CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -- SENATE

June 23, 1967

Page 17154

PRESIDENT JOHNSON: ARCHITECT OF A NEW FEDERALISM

Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, President Johnson has long advocated a close partnership between the Federal Government and the States. This partnership is indispensable if our Federal grant-in-aid programs are to accomplish their goals.

The President knows the States and localities receiving assistance under Federal programs are the final link between national programs and the individuals such programs are designed to serve.

Because of this knowledge and because of his belief in the importance of strengthening our democratic system of government, he is working to improve relationships between Federal and State and local officials.

Two recent comments from the Midwest have praised the President for his leadership in strengthening the, role of the States in our federal system. I think they are worthy of note by my colleagues.

The first is a statement by the Honorable Harold E. Hughes, the dynamic young Governor of Iowa, who told a New York Times reporter:

I look for one of the finest relationships in 100 years between the Governors and the Executive Branch. In fact, that relationship is probably the best it has ever been right now.

Governor Hughes' comments are typical of the new attitude of Governors toward the Federal Government. They understand the growing importance of Federal assistance to their efforts to meet the needs of the people in their States. Federal grants-in-aid have reached $15 billion dollars a year, and within the next 5 years they are expected to reach $60 billion.

But more important than the increase in financial aid under the Johnson administration is the effort the President has made and the steps he has directed his Cabinet officers and agency heads to take in helping the States. The Wichita, Kans., Eagle observed "that the President was not just talking when he said he wants to give increasing responsibility to the States in federally financed programs, as a counterpoise to the increasing power of the Federal Government."

Presidential teams of high administration officials have visited 40 States to help Governors achieve the maximum results from present Federal grants, and to plan for use of future funds in highway construction, water and air pollution control, model cities, economic development, education, hospital construction, antipoverty, and all the other elements of the Great Society program.

The President personally traveled to New England to meet with the Governors there.

He has appointed a special ambassador from the Foreign Service to act as State

Department liaison man for the Governors on foreign policy and foreign economic matters.

The President has on many occasions invited all Governors to come to Washington for high level briefings on the conflict in Vietnam, and on other critical domestic and international problems.

And finally, the Federal Government -- and the Congress -- have geared expanding efforts to strengthen State and local government through financial and technical aid.

I believe these developments are important to us in our efforts to improve the quality of life for all Americans. As a former Governor I appreciate the contribution the President is making to the vitality of our federal system.

I ask unanimous consent that the interview with Gov. Harold E. Hughes, of Iowa, which appeared in the New York Times of June 16, 1967, and the editorial entitled "Johnson Plan Ingenious for Federal-State Liaison," published in the Wichita, Kans., Eagle of June 10, 1967, be printed in the RECORD.

There being no objection, the interview and editorial were ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

[From the New York Times, June 16, 1967]

GOVERNOR HUGHES OF IOWA, IN SWITCH, PRAISES JOHNSON

(By Douglas E: Kneeland)

DES MOINES, IOWA; June 14. -- Gov. Harold E. Hughes of Iowa, who last year shocked the Johnson Administration by an outspoken attack on the President's relationships with the states, has high praise today for Mr. Johnson's efforts to promote Federal-state cooperation.

As a result of this cooperation, the Democratic Governor said in an interview here, "I look for one of the finest relationships in 100 years between the Governors and the executive branch. In fact, that relationship is probably the best it has ever been right now," he added.

Mr. Hughes said he was speaking bipartisanly. However, he talked optimistically of the President's chances in 1968 in the Middle West.

Up till now the unhappiness of farmers and the general discontent of much of the rest of the population has led some Democratic strategists to all but write off most of the electoral votes of the Midwest.

LEADER IN REVOLT

Last December at the National Governors' Conference in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., Governor Hughes was the spokesman for what was characterized by many as a "revolt" by Democratic Governors against the Administration and much of its domestic program.

Following bitter losses in the November election, the Governors made no secret of the belief that they had been hurt by a lack of communication on domestic programs such as those encompassed by the antipoverty drive and the slump in the President's personal popularity.

