SEC. 507. As of July 1, 1959, all authorization for military public works to be accomplished by the Secretary of a military department in connection with the establishment or development of military installations and facilities, and all authorizations for appropriations therefor, that are contained in Acts approved before August 4, 1956, and not superseded or otherwise modified by a later authorization are repealed, except (1) authorizations for public works and for appropriations therefor that are set forth in those Acts in the titles that contain the general provisions; (2) the authorization for public works projects as to which appropriated funds have been obligated for construction contracts or land acquisition in whole or in part before July 1, 1959, and authorizations for appropriations therefor; (3) the authorization for the rental guaranty for family housing in the amount of $100,000,000 that is contained in section 302 of the Act of July 14, 1952 (66 Stat. 606, 622); (4) the authorizations for public works and the appropriation of funds that are contained in sections 2231-2238 of title 10, United States Code, as amended (50 U. S. C. 882, 883, 885, 886); (5) the authorization for the development of the Line of Communications, France, in the amount of $30,000,000 that is contained in title I, section 102, of the Act of July 14, 1952 (66 Stat. 606, 609); (6) the authorization for development of classified facilities in the amount of $6,439,000 that is contained in title I, section 102, of the Act of September 28, 1951 (65 Stat. 336, 343); (7) the authorization for public works and for the appropriation of funds that are contained in the Act of April 1, 1954 (68 Stat. 47), as amended; and (8) notwithstanding the provision of section 506 of the Act of August 30, 1957 (71 Stat. 531, 558), the authorization for: (a) jet engine test cells in the amount of $1,850,000 at the Naval Air Station, Norfolk, Virginia, that is contained in title II, section 201 under the heading "CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES" and subheading "AVIATION FACILITIES" of the Act of August 7, 1953 (67 Stat. 440, 442), as amended; (b) ammunition storage facilities in the amount of $225,000 at the Naval Auxiliary Air Station, El Centro, California; navigational aids in the amount of $590,000 at the Marine Corps Air Station, El Toro, California; research and development facilities in the amount of $1,804,000 at the Naval Air Turbine Test Station, Trenton, New Jersey; and navigational aids in the amount of $400,000 at the Naval Air Station, Whidbey Island, Washington: that are contained in title II, section 201, under the heading "CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES" and subheading "AVIATION FACILITIES" of the Act of July 27, 1954 (68 Stat. 535, 540), as amended; (c) the development of aviation ordnance facilities in the amount of $2,638,000 that is contained in title II, section 202, of the Act of July 27, 1954 (68 Stat. 535, 543), as amended. SEC. 508. Section 408 (b) of the Act of June 17, 1950 (64 Stat. 236, 245), is hereby repealed. SEC. 509. Section 515 of the Act of July 15, 1955 (69 Stat. 324, 352), as amended, is further amended to read as follows: "SEC. 515. During fiscal years 1958 through and including 1961, the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, respectively, are authorized to lease housing facilities at or near military tactical installations for assignment as public quarters to military personnel and their dependents, if any, without rental charge upon a determination by the Secretary of Defense, or his designee, that there is a lack of adequate housing facilities at or near such military tactical installations. Such housing facilities shall be leased on a family or individual unit basis and not more than five thousand of such units may be so leased at any one time. Expenditures for the rental of such housing facilities may be made out of appropriations available for maintenance and operation but may not exceed $150 a month for any such unit." SEC. 510. Section 406 of the Act of August 3, 1956 (70 Stat. 991, 1015), is amended to read as follows: “SEC. 406. (a) The Secretary of a military department may acquire any interest in land that "(1) he or his designee determines is needed in the interest of national defense; and "(2) does not cost more than $25,000 (exclusive of administrative costs and the amounts of any deficiency judgments). This section does not authorize the acquisition, as part of the same project, of two or more contiguous parcels of land that together cost more than $25,000.” SEC. 511. Section 408 (a) of the Act of August 3, 1956 (70 Stat. 991, 1016), is amended by adding the following new subsection at the end thereof: "(5) No determination that a project is urgently required shall be necessary for projects, the cost of which is not in excess of $5,000." SEC. 512. Subsection (a) of section 406 of the Act of August 30, 1957 (71 Stat. 531,556), is amended to read as follows: "(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, and effective July 1, 1958, no family housing units shall be contracted for or acquired at or in support of military installations or activities unless the actual number of units involved has been specifically authorized by an annual military construction authorization Act except (1) housing units required to be acquired pursuant to the provisions of section 404 of the Housing Amendments