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February 15, 1950. Honorable John L. McClellan, United States Senate* «s*hlngton 25, D, €. Dear Senator MoClellaat sorry that I have riot had m earlier opportunity to reply I to your letter of January 19^0, asking for any views I might have regarding the bill S. M 9 $ , which you recently introduced in the Senate. I have given considerable thought to tne provisions of your bill m & hav* discussed It with *o&e of the members of our staff here* I note that the bill provides lor & Joint Committee of ten a em* b©rs — five from each of the Appropriations Committees of the House and Senate. this eosadttee would be required to keep itself informed of all matters relating to the annual budget of Q#w*mmm% agencies, to provide the Appropriation® Committees of the House «nd beo&tw with information ma Justifications concerning budgets of the various Oovenanent agencies, to consider all available information relating to estimated revenues, eeaenti&l programs and changing economic conditions, and to report to the appropriations Coasaittees findings relating to adjustments or revisions in appropriation* m may be required to bel&nce the budget, and. to recommend changes in the law to effect greater efficiency &nd economy in Gov«m K&ch agency of the Government would be required to supply the Joint Coif&itt- e *ith duplicate copies of budgetary requests submitted to the Bureau of the budget with the detailed Justifications in support thereof. Also the bill provides that employees of the Joint Coaadttee, upon the written authority of the chsirman or vice chairmen, would have the right to t x m d m all the records, except those classified for security purposes, of any agency of trie Governsent. a® you may well understand, 1 am not sufficiently close to the budgetary or appropriation procedures in the Congress to discuss all the points covered in your bill, but I have lon^ fait th&i some changes of a constructive character in budget procedure have been needed. The Congress of course has the primary responsibility for making funds available for the operations of the Government and in the exercise of this responsibility, the Congress should through appropriate comlttees h«v« the benefit of ail necessary inforaation relative to the operations of the Government. I think the b&aic idea of your bill is sound in that it conteisplates a small, working —- or as you refer to it, *service* — committee to be so staffed and to be provided with such info m & t ion as will enable it to function continuously and to supply information to the appropriations Committees which will give such committees a more caapr*n«n«ive and detailed understanding of the budgetary requirements of Governaent agencies* iith the present huge size of the Federal budget, I hardly see ho* the members Honorable? John L. m Q l ^ U m of the Appropriations Committees, without soat* arrangement auch u» is proposed in your bill, cut adequately c«rry out their rcsponsibi Lities and perform the functions mhich the public looks to turn, to perform . n passing i upon the necessity for appropriations of the tremendous volume of fund® Involved in the operation of our Government. The mechanism which is proposed by the bill seems to me to be on© nil!eh is well adapted for this purpose. The establishment of such & Joint Consult tee to consider appropriations should result in the elimination of such duplication of nork at the saae time permit & more careful basic study by the Congress of appropriation requests. the existing Appropriations Coiaa.ittees would doubtless in many instances be able to accept the studies and conclusions of the Joint Coiaraittae without the necessity for going into th« details of ail such matters themselves, this would save suach time and effort on the part of the members of the Appropriations Committees and there is every reason to believe that the results obtained would be as good or better than under present procedures. I mb impressed with the fact that the proposed Joint Committee will have a gre«*t volume of work, if it is to be able to perform the functions which are contemplated for it. accordingly, it seems to me that the work of the Joint Committee can be effective only II it has an adequate and competent staff large enough to analyse and study the various detailed items of the budget, to inform the Committee thereon and to perform the numerous other functions necessary for It to do a good job. Mnce you ask my frmk opinion upon the proposed legislation, I would like to comment specifically upon one or two of the detailed provisions of the bill. X note that each agency of the Government would be required to supply the proposed Joint Committee with duplicate copies of budgetary requests «nd of the detailed justifications in support thereof which it submits to the bureau of the Budget. It seems to me that it is very desirable to have a provision of this kind, in order that the Appropriations Committees may hove the benefit of the judgment of the particular agencies as to what expenditures they fee.! s>re necessary and as to why such expenditures are needed. I think It would, be well to make certain that the information furnished to the Joint Committee by the agencies is so related to the final, budget as submitted to the Congress by the President that each item of tlie final budget can be identified with the particular agency request upon which the item was based. Only in this way will the Joint Committee have adequate information and be able readily to determine what changes were made in the particular request in the course of the Budget Bureau's consideration of the matter. X have noted the provision of the bill which states that properly autftorised employees of tne Joint Committee shall have the ri&nt to examine the books, documents and records of any agency of the Govtramant,except records classified for security purposes, this provision appears to be mors comprehensive than authority which is ordinarily given to other committees of Congress, and it aay well be that it is not essential to the general purposes of the bill, &ince many documentr and records in the executive agencies are, of course, not related to 'budgetary »atiers, it is possible Honorable John L. Mct'lellan thst this provision sight be looked upon as permitting what soaetimes referred to "fishinf expsd.itions11, and it sight well tend to create controversy in actual operation. If any such provision is to be included in the bill, consideration might be given to limiting the authority of tne employees of the committee to examining records *hicn ar- directly related to the determination of budget requirements. One final basic comment. as on© who has urged the importance of fiscal policy as & «euis of helping to achieve economic stability, I ssould hope that the Congress and the proposed Joint Cobalttee would not be satisfied with a mere "balanced budget11 at tises when capacity production and employment are being maintained and there is upward pressure on prices or m ovj--r-ex;WM&m of private credit not necessarily reflected in ..rices. At such times there should be an appropriate cash surplus. In conclusion may I commend you for initiating and supporting a constructive measure of this kind, ishich has as its purpose a method of bringing about an adequate check by the legislative branch upon expenditures proposed by the executive branch. I appreciate this opportunity to comment on the bill *nd if at any tiae 1 can be of any assistance to you or to the coaaittee, do not hesitate to call upon me. fcith kindest personal regards, I am Sincerely yours, (Signed) M« b, Eccles M. S. Kccles.
