JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET TO ACCOMPANY S. 529 AMENDING THE LEGISLATIVE REORGANIZATION ACT OF 1946 TO PROVIDE FOR MORE EFFECTIVE EVALUATION OF THE FISCAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE EXECUTIVE AGENCIES OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP63T00245R000300350001-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 25
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 4, 2014
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: May 18, 1961
• Content Type: REPORT

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Calendar No. 236
87TH CONGRESS
1st Session
SENATE
{
REPORT
No. 264
JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET
To Accompany S. 529
AMENDING THE LEGISLATIVE REORGANIZATION ACT OF
1946 TO PROVIDE FOR MORE EFFECTIVE EVALUATION
OF THE FISCAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE EXECUTIVE
AGENCIES OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE
UNITED STATES
REPORT
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
MAY 18, 1961.?Ordered to be printed
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
57006 WASHINGTON : 1961
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COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS
JOHN L. McCLELLA.N, Arkansas, Chairman
HENRY M. JACKSON, Washington
SAM J. ERVIN, JR., North Carolina
HUBERT II. HUMPHREY, Minnesota
ERNEST GRUENING, Alaska
EDMUND S. MUSKIE, Maine
WALTER L. REYNOLDS, Chief Clerk and Staff Director
GLENN K. SHRIVER, Professional Staff Member
ELI E. NOBLEMAN, Professional Staff Member
W. E. O'BRIEN, Professional Staff Member
ARTHUR A. SHARP, Professional Staff Member
JAMES R. CALLOWAY, Professional Staff Member
II
KARL E. MUNDT, South Dakota
CARL T. CURTIS, Nebraska
JACOB K. JAviirs, New York
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CONTENTS
Page
Purpose 1
Need for legislation 2
Hoover Commission recommendations 4
Action by the Senate in previous Congresses 5
Endorsements of proposals for creation of a Joint Committee on the
Budget 6
Past efforts to tighten fiscal controls 8
Committee on the legislative budget 8
Experience with omnibus appropriation bill 9
Percentage cuts in appropriations 10
Alternate balanced budget 10
Provisions of S. 529 11
Conclusion 14
Changes in existing law 14
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87TH CONGRESS
1st Session
Calendar No.236
REPORT
No. 264
SENATE
JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET
MAY 18, 1961.?Ordered to be printed
Mr. McCLELLAN, from the Committee on Government Operations,
submitted the following
REPORT
[To accompany S. 529]
The Committee on Government Operations, to whom was referred
the bill (S. 529) to amend the Legislative Reorganization Act of
1946 to provide for more effective evaluation of the fiscal require-
ments of the executive agencies of the Government of the United
States, having considered the same, report favorably thereon and
recommend that the bill do pass.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to provide the Congress with the machin-
ery necessary to enable it to meet its constitutional responsibilities in
connection with the appropriation of funds required for the conduct
of the Federal Government. It seeks to accomplish this objective by
establishing a Joint Committee on the Budget, composed of members
of the Senate and House Appropriations Committees, which would
assist the Congress in exercising adequate control over the expendi-
ture of public funds by the executive branch of the Government.
S. 529 is designed to provide the same kind of expert staff facilities
and detailed technical information for the Appropriations Committees
of the Congress as the Bureau of the Budget provides for the executive
branch. Precedent for this action is found in the Joint Committee
on Internal Revenue Taxation which has provided joint expert staff
facilities and technical information for the revenue committees of
both Houses of the Congress for more than a quarter of a century.
This bill, sponsored by 67 Members of the Senate, is identical to
S. 1585 approved by the Senate in the 85th Congress. The Senate
also approved similar bills in the 82d and 83d Congresses, after exten-
sive hearings, and in the 84th Congress. The pending bill includes
perfecting amendments adopted by the committee since it was first
reported and approved by the Senate on April 8, 1952. A complete
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2 JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET
legislative history of the proposed legislation is included in Sen
Document 11, 87th Congress, on "Financial Management in t
Federal Government", filed in the Senate by the Committee on Go
eminent Operations on February 13, 1961, beginning at page 195.
NEED FOB LEGISLATION
For many years, the Congress has labored under a tremendous
disadvantage in connection with budget requests and justifications.
Requests for funds are made by the executive branch, and witnesses
who appear before the Appropriations Committees in support of these
requested appropriations represent exclusively the point of view of
that branch of the Government. Since it is their duty as officers of
the Government to support all items contained in the President's
budget, it becomes their function and responsibility to demonstrate
that the specified amounts are necessary. For the most part, these
requests are supported by elaborate justifications, based upon exten-
sive agency research, and by the testimony of technical experts who
have devoted many years to the fields in which they are working, and
whose main objective is to continue or extend the programs and
operations of their respective agencies. Testimony from tile public,
except from witnesses appearing in behalf of public works projects,
is rarely received, and, in a vast majority of instances, the only manner
in which the public interest can be considered and protected, with
respect to the purpose for which the funds are sought or their need or
adequacy, is through careful scrutiny of requests and justifications by
members of the Appropriations Committees. Other Members of
Congress must rely largely upon the recommendations of these com-
mittees when funds are appropriated by the House and the Senate.
The material contained in the Federal budget is developed arid
assembled by a vast number of persons in the departments and
agencies, reviewed and reorganized by each department and agency,
and finally reviewed, revised, and finalized by the Bureau of the
Budget where some 450 persons are involved in the preparation and
submission of the final document. In the Washington area alone, a
total of some 2,000 persons in executive branch departments and
agencies are involved in the preparation of the budget each year.
In addition to the Federal budget itself, a tremendous amount of
detailed information is supplied in written form to the House and
Senate Appropriations Committees, and presented orally at hearings
which last for many months and cover thousands of typed and
printed pages. Finally, when the requests are reduced to the form
of legislative proposals, there are usually between 12 and 15 appro-
priations bills running hundreds of pages and containing thousands
of separate items.
Unfortunately, committee members are so heavily burdened by
other legislative duties and responsibilities that they are unable
personally to give the necessary attention to each budget item.'
Equally important, however, is the fact that they do not have adequate
facilities for obtaining the information necessary to enable them to
pass accurate judgment on the necessity for the budget requests.
Thus, for the most part, they are forced to rely upon the representa-
tions made by the respective initiating agencies of the executive
'See S. Rept. 96, 85th Cong., on "Activities of the U.S. Senate."
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JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET
3
branch, whose representatives appear before these committees in an
ex parte type of proceeding for the sole purpose of justifying their
requests for funds. As a result, the Congress is often unable to obtain
impartial information and facts to enable it to effect needed economies
in the operations of the Government. Because the Congress is not
adequately equipped to carry out its fiscal responsibilities, many
millions of dollars have been appropriated in excess of the actual
requirements of the Federal Government. These excesses have, in
turn, added to the large recurring deficits which must be passed on
to already overburdened taxpayers.
The duties and responsibilities of the Appropriations Committees,
in connection with examining and passing upon budget requests for
the operation of the Federal Government, have increased tremendously
in recent years. These committees are presently staffed with com-
petent professional personnel. It is virtually impossible, however,
for their relatively small staffs to examine and evaluate the_annual
budget with its many thousands of items, running to approximately
1,200 pages of telephone-book size each year, within the very limited
time available. This precludes the detailed analysis which is so essen-
tial to the performance of the congressional function of controlling
Federal expenditures.
The action taken on March 12, 1957, by the House of Representa-
tives in adopting a resolution requesting the President to indicate the
places and amounts in his budget where he thinks substantial reduc-
tions may best be made, is a clear indication that the Congress does
not have adequate information upon which to act in carrying out its
constitutional responsibilities for maintaining adequate controls over
Government expenditures.
The ever-increasing cost of operating the Federal Government,
with annual budgets now exceeding 80 billions of dollars?an increase
of $36 billion over total budget expenditures for fiscal year 1951, when
this committee first recommended this legislation?and continued
annual deficits of billions of dollars that pyramid the already astro-
nomical national debt, dictates the compelling necessity of reducing
the cost of government, where it is prudent to do so, in order to restore
sound fiscal policies.
Members of the Congress have learned from contacts with the people
back home that there is a tremendous ground swell of public sentiment
for economy in government, and demands for action in eliminating
unnecessary expenditures in the operations of the Government. S.
529 is designed to remedy the existing deficiencies relative to appro-
priation procedures and the expenditure of public funds by providing
the machinery necessary to enable the Congress to accomplish this
objective, to which practically all Members are dedicated.
As important as are the services rendered by the Joint Committee
on Internal Revenue Taxation in the revenue field, the proposed
Joint Committee on the Budget would be in a position to render far
greater service to the Congress in a field that is much broader in
nature and scope. Its functions would include analyses and reports
on the details of program operations, a review of the actual adrnmis-
tration of authorized functions, and the compilation of data on agency
activities and program conformity with legislative authority, for the
information of the Appropriations Committees and other committees,
and to make such data available to individual Members of the Con-
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J WIN r UOIV11?11 fE E ON THE BUDGET
gress. With this information before them, the Appropriations Com-
mittees will be in a position to exercise informed judgment in supplying
only such funds as are necessary. The. importance of providing this
type of service for the committees dealing with the appropriation of
public funds is emphasized by the scope of the problems involved
and the magnitude of Federal appropriations and expenditures.
This bill represents the culmination of 10 years of careful study by
the Committee on Government Operations, in an effort to evolve
some method by which congressional fiscal procedures and controls
can be improved in order that the legislative branch may assume its
rightful position with respect to vital decisions affecting the future of
the Nation. Confronted with imposing and increasing threats to the
national economy because of ever-mounting spending pressures, both
from internal sources and from abroad, it is essential that the Congress
delay no longer in meeting this issue head on. This committee
believes. that S. 529 offers a sound approach to the solution of these
problems, in that it would definitely equip the legislative branch with
adequate machinery to examine carefully every item of expenditure,
so that appropriations may be limited to only as much and no more
than is actually required to provide the minimum funds essential to
the successful operation of the Government.
