Lapas attēli
PDF
ePub

1st Session

No. 60

ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNMENT LENDING
AGENCIES

FEBRUARY 7, 1945.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. SPENCE, from the Committee on Banking and Currency, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany S. 375]

The Committee on Banking and Currency, to whom was referred the bill (S. 375) to provide for the effective administration of certain lending agencies of the Federal Government, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass.

PURPOSES OF THE BILL

This bill has two primary purposes: (1) To restore to the Federal Loan Agency, an independent agency in the executive branch of the Government, the functions which, pursuant to the authority granted in the First War Powers Act, 1941, were by Executive order temporarily transferred from that Ágency to the Department of Commerce and which still remain in that Department, and (2) to provide for the auditing, by the General Accounting Office, of the financial transactions of Government corporations.

EXPLANATION BY SECTIONS

Sections 1 and 2: The Federal Loan Agency was created by section 402 of the President's Reorganization Plan No. I, submitted to the Congress on April 25, 1939, pursuant to the Reorganization Act of 1939, approved April 3, 1939. Section 402 of that plan reads as follows:

SEC. 402. (a) Federal Loan Agency.-There shall be at the seat of the Government a Federal Loan Agency, with a Federal Loan Administrator at the head thereof. The Federal Loan Administrator shall be appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and shall receive a salary at the rate of $12,000 per annum.

(b) Assistant Federal Loan Administrator.-The Federal Loan Administrator shall appoint an Assistant Federal Loan Administrator, who shall receive a salary at the rate of $9,000 per annum. The Assistant Administrator shall act as Administrator during the absence or disability of the Administrator, or in the event of a vacancy in that office, and shall perform such other duties as the Administrator shall direct.

(c) Powers and duties of Administrator.-The Administrator shall supervise the administration, and shall be responsible for the coordination of the functions and activities, of the following agencies: Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Electric Home and Farm Authority, RFC Mortgage Company, Disaster Loan Corporation, Federal National Mortgage Association, Federal Home Loan Bank Board, Home Owners' Loan Corporation, Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation, Federal Housing Administration, and Export-Import Bank of WashingThe Administrator may appoint such officers and employees and make such expenditures as may be necessary.

ton.

(d) Administrative funds.-The Director of the Bureau of the Budget shall allocate to the Federal Loan Agency, from appropriations, allocations, or other funds available (including those available for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1940) for the administrative expenses of the agencies named in this section, such sums, and in such proportion, as he may find necessary for the administrative expenses of the Federal Loan Agency.

On February 24, 1942, pursuant to the provisions of the First War Powers Act, 1941 (the pertinent provisions of which are set forth in the appendix to this report), which authorized the President to redistribute functions among executive agencies in matters relating to the conduct of the war, the President issued Executive Order No. 9071, which transferred certain functions of the Federal Loan Agency to the Department of Commerce. The pertinent part of that Executive order is the first section, which reads as follows:

SEC. 1. Transfer of functions. All functions, powers, and duties of the Federal Loan Agency and of the Federal Loan Administrator which relate to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Electric Home and Farm Authority, RFC Mortgage Company, Federal National Mortgage Association, Disaster Loan Corporation, Export-Import Bank of Washington, Defense Plant Corporation, Rubber Reserve Company, Metals Reserve Company, Defense Supplies Corporation, and War Insurance Corporation, together with all other functions, powers, and duties not transferred by the Executive order establishing the National Housing Agency, are transferred to the Department of Commerce and shall be administered under the direction and supervision of the Secretary of Commerce.

Section 1 of the bill here reported provides that the Federal Loan Agency shall continue as an independent establishment of the Government and shall continue to be administered under the direction and supervision of the Federal Loan Administrator in the same manner and to the same extent as if Executive Order 9071, above referred to, had not been issued.

Section 2 of the bill provides that all powers, functions, and duties of the Department of Commerce and the Secretary of Commerce which relate to the Federal Loan Agency (together with appropriate personnel, records, and property) are transferred to the Federal Loan Agency to be administered under the direction and supervision of the Federal Loan Administrator. The powers, duties, and functions thus transferred, relating to the Federal Loan Agency, do not include certain functions, powers, and duties which were originally transferred to the Department of Commerce and Secretary of Commerce but are no longer vested therein, but do include those which were vested in the Department of Commerce and the Secretary of Commerce subsequent to February 24, 1942, and which are now vested in the Department of Commerce and the Secretary of Commerce. These addi

tional powers, functions, and duties include those vested in the Secretary of Commerce by Public Law 506 (76th Cong.), approved March 27, 1942, which, among other things, authorized the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to empower War Damage Corporation to insure against loss of, or damage to, property resulting from enemy attack with such general exceptions as War Damage Corporation, with the approval of the Secretary of Commerce, deemed advisable; Public Law 603 (77th Cong.), approved June 11, 1942, which authorized the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to make national defense loans to business enterprises and, when requested by the Secretary of Commerce, to subscribe to the capital stock thereof; and Executive Order 9475, issued September 1, 1944, which transferred certain responsibilities of the Rubber Director to Rubber Reserve Company to be administered under the supervision of the Secretary of Commerce. It should be noted that by virtue of the provisions of the First War Powers Act, 1941, the restoration to the Federal Loan Agency of the functions, powers, and duties transferred pursuant to that Act would in any event occur upon the termination of the effectiveness of title I of that act, which will be not later than 6 months after the termination of the war. The effect of sections 1 and 2 of this bill is only to hasten that restoration.

