AFTERNOON SESSION Mr. RABAUT. The committee will come to order. Do you have any general questions, Mr. Kirwan? Mr. KIRWAN. I have no questions. I would like to say to General Cassidy and his staff that I think they are extremely capable and doing an excellent job, and I am happy to be here to listen to the testimony today. Mr. EVINS. I would like to endorse the statement my colleague just announced. We think the Corps of Engineers is one of the greatest agencies of our Government. At a time when we are pressed, as the chairman said this morning, with respect to national needs, it has always been the thought to me that we minimize sometimes our national assets and strengthening our own country. We build great Reclamation projects, great Corps of Engineers projects, which are investments in America and they present strength for America. They strengthen our country and they should be considered in the national defense picture. Concerning your budget on operations and maintenance I did not get it clear with respect to the amounts for operation and maintenance and for construction. STATUS OF CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS How many projects do you expect to complete during this new year? General CASSIDY. We will complete a total of 35 projects with the funds proposed in the 1962 budget. Mr. EVINS. You are recommending 50 new starts? General CASSIDY. That's right. Mr. EVINS. How many of the projects under construction are more than 50 percent or 75 percent completed, well advanced? General CASSIDY. I would have to supply that information for the record. (The information referred to follows:) There are 68 projects under construction, general, and 10 units of the project, Flood Control, Mississippi River and Tributaries that are more than 50 percent complete, based on appropriations through fiscal year 1961. Mr. EVINS. There are bills pending by Senator Cooper and Senator Chavez in the Senate regarding the recreational aspects of projects. I believe Senator Kerr has also authored one bill. Have you taken any position on these bills, the Kerr bill, the Chavez bill and the Cooper bill? General CASSIDY. Those bills have not yet been referred to us for comment, sir. Mr. EVINS. That is all, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. NEW STARTS Mr. TABER. You told us you were asking for 50 new starts. General CASSIDY. That's right. Mr. TABER. Last year we had how many? General CASSIDY. I believe it was 45. That is from memory. Mr. TABER. You do not know about the year before? General CASSIDY. I have the figures here. In 1961, we had 54 new starts. In 1960, we had 50 new starts. Mr. TABER. What was the average cost or estimated cost of the projects represented by the new starts in 1961? General CASSIDY. I would have to compute that average, sir. The total estimated Federal cost for the 54 new starts in 1961 was $619,454,000. Mr. TABER. How many projects were there? General CASSIDY. Fifty-four. Mr. TABER. That would mean approximately twelve and a half million dollars; is that right? General CASSIDY. Yes, sir. Mr. TABER. Could you go back to 1960? General CASSIDY. Yes, sir. We have records with us going back to 1953. Mr. TABER. All I care about is going back to 1960. General CASSIDY. 1960, the total estimated cost was $644,489,000. Mr. TABER. How many new starts were there? General CASSIDY. Fifty. Mr. TABER. That was the way the bill finally shaped up on both of these? General CASSIDY. That's right. Mr. TABER. I expect in both of them the Congress added considerably? General CASSIDY. That's right. Mr. TABER. How many would you think? General CASSIDY. In 1961, the Congress added 23 new starts, and in 1960, the Congress added 50, which was all of them. Mr. TABER. They added all of them in 1960? General CASSIDY. Yes, sir. Mr. TABER. That 50 figure would run approximately $13 million apiece? General CASSIDY. Approximately, that's right. Mr. TABER. How many of these new starts were in the original fiscal year 1962 budget that was sent up? General CASSIDY. Thirty-three. Two were added. Mr. TABER. There were 33? How many were added by the supplemental budget? General CASSIDY. There were 31 new starts in the originally approved budget. There were 19 in the amended budget. Mr. TABER. Nineteen more? General CASSIDY. Yes, for a total of 50. Mr. TABER. What was the approximate estimate of the 31? General CASSIDY. $301 million. Mr. TABER. That would be about $10 million apiece? General CASSIDY. Yes, sir. Mr. TABER. And the amended budget? General CASSIDY. Total cost, $205 million. Mr. TABER. That would be an average cost of approximately how much? General CASSIDY. Roughly $10 million. Mr. TABER. It is a little over but not much. Does that mean that the average cost per project is dropping or is that just a happenstance? 70856 0-61-pt. 1-6 General CASSIDY. It was more in the nature of a happenstance. There are more small projects than very large projects in this particular submission. The projects vary from $67,000 to as much as $99 million. Mr. TABER. These are projects that run as low as $67,000, but could they be taken care of by the special fund? General CASSIDY. That happens to be a beach erosion reimburse ment. Mr. TABER. Are there a lot of others that are similar? General CASSIDY. Where possible, we take care of the projects under the small projects authority. Mr. TABER. Are there quite a few like this beach erosion project? General CASSIDY. There are four of them, I believe, sir. Mr. TABER. These are things where the planning has been completed? General CASSIDY. That's right. NEW PLANNING STARTS IN 1961 BUDGET Mr. TABER. Last year, on page 93 of the budget, you submitted a table on the new planning starts. I would like to have you place a similar table for fiscal year 1961 and fiscal year 1962 in the record if you would. It is on these new projects. General CASSIDY. The new planning starts, yes. (The tables referred to follow :) 1 Local interest required to contribute $30,000 annually toward maintenance and operation. 2 This project has been reclassified to "inactive" category. 3 This project being studied to determine economic justification. NOTE. When Non-Federal annual charges were based upon interest rates less than those used for Federal charges, they were raised using a rate of 3 and 4 percent as applicable. AFTERNOON SESSION Mr. RABAUT. The committee will come to order. Do you have any general questions, Mr. Kirwan? Mr. KIRWAN. I have no questions. I would like to say to General Cassidy and his staff that I think they are extremely capable and doing an excellent job, and I am happy to be here to listen to the testimony today. Mr. EVINS. I would like to endorse the statement my colleague just announced. We think the Corps of Engineers is one of the greatest agencies of our Government. At a time when we are pressed, as the chairman said this morning, with respect to national needs, it has always been the thought to me that we minimize sometimes our national assets and strengthening our own country. We build great Reclamation projects, great Corps of Engineers projects, which are investments in America and they present strength for America. They strengthen our country and they should be considered in the national defense picture. Concerning your budget on operations and maintenance I did not. get it clear with respect to the amounts for operation and maintenance and for construction. STATUS OF CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS How many projects do you expect to complete during this new year? General CASSIDY. We will complete a total of 35 projects with the funds proposed in the 1962 budget. Mr. EvINS. You are recommending 50 new starts? General CASSIDY. That's right. Mr. EVINS. How many of the projects under construction are more than 50 percent or 75 percent completed, well advanced? General CASSIDY. I would have to supply that information for the record. (The information referred to follows:) There are 68 projects under construction, general, and 10 units of the project, Flood Control, Mississippi River and Tributaries that are more than 50 percent complete, based on appropriations through fiscal year 1961. Mr. EVINS. There are bills pending by Senator Cooper and Senator Chavez in the Senate regarding the recreational aspects of projects. I believe Senator Kerr has also authored one bill. Have you taken any position on these bills, the Kerr bill, the Chavez bill and the Cooper bill? General CASSIDY. Those bills have not yet been referred to us for comment, sir. Mr. EVINS. That is all, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. NEW STARTS Mr. TABER. You told us you were asking for 50 new starts. General CASSIDY. That's right. Mr. TABER. Last year we had how many? General CASSIDY. I believe it was 45. That is from memory. |