Weinberger Faults Old Budget; Lauds Administration Program

Caspar W. Weinberger '38, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, last night criticized the domestic spending policies of the 1960s and explained the rationale for current administration proposals in a speech at the Harvard Law School Forum.

"The budget now in effect reflects the economic mood of several years ago, not the requirements of today," he said.

More Money

Discussing the mood in Washington during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, Weinberger said, "There was a feeling for a long time... that you could solve most of your problems, and that the way you did it was to put the fires out by pouring more money on them."

Weinberger said that massive spending on federal programs in the 1960s was due in part to unjustified faith in Keynesian economics. Keynes's theory holds that increased government expenditure will have an immediate beneficial impact on national income.

"I am not a Keynesian," Weinberger said. "The Keynesian theory can not be matched by its necessary corollary; you cannot restrain it when inflation seems near."

Defense of Nixon

Weinberger defended the Nixon administration's decision to curtail or eliminate various social welfare programs and substitute general revenue sharing.

"There are many programs that cannot and should not be operated totally by the federal government," he said. "Therefore let's send the money and the power of decision back to the states and communities."

Weinberger explained that the administration has proposed ending Community Action Agency (CAA) funding because "up to 70 per cent of the CAA funds go to overhead and community organization rather than the program itself."

He said that localized programs will assure that "the bulk of the money does go to the people who should be benefitted."

No Tax Increase

Weinberger said the 56 billion cost of the administration's health insurance proposal "can be absorbed without an increase in taxes." The plan would provide universal health care, setting fees according to the recipient's economic status.

The HEW Secretary called the health insurance proposal "the major domestic issue for the president,"and said that "he will use all the resources at his command to try to get it through this year."

Weinberger did not discuss two alternative health care programs, one proposed by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54 (D-Mass.), the other by Sen. Jacob K. Javits (R-N.Y.) and Sen. Russell B. Long (D-La.).