Estimated annual expenditures for fiscal year 1949: Program expenditures, approximately, $2,500,000,000. Administrative funds expenditures including county expenses, $80,000,000. Position title: Administrator, Rural Electrification Administration, United States Department of Agriculture. Section of bill 5 (a). Present salary: $10,330. Date salary established: July 3, 1948, by Public Law 900 of Eightieth Congress. Proposed salary: $15,000. Incumbent: Claude R. Wickard. State: Indiana. Responsibilities: All of the powers, duties, and responsibilities of the Rural Electrification Administration are vested in, and exercised by the Administrator under the general direction of the Secretary of Agriculture. The transfer of REA to the Department of Agriculture in 1939 did not, as a practical matter, diminish or lessen in any way the duties and ultimate responsibilities of the Administrator with respect to the REA program. The Administrator thus administers a lending program for which Congress, through fiscal 1949, has authorized lending power of almost 1.9 billions of dollars of which all but $160,000,000 have been loaned. The 1950 appropriation bill (as passed by the House) would make available up to $500,000,000 in additional loan authorizations for fiscal 1950. A total of 1.2 billions of dollars have been advanced to 1,044 independent electric systems existing in 45 States, Alaska, and Virgin Islands. Such systems are actually serving over 2.5 million consumers on 765,000 miles of electric lines and related facilities. The administrative burdens and responsibilities of the Administrator are greatly increased and rendered more complex by three important aspects of the REA program which distinguish it sharply from other lending programs, either governmental or private: (1) the loans are 100 percent loans requiring correspondingly greater precaution by the lender than would be necessary in a case where the borrower has an equity interest. This factor also requires more than usual over-all supervision of the construction of the electric systems; (2) the loans are required by law to be self-liquidating within a limited statutory period, necessitating effective and continuing attention to assure repayment of the loans on schedule; and (3) the program is not merely a lending program per se; it is the responsibility of Administrator, stressed repeatedly by congressional committees, to see that the basic program objective of extending electric service to all unserved rural people is effectuated as rapidly as possible. To accomplish this program objective requires prompt, continuing, and effective solution, under many diverse conditions, of such matters as power shortage problems, and problems incident to extending service to the "thinner" or "pocketed" areas of the country. Appointments to this position made by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Size of organization: Number of employees, 1,133. Estimated annual expenditures for fiscal year 1949: Loan funds, $466,000,000. Administrative funds, $5,825,000. Position title: Chief, Soil Conservation Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Section of bill: 5 (a). Present salary: $10,330. Date salary established: July 3, 1948, by Public Law 900 of Eightieth Congress. Proposed salary: $15,000. Incumbent: Hugh H. Bennett. State: North Carolina. Responsibilities: The Chief of the Soil Conservation Service directs a program of soil and water conservation on the privately owned farm and range lands of the Nation, a program of submarginal land purchase and development, and that part of the Nation's flood-control program primarily involving watershed protection work on privately owned farm and range lands. Research investigations at strategically located experiment stations throughout the country are carried on currently in support of the operations programs. The soil and water conservation program, directed toward the protection and improvement of the Nation's agricultural productive capacity, is carried forward in cooperation with more than 2,000 farmer-directed soil-conservation districts, already embracing more than three-fourths of the farms and ranches of the United States. It is based on physical analysis of the land, acre by acre; a scientific determination of the capabilities of the land; and scientific application of protective measures specifically designed to meet the needs and capabilities of the land for permanently productive use. Insofar as productive land affects the quality, quantity, and cost of food and other farm products, the work of the Soil Conservation Service to protect and improve the Nation's productive land resources affects every segment of American society. It helps hold down production costs on the farm and thereby improves the economic position of the farmers as a buyer as well as a seller; it helps insure the food-producing capacity of the Nation, either for national emergencies or for future increases in population; and it contributes to the nutritional quality of the food produced. In the soil and water conservation program, as well as the programs for flood control and submarginal land purchase and development, the technical and scientific proficiency of the operations are of paramount importance. This proficiency, as well as the manner in which the operations are related to the requirements of the Nation's economy as a whole, are particular responsibilities of the Chief of the Service. He administers annual appropriations approximating $56,000,000 and a corps of land and water technicians numbering more than 10,000, stationed in all the States and Territories. All major policy decisions of the Service are made by the Chief, who is responsible directly to the Secretary. Size of organization: Number