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[Letter to all Senators]

APRIL 16, 1953.

Hon. GEORGE D. AIKEN,

United States Senate, Washington, D. C.

DEAR SENATOR AIKEN: Hearings are scheduled to be held on May 12, 1953, on Senate Resolution 100, introduced by Senator Richard B. Russell, of Georgia, to disapprove Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1953, providing for the reorganization of the Department of Agriculture.

Should you desire to testify, or to suggest witnesses who should be heard, I will appreciate it if you will have your secretary notify the clerk of the committee in order that the schedule of hearings may be completed and arrangements made for the accommodation of all witnesses.

With kind regards, I am

Sincerely yours,

MARGARET CHASE SMITH,

Chairman, Subcommittee on Reorganization.

Senator SMITH. If there is nothing further, the subcommittee will stand adjourned, and the hearings are closed. (Whereupon, at 3 p. m. the subcommittee adjourned.)

33461-53---14

APPENDIXES

APPENDIX A

COMMITTEE PRINT OF S. 1149, DATED FEBRUARY 22, 1952; EXTRACTS FROM STAFF MEMORANDUM No. 82-2-17 DATED MARCH 21, 1952, ON S. 1149, REORGANIZATION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE; AND STATEMENT BY SENATOR MCCLELLAN DATED APRIL 1, 1952

A bill was prepared by the staff of the Committee on Government Operations in an effort to effectively reorganize the Department of Agriculture, after the rejection of plan No. 4 of 1950. A committee print of the proposed bill, dated February 22, 1952 is printed below. This bill was drafted with a view to meeting objections to plan No. 4 of 1950, and to provide for a comprehensive reorganization of the Department of Agriculture based on the recommendations of the Hoover Commission.

Sections 7, 8, and 9 of the original bill, S. 1149, prepared by the Citizens Committee for the Hoover Report, which dealt with the abolition of all existing local, county, and State agricultural committees created by authority of Federal law and participating in the formulation or administration of programs of the Department, and creating advisory groups in lieu thereof, were omitted from the revised bill.

Staff memorandum No. 82-2-17, dated March 21, 1952, explains in detail the basis for the changes incorporated in the committee print, and provides a sectionby-section analysis of the proposed committee bill.

[S. 1149, 82d Cong., 2d sess.]

A BILL To provide for the reorganization of the Department of Agriculture

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act shall be known as the "Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1952".

SEC. 2. (a) The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized and directed to reorganize the Department of Agriculture so as to group its operational functions at the seat of government under the following eight major components:

(1) Staff Service.

(2) Agricultural Research Service.

(3) Cooperative Extension Service.

(4) Agricultural Conservation and Production Service.

(5) Forest and Range Service.

(6) Agricultural Credit Service.

(7) Rural Electrification Administration.

(8) Federal Crop Insurance Corporation.

The Agricultural Conservation and Production Service shall have two constituent units: (A) The Soil Conservation Service and (B) the Production and Marketing Administration, including its functions relating to the conservation, improvement, and development of agricultural land and water resources.

The Agricultural Credit Service shall have two constituent units: (A) The Farm Credit Administration and (B) the Farmers' Home Administration.

(b) The requirements of subsection (a) of this section shall be deemed to have been met by the assignment to the Under Secretary or an Assistant Secretary of direction over any major component described therein, and the establishment of new organizational units shall not be required.

(c) Agencies, services, offices or other indicated components of the Department, and their functions, shall be grouped as follows:

(1) Staff Service:

Office of Budget and Finance;

Office of Personnel;

Office of Plant and Operations;

200

Office of Information;

Library;

Office of the Solicitor;

Office of Foreign Agricultural Relations;
Bureau of Agricultural Economics; and
Office of Hearing Examiners.

(2) Agricultural Research Service:

Agricultural Research Administration.

(3) Agricultural Conservation and Production Service: Soil Conservation Service; and

Production and Marketing Administration. (4) Cooperative Extension Service:

Extension Service.

(5) Agricultural Credit Service:

Farm Credit Administration; and

Farmers' Home Administration.

(6) Forest and Range Service:

Forest Service; and

The functions of the Bureau of Land Management transferred to the Department under the provisions of section 5 of this Act.

(7) Rural Electrification Administration:

Rural Electrification Administration.

(8) Federal Crop Insurance Corporation:

Federal Crop Insurance Corporation.

(d) (1) The Secretary of Agriculture shall periodically review the work of the Department of Agriculture and its agencies for the purpose of insuring the greatest possible service to the public at the lowest possible cost, efficient organization and good management, and coordination and integration of programs and operations.

