MR. HARDY. MR. CHAIRMAN, I HAVE TWO AMENDMENTS AND I ASK UNANIMOUS CONSENT THAT THEY BE CONSIDERED EN BLOC.
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10154 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD ? HOUSE
commitment with a country? before the
actual projects themselves are firmed
up. At the present time before a loan
agreement is signed, these projects are
firmed up. I have every confidence they
will continue to be. But if the Loan Fund
is to be an instrument of national policy,
we ought to leave a loophole for the
President.
This is in accordance with the think-
ing of the House which has built in a
10 percent transferability clause into
this act. That is a safety valve that we
need.
Mr. BENTLEY. Mr. Chairman, will
the gentleman yield?
Mr. COrtoIN. I yield to the gentle-
man from Michigan.
Mr. BENTLEY. Does the gentleman
? think we should make loans of any type
anywhere for projects that are not even
? in the planning stage yet?
Mr. COFFIN. There are times when
the President would have to be in a
position to make an agreement with a
country depending on subsequent plans
that may come after the agreement. For
example, and I am thinking of India,
? the President should be in position to
say, "Yes, we will make available X
million dollars before and dependent
upon the receipt of actual plans."
Mr. BENTLEY. Without any plans
being made available?
Mr. COIVIN. Before the money is
expended, plans would have to be made
available and to conform to prevailing
standards, of course. We do not want
to tie the President's hands completely.
We are requiring this decision to be
made at the highest level, but we think
that kind of a safety valve is necessary.
The CHAIRMAN. All time has ex-
pired.
The question is on the amendment
offered by the gentleman from Michigan
[Mr. BENTLEY].
The question was taken; and on a
division (demanded by Mr. BENTLEY)
there were?ayes 43, noes 81.
So the amendment was rejected.
Mr. HARDY. Mr. Chairman, I have
two amendments and I ask unanimous
consent that they be considered en bloc.
The CHAIRMAN. Is there objection
to the request of the gentleman from
Virginia?
There was no objection.
The alerk read as follows:
Amendments offered by Mr. HARDY: On
page 18, line 2, strike out the period and
insert a colon and the following:,
"Provided, That all documents, papers,
, communications, audits, reviews, findings,
recommendations, reports, and other mate-
rial which relate to the operation or activi-
ties of the Office of Inspector General and
Comptroller shall be furnished to the Gen-
eral Accounting Office and to any committee
of the Congress, or any duly authorized sub-
committee thereof, charged with considering
legislation or appropriation for, or expendi-
tures of, such Office, upon request of the
General Accounting Office or such committee
or subcommittee as the may may be."
On page 18, immediately below ,line 2,
insert the following:
"(i) Amend section 534, which relates to
reports to the Congress, by inserting '(a)'
immediately after 'Reports.?' and by add-
' in at the end theieof the following:
''(b) All documents, papers, communica-
tions, audits, reviews, findings, recommen-
dations, reports, and other material which
June 18
relate to the operation or activities of the What this amounts to is a clear as-
International Cooperation Administration sertion by the International Coopera-
shall be furnished to the General Account- tion Administration that its officials can
ing Office and to any committee of the Con- refuse to reveal to the General Account-
gress, or any duly authorized subcommittee
ing Office anything that they feel like
thereof, charged with considering legisla-
tion or appropriation for, or expenditures of, refusing. If they can deny this irifor-
such Administration 'upon request of the mation to the GAO, they can also deny
General Accounting Office or such commit- it to the Congress.
tee or subcommittee as the case may be.'" This is an intolerable situation. It
Mr. MORGAN. Mr. Chairman, will
the gentleman yield?
Mr. HARDY. I yield to the gentle-
man from Pennsylvania.
Mr. MORGAN. Mr. Chairman, first
I want to pay tribute to the gentleman
from Virginia and his Subcommittee on
Government Operations which has
worked in very close cooperation with
the Committee on Foreign Affairs. We
worked very closely with him today in
adjusting and improving these amend-
ments, and I can say, after consulta-
tation with the minority side, that we
have no objection to the incorporation
of the amendments:
(Mr. HARDY asked and was given
permission to revise and extend his re-
marks.)
