University of Virginia Library

Robinson Foresees No Cutback
In Any Government Spending

By LYNN STERN

"Budgetary constraints
may be expected to have a
substantial impact on federal
programs of assistance to
education over the next few
years," Seventh District
Congressman J. Kenneth
Robinson told an informal
Newcomb Hall gathering of
area college student leaders
yesterday. Student Council
sponsored his talk.

Mr. Robinson, a member of
the House Appropriations
subcommittee which funds the
Department of Health,
Education and Welfare (HEW)
said he "can't see significant
cutbacks in any area" of
government spending, although
it will be "difficult to get
increases" in funds. Limits on
the amounts for college loans
will "probably be increased,"
he said.

Mr. Robinson is directly
concerned with the "jump on
the rate of default" on these
loans. The 1971 figure is double
that of previous years, he said,
and if this rise continues, the
college loan program will be
"in jeopardy."

He credited the cause of
non-payment not to an
inability of graduates to find
jobs, but to the borrower's flat
refusal to repay the loan.

Mr. Robinson said persons
of moderate income should
receive greater consideration in
loan situations. "We shouldn't
seek out the disadvantaged," he
declared.

The defense budget will not
be significantly cut when the
Vietnam war ends, he said,
eliminating the possibility of
an increase in education
appropriations.

Ships which now constitute
the U.S. Navy are ten years
old, he said, and new vessels
are needed to increase U.S.
naval power. The institution
of an all-volunteer army has
forced Congress to increase the
salaries of all military
personnel, he added.

"It's up to the institution
itself" to determine the ratio
of in-state and out-of-state
enrollment, Mr. Robinson said.

No state legislature action is
necessary, he added, because
pecuniary considerations will
eventually force the percentage
of state students to "seek its
own level."

Mr. Robinson also told the
gathering that the
environmental protection
program is "well-funded. There
is no lack of money to do the
things we know how to do."