Statement by the President on the Economies Achieved by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
I WELCOME Secretary Celebrezze's report as further evidence that this administration is setting new standards of economy and efficiency without impairing the effectiveness of programs which are so vital to our well-being as individuals and as a nation.
Legislation now before the Congress will substantially broaden the mission of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. It is gratifying to know that a department whose programs touch the lives of every American can double and redouble its expenditures in so many areas and still take pride in the great care with which it spends our tax dollars•
Note: The statement was part of a White House release announcing that the President had that day made public a report from Secretary Anthony J. Celebrezze dealing with the operating economies achieved by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare during a 4-year period of unprecedented growth in the Department's programs. By means of simplification and improvement of administrative procedures, the release pointed out, there had been cost reduction savings totaling more than $70 million during the period covered.
The release highlighted the following sentences in Secretary Celebrezze's letter of transmittal to the President: "Together with the States, local governments, and non-governmental agencies, the Department has established an impressive record in meeting America's human needs. At the same time, without sacrificing essential public services, ave have improved management, increased employee productivity, and effected many administrative economies. • . . Through continued vigilance and dedicated cost-consciousness, we expect to be able to report further savings in the years ahead."
A 14-point summary of the major program developments as highlighted in the report was also included in the release.
Secretary Celebrezze's report, dated March 1965, is entitled "Program and Management Progress" (28 pp.). It was made available by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President on the Economies Achieved by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/241877