XM'.HARTi5D Mr. Chairman, I am
deeply r indebted to the gentleman from
Pennsylvania, and I want to thank him
and'his whole committee for their con-
is unthinkable that the Congress can se-
cure the information it needs to per-
form its constitutional responsibilities
only at the sufferance of administrative
personnel.
We have a right, as we have a duty,
to examine any and all executive branch
information which we may consider
necessary in the evaluation of the for-
eign aid program.
I am offering two amendments which
make this right clear. They are almost
identical in wording. One requires that
the International Cooperation Adminis-
tration must provide the Congress and
the GAO upon request with any and all
information needed to evaluate the per-
formance of that agency.
The other requires the newly created
Office of the Inspector General? and
Comptroller, which will function under
the Department of State, to provide
similar information. It should be noted
that if this Office does not supply the
?sideration of the several suggestions information requested, the funds set
'which I have made on behalf of our sub- aside for its operation are not to be
committee. There has been a fine re-
lationship available.
between our two committies These amendments will vastly im-
and I feel confident this has been mu- prove the bill. The lack of a definite
tually helpful in the discharge of our statutory mandate for providing Con-
respective duties. gress with information has hampered'
Mr. Chairman, when I spoke on the us all, and correction of this situation
floor during general debate I called at- is long overdue. I am gratified that the
tention to the degree to which Con- committee recognizes the merit of my
gress has lost control of the mutual amendments and has accepted them. It
security program. I said: is my hope that they may be adopted
We have responsibilities for exercising without dissenting vote.
judgment just as the Executive does. We The CHAIRMAN. The question is on
ought to form our judgments independent- the amendments offered by the gentle-
ly, but we cannot do this unless we require
man from Virginia [Mr. HARDY].
the agencies to give us full and complete
factual information. It is our duty to in-
The amendments were agreed to,/
quire into every aspect of foreign aid. It is w(Mr. FASbELI; asked' and" was 'given
our duty to require that not some, but all permission to extend his remarks at this
of the relevant facts 'about its operation be, point in the RECORD.)
made known to us. It is our duty to dis-
Mr. FASCELL. Mr. Chairman, 'the
cover its weaknesses and to insist that theyfi'i?'?dii?t providing for access
be corrected, by the Congress and its agent, the Gen-
If we can assure for the Congress full and eral Accounting Office to ICA informa-
complete information which will enable us
tion overthrows the sweeping claims by
to continue to pinpoint weaknesses in the
administration perhaps we may be able yet executive officials that they, and they
to see the foreign aid program administered alone, will determine what the Congress
with a creditable type of performance, shall know about the operations of the
The obtaining of full information has Federal Government.
been difficult both for congressional
Shortly after the ICA's Office of Evalu-
committees and for the General Ac-
ations began its operations in fiscal year
counting Office, the Congress' adminis?.
1957, a policy of excessive secrecy was
developed. The agency told the Gener-
On May 5 of this year, Mr. Leonard
trative watchdog. al Accounting Office that its reports were privileged documents, and a privileged
J. Saccio, who was then Actifir DirectSr
of Vire International Cooperation Ad-
nature for the agency's information was
' -
ministration, testified before the Sen-
claimed before committees of both the
House and the Senate.
ate Subcommittee on Constitutional
The unreasonableness of the agency's
Rights. Involved was a question as to
the right of the General Accounting
attitude is exemplified by a former Di-
Office to see certain ICA documents,
rector of the ICA, who told the Con-
During his testimony, he said, in part: gress?see House Report No. 2578, 85th
I am not falling back, now, on legal dis-
Congress, 2d session, page 127:
tinctions or principles here. I am saying, In the case of 'reports which have been
in effect, that if ICA wanted to apply the classified "For official use only" I am reserv-
executiveprivilege, GAO would not see one ing the right to determine in individual cases
thing,.Tiecausp practically every document/ whether and on what grounds reports so
in our agency has an ?billion or a piece of classified will be made available to congres-
advice, ?? ' sional committees.