of 1955; (2) housing units leased, utilizing available operation and maintenance appropriations, for terms of one year, whether renewable or not, or for terms of not more than five years pursuant to the provisions of section 417 of the Act of August 3, 1956 (70 Stat. 991, 1018); and (3) rental guaranty family housing authorized under section 302 of the Act of July 14, 1952 (66 Stat. 606, 622). SEC. 513. (a) Section 2662, title 10, United States Code, is repealed. (b) The analysis of chapter 159, title 10, United States Code, is amended by striking out the following item: 2662. Real property transactions: agreement with Armed Services Committees; reports." (c) Section 43 of the Act of August 10, 1956 (70A Stat. 636), is repealed. This is a most important bill, and in view of the fact that time is very important on matters pending on the floor of the house, I am going to be forced to set the hearings of the committee commencing at 9 o'clock each morning until we finish consideration of this bill. I am forced to do that, or else we will be compelled to sit at night sessions. I think we can make 1 hour's time most valuable every morning, instead of starting the hearing at 10 o'clock. Now, members of the committee, I want to make a brief statement in regard to this bill. I do not need to stress the importance of this bill. It contains a request for authority for the physical plant, which together with the men and equipment make up the three essential elements of our defense structure. The new line items in this bill total $1,684,361,000, divided among the services as follows: So last year's bill was $1,232,495,000 and this year's bill is $1,684,361,000. That means that this year's bill, so far as new line items are concerned, is $451,866,000 more than last year's. In addition to the foregoing, authority is also requested in the amount of $47,238,000 to correct deficiencies in authorizations for projects authorized under previous laws. This $47,238,000 is broken down as follows: Last year's deficiency authorizations were $180 million as against $47 million for this year. I don't know whether costs have stopped rising or whether the departments are making better estimates, but I am glad to see this considerable reduction in deficiency requests. Now, members of the committee, I would like to summarize all the foregoing figures in order to see just what the construction program is today. The new items in the bill total $1,684 million; the deficiencies total $47 million; and this makes a real total in new authorization of $1,731 million. But we must add one more figure to this and that is the $549 million contained in the bill we passed last January. This bill was, of course, entirely for the Air Force and was considered as a supplement to the 1958 construction program. Actually, however, if we hadn't passed the bill in January, the items contained in it would be in this bill today. So the total picture for military construction authorization this year is slightly over $2.2 billion. Now, let's consider briefly the question of unfunded authorization. To this $1,731,599,000 in this bill, we must add another $1,933 million which represents the amount of unfunded authorization now available ot the three departments. This makes a total of $3,664,599,000-almost $334 billion-which will be available to the departments if the authority requested in this bill is granted. Against this almost $334 billion authorization, the departments will request appropriations in the amount of $1,693 million. This will still leave almost $2 billion in unfunded authorizations. In connection with this, I would like to point out, as I have on a number of occasions in the past, that I am still concerned-and so is each and every member of the committee about the gap between the amount of authorization which the military departments have and the amount of appropriations which they have received for these authorizations. Of course, each of the departments has some of this unfunded authorization. The $1,933 million in unfunded authorization is broken down as follows: Army---. Navy-- $363, 000, 000 355, 000, 000 1, 215, 000, 000 Last year, the unfunded authorization totaled about $2.2 billion. So, this year's $1.9 billion is a small improvement, but it is still too large. The committee will recall that, starting 3 years ago, each military construction bill contains a section which ultimately repeals an authorization which is more tha 5 years old. Last year, this period was reduced to 4 years, but this did not close the gap sufficiently. So, in this year's bill, the gap has been narrowed to 3 years. This will automatically repeal a great deal of this old, unused authorization. This is very desirable, as much of it is no longer needed, and I note from Secretary Bryant's statement that, at the end of fiscal year 1959, this backlog of unfunded authorization will be reduced from $1,933 million to $854 million. I feel that this bill has been carefully studied by the military departments, by Mr. Bryant's Office, and by the Bureau of the Budget. The program submitted by the departments to Mr. Bryant's Office totaled $2,248 million, and he reduced this to $1,694 million. The Bureau of the Budget further reduced this amount to $1,684 million which represents the new-construction items in the bill we have before us today. BASIS OF THE BILL The construction program contained in this bill is, of course, based on the forces