of employees, 13,493. Estimated annual expenditures for fiscal year 1949: $55,431,354. Position title: Architect of the Capitol. Section of bill: 4. Present salary: $10,330. Date salary established: July 1, 1929, by Public Law 17 of Seventy-first Congress. Proposed salary: $16,000. Incumbent: David Lynn. State: Washington, D. C.. Responsibilities: The Architect of the Capitol, acting as an agent of the Congress, is charged with the care and improvement of buildings occupied by the Congress and the Federal judiciary. The properties under the Architect are evaluated at more than $100,000,000. The legislative group includes the United States Capitol Building and Grounds, Senate Office Building, House Office Buildings, Capitol power plant, Legislative Garage, and Library of Congress Buildings. The judiciary group includes the United States Supreme Court Building, United States Court of Claims Buildings, United States Courthouse, District of Columbia, and United States Court of Appeals Building. District of Columbia. Duties include structural and mechanical care of all properties, operation of mechanical equipment, domestic care of the Senate and House Office Buildings and partial domestic care of the Capitol Building, care of the works of art in the Capitol, arrangements in cooperation with other officials of the Congress for ceremonies held in the Capitol Building and on the Capitol Grounds. The Capitol power plant, as operated by the Architect, supplies heat, light, and power for the buildings and grounds in the legislative group, the United States Supreme Court Building and Botanic Garden; air conditioning refrigeration for the Capitol, Senate and House Office Buildings, and steam for heating the Government Printing Office and Washington City post office. Duties also include care of Columbia Hospital for Women; maintenance and operation of the United States Botanic Garden, as Acting Director; operation of the House of Representatives restaurants. The Architect serves as a member of the District of Columbia Zoning Commission; also as a member of the Capitol Police Board which directs the policing and protection of the Capitol Buildings and Grounds and regulation of traffic control in the grounds; also performs other miscellaneous maintenance duties. In addition, the Architect is charged with the planning and construction of such buildings and other improvements as committed to his care by Congress from time to time, being charged at present with the planning and construction of the New Senate Office Building, a $20,000,000 project; and reconstruction of the roofs over the Senate and House wings of the Capitol and remodeling of the Senate and House Chambers, a $5,000,000 project. Maintenance appropriations average about $4,000,000 annually. The Architect performs most of his duties under the direction of commissions and committees of the Congress, the Senate Office Building under the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration; the House Office Buildings and Capitol power plant under the House Office Building Commission; the Legislative Garage under the Vice President and Speaker of the House; Botanic Garden and works of art under the Joint Committee on the Library; New Senate Office Building under the Senate Office Building Commission; Senate roof and Chamber improvements under a special committee of five Senators; House roof and Chamber improvements under a special committee of five Members of the House. Service to the Congress is the prime duty of the Architect of the Capitol. Size of organization: Number of employees, 1,200. Estimated annual expenditures for fiscal year 1949, $7,500,000. Position title: The Archivist of the United States. Section of bill: 5 (a). Present salary: $10,000. Date salary established: June 19, 1934, by Public Law 432 of Seventy-third Congress. Proposed salary: $15,000. Incumbent: Wayne C. Grover. State: Utah. Responsibilities: The Archivist of the United States is responsible, by law, for housing, preserving, and making available for use the official records of the United States Government (legislative, executive, judicial, and other) that, because of their administrative, legal, historical, research, or other value have been transferred to his custody. He is responsible for directing the National Archives Establishment, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, and Division of the Federal Register and also serves as chairman of the National Archives Council, the National Historical Publications Commission, National Archives Trust Fund Board, and Board of Trustees of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library. The directors of the Division of the Federal Register, of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, and of the eight operating divisions of the National Archives are immediately responsible to the Archivist of the United States. The Archivist is a member of the: Governing Body, Federal Fire Council; National Council for Historic Sites and Buildings; Board of Trustees, American Military Institute; and Board of Directors, National Records Management Council. The Archivist of the United States contributes to the improvement of the national economy and the welfare of the people by preserving the records and making the evidence of our national experience, as it is embodied in the permanently valuable records of the Government, available to guide and assist the Government and the people in planning and conducting their activities. The Archivist of the United States, through his liaison relationships with some 150 Federal departments and agencies, fosters the efficient management of records, inspects records in these agencies and evaluates and selects for preservation the core of valuable