The Social Security Administration has made systematic provision for the periodic collection of statistics and information relating to the operation of the social-security programs. Statistics in our files, however, are not useful, or effectively available, to the top administrative officers, or to Members of Congress or to others unless there is a staff on hand which can select, assemble, and analyze the statistics to meet particular needs or to answer special requests. The Federal Security Administrator and the Social Security Commissioner, if they are to do a competent job of administration, must have a staff capable of measuring and evaluating the existing programs, coordinating programs, detecting and eliminating overlaps, planning to close gaps, analyzing new legislative proposals, and answering technical inquiries. The budget now proposed for the Bureau of Research and Statistics simply would not provide even the minimum staff for these purposes. Furthermore, when the Members of Congress, or businessmen or labor organizations or others call on us for information, they do not expect to receive last year's data. They want current information. Still more important, when they call on us for an analysis of new plans or proposals, they want an answer that is based on knowledge of today's circumstances, not on studies and analyses that were prepared on the basis of facts, assumptions, or economic conditions that no longer apply.

The House committee report states, as a reason for its cut in the budget of the Bureau of Research and Statistics, that the need for statistics and research is much less now than when social security was first begun. This view assumes that the social-security programs are now well established and that only minor changes and modifications are needed or likely. I do not believe either the House or the Senate would accept that assumption if they understood its full implications and consequences. Parts of the social-security program are operating, and operating effectively. But the program which the Congress had in mind in 1935 when it passed the Social Security Act is only partly completed and much of what we already have needs modernization. If the social-security program is to be rounded out and made adequate for today, there is still a large job to be done. I believe that the recommendations which we have made to Congress in the past have been based on sound statistics and research. When Congress undertakes to consider seriously the needed changes in the social-security program, we want to be in a position to give the best possible technical advice and analysis of the new proposals that will certainly be brought forward. We want to reflect in our recommendations and incorporate into our administration of the existing programs, the ideas that are developed by groups throughout the country or by such special bodies as the Senate Finance Committee's distinguished Advisory Council on Social Security.

I might cite many examples of the developing areas that call for new research, such as financial and economic studies, new legislative proposals, interprogram relationships, etc. One illustration may suffice. During the past few years, as the Members of Congress are aware, there has been a great increase in interest and in activity relating to employee-benefit plans. In the Taft-Hartley Act, Congress laid down certain tentative rules for the development of union-management plans. The Social Security Administration has been particularly concerned regarding the important relation between such plans and the basic socialsecurity program. We have already been called upon by Members of Congress and by congressional committees, as well as by management and labor, for information about the number of employee-benefit plans, their characteristics. alternative possibilities relating to company or industry-wide plans, and about interrelations between these plans and the social-security program.

Such questions cannot be answered on the basis of already compiled statistics or studies relating to the going social-security program. Several years ago, the Bureau of Research and Statistics foresaw the need for up-to-date information . about privately established health, welfare, and retirement plans and made provision for needed studies and analyses. These work plans had to be drastically curtailed last year as a result of the 30-percent cut in the 1948 budget of the Bureau of Research and Statistics. Nevertheless, with only two professional staff members assigned to work in this area, the Bureau has begun to assemble a file of information and to prepare summaries and analyses of the material. We are in no position, however, to compile more than a small fraction of the information which we need, or for which business, labor, and Members of Congress are constantly pressing us. If the budget for the Bureau of Research and Statistics which the House has voted is adopted, we shall be obliged to drop virtually all work in this field. For this one part of its program alone, a sub

stantial increase in the present budget of the Bureau of Research and Statistics would be thoroughly justified.

With a full appreciation of the need for economy in Government expenditures at the present time, we are requesting only that the Senate restore the full amount of the budget for the Bureau of Research and Statistics as originally submitted to the House.

The House report recommends the transfer of the Social Security Administration regional offices to the Office of the Federal Security Administrator and a reduction in our appropriation request of $210,599.

Regional supervision.-The regional directors are the direct representatives of the Commissioner for Social Security in the field. They are the means by which he performs his functions of supervision and coordination of the Nation-wide field organization of the Administration including approximately 500 field offices of the Bureau of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance. The transfer of these, officials to the Office of the Federal Security Administrator would leave the Commissioner for Social Security completely without means of discharging these responsibilities. Executive assistants.-Elimination of the 11 executive assistants in regional offices, as recommended by the House, removes the only employee in a position to give supervision to the varied service functions of the offices. Almost since their inception, a period of more than 10 years, the regional offices have had both an executive assistant and a chief clerk to perform these and other functions too detailed, varied, and numerous for the regional director to handle alone. Last year, because of budgetary limitations, the chief clerk position was abolished and its duties absorbed by the executive assistant. Now it is proposed to abolish also the latter and leave the entire burden upon the regional director. It is humanly impossible for the latter to continue to discharge his substantive responsibilities to the Commissioner, State officials, and to the programs under his direction and at the same time assume this mass of management detail.