This proposed legislation is designed to remedy serious deficiencies
related to appropriation procedures and the expenditure of public
funds. It constitutes a positive approach to the elimination of
extravagance, waste, and needless or excessive appropriations. The
Senate has repeatedly attempted to enact legislation which would
provide the machinery necessary to effect reductions in Federal ex-
penditures. On recommendations of the Committee on Govermnent
Operations, the Senate approved, in the 82d, 83d, 84th, and 85th
Congresses, bills similar or identical to the pending bill. The original
bill (S. 913) was approved by a vote of 55 to 8 in the 82d Congress and,
after the committee had adopted further perfecting amendments,
passed the Senate under unanimous consent in the 83d (S. 833), 84th
(S. 1805), and 85th (S. 1585) Congresses. The House of Representa-
tives in each instance has withheld approval of these bills, although
no vote has ever been permitted on the merits of the proposal. The
Congress and its Appropriations Committees continue to labor under
a tremendous handicap in passing judgment on budget requests for
the executive branch of the Government.
Failure to provide adequate facilities for the procurement of factual
information that is needed and indispensable to enable the Congress
and its committees to make sound and judicious determinations with
respect to appropriations requested in the budget, has resulted in a
demand on the part of the public for remedial action. It is the view
of the committee that the subject bill will meet and satisfy that
demand.
HOOVER COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS
The Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the
Government made specific recommendations to the Congress with a
view to improving governmental budget and accounting methods and
procedures. Legislation to implement part of the Hoover report was
approved in the 85th Congress (S. 434, Public Law 85-759), requiring
the submission of appropriation requests on an annual accrued ex-
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JuLNr uumaurrrzt, uN THE BUDGET 5
penditure basis, but there have been certain objections raised by the
House Committee on Appropriations to this requirement on the
premise that it might seriously impair the effectiveness of the com-
mittee in providing appropriate funds under contract authorizations.
Although, in the view of the committee, the authority vested in
the Joint Committee on the Budget, proposed to be established under
the provisions of S. 529, is sufficiently broad to permit the joint com-
mittee to carry out all of the recommendations of the Hoover Com-
mission relating to budgeting and accounting, language was included
in the bill (subsec. (j)) to provide permissive authority to the proposed
joint committee to require the submission of budgets on an annual
accrued expenditure basis by any agency, if the Committee on Appro-
priations or the joint committee so directs.
It is the view of the committee that the pending bill, which is
sponsored by 67 Senators,'; will not only provide the Congress with
adequate facilities to carry out its constitutional functions and to
retain control over the purse string, but will establish a medium
through which the necessary economies in governmental operations
can be effected. Its provisions are broad enough to fully effectuate
all of the recommendations of the Hoover Commission by utilization
of the authority vested in the proposed Joint Committee on the
Budget, with the further advantage of retaining complete legislative
control over the submission of annual budget requests on any basis
desired, and over all appropriations and the expenditure of Federal
funds based upon complete data developed by competent staff.
ACTION BY THE SENATE IN PREVIOUS CONGRESSES
That the Congress is aware of the serious deficiencies in its own
fiscal operations is evidenced by the fact that it has already acknowl-
edged the need for exercising more effective controls over the purse
strings, through the enactment of section 138 of the Legislative Re-
organization Act of 1946, which was conceived with a view to im-
proving and modernizing the fiscal procedures of the Congress in the
consideration of the executive budget. This meritorious and well-
intentioned effort on the part of the Congress, although failing to
attain the objectives for which it was created, has served a useful
purpose in pointing up the essential need for finding a workable
substitute.
A bill similar to S. 529 was first introduced on February 19, 1950,
in the 81st Congress (S. 2898) by Senator McClellan, chairman of the
Committee on Government Operations. In 1952, at the beginning of
the 82d Congress, the chairman reintroduced the bill, with some
minor revisions, as S. 913. After public hearings and careful con-
sideration, the Senate Committee on Government Operations unani-
mously reported S. 913 favorably. On April 8, 1952, following full
debate, the Senate approved the bill by 55 to 8, on a rollcall vote. It
2 Mr, McClellan, Mr. Allott, Mr. Bartlett, Mr. Beall, Mr. Bennett, Mr. Bible, Mr. Blakley, Mr. Bridges,
Mr. Burdick, Mr. Bush, Mr. Butler, Mr. Byrd of Virginia, Mr. Cannon, Mr. Capehart, Mr. Carlson,
Mr. Carroll, Mr. Case of New Jersey, Mr. Case of South Dakota, Mr. Chavez, Mr. Church, Mr. Clark.
Mr. Cooper, Mr. Cotton, Mr. Curtis, Mr. Dirksen, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Douglas, Mr. Eastland, Mr. Engle,
Mr. Ervin, Mr. Fulbright, Mr. Goldwater, Mr. Gruelling, Mr. Ifickenlooper, Mr. Holland, Mr. Hruska,
Mr. Humphrey, Mr. Jackson, Mr..Tavits, Mr. Johnston, Mr. Keating, Mr. Kefauver, Mr. Lausche, Mr.
Long of Hawaii, Mr. Magnuson, Mr. McGee, Mr. Miller, Mr. Monroney, Mr. Morse, Mr. Morton, Mr.
Mundt, Mr. Muskie, Mr. Pastore, Mr. Pell, Mr. Prouty, Mr. Proxmire, Mr. Schoeppel, Mr. Scott, Mr.
Smothers, Mr. Sparkman, Mr. Stennis, Mr. Symington, Mr. Tahnadge, Mr. Thurmond, Mr. Wiley,
Mr. Williams of Delaware, and Mr. Young of North Dakota.
S. Rept. 264, 87-2---3
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JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET
failed of passage in the House. After the House had rejected a reso-
lution of indefinite purport for consideration of a bill similar to S. 913
(H.R. 7888), thus preventing consideration of the proposal on its merits,
the chairman inserted the language of S. 913 as an amendment to the
supplemental appropriation bill (H.R. 8370) which, at the insistence
of the House conferees, was stricken in conference.
The bill was again reintroduced by Senator McClellan in the 83d
Congress as S. 833, under the sponsorship of 57 Members of the Sen-
ate. It was reported favorably on May 19, 1953, by Senator Mar-
garet Chase Smith, chairman of the Subcommittee on Reorganiza-
tion, after further hearings before that subcommittee, with amend-
ments. It passed the Senate on May 23, 1953, under unanimous con-
sent, and was referred to the House Committee on Rules, where .no
further action was taken.
In the 84th and 85th Congresses, committee bills S. 1805 and S.
1585, which contained further perfecting amendments, were intro-
duced by the chairman, reported unanimously by the committee, and
passed the Senate by unanimous consent on May 19, 1955, and on
April 4, 1957, respectively. These also failed to receive favorable
consideration in the House of Representatives.
ENDORSEMENTS OF PROPOSALS FOR CREATION OF A JOINT COMMITTEE
ON THE BUDGET
Hearings on S. 529 were held to be unnecessary since extensive
hearings were held on the predecessor bills, S. 913, during the 82d
Congress in 1951 and S. 833 in the 83d Congress, and the committee
has reviewed its previous actions, and adopted perfecting amendments
to successive bills extending over a period of 10 years. Witnesses
representing the Congress, the Tax Foundation, Inc., State taxpayers
associations from all sections of the country, the American Institute
of Accountants, National Association of Manufacturers, and various
other groups strongly supported the objectives of the bill, although
there were some differences as to the detailed provisions of such
proposed legislation which were eliminated in S. 1805 and in S. 1585
in the 84th and 85th Congresses and in the pending bill.
Following the hearings on S. 913 in 1951, the committee also held
extensive hearings on proposed amendments to the Legislative Reor-
ganization Act of 1946, in carrying out its functions to evaluate the
effects of laws enacted to reorganize the legislative branch. At these
subsequent hearings numerous witnesses urged that immediate steps
be taken by the Congress to improve its fiscal controls.
Typical of the statements made in connection with the pending
proposal is the following extract quoted from the testimony of Mr. Carter
W. Atkins, executive director of the Connecticut Public Expenditure
Council, who appeared before the committee on June 13, 1951:
Mv own recommendation is that we forget about revising
the legislative budget and concentrate our energies in the di-
rection proposed by your committee chairman in S. 913,
which provides for the Joint Committee on the Budget..
* * * Control of Federal finances will only be achieved by
constant and continuous attention to the problem by the
most competent professional and technical staff obtainable,
working under conditions which favor their retention in office
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JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET
7
regardless of what party is in power. We need a joint com-
mittee to control Federal spending as much as we need the
presently highly regarded Joint Committee on Internal Reve-
nue Taxation, and we need a staff qualified to do the job the
committee is authorized to perform. A few days of frantic
effort in the early days of the Congress and a halfhearted
declaration of comrressional intent, as expressed in a resolu-
tion adopting the legislative budget, are no subsitute for
good, hard, continuous work by an interested committee
backed by highly a))1e staff work. I do not, therefore, recom-
mend that the legislative budget be resuscitated, but rather
suggest that this is one sleeping dog that should he allowed
to rest in peace, and permanently.
Mr. Frederick J. Lawton, then Director of the Bureau of the Budget,
in testifying before the committ cc on May 17, 1951, pointed up the
fact that., the tremendous increase in the size and scope of the Federal
budget during recent years has produced entirely new aml challenging
problems for the Congress, and that the rapid growth of the Federal
budget to where it then approximated 25 percent of the national
income makes it one of -t he most significant, factors in the economic and
social life of' the Nation. Mr. Lawton stated that the problem the
Congress faces in attempting to come to grips more realistically wit hi
the Government 's financial program is twofold.
First, there is the problem of identifying and agreeing in
Congress on the kind and amount, of essential information
needed to evaluate both the budget as a whole and its
thousands of components; (and) second, there is the problem
of providing, within the Congress itself the kind of structure
that can make the fullest and most effective use of thus
information * * *.
The major determinant in any budget is not 110-w much
money is needed to run a given activity efficiently. It is
rather a determination on whether the activities should be
conducted at all and, if so, at what. level. Yet decisions on
individual activities must be made in the light of a host of
factors?the expenditure and revenue outlook, economic con-
ditions, provisions of existing law, and many others.
