Many of those in this Chamber tonight will recall that it was 3 years ago that I termed the Nation’s welfare system “a monstrous, consuming outrage—­an outrage against the community, against the taxpayer, and particularly against the children that it is supposed to help.”

That system is still an outrage.  By improving its administration, we have been able to reduce some of the abuses.  As a result, last year, for the first time in 18 years, there has been a halt in the growth of the welfare caseload.  But as a system, our welfare program still needs reform as urgently today as it did when I first proposed in 1969 that we completely replace it with a different system.

In these final 3 years of my Administration, I urge the Congress to join me in mounting a major new effort to replace the discredited present welfare system with one that works, one that is fair to those who need help or cannot help themselves, fair to the community, and fair to the taxpayer.  And let us have as our goal that there will be no Government program which makes it more profitable to go on welfare than to go to work.

I recognize that from the debates that have taken place within the Congress over the past 3 years on this program that we cannot expect enactment overnight of a new reform.  But I do propose that the Congress and the Administration together make this the year in which we discuss, debate, and shape such a reform so that it can be enacted as quickly as possible.

America’s own prosperity in the years ahead depends on our sharing fully and equitably in an expanding world prosperity.  Historic negotiations will take place this year that will enable us to ensure fair treatment in international markets for American workers, American farmers, American investors, and American consumers.

It is vital that the authorities contained in the trade bill I submitted to the Congress be enacted so that the United States can negotiate flexibly and vigorously on behalf of American interests.  These negotiations can usher in a new era of international trade that not only increases the prosperity of all nations but also strengthens the peace among all nations.

In the past 5 years, we have made more progress toward a lasting structure of peace in the world than in any comparable time in the Nation’s history.  We could not have made that progress if we had not maintained the military strength of America.  Thomas Jefferson once observed that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.  By the same token, and for the same reason, in today’s world the price of peace is a strong defense as far as the United States is concerned.

In the past 5 years, we have steadily reduced the burden of national defense as a share of the budget, bringing it down from 44 percent in 1969 to 29 percent in the current year.  We have cut our military manpower over the past 5 years by more than a third, from 3.5 million to 2.2 million.