Statement by the President Following House Approval of the Civil Rights Bill.

THE HOUSE of Representatives yesterday erected an important new milestone on the Nation's journey toward equality of justice and of opportunity for all our citizens.

The provisions it has enacted to deal with terror inflicted on civil rights workers, the quality of justice afforded by the jury system, and enforcement of school desegregation are important steps toward resolving the great domestic struggle of our generation.

In addition, the House enacted a fair housing provision. This provision is not as comprehensive as that we proposed and sought. I regret the omissions which the Members of the House gauged were necessary.

Nevertheless, the significance of the action yesterday is large in both practical and symbolic terms. Practically, the House has barred bigotry in all new housing and in apartment houses. This opens major avenues toward fair and adequate housing for millions of citizens. Symbolically, the House has, in effect, declared to all Negro Americans that many of their fellow citizens believe it is wrong to deny anyone a decent place to live solely because of the color of his skin. The House has also declared that the law should be an instrument of justice in this cause.

Let me say to those Republicans and Democrats alike, who worked so devotedly on behalf of this measure, that the vote yesterday is not a triumph of party. It is a triumph for the future of the Nation. I congratulate you. Our attention turns now to the Senate, and we join in the hope and the expectation that final action on the Civil Rights Act of 1966 will follow without unnecessary delay.