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for regulatory commissions by the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government.

Such a plan of organization has many advantages. It leaves in the Commission as a body the performance of regulatory functions, the determination of subsidies, and the determination of major policies. Thus, it utilizes the Commission for the type of work for which such a body is best adapted. At the same time the plan places under a single official the day-to-day direction of the work of the staff within the policies and determinations adopted by the Commission in the exercise of its functions. This will provide more businesslike administration and help to overcome the delays, backlogs, and operating difficulties which have hampered the agency. At the same time by freeing the members of the Commission of much detail, the plan will enable them to concentrate on major questions of policy and program and thereby will obtain earlier and better considered resolution of the basic problems of the agency.

Though the taking effect of this plan in itself may not result in substantial immediate economies, it is probable that the improved organizational arrangements will bring about, over a period of time, improved operations and substantially reduced expenditures. An itemization of these reductions, however, in advance of actual experience under the plan is not practicable.

I am convinced that this reorganization plan will contribute importantly to the more businesslike and efficient administration of the programs of the Maritime Commission.

THE WHITE HOUSE, June 20, 1949.

HARRY S. TRUMAN.

REORGANIZATION PLAN NO. 6 OF 1949

Prepared by the President and transmitted to the Senate and the House of Representatives in Congress assembled, June 20, 1949, pursuant to the provisions of the Reorganization Act of 1949, approved June 20, 1949

United States Maritime Commission

SECTION 1. Administration of functions of Commission.-The Chairman of the United States Maritime Commission shall be the chief executive and administrative officer of the United States Maritime Commission. In executing and administering on behalf of the Commission its functions (exclusive of functions transferred by the provisions of section 2 of this reorganization plan) the Chairman shall be governed by the policies, regulatory decisions, findings, and determinations of the Commission.

SEC. 2. Transfer of functions.-There are hereby transferred from the United States Maritime Commission to the Chairman of the Commission the functions of the Commission with respect to (1) the appointment and supervision of all personnel employed under the Commission, (2) the distribution of business among such personnel and among organizational units of the Commission, and (3) the use and expenditure of funds for administrative purposes: Provided, That the provisions of this section do not extend to personnel employed regularly and full time in the offices of members of the Commission other than the Chairman: Provided further, That the heads of the major administrative units shall be appointed by the Chairman only after consultation with the other members of the Commission.

SEC. 3. Performance of transferred functions.-The functions of the Chairman under the provisions of this reorganization plan shall be performed by him or, subject to his supervision and direction, by such officers and employees under his jurisdiction as he shall designate.

[H. Doc. No. 228, 81st Cong., 1st sess.]

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TRANSMITTING REORGANIZATION PLAN No. 7 OF 1949, TRANSFERRING THE PUBLIC ROADS ADMINISTRATION TO THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

To the Congress of the United States:

I transmit herewith Reorganization Plan No. 7 of 1949, prepared in accordance with the provisions of the Reorganization Act of 1949. This plan transfers the Public Roads Administration to the Department of Commerce. After investigation I have found and hereby declare that each reorganization included in this

plan is necessary to accomplish one or more of the purposes set forth in section 2 (a) of the Reorganization Act of 1949.

This plan directly carries out the recommendation of the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government with respect to the Public Roads Administration. That the Department of Commerce is the appropriate location for the Public Roads Administration in the executive branch is evident from the nature of its functions and the basic purpose of the Department. The Public Roads Administration is primarily engaged in planning and financing the development of the highways which provide the essential facilities for motor transportation throughout the country. Thus, it comes directly within the purpose of the Department of Commerce, as defined by its organic act, which provides:

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"It shall be the province and duty of said Department to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce and the transportation facilities of the United States."

In its reorganization proposals the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government adhered to the statutory definition of the functions and role of the Department of Commerce. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Congress likewise were guided by this concept of the Department in transferring to it the Civil Aeronautics Administration and the Inland Waterways Corporation under the Reorganization Act of 1939. A careful review of the structure of the executive branch reveals no other department or agency in which the Public Roads Administration can so appropriately be located.

The desirability of this transfer of the Public Roads Administration is further emphasized by its relation to the Federal property and administrative services bill now pending in the Senate. This bill creates a new General Services Administration and concentrates in it the principal central administrative service programs of the executive branch. The bill also revises the basic legislation on property management. It has been passed by the House of Representatives by an overwhelming vote and unanimously reported by the Senate Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments and awaits final action on the floor of the Senate. This measure substantially conforms to recommendations which I submitted to the Congress more than a year ago and to proposals more recently presented by the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government, with which I concur. The enactment of this bill will constitute an important step in increasing the efficiency of Federal administration. Since the bill makes permanent provision for the disposal of surplus property, now handled by the War Assets Administration which will expire by law on June 30, early enactment is vital.