(2) Whenever the Secretary of Agriculture finds that such action will promote the better execution of the laws administered by the Department of Agriculture and the expeditious administration of the public business, or reduce expenditures and promote economy, or increase the efficiency of the operations of the Department of Agriculture, he is authorized to provide for

(A) the transfer of any part of the services or other components set forth in subsection (c) hereof, or of any part of the functions thereof, to the jurisdiction and control of any other such service or component; or

(B) the coordination of the functions of any such service or component with the functions of any other such service or component.

(3) No action shall be taken under the authority of this Act to alter the basic organization provided by subsection (a) hereof.

(4) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to supersede any of the provisions of the Reorganization Act of 1949 (63 Stat. 203), as amended.

(5) Any major transfer or coordination proposed under this subsection shall become effective only after sixty days' notice to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry of the Senate of the proposed action, and of the reasons therefor: Provided, That such action may become effective at an earlier date if each of these committees notifies the Secretary of Agriculture that it has no objections.

(e) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (f) of this section there are hereby transferred to the Secretary of Agriculture all regulatory functions of the Department, and the Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized to delegate regulatory functions as he may deem necessary under such regulations as may be required by the applicable regulatory Acts coming within the jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture.

(f) The Authority vested in the Secretary under the preceding subsections hereof shall not apply to the functions vested by the Administrative Procedure Act (60 Stat. 237) in hearing examiners employed by the Department of Agriculture, nor to the functions of the corporations of the Department of Agriculture or under its supervision, of the boards of directors and officers of such corporations, or of the Advisory Board of the Commodity Credit Corporation.

(g) The Secretary of Agriculture may from time to time make such provisions as he shall deem appropriate authorizing the performance by any other officer, employee, or agency of the Department of Agriculture of any function of the Secretary, including any function transferred to the Secretary by the provisions of this Act.

(h) The Secretary of Agriculture may from time to time effect such transfers within the Department of Agriculture of any of the records, property, personnel, and unexpended balances (available or to be made available) of appropriations, allocations, and other funds of such Department as he may deem necessary in order to carry out the provisions of this section: Provided, That the unexpended balances so transferred shall be used only for the purposes for which originally appropriated.

SEC. 3. There shall be in the Department of Agriculture two additional Assistant Secretaries of Agriculture, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, who shall perform such duties as the Secretary of Agriculture shall prescribe, and who each shall receive compensation at the rate prescribed by law for Assistant Secretaries of executive departments. SEC. 4. In addition to the three Assistant Secretaries of Agriculture there shall be in the Department of Agriculture an Administrative Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, who shall be appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture under the classified civil service, who shall perform such duties as the Secretary of Agriculture shall prescribe, and who shall receive compensation at the maximum rate payable under the Classification Act of 1949, as amended.

SEC. 5. (a) There are hereby transferred from the Department of the Interior to the Secretary of Agriculture the functions of the Bureau of Land Management (except the classification, administration, and disposal of mining and mineral resources; the conduct of cadastral surveys on the public lands; the administration of homestead and other land disposal and withdrawal laws; and the custody of the public lands records); and the functions of the Secretary of the Interior in relation thereto.

The transfer of functions under this subsection shall be deemed to include the functions with respect to the classification of lands now administered by the Bureau of Land Management except as respects mining and mineral resources. (b) All property and records relating primarily to the functions transferred under this section are transferred to the Secretary of Agriculture.

(c) All personnel whose chief duties relate to the functions transferred under this section are transferred to the Department of Agriculture. Any of the personnel transferred by this section to the Department of Agriculture which the Secretary of Agriculture shall find to be in excess of the personnel necessary for the administration of the functions transferred shall, in accordance with the law, be retransferred to other positions in the Government or separated from service.

(d) Appropriations relating to the functions transferred under this section shall be transferred in accordance with the provisions of section 202 (b) of the Budget and Accounting Procedures Act of 1950.

(e) Transfer of functions under subsection (a) of this section shall not be construed as authorizing or giving national-forest status to any lands presently administered by the Bureau of Land Management, and such lands, other than those hereafter classified for disposal, either for permanent withdrawal or other disposition or use, shall remain in their present category subject to the present laws.

