However, after his initial success with Congress, Kennedy found it harder and harder to get his programs passed into law. Although the Democrats held a majority in both houses, Southern Democrats joined with conservative Republicans to stop legislation that they did not like. The Medicare bill was defeated, a civil rights bill and a bill to cut taxes were debated. Kennedy wanted economist Robert C. Weaver to be the new secretary but this nomination was poorly received from Southern Congressman and representatives from mostly rural areas because weaver was a black man.

There was much opposition to this proposal in the business community but Kennedy argued its advantages over alternative incentives which were to cut in the corporation tax rate, because it would apply to individuals and partnerships as well as corporations. A credit for all new investment would entail heavy revenue loss from those expenditures which would have been undertaken anyway or represent no new level of effort.

The economy was performing poorly when Kennedy took office. Just how poorly was a matter of dispute which often followed party lines. Within a matter of days in January 1961, former President Eisenhower and President gave Congress widely differing views of the state of the economy, the former cautiously optimistic, the latter pessimistic. It was clear by the end of 1961 that the economy was picking up, although unemployment persisted near 7% until November and the continuing balance of payments deficit and gold loss caused concern. Despite the pick up, debate continued throughout the year about several important long-term problems affecting the U.S. economy. A relatively slow rate of economic growth compared with many other Western nations, the precarious state of price stability, the persistent problem of the U.S. international balance of payments and the continuing high rate of unemployment characterized by the tendency for unemployment to level off at a higher rate after each recession than before. An additional problem was the widespread existence of pockets of especially heavy unemployment to which the 1961 Area Redevelopment Act had been addressed, caused in some cases by the decline of an industry, in others by decreased use of manpower as a result of technological innovation, in still others by the general economic underdevelopment of a region..

Some common words found in the essay are:
Act Kennedy, Federal Government, President Eisenhower, War II, Keynes Starting, President Congress, Secretary Labor, Rules Committee, March Weeks, John Kennedy, economic growth, congressional quarterly, national debt, corporate income, plant equipment, kennedy proposed, balance payments, congressional quarterly alamanc-henrietta, tax program, quarterly alamanc-henrietta, inc washington dc, american economy, quarterly inc washington, alamanc-henrietta nelson poynter-copyright, congressional quarterly inc,
Approximate Word count = 2681
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)