now threatens the very existence of Superior trout and whitefish fisheries. This "vampire eel" costs United States and Canadian fishermen more than $5 million each year in trout alone. The requested funds will bring about coordinated research efforts between Canada and the United States to eliminate the sea lamprey and to find solutions to the numerous problems which are detrimental to the fishing industry. As a result, the cost to the United States to accomplish these highly desirable and necessary objectives will be less in the future than in the past. Because of the cooperative effort with Canada, it will be possible for us to accomplish much more for a smaller amount of money than has been required heretofore. I respectfully urge our committee to allow the budget request of the Department of State in this matter. Sincerely yours, CHARLES E. POTTER. ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON WEATHER CONTROL Chairman HAYDEN. At this point, the formal appeal letter from the Advisory Committee on Weather Control will be inserted in the record. (The letter referred to follows:) ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON WEATHER CONTROL, Hon. CARL HAYDEN, Chairman, Senate Appropriations Committee, DEAR SENATOR HAYDEN: There is enclosed the appeal to your committee from the action of the House and its Appropriations Committee in completely denying the estimate of $350,000 for financing the activities of the Advisory Committee on Weather Control during fiscal year 1957. At page 6 of House Report No. 2638 the House Appropriations Committee states that it feels that there is serious question as to whether or not the Advisory Committee's continuation is necessary, and that legislation authorizing its extension has not as yet been approved. In this connection, please note that both Houses of Congress and their respective legislative committee had already acted unanimously in favor of the legislation authorizing the extension of the Advisory Committee on Weather Control at the time the committee's report was issued and the President signed this bill, S. 2913, on July 9, 1956. The enclosed justification for the requested amendment to H. R. 12138 does not reiterate the details of the full justification for the supplemental estimate of appropriation for fiscal year 1957, already presented in hearings before the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. It is not our intention to burden either your committee or the Senate and House conferees with reconsideration of the detailed reasons for the appropriation requests they have already considered. The appeal of the Advisory Committee on Weather Control is addressed only to a summary of the reasons why we will not be able to complete our statutory mission by July 30, 1956, and, therefore, why it is necessary to ask for the restoration of the full appropriation request to complete the assignment in the additional 2 years already granted by the Congress and approved by the President. This Committee's program to evaluate weather modification activities might well develop into a significant contribution to the solution of the serious water resources problems and the suppression of hail and lightning in many States of the Nation. It has the support of the administration, all the interested agencies and the vitally concerned water users. My opinion is that it would be a major loss to our country if the continuity and completion of the work of this Committee were permitted to cease for lack of adequate appropriations. Very sincerely yours, HOWARD T. ORVILLE, Chairman. AMENDMENT REQUESTED On page 4, line 14, insert: "INDEPENDENT OFFICES "ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON WEATHER CONTROL SALARIES AND EXPENSES "For necessary expenses of the Advisory Committee on Weather Control, established by the Act of August 13, 1953 (67 Stat. 559), as amended, including services as authorized by section 15 of the Act of August 2, 1946 (5 U. S. C. 55a), $350,000." HOUSE REPORT "Salaries and expenses.-The committee has denied the estimate of $350,000 for this activity, feeling that serious question exists as to whether or not its continuation is necessary. In addition, legislation authorizing extension of the Advisory Committee has not as yet been approved." Authorization JUSTIFICATION Legislation authorizing the extension of the Advisory Committee on Weather Control for another 2 years was approved without dissent by the legislative committees of both Houses of Congress (S. Rept. No. 1866 and H. Rept. No. 2424), and passed by both the Senate and House unanimously. The final favorable action by the House on S. 2913 was taken on July 2 prior to the issuance of the report by the House Appropriations Committee, and the President signed the bill into law on July 9, 1956. Legislative History The Advisory Committee on Weather Control was established after lengthy congressional hearings between 1951 and 1953 demonstrated that farmers, ranchers, electric utilities, municipalities, and other water users were annually expending 3 to 5 million dollars on weather modification activities covering 10 percent of the land area of the Nation and, also, that