THE ADMINISTRATION: Preparing to Tackle the Domestic Front

Fresh from his first foreign foray, President Gerald Ford turned to the nation's pressing domestic business. Finally acknowledging that recession deserves equal time with inflation, he gave up his goal of trimming the federal budget to $300 billion this fiscal year and said he would settle for a spending total of $302 billion. As layoffs and unemployment continued to spread alarmingly, he promised a press conference this week to explain his economic policies (see ECONOMY & BUSINESS). To quiet grumbling from the Hill that he has drifted out of touch, Ford met...