In establishing the General Services Administration the Federal Property and Administrative Services bill transfers to the Administration all of the functions and units of the Federal Works Agency. Part of these functions relating to the housing of the governmental establishment clearly fall within the purpose of such an Administration. Certain other functions of the Federal Works Agency, however, bear very little real relation to the objectives of the General Services Administration. The congressional committees which have dealt with the bill have frankly indicated that further consideration must be given to the proper location of some of the programs of the Federal Works Agency. The sooner these unrelated programs can be removed from the new agency, the sooner it can concentrate its efforts upon improving administrative services throughout the executive branch and make the contribution to governmental efficiency for which it has been designed.

Principal among the programs of the Federal Works Agency which are unrelated to the General Services Administration are those of the Public Roads Administration. This agency is primarily engaged in the administration of Federal grants to States for highway purposes rather than in the performance of services for other Federal agencies. Its functions, therefore, do not fall within the field of activities of the General Services Administration. Their inclusion cannot but complicate and impede the development of the General Services Administration in the performance of its intended purpose. This reorganization plan will eliminate such a difficulty.

Since the Public Roads Administration will be transferred bodily from one major agency to another, it is not to be expected that this reorganization will directly result in any appreciable reduction in its expenditures at this time. However, the plan will make for better organization and direction of Federal programs relating to transportation. Assuming the early enactment of the Federal property and administrative services bill, the plan will also materially simplify the development of the proposed general services administration and thereby facilitate

improvements in the efficiency of administrative services throughout the GovernHARRY S. TRUMAN.

ment.

THE WHITE HOUSE, June 20, 1949.

REORGANIZATION PLAN NO. 7 OF 1949

Prepared by the President and transmitted to the Senate and the House of Representatives in Congress assembled, June 20, 1949, pursuant to the provisions of the Reorganization Act of 1949, approved June 20, 1949

Public Roads Administration

SECTION 1. Transfer of Public Roads Administration.-The Public Roads Administration, together with its functions, including the functions of the Commissioner of Public Roads, is hereby transferred to the Department of Commerce and shall be administered by the Commissioner of Public Roads subject to the direction and control of the Secretary of Commerce.

SEC. 2. Transfer of certain functions of Federal Works Administrator.—All functions of the Federal Works Administrator with respect to the agency and functions transferred by the provisions of section 1 hereof are hereby transferred to the Secretary of Commerce and shall be performed by the Secretary or, subject to his direction and control, by such officers, employees, and agencies of the Department of Commerce as the Secretary shall designate.

SEC. 3. Records, property, personnel, and funds.-There are hereby transferred to the Department of Commerce, to be used, employed, and expended in connection with the functions transferred by the provisions of this reorganization plan, the records and property now being used or held in connection with such functions, the personnel employed in connection with such functions, together with the Commissioner of Public Roads, and the unexpended balances of appropriations, allocations, and other funds available or to be made available for use in connection with such functions. Such further measures and dispositions as the Director of the Bureau of the Budget shall determine to be necessary in order to effectuate the transfers provided for in this section shall be carried out in such manner as the Director shall direct and by such agencies as he shall designate.

SEC. 4. Effect of reorganization plan.—The provisions of this reorganization plan shall become effective notwithstanding the status of the Public Roads Administration within the Federal Works Agency or within any other agency immediately prior to the effective date of this reorganization plan.

(The subcommittees are as follows:)

SUBCOMMITTEES OF THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON EXPENDITURES IN THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS

Reorganization plan

Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1949, providing for a
Department of Welfare to perform the functions
and conduct the programs now administered by the
Federal Security Agency, and S. 2060 (McCarthy),
to establish a Department of Welfare.
Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1949, to transfer the
Bureau of Employment Security from the Federal
Security Agency to the Department of Labor, etc.
Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1949, to strengthen the
the organization of the Post Office Department.
Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1949, to transfer the
National Security Council and the National
Security Resources Board to the Executive Office
of the President.

Reorganization Plan No. 5 of 1949, to provide for the
unified direction by the Chairman of the U. S. Civil
Service Commission of the executive affairs of the
Commission.

Reorganization Plan No. 6 of 1949, to strengthen the
administration of the U. S. Maritime Commission,

etc. Reorganization Plan No. 7 of 1949, to transfer the Public Roads Administration to the Department of Commerce.

Subcommittee members Long, chairman; McCarthy.

