Mr. HARTKE. Mr. President, the responsibilities which this act gives to the administrators of the forthcoming traffic safety agency are large and far reaching in their consequences for the safety of the motoring public. These responsibilities the issuance of motor vehicle safety standards and the research and development programs-must be assumed almost immediately. Crucial to the quality and expeditiousness of the agency's performance is the recruitment of scientific, engineering, and administrative personnel at levels of compensation which will minimize the material sacrifice which these specialists will ordi

narily have to make in return for entering upon one of the greatest lifesaving programs this Nation has ever undertaken.

Civil service regulations provide for just such needs by allotting a number of supergrades so that such specialists without previous Government service can be retained at a level up to two grades higher than the usual grade. Indeed, for some new programs, Congress has specifically written into the law a quota of supergrades. One such law was the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Act, which provided for 450 supergrades so that our new space pro

compound the problem, they are in short supply. This is a seller's market.

The need exists because for the Government this is essentially a new field of endeavor. There is an acute shortage of trained engineers, scientists, information systems specialists, lawyers, psychologists, economists, physicians, and human factors specialists as well as other professionals in the field of traffic safety.

It exists because this law requires the new agency to promptly set complicated and technical performance standards for new automobiles. The steady toll of 1,000 dead and nearly 100,000 injured every week permits no delays and no deficiencies in necessary skills, creativity, and determination.

Such demands cannot adequately be met within the time limits set if the agency is not able to attract competent and highly trained personnel.

It is my understanding that there are practically no automotive engineers employed in that capacity in the Government today. Thus, it would not be possible for the new agency to borrow such talent from other agencies on a temporary basis or to entice them away on a permanent basis.

The remaining potential alternatives are for the agency to hire needed people now working in industry or at universities. But this is not likely to occur. The automotive engineers and scientists in industry earn salaries far above those

The same generally is true in the universities, because the professors' and researchers' base salaries are usually supplemented by outside consultant fees. A number of the universities recently have received grants for expanded research and testing in the field of traffic safety, or they have expanded their own program. Indeed, one of the purposes of this act is to encourage such expansions. Examples include UCLA, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio State, Cornell, and Northwestern. With expanding programs, the universities resist releasing their experts, and in fact many are trying to attract new talent.

It is true that safety-oriented specialists generally are public service oriented as well. Perhaps some would be willing to help inaugurate this new program even at a loss of income and other fringe benefits. But there is a limit below which trained, experienced specialists cannot be expected to sacrifice in salary in return for worthwhile public service.

Mr. President, there is no doubt that with the passage of this bill there will be intense competition for automotive engineers, scientists, and other traffic safety specialists and even experts from other areas of science and technology whose skills can be readily adapted to motor vehicle safety. I urge most strongly that the Secretary give a high priority to allocate adequate supergrades for this new agency whose work will affect the public safety of millions.

RECORD at the end of my remarks a letter I have received from Congressman JAMES A. MACKAY, of Georgia, who has from the beginning worked in behalf of traffic safety legislation in the other body. Congressman MACKAY'S proposal to establish a single National Traffic Safety Agency in the executive branch deserves careful consideration and attention.

There being no objection, the letter was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, D.C., August 23, 1966. Hon. ABRAHAM RIBICOFF, Old Senate Office Building.

DEAR SENATOR RIBICOFF: There are compelling arguments in favor of the establishment of a single National Traffic Safety Agency headed by a Traffic Safety Administrator appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.

We have a Bureau of Public Roads charged with the construction of our federal aid highway system and it has an Administrator appointed by the President. It has worked well.

We have a Federal Aviation Agency charged with the safety of air travelers with an Administrator appointed by the President. It has worked well.

We have failed to fix responsibility and provide leadership for a national trafic safety program and we have paid a price. For the first time in the history of the automobile more than fifty thousand American citizens were killed in a twelve consecutive month period (July 1, 1965 to July 1, 1966). The costs are well known to all of us.

Students of the federal role all agree that we have lacked a focus of leadership at the national level. The Secretary of Commerce in his March 3rd, 1959, letter to the House Committee on Public Works said, "Most notable among the deficiencies is the near total lack of working liaison among agencies engaged on closely related endeavors" (p. 120). And, further he diagnosed lack of coordinated effort between federal, state and local governments by saying "Lack of an official working focus in the Federal Government may well have been a contributing factor" (p. 149).

And President Johnson said in his Transportation message on March 2nd of this year that the reason we are failing in traffic safety is, “Existing safety programs are widely dispersed. There is no clear assignment of responsibility at the Federal level." In the same address the President stated that under existing law to strengthen the

Federal role he had set in motion a number of steps: "I am assigning responsibility for coordinating Federal Highway Safety programs to the Secretary of Commerce. I am directing the Secretary to establish a major highway safety unit within his Department. This unit will ultimately be transferred to the Department of Transportation."

Today some four and one-half months and some 16,000 deaths later this has not been done.

As further evidence of the lack of coordination in the executive branch the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare announced last week that he had appointed a "toplevel advisory committee to chart out an aggressive new look for the Department in Trafic Safety."

It has become increasingly apparent that the gravity of the extent of losses from traffic accidents requires explicit Congressional assignment of responsibility.

This can be done by choosing one of two alternatives.

First, if a Department of Transportation is established then Congress can direct that under the Highway Section in addition to a Bureau of Public Roads, there shall be a National Traffic Safety Agency and Administrator and Congress can charge the Secretary of Transportation with administering all traffic safety laws through the agency. To do less would make it appear that we value human safety on our roads less than the building of the roads.

Second, if the Department of Transportation fails, then the establishment of the Agency and the appointment of the Administrator may be of even greater importance in view of past performance of the Department of Commerce.

Therefore, I sincerely hope that the Agency-Administrator arrangement will be approved and adopted by this Congress and I respectfully solicit your leadership in attaining this goal.

Sincerely yours,

JAMES A. MACKAY, Member of Congress.

Contains nothing helpful.

Contains nothing helpful.