PURCHASE OF AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES FOR DONATION TO FSCC (Public Law 440, 74th Cong., Feb. 11, 1936, 49 Stat. 1117) The Comptroller General of the United States did not at first view the purchase of commodities for distribution to relief families as a proper use of section 32 funds, and, accordingly, this supplemental legislation was sought and granted. "During the fiscal years 1936 and 1937, in carrying out clause (2) of said section 32, the Secretary of Agriculture may, if he finds that the purposes of said section will be accomplished thereby, purchase without regard to section 3709, Revised Statutes, agricultural commodities and products thereof, including purchases for donation to the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation." SECTION 32 FUNDS AVAILABLE FOR COTTON PRICE ADJUSTMENT PAYMENT PLAN, 1935 (Public Law 440, 74th Cong., Feb. 11, 1936, 49 Stat. 1117) A portion of the section 32 funds appropriated for the fiscal year 1936 was used to finance the cotton price adjustment program of 1935. "The 1935 cotton price adjustment payment plan: So much as may be necessary of the amount appropriated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1936, by section 32 of the Act approved August 24, 1935 (49 Stat. 774), is hereby made available, to remain available until expended, to enable the Secretary of Agriculture to make the payments provided for in the 1935 cotton price adjustment payment plan (set forth in the printed forms issued by the Secretary of Agriculture, designated forms numbered C.A.P. 1 to 5 and forms supplementary thereto) to the persons and in the amounts and in the manner prescribed in said plan, except that the provisions of said plan which condition the making of payments upon the producer undertaking to cooperate in the 1936 cotton adjustment program formulated under the Agricultural Adjustment Act shall be of no force and effect, and to pay the necessary administrative expenses incurred and to be incurred in connection with the making and auditing of the payments hereby authorized by the Department of Agriculture, the Treasury Department, and the General Accounting Office, including the employment of persons and means in the city of Washington and elsewhere, in accordance with said plan: Provided, That applications for and the payments thereon are hereby authorized and such forms may be employed without alteration and payments made without regard to any references to any undertaking to comply with the 1936 cotton adjustment program formulated under the Agricultural Adjustment Act, as amended: Provided further, That payments payable hereunder to cotton producers who in 1935 operated on a farm which was not in 1935 covered by a 1934 and 1935 cotton acreage reduction contract or which in 1935 was covered by such a contract which was not complied within in 1935 shall be made as soon as may be without delaying payments to producers who in 1935 operated on a farm covered by such a contract which was complied with in 1935." SECTION 32 ADMINISTRATIVE FUNDS, FISCAL YEAR 1936 (Public Law 440, 74th Cong., Feb. 11, 1936, 49 Stat. 1118) In the absence of substantive legislation making section 32 funds available for carrying its own administrative expenses, Congress made provision for this expense through various appropriation acts. "Administrative expenses, exportation and domestic consumption of agricultural commodities: Not to exceed $300,000 of the appropriation made available for the fiscal year 1936 in section 32 of the Act entitled "An Act to amend the Agricultural Adjustment Act, and for other purposes," approved August 24, 1935, is hereby made available for administrative expenses, including the employement of persons and means in the city of Washington and elsewhere, other than administrative expenses in connection with the 1935 cotton price adjustment payment plan. SECTION 32, ADDITIONAL AUTHORITIES FOR THE SECRETARY (Public Law 461, 74th Cong., Feb. 29, 1936, 49 Stat. 1151) The Comptroller General took issue with the Department in several of the initial programs as to what constituted a diversion from the normal channels of trade and commerce. This conflict was clarified when the Congress provided the Secretary of Agriculture with the authority to determine finality concerning such matters. "Sec. 2. Section 32 of the Act to amend the Agricultural Adjustment Act, and for other purposes, approved August 24, 1935, is amended by striking out clause (3) and inserting in lieu thereof, (3) reestablish farmers' purchasing power by making payments in connection with the normal production of any agricultural commodity for domestic consumption. Determinations by the Secretary as to what constitutes diversion and what constitutes normal channels of trade and commerce and what constitutes normal production for domestic consumption shall be final. The sums appropriated under this section shall be expended for such one or more for the above-specified purposes, and at such times, in such manner, and in such amounts as the Secretary of Agriculture finds will effectuate substantial accomplishment of any one or more of the purposes of this section." SECTION 32, TRANSFER TO TREASURY OF 1936 UNOBLIGATED (Public Law 740, 74th Cong., June 22, 1936, 49 Stat. 1755) "Funds made available to the Secretary of Agriculture by the appropriation for the fiscal year 1936 in section 32 of Public Law Numbered 320, 74th Congress, approved August 24, 1935, to the extent of the unobligated balance thereof; and by