APPROPRIATION BILL FOR 1940

HEARINGS

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE

COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

U. 2. Congter HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEVENTY-SIXTH CONGRESS

THIRD SESSION

ON THE

FIRST DEFICIENCY

APPROPRIATION BILL FOR 1940

Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations

UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON: 1940

COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

EDWARD T. TAYLOR, Colorado, Chairman

орже

FIRST DEFICIENCY APPROPRIATION BILL, 1940

HEARINGS CONDUCTED BY THE SUBCOMMITTEE, MESSRS. EDWARD T. TAYLOR (CHAIRMAN), CLIFTON A. WOODRUM, CLARENCE CANNON, LOUIS LUDLOW, J. BUELL SNYDER, EMMET O'NEAL, GEORGE W. JOHNSON, JOHN TABER, RICHARD B. WIGGLESWORTH, WILLIAM P. LAMBERTSON, AND J. WILLIAM DITTER, OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, IN CHARGE OF DEFICIENCY APPROPRIATIONS, ON THE DAYS FOLLOWING, NAMELY:

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1940.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OFFICE OF THE CLERK

STATEMENT OF J. C. SHANKS, DISBURSING CLERK

STENOGRAPHIC REPORTS OF COMMITTEE HEARINGS

Mr. WOODRUM. Mr. Shanks, we have before us in House Document No. 573 the following item:

Contingent expenses: Stenographic reports of committee hearings: For stenographic reports of hearings of committees, other than special and select committees, for the fiscal years that follow:

For 1939, $1,200;

For 1940, $15,000.

Will you tell us about that?

Mr. SHANKS. Mr. Chairman, we have two small items to discuss with the committee today, and both of them are for the stenographic reporting of committee hearings.

One is a deficiency of $1,200 for the fiscal year 1939, and the other is a supplemental item of $15,000 for the fiscal year 1940.

The situation that is confronting us is that we have at the present time in the House disbursing office vouchers for 1939 unpaid amounting to $1,036.40, and our available funds amount to $11.30. In other words, we have an actual deficiency of $1,025.10. In submitting the estimate of $1,200 we made it that figure because there may be one or two vouchers yet to come in.

After appearing before the committee last year we received a supplemental appropriation of $6,000, which we thought would be sufficient. But unknown to us and the members of the corps, four or five of the men who are called in to help when there is an unusually large number of committee hearings, especially one man, held out vouchers amounting to about $1,300, which should have been sub

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mitted before the end of the fiscal year. These are men who are called in to do this work when our regular stenographers are otherwise officially engaged, and they are paid on the folio basis.

Mr. TABER. This amount is for payment of these outside men who are called in under those circumstances?

Mr. SHANKS. Yes; the men on the official staff are paid annual salaries, and this is for the payment of men who are called in when there are more hearings than the men on the official corps can cover. We actually have over $1,000 in vouchers due, but we made this estimate $1,200 because there may be one or two other small vouchers to come in. That covers the item of $1,200 for 1939.

The amount for 1940 covers the payment for work done under similar circumstances, and we are asking for a supplemental appropriation of $15,000.

In the legislative bill for 1940 the amount was reduced by the subcommittee in charge of the legislative appropriation bill from $30,000 appropriated for the year before to $18,000.

There were two additional committee stenographers appointed last year at $6,000 each, and the amount for this item was reduced by $12,000.

Out of the $18,000 we have disbursed over $7,000, and we have a balance of only about $10,000. We took up the matter with the members of the corps, and we estimated that for the work to be done between January and the end of June of this year we will require a total of about $25,000, so we are asking for a supplemental appropriation of $15,000.

I would like to say that about $4,000 of the amount appropriated for this year was used during the first part of the fiscal year, when Congress was in session, during July and a part of August, otherwise we would have about $4,000 more to our credit for this purpose at this time.

Whether the $15,000 additional will be sufficient we cannot state exactly, but if the hearings continue at the present rate, we will not have a sufficient amount in the current appropriation to run more

than about 2 months.

Mr. JOHNSON of West Virginia. What would happen if you did not get this amount you are asking for?

Mr. SHANKS. When the committees hold hearings and the chairmen want a stenographic record, and there are more hearings than the men on the official corps can cover and they have to call in men from the outside, if we do not have the money to pay them, either the hearings would have to be postponed until members of the official corps were available, or we have the money to pay the men who were called in to do the work.

Mr. O'NEAL. Why was the estimate incorrect at the beginning, because there were more hearings than were anticipated?

Mr. SHANKS. The estimate was for $30,000, which was the usual amount, but it was reduced to $18,000 in the legislative appropriation bill because there were two more committee stenographers appointed at $6,000 a year each, and the amount of the appropriation for paying for the services of these outside men was reduced accordingly. Mr. TABER. Has the volume of hearings increased?

Mr. SHANKS. I would say it has in the last several years, because previously, before the lame-duck amendment was enacted, there used

to be a short session ending on the 4th of March, which reduced_the number of hearings, whereas now a session may run from 6 to 7, 8, or 9 months in the year, and hearings are held during all that time.

To give you a rough idea of how this amount has been running, in 1935 there was appropriated $37,500 and the amount expended was $36,057.70, in 1936 the amount appropriated was $30,000 and the expenditures amounted to $25,084.85, in 1937, $30,000 was appropriated and we spent $27,596.84, in 1938 there was appropriated $30,000 and the expenditures amounted to $29,999.55.

For 1939 there was appropriated $36,000, and we have expended $35,988.70, leaving a balance on hand at this time of $11.30.

Out of the 1939 appropriation, because of an amount being made immediately available, we spent about $3,000 for 1938 before the end of that fiscal year, so that in reality the appropriation was practically $33,000 for both 1938 and 1939, with an additional amount of $1,200 needed at this time for 1939 and $15,000 more for 1940.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1940.

ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL

STATEMENT OF DAVID LYNN, ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL

ITEMS IN ESTIMATES OF DEFICIENCY

Mr. WOODRUM. We have before us three items under the Architect of the Capitol in House Document No. 632; the Capitol grounds, the Capitol power plant, and Library building and grounds, respectively:

Capitol Grounds: For an additional amount for the care and improvement of grounds surrounding the Capitol, Senate and House Office Buildings; Capitol power plant, including the same objects specified under this head in the Legislative Branch Appropriation Act, 1940, $7,215.

Capitol power plant: For an additional amount for lighting, heating, and power for the Capitol, Senate and House Office Buildings, Supreme Court Building, Congressional Library Buildings, and the grounds about the same, Botanic Garden, legislative garage, and folding and storage rooms of the Senate, and for air-conditioning refrigeration not supplied from plants in any of such buildings; for heating the Government Printing Office and Washington City Post Office and for light and power therefor whenever available, including the same objects specified under this head in the Legislative Branch Appropriation Act, 1940, $67,600.

Library Building and grounds: For an additional amount for necessary expenditures for the Library Buildings and grounds under the jurisdiction of the Architect of the Capitol, including the same objects specified under this head in the Legislative Branch Appropriation Act, 1940, $3,649.

GENERAL STATEMENT

Mr. WOODRUM. Will you make us a general statement on these items, Mr. Lynn?

Mr. LYNN. Mr. Chairman, I am requesting three deficiency estimates: $7,215 for the Capital Grounds; $67,600 for the Capitol power plant; $3,649 for the Library buildings and grounds.

I have here detailed justifications for each of these estimates showing the need for the additional funds and the reasons causing the deficiencies.