plans, based on State laws. This publication is processed every 2 years. Because of the unusual number of changes in State laws, resulting largely from amendments to the Federal act, it is especially important to issue this publication in 1949. If the full amount of the reduction is not restored, travel and other administrative expenses would have to be limited to the 1948 level, which did not provide sufficient funds for effective operations; and, in addition, the Bureau would have to eliminate approximately 20 budgeted positions from its staff. The Bureau operates in a setting of Federal law which necessitates recognition of the variations in laws, organization, and methods of operation that exist among the States. Therefore, to a considerable extent, the work load of the Bureau is not within its control since actions taken by the States, in making changes and carrying out their programs, determine the volume of activity which should be performed by the Bureau. In view of the diverse and constantly changing content and problems of the State programs, we believe that the increases for travel and other items of expense should be approved and that the Bureau should not be required to reduce its staff by approximately 20 positions. The committee report also referred to action taken last year in cutting the 1948 request of the Bureau, and the committee stated that "it could see no justification for [this Bureau] maintaining a staff of the size that was necessarily required in the early years of the program which it administers." Aside from the 21 positions being transferred from the Office of the Commissioner, the Bureau's request for 290 positions for 1949 does not represent an increase over the positions included in the 1948 budget and is less than our staff in 1942. Furthermore, the Bureau's budgeted positions for 1948 and 1949, exclusive of positions related to organizational changes in the Agency and in the Social Security Administration that have affected the Bureau, would be 254 positions. This staff of 254 may be related to a staff of 312 required for comparable functions in the fiscal year 1942, prior to the above-mentioned organizational changes. This comparison shows that the Bureau has made a very substantial reduction of 58 positions and is requesting 19 percent less staff to perform functions comparable with the earlier year of 1942. If, as a result of the House action, the Bureau is required to make a further reduction of 20 positions, there would be only 234 positions or 25 percent less staff available to perform functions comparable to those of 1942 when a staff of 312 was required. We believe the above comparison with 1942 shows that the Bureau's request for 1949 is not an attempt to have a staff approximating that maintained in earlier years, even though the program for which the Bureau is responsible has continued to expand. It should be noted that Federal funds for public-assistance grants is more than double that appropriated for 1942. The increase in Federal funds intensifies the responsibility of the Bureau for assuring proper expenditure of Federal funds, and there is an increasing volume of operations under State programs for public assistance. To administer the program of public assistance, and to insure proper and efficient administration of programs assisting 3,750,000 people, involving expenditure of about $1,600,000,000. including $797,000,000 in Federal funds, the Bureau requests restoration of the cut of $117,993 and retention of $54,000 if the 22 regional clerical positions remain in the Bureau. SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION SALARIES AND EXPENSES, BUREAU OF OLD-AGE AND SURVIVORS' INSURANCE Page 8, line 24 (Estimate fiscal year 1949, $37,752,968; total anticipated 1948, $35,754,850) Page 9, line 4, strike out "$36,244.300" and insert in lieu thereof "$37,475,968." Page 9, line 14, strike out "300,000 to 'Salaries, Office of the Administrator." Page 9, line 15, strike out "$100,000" and insert in lieu thereof "$6,000." Page 9, line 16, strike out "$55,000" and insert in lieu thereof "$500,151." The House reduced to $35,397,616 the amount of money available to the Bureau of Old Age and Survivors' Insurance, excluding $1,123,684 to be spent out of the trust fund by other organizational units of the Social Security Administration 76052-48- -3 and the Federal Security Agency. A comparison of minimum requirements of the Bureau for 1949 with the amount allowed is shown in the table below: Amount allowed for 1949___ 1948 appropriation for Bureau. Deduct: Decrease due to one less day in 1949. 1948 appropriation adjusted___ Increase allowed for 1949__ $35, 397, 616 34, 712, 261 114, 419 34, 597, 842 799, 774 Added expenditures necessary in 1949 over 1948: 1. Mandatory within-grade salary advancements. 440, 670 2. Space rentals paid for by PBA in 1948 and prior years but to be paid for by the Bureau in 1949. 423, 792 3. Administrative accounting and auditing function to be transferred to the Bureau on July 1, 1948_. 