Humphrey, chairman;
Ives.

Long, chairman;
Humphrey, Mundt.
McClellan, chairman;
Smith

Hoey, chairman; Schoeppel.

Eastland, chairman;
Smith.

O'Conor, chairman; Taylor, Schoeppel.

The CHAIRMAN. A study of reorganization actions necessary to bring about greater efficiency and economy in government was made by a commission authorized under a previous act of Congress. That 12-member commission was headed by a great American, a distinguished former President of the United States.

That Commission has submitted some 18 reports to the Congress, recommending actions be taken that are calculated to bring about a better organized, better integrated, more efficient and more economic administration of the affairs of government.

The Congress under the Reorganization Act can disapprove, by constitutional majority vote of either House, these plans that the President has submitted; that is, by a resolution disapproving them being passed by either House by constitutional majority of the membership of that House.

Congress has the responsibility of examining these plans; if they are good, to accept them by permitting them to go into effect without a disapproving resolution. If the plans are not good, if they are not sound, if they will not achieve results that the Reorganization Act is intended to achieve, it would be the duty of the Congress to reject them by the adoption of a resolution of disapproval. The seven plans submitted to the Congress were referred to this Committee, and this committee wants to get all of the counsel and advice that it can in order to arrive at wise conclusions with reference to the action that the committee should recommend that the Congress take.

We are very happy this morning to have with us to discuss these plans a former President of the United States and distinguished Chairman of the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government, on whose recommendations these plans were based.

Mr. Hoover, the committee is very happy to welcome you and to have you with us this morning. We shall be glad to have your comments with reference to the plans that are now before the committee.

STATEMENT OF HON. HERBERT HOOVER

Mr. HOOVER. I am very glad to respond to your invitation to discuss these questions with the committee, and I can do so I think very shortly.

I wish to say at once that the seven plans are all steps on the road to better organization of the administrative branch. They are, insofar as they go, substantially in accord with the recommendations of the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government.

The difficulty with this subject is that the President's authority under the Reorganization Act of 1949 is very limited. In most of these seven cases the full accomplishment of reorganization as recommended by the Commission requires also extensive and specific special legislative action, one that goes beyond the President's authority under this act. Either most of the seven plans must be regarded as simply preliminary steps, or must be absorbed, now or later, in full legislation if we are to effect the efficiencies and economies sought by the Commission.

Specifically, the situation as to the different plans, as I see it, is as follows:

The President's Plan No. 1, reconstitutes the Federal Security Agency as a full department, to be called the Department of Welfare and establishes the top administrative organization of the Secretary of Welfare.

The Commission recommended that all functions in the Federal Security Agency relating to labor organizations be transferred to the Department of Labor. A portion of these transfers to the Labor Department is carried out in Plan No. 2.

The Commission also recommended that all functions of the Federal Security Agency relating to Public Health be transferred to a new agency to be called the United Medical Administration. That agency is yet to be constituted; at least a majority of the Commission so recommended.

The Commission also recommended that as the Bureau of Indian Affairs was in large degree concerned with education and social security, it should be transferred from the Department of the Interior to the new department.

The Commission found difficulty as to the name of this new department. It recommended that it be elevated to department stature. Some of us felt that the word "welfare" carried unfortunate connotations, including the implication of the objectionable connotation of a "welfare state."

Under our plan the new department's functions would be limited to education and social security. The sentiment of the majority of our Commission seemed to be that it should be called the Department of Education and Security, rather than the Department of Welfare, although no formal action was taken by the Commission on that point.

The President's Plan No. 2 transfers certain bureaus to the Labor Department. The Commission was anxious to revitalize this much denuded Department. The President's Plan No. 2 provides for transfers to that Department of the Bureau of Employment Security and the Advisory Council attached to it from the Federal Security Agency, and the functions of the Veterans' Placement Service.

The Commission also recommended the placing in the Department of Labor the following agencies which do not appear in this plan No. 2. That is not a criticism. I mention them as I go along because they need to be transferred if the Commission's recommendations are carried out:

The Bureau of Employees Compensation and its Appeals Board from the Federal Security Agency.

The Selective Service System, including its Appeals Board, which is today an independent agency.

The functions relating to minimum wages for seamen now in the Maritime Commission.

The clarification of responsibility for the enforcement of labor standards in connection with Government contracts.

These latter transfers could be made under the Reorganization Act of 1949, when the position of the Labor Department comes to be further considered. In addition, the Commission considered that certain administrative staff provisions be set up together with reorganized budgeting, accounting, personnel, and procurement functions,

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