Whereas the President of the United States by Executive order proposed the transfer from the Federal Security Agency to the Department of Labor of unemployment insurance and employment service; and Whereas this transfer will become effective unless action to the contrary is taken by the Congress of the United States, the Kentucky Unemployment Insurance Advisory Council, Commonwealth of Kentucky, composed of representatives representing the public, management, and labor have this day opposed the transfer for the following reasons: 1. The unemployment insurance and employment service are now being efficiently and impartially administered by the Federal Security Agency. 2. This council is not of the opinion that the transfer would be in the interest of efficiency or economy. 3. The Federal Security Agency is an agency dedicated to the welfare of the public in general and is not responsible to any particular segment of our public life: Be it further Resolved, That the chairman of the Kentucky Unemployment Insurance Advisory Council be directed to forward a copy of this resolution to the Kentucky representatives in the Congress of the United States, to the chairman of the respective committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States, and to the Kentucky Unemployment Insurance Commission. The persons to whom this resolution is forwarded should be advised that the action of the Kentucky Unemployment Insurance Advisory Council was not unanimous; that the employee representatives dissented for the following reasons: 1. The transfer was recommended by President Harry S. Truman and Vice President Alben W. Barkley upon the recommendation of a commission commonly known as the Hoover Commission which, after much study, recommended the change be made in the interest of greater efficiency and economy. Chairman Senate Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departmens, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The Senate Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments has scheduled hearings on Reorganization Plan 2, to transfer the United States Employment Service to the Department of Labor, commencing July 25. I am enclosing herewith, for the information of your committee, Resolution 32, approved by the National Executive Committee of the American Legion at its May 4 to 6, 1949, meeting, on this subject matter. Sincerely yours, JOHN THOMAS TAYLOR, Director, National Legislative Commission. RESOLUTION NO. 32-BUREAU OF EMPLOYMENT SECURITY Whereas the Bureau of Employment Security is now a part of the Federal Security Agency and its functions are properly a part of the other bureaus and agencies embraced within the Department of Labor, and the American Legion has heretofore urged the placing of the employment security services in the Department of Labor: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the National Executive Committee of the American Legion, Indianapolis, Ind., May 4 to 6, 1949, We urge that the Bureau of Employment Secu 94651-49-22 rity, now a part of the Federal Security Agency, be transferred to the Department of Labor, and that the American Legion support whatever administrative measures or legislative actions necessary to effect this objective. Hon. JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, ED. SCHUSTER & CO., INC., Milwaukee 1, Wis., July 21, 1949. Chairman of the Senate Committee on United States Senate, Washington 25, D. C. DEAR SENATOR MCCLELLAN: I wish to voice my objection to the adoption of the President's Reorganization Plan No. 2 which provides that the Federal Administration of Unemployment Compensation and the Employment Service be transferred to the Labor Department unless disapproved by the Senate or the House. In 1935, Congress passed the Social Security Act in the interest of protecting the individual, and by so doing benefiting society as a whole. I believe that this philosophy is still sound, and that our social-security program should be administered in the interest of all of society. In order to attain this objective, the Federal department responsible for this program should be impartial, fair, and not representative of any one segment of society. In my opinion, it would be impossible for the Labor Department to give the required impartial administration, and carry out the purpose for which it was created, namely, to "foster, promote, and develop the interests of wage earners." It is my understanding that the President's proposal would result in no economy, and all indications point to a more expensive operation. People in this community are greatly concerned over the present excessive governmental expenditures, and cost should be given careful consideration. I sincerely trust that your committee and the Senate will see its way clear to disapprove the President's Reorganization Plan No. 2. Yours very truly, HUGO KUECHENMEISTER, Controller. (I would respectfully ask that my letter be included in the record.) Hon. JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, NEW ORLEANS ASSOCIATION OF COMMERCE, Chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR MCCLELLAN: President Truman has submitted to the Congress plan No. 2, which proposes to transfer the Federal Administration of the Unemployment Compensation and Employment Service programs from the Federal Security Agency to the Department of Labor. On three occasions, through a period of 13 years, Congress has decisively decided that the Nation's employment security program should be administered by an independent agency. The reasoning behind this decision is just as sound today