights

Description (Dublin Core)

Congressman Bob Dole discusses recent events in Congress in his weekly radio broadcast. He first talks about making President Eisenhower an honorary Congressman. He discusses the federal budget, impacts Congress has on it, and the importance of not overspending and creating more debt. He then talks about how the wheat subcommittee is struggling to come to an agreement on wheat legislation, and asks Kansas farmers to write to him after harvest. Dole ends the broadcast with mentioning that Civil Rights is an issue that may interfere with wheat legislation.

Date (Dublin Core)

1963-06-01

Date Created (Dublin Core)

1963-06-01

Congress (Dublin Core)

88th (1963-1965)

Topics (Dublin Core)

See all items with this valueDeficit financing--United States

See all items with this valueAgricultural laws and legislation--United States

Policy Area (Curation)

Agriculture and Food

Economics and Public Finance

Creator (Dublin Core)

Dole, Robert J., 1923-2021

Record Type (Dublin Core)

radio programs

Names (Dublin Core)

See all items with this valueEisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969

Rights (Dublin Core)

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/

Language (Dublin Core)

eng

Collection Finding Aid (Dublin Core)

https://dolearchivecollections.ku.edu/index.php?p=collections/findingaid&id=84&q=

Physical Collection (Dublin Core)

Collection 031, Box 1

Institution (Dublin Core)

Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

Archival Collection (Dublin Core)

Dole Audio Reels Collection, 1960-1979

Full Text (Extract Text)

This is Congressman Bob Dole with my weekly radio report from Washington. First of all, I again wish to thank this station for carrying my weekly program as a public service broadcast.

Let me state first that we were honored last week by having as a special guest, President — former President — Dwight D. Eisenhower, at a meeting of Republican House Members, of which I happen to have the honor of being the Chairman of the 87th Club. The meeting was sponsored by the club. We presented to the former President a scroll making him an honorary Congressman-at-large. Needless to say this is meaningless as far as real rights as a Member of Congress is concerned, but at least it is a token of expression of our feeling towards the former President.

I might say that following the comments — following the breakfast — that Eisenhower pointed out to us that we have a great responsibility, of course, as we recognize, but it's becoming greater and greater in efforts to hold down federal spending. And it seems to me that he realizes more now than he did when he was President the necessity of holding down federal spending and federal control and federal interference, because he made many references to the fact that we must be on guard against an all-powerful, centralized federal government. And, certainly, I think this is true, and this will continue to be true until such time as we have Members of Congress and members in the Administration — whether it be this one or the next one, whether it be Republican or Democrat — who're willing to say no occasionally.

And again, while we may think many programs — in fact may know that many programs are desirable — how can we spend and spend and spend when we don't have the money? Let me point out again, that we can't do it on an individual basis, you can't do it at home, you cannot spend money you do not have, and I don't know how we can continue to ask the federal government to spend money it does not have. And let me point out, too, that it's not always the President's fault when we exceed the budget. Many items are budgeted but many times Congress will exceed the President's budget, and of course, when Congress does this, then they must accept the responsibility for any increase in the deficit, in other words, any increase in spending over income for that year.

As a matter of interest to the wheat producer in Western Kansas — in fact throughout the country — let me state this, that it has been nearly two weeks since we've had a meeting of our wheat subcommittee. During the first meeting we met for two hours; at that time we discussed the pros and cons of new wheat legislation. There are 13 members on our wheat subcommittee — eight Democrats and five Republicans — and I hurriedly estimated that the five Republicans in 1962 — in other words, they represent states that in 1962 — had wheat allotments of around 28 million acres, which is over half of [the] 55 million acre national allotment. The five — [correcting himself] the eight Democrats on the other hand, they come from eight states who in 1962 had allotments of only around 8 million acres. So the five Republicans — the minority in other words — should have a very keen interest in not only wheat legislation, but it should have a very strong voice when we start considering wheat legislation, because even though we may be the minority party, when you represent nearly three times — in fact over three times — the wheat production as do the majority party in this instance. But after two hours of discussion, about all we can agree upon was that we would meet again, and we hope that this meeting will come sometime this week. And we're hopeful at this time that we will set down hearings and then the following this decision, that we'll have people from Kansas — and from First District of Kansas — and from other states who raise wheat come back and tell us their views, and tell us whether or not they feel we should have legislation.

Again, we're not certain what the Department [of Agriculture] has in mind — what Secretary Freeman has in mind — because they have been strangely silent since the referendum. We've heard very little from any administrative spokesman as to whether or not they will support any legislation. And of course one thing that is a concern now is getting the wheat harvested, but shortly after harvest we look for a great influx in our mail, and we're hoping that in the next two or three weeks we will have heard from, say, 1,000 or 2,000 farmers in the First District of Kansas — or elsewhere in Kansas — and certainly we invite comments from everyone who might be listening to our program interested in wheat legislation, because it is my honest opinion that unless there is a large grassroots response for new wheat legislation, in all likelihood this Congress will do nothing. And I, too, think we must consider that if we get into a Civil Rights hassle, that wheat legislation — along with many other domestic programs — will be shoved into the background, and possibly delayed until next year.

I see our time is up, and I again thank you for listening. This is Congressman Bob Dole: send your comments to Room 244, House Office Building, Washington, D.C. Thank you.