less than 200 compliance checks were made in the highway field during calendar year 1968. The subcommittee report states: "In the last analysis, it is the caliber of action and not the quality of words which will have the greatest impact. The success of this program rests on the training programs which the Act requires and on the compliance reviews conducted by State Agencies and the Federal Highway Administration." I recommend this report to all Senators and Representatives in the Congress and to all who are interested in this important matter. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution, together with certain recommendations, be printed in the Record. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The resolution will be received and appropriately referred; and, without objection, the resolution and recommendations will be printed in the Record. The resolution (S. Res. 169), which reads as follows, was referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration: "S. RES. 169 "Resolved, That there be printed as a Senate document the report by the Subcommittee on Roads, Committee on Public Works, entitled "Equal Employment Opportunity with Regard to Federal-Aid Highway Projects", relating to the implementation of Section 22, Federal Aid Highway Act of 1968, and that there be printed two thousand additional copies of such document for the use of the Committee on Public Works." The recommendations, presented by Mr. RANDOLPH, are as follows: "RECOMMENDATIONS "1. The Federal Highway Administration, the Bureau of Public Roads, and the State highway departments as the supervising government agencies, have a leadership responsibility in carrying out positive equal employment opportunity programs; therefore, the employment practices of these agencies themselves should reflect the highest level of performance. Minorities should be employed in all categories and grade levels of agency activity for which they are qualified. In the event that few qualified applicants are available, these agencies must undertake training programs which will enable unemployed and underemployed people to participate in the overall program. The hiring of minorities in the administration of equal employment opportunity work alone is not sufficient. "2. In keeping with the partnership concept of the Federal-aid highway program, each State must develop a comprehensive program as required by P.L. 90-495 designed to secure effective equal employment opportunities activities by contractors bidding on Federal-aid highway work within the State. Such State programs shall be developed with the active participation of the Federal Highway Administration, contractors or organizations representing contractors, labor unions, and persons or organizations who are experienced in methods of expanding employment opportunity. Other State agencies which have expertise, knowledge, or experience in this area, should also be brought into the discussions so that they may contribute to achieving workable and realistic programs. In keeping with normal Federal-aid procedures, it will be incumbent upon the Federal Highway Administration to develop sufficiently definitive criteria to assist the States in meeting their responsibilities. In this regard, the general criteria established by interim order 7-2 would serve well as a start. "3. In order to demonstrate the importance attached to equal employment opportunity efforts and to facilitate their proper administration at the national level, the officer charged with carrying forward these responsibilities must be a direct assistant of the Federal Highway Administrator. He should also have experience to qualify him for his duties and his office should be so staffed that technical assistance can be rendered to the States. It will be necessary, in view of the limited numbers of people now in the field, to establish a training program for Federal employees, and this training program should be made available to States which wish to take advantage of the training being offered. A trained equal employment opportunity officer should be assigned to each division office so that daily contact may be maintained with counterpart officials in the State highway department. Such field people, together with regional Federal Highway Administration office employees charged with similar responsibilities, should participate in compliance reviews conducted by State highway departments and from time to time, as is normal with regard to other aspects of the highway program, conduct such reviews directly for the Federal Highway Administration. "4. A State should be enabled, if it desires, to require contractors to subscribe to a particular program as a means of prequalifying, if that is the procedure which the State wishes to adopt. Or a State may include in the advertised bids, specifications regarding equal employment actions which will be required on projects for which bids are being taken. A great deal of work is devoted in planning each highway segment and preparing the bid specifications for each job. The subcommittee believes that this process offers full opportunity to develop an equal employment opportunity program to be set forth in the bid specifications, including analysis of the local labor force, training needs, schools, and other sources of employees to be contacted, which media should be used, and other appropriate requirements. "5. The State's overall equal employment opportunity program should provide for adequate staffing and financing so that frequent compliance reviews can be made. Federal employees should periodically take part in such reviews in order to judge the effectiveness of the State procedures and the degree of contractor performance. Violations noted by Federal employees should be forwarded to the State highway department for action; and where violations are found, the State's enforcement effort must be sufficiently strict to insure their immediate correction. "6. While a number of witnesses requested that interim order 7-2 be stayed pending corrective action, the issuance on January 28, 1969, of sample affirmative action programs pursuant to a request by the committee chairman, clarified many questions. "As of February 17, 1969, 5,496 prequalification statements had been received by the States. Of