as on the three occasions in which Congress so expressed itself. The board of directors of the Association of Commerce on February 24, 1948, opposed this transfer and so indicated that fact to the Louisiana congressional delegation. At its regular meeting on June 21, 1947, the board reaffirmed its position against the transfer of the Unemployment Compensation and Employment Service programs from the Federal Security Agency to the Department of Labor. It is true that the Hoover Commission recommended the transfer of the unemployment service function to the Labor Department, but the background reasons for such recommendations should be taken into consideration. It is reported that the task force employed by the Hoover group, after careful examination of Labor Department and Federal Security Agency functions, failed to recommend such a transfer. The funds provided for Unemployment Compensation are supplied entirely by management and actually are an insurance plan in which not only labor but management and the public have a large stake. It is most essential that such a plan be administered by a neutral agency, not one solely concerned as the Labor Department is with a single segment of our economy. There is no question but that the transfer would cost money. There can be no signficant reduction in expenditures as the President suggested in his recommendation to the Congress. The Federal Security Agency now administers the employment security program with about a dozen others through a regional office system. The Department of Labor has no national regional office set-up and would have to establish one for the sole purpose of administering the employment security program. The Unemployment Compensation program and the Federal Employment Service should continue as they are now being operated-within the Federal Security Agency. We respectfully urge you, therefore, to oppose Reorganization Plan No. 2 and to actively support such legislation as will prevent the plan from becoming effective. With best wishes, I am GEORGE E. SCHNEIDER, General Manager. TENNESSEE MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION, Hon. JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, DEAR SENATOR MCCLELLAN: We are advised that the Senate Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, of which you are chairman, will start hearings on July 25 on the proposed transfer of the Bureau of Employment Security to the Labor Department, and the Tennessee Manufacturers Association would like to go on record as opposing this transfer. As we now recall, this is the third attempt that has been made to make this transfer, and on each occasion it has been found that the States were unanimously opposed to same. We presume that Congress has consistently refused to grant the request. It is our feeling that there is such a direct relationship between unemployment security and the labor employment activities that by all means the two should remain under the same general control, i. e., the States. We will appreciate your putting this protest in the record and respectfully urge that your committee, in conformity with previous action, refuse to grant the transfer. Sincerely yours, C. C. GILBERT, Secretary. ADAMS BROS. SALESBOOK CO., INC., Subject: Reorganization plan contemplating transfer of social security functions to the Labor Department. Hon. JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, Senator from Arkansas, DEAR MR. MCCLELLAN: Because the functions of social security do not under any circumstances belong in the Labor Department, it is our earnest recommendation that they be left where they are and your committee make an adverse recommendation to the Senate when the advocated transfer is brought up for consideration. Aside from the fact that the social-security functions should be administered by an unbiased agency for the benefit of all covered employees rather than by an agency whose interests are slanted in the direction of and in favor of a minority group, the advocated transfer is definitely not in the interests of national economy. As now constituted, the machinery is all set up and in working order with a trained personnel possessing the required know-how. If the transfer were made, the Labor Department would have to start at scratch, or practically so, and there would promptly result in another huge addition to the already inflated and topheavy pay roll of the United States Government. Moreover, this is a matter which has been fought over in the United States Senate with the result that every attempt heretofore made to transfer the socialsecurity functions to the Labor Department has been voted down and in at least one instance the legislation passed to keep it out of the Labor Department has been done over the President's veto. The importance of this matter is one that transcends petty political interests and is one that should be decided upon from the standpoint of that which is best for the country as a whole. It is requested that our views as expressed herein be made a part of the record relating to the proceedings in this connection. Respectfully yours, JOHN T. BRINK. Hon. JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, MILWAUKEE, WIS., July 22, 1949. Chairman, Senate Expenditures Committee, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR MCCLELLAN: We would like to register our protest to transferring Federal administration of unemployment compensation and the Employment Service to the United States Labor Department. We are registering this protest in the interest of the general public for which this program