ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][ocr errors][subsumed][merged small]

Statement of George J. Burger, vice president, National Federa-
tion of Independent Business..

Statement of Hon. S. Walter Stauffer, a Representative in Con-

gress from the State of Pennsylvania

Statement of Richard P. White, executive secretary, American
Association of Nurserymen, Inc...

Telegram from L. M. Raftery, general president, Brotherhood of
Painters, Decorators, and Paperhangers of America...
Telegram from W. C. Birthright, general president, Journeyman
Barbers and Hairdressers International Union_.

Pike, Thomas P., Assistant Secretary of Defense for Supply and
Logistics: Statement.

Pilcher, Hon. J. L., a Representative in Congress from the State of
Georgia: Excerpt of letter from Brigadier General Kelly re banks..
Smith, Arthur Clarendon, Jr., second vice president, District of Co-
lumbia Trucking Association: Letter from Morris Davidson, to
Brig. Gen. W. A. Carter, July 9, 1953.
Taylor, Tyre, general counsel, Southern States Industrial Council:
Declaration of policy adopted by Southern States Industrial
Council, held at Point Clear, Ala., May 13 and 14, 1954_.
Excerpt from Harden Subcommittee Report----

Varrone, Anthony, business manager, Brushmakers Union, local

16303, American Federation of Labor: Statement.

Ward, Quaife M., assistant to the president of the American Retail

Association:

GOVERNMENT IN BUSINESS

(H. R. 8832, H. R. 9834, H. R. 9935, and H. R. 9890)

WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 1954

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS,

Washington, D. C.

The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:06 a. m., in room 429, Old House Office Building, Hon. Clare E. Hoffman, chairman of the committee, presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will be in order.

Without objection, H. R. 8832, H. R. 9834, H. R. 9835 and H. R. 9890 will be made a part of the record at this point.

(The bills, H. R. 8832, H. R. 9834, H. R. 9835, and H. R. 9890, are as follows:)

(H. R. 8832, 83d Cong., 2d sess.]

A BILL To terminate or limit those activities of the Government which are conducted in competition with
private enterprise, to establish the Anti-Government Competition Board, and for other purposes
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled,

SHORT TITLE

SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the "Anti-Government Competition Act".

DECLARATION OF POLICY

SEC. 2. The strength of this Nation rests on the free enterprise economic system. The framers of the Constitution of the United States never intended that this Government should compete with its people in the carrying on of business activity. This Government is now engaged in over one hundred business-type activities in competition with its people, such as the operation of hotels, railroads, tugboats, and banks; the manufacture of paint, rope, chain, fertilizer, ice cream, rum, clothing, spectacles, and false teeth; coffee roasting; radio and telecommunications and many others. Such Government competition tends to destroy initiative on the part of the people and to restrict the normal growth and expansion of private enterprise. It further deprives the people of opportunities for private employment and enterprise thereby reducing their ability to pay taxes without which the Government cannot exist. It is the declared policy of the Congress that the Government shall get out and stay out of business-type competition with its people wherever consistent with the national health and security.

CREATION OF ANTI-GOVERNMENT COMPETITION BOARD

SEC. 3. In order to carry out the policies of this Act there is hereby created a board to be known as the "Anti-Government Competition Board" (hereinafter referred to as the "Board"). The Board shall be under the immediate direction and supervision of the President and shall not be subject to the jurisdiction or control of any other department, agency, establishment, or instrumentality of the Federal Government. The principal office of the Board shall be located in the District of Columbia.

DEFINITION OF GOVERNMENT COMPETITION

SEC. 4. For the purposes of this Act Government competition shall be deemed to be any business-type activity of the Government which is, or normally can be, engaged in by the people.

