NEWS CONFERENCE 727

A. No, they seem to be about what they were the last time. The
Comptroller has given me the latest information he has and it's not
substantially different from the information that we based the supple-
mental budget on.

Q. Governor, Dr. Nelson's ad hoc committee that you appointed on
medical care costs contained some very sharp language about — what
it referred to as the failure of the State government to live up to, face
up to — the problem of adequate support of medical care including,
if necessary, additional taxes to support it. Do you have any com-
ments on the Nelson Committee's report?

A. I think the Committee did a pretty good job of suggesting some
areas where we can tighten up the overall program without depriving
the medical indigent that are solely covered by the State program. I
think that the sharp comments reflected a genuine concern on
the part of the Nelson Committee that the health requirements
were growing much faster than the State has been willing to provide
expanded spending for them. On the other hand, I would simply de-
fend my position by saying that there's not a major area of govern-
ment that hasn't had a similar complaint — a similar entreaty that
we spend more and tax more. And I point to what I said previously,
which is basically that there comes a limit to how many new taxes
can be enacted within a given period. One of the things that scares
me, more than anything that I can think of at the moment, is that
apparently the Federal surtax and the cutback in Federal spending is
approaching the period where it is getting to be a likelihood. If we
do have a cutback in Federal spending and additional Federal taxes,
it's going to affect our tax revenues because the people aren't going
to be spending as much, and the corporate payrolls aren't going to
be expanded as much, so that we'll have a diminution of State revenue
at the very time when there's the greatest clamor to spend more. So I
think this justifies that the economy thrust that we gave to this year's
budgeting — and in spite of the understandable screams of anguish
from people in the social areas to spend more for the poor and that
sort of thing — I don't see any appreciable chance of a relinquishing
of the tight grips sufficiently to satisfy them. What I am saying is
that no matter what we are able to do it is not going to be enough,
and the only real solution is to end the $30 billion a year drain in
Viet Nam, so that some of that money can be loosened up to flow back
into domestic programs at the Federal and state levels.

Q. Governor, does that indicate that you have changed your position
on the Viet Nam war? You were 100% behind President Johnson.