WAR DEPARTMENT CIVIL FUNCTIONS APPROPRIATION

BILL, 1947

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1946

UNITED STATES SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS,

Washington, D. C.

The subcommittee met at 10 a. m., Hon. Elmer Thomas of Oklahoma (chairman) presiding.

Present: Senators Thomas of Oklahoma, Hayden, Overton, Russell, Chavez, O'Mahoney, Maybank, McClellan, Gurney, Ferguson, Wherry, and Cordon.

CORPS OF ENGINEERS

STATEMENT OF LT. GEN. R. A. WHEELER, CHIEF, CORPS OF ENGINEERS, ACCOMPANIED BY BRIG. GEN. R. C. CRAWFORD, COL. J. H. STRATTON, COL. J. P. LaCROIX, COL. W. J. ELY, COL. ERNEST C. BOMAR, COL. R. S. MOORE, C. C. BURGER, G. L. BEARD, E. W. BASSETT, L. N. KIMBEL, AND R. L. BUMGARNER-continued.

FLOOD CONTROL, GENERAL

LIST OF PROJECTS APPROVED BY HOUSE

Senator THOMAS. The committee will come to order.

On yesterday, at the close of the hearings, I made request of the Chief of Engineers to have a statement prepared under three headings or three separate columns. The secretary will pass this statement around as prepared by the Chief of Engineers.

In the first column to the left on this list, you will find the names of the several projects and the amounts that the House bill allowed for each project. Column No. 1 contains the projects that are now in the bill. So that if the Senate should not see fit to make any changes, offer any other projects, or reduce or increase any item, the items under column No. I would be what would be appropriated for by this measure.

FLOOD CONTROL PROJECTS CONTAINED IN LETTER OF SECRETARY OF WAR TO COMMITTEE

Column No. 2 on this list contains the recommendations of the Secretary of War. Some of those are new projects and some are increases of projects already mentioned in column No. 1, where the

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House reduced the amounts below the Budget estimates. As I understand this recommendation, this list set forth in column No. 2 is to restore some of the Budget cuts by the House.

LIST OF OTHER PROJECTS RECOMMENDED BY CORPS OF ENGINEERS

Column No. 3 of this list contains the names of the projects that the Chief of Engineers asked the Budget to consider and to approve. So, column No. 3 of this table is before the committec, as well as the others, for our consideration when we go to mark up the bill. The amounts of money opposite the names of each project in column No. 3 of this table is the amount that the engineers recommend be appropriated by this bill to start to work on July 1 and carry through for a year.

JUSTIFICATION FOR CERTAIN PROJECTS

I will ask you, General Wheeler, if you have an explanation and justification of each of the projects in column No. 3 of this table. General WHEELER. Yes, sir; I have the data available in my office and can furnish justifications for the record if you desire.

Senator THOMAS. I doubt if the committee will want to have the justifications placed in the record for all of these projects. However, I do not know now which ones will be picked out by the committee when it marks up the bill.

General WHEELER. The full material is very voluminous.

Senator THOMAS. I am advised that we have in printed form in the House hearings a justification for some of these projects; is that correct? General WHEELER. The printed justifications do not include all of the projects in the list, Senator. They include only the projects in approved Budget estimates.

Senator THOMAS. Do you know of any project that is on the list that is not justified in the House hearings that might be called up for our attention during these hearings? Has anything developed since this list was printed to indicate that some project has come to the front which might be urged?

General WHEELER. Yes, sir, I believe there are some. I have included in the material I gave you yesterday, a list, designated list No. 4, which tabulates projects in which strong interest has been shown recently, and which I understood would come before your committee at some time during these hearings.

Senator THOMAS. Off the record.

LIST OF FLOOD-CONTROL PROJECTS APPROVED BY HOUSE, THOSE REQUESTED OF SENATE COMMITTEE BY SECRETARY OF WAR, AND ADDITIONAL PROJECTS RECOMMENDED BY CORPS OF ENGINEERS

[See pp. 493-495]

(A discussion followed off the record.)

Senator THOMAS. On the record.

I will ask that this list of flood control projects furnished today, and to which I have referred, be placed in the record at this point. (The list referred to is as follows:)