was developed. Also we do not believe that the Labor Department could administer this program unbiasedly. Sincerely yours, FEDERAL MALLEABLE Co., Executive Vice President. P. S. We would like to have our statement recorded in the hearings record. GREDE FOUNDRIES, INC., Milwaukee 1, Wis., July 22, 1949. Senator JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR MCCLELLAN: We understand that next week your committee will conduct hearings on Reorganization Plan No. 2. My purpose in writing this letter is to register my opposition to that proposal for the reason that it seems clear to me that the administration of the social-security program should not be delegated to the Department of Labor which obviously, and as established by law, has as its function to "foster, promote, and develop the interests of wage earners." The Department has always functioned on that basis, and it is a well known fact that the three top positions in the Department are virtually selected by the major labor organizations. It seems obvious that social-security problems affect the Nation as a whole and should not be administered in the best interests of everybody on the basis of a Labor Department. Congress, in the past, has consistently followed the proposition that the socialsecurity program should be administered by an independent agency. If the basis for this change is that it is part of the Hoover reorganization plan, then the administration should include all phases of the Hoover plan, not only those that meet its wishes. It is a published fact that the Hoover Commission task force recommendations did not support this transfer. Our social-security program will be better administered by an independent agency than if it were transferred to the Department of Labor. In the interests of better government, Senator, I urge you to oppose this proposition. Yours very truly, JAMES J. EWENS. MILWAUKEE, WIS., July 22, 1949. Hon. JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, Chairman, Senate Expenditures Committee, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. С. DEAR SENATOR MCCLELLAN: The Wisconsin State Brewers' Association wishes to go on record as opposing Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 2. During the past 13 years, Congress has decisively decreed that the Federal administration of unemployment compensation and the Employment Service program should be administered by an independent agency and not by one representing special groups. We are strongly in favor of the over-all Hoover Commission report as an economy measure, but since it appears that only parts of such report are being accepted while others are being ignored, we must therefore oppose the recommended transfer of these functions to the Department of Labor simply because it would be in a strictly biased department. It was the original intention of Congress that the social-security program, when conceived and enacted, be an independent general-interest agency and not one subservient to any pressure groups. Yours very truly, WISCONSIN STATE BREWERS' ASSOCIATION, SOUTHERN STATES INDUSTRIAL COUNCIL, INC., Nashville 3, Tenn., July 22, 1949. Hon. JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, Chairman, Senate Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR MCCLELLAN: The Southern States Industrial Council has consistently opposed the transfer of the Bureau of Employment Security to the Labor Department. This attitude has been consistent with that of the authorities of the various States on this particular subject. I do not remember now how many efforts have been made to secure congressional approval of this transfer, but am informed that your committee will take up on the 25th the matter of approving or disapproving the latest request for transfer submitted by the President. I will appreciate your having put into the record the fact that the Southern States Industrial Council still opposes this transfer. It is our belief that effective administration is being secured under the present set-up, and we know of no good reason why there should be a change. As a matter of fact, there is a direct relation between unemployment security and labor employment activities, which we believe would be disrupted by the proposed transfer. We therefore request that you place in the record this letter, constituting as it does the opposition of the Southern States Industrial Council to the proposed transfer. Sincerely yours, R. KIRBY LONGINO, President, VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS OF THE UNITED STATES, Re: Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1949. July 22, 1949. Chairman, Senate Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR MCCLELLAN: In the absence of a national convention mandate, it is the considered judgment of this office, as director of the employment and civil-service division of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, that our organization would have no objection to congressional approval of Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1949, which would transfer the Bureau of Employment Security, the Veterans' Employment Service, the Federal Advisory Council, together with personnel, records, properties, and funds from the Federal Security Agency to the Department of Labor. Personal conferences with appropriate officials of the Department of Labor with respect to the operation of these agencies under the transfer has given assurance to our office of satisfactory policy, particularly with reference to the Veterans' Employment Service. Respectfully yours, OMAR B. KETCHUM, Director. |