General services.-The reduction of $44,000 in the amount for general services would eliminate approximately 20 positions and cut these services by 33 percent. This comes on top of a 20-percent cut made in the same area last year. General services include mail, messenger, supplies, space, travel, telephone, and other essential services to all the various program units of the Administration and the legal, audit, etc., staffs of the Agency. The proposed reduction, in addition to last year's cut, will completely cripple these necessary services.

Files. The proposed cut in files services reduces the staff by one-third, leaving just two file clerks carry the load in each regional office. With the many programs involved, and their special requirements, the files' function in a regional office is extremely important. Quantitatively it is very heavy. Latest half-year figures show a total of 148,480 pieces classified and 225,655 pieces filed in addition to the time-consuming searches. By any files standards, this is a load beyond the capacity of two persons per office. Here, also, there is no prospect whatever of the load decreasing, but of its being augmented by addition of the USES program, without any compensating transfer of personnel to handle the increase. Stenographic services.-The House committee report proposes to eliminate 30 positions from the present stenographic force of the regional offices, a reduction of approximately 20 percent. Stenographic services are those which are consistently most difficult to maintain adequately in these offices, and yet are of greatest importance to the efficient functioning of the professional staff. With the present stenographic staffs it has consistently been difficult for the Bureau representatives to keep their work current. The reduction of 30 positions will rapidly place the program representatives in a position where they cannot service the State agencies. The committee report states in part that the "pooling of clerks now on the rolls of the individual bureaus should afford some savings through fuller utilization of the larger number in each office." In point of fact, the clerks have always been pooled; the only ones not assigned to the pool are those that work full time for designated regional representatives and these are always available for reassignment on a minute's notice when the pressure of work requires it. The

House report, in addition, recommends that the stenographers and clerks assigned full time to the four program Social Security Bureau regional representatives be transferred to the rolls of the Administrator's office. The Federal Security Administrator in recommending that the regional offices be restored to the Social Security Administration, also recommends that the clerical positions assigned to the bureaus be restored to the bureau appropriations. Stenographic employees on the regional rolls of the bureaus, while available at all times for reassignment by the regional director, have been included in the Bureau appropriation in accordance with previous requests from the Congress to identify service positions with programs insofar as possible.

For these reasons, we request that the reduction of $210,599 made by the House be restored to the regional offices and that the entire estimate of $641,086 for 1949 be appropriated to the Office of the Commissioner for Social Security instead of to the Office of the Federal Security Administrator.

The House approved the entire amount for "Other objects of expenditure" requested for 1949-including travel, printing and binding, and miscellaneous expenses. However, of the total $371,272 estimate $341,272 was transferred by the House to the Office of the Administrator, along with transfers of personnel, leaving $30,000 in the Office of the Commissioner for travel, printing and binding, and miscellaneous expenses.

We are not requesting any changes from our over-all estimate of $371,272. We do request, however, that the full amount for "Other objects" of $371,272 be restored to the Office of the Commissioner along with the restoration of staff requested.

REDUCTION IN PERSONNEL OF INFORMATION AND PUBLICATIONS SECTION

Senator KNOWLAND. Mr. Altmeyer, can you give us the number of positions that were involved in the reduction in your information and publications section, which you say was reduced by 70 this year?

Mr. ALTMEYER. Information Service and Publications, we had 65 people in 1948. We asked for 24 for this next fiscal year, and we were allowed 4.

Senator KNOWLAND. There appear to be no questions.

EFFECT OF HOUSE ACTION

Is there anything else, Mr. Altmeyer, that you would like to put into the record? I want you to have an ample opportunity to make your case in your testimony here. From what you have said, I gather you feel that the action which the House proposes to take would substantially handicap the working of the Agency.

Mr. ALTMEYER. As I said, Senator, I think the action of the House would be ruinous. I must say that I feel that under the proposals of the House, it would be quite impossible to carry on an integrated socialsecurity program.

Senator MCKELLAR. Under the bill we are considering, what will be your total number of employees?

Mr. ALTMEYER. There will be 39 persons, besides myself.

Senator MCKELLAR. How long has it been since you have had 39 persons in the office?

Mr. ALTMEYER. We never had that few, Senator. In 1938, we had 2,130. We had 1,275 last year. We cut back to 875 this year, and propose a further cut-back of 361. That will include not only Washington but the regional offices as well.

Senator KNOWLAND. How were they divided as between Washington and the regional offices?

Mr. ALTMEYER. Of the 1,275 that I have mentioned, 375 were engaged in the regional office work in the regional offices. We reduced that number to 221 and we are now reducing it still further to 200.

SUMMARY OF PERSONNEL CHANGES IN OFFICE FOR THE COMMISSIONER FOR SOCIAL SECURITY

Senator KNOWLAND. The tabular information dealing with the summary of personnel changes in the office for the Commissioner for Social Security will appear in the record at this point..

(The tabular information is as follows:)