1 Percentage of prior-year funds.

* Includes funds requested in the 1973 budget for consumer safety legislation proposed by the administration.

Note: For comparison purposes the above figures are from the President's original 1973 budget request and exclude pay increase changes.

FOREWORD

THIS HIS IS A considerably expanded and revised version of a talk I gave to several groups of HEW employees in December 1971. By making it available in this form, I hope to reach a larger number of HEW people with an overview of those departmental undertakings designed to make us a more responsible and responsive instrument for serving the American people. I hope, also, that others interested in the work of the Department will find this publication useful.

Eviors. Richardson

ELLIOT L. RICHARDSON

SECRETARY

January 15, 1972

W

INTRODUCTION

E ARE STANDING at a unique juncture in the course of history. At no other time have we been so aware both of how breathtakingly close we have come to realizing the promise of America for all its citizens and of how painfully far we are from locating and gathering all the resources that would fulfill that promise tomorrow.

The founders of this complex and diverse Nation, and each succeeding generation, set themselves truly awesome tasks to perform. For the most part, their aspirations and their capabilities have been within hailing distance of each other. In our own time, great though the growth in our resources, the growth in our expectations has been even greater. Today these expectations are like a giant helium-filled balloon cast loose from its moorings, sailing beyond sight. We must somehow bring our expectations back to earth: We must level with each other. For either we shall understand the reality of what can and cannot be done over time, or we shall condemn ourselves to failure, and failure again and again.

When we compare ourselves with those who preceded us, or with others in the world today, there is no denying that we are succeeding, that we are in fact moving ever closer to the promise of this country. We are now one of the oldest nations in the world with an enduring and vital Constitution. We have not only retained our original freedoms but have enlarged upon them, particularly with respect to civil rights. Our lives are longer and healthier. We are better educated. And the number of people living in poverty is not only a relatively small proportion of the total population, but it is declining. The miseries suffered by most of the world's population are fortunately beyond the imagination of most Americans.

We are also beginning to gird ourselves for new tasks in the temper of a changing time, and have begun to shift our priorities accordingly. Since the present administration took office, human resources expenditures have risen from 39 percent of the total Federal budget to 44 percent, while national security expenditures have declined from 41 to 34 percent. HEW's budget, meanwhile, has been rising at an annual rate of 15 percent more than twice the average rate of increase in the GNP over the past 10 years. In the next fiscal year, Department expenditures will approach $80 billion, roughly one-third of the entire Federal budget.

Yet, despite the gains that we can see and despite the change in national priori