there were no existing private or public agencies willing or able to assume the responsibility of impartially evaluating these weather modification operations to find out if they were actually producing favorable results. The existing agencies were primarily concerned with weather forecasting, pure and basic research in cloud physics or commercial cloud seeding. Staffing difficulties The act creating this Committee was approved August 13, 1953; funds were not appropriated until almost a year later in July 1954; and the Committee was not able to assemble a qualified scientific staff for such a small temporary agency until January 1955. The small staff of 15 scientific and administrative employees has had only about a year and a half to conduct evaluations of weather modification activities. Assembling this staff was made possible only by obtaining competent technical personnel on reimbursable loan from the permanent agencies. The work of this small temporary group of employees is supported by the technical and scientific advice and assistance of consultants from private industry and the various universities and foundations. Status of evaluations The Committee's statistical evaluations show that cloud-seeding operations during the cooler and moist seasons of the year in the mountainous areas of the Pacific Coast States produced average increases in precipitation ranging from 9 to 17 percent above what was to be expected. The Committee's physical evaluations, designed to ascertain if there is physical evidence to support its statistical evaluations, thus far, appear to have established that the silver iodide used for cloud seeding does in fact get up into the clouds under similar conditions present in the west coast cloud-seeding operations which were statistically evaluated. Inability to apply present incomplete evaluations to all States The Committee cannot, at this time, report to the President and the Congress whether the same economically important results found in the west coast States can be applied to the varied water-resources problems in other States of the Nation and under other physical circumstances. In order to do so it must have the time and the money to statistically and physically evaluate weather modification activities in the mountainous areas of about 24 other States and the flat country of the remaining States. Importance of both physical and statistical evaluation programs House Report No. 603 and Senate Report No. 512 on fiscal year 1956 appropriations specifically recognized the need for the physical evaluation program as well as the statistical evaluation program of the Committee. Approximately one-half of this year's total request of $350,000 is to be devoted respectively to the statistical evaluation program and the physical evaluation program. Funds required to complete assignment The Committee will be able to maintain the continuity of its data collection and analysis and complete evaluations in the remaining major portion of the Nation only if the full amount of this year's budget request is appropriated. Similarly, the full amount of the appropriation request will permit the Committee to further investigate the feasibility of cloud-seeding activities to suppress hail and inhibit lightning fires in the Nation's forests. Appropriation summary Upon the completion of these studies and evaluations, the Committee will make a final report to the Congress at the earliest practicable date and not later than June 30, 1958, covering the entire country and all the scientific, economic, and legal aspects of weather modification. The Committee's appropriations for the fiscal years 1955 and 1956 were $120,000 and $275,000, respectively. The budget request for the Committee for this fiscal year, 1957, is $350,000. It is anticipated that the fiscal year 1958 budget request will be somewhat lower than the one for this year. UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY (See p. 475.) Chairman HAYDEN. I will insert the table referred to by Mr. Streibert, Director of the United States Information Agency, in his opening statement. (The matter referred to follows:) PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM (NO-YEAR APPROPRIATION) SUMMARY TABLES TABLE I.-Allocation of prior appropriations and fiscal year 1957 supplemental request: Effect of House committee action TABLE 2.-Status of appropriations as of June 30, 1956 Chairman HAYDEN. I have received a letter from Acting Secretary of the Treasury W. Randolph Burgess relating to his appearance before the committee on Thursday, July 5. The letter will be placed in the record. (The letter referred to follows:) Hon. CARL HAYDEN, THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, Chairman, Senate Appropriations Committee, MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Reference is made to H. R. 12138, making supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1957, which was reported by the House Appropriations Committee on July 6, 1956. Of the 4 Treasury items contained therein, 2 were recommended for approval in the full amount of the estimates and the remaining 2 for the Division of Disbursement and the Internal Revenue