sible for determining appropriate bargaining units, supervising representative elections, deciding cases involving unfair labor practices, and administering the standards of conduct for Federal employee organizations.

The remaining $91,000 increase over the House request will provide funds to finance the transfer of funding of the Assistant Secretary for Labor-Management Relations and his immediate staff of four people from the appropriation for "Office of the Secretary, salaries and expenses" where a corresponding reduction was made in the estimates. Thus, the request reflects no additional resource requirements for this function in the Department's request.

The Committee is sympathetic to the request of the department for additional funds for the "organized crime program" but does not feel this appropriation to be the proper place for such a request. The Office of Labor-Management and Welfare-Pension Reports may well contain a wealth of information essential in the fight against organized crime, but these reports are public information and readily available to the Department of Justice for use in their law enforcement activities. The Committee feels the Department of Justice should make whatever request it finds necessary; that the costs of any review of these reports should be carried by that Department, and conducted by employees of that Department.

WAGE AND LABOR STANDARDS

The Committee recommends $12,300,000, an increase of $250,000 over the House allowance and $371,000 over the amount available for 1969.

The increase of $250,000 over the House allowance will provide $150,000 for a high-hazard inspection training and education safety program which will permit the Department to carry out its responsibilities under the safety provisions of the Walsh-Healy and Public Service Contracts Acts.

The funds recommended will only permit long overdue first steps toward proper administration of the Acts. Without them the safety activity will be able to carry on only a skeleton program. It will also provide $100,000 for restoration of mandatory Federal pay increase costs not completely funded in 1969 and will permit the filling of positions authorized in 1970 and a reduction of the backlog in adjudication and payment of claims of injured Federal employees.

The remaining $121,000 increase over the amounts available for 1969 will provide only for mandatory increases, primarily consisting of within-grade promotions in 1970.

The Committee approves the House allowance of the full budget estimate, $60,116,000, a reduction of $8,475,000 from the appropriation for 1969.

Under this appropriation benefits are paid to civilian employees of the Federal government disabled in the performance of duty or to their dependents, to dependents of certain reservists in the Armed Forces who die while on active military duty or while engaged in authorized training, to members of the Civil Air Patrol, and to others by various extensions of the Federal Employees Compensation Act. In addition to the direct appropriation the fund includes reimbursements from other Federal agencies. These payments for 1970 are estimated to be $50,057,000, an increase of $6,129,000 over 1969, making a total of $110,173,000 available for 1970.

These are administratively uncontrollable benefit payments. It appears to the Committee that the estimate is conservative.

The Committee approves the House allowance of the full budget estimate, $25,960,000, an increase of $657,000 over the 1969 appropriation.

The increase is for mandatory costs and for increased costs in the enforcement activity, partially offset by reductions in employment. Included in this appropriation in 1970 is "Preventing Age Discrimination in Employment" formerly financed by a separate appropriation under the Office of the Secretary.

The Committee recommends $22,420,000, the amount of the House allowance and an increase of $477,000 over the funds appropriated for 1969.

The increase over the 1969 appropriation will allow for mandatory increases in 1970 and will provide for $600,000 to start a revision of the Consumer Price Index to keep it abreast of consumer spending patterns.

The Committee agrees with the House recommendation that no fur

ther program increase will be allowed but that there will be no objection to reprogramming within the appropriation allowed if the Department feels that some of the activities for which increases were requested should be assigned a higher priority than other activities budgeted in the base.

LANGUAGE

The Committee recommends restoration of appropriation language deleted by the House which excluded the authority requested by the Department to carry the funds requested for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) Revision in FY 1970 through December 31, 1975. This authority is necessary in order to make certain that funds requested in any one year will not be lost to the program due to their lapsing at the end of the fiscal year in which they are appropriated. Annual cost estimates are based on project time-tables computed a year and a half in advance. In a project, like the CPI Revision, technical difficulties can occur that delay initiation or completion of particular phases of the program from the fiscal year when the funds were requested to a later fiscal year. Estimates submitted for succeeding years will be sufficient to cover only the new program phases. The carryover authority applies only to this activity in the appropriation, which in previous years was appropriated separately from the salaries and expenses appropriation and included the carryover authority.