83, 232 27, 039 5. Work-load increase_- 158, 454 4. Replacement of worn-out office machines 6. Reclassification of field positions_-_ 7. Repairs and alterations to buildings_ Total additional expenditures in 1949 over 1948 appropria- Total amount needed by old-age and survivors' insurance From the general fund. From the trust fund____ Add charges to trust fund of Social Security Administration and Total charge to trust fund___. 812, 104 95,000 2,040, 291 36, 638, 133 277,000 36, 361, 133 1, 114, 835 37, 475, 968 The appropriation for fiscal year 1948 has not been adequate. The Bureau has an accumulated backlog of 100 man-years of work. In addition, the filling of requisitions for badly needed supplies and materials will have to be deferred until the next fiscal year. The budget request, as submitted to the House Committee on Appropriations, calls for only 28.4 percent more personnel in 1949 than was used in 1941. On the other hand, the work load in 1949 will be 103.8 percent greater than in 1941. Put another way, the 1949 estimate projects an increase of 58.7 percent in production per worker over the 1941 level, or a ratio of 63 employees to be used in 1949 for every 100 used in 1941. Fiscal year 1941 is used as the base for comparison since that was the first full year of operations involving the payment of monthly benefits as well as the last peacetime year. Increases requested for 1949 are explained in the following paragraphs: 1. Mandatory within-grade salary advancements, $440,670.-Within-grade salary increases are mandatory by statute and must be paid. 2. Space rentals transferred from Public Buildings Administration, $423,792.— Prior to the fiscal year 1949 rental costs for the Bureau's central office and area offices were paid by the Public Buildings Administration. This item-a fixed and uncontrollable charge-was included in the Bureau's 1949 budget because it represents an expense which should be borne by the trust fund rather than the general fund. 3. Administrative accounting and auditing transferred from the Office of the Commissioner, $83,232.-Prior to fiscal year 1949 all administrative accounting and auditing was performed centrally by the Office of the Commissioner for Social Security. This function is to be decentralized and transferred to the bureau on July 1, 1948. The absorption of this function, as suggested by the House committee, could only be done by cutting down in other functions in which backlogs of work have already accumulated. 4. Replacement of worn-out office machines, $27,039.-Funds are required for the replacement of worn-out calculating and adding machines. Replacement of these machines was deferred during the war period. All of them are at least 9 years old. They are in constant use on single- or double-shift operations. The original request included $42,000 for the replacement of typewriters. This amount has now been deleted because of the prohibition on the purchase of typewriters contained in the Treasury-Post Office appropriation bill. 5. Work-load increase, $158,454.-The Bureau's work load comes from the public, cannot be controlled by the Bureau, and must be processed currently. The work load will be 3 percent greater in 1949 than in 1948. This projection is the most conservative possible. It will likely be higher. Included to process the 3-percent increase in work is only $158,454, an increase of one-half of 1 percent in funds. This in itself will force the Bureau to find extreme ways to economize. 6. Reclassification of field positions, $812,104.-Early in the war, the Bureau effected a combination of claims functions which greatly reduced manpower requirements but increased the responsibilities of the remaining jobs. The net effect was a large saving. The Bureau deferred paying for the increased responsibility until it could be certain that its money's worth would be obtained through qualified, adequately trained personnel. Competition now makes further deferment wasteful. Under section 400 of the Second Deficiency Act of 1947, these reclassifications were submitted for approval by Congress. This item in the budget was not specifically disapproved. While approval could be implied, it would be impossible to effect the reclassifications out of the recommended appropriation. 7. Repairs and alterations to buildings, $95,000.