Weekly Radio Report: Federal Deficit; Federal Payroll; New Frontier

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c031_026.mp3

c031_026_tr.txt

Transcription (Scripto)

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Extent (Dublin Core)

5 Minutes, 43 Seconds

File Name (Dublin Core)

c031_026

Title (Dublin Core)

Weekly Radio Report: Federal Deficit; Federal Payroll; New Frontier

Description (Dublin Core)

In agreement with Senator Harry Byrd’s recent remarks, Congressman Bob Dole discusses his opinions on President John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier programs. He talks about increased budget, spending, and federal deficit. Dole delves further into recent increases in government civilian employees, and uses statements made by Senator Byrd to conclude his point.

Date (Dublin Core)

1963-09-06

Date Created (Dublin Core)

1963-09-07

Congress (Dublin Core)

88th (1963-1965)

Topics (Dublin Core)

See all items with this valueAdministrative agencies--United States

Policy Area (Curation)

Government Operations and Politics

Creator (Dublin Core)

Dole, Robert J., 1923-2021

Record Type (Dublin Core)

radio programs

Names (Dublin Core)

See all items with this valueByrd, Harry F. (Harry Flood), 1887-1966

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 reports from Washington. First of all, I wish to thank the station for carrying my program as a public service broadcast, and secondly, as in the past, I certainly invite your comments, suggestions, and criticisms, with reference to any statements made, or with reference to program content generally. And if you have some particular problem you would like me to touch upon in some subsequent broadcast, I certainly trust you will call this to my attention.

Just a few days ago, in fact about ten days ago now, Senator Byrd — Senator Harry Byrd — an outstanding Democrat from the state of Virginia, made some comments about the New Frontier. He repeated the famous statement made on January 20, 1961, when President [John F.] Kennedy was inaugurated: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” And of course these words — the challenging words — of the President at the close of his inaugural address on January 20, two years and seven months ago, who has done what for whom in these past 31 months? Take a look at the record and draw your own conclusions.

You will find virtually no area domestic civilian activity by the federal government has been overlooked in presidential messages — proposals for increased spending. Some of these proposals might be desirable, and I pointed this out before that many proposals, of course, are desirable but we must be ready, willing, and able to pay for them. The record shows that we are not and the Administration admits it. In the fiscal year ended on June 30 before those famous words were uttered by the President, there had been a federal surplus of $1.2 billion. There has been a federal deficit in each fiscal year since January 20, 1961, and the past two years it has totaled $6.5 billion a year. This year it will be that high again — or higher — depending on the outcome of tax cut proposals. In the fiscal year ended June 30 before these famous words were said, the federal debt totaled $286.1 billion; now it totals upward of $305 billion — an increase of nearly $19 billion in the federal debt. In these three years interest on the debt has been increased by $1 billion a year, or 9.2% — in other words, of the total debt, 9.2% is interest.

What has happened in the area of jobs? And these are things that Senator Byrd, I might add, pointed out in his annual picnic about ten days ago. The federal government in the past 2.5 years is added some 166,000 civilian employees and increased the civilian payroll by $1.7 billion a year. The civilian payroll is now running at an annual rate of $15.5 billion or more, and there are more than 2.5 million civilians on the federal payroll. A great bulk of the increase, both in the number of civilian employees and payroll cost, has not — and get this, and I'll make this point very clear — has not been in the military departments. It has been in the civilian agencies.

They are — these figures continue to go up, and they do not include, of course, those employed as uniformed personnel in the armed forces.

The Senator pointed out that when he came to the Senate some thirty years ago there were only two major so-called ‘federal-state aid’ programs — for land grant colleges and roads. He also pointed out there is no federal subsidy of individuals, localities, states, businesses, agriculture, and so forth. He also then went on to add that there are now 110 programs; in other words in his 30 years in the Senate, they've increased from two to 110. There are this many new programs which have been added, to which the federal government is spending $10.5 billion a year in grants and other domestic aid — with federal strings or control attached. And he stated — and I quote the words of Senator Byrd — “Think over the federal control in your life and the lives of your children and your friends. You're almost certain to conclude on the basis of your own experience that the federal government is seeking to be all-powerful and that we, our localities, and our states are becoming mere puppets.”

He talked about the executive crack down on the steel industry last year, when the central government made unprecedented use of the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation], the federal grand jury, and threats to withdraw and withhold federal contracts from companies which dared not to conform to administration price control. He also pointed out the reference to defense contracts and tax cuts, and in essence, he closed his remarks by pointing out that the government has — and is — becoming more and more powerful. He certainly feels the time has long since passed [that] we must take a cold hard look. Either we have a problem or we do not have a problem, and I think this is the way we must react when we vote on the issues coming before Congress, and I certainly trust this is a view shared by most listeners. If we want economy, we must talk about economy in Kansas and in the First District — not economy in Wisconsin or California.

And I say this in all sincerity, and again request your comments and — and your criticisms. Write to me, Congressman Bob Dole, House Office Building, Washington 25 D.C.