COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

GEORGE H. MAHON, Texas, Chairman

KENNETH SPRANKLE, Clerk and Staff Director PAUL M. WILSON, Assistant Clerk and Staff Director

THE BUDGET FOR 1968

TUESDAY, February 7, 1967.

WITNESSES

TREASURY DEPARTMENT

HENRY H. FOWLER, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY

JOSEPH W. BARR, UNDER SECRETARY

ROBERT A. WALLACE, ASSISTANT SECRETARY

PETER STERNLIGHT, DEPUTY UNDER SECRETARY FOR MONETARY AFFAIRS

THOMAS LEAHEY, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF TAX ANALYSIS ERNEST C. BETTS, JR., DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR ADMINISTRATION

BUREAU OF THE BUDGET

CHARLES L. SCHULTZE, DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF THE BUDGET
PHILIP S. HUGHES, DEPUTY DIRECTOR

SAMUEL M. COHN, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR BUDGET REVIEW
DALE R. MCOMBER, CHIEF OF BUDGET PREPARATION

OPENING REMARKS AND QUESTIONS OF THE CHAIRMAN

Mr. MAHON. The committee will come to order.

Let me observe that when we had the overall budget hearing with you last year, Mr. Secretary and Mr. Director of the Budget, on January 31, 1966, we were in the midst of a snow storm. We are having a repeat performance of the weather this morning. Could it mean some sort of ill omen for the budget for the fiscal year 1968?

There are many who hope the budget will receive a very cold reception from Congress. There are many who wish otherwise. At any rate, I feel sure that the Committee on Appropriations, in respect to the items under its jurisdiction, will follow the President's invitation in the budget message and seek to give the budgetary requests a searching examination.

WHY NOT A BALANCED BUDGET?

It is disturbing, Mr. Secretary, that in this time of the greatest general prosperity in the history of the Nation, and with all our national capabilities and our leadership and other sources of strength, you are not able, as spokesman for the executive branch today, to present us with a balanced budget.

It is estimated in this new budget that the gross national product (GNP), the productivity of the American people for the calendar

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