Lapas attēli
PDF
ePub

The second committee amendment, inserted as a paragraph of section 5, is as follows:

No part of the sums appropriated by this joint resolution shall be available to pay the compensation of any officer or employee of the United States who holds an administrative, executive, or supervisory position under this joint resolution, if the position is in any office located outside the District of Columbia or is on any project prosecuted in any place outside the District of Columbia, unless such person is an actual and bona fide resident of the State or Territory in which the office or project is situated, but this provision shall not apply to the temporary and emergency assignment of any person to a position where the period of service in such position does not exceed sixty days.

The purpose of the amendment is apparent. Except for temporary 60-day assignments, every officer or employee of the United States in an administrative, supervisory, or executive position outside the District of Columbia, compensated under the recommended appropriation must be a bona-fide resident of the State or Territory in which is located the office or project in which or upon which such officer or employee is engaged.

The third committee amendment, inserted as subdivision (b) of section 6, is as follows:

No part of the sums appropriated by this joint resolution shall be available to pay the compensation of any officer or employee of the United States who holds an administrative, executive, or supervisory position under this joint resolution if such person receives or earns compensation for personal services (rendered during the period when he holds such position) from any other source.

The purpose of the amendment is to accomplish complete severance, on the part of administrative, executive, or supervisory officers and employees of the United States paid from the recommended appropriation, from any other gainful employment. The committee is advised of abuse that will be corrected by the amendment and is not cognizant of any injustice that will be inflicted.

Aside from the committee amendments, heretofore referred to, the joint resolution follows closely the provisions of the current relief appropriation, which is referred to as the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1936 and which is title II of the First Deficiency Appropriation Act, fiscal year 1936. Such changes as the joint resolution accomplishes in the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1936 are essentially as follows:

1. The maximum amount limitations placed upon classes of public projects, Federal and non-Federal, are reduced from 10 to 4. The character. of projects remains the same as in the current appropriation, the change effected being to group more classes of projects under a single maximum amount limitation for the group. This change is made in the interest of adapting the program in its curtailed operations better to the needs of the situations that may arise with respect to employment and is also in the interest of simplification of administration and accounting. Emergencies such as flood, storm, or drought cannot be foreseen. Projects must be adjusted to the available skills of persons from the relief rolls. With the completion of the large number of projects that have heretofore been undertaken there will arise the need for a shift, especially in cities, from some types of projects that have heretofore been carried on to other types.

2. The requirement exists in the current law, and is repeated in this joint resolution, that no Federal project shall be undertaken or prosecuted under the recommended appropriation unless and until there shall have been set aside Federal funds sufficient for its completion.

This requirement is modified so that it shall be applicable only to Federal "construction" projects. In addition to the requirement respecting the Federal projects, there is inserted the stipulation that no non-Federal project shall be undertaken or prosecuted under the recommended appropriation unless and until adequate provision has been made or is assured for financing such part of the entire cost thereof as is not to be supplied from Federal funds.

3. Authority is inserted, in carrying out the recommended appropriation, for the President to accept and utilize voluntary and uncompensated services, and utilize, with the consent of the State, such State and local officers and employees as may be necessary, and prescribe their authorities, duties, and responsibilities.

4. The monthly compensation for persons injured or disabled in connection with the works program, including those disabled on works programs financed from previous appropriations, will be increased from $25 to $30 per month under a provision in the joint resolution. The $30 a month is to be effective when the joint resolution becomes a law for those then on the compensation roll and for those thereafter to be placed thereon under work furnished from the recommended appropriation. The $30 rate is the present rate for disabled enrollees in the Civilian Conservation Corps.

5. Provision is made in the joint resolution for payment of administrative expenses (other than those concerned with the works program) in connection with (1) the examination by the Department of Justice of titles and other services in connection with land acquisition programs heretofore entered upon by the Resettlement Administration; (2) the National Emergency Council; (3) the National Resources Board; and (4) the Prison Industries Reorganization Committee. All in such amounts as the President may determine to be necessary. 6. Section 9 authorizes the establishment of special funds in the nature of revolving funds for use, until June 30, 1938, in the purchase, distribution, or rental of materials, supplies, equipment, and tools. This authority will greatly simplify accounting and purchasing and does not grant any authority for the use of any money other than that contemplated in connection with the recommended appropriation.

7. The date for the submission of reports to Congress in making an accounting for the expenditure of the recommended appropriation is changed from the 10th to the 15th day of January. The change in the date will accommodate the date of Treasury accounting reports which occur at 10-day intervals and will give a report on the 15th day of the month slightly more current than on the 10th.

8. Section 14 is new. It reads as follows:

No part of the funds of the United States shall be loaned or granted, except pursuant to an obligation incurred prior to the date of the enactment of this joint resolution, to any State, or any of its political subdivisions or agencies, for the purpose of carrying out or assisting in carrying out any program or project of constructing, rebuilding, repairing, or replanning its penal or reformatory institutions, unless, under the laws of such State the sale in the open market of goods, wares, or merchandise, manufactured, produced, or mined in whole or in part by convicts or prisoners (except convicts or prisoners on parole or probation) has been prohibited.