these, 4,600 had been acted on by the States and 3,903 had received the approval of the division offices of the Bureau of Public Roads. "At the time of the hearings, 4,352 prequalification statements had been submitted by contractors. Of that total, 3,318 had been acted on by the States and 2,419 had been approved by division offices. The improvement of the review system and the increased contractor participation has corrected some of the shortcomings of the original procedures. "The subcommittee, therefore, urges that the program be carried forward vigorously and that administrative changes to conform to these recommendations be made as quickly as possible. "7. The subcommittee requests that the Federal Highway Administration submit a report prior to July 1, 1969, and annually thereafter, on the status of the equal employment opportunity program, its effectiveness, and progress made by the States and the Administration in carrying out section 22 of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1968. "Following receipt of the first of these reports, the Subcommittee will undertake an examination of the performance of the States and industry and others in achieving compliance with the goals of the Equal Employment Opportunity Program. Based on this review, the Subcommittee may make additional recommendations and suggestions for action." DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Washington, D.C., March 18, 1969. Secretary of Transportation John A. Volpe warned today "The full range of sanctions and penalties available to this Department and to the Executive Branch will be brought to bear against any discriminatory practices in Federal-aid highway work, no matter who is involved, be it a contractor, a subcontractor, a material supplier, a labor organization, or a State highway department." The Secretary said that he is concerned about the lack of meaningful Negro and other minority group representation in the Federal-aid highway construction industry. He expressed concern that new equal employment opportunity procedures announced yesterday for Federal-aid highway contractors were being considered by some as a lessening of his resolve and the resolve of the Nixon Administration to achieve equal opportunity in fact and to establish it as a way of life in the highway construction industry. He said: "there has been no relaxation in requirements. What we have done is eliminate the variables and the bulk of the administrative burdens and paper31-987-69-12 work involved in the earlier prequalification approach followed by the Federal Highway Administration. Paperwork and pious words do not achieve equal opportunity results, and results are what we are after," he emphasized. The Secretary stressed that the new procedures are in fact a major expansion of the Department's equal opportunity program. The earlier prequalification program applied only to contracts of $500,000 or more-or slightly less than one-third of all Federal-aid highway jobs. The new concept covers every contractor and subcontractor for work of $10,000 or more on Federal-aid highway projects, or well over 90 percent of all such work. Volpe said, also, that "enforcement of these new requirements will be a matter of the highest priority. The equal employment opportunity performance of contractors will be judged in great measure on the results achieved in providing increased employment, training, and upgrading opportunities for minority group persons." The Transportation Secretary said "the new requirements will be supplemented as necessary on an area basis to tie in with special Government-wide programs launched by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance or other authorities. Whenever equal opportunity problems are encountered in connection with particular kinds of projects or in particular geographical areas, they will be modified to require whatever specific affirmative actions are necessary to achieve tangible results." Volpe's enforcement authority and that of the Executive Branch grow out of a 1965 Executive Order prohibiting discrimination and out of the equal opportunity provisions of the 1968 Federal-Aid Highway Act. They include: (1) Publishing the names of contractors or unions which have failed to comply with the requirements; (2) Legal action initiated through the Department of Justice; (3) Proceedings under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; (4) Cancellation, termination or suspension of any contract; and (5) Termination or suspension of Federal-aid highway funds. The Secretary commented that this last step is perhaps his strongest weapon in overseeing the equal employment opportunity program in Federal-aid highway work. Volpe said, "Sadly we have a long way to go to make equal opportunity an established fact in our society. Why is the unemployment rate of nonwhites twice as high as that of whites? Why limit the source of workers because of race or religion, or national origin, or sex-especially when the cry is for more workers? But it does little good to criticize the past. The construction task ahead of us cannot be fulfilled if we don't break the barriers of discrimination and take affirmative action-take positive, productive action-to bring into the stream of employment those persons previously denied the opportunity." "It is distressing to me," he said, "that we find that on 53% of the highway construction projects reviewed during 1967 and 1968, on which there were journeymen or mechanics (skilled craftsmen) employed, there were no minority group persons working. That means there were no Negroes, Spanish-speaking Americans, American Indians or Orientals. On more than 60% of these projects, there were no Negro skilled craftsmen employed." He pointed out that "in this country, construction is an $86 billion industry, producing more than 10% of the Gross National Product and providing some three and one-half million jobs. One million of these are in highway and heavy construction." To maintain the pace the Nation demands of the construction industry, he estimated that "this work force must be expanded by perhaps as many as 500,000 new workers over the next ten years to meet the increased demands for skilled workers and to replace those workers who retire or leave the industry. Massive programs are needed to provide the training necessary to meet these demands,' Referring back to highway construction he said that "if each Federal-aid highway contractor takes on just one Negro trainee, we can in short order produce more than 10,000 new skilled craftsmen." He concluded by stating that "the name of the game is results and it is a game we intend to win. The Nation will accept no less." Senator KENNEDY. Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. Along the lines of an earlier question, actually the Executive order applies to all of these contracts, does it not? Secretary VOLPE. Yes, it does. Senator KENNEDY. So really when you try to suggest to us that you are broadening the terms of the scope of those contracts that would be covered, in fact the Executive order already applies to all of them? Secretary VOLPE. By Executive order, Mr. Chairman; yes, sir. Senator KENNEDY. That is right. Secretary VOLPE. But it did not spell out the specifics that we have now included and will include in every contract; that every contractor picks up the bidding specifications before he puts a bid in on that job, so he knows exactly what is going to be expected of him. Senator KENNEDY. I mean those questions about the new specifics of that program are still to be discussed, whether the kind of requirements and regulations that you have placed now are really stronger or weaker than the others were. Nonetheless, the Executive order applies to all, and when you suggest that your program broadens the coverage, you are forgetting the Executive order. Secretary VOLPE. Mr. Chairman, all I can say is that we were talking about the strength of the old order. The old order did say $500,000. This specifies all Federal aid contracts, so that I would say from that point of view, certainly we have strengthened the equal opportunity provisions. Senator KENNEDY. Now your Department has had hearings on the question of the two hearing procedures for development of highway construction. Secretary VOLPE. The dual hearings, so-called, Mr. Chairman? Secretary VOLPE. Yes. Senator KENNEDY. How many hearings were held on that? you Senator KENNEDY. No, how many hearings were held, do know? Secretary VOLPE. I do not know. Senator KENNEDY. Do your aides know how many hearings were held, and when you decided to consider a two-hearing approach on the question of the highway construction? Secretary VOLPE. There was one hearing held last fall, Mr. Chairman, by my predecessor. Senator KENNEDY. Was that a private, executive session? Secretary VOLPE. No. I believe that was a public hearing Mr. Chairman. Senator KENNEDY. That was a public hearing? Secretary VOLPE. Yes, it was. Senator KENNEDY. Is that the only hearing that was held? Secretary VOLPE. I believe so. Mr. Turner is here, and if you would like to question him about that, he was, of course, the Director of the Bureau of Public Roads at the time and I am sure could be moreSenator KENNEDY. Were there any public hearings held on this? Secretary VOLPE. On this change from 7-2 to 7-2(1) ? Senator KENNEDY. That is right. Secretary VOLPE. No, there were not. Senator KENNEDY. There were not any? Secretary VOLPE. No, because we did not change the basic requirements. What we were changing was procedures. Senator KENNEDY. This is what I Secretary VOLPE. And increasing the coverage. Senator KENNEDY. Well, was it published in the Federal Register? Has it been published in the Federal Register as yet? Secretary VOLPE. It has not as yet been published. Senator KENNEDY. It has not been published in the Federal Register as yet? Secretary VOLPE. No. It is not required, Mr. Chairman. Senator KENNEDY. Do you think that this whole procedure is so incidental that it should not have been open for public discussion? Did you consider having an open hearing? Secretary VOLPE. I did not because of the time element involved, Mr. Chairman, in getting these contracts going more quickly than they were going. They were being held up for a variety of reasons. Senator KENNEDY. In spite of the fact that 4,000 contractors had qualified? Secretary VOLPE. Yes. They were still being held up. The 4,000 was a spotty representation-it could be that you had in some States a substantial number of contractors prequalified, and in other States you did not have any. Senator KENNEDY. But I mean it is my understanding just from thẹ information of staff that there were sufficient contractors in the several States to provide adequate competitive bidding. Do you dispute that? We have got that information. Secretary VOLPE. I do not dispute that statement. Senator KENNEDY. So really what you did, is you had enough qualified contractors under the old system to do the job. You changed these procedures. You had no public hearing. And no invitation to civil rights leaders to consult in the drafting of these new regulations, and you still have not published it in the Federal Register, because you think it is of such incidental importance that that is not necessary. Secretary VOLPE. Mr. Chairman, I am sorry that you used those terms that I feel it is insignificant, because I think you know that I do not think that anything having to do with equal opportunity is insignificant. To my mind it is a very very significant matter, and one in which I am very very much interested and have been interested for many many years going back to my early days as a commissioner of public works in Massachusetts in 1953. So that I do consider them significant. The fact is that hearings were held on this, and we have the availability of all those hearings and the information at those hearings last January, and we have the information of the hearings that were conducted by the Subcommittees on Roads of both House and Senate. Senator KENNEDY. Were there any private groups that you consulted on the drafting of these new regulations? Secretary VOLPE. Yes. Senator KENNEDY. Included in these groups were there any contractors? Secretary VOLPE. Yes; we consulted with the American Association of State Highway Officials who happened to meet here in Washington late in January. We consulted with the Associationed General Contractors of American, with the American Road Builders Association, and you might ask me why we consulted with contractors. Unless we get the cooperation of the contractors |