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1959 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD ? HOUSE
On June 18, 1957, the ICA Director
made-formal the policy of secrecy with a
directive to his staff to deny the GAO ac-1
Feis to the agenc5;'s evaluation reports.
The first report refused under the.policy
was a study dated April 1, 1957, covering
the operations of the assistance program
for Formosa. The ICA's adamant re-
fusal to cooperate with the GAO be-
came the official policy in spite of a law
directing all agencies of the Federal Gov-
ernment to give to the GAO all papers,
documents, and other material necessary
for the agency to carry out its statutory
duties. That law, which is section 313 of
the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921,
'stateS:
Ss. 313. All departments and establish-
ments shall furnish to the Comptroller Gen-
eral such information regarding the powers,
duties, activities, organization, financial
transactions, and metlinds of business of
their respective officers as he may from time
to time require of them; and the Comptrol-
ler General, or any of his assistants or em-
ployees, when duly authorized by him, shall,
for the purpose of securing such informa-
tion, have access to and the right to examine
any books, documents, papers, or records of
any such department or establishment. The
authority contained in this section shall not
be applicable to expenditures made under
the provisions of section 291 of the Revised
Statutes.
The GAO was established to help the
Congress to carry out its duty of over-
seeing the efficiency and economy of
Government. The reason for establish-
ing the GAO, under the Comptroller
General, was set forth in clear and un-
ambiguous language during the debate-
by the chairman of ,the select commit-
tee which had held hearings on the GAO
enabling legislation. He explained?
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, October 17, 1919,
page 7085:
' At present Congress has no power or con-
trol over appropriations after they are once
made. This control passes to the executive
departments, and these departments practi-
cally audit their own expenditures, and the
legality of expenditures by an executive de-
partment is passed upon by an official ap-
pointed, and who can be removed at any
tune, by the Executive. After appropriations
are once made by Congress, the control over
expenditure of the money appropriated
passes frean Congress. ? ? * The position is
a semijudicial one and the tenure of office
is made secure so long as the official per-
forms his, work in a fearless and satisfactory
way. ? ? ? Congress and its committees
will at all times be able to consult with
officials of this department (GAO) regard-
ing expenditures and from it will be able to
obtain the most reliable information regard-
ing the use to which any appropriation has
been put or the efficiency of any department
of the Government. ? * ? If duplication,
inefficiency, waste, and extravagance exist as
the result of any expenditure, the President
will be held responsible therefor if he con-
tinues to ask for appropriations to continue
such practices. The knowledge on the part
of every executive and bureau chief that
such an independent and fearless depart-
ment exists, and that every act and deed
they perform will come under the closest
scrutiny of this department, will in itself
force a much higher degree of efficiency in
every department of the Government. .
The GAO cannotsarry out, its legally
assigned duties -under the restrict We
. ?
policy-nOW followed by the ICA. The
. ? . _ -
?
Comptroller General and his GAO au-
ditors repeatedly informed the ICA of
their need for?and legal right to?the
Papers and documents ICA was refusing.
But in April 1958,,the ICA again denied
a formal request to make information
available to the GAO. This time the
agency refused to divulge its report on
aid to Laos. Then the ICA put the
stamp of secrecy on its report of aid to
Pakistan and subsequently the GAO was
refused access to ICA evaluation reports
on aid to India, Bolivia, Brazil, and
Guatemala. Access to these ICA re-
ports is necessary, the GAO has in-
formed Congress, "so that our findings
and reports will be as complete, accurate,
and objective as possible and will thus
be of maximum usefulness to the Con-
gress and interested officials and agencies
concerned"?hearings of the Subcom-
mittee on Independent Offices of the
House Appropriations Committee, April
15, 1959, page 1053.