In commenting specifically as regards the purposes of S. 91:3, Mr.
Lawton concluded
A joint committee on the budget, witlt the broad job just.
outlined, would not duplicate the present work of the Appro-
priations Conunittees on the appropriation requests placed
before them, but would, instead, provide Congress with_ a
superior review of the whole budg,et, situation. Such a joint
committee might also be of further assistance to the ( c.)11.Lrress
in dealing with such matters as determining the format of
the budget, which would be most helpful to Congress in
acting thereon, reviewing the many types of appropriations
now found in our appropriation structure and providing for
a simplification thereof, arriving (cooperatively with the
executive branch) at a simple system of "scorekeeping" on
appropriations and other expenditure authorizations, co-
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8 JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET
ordinating and digesting for the Congress the many matters
pertaining to Government finance and spending that come
to it from many sources, and generally assisting the Congress
to get on top and stay on top of the budget.
In a report to former President Eisenhower, on November 17, 1959,
the then Director of the Bureau of the Budget recommended a number
of improvements in budgeting, in which he referred to the proposed
Joint Committee on the Budget as one of the budget reform proposals
which was considered to be desirable, pointing out, however, that
this would require congressional origination and action.
President Kennedy, as a member of the Committee on Government
Operations and a former chairman of its Subcommittee on Reorgani-
zation, joined as a cosponsor of S. 833 in the 83d and S. 1585 in the
85th Congresses (the latter identical to S. 529) and supported the
bills in committee and on the floor of the Senate.
PAST EFFORTS TO TIGHTEN FISCAL CONTROLS
This proposed legislation would continue the many efforts of the
Congress during the past 30 or 40 years to develop more adequate
fiscal controls over Federal spending. Among the first of these was
the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, which established the same
kind of executive budget in the Federal Government as had been
successfully developed in State and local governments. That statute
reflected a fairly rapidly expanding pattern of Federal activities, for
those days, which had been subjected to the heavy stresses and strains,
financial and otherwise, during and after World War I.
Among the basic changes since the 1921 enactment of a national
budget system was the transfer of an expanded Bureau of the Budget
to the Executive Office of the President under the Reorganization Act
of 1939. Subsequent years brought various fiscal problems, notably
the recurring deficits in the Federal budget, particularly during and
following the years of World War IT. The Employment Act of 1946,
with its accompanying creation of a new Council of Economic Advisers
immediately under the President, started to weave studies of national
economic development and trends into annual budget deliberations.
More recently various fundamental aspects of the 1921 budget law
were supplemented and modernized by tin Budget and Accounting
Procedures Act of 19.50, which promotes better coordination of Federal
accounting and fiscal procedures.
Committee on the legislative budget
The vital need for a congressional counterpart of executive budget-
ing providing for better congressional analysis and consideration of
the appropriations which are proposed in the annual executive budget
was recognized by the Congress in enacting section 138 of the Legisla-
tive Reorganization Act of 1946. This section of the act made an
unsuccessful effort to tighten congressional control of the purse strings.
It created a joint committee, composed of the members of the four
taxing and spending committees of the two Houses of Congress and
directed that committee (a) to compare the estimated total receipts
and the total expenditures proposed in the budget for the ensuing
year, and (b) to recommend a ceiling on total expenditures to serve as
S. 1805, 84th Cong., was reported as a committee bill without cosponsors.
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JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET 9
a control on the total amount of appropriations, in line with what the
Nation can afford to spend. Although every competent authority
agrees that the purpose of this provision is eminently desirable, it
proved unworkable in the 80th, and succeeding Congresses. This
failure was largely attributed to the cumbersome committee setup
involved, and to the lack of necessary staff. To help solve this prob-
km in considerable degree, S. 529 proposes what this committee
believes to be a more practical and workable solution.
A somewhat similar approach to the original objectives of section 138
of the Legislative Reorganization Net of 1946, designed to effect a
solution to this problem, has been embodied in a number of legislative
proposals which would provide that Federal expenditures shall not
exceed Federal revenues, except in time of war or grave national
emergency declared by the Congress.
Experience with omnibus appropriation bill
The Senate adopted a resolution on July 2, 1949, requiring the com-
bination of the traditionally separate appropriation measures in a
one-package or omnibus appropriation bill (S. Rept. 616), but the
House of Representatives declined to report an omnibus bill, because
of the insistence of its Appropriations Committee, that existing powers
were adequate without statutory change. After a voluntary experi-
ment on such a basis for the single fiscal year 1951, the House Ap-
propriations Committee voted to return to the old procedure of
reporting separate appropriation bills. New resolutions designed to
restore the omnibus appropriation bill have been introduced in the
present and the last four Congresses. In the 83d Congress a resolution
proposed by Senator Byrd of Virginia, with 46 Senators as
cosponsors (S. Con. Res. 8), was reported favorably by the Senate
Committee on Rules and Administration, on May 12, 1953 (S. Rept.
267), but failed of final passage.
Two factors were predominant in the congressional attitude toward
the omnibus appropriation bill. One was the serious delay in pas-
sage, caused by the fact that the Senate was prevented from starting
work on the many appropriation items until all of them, controversial
and noncontroversial alike, were passed by the House. The other
was that an omnibus appropriation bill lends itself to the addition
of legislative riders. As a practical matter, the President cannot
veto those riders which he deems objectionable unless he is willing
to veto the whole omnibus bill and risk financial chaos for the Federal
Government. To meet this objection three members of the Senate
Committee on Rules and Administration formulated S. 2161, in the
81st Congress, a partial-item veto bill, which was introduced on June
29, 1949, and referred to this committee. The bill was never reported
because of doubtful constitutionality. Under the provisions of S. 2161,
the President would have been authorized to veto all or parts of the
appropriation bill passed by the Congress, but insofar as any vetoed
amounts were reappropriated by the Congress, restored items could
not have been again vetoed by the President.
Other bills have been introduced in the last three Congresses, and
referred to this committee, to authorize a Presidential item veto.
These bills also contained other proposals providing for a consolidated
cash budget, a separation of operating from capital expenditures,
the scheduling of legislative action on appropriation measures,. and
requiring yea-and-nay votes on amendments to appropriation bills.
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10 JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET
Percentage cuts in appropriations
Other fiscal proposals which have had serious consideration in the
Senate include Senate Joint Resolution 108, reported favorably by
I his committee in the 81st Congress (S. Rept. 498), which combined
the features of three pending resolutions, in an effort to bring about a
more nearly balanced budget. It would have required the President
to make an overall reduction of not less than 5 percent nor more than
10 percent in the total amount of appropriations which he had recom-
mended for the fiscal year 1950. Despite vigorous efforts on the
Senate floor, this proposal made no progress. It was, therefore, added
as a rider to an appropriation bill but failed by a narrow margin to
receive the necessary two-thirds majority under Senate rules, after a
point of order had been raised.
A similar across-the-board cut was adopted, however, in the General
Appropriation Act. of 1951, approved September 6, 1950, which re-
quired that an overall cut of 8530 million be made in the?
appropriations, reappropriat ions, contract authorizations,
and reauthorizations made by this act for departments and
agencies in the executive branch of the Government * * *
without impairing national defense.
Similar efforts toward a flat percentage cut in proposed 1952 appro-
priations were pressed with vigor in the Senate in connection with
appropriation measures, but the final determination was that good
legislative practices required direct action on specific items, and that
an across-the-board cut was not the proper solution to the problem.
This flat percentage cut type of legislative requirement is an
acknowledgment, in the view of the committee, that the Congress
does not have the necessary machinery to develop the facts upon
which to direct specifically indicated economies in Government spend-
ing, which the pending bill is designed to provide. Flat cuts are
always subjected to criticism on the ground that the Congress has
a responsibility to vote definite reductions in individually proposed
appropriation items. It is also contended that the flat percentage
cut adversely and improperly affects in the same cle,ree two entirely
different kinds of agencies: (a) Tiiose whose officials are conducting
constructive and useful activities in efficient, economical fashion, as
against (b) those who are making no efforts to do a good job, and
in some instances have even managed so to pad their budgets that a
percentage cut will only reduce t hem to about (he amount they had
hoped in the first place to have available for expenditure.
Alternate balanced budget
Another fiscal proposal of basic importance was made in Senate
Joint Resolution 131 of September 23, 1949, which would have
required the President to submit an alternate balanced budget along
with his regular budget to provide for the following fiscal year 1951.
When Senate ,Toint Resolution 1:31 made no progress, it was proposed
in substance as a rider to 11 .R. 1689, the Executive Pay Raise. Act
of 1949, and was accepted as such by the Senate. It later was stricken
in conference.
The committee in approving S.913 in the 82d ( 'ongress also adopted,
by a majority vote, an amendment providing for annual submission
by the President of an alternate balanced budget. The latter budget
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11
would parallel the regular budget winch the President is required to
submit at the beginning of each session of the Congress. While a
majority of the committee endorsed tins proposal in executive session,
the committee preferred that its consideration by the Senate be kept
separate from the other aspects of S. 913. An amendment to S. 913
calling for an alternate, balanced budget was submitted by the chair-
man on the floor of the Senate when the bill was approved April 8,
1952, as directed by a majority of the committee, but was rejected
by the Senate. No similar provision is included in S. 529.
Part VII of Senate Document 11, 87th Congress, on "Financial
Management in the Federal Government," sets forth in complete
detail the legislative history of proposed budget and accounting
legislation introduced in the Congress since the approval of the
Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, including the bills referred
to in this report as well as an appendix listing fiscal legislation intro-
duced in the 87th Congress, as of February 20, 1901.
PROVISIONS OF S. 529
Section 1 of the bill would establish a Joint Committee on the
Budget composed of 14 members, 7 from the Appropriations Com-
mittee of the Senate and 7 from the Appropriations Committee of the
House; 4 from the majority party and 3 from the minority party, to
be chosen by the respective committees.
