Reagan Says He Got U.S. ‘Off Backs of the States’

President Reagan told the nation’s governors today that in his two terms in the White House he has kept his promise to “get the federal government off the backs of the states.”

Speaking to the 80th annual meeting of the National Governors Assn., the President said, “In the last 7 1/2 years, we have broken the federal government of its compulsion to control every breath the states take.”

Reagan portrayed himself as a former governor who reversed a trend toward federal domination of the states.

“Too often in the past, when Washington listened to the states, it heard only what it wanted to hear,” he said. “Today, things are different.

“When governors talk, we not only listen, but we hear.”

Reagan said his Administration has worked closely with governors to come up with assistance for farmers hurt by the widespread drought.

“You have advised,” he said. “We have responded. America’s farmers are getting help.”

“From education to transportation to helping America’s poor and homeless, you have led,” he said. “While Washington has been caught up in partisan intrigue, you’ve gone out and done the job.”

Reagan cited welfare reform as an area in which “the states will find the way truly to help welfare families become independent and productive and to put them on the ladder of opportunity.”

He contrasted state actions with what he called “program after program” enacted by Congress to get people off welfare.

“All of those programs have had one thing in common,” he said of the federal efforts. “They’ve failed.”

The governors have fought Reagan’s effort to shift responsibility for welfare to the states. They argue that he is giving them the problem without shifting the funds needed to deal with it.