The Hardy amendment assures that
the committees of Congress and the
GAO, which serves as the auditing arm
? of -the-Congress, will now receive from
? the ICA the information that is vital if
it is to carry out its duties. The amend-
ment clearly states that all the informa-
tion which ICA has, or which the pro-
posed -Office of Inspector General and
Comptrollet may gather, will be avail-
able- tb- the GAO and congressional com-
mittees. The amendment spells out the
fact that nothing can be withheld?not
evaluation reports, not communications,
not recommendations?nothing can be
withheld.
I believe the amendment will end, for
all time, the danger to our democratic
system of government created by ICA's
claim of immunity from congressional
inquiry. .TheAmendment spells out the
- clear intent that tii-e-Cgidi.ess_not_the..
ICAldministrators, will decide what in-
formation Congress needs to,apprap-riate-
the
the: and establish Government
policies.
?(Mr7MOSS asked and was given per-
mission to extend his remarks at this
pcint in the lcoaa.)
Mr. MOSS. Mr. Chairman, while the
Hardy amendment to make available
information to the GAO applies, in the
legislation we are discussion today, to
only one agency, the effect of the
.. .
Amendment will, 'I believe, be govern-
mentwide.
' Time and again the departments, bu-
reaus, and agencies of the executive
branch have raised the claim of Execu-
tive privilege to refuse information to
the Congress and to the auditor of Con-
gress, the GAO. Probably the most
iblatant, -groundless claims have corn
p.om officials of the ICA who are spend
mg the billions of dollars Congress ap
fpro_priates. The shield of Executiv
.privilege has also been held up against
congressional access ' to information,
about the Nation's missile program. It
-has been used to hide facts about the
operation of the Military Sea Trans-
portation Service and even to cover up
scandals. The Hardy amendment is a
warning to all Government agencies
that the Congress will not abdicate its
constitutional duty to appropriate funds
10155
to run the Government and to make sure
that those funds are expended efficiently
and economically.
The very first article of the Constitu-
tion states that "all legislative powers
herein granted shall be vested in a Con-
gress of the United States." But how
can the Congress, today, exercise its
legislative powers if the claim of Execu-
tive privilege is allowed to stand and
agencies are permitted to cover up the
facts necessary to legislate?
The distinguished Senator from Wy-
oming, Mr. O'MAHONEY, made the point
concisely just the other day. He said:
When any branch of the Government s
dealing with subjects having to do with the
appropriation of money, the expenditure of
money, or the action by executive authority
in the field which constitutionally Is cov-
ered by legislative authority, there is no
such thing as executive privilege.
Mlle Hardy amendment is a firm con-
gressionaratand-ai-ainst the unconstitu-
tional claim of executive privilege. It
spells out the -GAO's right of access to
information which the agency must
have to do its statutory job of auditing
the expenditure of money appropriated
by Congress.
The amendment under consideration
today will require the ICA to make avail-
able to congressional committees and
the GAO all of the documents, papers,
communications, audits, reviews, find-
ings, recommendations, and reports
under its control or which may be de-
veloped by the proposed Inspector Gen-
eral and Comptroller. The information
which the ICA has been secreting from
the Congress and its auditors?the eval-
uation reports on aid to Formosa, Pak-
istan, Laos, and many other countries?
cannot be hidden with the Hardy amend-
ment in effect.
The ICA established its system of eval-
uation reports after the Congress, in the
Budget and Accounting Procedures Act
of 1950, directed all executive agencies
to set up systems of accounting and in-
ternal control. In section 117(a) of
that same law the GAO was directed to
audit each agency's internal controls and
related administrative practices. But
the GAO cannot do the job it was given
by law if an executive agency can refuse
to disclose how it is spending the money
.Congress appropriates.
The Hardy amendment will assure the
GAO of _the, information necessary to do
'its statutory job within the ICA and it
' will stand as a warning to all other
executive agencies that the Congress
ii?t intend to turn its legislative
'duties over to appointed officials.
- (Mr-. MEADER asked and was given
permission to extend his remarks at
this point in the RECORD.)
[Mr. MEADER addressed the Com-
mittee. His remarks will appear here-
after in the Appendix.]