records, facilitates the prompt disposal of records of only temporary usefulness by appraising them and making recommendations to Congress with respect to their disposition, formulates and applies technical methods for the repair and preservation of records, organizes the records in custody and prepares guides and other descriptive aids to their use, and makes the records or the information in them available for official or public use under regulations prescribed by him. The records in the custody of the Archivist or the more than twenty million cubic feet subject to the appraisal of his staff involve the legal rights and obligations of millions of persons and document the expenditure of billions of dollars. Records in custody, some 875,000 cubic feet, constitute the largest and probably the most valuable single collection of modern archives in the world. The Division of the Federal Register receives and publishes the texts and codes of all Presidential proclamations and Executive orders and of rules and regulations issued by Federal agencies that have general applicability and legal effect, and publishes a manual of statements describing the organization and functions of agencies in the three Branches of the Government. The Archivist of the United States is also responsible for the preservation and administration of historical material in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library. Size of organization: Number of employees, 390. Estimated annual expenditures for fiscal year 1949, $1,608,123. Position title: Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission. Section of bill: 3 (a). Present salary: $17,500. Date salary established: August 1946, by Public Law 585 of Seventy-ninth Congress. Proposed salary: $18,000. Incumbent: David E. Lilienthal. State: Tennessee. Responsibilities: The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 established salaries for the chairman and the other members of the Commission, as well as the general manager, at a level intended "to indicate that the duties and responsibilities of these positions are comparable to those on the highest level in the Government administration." The reasons for this were stated in the report of the McMahon committee (S. Rep. 1211, 79th Cong., 2d sess., p. 11) as follows: "The provision for full-time Commissioners was urged by many witnesses at the committee hearings, especially by experts in Government administration. These witnesses emphasized the grave responsibility for national security and welfare devolving upon the Commissioners, the need for continuous study of changing technical developments, and the many innovations in administrative techniques that will be involved. While the Commissioners need not be scientists or technical experts, they must combine clear judgment with imagination and courage, and they must, like the members of the judiciary, be so divorced from private and competing concerns as to give complete, disinterested, and undivided attention to their tasks. A salary of $17,500 per annum for the chairman and $15,000 for the other commissioners has been set to indicate that the duties and responsibilities of these positions are comparable to those on the highest level of Government administration." The Commission has responsibility for determining all important matters of policy and carrying on the country's atomic-energy program. The Commission is the agent of the United States to develop and control atomic energy. It has a direct responsibility to the President on atomic matters relating to the country's common defense and security. It owns all facilities which can or might produce the fissionable material required for atomic weapons, and determines which facilities are capable of such production. It controls the manufacture and transfer of such facilities. It owns all fissionable material under the jurisdiction of the United States. It controls the transfer of all important quantities of source materials, and determines what quantities are important. It distributes atomic materials in the interests of research, medical therapy, industrial uses, and other purposes. The Commission is responsible for the conduct of large industrial operations in various parts of the country and for the national atomic laboratories organized on a regional basis. It carries on programs of exploration for and acquisition and production of raw materials; production of fissionable materials; construction of necessary facilities and installations; development, production, and test of atomic weapons; development of new types of nuclear reactors and production of power from atomic fission; research in the physical sciences and in biology and medicine; and management of communities which it owns and which are necessary to support the basic programs. By contracts and other arrangements it assists and fosters research and development work relating to atomic energy by other public and private institutions. It carries on activities, with the collaboration of the National Military Establishment, which are necessary to enable the use of atomic energy or atomic weapons in the national defense. It is responsible for safeguarding atomic plants and restricted data, and for determining what information may be removed from the category of restricted data. It has a program relating to dissemination of information relating to atomic energy. It determines, after receipt of investigative reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who may have access to restricted data. It rules on patents and inventions in the field of atomic energy. With the paramount objective of assuring the common defense and security, the Commission has extensive authority and responsibility in the fields of personnel administration, labor