Although the criticisms were worked out by the Democratic Governors' caucus, it fell to Governor Hughes, as chairman, to enunciate them.

The reverberations from what he told newsmen about the caucus left the craggy featured, 45-year-old Iown with a reputation as a bitter critic of the Johnson Administration, a role that associates say he has not relished.

The Governor is still chairman of the Democratic caucus and a member of the executive committee of the National Governors' Conference. For this reason, his praise of, the President's moves, apparently marks a substantial victory for Mr. Johnson in his campaign to improve relations.

Since the White Sulphur Springs meeting, Mr. Hughes said, the work of Farris Bryant and other Federal officials has brought about a vast improvement in cooperation with the states.

Mr. Bryant, a former Governor of Florida, is director of the Office of Emergency Planning.

During the last four months, he has served as the President's envoy in leading a group of experts on visits to 40 state capitals to tackle Federal-state problems.

Mr. Hughes was also enthusiastic about the plan disclosed last week under which each member of the President's Cabinet would be assigned four or five states as his personal responsibility, with instructions to maintain personal contact between Governors and the White House.

ST. LOUIS CONFERENCE

The first formal meeting of the Democratic Governors' Caucus, which Governor Hughes had called for July 1 in St. Louis, is apparently further evidence of the rapprochement between the Governors and Mr. Johnson.

Mr. Bryant has accepted an invitation to attend, as has Winthrop G. Brown, former Ambassador to South Korea who has been designated to act as the State Department's representative to the states, informing them on foreign policy and representing them abroad.

In discussing the St. Louis meeting, Governor Hughes emphasized that its purpose was to strengthen the Governor's organization and prepare it for a more effective political role rather than to renew last December's attacks on the Administration.

NEW LINE OF THINKING

"I hope to be able to weld it into a unit," he said, "that will be effective and forceful not only between the Governors and the Administration but also in national politics.

"Problems that arise will be political as well as others. And we hope to be able to work effectively with the National Committee."

The determination by Governor Hughes to build an effective national political organization among the Governors reflects a considerable departure from recent thinking in the Middle West.

Most observers have felt since last November that the major question facing Democratic Governors in the area was how to detach themselves from the President's apparently shrinking coattails.

Governor Hughes, however, spoke optimistically of the President's chances in 1968 in the Middle West, where the unhappiness. of farmers and the general discontent of the rest of the population has led some Democratic strategists to all but write off the area.

Although few observers at the moment share the Governor's optimism about the President's 1968 prospects, there has been a noticeable slackening in farmers' criticism of late.

One long-time watcher of farm protests, noting the end of the threat of drought, said here this week: "There's nothing like three inches of rain to cool off a farmer."

[From the Wichita Eagle, June 10, 1967]

JOHNSON PLAN INGENIOUS FOR FEDERAL-STATE LIAISON

Washington has announced an ingenious plan of establishing diplomatic relations with the states of the union.

The President has approved a plan under which each member of the cabinet would be assigned four or five states as his personal responsibility with instructions to maintain personal contact between the governors and the White House.

In addition, beginning in September, each state will have special "days" in Washington. State officials with responsibilities related to federal-state programs would meet with their federal counterparts. Then the staff men would confer with their governor, who then would have a personal meeting with the President to discuss important questions.

Eventually, it is hoped, there will be a Washington official (preferably the vice president) assigned permanently to federal-state relations, who would have the prestige to work directly with cabinet members on sticky state problems.

There may be some booby-traps in the plan somewhere that would make it unworkable. Just on a guess, Congress might not give whole-hearted approval because it would give the states much more direct access to the executive branch, lessening some of a congressman's influence and prestige. But from here it looks like a plan that at least is headed in the right direction.

Multiplying federal domestic programs make it increasingly necessary for states to confer with Washington. With a cabinet member acting as its den mother, with the President regularly able to hear the state's complaints and suggestions, a state would be less at the mercy of untold numbers of bureaucrats.

It shows that the President was not just talking when he said he wants to give increasing responsibility to the states in federally-financed programs, as a counterpoise to the increasing power of the federal government.