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76TH CONGRESS 3d Session

SENATE

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REPORT No. 1754

EMERGENCY RELIEF APPROPRIATION ACT, FISCAL YEAR 1941

JUNE 5 (legislative day, MAY 28), 1940.-Ordered to be printed

Mr. ADAMS, from the Committee on Appropriations, submitted the

following

REPORT

[To accompany H. J. Res. 544]

The Committee on Appropriations, to whom was referred the joint resolution (H. J. Res. 544) entitled "Joint resolution making appropriations for work relief and relief for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1941" report the same to the Senate with various amendments and present herewith information relative to the changes made. Amount of resolution as passed the House... Amount of resolution as reported to Senate..

Reduction under House resolution (net)_____

$1, 111, 754, 916

1,073, 584, 916

38, 170, 000

The changes in the amounts of the House resolution are as follows:

INCREASES

Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration...

Office of Government Reports..

Total increase..

DECREASES

$1,500, 000 330,000

1,830, 000

Department of Agriculture:

Farm Security Administration__.

Net decrease..

Amount of bill as reported to the Senate_

40, 000, 000

38, 170, 000 1,073, 584, 916

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Comparative statement showing the appropriations for work relief and relief for the fiscal year 1940, the Budget estimates for the fiscal year 1941, and the amounts recommended for 1941 in H. J. Res. 544 as reported to the Senate

Work Projects Administration_

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1 Plus unexpended balances from previous years.

2 Subject to apportionment and expenditure in 8 months if the President so determines.

3 Subject to apportionment and expenditure in a lesser period of the fiscal year than 12 months if the W. P. A. appropriation is apportioned on an 8-month basis.

4 $3,100,000 made available from existing funds on the same basis as in footnote 3.

In S. Doc. 199, it was recommended that the direct appropriation of $115,000,000 approved by the House be reduced to $59,000,000,
and that in addition authority be granted to borrow not to exceed in the aggregate $125,000,000 from the Reconstruction Finance Cor-
poration for the purpose of making rural rehabilitation loans.

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Section 1 (a): It is recommended by the committee that the following restriction on employment contained in section 1 (a) be stricken from the joint resolution:

and in such case shall be so administered that the average monthly employment of relief workers paid from such funds will not exceed the number set forth in the following schedule for the months therein specified:

July 1940, 1,700,000;
August 1940, 1,700,000;
September 1940, 1,700,000;
October 1940, 1,800,000;
November 1940, 2,000,000.

It was represened to the committee that it is impossible to predict the exact conditions that will prevail over any considerable period of time and that the limits referred to above might make it impossible to meet an emergency arising during the period stated.

TYPES OF PROJECTS

Section 1 (b): It is recommended by the committee that relief funds shall be available for projects for training in manual occupations in industries engaged in production for national-defense purposes.

EXPENDITURES FOR OTHER THAN LABOR COSTS

Section 1 (c): It is recommended by the committee that the following proviso be added to the resolution:

: Provided, That not to exceed $25,000,000 of funds herein appropriated to the Work Projects Administration may be used by the Commissioner to supplement the amounts so authorized for other than labor costs in any State, Territory, possession, or the District of Columbia in connection with the prosecution of projects which have been certified by the Secretary of War or by the Secretary of the Navy as being important to the national defense.

This proviso will enable public agencies situated in strategic areas to sponsor projects which are necessary for national defense. Because of limited funds available for such purposes, it has been found that many sponsors are financially unable to assume the necessary nonlabor costs in excess of the $6 per man-month, for the construction of airports and other undertakings of military importance.

SPONSOR'S CONTRIBUTIONS

Section 1 (d): It is recommended by the committee that the following proviso be added to the resolution:

: Provided, That provisions of this subsection shall not apply to projects which have been certified by the Secretary of War or by the Secretary of the Navy as being important to the national defense and in addition shall not apply to projects which authorize necessary temporary measures to avert danger to life, property, or health in the event of disaster or grave emergency caused by flood, storm, fire, earthquake, drought, or similar cause.

The effect of this proviso is to exempt such projects from the 25percent sponsor's contribution requirements.

ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES

Section 1 (g): The committee recommend that the amount available for administrative expenses be increased from $39,348,000 to $43,720,000 and have increased the limitations on salaries, communication service, travel, and printing and binding proportionately. The committee call attention to the fact that in the fiscal year 1939 the average number of administrative employees was slightly in excess of 36,000. This average was reduced during the current fiscal year to approximately 27,000, and it is contemplated that with the funds recommended approximately 22,000 will be employed if the amount is spent in 12 months and 24,750 if the total appropriation is spent in 8 months.

