time has now come, therefore, to eliminate any expiration date with respect to that authority; the authority should be made commensurate with the responsibility of the President under the same statute.

H.R. 4623 and the text of Public Law 109 of the 81st Congress, as amended, follows:

[H.R. 4623, 89th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL Further amending the Reorganization Act of 1949

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 5 of the Reorganization Act of 1949 (63 Stat. 205), as amended,is hereby further amended by repealing subsection (b) thereof and by deleting the subsection designation "(a)".

[PUBLIC LAW 109-81ST CONGRESS]

[CHAPTER 226-1ST SESSION]

[H.R. 23611

AN ACT To provide for the reorganization of Government agencies, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

TITLE I

SHORT TITLE

SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the "Reorganization Act of 1949”.

NEED FOR REORGANIZATIONS

SEC. 2. (a) The President shall examine and from time to time reexamine the organization of all agencies of the Government and shall determine what changes therein are necessary to accomplish the following purposes:

(1) to promote the better execution of the laws, the more effective management of the executive branch of the Government and of its agencies and functions, and the expeditious administration of the public business;

(2) to reduce expenditures and promote economy, to the fullest extent consistent with the efficient operation of the Government;

(3) to increase the efficiency of the operations of the Government to the fullest extent practicable;

(4) to group, coordinate, and consolidate agencies and functions of the Government, as nearly as may be, according to major purposes;

(5) to reduce the number of agencies by consolidating those having similar functions under a single head, and to abolish such agencies or functions thereof as may not be necessary for the efficient conduct of the Government; and

(6) to eliminate overlapping and duplication of effort.

(b) The Congress declares that the public interest demands the carrying out of the purposes specified in subsection (a) and that such purposes may be accomplished in great measure by proceeding under the provisions of this Act, and can be accomplished more speedily thereby than by the enactment of specific legislation.

REORGANIZATION PLANS

SEC. 3. Whenever the President, after investigation, finds that—

(1) the transfer of the whole or any part of any agency, or of the whole or any part of the functions thereof, to the jurisdiction and control of any other agency; or

or

(2) the abolition of all or any part of the functions of any agency;

(3) the consolidation or coordination of the whole or any part of any agency, or of the whole or any part of the functions thereof, with the whole or any part of any other agency or the functions thereof; or (4) the consolidation or coordination of any part of any agency or the functions thereof with any other part of the same agency or the functions thereof; or

or

(5) the authorization of any officer to delegate any of his functions;

(6) the abolition of the whole or any part of any agency which agency or part does not have, or upon the taking effect of the reorganization plan will not have any functions.

is necessary to accomplish one or more of the purposes of section 2(a) he shall prepare a reorganization plan for the making of the reorganizations as to which he has made findings and which he includes in the plan, and transmit such plan (bearing an identifying number) to the Congress, together with a declaration that, with respect to each reorganization included in the plan, he has found that such reorganization is necessary to accomplish one or more of the purposes of section 2(a). The delivery to both Houses shall be on the same day and shall be made to each House while it is in session. The President, in his message transmitting a reorganization plan, shall specify with respect to each abolition of a function included in the plan the statutory authority for the exercise of such function, and shall specify the reduction of expenditures (itemized so far as practicable) which it is probable will be brought about by the taking effect of the reorganizations included in the plan.

OTHER CONTENTS OF PLANS

SEC. 4. Any reorganization plan transmitted by the President under section 3(1) shall change, in such cases as he deems necessary, the name of any agency affected by a reorganization, and the title of its head; and shall designate the name of any agency resulting from a reorganization and the title of its head;

(2) may include provisions for the appointment and compensation of the head and one or more other officers of any agency (including an agency resulting from a consolidation or other type of reorganization) if the President finds, and in his message transmitting the plan declares, that by reason of a reorganization made by the plan such provisions are necessary. The head so provided for may be an individual or may be a commission or board with two or more members. In the case of any such appointment the term of office shall not be fixed at more than four years, the compensation shall not be at a rate in excess of that found by the President to prevail in respect of comparable officers in the executive branch, and, if the appointment is not under the classified civil service, it shall be by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, except that, in the case of any officer of the municipal government of the District of Columbia, it may be by the Board of Commissioners or other body or officer of such government designated in the plan;

(3) shall make provision for the transfer or other disposition of the records, property, and personnel affected by any reorganization;

(4) shall make provision for the transfer of such unexpended balances of appropriations, and of other funds, available for use in connection with any function or agency affected by a reorganization, as he deems necessary by reason of the reorganization for use in connection with the functions affected by the reorganization, or for the use of the agency which shall have such functions after the reorganization plan is effective, but such unexpended balances so transferred shall be used only for the purposes for which such appropriation was originally made;

(5) shall make provision for terminating the affairs of any agency abolished.