The joint committee would be authorized to elect a chairman and
vice chairman from among its members at the first regular meeting of
each session, with the chairman designated from among those who
are Members of the House of Representatives, and the vice chairman
from among those who are Members of the Senate in even-numbered
years; and during odd years, the chairman shall be selected from
among the members who are Members of the Senate, and the vice
chairman shall be selected from among the members who are Members
of the House of Representatives. The joint committee is authorized
to adopt its own rules, except that provision is made that no measure
or recommendation shall be reported unless approved by a majority
of the committee.
The proposed joint committee would be required to inform itself
on all aspects of tire annual budget of the agencies of the Government,
to examine expenditure reports, and to investigate the details of
Federal operations in order that the Appropriations Committees
might be provided with detailed information concerning each item in
the budget and the justifications therefor. It would also be required
to fully utilize information emanating from the Joint Committee on
Internal Revenue Taxation, to consider the President's messages on
the state of the Union and the Economic Report, and from all other
sources as to estimated revenues and changing economic conditions,
in order that a well-considered fiscal program may be devised to
hold expenditures to the minimum in relation to anticipated Federal
revenues and consistent with essential requirements of Government
operations and the national security.
In addition, the joint committee would be authorized to report on
and recommend appropriate legislative changes to standing jurisdic-
tional committees so that they may eliminate wasteful practices and
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12 JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET
correct deviations from programs authorized by the Congress, and to
recommend cutbacks in such programs when in the public interest.
To aid the Committees on Appropriations in determining the action
necessary to conform to this program, the joint committee is required
to submit, at the beginning of each regular session of Congress, and
periodically as deemed necessary, schedules of total estimated costs
of all programs and projects authorized by the Congress, together
with estimated costs of such programs and projects during the current
succeeding, and subsequent fiscal years where the program extends
for more than 1 year.
The joint committee, or any subcommittee thereof, is vested with
power to hold hearings, issue subpenas, take testimony, and to make
such expenditures as are necessary to carry out its functions within the
amount appropriated therefor.
The bill authorizes the appointment of a staff director, an associate
staff director, and such other professional, technical, and clerical
employees as may be necessary to carry out the duties of the joint
committee without regard to civil-service rules or the Classification
Act of 1949, as amended. The staff director shall be appointed by
and be responsible to members of the party of which the chairman of
the joint committee is a member, and the associate staff director shall
be appointed by and responsible to members of the opposition party.
The bill also requires that no person shall be employed until data with
respect to him, after a thorough investigation of his loyalty and
security by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has been made
available to, and his appointment approved by, the joint committee.
The members of time staff would be made available to the Com-
mittees on Appropriations, and the several subcommittees thereof,
during periods when appropriation bills are pending before the respec-
tive bodies and staff members, upon the written authority of the
chairman or vice chairman, are provided with authority to examine
fiscal books, documents, papers, and reports of any Federal agency
and data related to proposed appropriations included in the annual
budget transmitted by the President.
The bill requires that the annual budget shall include an analysis of
all active long-term construction programs authorized by the Congress,
showing for each the total estimated cost, the actual or estimated
expenditures during prior, current, ensuing, and subsequent fiscal
years, and that all grant-in-aid programs shall be included in the
analysis covering grants of indefinite duration, and the annual cost
for a 10-year period.
The subcommittee is further authorized to request any agency to
submit to the Committees on Appropriations estimates for proposed
appropriations on an annual accrued-expenditure basis, in addition to
any other budget submissions, as recommended by the Hoover Com-
mission.
Members of the staff of the Bureau of the Budget are to be assigned
to attend executive sessions of the subcommittees of the Appropri-
ations Committees with reference to proposed appropriations, as may
be required.
The Comptroller General of the United States is directed, at the
request of the chairman of the joint committee, to make such investi-
gations and reports with respect to any agency as will enable the joint
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committee to give adequate consideration to items relating to agency
expenditures, activities, or appropriation request. Authority is
granted to the Comptroller General to employ such technical and
professional personnel as may be required to comply with the request
of the chairman of the joint committee without regard to civil service
laws, rules, or regulations, and to fix their compensation without re-
gard to the Classification Act of 1949, as amended. This new function
of the General Accounting Office would be in addition to its present
authority of performing postaudit functions on behalf of the Congress.
Section 2 provides that all committees recommending legislation
which would authorize appropriations shall include in their reports
estimates as to the initial cost of the project or programs, and their
continuing cost over the first 5 years of operation, based on estimates
from the department or agency primarily concerned, after review
by the Bureau of the Budget. It provides further that, if the chair-
man of the committee determines that no existing department or
agency is primarily concerned with the proposed legislation, the esti-
mate shall be made by the Bureau of the Budget. The joint commit-
tee would be required to maintain compilations of all such estimates,
and to print such compilations annually for the information of Mem-
bers of the Congress.
Section 3 of the bill authorizes the joint committee to recommend
joint hearings by the Appropriations Committees and subcommittees
thereof, in the interest of expediting action on appropriation measures.
This would insure conservation of the time and energy of the members
of these committees and administrative officials of the Government,
without in any way interfering with the independence of separate
committee deliberations and decisions.
In connection with joint hearings provided for in section 3, the com-
mittee held that considerations of time have proved to be one of the
two major stumbling blocks of the omnibus appropriation bill approach
which was abandoned in the House of Representatives after a single
year of trial. Joint hearings would greatly ease that timing problem,
because members of the subcommittees of the Senate Appropriations
Committee would participate at early dates each year in the joint
hearings with their opposite Members in the House of Representatives,
and would be prepared to act almost immediately on the many
appropriation items which are frequently subjected to little or no
change as reported and as passed by tile House of Representatives.
Further hearings would presumably be limited to those appropriation
items where Senate Appropriations Subcommittees felt additional
information is needed because of substantial cuts or increases in pro-
posed appropriations as finally voted in the House of Representatives.
Manifestly such savings of time would be of great practical value.
They should prove to be persuasive elements in stimulating the
increased use of joint hearings by all committees of the Congress,
even though section 3 of the bill recommends such hearings on an en-
tirely optional basis so as not to invade the rights and prerogatives of
either House. This advantage should be of special interest to the
many Senators and Representatives who hold the omnibus appropria-
tion bill approach in high favor.
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14 JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET
CONCLUSION
The committee unanimously endorses S. 529 and urges its approval
by the Congress in order to help bring about more effective control of
the Federal purse. The committee firmly believes that the bill con-
stitutes a realistic program for equipping the Appropriations Com-
mittees with adequate staff facilities to provide essential information
that will enable those committees and the Congress to arrive at fully
informed decisions relative to the essential fiscal requirements of the
executive agencies of the Government.
The bill would avoid duplications that would be necessary in pro-
viding separate staffs for the two Appropriations Committees, and, by
making such a professional staff available on a continuing basis, would
bring to these committees informed experts who would be available
for services in succeeding Congresses. It would also do away with
the necessity for either of these committees to procure outside con-
sultants on a temporary basis, or the utilization of administrative per-
sonnel of the General Accounting Office who have other responsible
and continuing functions to perform for other committees of the
Congress.
Finally, S. 529 would stimulate joint hearings on pending appro-
priation measures, without improperly invading the rights and pre-
rogatives of the separate Houses of Congress and of the Appropriations
Committees.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
In compliance with subsection 4 of rule XXIX of the Standing
Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by the bill, as
reported, are shown as follows (matter omitted enclosed in brackets,
new matter printed in italics, existing law in which no change is
reported shown in roman):
The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, Public Law 601, 79th
Congress, is amended as follows:
(LEGISLATIVE BUDGET
[SEC. 138. (a) The Committee on Ways and Means and the Com-
mittee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives, and the
Committee on Finance and the Committee on Appropriations of the
Senate, or duly authorized subcommittees thereof, are authorized
and directed to meet jointly at the beginning of each regular session
of Congress and after study and consultation, giving due consideration
to the budget recommendations of the President, report to their re-
spective Houses a legislative budget for the ensuing fiscal year, includ-
ing the estimated overall Federal receipts and expenditures for such
year. Such report shall contain a recommendation for the maximum
amount to be appropriated for expenditure in such year which shall
include such an amount to be reserved for deficiencies as may be
deemed necessary by such committees. If the estimated receipts
exceed the estimated expenditures, such report shall contain a recom-
mendation for a reduction in the public debt. Such report shall be
made by February 15.
[(b) The report shall be accompanied by a concurrent resolution
adopting such budget, and fixing the maximum amount to be appro-
priated for expenditure in such year. If the estimated expenditures
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JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET 15
exceed the estimated receipts, the concurrent resolution shall include
a section substantially as follows: "That it is the sense of the Congress
that the public debt shall be increased in an amount equal to the
amount by which the estimated expenditures for the ensuing fiscal
year exceed the estimated receipts, such amount being $ .11
JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET
SEC. 138. (a) There is hereby created a joint service committee, to be
known as the Joint Committee on the Budget (hereinafter in this section
called the "joint committee") and to be composed of fourteen members as
follows:
(1) Seven it [embers who are members of the Committee on Appropria-
tions of the Senate, four from the majority party and three from the
minority party, to be chosen by such committee; and
(2) Seven Members who are members of the Committee on Appropria-
tions of the House of Representatives, four from the majority party and
three from the minority party, to be chosen by such committee.
(b) No person shall continue to serve as a member of the joint committee
after he has ceased to be a member of the committee from which he was
chosen, except that the members chosen by the Committee on Appropriations
of the House of Representatives who have been reelected to the House of
Representatives may continue to serve as members of the joint committee
notwithstanding the expiration of the Congress. A vacancy in the joint
committee shall not affect the power of the remaining members to execute
the _functions of the joint committee, and shall be filled in the same manner
as the original selection, except that (1) in case of a vacancy during an
adjournment or recess of Congress for a period of more than two weeks,
the members of the joint committee who are members of the committee
entitled to fill such vacancy may designate a member of such committee
to serve until his successor is chosen by such committee, and (2) in the
case of a vacancy after the expiration of a Congress which would be filled
from the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives,
the members of such committee who are continuing to serve as members of
the joint committee, may designate a person who, immediately prior to
such expiration, was a member of such committee and who is reelected
to the House of Representatives, to serve until his successor is chosen by
such committee.