(Mr. MONAGAN asked and was given
permission to extend his remarks at this
point in the RECORD.)
Mr. MONAGAN. ? Mr. Chairman, I
sulTii?orrthe-ameridnients offered by the
gentleman from Virginia [Mr. HARDY].
.These amendments would require the
furnishing of appropriate documents-and
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.10156
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD ? HOUSE June 1:8
information to an investigating Commit-
tee of the Congress.
I have had the honor to serve on the
Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the
House Government Operations Commit-
tee under the chairmanship of the gentle-
man from Virginia. Any one who has
read the recently-filed report of this sub-
committee will appreciate the outstand-
ing contribution which was thereby made
to our understanding of the mutual
security program and, particularly, of the
substantial defects in its operation.
By a temperate and factual approach,
the subcommittee has materially aided
the House Foreign Affairs Committee in
? its consideration of the mutual security
Program and has aided all the Members
of the House in their study of the pro-
posed mutual-security extension.
Unfortunately, the work of the Hardy
subcommittee has too often been ham-
pered by a refusal of the executive branch
to provide documentary information es-
sential to its investigation and necessary
to discover the facts in the study of de-
tails of administration of the economic
aid program.
Ihave no doubt that inefficiency, stu-
pidity, and perhaps crime have been con-
cealed by this refusal.
The proposed amendments may not
eliminate such refusals in the future but
they will make them much more difficult
and they will materially aid the inves-
tigatory work of this important subcom-
mittee.
If the House wishes the vital work of
the Hardy Committee to continue effec-
tively, then all Members will support
these proposed amendments.
GROSS. Mr. Chairman, I offer
an amendment.
The Clerk read as follows:
Amendment offered by Mr. GROSS: On
page 8, strike all of lines 8 through 16 and
insert the following:
"The Congress of the United States, recog-
nizing the serious financial situation which
confronts this Government in the form of
a $286 billion Federal debt and a current
deficit of $13 billion, declares it to be the
policy of the United States that member na-
tions of the United Nations pay their
pledges and fair share of the United Nations
Emergency Force; and that unless the finan-
cial support of other member nations of the
United Mations is forthcoming as pledged
that the United States will have no recourse
but to withdraw its support."
Mr. HAYS. Mr. Chairman, I make a
?
point of order against the amendment
that it comes too late. We had already
read through the section before the bill
was open to amendment.
The CHAIRMAN (Mr. MILLS). , No;
as the gentleman will recall, the Clerk
had concluded the reading of this sec-
tion as the last section that was read
when amendments were offered and im-
mediately following the consideration of
those amendments, unanimous consent
was obtained that further reading of
the bill would be dispensed with. So this
section was open at that time. .
The point of order is overruled.
(Mr. GROSS asked and was given per-
mission to revise and extend his re-
marks.)
Mr. GROSS. Mr. Chairman, I would
point out to the Members of the House
that we are' now contributing to the
United Nations almost $98 million a year.
Some people seem to think that'we are
making only comparatively small con-
tributions to that polyglot organi7ation
up in New York. I refer Members to
the hearings by the House Subcommit-
tee on Appropriations for the Depart-
ment of State. I would like to suggest
to the Members of the House that they
would do very well to read those hear-
ings particularly with respect to the
United Nations and its subsidiary or-
ganizations. Contrary to the hearings
of the Committee on Foreign Affairs,
the Appropriations Subcommittee hear-
ings are not riddled with nonsensical
security deletions. You can get some-
thing out of them.
Moreover, you will be able to read page
after page of lists of countries that have
refused to pay their contributions to the
various United Nations and other inter-
national organizations, and to the tune
of millions upon millions of dollars.
All my amendment seeks to do is to tell
these countries that are pledged to con-
tribute to the support of the United Na-
tions Emergency Force that they must
make good the money and that we are
getting tired of paying the bills. It is
time we quit this business of carrying the
load for all of these international or
ganizations.
Mr. MORGAN. Mr. Chairman, will
the gentleman yield? .