(f) Within two years of the date of transfer of functions under subsection (a) of this section the Secretary of Agriculture shall prepare and submit in writing to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry of the Senate a program for integrating the management of forestry and grazing resources under the Forest and Range Service, created under section 2 (a) of this Act, including recommendations for appropriate methods of determining grazing fees and for disposal and use of timber, together with necessary legislation to implement a uniform policy with respect to grazing and forestry: Provided, That the present methods and bases of determining grazing fees shall be continued until the expiration of the first sixty calendar days of continuous session of the Congress, following the expiration of the two-year period above described: Provided further, That nothing in this subsection shall be construed as authorizing or requiring the Secretary of Agriculture to include in such program provisions for changing or in any way affecting the existing policy and arrangements for, or existing rates of, payments to or on behalf of counties, towns, or other political subdivisions, in the nature of payments in lieu of taxes or similar type revenue-sharing payments with respect to such

resources.

SEC. 6. (a) So much of section 32 of the Act approved August 24, 1935, as amended (U. S. C., title 7, sec. 612c), as precedes clause (1) thereof is amended to read as follows: "There is authorized to be appropriated such sums of money as Congress may deem necessary for use by the Secretary of Agriculture to”.

(b) The first, third, and fourth sentences of the second paragraph of such section 32 are amended by striking out in each of the said sentences "the sums appropriated under this section" and inserting in lieu thereof "Sums appropriated pursuant to the authorization provided for in this section".

SEC. 7. (a) In addition to the local advisory boards of grazing permittees established or recognized pursuant to the provisions of existing statutes, there shall be established under rules and regulations promulgated by the Secretary of Agriculture State advisory boards elected by and from local advisory boards of grazing permittees and a national advisory board elected by and from the State advisory boards of grazing permittees to function with respect to grazing matters at State and national levels in a similar manner as the local advisory boards function on the local level, and provision may also be made for the appointment of a wildlife representative on such boards to advise on wildlife problems. Such boards shall be established and the members thereof (other than the widlife representative) shall be elected in such manner as will be equitable and will provide fair representation for the raisers of all classes of livestock.

(b) In order to obtain the views and recommendations of the various users of the national forests and their resources concerning a balanced program of multiple use of the national forests, there are hereby authorized to be established under such rules and regulations as the Secretary may issue, national forest multiple-use advisory councils, the members of which shall be appointed by the Secretary. Such councils may be established for any national forest, for groups of national forests, and for all national forests. In appointing the members of such councils, consideration shall be given to the various interests concerned with the use and administration of the national forests, including, but not limited to, timber, grazing, wildlife, recreation, water, and the general public. The Secretary may refer to such councils any matter affecting the use of the national forests or any portion thereof; and any matter affecting multiple use, which is required to be referred to a local, State, or national grazing advisory board, shall also be referred to the appropriate multiple-use advisory council. Such councils may at any time submit their recommendations with respect to any matter arising in connection with the use and administration of the national forests.

SEC. 8. (a) The Secretary of Agriculture shall institute a survey of all Federal agricultural research stations and substations with the view of disposing of those facilities where work has been completed or is being duplicated elsewhere and which therefore are not necessary to the efficient operation of the Department. Any station or substation determined to be unnecessary shall, subject to applicable regulations issued under the provisions of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended, be offered to the State wherein the station or substation is located and if the State desires the station or substation the Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized to transfer such station or substation to the State with or without consideration, under such terms, as he deems to be mutually fair. The Secretary of Agriculture shall keep the appropriate committees of Congress advised as to any such station or substation not desired by the State or as to which the State and Secretary of Agriculture are unable to agree upon the terms of transfer.

(b) New research stations shall be established only after the Secretary of Agriculture has determined that existing Federal-State facilities cannot be developed to fill the need, and after ninety days' notice to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry of the Senate of such determination and of his intention to establish such station and of the reasons therefor.

SEC. 9. When used in this Act, the term "agency" means any agency, commission, council, corporation, board, authority, administration, division, bureau, service, section, or other administrative unit in the Department of Agriculture. SEC. 10. The Director of the Bureau of the Budget shall make, contract for, or otherwise cause to be made a study of the Federal regulatory functions exercised with respect to food (including spray residue which may result from the use of pesticides in the production of foods) and drugs, including (a) the present distribution of such functions between the Federal Security Agency, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Department of Agriculture; (b) the requirements imposed and the procedures required by each such agency in performing its functions; (c) the areas of overlapping or doubtful authority; and (d) the practical effects on producers, manufacturers, distributors, and consumers of the present distribution of such functions between and their exercise by, such agencies. Such study shall be submitted to the Congress on or before July 30, 1953, and shall be so formulated as to afford a basis for determining the extent to which it is desirable

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