relations, property management, and financial accounting. It establishes boards, conducts investigations, and advises with the General Advisory Committee and the Military Liaison Committee. It has a duty to keep the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy fully and currently informed with respect to the Commission's activities. The Commission carries a continuing responsibility for assuring the continued preeminence of the United States in the applications of atomic energy for peace or war. The rapidly shifting frontiers of atomic energy reveal daily new and difficult problems that require decisions for which there is little or no precedent. These decisions affect the entire Nation's economy and defense. The Commission has delegated to the General Manager responsibility for the actual execution of this program. Size of organization: Number of employees. Direct AEC, 5,000; contractor, 65,000; total Estimated annual expenditures for fiscal year 1949, $700,000,000. Position title: Commissioner, Atomic Energy Commission. Section of bill: 4. Present salary: $15,000. Date salary established: August 1946 by Public Law 585 of Seventy-ninth Congress. Proposed salary: $16,000. Incumbents: Sumner T. Pike, Maine; Lewis L. Strauss, New York; Robert F. Bacher, New Mexico; vacancy. Responsibilities: The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 established salaries for the Chairman and the other members of the Commission, as well as the General Manager, at a level intended "to indicate that the duties and responsibilities of these positions are comparable to those on the highest level in the Government administration." The reasons for this were stated in the report of the McMahon Committee (S. Rept. 1211, 79th Cong., 2d sess., p. 11), as follows: "The provision for full-time Commissioners was urged by many witnesses at the committee hearings, especially by experts in Government administration. These witnesses emphasized the grave responsibility for national security and welfare devolving upon the Commissioners, the need for continuous study of changing technical developments, and the many innovations in administrative techniques that will be involved. While the Commissioners need not be scientists or technical experts, they must combine clear judgment with imagination and courage, and they must, like the members of the judiciary, be so divorced from private and competing concerns as to give complete, disinterested, and undivided attention to their tasks. A salary of $17,500 per annum for the Chairman and $15,000 for the other Commissioners has been set to indicate that the duties and responsibilities of these positions are comparable to those on the highest level of Government administration." The Commission has responsibility for determining all important matters of policy and carrying on the country's atomic-energy program. The Commission is the agent of the United States to develop and control atomic energy. It has a direct responsibility to the President on atomic matters relating to the country's common defense and security. It owns all facilities which can or might produce the fissionable material required for atomic weapons, and determines which facilities are capable of such production. It controls the manufacture and transfer of such facilities. It owns all fissionable material under the jurisdiction of the United States. It controls the transfer of all important quantities of source materials, and determines what quantities are important. It distributes atomic materials in the interests of research, medical therapy, industrial uses, and other purposes. The Commission is responsible for the conduct of large industrial operations in various parts of the country and for the national atomic laboratories organized on a regional basis. It carries on programs of exploration for and acquisition and production of raw materials; production of fissionable materials; construction of necessary facilities and installations; development, production, and test of atomic weapons; development of new types of nuclear reactors and production of power from atomic fission; research in the physical sciences and in biology and medicine; and management of communities which it owns and which are necessary to support the basic programs. By contracts and other arrangements it assists and fosters research and development work relating to atomic energy by other public and private institutions. It carries on activities, with the collaboration of the National Military Establishment, which are necessary to enable the use of atomic energy or atomic weapons in the national defense. It is responsible for safeguarding atomic plants and restricted data, and for determining what information may be removed from the category of restricted data. It has a program relating to dissemination of information relating to atomic energy. It determines, after receipt of investigative reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who may have access to restricted data. It rules on patents and inventions in the field of atomic energy. With the paramount objective of assuring the common defense and security, the Commission has extensive authority and responsibility in the fields of personnel administration, labor relations, property management, and financial accounting. It establishes boards, conducts investigations, and advises with the General Advisory Committee and the Military Liaison Committee. It has a duty to keep the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy fully and currently informed with respect to the Commission's activities. The Commission carries on continuing responsibility for assuring the continued preeminence of the United States in the applications of atomic energy for peace or |