Mr. GROSS. I yield.
Mr. MORGAN. I just wanted a clari-
fication of the amendment.
Do I understand that the gentleman
strikes the language from line 7 down
to line 16?
Mr. GROSS. That is right, and sub-
stitutes a new declaration of policy, one
that has some meaning, rather than the
meaningless words the gentleman's com-
mittee put in this bill.
Mr. MORGAN. Mr. Chairman, I.rise
in opposition to the amendment.
Mr. Chairman, this House last year
by a very large vote approved funds
for the United Nations Emergency Force.
The United Nations Emergency Force is
now in operation over on the Gaza
strip and is a very useful organization.
The United Nations has a budget of $19
million for this 'organization, and our
assessed contribution is only $4,900,000.
Special assistance funds are to be used
to make a voluntary contribution to the
budget to the additional aniount of $3.5
million.
But not one single incident has broken
out over in the Gaza strip in the con-
flict between the Arabian countries and
-Israel. This force is doing a terrific
job. Most of the budget has been paid
by other nations. Many small nations
with limited budgets are making contri-
butions to this organization. It is a
good organization and I think it should
stay in effect.
The CHAIRMAN. The question is on
the amendment offered by the gentle-
man from Iowa [Mr: GROSS].
The amendment was rejected.
Mr. ROGERS of Florida. Mr. Chair-
man, I offer an amendment. _
The Clerk read as follows:
Amendment offered by Mr. ROGERS of
Florida; On page 13, line 2, strike out the
quotation mark and immediately below lihe
2 insert the following;
"(c) The President shall include in his
recommendations to the Congress for the
fiscal year 1961 programs under this Act a
detailed plan for each country receiving
bilateral grant assistance in the categories
of defense support or special assistance,
whereby such grant assistance shall be
progressively reduced."
'(Mr. ROGERS of Florida asked and
was given permission to revise and ex-
tend his remarks.)
Mr. ROGERS of Florida. Mr. Chair-
man, first of all, I want to express my
appreciation for the consideration the
very able chairman 'of the Foreign Af-
fairs Committee has shown me in con-
nection with the amendment which I
am presenting for the consideration of
the House.
This amendment is designed to bring
about a detailed plan for progressive re-
duction of the categories of economic aid
designated as Defense Support and Spe-
cial Assistance. The amendment di-
rects that the President shall include in
his recommendations to the Congress
for the 1961 fiscal year a detailed plan
country by country for those receiving
bilateral grant assistance whereby such
grant assistance shall be progressively
reduced.
If the House adopts this amendment it
will be the first concrete step toward
phasing out the controversial grant fea-
tures of the foreign aid program. If the
House adopts this amendment it will in-
dicate that it is the feeling of this body
that it is time for a critical reappraisal
of the foreign aid program?particularly
emphasizing reductions in programs in-
volving gifts and grants.
The underlying reason for its intro-
duction is really very simple. No one
wants to be considered a charity case.
It is only human nature for a man not
to want to be obligated to his neighbor
to the extent that he loses his self-re-
spect. So it is, with nations. Rather
than handouts, we should begin think-
ing in terms of encouraging these un-
derdeveloped countries to stand on their
own economic feet. In fact, Only re-
cently, a former Director of the Inter-
national Copperation Administration
cited the need for reducing expenditures
in this field and further added that we
should "teach our friends abroad that
our assistance is an emergency meas-
ure, not a continuing subsidy."
Surely, too, we must have learned by
now that the old saying, "you can't buy
friends" is as true today as when first
uttered. The sooner we can reduce these
type programs the sooner we can de-
velop friendly relations with other na-
tions of the free world based on respect
and mutual admiration?which only
springs from nations with self-respect.
I am sure, too, that the American tax-
'payer will overwhelmingly endorse the
adoption of this amendment by the
House today for they have been waiting
some period of time to see some thought
given to the reduction of this foreign
aid grant program. Important as the
impact of this amendment can be on
our own national budget to reduce ex-
penditures?I feel that the American
people will welcome this action by the
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