DISPOSAL OF CERTAIN OBSOLETE GOVERNMENT

PUBLICATIONS

MAY 29, 1944.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed

Mr. JARMAN, from the Committee on Printing, submitted the

following

REPORT

[To accompany H. Con. Res. 87]

The Committee on Printing, to whom was referred the resolution (H. Con. Res. 87) authorizing the disposal of certain obsolete Government publications now stored in the folding rooms of the Congress, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the resolution do pass.

This resolution provides for the disposition of certain noncurrent and obsolete documents now congesting the folding rooms of the two Houses of Congress, it being necessary that the same be disposed of in order to make room for current publications which will be subsequently delivered and placed to the credit of Members of Congress. Of the publications proposed to be disposed of are many which are no longer needed for folding-room allotment, the Joint Committee on Printing have discontinued their distribution several years ago, because they were not distributed or called for and were only taking up much valuable space.

There has been no clearing out of documents in the Senate folding room within the last 10 years. In 1935 the Senate passed a resolution authorizing the disposal of old documents on the same plan as proposed in this concurrent resolution. The House of Representatives has cleared out accumulated documents on two occasions since the Sixtyfirst Congress, when on January 8, 1910, a simple resolution was adopted similar to the provision carried in this proposed concurrent resolution, and then again in the Seventy-second Congress, when an identical resolution was adopted on June 9, 1932.

This resolution proposes to dispose of these documents in the following manner:

First. To allow the present membership of both Houses of Congress until September 1 to dispose of certain noncurrent publications which are now to their credit.

Second. On October 1 the Joint Committee on Printing will mail to each Member of the Senate and House of Representatives a statement showing the name and total number of surplus publications then remaining in the two folding rooms to the credit of Members of Congress which were not taken out and are available for selection and distribution by Members of both Houses for a period of 30 days, in the order in which they are applied for.

Third. Upon the expiration of this period a statement showing the name and total number of documents still remaining shall be submitted to the executive departments, depositary libraries, and the Superintendent of Documents who will then select such as they desire, which shall also be allotted in the order of their application.

Fourth. Any documents remaining after the foregoing allocations shall be delivered to the Superintendent of Documents for disposal in such manner as he may deem to be to the best interest of the Government.

This concurrent resolution has been introduced at the request of the Sergeant at Arms of the Senate and the Doorkeeper of the House of Representatives as will be seen by the letters appended hereto and made a part of this report, as follows:

Senator CARL HAYDEN,

Chairman, Joint Committee on Printing,

The Capitol, Washington, D. C.

MAY 17, 1944.

MY DEAR SENATOR: The accumulation of documents has so congested the Senate folding room that something must be done to provide space for new publications. Therefore, the Joint Committee on Printing is hereby requested to adopt such measures as may be deemed necessary to relieve the situation.

Sincerely,

WALL DOXEY,

Sergeant at Arms, United States Senate.

MAY 19, 1944.

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

DEAR SIR: The accumulation of documents has so congested the House folding room that something must be done to provide space for new publications. Therefore, the Committee on Printing is hereby requested to adopt such measures as may be deemed necessary to relieve the situation.

Yours sincerely,

RALPH R. ROBERTS, Doorkeeper, House of Representatives.

78TH CONGRESS 2d Session

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

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REPORT No. 1526

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, FEDERAL SECURITY AGENCY, AND RELATED INDEPENDENT OFFICES APPROPRIATION BILL, FISCAL YEAR, 1945

MAY 27, 1944.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. HARE, from the Committee on Appropriations, submitted the

following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 4899]

The Committee on Appropriations submits the following report in explanation of the accompanying bill making appropriations for the Department of Labor, the Federal Security Agency, and related independent agencies for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1945.

APPROPRIATIONS AND ESTIMATES

The Budget estimates of appropriations forming the basis of consideration for committee action will be found in the Budget for the fiscal year 1945 on the pages indicated in the following table:

Department or agency:

Department of Labor..

Federal Security Agency..

Employees' Compensation Commission....

National Labor Relations Board...

National Mediation Board___

Railroad Retirement Board_

War Manpower Commission.

Pages upon which estimates

appear in 1945 Budget 571 to 588, inclusive 115 to 164, inclusive 56 to 60, inclusive 87 to 89, inclusive 89 to 91, inclusive 91 to 93, inclusive House Doc. 511

Supplemental estimates submitted since the regular Budget are included in House Documents 479, 520, 524, 552, 553, 561, and 584.

GENERAL ANALYSIS

The bill carries a total of direct appropriations of $1,104,972,514. This sum is $61,873,096 less than the appropriations for 1944, and $69,464,686 less than the Budget estimates for 1945. A detailed comparison of the amounts carried in the bill, the Budget estimates, and the appropriations for 1944 by items will be found in appendix E on page 27 of this report.

National defense items. A number of the items carried in the bill are for the support of national defense activities and a detailed statement of these items will be found in appendix A on page 24 of this report. The total carried for national defense purposes, $215,623,129, is $58,699,871 less than the Budget estimates for 1945, and a decrease of $88,908,221 under the appropriations for 1944.

Mandatory items.-Many of the items in the bill are for grants to States for cooperation in programs which have been established under law and for other purposes, costs of which are determined by operation of the various statutes involved and over which it is possible to exercise little or no control. A detailed statement of these items will be found in appendix B on page 25 of this report. The committee has studied these items carefully and made reductions wherever possible. Severe cuts, however, cannot be made unless the Congress should determine to amend the basic statutes. The amount for such items carried in the bill, $798,382,000, is a reduction of $8,000,000 in the Budget estimate, $806,382,000 for 1945, and an increase of $33,689,000 over the appropriations, $764,693,000 for 1944.

Eliminating the funds for national defense, $215,623,129, and the funds for mandatory items, $798,382,000, or a total of $1,014,005,129, from the aggregate of the bill, $1,104,972,514, leaves a net of $90,967,385, which represents the funds appropriated for administrative expenses and for the cost of directing Federal activities which is subject to some control. This represents a reduction of $4,764,815 below the Budget estimate. It should also be noted that much of the amount for administrative expenses is for the cost of administration of the mandatory items referred to above. It would be poor economy indeed, and would cost the Government money in the long run to provide inadequate funds for administration of these large programs. For example, the Social Security Board is operating the largest insurance business in the history of the world. The committee has made some reductions in the estimates for administrative expenses of the Board but has not found it possible materially to change them, as to do so would provide such inadequate management services as to cause the Government substantial losses.

Trust accounts and permanent appropriations.-In addition to the annual appropriations carried in the bill, permanent appropriations automatically available under the law in the amount of $9,550,000, set forth in appendix D on page 26 of this report, are available to the Office of Education for vocational education. Special and trust accounts totaling $337,311,700, an increase of $47,860,000 over current year appropriations, are also available for expenditure by the various agencies. A statement of these special and trust accounts is included as appendix C on page 26 of this report.