1

GENERAL AUTHORITY OF BOARD

SEC. 5. The Board shall have the authority to do all things necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act including, but without being limited to, the authority

(1) to prescribe such rules and regulations as it deems necessary governing the manner of its operation and its organization and personnel;

(2) to collect, collate, and analyze information received from Government departments, agencies, establishments, and instrumentalities with respect to Government competition;

(3) to publish such information and the results of such other studies as it may make;

(4) to consult and cooperate with officers of the Government supervising Government competition in order to determine the practicability of limiting or terminating such competition and to suggest where appropriate the utilization of private facilities, products, or services in lieu thereof;

(5) to appraise the various programs and activities of the Government in the light of the policy declared in section 2 of this Act for the purpose of determining the extent to which such programs and activities are contributing to the advancement of such policy and to make recommendations to the President with respect thereto; and

(6) to establish such advisory committees and to consult with such representatives of industry, agriculture, labor, consumers, and other groups, as it deems advisable.

SPECIAL POWERS

SEC. 6. The Board shall have the authority to require all Government departments, agencies, establishments, and instrumentalities to transmit to the Board such information with respect to Government competition as the Board may deem desirable in carrying out the purposes of this Act including, but not limited to, the following:

(1) A detailed description of each activity considered to be Government competition;

(2) The location of each such activity;

(3) The essential available financial information with respect to each such activity including the Government's capital investment therein and total receipts by sources and expenditures thereon;

(4) The customers or consumers of the products or services of each such activity; and

(5) The number of officers and employees (both civilian and military) employed directly in connection with each such activity.

NEW GOVERNMENT COMPETITION

SEC. 7. Before undertaking any new Government competition or requesting or expending funds for any new Government competition it shall be the duty of each Government department, agency, establishment, or instrumentality, planning such activity to submit a report to the Board, in such form as the Board may prescribe, describing in detail the proposed Government competition. No such activity shall be undertaken or funds expended in pursuance thereof until thirty days after such report has been made to the Board. It shall be the duty of the Board during such thirty-day period to make a recommendation to the President as to whether such contemplated activity should be undertaken, bearing in mind the declaration of policy contained in section 2 of this Act: Provided, however, That this section shall not apply to any Government competition being carried on on the effective date of this Act or to any Government competition hereinafter specifically authorized by the Congress.

PUBLIC HEARINGS

SEC. 8. The Board shall hold public hearings to hear or receive statements from private persons or groups with respect to Government competition and its effect on the economy or on any industry, occupation, or region. Where any such statement in the opinion of the Board raises a substantial possibility that such activity of the Government is not consistent with the declaration of policy set forth in section 2 of this Act, the Government department, agency, establishment, or instrumentality supervising such activity shall be required to appear before the Board and set forth the reasons why such activity should not be curtailed or liquidated.

SEMIANNUAL REPORTS TO PRESIDENT AND CONGRESSIONAL OFFICERS

SEC. 9. The Board shall make a report on every six months of operation under this Act to the President, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Such report shall include a list of all Government competition, an analysis of statements received from private persons or groups at public hearings or otherwise with respect to Government competition, together with their disposition and such other information, comments, and recommendations for the continuation, curtailment, or liquidation of Government competition as the Board may deem appropriate.

COMPOSITION

SEC. 10. The Board shall be composed of four members as follows: the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Comptroller General of the United States, and the Director of the Bureau of the Budget, or their duly designated deputies. The Secretary of Commerce shall be Chairman of the Board. The personnel necessary to carry out the functions of the Board shall be provided by the Executive Office of the President. Any expense incurred by the Board in carrying out its functions hereunder shall be charged to the Executive Office of the President.

UTILIZATION OF OTHER GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS, AGENCIES, ESTABLISHMENTS, AND INSTRUMENTALITIES

SEC. 11. The Board shall, to the fullest extent possible, utilize the services, facilities, and information (including statistical information) of other Government departments, agencies, establishments, and instrumentalities, as well as of private research agencies, in order that duplication of effort may be avoided.

EFFECTIVE DATE

SEC. 12. This Act shall take effect on the first day of the first calendar month following the date of its enactment.

[H. R. 9834, 83d Cong., 2d sess.]

A BILL To provide for taking the Federal Government out of competition with private enterprise Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress_assembled, That the Director of the Bureau of the Budget shall submit to the Congress on the -th day of January in each year a list of all activities of the Federal Government which compete with unsubsidized private enterprise and which can be terminated without seriously impairing Government activities which do not compete with unsubsidized private enterprise. SEC. 2. This Act, except the first section, is enacted

(1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the Senate and House of Representatives, respectively, and as such it shall be considered as part of the rules of each House, respectively, but applicable only with respect to the procedure to be followed in such House in the case of termination bills; and such rules shall supersede other rules only to the extent that they are inconsistent therewith; and

(2) with full recognition of the constitutional right of either House to change such rules (so far as relating to the procedure in such House) at any time, in the same manner and to the same extent as in the case of any other rule of such House.

