Better health for our children—­all of our children—­is essential if we are to have a better America.

Last year, Medicare, Medicaid, and other new programs that you passed in the Congress brought better health to more than 25 million Americans.

American medicine—­with the very strong support and cooperation of public resources—­has produced a phenomenal decline in the death rate from many of the dread diseases.

But it is a shocking fact that, in saving the lives of babies, America ranks 15th among the nations of the world.  And among children, crippling defects are often discovered too late for any corrective action.  This is a tragedy that Americans can, and Americans should, prevent.

I shall, therefore, propose to the Congress a child health program to provide, over the next 5 years, for families unable to afford it—­access to health services from prenatal care of the mother through the child’s first year.

When we do that you will find it is the best investment we ever made because we will get these diseases in their infancy and we will find a cure in a great many instances that we can never find by overcrowding our hospitals when they are grown.

Now when we act to advance the consumer’s cause I think we help every American.

Last year, with very little fanfare the Congress and the executive branch moved in that field.

We enacted the Wholesome Meat Act, the Flammable Fabrics Act, the Product Safety Commission, and a law to improve clinical laboratories.

And now, I think, the time has come to complete our unfinished work.  The Senate has already passed the truth-in-lending bill, the fire safety bill, and the pipeline safety laws.

Tonight I plead with the House to immediately act upon these measures and I hope take favorable action upon all of them.  I call upon the Congress to enact, without delay, the remainder of the 12 vital consumer protection laws that I submitted to the Congress last year.

I also urge final action on a measure that is already passed by the House to guard against fraud and manipulation in the Nation’s commodity exchange market.

These measures are a pledge to our people—­to keep them safe in their homes and at work, and to give them a fair deal in the marketplace.

And I think we must do more.  I propose: 

—­New powers for the Federal Trade Commission to stop those who defraud and who swindle our public.

—­New safeguards to insure the quality of fish and poultry, and the safety of our community water supplies.

—­A major study of automobile insurance.

—­Protection against hazardous radiation from television sets and other electronic equipment.

And to give the consumer a stronger voice, I plan to appoint a consumer counsel in the Justice Department—­a lawyer for the American consumer—­to work directly under the Attorney General, to serve the President’s Special Assistant for Consumer Affairs, and to serve the consumers of this land.