(c) The joint committee shall elect a chairman and vice chairman from
among its members at the first regular meeting of each session: Provided,
however, That during even years the chairman shall be selected from
among the members who are Members of the House of Representatives
and the vice chairman shall be selected from among the members who are
Members of the Senate, and during odd years the chairman shall be
selected from among the members who are Members of the Senate and
the vice chairman shall be selected from among the members who are
Members of the House of Representatives.
(d) The joint committee may make such rules respecting its organiza-
tion and procedures as it deems necessary: Provided, however, That no
measure or recommendation shall be reported from the joint committee
unless a majority of the committee assent.
(e) It shall be the duty of the joint committee?
(1) (A) to inform itself on all matters relating to the annual
budget of the agencies of the United States Government, including
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16 JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET
analytical, investigative, audit, and other reports on Federal opera-
tions prepared by the General Accounting Office pursuant to section
312 of the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921, the Government
Corporation Control Act, and section 206 of the Legislative Re-
organization Act of 1946, and by other Federal agencies; (B) to
provide the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Ii'epre-
sentatives and the Committee on Appropriations of the &nate with
such information on items contained in such budget, and the justifica-
tions subinitted in support thereof, as may be .necessary to enable
said committees to give adequate consideration thereto; ') to consider
the President's messages on the state of the Union and the Economic
Report, to consider all information relating to estimated revenues,
including revenue estimates of the Department of the Treasury and
the Joint Committee on In Revenue Taxation, to consider
essential programs, and to consider changing economic conditions;
and (D) to report to the Appropriations Committees of the House of
Representatives and the Serrate its findings with respect to budget
estimates and revisions in appropriations required to hold expendi-
tures to the minimUM consistent with the requirements of Government
operations and national security;
(2) to recommend to the appropriate standing committees of the
House of Representatives and the Senate such changes in existing
laws as may effect greater efficiency and economy in government;
(3) to make such reports and recommendations to any standing
committee of either House of Congress or any subcommittee thereof
on matters within the jurisdiction of such standing committee relating
to deviations from basic legislative authorization, or to appropria-
tions approved by Congress, which are not consistent with such basic
legislative authorization, or to cut-backs in previously authorized
programs which require appropriations, as may be deemed 'necessary
or advisable by the joint committee, or as may be requested by any
standing committee of either House of Congress or by any subcom-
mittee thereof;
(4) to report to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives and the Senate at the beginning of each regular
session of the Congress the total estimated costs of all programs and
projects authorized by the Congress, together with estimated costs of
such programs and projects during the fiscal year underway, the
ensuing fiscal year, and subsequent fiscal years, and to make such
interim reports as may be deemed advisable.
(f) The joint committee, or any subcommittee thereof, shall have power
to hold hearings and to sit and act anywhere within or without the District
of Columbia whether the Congress is in session or has adjourned or is in
recess; to require by sub pena or otherwise the attendance of witnesses and
the production of books, papers, and documents; to administer oaths;
to take testimony; to have printing and binding done; and to make such
expenditures as it deems necessary to carry out its functions within the
amount appropriated therefor. Subpenas shall be issued under the signa-
ture of the chairman or vice chairman Y the committee and shall be served
by any person designated by them. The provisions of sections 102 to 104,
inclusive, of the Revised Statutes, (U.S.C., title 2, secs. 192-194) shall
apply in the case of any failure of any witness to comply with any sub pena
or to testify when summoned under authority of this section.
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(g) The joint committee shall have a staff director, an associate staff
director, and such other professional, technical, clerical, and other em-
ployees, temporary or permanent, as may be necessary to carry out the
duties of the joint committee. Such employees shall be employed without
regard to the civil-service laws, and their compensation shall be fixed
without regard to the Classification Act of 1949, as amended. The staff
director shall be appointed by and responsible to the members of the party
of which the chairman of the joint committee is a member, and the asso-
ciate staff director shall be appointed by and responsible to the members
of the opposition party. No person shall be employed by the joint
committee unless the members appointing him have favorably considered
the data with respect to him submitted by the Federal Bureau of Investiga-
tion after a thorough investigation of his loyalty and security.
(h) The joint committee shall make available members of its staff to
assist the staffs of the Committees on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives and of the Senate and the several subcommittees thereof
during the periods when appropriation bills are pending.
(i) Professional and technical employees of the joint committee, upon
the written authority of the chairman or vice chairman, shall have the
right to examine the fiscal books, documents, papers, and reports of any
agency of the United States Government within or without the District of
Columbia, and data related to proposed appropriations incorporated in
the annual budget transmitted by the President.
(j) The annual budget of the United States shall henceforth include a
special analysis of all active long-term construction and development
programs and projects authorized by the Congress, showing for each the
total estimated cost, and the actual or estimated expenditures during prior
fiscal years, the current fiscal year, the ensuing fiscal year, and subsequent
fiscal years. All grant-in-aid programs shall be included in this analysis,
in a separate grouping, showing under the heading "Subsequent Fiscal
Years" for grants of indefinite duration the estimated annual cost for a
ten-year period. Upon request of the joint committee, any agency shall
submit to the Appropriations Committees of the House of Representatives
and the Senate estimates for proposed appropriations on an, annual
accrued expenditure basis.
(k) Qualified members of the staff of the Bureau of the Budget shall, at
the request of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Repre-
sentatives or the Senate, or any subcommittee thereof, be assigned to
attend executive sessions of the subcommittees of the Appropriations
Committees and to explain the content and basis of proposed appropria-
tions.
(I) The Comptroller General of the United States shall, at the request
of the chairman of the Joint Committee on the Budget, make such investi-
gations and reports with respect to any agency as will enable such joint
committee to give adequate consideration to items relating to such agency
which are contained in the budget as submitted by the President, and the
justifications submitted in support thereof; and, for this purpose, the
Comptroller General is authorized to employ technical and professional
personnel without regard to the civil-service laws, rules, or regulations,
and fix their compensation without regard to the Classification Act of
1949, as amended.
(in) When used in this section, the term "agency" means any executive
department, eononission, council, independent establishment, Government
corporation, board, bureau, division, service. office, officer, authority, ad-
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18 JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET
ministration, or other establishment, in the executive branch of the Govern-
ment. Such term includes the Comptroller General of the United States
and the General Accounting Office, and includes any and all parts of the
municipal government of the District of Columbia except the courts thereof.
(n) Ihere are hereby authorized to be appropriated such sums as may
be necessary to carry out the purposes of this section. Appropriations
for the expenses of the joint committee shall be disbursed by the Secretary
of the Senate upon vouchers signed by the chairman or vice chairman.
SEC. 2. Section 133 of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, as
amended, is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new
subsection:
"(g) (1) All bills and joint resolutions authorizing appropriations
reported from committees of the Senate or the House of Representatives
shall be accompanied by reports in writing, which shall be printed; and
there shall be included in each such report or in an accompanying docu-
ment an estimate ,from the department or other agency of the legislative,
executive, or judicial branch of the Government primarily concerned of
the probable cost of carrying out the legislation proposed in such bill or
resolution over the first,five-year period of its operation or over the period
of its operation if such legislation will be effective for less than ,jive years.
"(2) Estimates received from departments or agencies under this sub-
section may be submitted by the committees to the Bureau of the Budget
for review, and such reviews, when practicable, shall be included in the
reports or accompanying documents before said bills and joint resolutions
are reported. If the chairman of the committee determines that no
existing department or agency is primarily concerned with the legislation,
the estimate shall be made by the Bureau of the Budget.
"(3) The Joint Committee shall maintain compilations of all such
estimates, and semiannually shall print those compilations (together with
any comment of the Bureau of the Budget) for the information of the
Congress."
SEC. 3. Section 139 of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, as
amended, is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new
subsection:
"(e) The Joint Committee on the Budget is authorized to recommend
that joint hearings be held by the Committees on Appropriations of the
House of Representatives and the Senate, and of subcommittees thereof;
but such joint hearings shall not affect the power of the respective com-
mittees, and of subcommittees thereof, to conduct separate additional
committee hearings, and shall not affect the independence of committee
deliberations and decision. The chairman of each such joint hearing
shall be the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, or of the
appropriate subcommittee thereof, of the House in which the bill is pending
at the time of the hearing, and the vice chairman shall be the chairman of
the Committee on Appropriations of the other House, or of the appropriate
subcommittee thereof."
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/VD/ t,ONGRESSIONAL RECORD ? SENATE
period immediately following the finish of
such race or before the start of the next race
at that track whichever period is longer.
This section shall not preclude the broad-
casting of the progress of, or information
concerning, a horse race where such broad-
cast is carried as a special event: Provided,
That no more than two horse races shall be
broadcast by any station or chain of sta-
tions per day.
SEC. 4. (a) Any person or persons who
shall lease or otherwise obtain from a com-
mon carrier or other supplier a private line
communication facility to be operated in in-
terstate or foreign commerce for or in connec-
tion with the transmission of news or other
information pertaining to sporting events
or contests shall file with the Federal Com-
munications Commission through its agent
an affidavit that the communication facility
so obtained is to be used for such purposes.
For the purpose of receiving the affidavits
required by this section the carrier or other
supplier from whom the communication
facility is obtained is designated the agent
of the Federal Communications Commission.
The affidavits on file with the Federal Com-
munications Commission, through its agents,
the carriers or other suppliers, shall be open
to inspection by appropriate State and Fed-
eral law-enforcement agencies.
Sze. 5. (a) The interstate or foreign
character of any transmission of gambling
information in, or intended for transmis-
sion in, interstate or foreign commerce shall
not create an immunity in respect of any
criminal prosecution under the laws of any
State, territory, possession, or the District
of Columbia pertaining to gambling, book-
making, and like offenses.
(b) Any remedies afforded by this Act are
in addition to remedies now existing under
State or Federal law, including law applicable
within the territories and possessions of the
United States and the District of Columbia.