SEC. 3. As used in this Act, the term "termination bill" means only a bill or joint resolution of either of the two Houses of the Congress, which provides that any or all of the activities on the most recently filed list referred to in the first section of this Act shall be terminated, suspended, or restricted.

SEC. 4. (a) Each termination bill shall be referred to the Committee on Government Operations of the Senate or of the House of Representatives, as may be appropriate.

(b) Each list referred to in the first section of this Act shall be referred to the Committee on Government Operations of the Senate or of the House of Representatives, as may be appropriate.

SEC. 5. (a) If the committee to which has been referred a termination bill has not reported it before the expiration of calendar days after its intro

duction, it shall then (but not before) be in order to move to discharge the committee from further consideration of such termination bill.

(b) Such motion may be made only by a person favoring the termination bill, shall be highly privileged (except that it may not be made after the committee has reported a termination bill with respect to the same subject), and debate thereon shall be limited to not to exceed one hour, to be equally divided between those favoring and those opposing the resolution. No amendment to such motion shall be in order, and it shall not be in order to move to reconsider the vote by which such motion is agreed to or disagreed to.

(c) If the motion to discharge is agreed to or disagreed to, such motion may not be renewed.

SEC. 6. (a) When the committee has reported, or has been discharged from further consideration of a termination bill, it shall at any time on or after the twentieth calendar day thereafter be in order (even though a previous motion to the same effect has been disagreed to) to move to proceed to consideration of such termination bill. Such motion shall be highly privileged and shall not be debatable. No amendment to such motion shall be in order and it shall not be in order to move to reconsider the vote by which such motion is agreed to or disagreed to.

(b) Debate on the termination bill shall be limited to not to exceed ten hours, which shall be equally divided between those favoring and those opposing the termination bill. A motion further to limit debate shall not be debatable.

SEC. 7. (a) All motions to postpone, made with respect to the discharge from committee, or the consideration of, a termination bill, and all motions to proceed to the consideration of other business, shall be decided without debate.

(b) All appeals from the decision of the Chair relating to the application of the rules of the Senate or the House of Representatives, as the case may be, to the procedure relating to a termination bill shall be decided without debate.

[H. R. 9835, 83d Cong., 2d sess.]

A BILL To provide for the termination of Government operations which are in competition with private enterprise

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Termination of Federal Commercial Activities Act".

SEC. 2. The Congress hereby declares that the policy of the Federal Government should be at all times the encouragement of private enterprise. Certain activities of the Federal Government have developed which tend to discourage private enterprise, in that the Federal Government is engaging in commercial and industrial activities in direct competition with activities engaged in by private persons for profit. These commercial activities engaged in by the Federal Government deprive governments at all levels of tax revenues, and by competing with private enterprise, weaken the strength of our national economic system. It is therefore the purpose of this Act to provide for the termination, to the maximum feasible extent, of all commercial activities engaged in by the Federal Government in the United States which compete with private enterprise.

SEC. 3. As used in this Act

(1) the term "commercial activity" means any commercial or industrial activity performed by the Federal Government which is directly in competition with activities engaged in by private persons for profit; and

(2) the term "United States" means the several States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.

SEC. 4. The President shall examine and from time to time reexamine each commercial activity engaged in by each department, agency, and independent establishment in the executive branch of the Government snd shall determine what the effect, if any, on essential activities of the Federal Government would be of terminating such commercial activity.

SEC. 5. Whenever the President, after investigation, finds that any commercial activity engaged in by the Federal Government in the United States can be carried on by private enterprise without substantially impairing essential activities of the Federal Government, he is authorized to terminate such activity. In the course of terminating commercial activities under this Act, the President may—

(1) modify or abolish functions and activities,

(2) transfer functions and activities among departments, agencies, and independent establishments in the executive branch of the Government, and

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »