LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATION BILL, 1950

JUNE 8, 1949.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. NORRELL, from the Committee on Appropriations, submitted the following

REPORT

To accompany H. R. 5060]

The Committee on Appropriations submits the following report in explanation of the accompanying bill making appropriations for the legislative branch for the fiscal year 1950.

ESTIMATES AND APPROPRIATIONS

The bill embraces regular annual appropriations for the Senate and the House of Representatives and those joint services and activities which by law or custom have heretofore been considered part of the legislative establishment. Included are (1) the Senate, (2) House of Representatives, (3) Capitol Police, (4) Office of Legislative Counsel, (5) Architect of the Capitol, (6) Botanic Garden, (7) Library of Congress, and (8) the Government Printing Office.

The estimates upon which the bill is based are contained in the budget for the fiscal year 1950 on pages 3 to 27, inclusive, as supplemented by subsequent recommendations in House Documents Nos. 40,77, 103, 157, 166, 177, and 199. The duty of the President in transmitting estimates for the legislative establishment is nothing more than a ministerial function, the budgetary requirements for the legislative branch being included in the regular annual budget of the President merely for the purpose of reflecting the amounts involved in the overall governmental fiscal requirements.

1

A detailed tabulation of appropriations for 1949, the budget estimates for 1950, and amounts recommended in the accompanying bill, with appropriate comparisons thereof, is contained at the end of this report. A summary by major segments of the bill follows:

As indicated above, the total of $62,200,705 in the bill is $11,697,479 below total budget estimates. The reduction is accounted for by numerous items, the largest of which, however, is the $10,000,000 submitted in the estimates for the Architect of the Capitol as partial liquidation cash for the contractual authority heretofore granted for the construction of a new Senate Office Building. The committee deemed it more appropriate to omit the $10,000,000 item from the bill and leave it for the determination of the Senate. No hearings were held by the committee on the justification for this particular amount for 1950, and its omission from the bill should not be construed as indicative of an affirmative attitude on the part of this committee with respect to the merits of the item.

As regards other items in the bill, the committee has made what it considers to be reasonable provision for essential activities and functions which must be maintained.

In response to a suggestion made in the report on the 1949 appropriation bill, the budget estimates and the accompanying bill reflect elimination of a miscellany of unnecessary verbiage heretofore carried in the numerous appropriation paragraphs under the Architect of the Capitol and the Library of Congress. The purpose is to reduce the numerous paragraphs to a reasonable description of the activities and objectives embraced while at the same time retaining all authorities necessary to carry out the purposes of the appropriations. The several changes are referred to and explained at various points in the hearings and, as indicated therein, the general purpose has been to neither expand nor restrict the scope of authorities heretofore contained in the appropriations.

Numerous increases for the purchase of equipment were included in the estimates considered by the committee. Examination of the details of those increases and the testimony thereon leaves some doubt in the minds of members of the committee as to whether full consid

eration had been given in each instance to the availability of surplus. governmental property in lieu of acquiring new furniture and equipment. In calling attention to this matter, it is the purpose of the committee to impress upon officials responsible for procurement from appropriations in this bill the importance, in the interest of economy and avoidance of duplication, of continuously scrutinizing and checking all available sources of Federal surplus property adequate to meet essential requirements before issuing purchase authorizations for new equipment.

UNITED STATES SENATE

Following the usual custom, the committee has excluded from its consideration all items set up under the Senate which relate solely to that body. No hearings were held on such items and the bill carries the full amount of the budget estimates therefor. However, consistent with the pattern established in the 1948 appropriation bill, items under the Senate heading include full provision for certain joint congressional committees which had theretofore been provided for under an arrangement whereby one-half of the funds were made available to the Senate and one-half to the House. The committee has considered these items and taken action on them.

The budget estimate for the Joint Committee on Foreign Economic Cooperation for fiscal year 1950 is $344,000 or $82,000 more than the current appropriation of $262,000. For the current year the joint committee has a staff of 21 and for 1950 proposes a staff of 25 at a cost of $214,000. Other expenses, including a very large amount for travel, make up the remainder of the $344,000 budget.

This joint committee was established by section 124 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1948, for the purpose of making continuous study of the programs of economic assistance to foreign countries and to review progress achieved in the execution of those programs. Enactment of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1948 embraced authorization for a vast new program in international relations involving huge commitments. and important international policy. The programs involve not only important and far-reaching international aspects but, also, have direct implications in relation to our domestic affairs and economy and it was felt that the Congress should have an agent giving day-today attention to the development and operation of the program by the executive branch.

The program is now in its second year of operation, policies have been established, and the administrative organization is so efficient as to have received the formal commendation of the Committee on Appropriations in its report on the foreign aid appropriation bill, 1950. Voluminous data on the operation and progress of the program were available to the Special Subcommittee on Foreign Aid when the appropriation bill was recently under consideration and supplementary data are available at any time the standing committees of Congress having jurisdiction in this field desire to obtain it from the Economic Cooperation Administration. Inasmuch as the joint committee has. served its original purpose there is no justification for continuation of the joint committee staff under these circumstances, and the committee has, accordingly, omitted the budget item from the bill.

H. Repts., 81-1, vol. 4- -22

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

For all items under the House of Representatives, a total of $19,026,475 is recommended, a reduction of $363,835 below budget requests of $19,390.310 but a net increase of $334,115 above the 1949 appropriations to date. Of this amount, $150,000 is included for preliminary work on the preparation of a new edition of the United States Code. Several of the individual increases above present appropriations are attributable to the general $330 pay raise of last July.

The committee desires to call attention to the fact that in the two House Office Buildings there are facilities assigned for the use of the telegraph company. It is understood that the space, heat, light, etc., is furnished without reimbursement to the Government. This would appear to have been a fair and reasonable arrangement when the Government was given a preferential discount from the regular commercial rate for telegrams. At one time the discount amounted to 60 percent, which was later reduced to 40 percent, and still later to 20 percent, and finally the discount was withdrawn. It is the view of this committee that the Government should receive some fair and reasonable compensation for the use of this space and the attendant services or else receive some discount below the regular commercial telegram rate. The committee therefore suggests to appropriate officials that steps be taken to bring about a change in the arrangement. Office of the Clerk.--The committee has made a reduction of $27,500 in the amount sought for salaries of employees of the Office of the Clerk of the House. Request was made for an increase of $27,500 to the present lump-sum allocation of $22,500 for employment of additional administrative assistants pursuant to authority in the Legislative Reorganization Act. Salaries of four employees are now supported by that lump-sum allocation; a similar number were employed in the fiscal year 1948. The $27,500 additional would add three or four additional administrative personnel. The committee is not convinced of the need for additional assistants in the Clerk's office and has, therefore, not granted the item of $27,500.

The committee has examined carefully into the operations of the Joint Radio Information Facility operated under supervision of the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate. Funds for five of the personnel of that facility, amounting to approximately $16,800, are included in the appropriation for the Office of the Clerk; the top position of the facility, at $9,538, is financed from an appropriation of the Senate. Total salaries, all of which are paid from appropriated funds, amount to $26,340. Funds for expenses other than salaries, such as recording and transcription materials, equipment, etc., are derived from charges made to Members of the House and Senate for recordings, transcriptions, and other services rendered. These collections go into a joint bank account, a Government fund supervised by the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate.

The facility is for exclusive use by Members of the House and Senate and was privately operated for several years prior to fiscal year 1948. In the legislative appropriation bill for that year, provision was made for the employees of the facility to be placed on the rolls as Government employees and the operating equipment was leased to the Government at a nominal amount with option to purchase at a