The appropriation of $1,500,000,000 recommended by the committee amendment is, by the terms of the joint resolution, placed in the discretion and under the direction of the President to continue to provide relief and work relief on useful public projects, in the United States

and its territories and possessions for the fiscal year 1938. The joint resolution also reappropriates unexpended balances of appropriations expected to exist under the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 and the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1936 as supplemented by the First Deficiency Appropriation Act, fiscal year 1937. These unobligated balances to be carried forward are estimated to amount to $223,000,000 on June 30 next. They have heretofore been allocated to agencies and purposes and the joint resolution carries them forward subject to the determination of the President.

The recommended appropriation of $1,500,000,000 is designed to finance the work program and other relief for the coming fiscal year. It is subject to allocation by the President. The committee, in the course of the examination of those concerned with this program, has been advised that the general purpose of the appropriation follows that pursued in connection with the relief appropriation for the current year. Funds are expected to be allocated from this amount for the Works Progress Administration, the Resettlement Administration, the Treasury Department (accounting and procurement), the General Accounting Office (accounting and audit), the Department of Labor (Employment Service), and for such other Federal agencies as the President may determine have works projects that can qualify for the employment of the requisite percentage of workers from the relief rolls. The amount to be expended in the current fiscal year for the Works Program, including the Works Progress Administration but excluding the Resettlement Administration, is $2,025,000,000, of which it is estimated that the Works Progress Administration will expend $1,850,000,000 and other agencies $175,000,000. The amount recommended to be made available by this joint resolution is $1,500,000,000, which is a decrease of approximately 25 percent. The estimated unobligated balances to be reappropriated of $223,000,000 include approximately $100,000,000 of Works Progress Administration funds which should not be considered in this comparison due to the fact that such an amount is regarded as a necessary working balance distributed over a large number of projects and such a fund will be needed so long as this character of a program continues. Neither is there included in this comparison the remaining $123,000,000 of estimated unobligated balances due to the fact that they are expendable for purposes which, in the main, are not included for the current fiscal year in the figure of $2,025,000,000 of expenditures heretofore given.

Taking the Works Progress Administration apart from the rest of the works program, the estimated expenditures for the current fiscal year are $1,850,000,000. Of the recommended amount of $1,500,000,000, after making allowance for allotments expected by other agencies, there is an estimated amount for the Works Progress Administration of around $1,312,000,000. This sum would show a decrease under the current expenditures of approximately 30 percent. At the time of the hearings a total of 2,255,000 persons were employed on the works program, of which 2,085,000 were employed by the Works Progress Administration and 170,000 by other Federal agencies on works projects.

On the basis of the recommended appropriation of $1,500,000,000, an average employment would be provided during the coming fiscal year of 1,640,000 on the works program. This would mean a reduction of 615,000 from the number employed as stated in the previous paragraph, a decrease of 27 percent.

The general works program was inaugurated with the making available of the large fund of more than 41⁄2 billion dollars in the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935, approved April 8, 1935, and continued under that fund and the appropriations made in the current fiscal year in the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1936, as supplemented. Under these acts a total of $6,921,000,000 has been made available for the program. At the end of February 1936, the total number at work on the program, excluding Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees, totaled 3,400,000, of which 3,000,000 were on Works Progress Administration projects. At the date of the hearings, the total number of workers on the program totaled 2,255,000, a decrease of 1,145,000. On the basis of the recommended appropriation of 11⁄2 billion, providing for an average for the coming year of 1,640,000, the number employed will have been reduced from the maximum in February 1936, by approximately one-half.

These decreases have taken place largely through the improvement of business conditions in the country and the ability of workers to find employment in private industry. There can be no dispute as to the restored condition of industry and agriculture in America and the return of general prosperity. Indications are that these conditions will continue and show further advancement and furnish additional employment.

In providing the appropriation of $1,500,000,000 and indicating that such a sum is to constitute the only amount that is to come from the Federal Government in furnishing direct employment, the committee believes that private employment will continue to absorb more of those now on relief employment rolls of the Federal Government and that the States and their political subdivisions will assume a larger share of the relief burden and increase the amount of their participation in these Federal projects.

In connection with the amount of relief to be furnished under the appropriation of a billion and a half, and contrasting that sum with previous amounts for such purposes, attention should be drawn to the fact that other relief will continue to be furnished through the Civilian Conservation Corps which will be financed from another a; propriation, considerable employment will be provided through the general public-works programs of regular governmental activities. under regular appropriations for which an increase of $80,000,000 was estimated for 1938 over the amounts appropriated for 1937, and socialsecurity grants to the States for old-age assistance and other generalwelfare purposes will amount to approximately $250,000,000 for the coming fiscal year.

The committee is advised that an amount of approximately $75,000,000, plus administrative expenses, is expected by the Resettlement Administration from the appropriation of one billion and a half for loans and rehabilitation in rural areas. No sums are expected to be allotted for any other activities of the Resettlement Administration for housing or land acquisitions. The Secretary of Agriculture advised the committee that it might be necessary in some instances to provide grants to take care of drought cases, but that in the main the activities of the Resettlement Administration to be financed under the recommended appropriation, in whatever amount the President might determine, would be used for administrative expenses, the making of loans, the farm-debt-adjustment program, and rural rehabilitation.

O

« iepriekšējāTurpināt »