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Title 42, The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-102

§2641 Congressional Declaration of Purpose

Title 42 › CHAPTER 31 — PUBLIC WORKS ACCELERATION PROGRAM › § 2641

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

Congress says the federal government must provide immediate, useful jobs in communities that still have heavy unemployment and underemployment and that did not share in the recovery from the recession of 1960–1961. The Nation also has many public projects waiting. Speeding up those projects will create jobs now and improve community services, facilities, and the health and welfare of citizens. Federal help should be aimed first at "redevelopment areas" (places with long-term, chronic unemployment) and at other areas that have had substantial unemployment for at least twelve months.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §2641

The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Congress finds that (1) certain communities and areas in the Nation are presently burdened by substantial unemployment and underemployment and have failed to share fully in the economic gains of the recovery from the recession of 1960–1961 and (2) action by the Federal Government is necessary, both to provide immediate useful work for the unemployed and underemployed in these communities and to help these communities, through improvement of their facilities, to become more conducive to industrial development and better places in which to live and work. The Nation has a backlog of needed public projects, and an acceleration of these projects now will not only increase employment at a time when jobs are urgently required but will also meet longstanding public needs, improve community services, and enhance the health and welfare of citizens of the Nation.
(b)The Congress further finds that Federal assistance to stimulate public works investment in order to increase employment opportunities is most urgently needed in those areas, both urban and rural, which qualify as redevelopment areas because they suffer from persistent and chronic unemployment and economic underdevelopment, as well as in other areas which have suffered from substantial unemployment for a period of at least twelve months.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Short Title

Pub. L. 87–658, § 1, Sept. 14, 1962, 76 Stat. 541, provided: “That this Act [enacting this chapter and amending section 462 of former Title 40, Public Buildings, Property, and Works, and section 1492 of this title] may be cited as the ‘Public Works Acceleration Act’.”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 2641

Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102