which we plan to have over the next several In years. the case of the Army, the program is based on continuation of the military force levels authorized for June 30, 1959, which means a force of 870,000 men. In the case of the Navy, the program represents the Shore Establishment necessary for 864 ships. For the Air Force, we have 105 wings authorized for June 30, 1959. During the next several years, in the process of developing missile units, some decrease in this number of wings will occur. I am told, however, that this decrease will be offset somewhat by an increase in missile-squadron strength. NEW INSTALLATIONS There are no new major installations in the bill. There are, however, a number of new Air Force stations stated to be necessary in connection with the aircraft control and warning and, also, some new gapfiller radar sites. LAND ACQUISITION Land acquisition in the bill this year involves relatively small acreages when compared with previous years. The Army is asking for some 4,000 acres in fee; the Navy, 1,300 acres in fee; and the Air Force, about 2,000 acres in fee. Each department also is acquiring some easement property, a total of about 11,500 acres. The total cost of land for the 3 departments is estimated to be about $14 million. There will be some additional land acquisitions at tactical-weapon sites and other missile sites, but the axact acreages are not known at this time. HOUSING In Mr. Bryant's statement, which I have had the opportunity to study, I note that there is a great deal of detail on housing and I, therefore, will not say any more about this subject, other than the fact that there are about 50,000 Capehart units in the bill, almost 6,700 surpluscommodity houses overseas, and only 935 housing units to be built with appropriated funds. The committee will remember that last year we granted the departments authority to use existing appropriated-fund authorizations to build houses at specific listed installations. This authority appears in the bill again this year. The reason behind this, of course, is the fact that, after authority for some 30,000 appropriated-fund houses had been granted, the Capehart program came along and was utilized to fill the housing needs at the installations for which the appropriatedfund authority had been granted. Consequently, the 935 appropriatedfund houses do not add any money authorization to the total of the bill. Now, members of the committee, there is no need to take up each one of these titles at this time. We have this morning with us Mr. Bryant, who has a statement. It is a magnificent statement. There is a great deal of meat on this bone. I hope the committee will pay close attention to Mr. Bryant and permit him to make this statement without interruption. Mr. Bryant, will you please come around? Put this in the record. (The balance of the chairman's statement follows:) TITLE IV The bill contains a new title IV with authority which has not appeared in a military construction bill before. This title would give the Secretary of Defense authority in the amount of $50 million to "establish or develop installations and facilities required for advanced research projects ***" I will leave discussion of this item until we reach that portion of the bill. GENERAL PROVISIONS The general provisions this year are, for the most part, the same as those of previous years. Sections 501, 502, 503, 505, and 506 are similar to provisions which have been carried in military construction bills for a number of years. Section 504, which authorizes the use of existing appropriated-fund housing authorization for the 935 units in this bill, is similar to the authority granted for the first time last year. Section 507, I have mentioned before. This section cuts the rescission period from 4 to 3 years. Section 508 would repeal the requirement that the Secretary of Defense report to the Congress at the beginning of the 1st session of each Congress all military construction authorizations granted since the 80th Congress for which adequate funds have not been appropriated. The 3-year automatic rescission makes this report unnecessary. Section 509 continues the authority for leasing housing at Nike installations. This has been in the bill for the last two years. Section 510 would permit the acquisition of real estate not exceeding $25,000 without a specific line item. The current authority is $5,000. Section 511 would simply exempt small construction projects costing $5,000 or less from the requirement that a determination be made that the construction is urgently needed. The purpose of the exemption is to cut out administrative work and delays. Section 512: The committee will recall that, last year, the law which was finally passed required that, effective July 1, 1958, no family units, other than mandatory Wherry acquisitions, should be built or acquired unless there was a line item in the construction bill. So, mandatory Wherry acquisitions do not have to be set out as a line item today, and the Department wishes to add two other categories of housing to this exemption: They are leased housing at Nike sites and rental guaranty housing. Their reasons for this request will be dealt with in more detail by Mr. Bryant. I would like to draw the particular attention of the members to section 513. This would repeal title VI of Public Law 155, 82d Congress, which requires that the military departments come into agreement with the Committees on |