We have already determined that the Philippine Islands are to be independent on July 4, 1946.  The ravages of war and enemy occupation, however, have placed a heavy responsibility upon the United States.  I urge that the Congress complete, as promptly and as generously as may be possible, legislation which will aid economic rehabilitation for the Philippines.  This will be not only a just acknowledgment of the loyalty of the people of the Philippines, but it will help to avoid the economic chaos which otherwise will be their heritage from our common war.  Perhaps no event in the long centuries of colonialism gives more hope for the pattern of the future than the independence of the Philippines.

The District of Columbia, because of its special relation to the Federal Government, has been treated since 1800 as a dependent area.  We should move toward a greater measure of local self-government consistent with the constitutional status of the District.  We should take adequate steps to assure that citizens of the United States are not denied their franchise merely because they reside at the Nation’s Capital.

III.  THE BUDGET FOR THE FEDERAL PROGRAM

FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 1947

SUMMARY OF THE BUDGET

For the first time since the fiscal year 1930 the Budget for the next fiscal year will require no increase in the national debt.

Expenditures of all kinds, authorized and recommended, in the next year are estimated at just above 35.8 billion dollars.  Net receipts are estimated at 31.5 billion dollars.  The estimated difference of 4.3 billion dollars will be met by a reduction in the very substantial balance which will be in the Treasury during the next fiscal year.

A large part of the activities outside defense and war liquidation, aftermath of war, and international finance, classified as “other activities” in a following table, is still due to repercussions of the war.  These “other activities” include more than 2 billion dollars for aids to agriculture and net outlays for the Commodity Credit Corporation-almost double the expenditures for the same purposes in prewar years.  This increase is due mainly to expenditures for purposes of price stabilization and price support resulting from the war food production program.  Other increases in this category are due to the fact that certain wartime agencies now in the process of liquidation are included in this group of activities.  If all expenditures for those activities which are directly or indirectly related to the war are excluded, the residual expenditures are below those for corresponding activities in prewar years.  In making this comparison account should be taken of the fact that, while prewar expenditures were affected by direct relief and work relief for the unemployed, the postwar budgets are affected by the considerable increase in pay rates and other increases in costs and prices.