NBC Nightly News open - 1977-05-02

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:01] with John Chancellor and David Brinkley

[0:04] tonight, Monday, May 2nd, reporting from

[0:06] the NBC News Center in New York. Good

[0:10] evening. President Carter said today

[0:12] that the welfare system is worse than we

[0:15] thought and will have to be totally

[0:17] scrapped. The president said he would

[0:19] not have a new plan for welfare until

[0:21] August. But he did say today that a new

[0:23] welfare system will have to provide jobs

[0:26] for those who can work, cash for people

[0:28] who can't work, and income tax credits

[0:30] for poor people who have jobs. Judy

[0:33] Woodruff has some details.

[0:36] >> During the campaign, Jimmy Carter talked

[0:38] often of reforming the welfare mess his

[0:41] first year in office. Today, President

[0:43] Carter announced the broad outlines of

[0:45] that reform, but said the country will

[0:47] have to wait four years before most of

[0:49] it can be implemented. Even so, the

[0:51] president told reporters that he's found

[0:53] the present programs to be in even worse

[0:55] shape than he had expected.

[0:58] >> They are still overly wasteful,

[1:01] capricious, and subject to almost

[1:04] inevitable fraud. The most important

[1:06] unanimous conclusion

[1:09] is that the present welfare program

[1:11] should be scrapped entirely

[1:15] and a totally new system should be

[1:17] implemented.

[1:18] >> One of the worst problems the president

[1:20] said is that the present system gives

[1:22] people no incentive to get a job or work

[1:25] full-time. Another thing that happens in

[1:28] the welfare system is that those who are

[1:30] working and receiving benefits if their

[1:33] income should increase

[1:35] either to more hours per week or to a

[1:39] higher wage scale is quite often

[1:41] counterproductive.

[1:43] >> The announcement today was short on

[1:44] specifics. Evidently, the only two firm

[1:47] decisions reached so far about the

[1:48] reform are first that it should combine

[1:50] several different existing cash payments

[1:53] into one payment for those who can't

[1:55] work or don't earn enough money. And

[1:57] second, Carter said legislation won't be

[1:59] ready to send to the Congress until

[2:01] August, and that even then other

[2:03] business such as energy and tax reform

[2:05] will take precedence over it. That delay

[2:07] must come as part curse and part

[2:09] blessing to the president. As concerned

[2:11] as he is about welfare reform, he is at

[2:14] least as concerned about holding down

[2:15] federal spending. Overhauling the

[2:18] welfare system will eventually cost a

[2:20] lot of money. And putting off that

[2:22] expense until 1981 will make it easier

[2:25] to fulfill another famous campaign

[2:27] promise. Balancing the federal budget by

[2:29] the end of his first term in office.

[2:32] Judy Woodruff, NBC News. The White

[2:34] House.

[2:35] >> The annual cost of welfare now is about

[2:38] $ 24 billion. And whether unemployment

[2:41] is high or low has very little effect on

[2:43] it. And a very high percentage of the

[2:46] money never reaches the poor, but

[2:48] instead goes for overhead and

[2:49] administration.

[2:51] Other news coming along. The Supreme

[2:53] Court says yes, you can put a sign in

[2:55] the front yard. Our special report on

[2:58] the war in the Sahara Desert. Some

[3:00] leotrial is now legal. And a little news

[3:04] from Mount Rushmore.

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