We must move right ahead this year to see that defense workers and soldiers’ families get decent housing at rents they can afford to pay.

We must begin our long deferred program of Federal aid to education—­to help the States meet the present crisis in the operation of our schools.  And we must help with the construction of schools in areas where they are critically needed because of the defense effort.

We urgently need to train more doctors and other health personnel, through aid to medical education.  We also urgently need to expand the basic public health services in our home communities—­especially in defense areas.  The Congress should go ahead with these two measures immediately.

I have set up an impartial commission to make a thorough study of the Nation’s health needs.  One of the things this commission is looking into is how to bring the cost of modern medical care within the reach of all the people.  I have repeatedly recommended national health insurance as the best way to do this.  So far as I know, it is still the best way.  If there are any better answers, I hope this commission will find them.  But of one thing I am sure:  something must be done, and done soon.

This year we ought to make a number of urgently needed improvements in our social security law.  For one thing, benefits under old-age and survivors insurance should be raised $5 a month above the present average of $42.  For another thing, the States should be given special aid to help them increase public assistance payments.  By doing these things now, we can ease the pressure of living costs for people who depend on those fixed payments.

We should also make some cost-of-living adjustments for those receiving veterans’ compensation for death or disability incurred in the service of our country.  In addition, now is the time to start a sensible program of readjustment benefits for our veterans who have seen service since the fighting broke out in Korea.

Another thing the Congress should do at this session is to strengthen our system of farm price supports to meet the defense emergency.  The “sliding scale” in the price support law should not be allowed to penalize farmers for increasing production to meet defense needs.  We should also find a new and less costly method for supporting perishable commodities than the law now provides.

We need to act promptly to improve our labor law.  The Taft-Hartley Act has many serious and far-reaching defects.  Experience has demonstrated this so clearly that even the sponsors of the act now admit that it needs to be changed.  A fair law, fair to both management and labor, is indispensable to sound labor relations and to full, uninterrupted production.  I intend to keep on working for a fair law until we get one.

As we build our strength to defend the freedom in the world, we ourselves must extend the benefits of freedom more widely among all our own people.  We need to take action toward the wider enjoyment of civil rights.  Freedom is the birthright of every American.