Dollar for dollar, and agency by agency, the Department of the Interior has the most complex appropriation structure in the Federal Government. The annual appropriations, exclusive of trust funds, authorized by the Interior Department Appropriation Act, 1945, required the establishment of 180 appropriation accounts and many hundreds of limitation accounts under 386 limitation symbols. A complex appropriation structure is not essential to effective control over expenditures from appropriated funds. In fact, this complexity, in some instances, may prevent effective control. Some indication of the volume of Interior appropriation items can be obtained from an examination of the Budget for 1946. The Budget contains 167 pages devoted to Interior items, the greatest number of pages required for any executive department. In fact, six of the executive departments Commerce, Justice, Labor, Post Office, State, and Treasury-together require a total of only 161 pages, although the total appropriation requests for these agencies amount to $1,689,892,420, or approximately 13 times as much as the proposed appropriations for the Department of the Interior. The advantages to be derived from a program of simplification will assist the Congress as well as the Department. Some of these advantages are as follows: 1. A simplification of appropriation items would allow intensive consideration of the major apporpriation items with less time devoted to a large number of small items. 2. Within each major appropriation item, a uniform classification of projects and activities could be established, as agreed upon by the committee, the Bureau of the Budget, and the Department. This uniform classification of activities would provide more useful information concerning the operations conducted under each appropriation than can be obtained from the present appropriation items. 3. Major appropriation items could furnish a more significant comparison, from year to year, of amounts made available for these purposes than can be obtained from numerous small appropriation items which change from year to year. 4. Major appropriation items, with uniform classification of projects or functions under each item, would permit better control over expenditures and operations and would supply more usable data upon the progress of the work. 5. A smaller number of major appropriation accounts would eliminate a large volume of official documentation which must be processed through the Department, the Treasury, and the General Accounting Office. This reduction in documents and appropriation accounts would save measurable sums of money. Chairman Cannon indicated to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget that "the committee would be interested in any proposal which would contribute to clarity and simplification." Since there must be a meeting of minds on any proposal for simplifying the appropriation structure of the Department, and since it would be desirable to reflect any changes which can be made in the budget estimates for the fiscal year 1947, I hope that your committee will direct the executive secretary of your committee, or such other person as you may select, to work with representatives of the Bureau of the Budget and the Department in the preparation of recommendations. SALARIES, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY The appropriation "Salaries, Office of the Secretary" provides funds for the operation of the immediate office of the Secretary, the Under Secretary, the Assistant Secretaries and the divisions and offices performing department-wide staff services. These staff services consist of the Division of Budget and Administrative Management, the Division of Personnel Supervision and Management, the Division of Administrative Services, the Division of Information, the Division of Power, the Office of Land Utilization, the Office of Field Representatives, and the Special Adviser on Labor Relations. The appropriation requested for 1946 is $81,540 below the amount available for 1945. Exclusive of overtime, however, it represents a net increase of $108,685. That increase provides $12,025 for reallocations, $13,000 for within-grade promotions, and $83,660 for new positions. REALLOCATIONS AND WITHIN-GRADE PROMOTIONS During the fiscal year 1944, 43 positions were reallocated to higher grades by the Civil Service Commission. The increase requested to cover reallocations amounts to $12,025, which is less than the extimated annual cost of these reallocations. Within-grade promotions which will become effective during the fiscal year 1945 are estimated to cost $15,460 annually, and $13,000 has been included for these within-grade promotions. NEW POSITIONS The increase to defray the cost of new positions amounts to $83,000; Some of the new positions requested for 1946 are similar to the positions we proposed last year but which were disallowed by your committee. These positions are: An administrative assistant for Assistant Secretary Straus; a new Assistant Secretary as authorized by the act of February 29, 1944, and his immediate staff; additional personnel for the Division of Budget and Administrative Management; two finance positions in the Division of Administrative Services; and a safety engineer and a stenographer. The new positions proposed in this request which were not required last year cover three additional positions in the Division of Budget and Administrative Management; two positions under the Department's suggestions system; and one position in the Office of Land Utilization. We are not renewing our request for several positions asked for last year. Secretary Straus is here and will testify later concerning the need for an Administrative Assistant in his office and for the two positions proposed under the Department's suggestions system. NEW ASSISTANT SECRETARY A total of $18,120 is requested to finance the office of a new Assistant Secretary. This request is the same as we made last year. The authority for a third Assistant Secretary, to hold office only during the war and 6 months thereafter, was provided by the act of February 29, 1944. The additional load of war duties which the Department, has makes it most difficult for the Secretary and the Under Secretary to devote the time required for the general management of the Department, and at the same time to provide adequate supervision of the agencies reporting directly to the Secretary and the Under Secretary. It would improve management of the Department's activities if a third Assistant Secretary could be appointed to assume part of the load of general supervision for which inadequate provision is made under existing arrangements. DIVISION OF BUDGET AND ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGEMENT We are requesting your committee to reconsider the need for a staff for the Division of Budget and Administrative Management. This request represents an increase of $38,120 to finance 11 new positions. We proposed to the committee last year that this Division be organized to provide better departmental coordination and control over the budget, finance, and administrative management activities of the bureaus and offices. Last year, the Department requested an increase of $24,620 which, together with $36,300 obtained by transfer from functions consolidated into the new division, would provide the Division with a staff of 17 employees. Our request last year was not approved by your committee and the Division has operated during the current year with a staff of 9 employees financed from the $36,300 previously provided for these functions. The amount requested for this year would provide the