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Since he considers Viet Nam and the battle against inflation his first priorities, Nixon has been reluctant to allot more than token funds this year to new departures. Even if it is approved, the new welfare scheme will not take effect until the summer of 1971. Some early benefits for the poor and the cities are, however, being planned. One was embodied in the tax proposals the President sent to Congress last week. Establishment of a "lowincome allowance" would entirely exempt about 2,000,000 families from the federal income tax, giving them, in effect, a subsidy of $700 million a year.
Another important tax measure, still under study in the White House, would use tax credits to induce business to invest in the ghetto. As a concept, it makes considerable sense. It will have to be very carefully drawn, however, to ensure that the slums receive the full benefits intended. Another Nixon recommendation—that the Federal Government share part of its revenues with local governments—could have an immense impact on the problems of the cities.
A Spate of Legislation
The details, not to mention the sums, are all-important. If a good share of the money were transmitted directly to the overburdened cities, the gains would be instantaneous. If it were funneled through the state governments, it would probably only raise false expectations. The states, dominated by rural and suburban interests, are unsympathetic to the urban crisis and would, without question, siphon off most of the funds before they could reach city hall.
The main efforts of the Nixon Administration so far have been directed toward the review and systematization of existing programs. "We've got a spate of legislation on the books," says Finch. "Now we've got to rationalize it." Whereas Lyndon Johnson would sometimes propose legislation that he knew would get nowhere—just so Congress and the country would begin thinking about it—Richard Nixon is careful to suggest only bills that he thinks have a good chance of passage. Whereas Johnson would sometimes ask for programs that the bureaucracy was not prepared to administer—if only because he knew that he might not get them later—the new Administration is determined not to recommend anything that cannot be well managed from the start.
To that end, it has set up an Urban Affairs Council, which, like the National Security Council in foreign affairs, is empowered to coordinate the domestic programs and give an interdepartmental airing to problems that cut across bureaucratic jurisdictions. Often in the past, the various agencies were so busy fighting one another that they hardly had time to concern themselves with poverty or urban decay. To bring them closer together at the local level as well as in Washington, the Administration has reorganized field offices of five key divisions—HEW, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Labor Department, the Office of Economic Opportunity, and the Small Business Administration—so that they will all have mutual boundaries and common regional headquarters.