The explanation accompanying Sen-
ate bill 528 is as follows:
This bill would provide that whenever "any
common carrier, subject to the jurisdiction
of the Federal Communications Commission,
Is notified in writing by a Federal, State, or
local law-enforcement agency, acting within
its jurisdiction, that any facility furnished
by it is being used or will be used for the
purpose of transmitting or receiving gam-
bling information in interstate or foreign
commerce, it shall discontinue within a rea-
sonable time, or refuse, the leasing, furnish-
ing, or maintaining of such facility." Thus,
it will approach the overall purpose of strik-
ing at organized crime by providing a means
of preventing persons from using communi-
cation facilities for transmitting prohibited
gambling information beyond State lines.
This legislative proposal would constitute
a sensible exercise of congressional power
under the commerce clause of the Constitu-
tion of the United States (art. I, sec. 8). It
will assist the States and local governments
in the dispatch of their law-enforcement re-
sponsibilities insofar as organized gambling
and bookmaking are concerned, yet viola-
tions of local gambling laws will continue
within the sole province of local law-enforce-
ment officials.
It should be noted that the measure con-
tains adequate safeguards to protect the op-
erations of legitimate newsgathering and
news-disseminating services. The proposal
would permit the broadcasting of horseraces
when such broadcasts are carried as special
events, provided not more than two horse
races a day shall be broadcast by any station.
PROPOSED AMENDMENT OF LEGIS-
LATIVE REORGANIZATION ACT OF
1946
Mr. McCLELLAN. Mr. President, on
behalf of myself and 65 other Senators,
I introduce, for appropriate reference, a
bill to amend the Legislation Reorgani-
zation Act of 1946 to provide for more
effective evaluation of the fiscal require-
ments of the executive agencies of the
Government of the United States. This
proposed legislation would establish a
Joint Committee on the Budget, com-
posed of an equal number of Members
from each of the House and Senate
Committee on Appropriations. It would
be staffed on a nonpolitical basis by out-
standing experts and technicians and
would provide the Appropriations Com-
mittees of the Congress with the same
kind of expert staff facilities and tech-
nical information as the Joint Commit-
tee on Internal Revenue Taxation pro-
vides for the Committees on Finance and
Ways and Means, and the Bureau of the
Budget provides for the executive branch
of the Government.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous con-
sent that the names of the cosponsors be
printed in the RECORD.
The VICE PRESIDENT. The bill will
be received and appropriately referred;
and, without objection, the names of the
cosponsors will be printed in the RECORD.
The bill (S. 529) to amend the Legis-
lative Reorganization Act of 1946 to pro-
vide for more effective evaluation of the
fiscal requirements of the executive
agencies of the Government of the
United States, introduced by Mr. Mc-
CLELLAN (for himself and other Sena-
tors) , was received, read twice by its
title, and referred to the Committee on
Government Operations.
The Senators cosponsoring Senate bill
529 are as follows:
Senators MCCLELLAN, ALLOTT, BART-
LETT, BEALL, BENNETT, BIBLE, BLAKLEY,
BRIDGES, BURDICK, BUSH, BUTLER, BYRD Of
Virginia, CANNON, CAPEHART, CARLSON,
CARROLL, CASE Of New Jersey, CASE Of
South Dakota, CHAVEZ, CriuRCH, CLARK,
COOPER, COTTON, Ctrwris, DIRKSEN, DODD,
DOUGLAS, EASTLAND, ENGLE, ERvIN, FUL-
BRIGHT, GOLDWATER, GRUENING, HICKEN-
LOOPER, HOLLAND, HRUSKA, HUMPHREY,
JACKSON, JAVITS, JOHNSTON, KEATING,
KEPAUVER, LAUSCHE, LONG Of Hawaii,
MAGNUSON, MCGEE, MILLER, MONRONEY,
MORSE, MORTON, MUNDT, MIISKIE, PAS-
TORE, PELL, PROUTY, PROXMIRE, SCHOEPPEL,
SCOTT, SMATHERS, SPARICMAN, STENNIS,
SYMINGTON, TALMADGE, THURIVIOND, WILEY,
WILLIAMS of Delaware, and YOUNG of
North Dakota.
Mr. McCLELLAN. Mr. President, the
basic objective of this measure is to
remedy serious deficiencies in appropria-
tions procedures and to improve the sur-
veillance exercised by the Congress over
the expenditure of public funds. It con-
stitutes, in my judgment, a positive ap-
proach to the elimination of extrava-
gance, waste, and needless or excessive
appropriations.
Article I, section 9, clause 7 of the Con-
stitution of the United States provides, in
part:
No money shall be drawn from the Treas-
ury but in consequence of appropriations
made by law.
From the formation of our Govern-
ment down to the present time, it has
been clearly understood and accepted
that this clause vested exclusively in the
Congress the right to grant supplies of
STAT
1033
money to the various branches of the
Federal Government, and to designate
the purpose for which the money shall
be used.
The meaning of this clause of the Con-
stitution has never been in issue. It was
explained long ago by our first Secretary
of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton,
who was also a Founding Father, as
follows:
The design of the Constitution in this pro-
vision was, as I conceive, to secure these im-
portant ends?that the purpose, the limit,
and the fund of every expenditure should be
ascertained by a previous law. The public
security is complete in this particular, if no
money can be expended, but for an object,
to an extent, and out of a fund, which the
laws have prescribed.
Now I submit, Mr. President, that
there is a very big difference between
having duties and responsibilities and
handling them wisely. Thus, the mere
vesting in the Congress of unquestioned
authority and responsibility for passing
appropriations acts and determining the
purposes for which public money may be
used, does not necessarily guarantee that
this function will be exercised either
wisely or well.
If the Congress is to carry out this
important responsibility, vested in it by
the Constitution, it has the duty of in-
forming itself as to the needs of the
various departments and agencies of the
Government, the reasonableness of their
requests for funds, and whether or not
the funds requested and obtained are
being used for the purpose for which
they have been requested.
Early in January of each year, the
President submits the Federal budget to
the Congress. It is usually a document
of telephone directory dimensions, run-
ning more than 1,000 pages. It repre-
sents a full year of work on the part of
the agencies and departments of the
Government, as well as the Bureau of the
Budget. The material contained in the
budget has been developed and assem-
bled by a vast number of persons in the
departments and agencies, reviewed and
reorganized by each department and
agency and finally, reviewed, revised and
finalized by the Bureau of the Budget
where some 500 persons are involved in
the preparation and submission of the
final document. In addition, available
figures indicate that in the Washington
headquarters area a total of some 2,000
persons in executive branch departments
and agencies are involved in the prep-
aration of the budget each year.
In addition to the Federal budget it-
self, a tremendous amount of detailed
budget information is supplied in writ-
ten form to the House and Senate Ap-
propriations Committees, and presented
orally at hearings which last for many
months and cover thousands of typed
and printed pages. Finally, when the
requests are reduced to the form of leg-
islative proposals, there are usually be-
tween 12 and 15 appropriations bills
running many hundreds of pages and
containing thousands of separate items.
In the 84th Congress, there were 38 ap-
propriation measures, including 13 sup-
plementals. In the 85th Congress, these
committees processed a total of 45
appropriation measures of which 29
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1U1wNGRESSIONAL RECORD ? SENATE
were regular and 16 were supplemental.
In the 86th Congress, there were a total
of 41 such measures, of which 30 were
regular and 11 were supplemental.
I realize, of course, that all Members
of this body are thoroughly familiar
with the actual procedures by which the
Congress handles appropriations meas-
ures. However, I would like to review
them briefly in order to demonstrate
more graphically the urgent need for the
enactment of the legislation which I
have proposed today.
Both the Senate and House Appropria-
tions Committees perform their func-
tions through subcommittees which deal
with the appropriations requests of one
or more departments or agencies. Hear-
ings on budget requests are held by these
subcommittees beginning sometime in
January or early February and continue
on until their work is completed. Sub-
committee recommendations are sub-
mitted to the full Appropriations Com-
mittee in each House and final action is
then taken by the respective committees.
All along the line, the procedure is dupli-
cated in both Houses in that following
hearings by House subcommittees, iden-
tical hearings are held by Senate sub-
committees.
Once again, I know that we are all fa-
miliar with the manner in which these
proceedings are conducted. However, a
detailed examination of them appears to
be in order at this time. The usual pro-
cedure is for witnesses representing the
executive branch department or agency
making the request to appear before a
subcommittee, usually accompanied by a
corps of technical experts from that
agency, as well as from the Bureau of the
Budget. The entire proceeding is virtu-
ally ex parte in nature, and these wit-
nesses represent exclusively the point of
view of the executive branch of the Gov-
ernment. Since it is their duty as execu-
tive branch officials to support all of the
budget items contained in the President's
budget, it is their function and responsi-
bility to demonstrate, both by oral and
written justifications, that the amounts
requested are absolutely necessary. For
the most part, these requests are sup-
ported by elaborate justifications and ex-
hibits, based upon extensive agency re-
search, and by the testimony of technical
experts who have devoted many years to
the fields in which they have been work-
ing. As a rule, and it is not my inten-
tion to impugn their motives in any way,
since these technicians have as their
main objective the continuation or ex-
tension of programs and operations of
their respective agencies which they sin-
cerely believe are in the public interest.
Unlike hearings on substantive legisla-
tion, where witnesses appear for or
against pending bills, at appropriations
hearings testimony from the public is
rarely, if ever, received. No witnesses
are present to represent the taxpayer and
the only manner in winch the public in-
terest can receive any consideration and
protection, with respect to either the
purpose for which the funds are sought
or their need or adequacy, is through
careful scrutiny of the requests and jus-
tifications by the one or two staff mem-
bers assigned to handle each of the ap-
propriations bills, and by members of
the Appropriations Committees. Other
Members of Congress who do not serve
on the Appropriations Committees must,
and generally do, rely largely on the
recommendations of these committees
when final action on appropriations
measures is taken on the floor of each
House.
Unfortunately, members of the House
and Senate Appropriations Committees
are so heavily burdened by other legisla-
tive duties and responsibilities that they
are unable personally to give adequate
attention to each budget item. Equally
important, however, is the fact that they
do not have adequate facilities for ob-
taining the information necessary to en-
able them to pass judgment on the neces-
sity for the funds requested. Thus, for
the most part, they are forced to rely
upon the representations made by the re-
spective initiating agencies of the execu-
tive branch, whose representatives ap-
pear before these committees in an ex
parte type of proceeding for the sole pur-
pose of justifying their budget requests.
