Ford UFO Files

A l"EW CLASS OF POOR
This is Congressman reporting to you from Washington
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Has Johnson Inflation created a~ class of poor across the country while Johnron•s
poverty programs hove barely dented the old?
That's a view expressed the other day by former Vice President Richard Me i"ixori to
which I fully subscribe. There ~a new class of poor created since the Democratic Administratfon
took office-the hundreds of thousands of Americans who llve on fixed incomes and pensions.
Every day that passes, the elderly find somethlng else they cannot afford, something else they hov-:
to do without.
I consider it shameful that these people who have worked hard, lived pleasantly and
saved for their old age should--now that old age is here--hove to struggle to make both ends meet.,
l~ut that•s exactly what is happening to millions of our senior citizens.
The problem of soaring living costs is not limited to our older citizens. It affects
oH Americans--and somethlng must be done about it. It is high time for the President to cut out
the glowing promises and get down to performance. It is time he declared all-out war on th<' · •' ·
poverty-creating element called inflation.
The Republican Coordfnating Committee Tssued a report the other day on the fiscal
policies of the Federal Govemment. Entitled, "The Rising Cost of Uving," it outlined a series
of reforms that could halt price fncreoses and bring on abrupt end to sweeping inflation. It could
do this without a tax boost.
I hove not time today to fist in fuH all the suggested reforms, but here ore some of
the maior ones.
First and foremost, the Administration must and without delay, submit to the Con-
gress a new budget for fiscal 1967. This budget must show a ~~surplus-not o paper one. This
surplus con well be achieved by cutting out or postponing a number of non-defense, non-essential
expenditures. Certain domestic programs must be postponed or at least considerably red~tn <~
size. Increasing taxes is not the answer; the answer ts decreased Federal spending. We cannot go
on any longer living in our present dream world of syntheticolly-created good times, cutting out
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