the appropriation in section 12(a) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, in an amount not in excess of $15,000,000; shall be available until June 30, 1937, for transfer to the Treasury Department for salaries and administrative expenses in carrying out the provisions of this title and of title IV, including necessary investigative work, and for refunds and payments under title IV. Such funds shall be available for expenditure by the Secretary of the Treasury for personal services and rent in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, for lawbooks, books of reference, press releases, trade journals, periodicals, and newspapers, for contracting reporting services, printing and paper in addition to allotments under the existing law, travel expenses, for mileage and per diem of witnesses, in lieu of payment of which mileage and per diem may be made in advance upon certification of such officer as the Commissioner or the Secretary may designate, and such certification shall be conclusive. In addition to the foregoing, the administrative expenses provided for in this section shall include such miscellaneous expenses as may be authorized or approved by the Commissioner or the Secretary for carrying out the provisions of this title, including witness fees and mileage for experts, notarial fees, or like services, and stenographic work for taking depositions." DONATION OF SECTION 32 COMMODITIES TO FSCC (Public Law 165, 75th Cong., June 28, 1937, 50 Stat. 323 as amended July 2, 1958, 72 Stat. 287) This law continued the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation as an agency of the Government, authorized its use in carrying out the purposes of clause (2) of section 32 (primarily for relief purposes). "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in carrying out the provisions of clause (2) of section 32 of the act approved August 24, 1935 (49 Stat. 774), as amended, the Secretary of Agriculture may transfer to the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation, which corporation is hereby continued, until June 30, 1939, as an agency of the United States under the direction of the Secretary of Agriculture, such funds, appropriated by said section 32, as may be necessary for the purpose of effectuating said clause (2) of section 32: Provided, That such transferred funds, together with other funds of the corporation, may be used for purchasing, exchanging, processing, distributing, disposing, transport ing, storing, and handling of agricultural commodities and products thereof and inspection costs, commissions, and other incidental costs and expenses, without regard to the provisions of existing law governing the expenditure of public funds and for administrative expenses, including rent, printing and binding, and the employment of persons and means, in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, such employment of persons to be in accordance with the provisions of law applicable to the employment of persons by the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. "In carrying out clause (2) of section 32, the funds appropriated by said section may be used for the purchase, without regard to the provisions of existing law covering the expenditure of public funds, of agricultural commodities and products thereof, and such commodities, as well as agricultural commodities and products thereof purchased under the preceding paragraph hereof, may be donated for relief purposes, and for use in the nonprofit summer camps for children." TRANSFER OF SECTION 32 FUNDS TO CONSERVATION AND USE (Public Law 173, 75th Cong., June 29, 1937, 50 Stat. 430) On occasions (Agriculture Appropriation Act, fiscal year 1938 and 1947) when a surplus of section 32 funds have existed Congress has made a portion of such funds available for agricultural conservation payments. "To enable the Secretary of Agriculture to carry into effect the provisions of sections 7 to 17, inclusive, of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, approved February 29, 1936 (U.S.C., supp. II, title 16, secs. 590g-590q), including the employment of personal services and rent in the District of Columbia and elsewhere; printing and binding; purchase of law books, books of reference, periodicals, and newspapers; and other necessary expenses, $340,000,000, together with not to exceed $10,000,000 of the funds made available for the fiscal years 1937 and 1938 by Section 32 of the Act entitled "An Act to amend the Agricultural Adjustment Act, and for other purposes," approved August 24, 1935 (U.S.C., supp. II, title 7, sec. 612): * * *" SECTION 32 ADMINISTRATIVE FUNDS, FISCAL YEAR 19381 (Public Law 173, 75th Cong., June 29, 1937, 50 Stat. 430) "Provided further, That the funds provided by section 32 of the Act entitled 'An Act to amend the Agricultural Adjustment Act, and for other purposes,' approved August 24, 1935 (U.S.C., supp. II, title 7 sec., 612c), shall be available during the fiscal year 1938 for administrative expenses in such sums as the President may direct in carrying out the provisions of said section, including the employment of persons and means in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, in accordance with the provisions of law applicable to the employment of persons and means by Agricultural Adjustment Administration." SECTION 32 FUNDS AVAILABLE FOR PRICE ADJUSTMENT PAYMENT TO COTTON PRODUCERS (Public Law 354, 75th Cong., Aug. 25, 1937, 50 Stat. 762) A large part of the funds appropriated for both the fiscal