OF PUBLIC WORKS HEARINGS BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR UNITED STATES SENATE SEVENTY-SECOND CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON S. 2419 A BILL TO ACCELERATE PUBLIC CONSTRUCTION DURING MARCH 9, 10, AND 11, 1932 Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and Labor ESTABLISHMENT OF ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC WORKS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 1932 UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met, at 10 o'clock a. m., pursuant to call of the chairman, at the room of the Committee on Education and Labor, Capitol Building, Senator Metcalf presiding. Present: Senators Metcalf (chairman), La Follette, and Byrnes. The committee had under consideration the bill (S. 2419) to accelerate public construction during the present emergency, to provide employment, to create the Administration of Public Works, to provide for the more effective coordination and correlation of the public works activities of the Government, and for other purposes, as follows: [S. 2419, Seventy-second Congress, first session] A BILL To accelerate public construction during the present emergency, to provide employment, to create the Administration of Public Works, to provide for the more effective coordination and correlation of the public-works activities of the Government, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it is hereby declared to be the policy of the Congress to provide for the more effective conduct and administration of Federal public-works activities; that, during the period of emergency hereby recognized to exist, public-works expenditures should be largely expanded in order to stimulate production and business activity and to alleviate unemployment; and that in pursuance of this policy it is the desire of Congress that the expenditure of the emergency funds made available by this act shall be governed, in the discretion of the Administrator of Public Works, provided for in section 2, by the following considerations: (1) Facility with which projects may be gotten under way at the earliest possible date. (2) Amount of labor that will be employed, directly or indirectly. (3) Number and diversity of the industries which will be affected, directly or indirectly, by said projects. (4) Value of the projects to the economic and social welfare of the country. (5) Economical administration of the work. ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC WORKS SEC. 20. (a) There is hereby established at the seat of government an Administration of Public Works, under the direction of the Administrator of Public Works. The Administrator of Public Works shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. He shall receive a salary at the rate of $15,000 per annum, and his term and tenure of office shall be like that of the heads of the executive departments. (b) The administrator— (1) Shall maintain the principal office of the Administration of Public Works in the District of Columbia, and such other offices in the United States as in his judgment are necessary. 1 |