Following the objection raised by the subcommittee, the Company's offer expired and a request by the GSA that the offer be extended pending clarification of the method of determining the fair mar

ket value was refused.

(b) Benefits. As a result of the action by the subcommittee, the GSA has assured us that before negotiating disposals of this nature in the future, the appraisal methods used in making the appraisal estimate of fair market value will be carefully studied, keeping in mind the issues raised by the subcommittee.

4. Proposed Exchange of the Barracks "K" Area in Arlington, Va., and 215 Livingston Street, Brooklyn, N.Y., for the Former Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., and $3.5 million.

(a) Summary of subcommittee action.-A proposal to exchange an area near Arlington Cemetery known as barracks "K" and an office building in Brooklyn, N.Y., for the former Willard Hotel was referred to the subcommittee in July 1970. The purpose of the exchange was to facilitate the restoration of the Pennsylvania Avenue area as a part of the proposed National Square.

No proposal or program for restoration of the Pennsylvania Avenue area has been approved or funded by the Congress. The acquisition of the Willard Hotel property would have committed the Federal Government to a plan incorporating that property and to further acquisitions of nearby property amounting to millions of dollars.

There were numerous objections to the disposal of the barracks "K" property located adjacent to the Arlington National Cemetery. The plan called for the construction of a number of high-rise buildings on the tract. Various parties contended that this development would compromise the Arlington Cemetery environment, would overwhelm already congested traffic arteries in the area, and would put too great a burden on the public services performed by Arlington Cemetery.

In view of all the problems connected with the proposed exchange, the subcommittee informally requested that no action be taken to complete the exchange. The Senate Government Operations Committee likewise objected to the exchange. On November 12, 1970, the General Services Administration announced that the proposed exchange had been withdrawn.

(b) Benefits. As a result of the subcommittee's action, the barracks "K" property will not be available for high rise development at this time. Further use of this property can now be subjected to a more thorough review and analysis. Furthermore, the Government has not been committed to a program for the restoration of Pennsylvania Avenue which has not received a specific endorsement of the Congress.

SPECIAL STUDIES SUBCOMMITTEE

1. Agency Reports on Disposals of Foreign Excess Property.

During the 91st Congress, the subcommittee received by referral from the full committee 16 executive communications consisting of individual reports to Congress by Federal Agency heads concerning disposals of foreign excess property. Section 404 of the Federal Property Act requires these reports.

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IV. Committee Prints

In addition to the formal committee reports made to the House of Representatives, the committee also publishes certain documents of a background nature for committee and other congressional use, and as a matter of general information. During the 91st Congress, the committee published 16 committee prints as follows:

FULL COMMITTEE

1. "Federal Real and Personal Property Inventory Report (Civilian and Military) of the U.S. Government, Covering Its Properties Located in the United States, in the Territories, and Overseas, as of June 30, 1968."

2. "Compiled Statutes Committee on Government Operations (Revised Edition)."

3. "Results From Recommendations Made During the 89th Congress in Reports of the Committee on Government Operations, House of Representatives."

4. "Interim Report of the Activities of the House Committee on Government Operations, 91st Congress, First Session, 1969." 5. "Activities of the House Committee on Government Operations, 91st Congress, First and Second Sessions, 1969–70.”

MILITARY OPERATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE

1. "Military Assistance to Commercial Film Projects." This covers the investigation described in I.B. above.

GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES SUBCOMMITTEE

None.

INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE

None.

EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATIVE REORGANIZATION SUBCOMMITTEE 1. "The Budget Process in the Federal Government," April 1969. This committee print represents a revision of a compilation prepared in 1957 (85th Congress) entitled "The Budget Process in the Federal Government." With the assistance of the staff of the Bureau of the Budget (now the Office of Management and Budget), the subcommittee updated the older material and included additional pertinent information relating to budget and accounting measures which govern the preparation and execution of the budget of the United

States. The responsibility of this subcommittee in this area requires continuing study and review of the laws that have been passed and the procedures devised to implement these laws. This committee print, therefore, helps provide the necessary understanding in responding to numerous inquiries from Members of Congress, scholars, and interested citizens on Federal budgeting problems.

FOREIGN OPERATIONS AND GOVERNMENT INFORMATION SUBCOMMITTEE

FOREIGN OPERATIONS

1. "A Review of Alliance for Progress Goals" (a Report by the Bureau for Latin America, Agency for International Development).

On August 5, 1968, the Committee on Government Operations issued its 36th report to the 90th Congress. The report, entitled "U.S. AID Operations in Latin America Under the Alliance for Progress," was based on an 18-month study by the Foreign Operations and Government Information Subcommittee.

A major section of the report expressed the committee's deep concern over the failure of U.S. AID operations in achieving the goals of the Alliance for Progress during the "decade of development" envisioned by the signatory nations at Punta del Este in 1961.

Many members of the committee felt strongly that more realistic goals should have been set in the first instance and events now required a reassessment of those goals in light of our experience during the past 7 years of the Alliance.

Therefore, the committee unanimously recommended that the Agency for International Development undertake a comprehensive study "to determine whether the goals of the Alliance for Progress are currently realistic or attainable."

The print sets forth the study prepared by AID in response to that recommendation.

2. "Progress Report on Improving U.S. AID Operations in Latin America Under the Alliance for Progress" (a Report by the Bureau for Latin America, Agency for International Development).