BUREAU OF INTERNATIONAL LABOR AFFAIRS

The Committee approves the House allowance, $1,332,000, the full amount of the request, and a decrease of $68,000 from the funds available for 1969.

The allowance provides for $8,000 in mandatory increases and program reductions of $76,000 due to reductions in employment, travel, research support, and other services.

The Committee approves the full amount of the request, $5,978,000, the same as the House allowance, and a decrease of $169,000 from the amount available for 1969. Also approved is authority to use $144,000 from the Unemployment Trust Fund, the full amount of the request approved by the House, and the same amount as authorized for 1969. The allowance will provide for mandatory increases offset by program reductions of 22 positions and reductions in travel, research and contractual services.

The Committee approves the House allowance, $6,033,000, the full amount of the request, and an increase of $477,000 over the amount available for 1969. Also approved is authority to use $557,000 from the Unemployment Trust Fund, the same amount as approved by the House and the full amount of the request, representing a $1,000 increase over the authorization for 1969.

The increase includes $130,000 for mandatory increases, 31 positions and $474,000 for increased staff and funds for centralized audit operations and 3 positions and $50,000 for an economic advisor and staff for the Secretary. The program increases are partially offset by increased productivity and the transfer of funding for the Assistant Secretary for Labor-Management Relations and his immediate staff to the appropriation for "Labor-Management Service Administration, salaries and expenses."

The Committee is pleased to note the reorganization that elevated the Office of Planning and Research to the status of Assistant Secretary and is hopeful this will facilitate program and policy approaches targeted further into the future. This should help the Department to make much more effective use of its resources.

The Committee also feels that the Office of the Secretary must give increased attention to reducing duplication of programs within the Department.

The Office of Budget Policy and Review, with which the committee has closer contact than with most other offices in the Department, suffers from an over-fragmentation of responsibility, part of which has been brought about by a shortage of staff to conduct what may be considered the normal function of a budget office. The Office of Policy Evaluation and Research, the Office of Management Systems and the Office of Program Review and Audit each perform some of these functions. The Commitee is concerned that this dispersal of normal budget functions will lead to a situation where proper coordination and presentation of various programs and proposals will break down. Adequate personnel resources and grade levels should be assigned to the departmental budget office to give it the capability of providing Departmentwide leadership and guidance in the development of consistent and effective budget presentations to Congress.

An analytical review in depth of the policies, and programs of the Department is considered essential to sound operations and budgetary presentations.

FEDERAL CONTRACT COMPLIANCE AND CIVIL RIGHTS PROGRAMS

The committee approves the House allowance, $926,000, the full amount of the request, and a decrease from the amount available for 1969 of $17,000. In addition, the committee approves the House allowance of authority to use $564,000 from the Unemployment Trust Fund, the full amount requested and an increase of $29,000 over the 1969 authorization.

The net increase of $12,000 from both sources of funds includes $12,900 for mandatory items and $28,000 for compliance reviews and complaint investigations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, partially offset by employment reductions and savings in equipment costs totaling $28,900.

WORKING CAPITAL FUND

The bill as passed by the House contains the following provision: "The Working Capital Fund of the Department of Labor shall hereafter be available for expenses necessary for personnel functions in regional administrative offices." The Committee agrees with the House in including this language in the bill.

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND

The Committee recommends an appropriation of $72,698,000, an increase of $691,000 over the House allowance and the budget estimate. The Food and Drug Administration serves as the primary program for consumer protection within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. It administers the laws designed to protect the public against dangerous, misbranded, or adulterated foods, drugs, therapeutic devices, cosmetics, and other hazardous products.

The House allowance provided $1,128,000 for mandatory cost increases in 1970 and a program increase of $717,000 to expedite the review of new-drug submissions from industry, to fund further research into the potentially harmful side effects of oral contraceptives, and to support additional drug-equivalency studies. Other activities were reduced by $282,000 to make this increase possible.

The Committee is concerned that the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act has not been implemented as vigorously as was intended by the Congress. To rectify the chronic deficiency of resources for fair packaging and labeling activities, the Committee has recommended an increase of $691,000 over the House allowance for the Food and Drug Administration. These funds are intended to answer legitimate consumer demands, by stimulating expanded efforts to detect and prevent economic cheating in the food market and violations of the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act.