As a result, the Congress is often unable
to obtain impartial information and facts
to enable it to effect needed economies
in the operations of Government. Be-
cause the Congress is not adequately
equipped to carry out its vital fiscal re-
sponsibilities, many millions of dollars
have been appropriated in excess of the
actual requirements of the Federal Gov-
ernment. These excesses have, in turn,
added to the large recurring deficits
which must be passed on to already over-
burdened taxpayers.
? The duties and responsibilities of the
Appropriations Committees, in connec-
tion with examining and passing upon
budget requests for the operation of the
Federal Government, have increased
tremendously in recent years. These
committees are presently staffed with
competent personnel. It is almost im-
possible, however, for their relatively
small staffs to examine and evaluate
the annual budget with its many thou-
sands of items, running in excess of
1,000 pages each year, within the very
limited time available. This precludes
the detailed analysis which is so essen-
tial to the performance of the congres-
sional function of controlling Federal
expenditures.
Examining the results of a survey
made by the Committee on Government
Operations on the activities of the Sen-
ate in the 84th Congress, we find that
exclusive of sessions called for the pur-
pose of making up appropriations bills,
the Senate Committee on Appropria-
tions held some 300 open hearings con-
suming approximately 825 hours on ap-
propriations measures. In addition, at
least 30 executive sessions were held
to consider other matters pertaining
to the functions of the committee, in-
volving approximately 6'7 hours. In
summary, the Senate Committee on Ap-
propriations, in the 84th Congress, held
a total of 330 meetings and consumed
an estimated 900 hours on appropria-
tions measures alone.
As a further illustration of the tre-
mendous workload of this committee,
during the 84th Congress, the committee
January 23
had regular standing subcommittees for
each of the 12 major appropriations
bills. Each member of the committee
had at least four subcommittee assign-
ments, and, in most instances, five as-
signments, with some members serving
on as many as six subcommittees. On
many occasions, there were two or three
hearings in progress simultaneously, and
members sometimes found it necessary
to attend one hearing for a limited time
and then to participate, insofar as time
permitted, in other hearings of subcom-
mittees on which they served.
With this picture in mind, how do we
stand? I have already pointed out that
the hearings before the various subcom-
mittees of the Appropriations Commit-
tees are attended by representatives of
the executive branch departments and
agencies seeking funds. These men have
often devoted a lifetime to a particular
activity or group of activities; they are
thoroughly familiar with every phase of
the program for which they seek funds;
and they are prepared to answer every
possible question in justification of their
demands.
What do we have on our side of the
table? The truth of the matter is that
we are forced to rely upon two major
sources of information: First, the testi-
mony of representatives of the executive
branch who formulate the programs and
present them in a light most favorable to
their requests; and who tell us only as
little or as much as they desire to dis-
close; and second, information media,
such as newspapers, periodicals, books,
radio, and television. Of course, there
are some Members of Congress who have
additional sources of information such
as-members of their own office staff, in-
terested groups, confidential informants
and reliable friends within the executive
branch.
Now I raise this question, Mr. Presi-
dent: Is this the way for the Congress of
the United States to obtain information
necessary to enable it to formulate the
considered judgment which is so vital if
It is to carry out its responsibilities and
obligations to the American people?
Is this the way to look after the inter-
ests of millions of American taxpayers
who are struggling under a very heavy
tax burden? Is this the way in which
responsible legislators should vote on
budget requests averaging between $78.4
and $80.7 billions during the past 3 fiscal
years?
The answer is obvious. It is most
definitely and emphatically not the way
in which Congress should handle these
tremendous responsibilities.
What can be done? What should be
done?
Years of both study and practice con-
vinced me long ago that it is absolutely
imperative that the Congress equip it-
self with the machinery and tools neces-
sary to enable it to do the job which
needs to be done. In other words the
Congress must have whatever it needs to
enable it to secure detailed and accurate
information concerning each item of
proposed expenditure in the President's
budget for which an appropriation is
sought and a justification is presented.
To do this, it must have the type of man-
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Ut)/ CONGRESSIONAL RECORD ? SENATE
power and brainpower which the execu-
tive branch has at its disposal for the
preparation, presentation, and defense
of the President's budget.
It is my firm conviction that the best
way this can be accomplished is by means
of the legislation which I am introduc-
ing today. This bill, which represents
many years of careful study, would estab-
lish a Joint Committee on the Budget
composed of 14 members, '7 from the
Appropriations Committee of the Sen-
ate and 7 from the Appropriations Com-
mittee of the House of Representatives;
4 from the majority party and 3 from the
minority party, to be chosen by the
respective committees.
The joint committee would be au-
orized to elect a chairman and vice
chairman from among its members at
the first regular meeting of each session,
with the chairman designated from
among members who are Members of
the House of Representatives, and the
vice chairman from among members who
are Members of the Senate in even-
numbered years; and during odd-num-
bered years, the chairman would be
selected from among members who are
Members of the Senate and the vice
chairman from among members who are
Members of the House of Representa-
tives. The joint committee would be
authorized to adopt its own rules, except
that provision is made that no measur
or recommendation may be reported un-
less approved by a majority of the com-
mittee.
The proposed joint committee would
be required to inform itself on all aspects
of the annual budget of the agencies of
the Government, to examine expendi-
ture reports and to investigate the de-
tails of Federal operations in order that
the Appropriations Committees may be
provided with detailed information con-
cerning each item in the budget and in
the budget justification. It would also ,
be required to consider the President's
messages on the state of the Union and
the Economic Report, and to utilize fully
Information emanating from the Joint
Committee on Internal Revenue Taxa-
tion, and from all other sources as to
estimated revenues and changing eco-
nomic conditions, in order that a well-
considered fiscal program may be devised
to hold expenditures to the minimum in
relation to anticipated Federal revenues,
and consistent with essential require-
ments of the Government operations
and national security.
In addition, the Joint Committee would
be authorized to report on and recom-
mend appropriate legislative changes to
standing jurisdictional committees so
that they would be in a position to elim-
inate wasteful practices, correct devia-
tions from programs authorized by the
Congress, and recommend cutbacks in
such programs as are consistent with
the public interest.
To aid the Committees on Appropria-
tions in determining the action neces-
sary to conform to this program, the
Joint Committee would be required to
submit, at the beginning of each regular
session of Congress, and periodically as
deemed necessary, schedules of total
estimated costs of all programs and proj-
ects authorized by the Congress, to-
gether with estimated costs of such
programs and projects during the cur-
rent, succeeding and subsequent fiscal
years, where the program extends for
more than 1 year.
The most important feature of this
measure would be the establishment of
a permanent, full-time, nonpolitical
staff of experts. The proposed legisla-
tion authorizes the appointment of a
staff director, an associate staff director
and such other professional, technical
and clerical employees as may be nec-
essary to carry out the duties of the
Joint Committee without regard to civil
service rules or the Classification Act of
1949, as amended. The staff director
would be appointed by and responsible
to members of the party of which the
chairman of the Joint Committee is a
member, and the associate staff director
would be appointed by and be responsi-
ble to members of the opposition party.
The members of the staff would be made
available to the Committees on Appro-
priations and the several subcommittees
thereof during periods in which appro-
priation bills are pending before the re-
spective bodies, and staff members, upon
the written authority of the chairman
or vice chairman, would be authorized
to examine fiscal books, documents, pa-
pers and reports of any Federal agency
and data related to proposed appropria-
tions included in the President's annual
14
uclget.
The bill would require further that the
annual budget include an analysis of all
long-term construction programs au-
thorized by the Congress, showing for
each the total estimated cost, the actual
or estimated expenditures during prior,
current, ensuing, and subsequent fiscal
years. Also all grant-in-aid programs
could be included in the analysis cover-
ing grants of an indefinite duration, and
the annual cost for a 10-year period.
In addition, the bill would require the
Comptroller General of the United
States, at the direction of the chairman
of the joint committee, to make such in-
vestigations and reports with respect to
any agency as will enable the joint com-
mittee to give adequate consideration to
items relating to the agency indicated.
It would also require all committees rec-
ommending legislation which would au-
thorize appropriations to include in their
reports estimates as to the initial cost of
the projects or programs and their con-
tinuing cost over the succeeding 5 years,
based upon estimates from the depart-
ment or agency primarily concerned,
after review by the Bureau of the Budget.
The joint committee would be required
to maintain compilations of all such es-
timates and to print such compilations
annually for the information of Mem-
bers of Congress.
The bill would also authorize the
joint committee to recommend joint
hearings by the Appropriations Commit-
tees and subcommittees thereof, in the
Interest of expediting action on appro-
priation measures. This is designed to
Insure conservation of time and energy
of the members of these committees and
of administrative officials of the Govern-
ment, without in any way interfering
with the independence of separate com-
mittee deliberations and decisions. The
1035
Importance of this provision lies in the
fact that time is one of the major stum-
bling blocks to adequate consideration
and deliberation of budget requests.
Joint hearings would greatly ease the
time problem, because members of the
subcommittees of the Senate Appropria-
tions Committee would be able to par-
ticipate at early dates each year in the
joint hearings with their opposite num-
bers in the House Appropriations Com-
mittee, and would be prepared to act
almost immediately on the many appro-
priations items which are frequently
subjected to little or no change as re-
ported and as passed by the House of
Representatives. Further hearings
would presumably be limited to those
appropriations items concerning which
the Senate Appropriations subcommit-
tees felt additional information was
needed because of substantial cuts or
increases in proposed appropriations as
finally voted by the House of Represent-
atives.
Finally, members of the staff of the
Bureau of the Budget would be author-
ized to be assigned to attend executive
sessions of the subcommittees of the
Appropriations Committees and to assist
the subcommittees in connection with
their consideration of proposed appro-
priations.
Mr. President, the approach I am sug-
gesting is not new. Ample precedent is
found in the Joint Committee on In-
ternal Revenue Taxation which has pro-
vided joint expert staff facilities and
technical information for the revenue
committees of both Houses of Congress
for more than a quarter of a century
and with much success.
