INTRODUCTION In early February of 1976, the Senate Committee on Government Operations held a three-day symposium entitled "Our Third Century: Directions." Under the chairmanship of Senator John Glenn, a varied group of distinguished witnesses representing a cross-section of the nation's intellectual leadership addressed the following three questions: 1. What role should the government play in setting long-range goals and in the development of strategies for achieving those goals? 2. What is government presently doing in this regard and is it in any way deficient? 3. If it is deficient, what can be done to improve the effort either through reform of existing institutions or the development of new institutions? Within the framework of these three questions, the discussion covered a broad range of subjects. Among the matters that were included in the discussion were the need for foresight in public policy matters, the need for structural reform in Congress, improvement of information gathering and policy analysis in both the Executive and Legislative Branches of the Federal Government, improvements in our nation's educational system to achieve fuller participation of the public in civic affairs, increased attention by political parties to long-term national objectives, the need to link the annual budget to clearly stated national goals and objectives, and the need to recognize that domestic and foreign policies are often closely interrelated. This volume of readings is not meant to replicate the ideas presented by participants in the symposium or to offer support for the points on which there was consensus. Rather, the purpose of this volume is to present a selection of readings and a bibliography to provide a context for reviewing the participants' comments and for considering alternative approaches to formulating national goals, objectives, and priorities and for considering ways to plan courses of action to achieve those goals and objectives. Background Over the years there has been a recurring interest in setting national goals, in examining the important choices America must make in order to shape its future, and in establishing an improved framework for planning and decision-making in the Federal Government. Much of this interest can be explained by the growing awareness of the complex ways governmental policies and programs are related to one another and impact upon one another. The recurring interest in goals and planning can be seen, for example, in title VII of the Housing and Urban Develop ment Act of 1970, which called for the development of a national growth policy, in Federal attention to questions of "balanced" national growth, in the introduction of a series of bills in the House and in the Senate dealing with the establishment of national goals and priorities in a variety of fields, in public calls for improved policy analysis and for a future orientation in both the Executive and Legislative Branches, and in legislation that would create national planning bodies to recommend goals and objectives and that would design alternative courses to achieve those goals and objectives. Legislation introduced in the 93d and 94th Congresses provides illustrations of the forms which the interest in national goals and national planning has been taking. The "Full Opportunity and National Goals and Priorities Act" introduced as S. 5 in the 93d Congress would have created a Council of Social Advisers analogous to the Council of Economic Advisers. It would have established a Congressional Office of Goals and Priorities Analysis as well. S. 5 would have required the President to prepare and submit to Congress an annual social report aimed at (1) describing the overall progress and effectiveness of Federal efforts designed to carry out the full opportunities policy declared in the proposed Act, (2) reviewing the efforts of State and local governments and of the private sector in carrying out the declared policies, (3) setting forth current and likely future needs for improved efforts, and (4) specifying programs and policies for carrying out the purposes of the Act, together with recommendations for needed or desirable legislation. The Congressional Office of Goals and Priorities Analysis would be required to prepare a "National Goals and Priorities Report" that would contain (1) an analysis of the Budget, the Economic Report, and the proposed Social Report in terms of national goals and priorities, (2) an examination of available national resources and cost implications of alternative sets of national priorities, and (3) recommendations on spending priorities among Federal programs. two reports would be submitted to appropriate These standing committees of each house of Congress as well as to the Joint Economic Committee. - - The "National Growth Policy Planning Act" proposed as S. 1286 in the 93d Congress would establish a National Growth Policy Planning Council in effect a national planning board which would absorb the functions of the Domestic Council and the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations. It would be charged with the development of national growth policy with the participation of all levels of government in the Federal system, with the administration of grant-in-aid programs to help support non-Federal participation in this policy-making mechanism, and with creating flexible Federal guidelines for the development of growth policy plans by State governments and by metropolitan agencies. The bill would also provide for the establishment of multi-State regional growth planning and development commissions and for State and metropolitan development agencies, as well as for a National Development Bank. Federal agencies would be required to give attention to the growth impacts of their individual activities and recommendaitons. In general terms this bill would establish a mechanism for general policy guidance for national growth and development priorities -- a "top-down" statement of national purposes. The Council of Economic Advisers, the Council on Environmental Quality, and the proposed National Growth Policy Planning Council |