LIMITATIONS ON POWERS WITH RESPECT TO REORGANIZATION

SEC. 5. (a) No reorganization plan shall provide for, and no reorganization under this Act shall have the effect of—

(1) abolishing or transferring an executive department or all the functions thereof or consolidating any two or more executive departments or all the functions thereof; or

(2) continuing any agency beyond the period authorized by law for its existence or beyond the time when it would have terminated if the reoganization had not been made; or

(3) continuing any function beyond the period authorized by law for its exercise, or beyond the time when it would have terminated if the reorganization had not been made; or

(4) authorizing any agency to exercise any function which is not expressly authorized by law at the time the plan is transmitted to the Congress;

or

(5) increasing the term of any office beyond that provided by law for such office; or

(6) transferring to or consolidating with any other agency the municipal government of the District of Columbia or all those functions thereof which are subject to this Act, or abolishing said government or all said functions. (b) No provision contained in a reorganization plan shall take effect unless the plan is transmitted to the Congress before [June 1, 1963.] June 1, 1965.

TAKING EFFECT OF REORGANIZATION

SEC. 6. (a) Except as may be otherwise provided pursuant to subsection (c) of this section, the provisions of the reorganization plan shall take effect upon the expiration of the first period of sixty calendar days, of continuous session of the Congress, following the date on which the plan is transmitted to it; but only if, between the date of transmittal and the expiration of such sixty-day period there has not been passed by either of the two Houses a resolution stating in substance that the House does not favor the reorganization plan. (b) For the purposes of subsection (a)—

(1) continuity of session shall be considered as broken only by an adjournment of the Congress sine die; but

(2) in the computation of the sixty-day period there shall be excluded the days on which either House is not in session because of an adjournment of more than three days to a day certain.

(c) Any provision of the plan may, under provisions contained in the plan, be made operative at a time later than the date on which the plan shall otherwise take effect.

DEFINITION OF "AGENCY"

SEC. 7. When used in this Act, the term "agency" means any executive department, commission, council, independent establishment, Government corporation, board, bureau, division, service, office, officer, authority, administration, or other establishment, in the executive branch of the Government, and means also any and all parts of the municipal government of the District of Columbia except the courts thereof. Such term does not include the Comptroller General of the United States or the General Accounting Office, which are a part of the legislative branch of the Government.

MATTERS DEEMED TO BE REORGANIZATIONS

SEC. 8. For the purposes of this Act the term "reorganization" means any transfer, consolidation, coordination, authorization, or abolition, referred to in section 3.

SAVING PROVISIONS

SEC. 9. (a) (1) Any statute enacted, and any regulation or other action made. prescribed, issued, granted, or performed in respect of or by any agency or function affected by a reorganization under the provisions of this Act, before the effective date of such reorganization, shall, except to the extent rescinded, modified, superseded, or made inapplicable by or under authority of law or by the abolition of a function, have the same effect as if such reorganization had not been made; but where any such statute, regulation, or other action has vested the function in the agency from which it is removed under the plan, such function shall, insofar as it is to be exercised after the plan becomes effective, be considered as vested in the agency under which the function is placed by the plan. (2) As used in paragraph (1) of this subsection the term “regulation or other action" means any regulation, rule, order, policy, determination, directive, authorization, permit, privilege, requirement, designation, or other action.

(b) No suit, action, or other proceeding lawfully commenced by or against the head of any agency or other officer of the United States, in his official capacity or in relation to the discharge of his official duties, shall abate by reason of the taking effect of any reorganization plan under the provisions of this Act, but

the court may, on motion or supplemental petition filed at any time within twelve months after such reorganization plan takes effect, showing a necessity for a survival of such suit, action, or other proceeding to obtain a settlement of the questions involved, allow the same to be maintained by or against the successor of such head or officer under the reorganization effected by such plan or, if there be no such successor, against such agency or officer as the President shall designate.

UNEXPENDED APPROPRIATIONS

SEC. 10. The appropriations or portions of appropriations unexpended by reason of the operation of this Act shall not be used for any purpose, but shall be impounded and returned to the Treasury.

