26. Memorandum From the Administrator of the Agency for International Development (Bell) to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget (Gordon)1
Dear Kermit:
In accordance with our discussion with the President,2 I am submitting herewith, with the approval of the Secretary, my revised budget recommendation for economic aid for Fiscal Year 1966, totaling $2,210 million. The attached tables set forth the major elements within this total.
Together with the recommendation of $1,170 million for military aid, this makes a total request of $3,380 million of new obligational authority for FY 1966, for the programs now authorized by the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended. We estimate that expenditures in 1966 will be $2,100 million for economic assistance and $1,335 million for military assistance.
As you know from our conversation with the President, I regard these budget figures as representing the rock-bottom minimum of new funds essential to meet requirements in the U.S. national interest under world conditions as they are now foreseen. These funds would be inadequate if various possible developments occurred in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere. As I understand it, the President agreed that the Budget Message, the Foreign Aid Message, or preferably both, would refer to the possibility that additional requirements may necessitate a supplemental appropriation request.
May I mention in this letter one other point connected with the budget presentation. As we have indicated earlier, we now estimate that the $300 million reserved under language included under Title I of the Foreign Assistance Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1965 will be obligated this year. Therefore, it seems proper that the budget should show the full amount as obligated as of June 30, 1965.
Sincerely yours,
- Source: Washington National Records Center, RG 286, AID Administrator Files: FRC 68 A 2148, Chron Files, December 23–31, 1964. Confidential. Two attachments, a chart comparing types of funding in millions of dollars between 1964 and 1965 and proposed for 1966 and another that uses the same variables as above but compares the funding amounts by region, are not printed.↩
- Presumably a reference to meetings held with the President on December 23 at the LBJ Ranch in Texas. Bell and Moyers met with President Johnson to discuss budget matters at 10:55 a.m. At 11:40 a.m. Freeman, Gordon, Gronouski, and Horace Busby joined the meeting, which lasted until 12:20 p.m. A working lunch among these individuals and a few others was held from 1:10 to 1:40 p.m. (Johnson Library, President’s Daily Diary, 12/1/64–4/30/65)↩