Nor is Senate consideration and action
on this measure new. This bill, in vir-
tually identical form, has been reported
favorably by the Senate Committee on
Government Operations and approved in
the Senate during the 82d, 83d, 84th,
and 85th Congresses. It was approved
by a vote of 55 to 8 in the 82d Congress,
and after the committee had adopted
further perfecting amendments, passed
the Senate under unanimous consent in
the 83d and 84th Congresses. In the
85th Congress, the bill had 70 cosponsors
and passed the Senate by unanimous
consent, following debate.
In each Congress, Mr. President, fol-
lowing approval by the Senate, the House
of Representatives withheld approval of
these bills, although no vote has ever
been permitted on the merits of the
proposal.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous con-
sent that the bill lie on the desk for the
remainder of the day, so that any other
Senators who desire to cosponsor the bill
may be listed, and I ask unanimous con-
sent that their names be printed in the
RECORD along with the others.
The VICE PRESIDENT. Is there ob-
jection to the request of the Senator
from Arkansas? The Chair hears none,
iand it is so ordered.
ONAL ACADEMY OF CULT RE
Mr. CASE of South Dakota. Mr.
President, I introduce, for appropriate
reference, a bill to provide for a Na-
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1036 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD ? SENATE
tional Academy of Culture. I ask unani-
mous consent that the bill lie at the desk
for 48 hours for other Senators to add
their names as cosponsors.
The VICE PRESIDENT. The bill will
be received and appropriately referred;
and, without objection, the bill will lie
on the desk, as requested by the Senator
from South Dakota.
The bill (S. 535) to provide for a Na-
tional Academy of Culture, introduced
by Mr. CASE of South Dakota, was re-
ceived, read twice by its title, and re-
ferred to the Committee on Labor and
Public Welfare.
ADJUSTMENT OF CERTAIN IRRIGA-
TION CHARGES AGAINST NON-
INDIAN OWNED LANDS, WIND
RIVER INDIAN IRRIGATION PROJ-
ECT, WYOMING
Mr. HICKEY. Mr. President, on be-
half of myself, and my colleague, the
senior Senator from Wyoming [Mr.
MeGEa], I introduce, for appropriate ref-
erence, a bill to approve an order of the
Secretary of the Interior adjusting, de-
ferring, and canceling certain irrigation
charges against non-Indian-owned lands
under the Wind River Indian Irrigation
project, Wyoming, and for other pur-
poses. I ask unanimous consent that the
letter from the Secretary of the In-
terior, relating to the bill, be printed in
the REcoaa.
The VICE PRESIDENT. The bill will
be received and appropriately referred;
and, without objection, the letter will be
printed in the RECORD.
The bill (S. 536) to approve an order
of the Secretary of the Interior adjust-
ing, deferring, and canceling certain ir-
rigation charges against non-Indian-
owned lands under the Wind River In-
dian Irrigation project, Wyoming, and
for other purposes, introduced by Mr.
HICKEY (for himself and Mr. MCGEE),
was received, read twice by its title, and
referred to the Committee on Interior
and Insular Affairs.
The letter presented by Mr. HICKEY
is as follows:
U.S. DEPARTMENT or THE INTERIOR,
OFFICE or THE SECRETARY,
Washington., D.C., January 5, 1961.
Hon. RICHARD M. NIXON,
President of the Senate,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR Mn. PRESIDENT: In accordance with
the provisions of the act of June 22, 1936 (49
Stat. 1803, 25 U.S.C. 389-389e), there are en-
closed a copy of a secretarial order canceling
and adjusting irrigation charges of certain
non-Indian landowners of the Wind River
Indian Irrigation project, Wyoming, and a
draft of a bill to approve the order. Con-
gressional approval is required before the
order may become effective.
We recommend that the bill be referred
to the appropriate committee for considera-
tion, and we recommend that it be enacted.
Copies of schedules A, B, and C, which
are referred to in the secretarial order, and
copies of the individual justifications for
each case listed in schedules A and B, were
transmitted to your office with our letter
dated February 24,1958.
Schedule A involves a cancellation of
charges totaling $15,745.12 for 17 non-Indian
landowners, all of which charges accrued
before December 31, 1946, and a deferral of
payments of charges totaling $7,149.87, which
accrued from 1947 through 1956. Deferred
payment contracts have been signed by each
of the landowners involved.
Schedule B involves a cancellation of
charges totaling $2,093.14 for three non-
Indian landowners, all of which charges ac-
crued before December 31, 1946, and a de-
ferral of payments of charges totaling
$1,556.40, which accrued from 1947 through
1956. Deferred payment contracts have not
been signed by the landowners involved, but
the cancellation will not be effective until
the contracts are signed.
Schedule C involves a cancellation of
charges totaling $18,601.44 for 83 non-Indian
landowners, all of which charges accrued
prior to the Lien Act of March 7, 1928. No
contracts were executed obligating the pur-
chaser to pay the charges and they do not
constitute liens against the land. Section
4 of the 1936 act directs the Secretary to can-
cel such charges.
The amounts listed in the schedules are
principal amounts and do not include ac-
crued interest. In most cases interest will
be as much as the principal. Cancellation
of the principal amounts is intended to can-
cel the accrued interest also.
The cancellation of the charges that ac-
crued before December 31, 1946, is based upon
an investigation and administrative deter-
mination that the repayment capabilities of
the lands are such that the operators can
reasonably be expected to pay current an-
nual assessments and to liquidate over a
10-year period the delinquent assessments
that accrued after 1946, but that the lands
cannot be operated profitably unless the
charges that accrued prior to December 31,
1946, are canceled.
The Bureau of the Budget on December 30,
1960, advised us that there is no objection
to the submission of this proposed legisla-
tion to the Congress.
Sincerely yours,
GEORGE W. ABBOTT,
Secretary of the Interior.
Enclosures.
ORDER
Whereas, an act of Congress approved
June 22, 1936 (49 Stat. 1803, 25 U.S.C. 389-
389e (1952) ), authorizes and directs the Sec-
retary of the Interior to cause investigations
to be made to determine whether the non-
Indian owners of lands under an Indian irri-
gation project are unable to pay irrigation
charges, and provides that where the Secre-
tary finds that "because of inability to oper-
ate such lands profitably by reason of lack of
fertility of the soil, insufficiency of water
supply, defects of irrigation works, or for any
other causes he may adjust, defer or cancel
such charges, in whole or in part, as the facts
and conditions warrant," and may enter into
contracts with landowners for the payments
of past due charges over a period of not
more than 10 years, and
Whereas, schedules A, B, and C of an in-
vestigation and report of conditions on the
Wind River Indian irrigation project, Wyo-
ming, show that adjustments involving $45,-
145.97 of operation and maintenance assess-
ments against non-Indian-owned lands
should be made and that all except three
landowners have executed contracts agree-
ing to pay the adjusted balances of charges
against their lands after canceling amounts
justified under the said act: Now therefore
I find that the landowners are unable to
operate such lands profitably because of seep-
age and other conditions covered by the Act
and hereby (a) cancel $36,439.70 of delin-
quent charges shown on Schedules A, B, and
C of the said report, provided that the can-
cellation of $2,093.14 under Schedule B shall
not become effective until the landowners
have executed contracts as provided in the
act of June 22, 1936, agreeing to pay the bal-
ance, amounting to $1,556.40, of delinquent
January 23
charges against their lands described as Vie
WI/2SWI/4, section 1, SEY4NE% of section 22,
T. 1 S., R. 1 E., and the WIANWIANW% of
section 10, T. 1 S., R. 4 E., Wind River Meri-
dian; and (b) approve the contracts executed
or to be executed by the landowners as pro-
vided in the said act of Congress providng
for the payment of $8,706.27 of delinquent
charges against their lands.
Done in the city of Washington, District
of Columbia, this 12th day of November,
1957.
ROGER ERNST,
Assistant Secretary of the Interior.
REVISION OF RESTRICTION ON
CONVEYANCE OF CERTAIN SUR-
PLUS LAND
Mr. McCLELLAN. Mr. President, I in-
troduce, for appropriate reference, a bill
to amend the Surplus Property Act of
1944, at the request of the Assistant
Secretary of the Interior, to facilitate
the transfer of surplus land for historic-
monument purposes.
Under existing law, before a State or
political subdivision thereof may acquire
surplus land from the United States for
historic-monument purposes it must be
determined suitable and recommended by
the Advisory Board on National Parks,
Historic Sites, Buildings and Monuments.
The law requires that the area shall not
exceed what is necessary for the preser-
vation and observance of a historic mon-
ument, and that it was acquired by the
United States prior to January 1, 1900.
This bill is designed to remove the rigid
restriction relating to the date of ac-
quisition and substitute a requirement
that no surplus land shall be determined
to be suitable and desirable for historic-
monument purposes unless it has pos-
sessed historic significance for more than
50 years.
I ask that a letter addressed to the
President of the Senate by the Assistant
Secretary of the Interior under date
of January 11, 1961, be printed in the
RECORD as part of my remarks.
The VICE PRESIDENT. The bill will
be received and appropriately referred:
and, without objection, the letter will be
printed in the RECORD.
The bill (S. 537) to amend the Sur-
plus Property Act of 1944 to revise a
restriction on the conveyance of surplus
land for historic-monument purposes,
Introduced by Mr. McCLErmax, by re-
quest, was received, read twice by its
title, and referred to the Committee on
Government Operations.
The letter presented by Mr. McCLEL-
LAN is as follows:
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY,
Washington, D.C., January 11, 1961.
Hon. RICHARD M. NIXON,
President of the Senate,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: Enclosed is a draft of
a proposed bill "To amend the Surplus Prop-
erty Act of 1944 to revise a restriction on
the conveyance of surplus land for historic:
monument purposes.'
We recommend that this bill be referred
to the appropriate committee for considera-
tion, and we recommend that it be enacted.
This proposed legislation would amend
section 13(h) (2) of the Surplus Property
Act of 1944, as amended, so as to remove a
technical restriction, relating to data of
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