FARM SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

Section 2 (a): It is recommended by the committee that the amount available for expenditure by the Farm Security Administration be reduced from $115,000,000 to $75,000,000. This reduction is made possible by the addition of the following subsection which permits the Secretary of Agriculture to borrow from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation not to exceed in the aggregate $125,000,000 upon the security of obligations acceptable to the Corporation heretofore or hereafter acquired by the Secretary pursuant to law for the purpose of making rural rehabilitation loans:

(c) In order to furnish the Secretary of Agriculture with additional funds for the purpose of making rural rehabilitation loans, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation is authorized and directed until June 30, 1941, to make advances not in excess of an aggregate amount of $125,000,000, to the Secretary of Agriculture upon his request, such advances to be made: (a) with interest at a rate of 3 per centum per annum payable semiannually; (b) upon the security of obligations acceptable to the Corporation heretofore or hereafter acquired by the Secretary pursuant to law; (c) in amounts which shall not exceed 75 per centum of the then unpaid principal amount of the obligations offered as security therefor; and (d) upon such other terms and conditions and with such maturities, notwithstanding any other provision of law, as may be satisfactory to the Corporation; and the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to comply herewith and to make repayments by paying to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, currently as received by him, all moneys collected as payments of principal and interest on the loans made. from funds so borrowed or upon any obligations held by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation as security for such loans. The amount of notes, debentures, bonds, or other such obligations which the Corporation is authorized and empowered to issue and to have outstanding at any one time under existing law is hereby increased by an amount sufficient to carry out the provisions of this section.

Section 2 (e): It is recommended by the committee that section 2 (d) (now sec. 2 (e)) which provides that proceeds of loans made by the Farm Security Administration shall be impressed with a trust for the purpose of the loan and shall be exempt from legal process be amended so as to provide a penalty for the violation of said subsection. To accomplish this the committee have added the following penalty clause:

It shall be unlawful for any borrower to use the proceeds of any loan made to him for any purpose other than those stated in his loan application, except with the written permission of the Secretary of Agriculture or his duly authorized representative. Any person who willfully violates any of the provisions of this section shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000, or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or both.

Section 2 (f): The committee recommends that section 2 (e) (now sec. 2 (f)) which provides that no loan shall be made under this section to any person to enable him to subscribe or pay for stock or membership in any cooperative association be expanded to include grants as well as loans.

PUERTO RICO RECONSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATION

Section 3 (a): It is recommended by the committee that the amount for the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration be increased from $3,500,000 to $5,000,000 and that funds available to the Administration may be used for rural rehabilitation for needy persons.

Section 3 (c): It is recommended by the committee that the following new subsection be added to the bill:

(c) That section 5 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following:

"(e) No industry committee appointed under subsection (a) of this section shall have any power to recommend the minimum rate or rates of wages to be paid under section 6 to any employees in Puerto Rico or in the Virgin Islands. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the Administrator may appoint a special industry committee to recommend the minimum rate or rates of wages to be paid under section 6 to all employees in Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands, or in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, or the Administrator may appoint separate industry committees to recommend the minimum rate or rates of wages to be paid under section 6 to employees therein engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce in particular industries. An industry committee appointed under this subsection shall be composed of residents of such island or islands where the employees with respect to whom such committee was appointed are employed and residents of the United States outside of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. In determining the minimum rate or rates of wages to be paid, and in determining classifications, such industry committees and the Administrator shall be subject to the provisions of section 8 and no such committee shall recommend, nor shall the Administrator approve, a minimum wage rate which will give any industry in Puerto Rico or in the Virgin Islands a competitive advantage over any industry in the United States outside of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands." (d) No wage orders issued by the Administrator pursuant to the recommendations of an industry committee made prior to the enactment of this joint resolution pursuant to section 8 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 shall after such enactment be applicable with respect to any employees engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce in Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.

(e) Section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following:

"(c) The provisions of paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of subsection (a) of this section shall be superseded in the case of any employee in Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce only for so long as and insofar as such employee is covered by a wage order issued by the Administrator pursuant to the recommendations of a special industry committee appointed pursuant to section 5 (e).”

(f) Section 6 (a) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following:

"(5) if such employee is a home worker in Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands, not less than the minimum piece rate prescribed by regulation or order; or, if no such minimum piece rate is in effect, any piece rate adopted by such employer which shall yield, to the proportion or class of employees prescribed by regulation or order, not less than the applicable minimum hourly wage rate. Such minimum piece rates or employer piece rates shall be commensurate with, and shall be paid in lieu of, the minimum hourly wage rate applicable under the provisions of this section. The Administrator, or his authorized representative, shall have power to make such regulations or orders as are necessary or appropriate to carry out any of the provisions of this paragraph, including the power without limiting the generality of the foregoing, to define any operation or occupation which is performed by such home work employees in Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands; to establish minimum piece rates for any operation or occupation so defined; to prescribe the method and procedure for ascertaining and promulgating minimum piece rates; to prescribe standards for employer piece rates, including the proportion or class of employees who shall receive not less than the minimum hourly wage rate; to define the term 'home worker'; and to prescribe the conditions under which employers, agents, contractors, and subcontractors shall cause goods to be produced by home workers."

The proposed amendment provides that in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands there be organized wage-and-hour committees which will be authorized to recommend minimum wages for the different S. Repts., 76-3, vol. 8- -34

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