-A major segment of the Bureau's central operations are housed in wholly inadequate buildings. This seriously handicapping situation is reflected in a bill now before Congress for the construction of a new building. The repairs and alterations here provided for are only those immediately essential to meet the barest minimum of working condition requirements. This Bureau will be forced during 1949 to find substantial economies simply from the fact that the budget estimates have been based upon prices for transportation, communications, rental, equipment, and materials much lower than are even now being experienced. Since the greater part of the space occupied by the Bureau is commercial rather than Federal, the impact in this area alone will be substantial, These items of expense represent fixed requirements, and higher prices will present serious financial difficulties even if the full amount of the budget request is authorized. In summary, if the action of the House is allowed to stand and the Bureau carries out the activities enumerated above, it will be compelled to reduce its staff some 500 employees below the number now on duty-this, in the face of accumulated backlogs of work, carry-over of deferred expenditures, and an increase in work load. The result can only be a serious impairment in the old-age and survivors insurance program. CHILDREN'S BUREAU, SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION SALARIES AND EXPENSES Page 11, line 6, H. R. 6355 (Estimate fiscal year 1949, $1,589,737; available 1948, $1,452,265) Page 11, line 6, strike out "$1,385,000" and insert "$1,589,737." The Children's Bureau is requesting the restoration to its "Salaries and expenses" appropriation of $204,737 over the amount approved by the House to enable the Bureau more effectively to carry out its responsibilities both for investigating and reporting on matters affecting child health and child welfare as authorized by its basic act of 1912 and for administering the maternal and child welfare grant-in-aid programs under title V of the Social Security Act. The items requested to be restored are as follows: A. For returning to the rolls of the Children's Bureau funds for salaries of clerical staff in regional offices, $63,716 The House committee in its Report No. 1821 proposed that funds for the Social Security regional offices be transferred to the Office of the Administrator and that in the future the offices be operated as Federal Security Agency regional offices. The Federal Security Administrator is requesting that these offices remain as Social Security Administration offices and that funds be appropriated as now for operating them. The Children's Bureau is, therefore, requesting that $63,716 be included in its 1949 appropriation for the salaries of 26 regional office clerks. B. For continuing activities at approximately the present level, $32,926 The House Appropriations Committee, in eliminating all 1949 increases, has made no provision for the increased cost of within-grade salary advancements which are required by law and for which $24,556 is needed, nor for other increased costs totaling $8,370 necessary for the employee health program, rent of regional office space, and reduction of lapses under the fiscal year 1948. Should the amount allowed by the House stand, it will be necessary further to curtail an already inadequate staff for the responsibilities placed in the Children's Bureau. At the beginning of the fiscal year 1948, the Bureau lost 62 of its 339 positions through appropriation cuts. If these increased costs of $32,926 have to be met within the total approved by the House, it will be necessary to eliminate approximately 8 positions out of a staff of only 276 (net after transfers in and out of Children's Bureau due to reorganization changes as proposed by Commissioner for Social Security in 1949). C. New items of increase, $108,095 1. Research in child life, $23,675.-This increase is for strengthening the basif research function of the Children's Bureau through development of a central clearinghouse of information concerning research activities being undertaken by the various branches of science pertaining to child life. Information on current research into conditions affecting the well-being of children is nowhere available in one spot. The adequacy of the material presented to parents in Infant Care and other popular bulletins depends upon progress in research and availability to the authors of these bulletins of the findings of research studies. The research programs of public and private agencies would be greatly strengthened and better coordinated if information about current research activity that has not yet resulted in publication could be made available to research workers. Three professional and two clerical workers, travel and related expenses are proposed. 2. Assistance in the child growth and development research program, $3,328.— Assistance is needed in assembling material from existing literature for use in answering inquiries from parents and preparing bulletins for parents. A research assistant is requested for this purpose. 3. Work with juvenile courts, $8,268.-There is urgent need for work with juvenile courts and their relationship to other agencies concerned with juvenile delinquency. The addition of a consultant in juvenile courts and a stenographer, together with provision for travel and related expenses, will make it possible for the Bureau to provide advisory service in this specialized field not now represented in the staff. 4. Administration of maternal and child health and crippled children's grantin-aid programs, $29,647.