Section 3: This section provides for transfer to the Federal Loan Agency, for use for administrative expenses of that Agency, of the unexpended balance of the funds made available to the Secretary of Commerce by Public Law 365 (78th Cong.), for administrative expenses of supervising loan agencies. The pertinent provision of Public Law 365 is set forth in the appendix to this report.

Section 4: This section provides that no functions, powers, or duties shall be transferred from the Federal Loan Agency under the provisions of title I of the First War Powers Act, 1941 (the text of which is set forth in the appendix to this report), or any other law unless the Congress shall otherwise by law provide.

Section 5: This section provides for an audit to be made of the financial transactions of all Government corporations to be made by the General Accounting Office in accordance with principles and procedures applicable to commercial corporate transactions. While some Government corporations have been audited heretofore by that Office, the bill would extend for the first time to all such corporations the principle of an independent audit and a report thereof to Congress by the General Accounting Office, an agency of the Congress. The type of audit provided is a different type of audit than that made by the General Accounting Office with respect to the regular Government departments and independent establishments. While such audits of Government corporations are to be conducted under rules and regulations prescribed by the Comptroller General of the United States, it is understood that the scope and extent of such audits and the manner in which they shall be conducted will follow generally accepted practices and procedures applied by the public accounting profession in audits of commercial, industrial, and banking institutions as may be determined by the Comptroller General.

The authority given the General Accounting Office is not intended to supersede any existing authority of certain Government corporations to determine and prescribe the manner in which their obligations shall be incurred and their expenses allowed and paid, or to exercise control

over their funds, including the receipt, deposit, and disbursement of these funds. As to such corporations it contemplates that they shall continue to have their present authority to make settlement and adjustment for claims and demands by or against them, and accounts in which they are concerned either as debtor or creditor.

Upon the completion of the General Accounting Office audit for each fiscal year, beginning with the current fiscal year, the Comptroller General is required to make a report not later than the following January 15 to the Congress, with copies to the President and to the corporation concerned, which report shall, among other things, show any program, expenditure, or other financial transaction or undertaking observed in the course of the audit which in the opinion of the Comptroller General has been carried on or made without authority of law.

Section 5 also authorizes appropriations to the General Accounting Office of such sums as may be necessary to carry out the audits of Government corporations but it expressly provides that by agreement with the General Accounting Office and the Government corporations the expenses of the audit may be paid from funds available to the corporation.

APPENDIX

TITLES I AND IV OF FIRST WAR POWERS ACT, 1941 TITLE I-COORDINATION OF EXECUTIVE BUREAUS IN THE INTEREST OF THE MORE EFFICIENT CONCENTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT

SECTION 1. That for the national security and defense, for the successful prosecution of the war, for the support and maintenance of the Army and Navy, for the better utilization of resources and industries, and for the more effective exercise and more efficient administration by the President of his powers as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, the President is hereby authorized to make such redistribution of functions among executive agencies as he may deem necessary, including any functions, duties, and powers hitherto by law conferred upon any executive department, commission, bureau, agency, governmental corporation, office, or officer, in such manner as in his judgment shall seem best fitted to carry out the purposes of this title, and to this end is authorized to make such regulations and to issue such orders as he may deem necessary, which regulations and orders shall be in writing and shall be published in accordance with the Federal Register Act of 1935: Provided, That the termination of this title shall not affect any act done or any right or obligation accruing or accrued pursuant to this title and during the time that this title is in force: Provided further, That the authority by this title granted shall be exercised only in matters relating, to the conduct of the present war: Provided further, That no redistribution of functions shall provide for the transfer, consolidation, or abolition of the whole or any part of the General Accounting Office or of all or any part of its functions.

SEC. 2. That in carrying out the purposes of this title the President is authorized to utilize, coordinate, or consolidate any executive or administrative commissions, bureaus, agencies, governmental corporations, offices, or officers now existing by law, to transfer any duties or powers from one existing department, commission, bureau, agency, governmental corporation, office, or officer to another, to transfer the personnel thereof or any part of it either by detail or assignment, together with the whole or any part of the records and public property belonging thereto.

SEC. 3. That for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this title, any moneys heretofore and hereafter appropriated for the use of any executive department, commission, bureau, agency, governmental corporation, office, or officer shall be expended only for the purposes for which it was appropriated under the direction of such other agency as may be directed by the President hereunder to perform and execute said functions, except to the extent hereafter authorized by the Congress in appropriation Acts or otherwise.

SEC. 4. That should the President, in redistributing the functions among the executive agencies as provided in this title, conclude that any bureau should be abolished and it or their duties and functions conferred upon some other department or bureau or eliminated entirely, he shall report his conclusions to Congress with such recommendations as he may deem proper.

SEC. 5. That all laws or parts of laws conflicting with the provisions of this title are to the extent of such conflict suspended while this title is in force.

Upon the termination of this title all executive or administrative agencies, governmental corporations, departments, commissions, bureaus, offices, or officers shall exercise the same functions, duties, and powers as heretofore or as hereafter by law may be provided, any authorization of the President under this title to the contrary notwithstanding.

5

« iepriekšējāTurpināt »