PRINTING OF REORGANIZATION PLANS

SEC. 11. Each reorganization plan which shall take effect shall be printed in the Statutes at Large in the same volume as the public laws, and shall be printed in the Federal Register.

TITLE II

SEC. 201. The following sections of this title are enacted by the Congress : (a) As an exercise of the rule-making power of the Senate and the House of Representatives, respectively, and as such they 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 resolutions (as defined in section 202); and such rules shall supersede other rules only to the extent that they are inconsistent therewith; and

(b) 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. 202. As used in this title, the term "resolution" means only a resolution of either of the two Houses of Congress, the matter after the resolving clause of which is as follows: "That the does not favor the reorganization plan numbered transmitted to Congress by the President on 19-.", the first blank space therein being filled with the name of the resolving House and the other blank spaces therein being appropriately filled; and does not include a resolution which specifies more than one reorganization plan.

SEC. 203. A resolution with respect to a reorganization plan shall be referred to a committee (and all resolutions with respect to the same plan shall be referred to the same committee) by the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as the case may be.

SEC. 204. (a) If the committee to which has been referred a resolution with respect to a reorganization plan has not reported it before the expiration of ten calendar days after its introduction, it shall then (but not before) be in order to move either to discharge the committee from further consideration of such resolution, or to discharge the committee from further consideration of any other resolution with respect to such reorganization plan which has been referred to the committee.

(b) Such motion may be made only by a person favoring the resolution, shall be highly privileged (except that it may not be made after the committee has reported a resolution with respect to the same reorganization plan), 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, nor may another motion to discharge the committee be made with respect to any other resolution with respect to the same reorganization plan.

SEC. 205. (a) When the committee has reported, or has been discharged from further consideration of, a resolution with respect to a reorganization plan, it shall at any time thereafter be in order (even though a previous motion to the same effect has been disagreed to) to move to proceed to the consideration of such resolution. 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.

44-519-65--2

(b) Debate on the resolution shall be limited to not to exceed ten hours, which shall be equally divided between those favoring and those opposing the resolution. A motion further to limit debate shall not be debatable. No amendment to, or motion to recommit, the resolution shall be in order, and it shall not be in order to move to reconsider the vote by which the resolution is agreed to or disagreed to.

SEC. 206. (a) All motions to postpone, made with respect to the discharge from committee, or the consideration of, a resolution with respect to a reorganization plan, and all motions to proceed to the consideration of other business, shall be decided without debate.

(b) All appeals from the decisions 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 resolution with respect to a reorganization plan shall be decided without debate.

Approved June 20, 1949.

Chairman DAWSON. We have with us today Mr. Harold Seidman, Assistant Director for Management and Organization of the Bureau of the Budget, who will furnish us with further information on the need for this legislation. Mr. Seidman.

STATEMENT OF HAROLD SEIDMAN, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION, BUREAU OF THE BUDGET; ACCOMPANIED BY FRED E. LEVI, ASSISTANT CHIEF; HOWARD SCHNOOR, MANAGEMENT ANALYST; AND VICTOR ZAFRA, MANAGEMENT ANALYST, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION

Mr. SEIDMAN. Mr. Chairman, it is always a pleasure to appear before this subcommittee. I have a prepared statement and with your permission, I will proceed.

Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, I welcome this opportunity to appear before your subcommittee in support of H.R. 4623, a bill further amending the Reorganization Act of 1949.

As President Johnson stated in his recent budget message to the Congress:

We have neither the resources nor the right to saddle our people with unproductive and inefficient Government organization services and practices * We must reorganize and modernize the structure of the executive branch in order to focus responsibilities and increase efficiency.

The President has also emphasized that we must bring "the public service to the highest state of readiness."

To assist him in achieving this objective, the President has recommended that his authority to transmit reorganization plans under the Reorganization Act of 1949 be made commensurate with his responsibilities under the act. Under section 2(a) of the Reorganization Act of 1949, the President has a permanent duty to—

examine and from time to time reexamine the organization of all agencies of the Government and *** determine what changes therein are necessary However, his authority under the same act to transmit reorganization plans to effect changes in the Government's structure has, in the past, been limited to short periods of about 2 to 4 years. Under the present law, his authority will expire on June 1, 1965. Pursuant to the President's request, H.R. 4623 would amend the Reorganization Act of 1949 by repealing section 5 (b) and thereby eliminating the expira