Service were recommended for reduction in the amounts of $100,000 and $380,000, respectively. The items in which reductions in the estimates were recommended are related to each other, since both are concerned with the refund of gasoline taxes to farmers under the provisions of Public Law No. 466 of this Congress. In the case of each of these estimates, the budget request was founded upon an estimated volume of $5 million anticipated refunds per year. In reducing the amount requested, the House Appropriations Committee, in its report accompanying the bill, indicated that it was of the opinion that the estimated number of claims indicated would not materialize. In connection with the above, it should be noted that the estimates referred to were based upon the best information available in this Department. The amounts of the estimates were arrived at through the exercise of our best judgment based upon this information. It now appears that the House Appropriations Committee, utilizing information available to it, has arrived at a different judgment. Only time and actual experience will determine which judgment was more nearly correct. Under the circumstances, since we have no new evidence bearing on the matter other than that presented to the House committee, please be advised that no protest will be made of the proposed reductions in these two items and that we are willing to abide by the judgment of the House Appropriations Committee in this matter. The above decision should be accepted, however, with the understanding that if the original volume estimates hold up in actual experience, it may be necessary to return at a later date for further consideration of additional funds. Yours very truly, W. RANDOLPH BURGESS, Acting Secretary of the Treasury. CIA BUILDING LOCATION Chairman HAYDEN. I have received a report regarding the status of land acquisition in connection with the CĨA building location which will be placed in the record. (The report referred to follows:) STATUS OF LAND ACQUISITION (See p. 737) 1. As background information on the actual transfer of jurisdiction for the purposes of construction of the building, it should be noted that there are currently two agencies of the executive branch which have jurisdiction over the site in question. (a) The National Park Service has jurisdiction over a 60-foot strip of land running through the site originally intended to provide access to the George Washington Memorial Parkway for the benefit of the owners of the Leiter estate. The Government eventually acquired title to the entire eLiter estate, thus extinguishing the easement. The Park Service, in a letter to this Agency of May 18, 1956, has stated: "This service will declare the land involved as excess as soon as a metes and bounds declaration is prepared by the Bureau of Public Roads and clearance has been secured from the National Capital Planning Commission." (b) The principal portion of the land concerned is under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Public Roads, which has stated, in a letter dated February 21, 1955, that: ***the Bureau agrees to the release for use by your Agency of approximately 100 acres of the tract contingent upon an understanding with respect to the required survey, the provision of a dividing fence, and other pertinent considerations." Subsequently, in a letter of October 3, 1955, the Bureau increased the area to 140 acres. 2. Discussions have been held with the General Services Administration and arrangements have been generally agreed upon for transfer of jurisdiction of the land concerned to the Agency in accordance with procedures as prescribed by law. 3. With respect to the 60-foot strip of land currently under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service, the Service has applied to the National Capital Planning Commission for clearance of their proposed action in declaring the land excess to Park Service needs. This is in accord with current Park Service practices. 4. At the present time, the National Capital Planning Commission staff has sent forward mailed ballots to each of the members of the Commission requesting an expression of their views. As you are aware, however, the National Capital Planning Commission has already approved the location of our building on the Langley site. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA LETTER ON AMENDMENTS REQUESTED Chairman HAYDEN. I have received a letter from the President of the District of Columbia Board of Commissioners on the amendments requested to the supplemental appropriation bill for 1957. This letter will be placed in the record. (The communication follows:) GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Washington, D. C., July 11, 1956. Hon. CARL HAYDEN, Chairman, Committee on Appropriations, DEAR SENATOR HAYDEN: Subsequent to the hearings on July 5, 1956, before your committee on District of Columbia items included in the supplemental bill, 1957, the House reported the bill with reductions amounting to $2,033,706. The Commissioners have examined the items deleted by the House and respectfully request favorable consideration by the Senate of the following restorations: |