A committee report on the Alliance for Progress was issued on August 5, 1968 (House Report 1849, 90th Congress), following an 18month subcommittee study of U.S. AID operations in Latin America. The report called for greater audit activity and auditor independence along with a review of certain special commodity financing procedures under which large amounts totaling as much as $95 million annually are used to generate needed local currencies for AID projects. The committee also cited the need for a preaudit of capital assistance projects to help prevent poor planning, faulty estimates, and other waste. Recommendations also urged a tightening of many other alliance activities.

AID's Bureau for Latin America submitted a report to the subcommittee in December 1969 detailing what steps have been taken to im

plement the committee's recommendations. That report, which indicates worthwhile actions in many areas, is summarized as follows:

In response to the committee's recommendations, AID has strengthened not only its audit capability by assigning additional personnel, but also the language training of auditors assigned to the region. A number of audit positions have been upgraded to bring salaries into line with responsibilities. Audit staffs also have expanded the scope of their audits to include a thorough examination of commodities being imported under program assistance. Increased attention has been focused on establishing and refining commodity arrival records and statistics. Computer analyses are now providing field auditors with the data needed to make more effective selection of these transactions, commodity classes, importer and host country procedures, and controls on which audit attention should be focused.

AID also reported to the committee that

Additional and significant improvements, both tangible and intangible, are emerging from the establishment in June 1969 of the Office of the Auditor General who reports directly to the AID Administrator.

AID also is preparing guidelines aimed at making a preaudit part of the capital project review process. The preaudit concept recommended by the committee has been tested in several countries both inside and outside of Latin America and AID reported the results were most favorable. Effective preaudit of projects before they are actually started should result in future savings of millions of dollars by preventing some of the mistakes which have plagued past projects.

In addition, AID has reduced "de minimis" financing in Latin America by 45 percent over the past 2 years as a means of generating needed local currency. The "de minimis" procedure was the target of strong criticism in the committee's 1968 report, and action taken on the committee's recommendations resulted in dollar savings of more than $45 million in 1969 and $33 million in 1970.

At that time, the committee urged AID to reassess the original goals of the Alliance for Progress and the Agency's performance in meeting them. AID concluded that while there had been substantial progress, it was impossible to achieve them by 1971, the original "decade of development" envisioned by the signatory nations at Punta del Este. For one thing, the Alliance virtually ignored the problem of population growth because of its "political volatility." Since then, the Agency has given much greater priority and attention to this problem, not only in Latin America but elsewhere in the world. AID also recently reported to the committee increased activity in programs designed to achieve those goals of the Alliance which the committee felt had received inadequate attention. These included agrarian reform, housing, and education.

3. "Communist Strategy and Tactics of Employing Peasant Dissatisfaction Over Conditions of Land Tenure for Revolutionary Ends in Vietnam" (a Study by Dr. Paul S. Taylor for the Foreign Operations and Government Information Subcommittee). For the past several years, the subcommittee has studied the economy and efficiency of U.S. foreign aid activities related to agrarian reform in Southeast Asia and Latin America. The committee has ap

proved two reports since 1968 which have expressed constructive criticism and recommendations aimed at increasing the effectiveness of American operational involvement in such programs.

Our effectiveness in this area must be improved if other development goals are to be achieved-especially the building of strong democratic institutions in all sectors of the underdeveloped nations. By far, most of the people in these countries depend upon agriculture for their very existence. To be really effective, Americans-especially those on the foreign aid "firing line" seeking to help the rural populaces of these countries attain their aspirations for a better life should understand how the Communist movement has used false promises of agrarian reform to achieve power and control.

This exploitation in Vietnam has been particularly cruel and deceptive. The Vietcong have recruited the sons of poor farmers to be guerrillas by promising families ownership of the land they have tilled for others over generations. Yet, history shows that instead of benefiting, the peasant only suffers more when Communist govern ments actually win power.

This story is documented in the committee print, which is a study by Dr. Paul S. Taylor, distinguished professor-emeritus of economics at the University of California. Dr. Taylor's manuscript was written before the adoption of a new land reform program by Vietnam in March 1970, which, if carried out, will help to transfer real economic and political power from the hands of the few to the hands of the many and speed the building of a more truly democratic nation.

GOVERNMENT INFORMATION

1. "Access by the Congress to Information From Regulatory Boards and Commissions." July 1970.

This committee print constitutes a compilation of responses to a questionnaire submitted to regulatory boards and commissions for the purpose of identifying and clarifying the appropriate statutes, rules, and regulations governing access to information by the Congress. The document warns that the compilation of responses from the 11 regulatory bodies "is replete with citations lacking pertinency and clearly having no validity of any kind whatsoever in limiting the right of congressional access."

An exchange of correspondence between the subcommittee chairman and President Nixon clarifying the limitations on the exercise of Executive privilege as a claim to withhold information from the Congress appears in the appendix.

2. "Availability of Information From Federal Departments and Agencies (Telephone Monitoring-Third Review)," December 1970.

This publication includes a compilation and preliminary analysis of responses to a questionnaire to principal departments and agencies for the purpose of bringing up to date a longstanding study and survey of the telephone monitoring practices of the Federal Government. (For details on the investigation and review, see I.B., above, under "Foreign Operations and Government Information.")