—With the additional funds made available to States by the 1946 amendments to the Social Security Act, the States are expanding their material and child health programs to include school health services. The Bureau should have a specialist in this field to give the technical professional guidance necessary in the development of sound programs of health services for children of school age and to provide consultation services required by the States. A medical specialist, stenographer, travel and related expenses are requested. for work in this field. In administering the maternal and child health and crippled children's programs, the regional staff carries on continuing negotiations with 53 State health agencies and 22 State crippled children's agencies. The staff provides assistance to States through consultation with State directors and staff members responsible for these programs advising them on the operation of State programs, standards of service, and ways of extending and improving health services to mothers and children. An increase is proposed for three professional workers, travel and related expenses to meet the demands of the States for assistance. 5. Business-management services, $2,062.-To meet the increased work load in business-management services resulting from proposed expansion of activities in the Bureau, one clerical worker is requested. 6. Travel expenses, $41,115.-For the current fiscal year the Bureau's travel fund is about 27 percent below the amount estimated to be necessary for effective service under the programs for which the Bureau is responsible. The limited amount of travel funds available has made it necessary drastically to curtail field consultation and advisory service in all areas of the Bureau's work. The Bureau's consultants, especially those providing service under the grant-in-aid programs, are unable to meet many requests of the States for assistance. OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER, SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION SALARIES AND EXPENSES, OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER FOR SOCIAL SECURITY (Estimate fiscal year 1949, $1,686,579; total anticipated 1948, $2,959,260) Page 12, line 15, strike out "$166,000" and insert in lieu thereof "$1,186,428." Page 9, line 16, strike out "$55,000" and insert in lieu thereof "$500,151." In order to appreciate fully the crippling effect which the action taken by the House would have on social-security operations, the House action must be related to the cut made last year in this appropriation as well as steps since taken to reorganize the Commissioner's office. First, the fiscal year 1948 estimate for all objects of expenditure submitted to the Congress was $4,492,149. The reduction in the request was $1,234,966, reducing the available funds to $3,257,183. The effect of these cuts was not only to reduce all activities to an absolute minimum but also to eliminate many which were highly desirable under any standard of good management. Following this reduction the Social Security Administration began a program of orderly reorganization involving the transfer of activities to the bureaus and to the administrator's office, in line with recommendations contained in the House and Senate committee reports for 1948. The 1949 estimate originally presented to the committee, based upon an interim plan, amounted to $3,131,165 for 721 positions. During the period of the House committee hearings on the 1949 estimates, the Agency and the Administration completed work on the final plan of reorganization for the Commissioner's office which had the effect of reducing the estimate for 1949 from $3,131,165 to $1,686,579 and from 721 positions to 361, or one-half the original 1949 request. This plan involved large-scale transfers of functions in terms of the type of Agencywide organization planned by the Administrator. In summary, the action planned by the Agency would reduce the size of the Commissioner's staff from 1,246 positions requested for 1948 to 361 finally requested for 1949, or a 70-percent reduction. The House committee recommendations would provide only about 39 positions; would require a reduction of $431,517 or 66 percent among the remaining activities; and, in addition, it would transfer out of this appropriation $1,034,062 over and above the transfers recommended by the Agency. The Commissioner would be left with virtually no staff to assist him in the direction, supervision, coordination, and development of the social-security programs if these cuts and transfers are allowed to stand. Some of the specific results of the House action are a 56-percent reduction of funds for research activities, an 82-percent reduction in informational and publications activities, and a 93-percent reduction in the management services which are left in the Commissioner's office. Also, the regional offices were reduced by 21 percent, lifted out of the Social Security Administration and placed at the Agency level, leaving |