When I took office, our Nation faced a number of serious domestic and
international problems:
--no national energy policy existed, and our dependence on foreign oil was
rapidly increasing;
--public trust in the integrity and openness of the government was low;
--the Federal government was operating inefficiently in administering
essential programs and policies;
--major social problems were being ignored or poorly addressed by the
Federal government;
--our defense posture was declining as a result of a defense budget which
was continuously shrinking in real terms;
--the strength of the NATO Alliance needed to be bolstered;
--tensions between Israel and Egypt threatened another Middle East war;
and
--America's resolve to oppose human rights violations was under serious
question.
Over the past 48 months, clear progress has been made in solving the
challenges we found in January of 1977:
--almost all of our comprehensive energy program have been enacted, and the
Department of Energy has been established to administer the program;
confidence in the government's integrity has been restored, and respect for
the government's openness and fairness has been renewed;
--the government has been made more effective and efficient: the Civil
Service system was completely reformed for the first time this century;
--14 reorganization initiatives have been proposed to the Congress,
approved, and implemented;
--two new Cabinet departments have been created to consolidate and
streamline the government's handling of energy and education problems;
--inspectors general have been placed in each Cabinet department to combat
fraud, waste and other abuses;
--the regulatory process has been reformed through creation of the
Regulatory Council, implementation of Executive Order 12044 and its
requirement for cost-impact analyses, elimination of unnecessary
regulation, and passage of the Regulatory Flexibility Act;
--procedures have been established to assure citizen participation in
government;
--and the airline, trucking, rail and communications industries are being
deregulated;
--critical social problems, many long ignored by the Federal government,
have been addressed directly;
--an urban policy was developed and implemented to reverse the decline
in our urban areas;
--the Social Security System was refinanced to put it on a sound financial
basis;
--the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act was enacted;
--Federal assistance for education was expanded by more than 75 percent;
--the minimum wage was increased to levels needed to ease the effects of
inflation;
--affirmative action has been pursued aggressively; more blacks, Hispanics
and women have been appointed to senior government positions and to
judgeships than at any other time in our history;
--the ERA ratification deadline was extended to aid the ratification effort;
--and minority business procurement by the Federal government has more than
doubled;
--the Nation's first sectoral policies were put in place, for the auto and
steel industries, with my Administration demonstrating the value of
cooperation between the government, business and labor;
--reversing previous trends, real defense spending has increased every year
since 1977;
--the real increase in FY 1980 defense spending is well above 3 percent
and I expect FY 1981 defense spending to be even higher;
--looking ahead, the defense program I am proposing is premised on a real
increase in defense spending over the next five years of 20 percent or
more;
--the NATO Alliance has proven its unity in responding to the situations in
Eastern Europe and Southwest Asia and in agreeing on the issues to be
addressed in the review of the Helsinki Final Act currently underway in
Madrid;
--the peace process in the Middle East established at Camp David and by the
Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel is being buttressed on two fronts:
steady progress in the normalization of Egyptian-Israeli relations in many
fields, and the commitment of both Egypt and Israel, with United States'
assistance, to see through to successful conclusion the autonomy
negotiations for the West Bank and Gaza;
--the Panama Canal Treaties have been put into effect, which has helped to
improve relations with Latin America;
--we have continued this Nation's strong commitment to the pursuit of human
rights throughout the world, evenhandedly and objectively;
--our commitment to a worldwide human rights policy has remained firm;
--and many other countries have given high priority to it;
--our resolve to oppose aggression, such as the illegal invasion of the
Soviet Union into Afghanistan, has been supported by tough action.