Overall summary of requirements Appropriation, 1954. Transfer from "Salaries and expenses, Civil Aeronautics Administration" (Public Deduct: Amount appropriated for replacement of busses. Base for 1955.. Net difference, 1955 over 1954: Total personal 1,788 2,061 1,683 $7, 107, 940 1,483 1, 434 $6, 397, 387 1, 2841, 228 $5, 694, 638 298 35, 998 270, 762 12, 780 25, 265 50,000 22,955 25,000 3,849 2, 359 9,966, 333 2, 487 1,732 7,378, 729 6,840 2, 146 8, 459, 450 1,398 715 2,113 House allowance (a reduction of $150,000 in the estimate) 6, 200, 000 AMENDMENTS REQUESTED The Department requests the following amendments: (1) Page 26, line 3, strike out "$6,200,000" and insert "$6,350,000", the estimate, or an increase of $150,000; and (2) Page 26, line 3, strike out "of which $10,000 shall be used to renew the compilation of statistics on stocks of coffee on hand". EXTRACT FROM HOUSE REPORT The bill includes $6,200,000 for 'Salaries and expenses' which provides for the collecting, compiling, and publishing of current census statistics authorized by law and for general administration." JUSTIFICATION Amendment (1): The restoration of $150,000 in the appropriation for "Salaries and expenses" is necessary to avoid further deterioration in the collection, compilation, and publication of current statistical information on the production of principal manufactures commodities, the volume of retail trade, employment and unemployment, foreign trade, and financial status of State and local governments. The budget estimate of $6,350,000 represents a reduction of $520,000 from the comparable 1954 figure. This appropriation has been subjected to a series of reductions over the past few years and with the reduction of $520,000 a minimum level of financing has been reached without further serious program curtailments. With respect to statistics on foreign trade, for example, the Intensive Review Committee appointed by the Secretary stated that this program "has been subjected to continual attrition and erosion over the past 8 years, and a condition approaching crisis has been reached. One phase of the program after another has had to be jettisoned, and other cost-saving expedients have had to be resorted to, which seriously lessen the value of the results. For example, Foreign Commerce and Navigation of the United States, the record of the country's foreign trade, published annually almost from the beginning of the Nation, was last published for 1946; publication of the related historic Monthly Summary of Foreign Commerce was suspended in April 1951; some of the special monthly reports have had to be published in such form as to lose legibility without use of a reading glass; and some of the customs records have had to be compiled on such a small sampling basis as to limit the usefulness of the results for many users. "These postwar retrenchment programs have forced the Bureau continually to cut its program to fit its funds. Efforts have been made to meet the insistent and mounting demands upon it by both governmental agencies and private users, in the face of increasing price and wage levels and workload over the past 8 years without corresponding increases in appropriations. For example, funds allotted to the foreign-trade programs for each of the past several years have been lower than for 1946; and when the 1946 level is adjusted to present salary levels, the decline is about one-third. On the other hand, the workload has perhaps doubled. The consequences have spelled successive abandonment of programs and successive lowering of standards of quality and comprehensiveness, despite gains in efficiency in tabulating methods and equipment." Because of the general tightening up of this program over the past several years, it would appear necessary, if the appropriation reduction were not restored, to make some further reduction in all programs of the Bureau. Such action would make worse an already bad situation and, in our opinion, the resulting losses are disproportionate to the amount of funds involved. Amendment (2): The provision for renewing the compilation of statistics of coffee was added to the appropriation bill on the floor of the House for the purpose and intent of meeting the spot situation resulting from the rapid increase in coffee prices. The program referred to would provide monthly statistics on the stocks of coffee on hand and on the amount of green coffee beans roasted each month. It is agreed that under the present situation this program should be restored and steps have been taken to develop such statistics under the "spot check" appropriation available for the current fiscal year. The carrying out of a program of this character is more appropriate under the "spot check" program than the basic program of current statistics financed under "Salaries and expenses." The committee can be assured that such a program will be continued, if the appropriation for special surveys of manufactures and other businesses is restored, as long as the supply-and-demand issues on coffee are critical. In these circumstances it is requested that the limitation on the regular "Salaries and expenses" appropriation be removed. Appropriation, 1954. Salaries and expenses, summary of requirements Transfer from "Salaries and expenses, Civil Aeronautics Administration" (Public Law 286). Deduct: Amount appropriated for replacement of buses.. Leases transferred to General Services Administration.. Base for 1955. Net difference, 1955 over 1954: $6,770,000 100,000 $6,870, 000 -8,000 -10, 309 $6,859, 691 |