Division with 20 positions distributed as follows: Two positions in the office of the Director, eight in the Office of the Budget, seven in the Office of Organization and Methods, and three in an Office of Finance. The Director of the Division serves as Budget Officer of the Department and is responsible for departmental control over the budget, finance and administrative management activities of the bureaus and offices. The Office of the Budget, working with the bureaus and offices, directs the development and execution of the budget programs of the Department. It establishes budgetary standards and requirements, reviews budget estimates and justifications, and assists in the presentation of budget requests. The Office of Organization and Methods analyzes existing organization structure, procedures and functions, and prepares plans and recommendations for improving organization and methods within the Department. The proposed Office of Finance would review the fiscal organizations of the bureaus and offices and would develop standards and requirements for financial administration throughout the Department. With the staff of the Division limited to nine employees, it has been necessary to concentrate upon the tasks which were most pressing, the jobs which had to be done upon a day-to-day basis. This limited staff has been unable to provide for adequate examination of departmental and field operations and for the development of standards and requirements to improve the budgetary and management practices of the bureaus and offices. These problems cannot be attacked upon. a department-wide basis. They must be approached through examination and analysis of the problems of each bureau. To accomplish this objective, the Division should have sufficient staff to examine and appraise bureau operations and to make sound recommendations for improving bureau organization and methods. The Division, despite its limited facilities, has been responsible for measurable progress in the budgetary practices of the Department. The Division has established some standards and requirements which have improved the quality of budget requests submitted to the Bureau of the Budget and the Congress. It has made improvements in the extent and character of departmental review of budget proposals and, where appropriate, has made recommendations for adjustment or elimination in budget requests. The Division has been responsible for assisting some of the bureaus in improving their organization for handling budget work. If the Division can add another budget examiner, it will be able to divide the work more effectively and will be able to make more intensive field examination of bureau activities. Such examination is necessary to appraisal of budget requests and to formulate recommendations for budgetary control over the expenditure of appropriated funds. The staff on organization and methods has been reduced to one analyst and a stenographer. This reduction has been necessary to stay within authorized positions but it has crippled the work of the Division in formulating recommendations for improving organization and methods throughout the Department. Important organization and methods problems have been referred to the Division during the past year. Major organization problems have arisen involving the Bureau of Reclamation, the Bureau of Mines, the Geological Survey, the Office of Indian Affairs, the Division of Geography, the Petroleum Conservation Division, the Bonneville Power Administration, and the Solid Fuels Administration for War. The Division has participated in these studies and has made recommendations for departmental action. Many economies can be realized in effecting organizational changes and in adjusting management methods provided this Division has the staff to provide the Department with appropriate recommendations for the handling of these organizational problems. Five new positions are requested for that purpose. Mr. Northrop, Budget Officer of the Department and Director of the Division, is here to answer any questions which the committee may wish to raise concerning the operations of the Division. DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES Two positions at an annual cost of $3,420 are required to handle the increased accounting work in the Division of Administrative Services. The work in this unit has more than doubled without compensating increases in staff, and a bookkeeper and clerk-typist are needed to handle the increased volume of accounts and to prepare financial documents. SAFETY ENGINEER We are again asking your committee to provide funds for a safety engineer and a stenographer at an annual cost of $7,400. The Department has the highest per employee compensation cost among the executive departments as shown by the records of the United States. Employees' Compensation Commission. We propose to hire a safety engineer to improve our record. The safety engineer would be responsible for review and appraisal of the safety programs of the bureaus and offices. Our previous effort to improve the safety record of the Department through the organization of a departmental safety committee made up of bureau representatives has not been too successful, and therefore this proposal is being made as an alternate arrange ment. EXECUTIVE OFFICER, WATER RESOURCES COMMITTEE During the past year, the Department, by Departmental Order No. 1946, established a Water Resources Committee to consider water resource problems with which two or more bureaus were concerned and to prepare recommendations to the Secretary for the settlement of interbureau conflicts in water resource development. The committee must be familiar with extensive data concerning Department programs in the field of water resource development and conservation. To make the committee work effectively, an expert on water resource matters devotes full time to this work in the capacity of vice chairman and executive officer. The executive officer assists the committee, composed of Bureau representatives, in the collection, analysis and dissemination of information and in the review and analysis of all proposals which are submitted to the committee for study and recommendation. Mr. Muck, chairman of the committee, is present and can furnish further details if you have any questions about this request. Mr. Chairman, that completes my statement. I want to say to you that it is a pleasure to me to appear before this committee again and to report to you on the work of the Department. I will be glad to answer any questions you may care to ask. Mr. JOHNSON of Oklahoma. Thank you, Mr. Fortas. Are there any questions? NUMBER OF DEPARTMENTAL AND FIELD EMPLOYEES If not, Mr. Fortas will you please insert in the record a table giving the number of employees in the Department by bureaus, in the District of Columbia and also in the field? Mr. FORTAS. Yes, sir. (The table referred to is as follows): Number of employees, Department of the Interior, as of Jan. 31, 1945, by employment groups 1 [Employment groups: "Salaried" includes all permanent and temporary employees on an annual or monthly salaried basis. "Wage" includes all permanent and temporary employees on a wage and piecework basis. "Miscellaneous" includes when actually employed, without compensation, and $1 per year or month employees. "Part time" employees are included in each of the above categories] 1 Employees in military service (not included in above), 6,765. Employees not in pay status during month, 1,951. Includes 25 without compensation and $1 per year or month employees. * Includes 1,521 without-compensation and $1 per year or month employees. |