years 1936 and 1937 was used to finance the 1937 cotton adjustment program. Specific legislative directions to carry out these cotton price adjustment programs may have stemmed in part from the fact that section 32 as originally enacted prohibited the use of funds in connection with exportation of unmanufactured cotton. "Notwithstanding any other provisions of section 32 of Public Law Numbered 320, Seventy-fourth Congress, as amended, not to exceed $65,000,000 of the funds available under said section 32 in each of the fiscal years 1938 and 1939 shall be available (at such times and in such amounts as the Secretary of Agriculture may determine) until expended for a price-adjustment payment, upon such terms and conditions as the Secretary of Agriculture may determine, with respect to the 1937 cotton crop to cotton producers who have complied with the 1 Since no legislation provided for sec. 32 administrative funds, fiscal year 1937, these expenses were paid from the $100,000,000 appropriation provided in sec. 12(a) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act. provisions of the 1938 agricultural adjustment program formulated under the legislation contemplated by Senate Joint Resolution Numbered 207, Seventyfifth Congress. Such payments to any producer shall be at a rate per pound equal to the difference between 12 cents per pound and the average price of seven-eighths Middling cotton on the ten designated spot cotton markets on the dates of sale of such cotton, but in no case shall exceed 3 cents per pound. The basis for any such payment, or the amount thereof, when officially determined in conformity with rules prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture shall be reviewable only by the Secretary of Agriculture." SECTION 32-25 PERCENT LIMITATION ON ANY ONE COMMODITY (Public Law 430, 75th Cong., Feb. 16, 1938, 52 Stat. 38) This legislation deleted the proviso in section 32 prohibiting export payment with respect to unmanufactured cotton and inserted in lieu thereof a provision that not in excess of 25 percent of the funds available during any fiscal year could be spent with respect to any one agricultural commodity or product thereof. Following this change in authority, emphasis was placed upon the development of export subsidy programs in an effort, in an increasingly difficult world situation of nationalistic feeling and threat of war, to maintain our fair share of the world market, particularly with respect to wheat and cotton. "SEC. 203. Section 32, as amended, of the Act entitled 'An Act to amend the Agricultural Adjustment Act, and for other purposes,' approved August 24, 1935, is amended by striking out: 'Provided further, That no part of the funds appropriated by this section shall be used for the payment of benefits in connection with the exportation of unmanufactured cotton' and is further amended by adding at the end thereof the following: 'Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, the amount that may be devoted, during any fiscal year after June 30, 1939, to any one agricultural commodity or the products thereof in such fiscal year, shall not exceed 25 per centum of the funds available under this section for such fiscal year'." FSCC EXTENDED UNTIL JUNE 30, 1942 (Public Law 430, 75th Cong., Feb. 16, 1938, 52 Stat. 38) "SEC. 204. An Act entitled 'An Act to extend the time for purchase and distribution of surplus agricultural commodities for relief purposes and to continue the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation,' approved June 28, 1937 (Public Law Numbered 165, Seventy-fifth Congress), is amended by striking out 'continued, until June 30, 1939,' and inserting in lieu thereof 'continued, until June 30, 1942.' The Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation shall submit to Congress on the first day of each regular session an annual report setting forth a statement of the activities, receipts, and expenditures of the Corporation during the previous fiscal year." SECTION 32 ADMINISTRATIVE FUNDS (Public Law 430, 75th Cong., Feb. 16, 1938, 52 Stat. 69) This is the first authority to establish a percentage limitation on total funds available as the maximum which may be used for administrative expenses. It provides a limitation of 1 percent of funds available for expenses in the District of Columbia, and of 2 percent for field expenses. "SEC. 392. (b) In the administration of this title, sections 7 to 17, inclusive, of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, as amended, and section 32, as amended, of the Act, entitled "An Act to amend the Argicultural Adjustment Act, and for other purposes," approved August 24, 1935, the aggregate amount expanded in any fiscal year, beginning with the fiscal year ending June 30, 1939, for administrative expenses in the District of Columbia, including regional offices, shall not exceed 1 per centum of the total amount available for such fiscal year for carrying out such Acts, and the aggregate amount expended in any fiscal year for administrative expenses in the several States (not including the expenses of county and local committees) shall not exceed 2 per centum of the total amount available for such fiscal year for carrying out such Acts". SECTION 32 ADMINISTRATIVE FUNDS, FISCAL YEAR 1939 (Public Law 644, 75th Cong. June 16, 1938, 52 Stat. 744) "Provided further, That the funds provided by section 32 of the Act entitled 'An Act to amend the Agricultural Adjustment Act, and for other purposes', approved August 24, 1935 (7 U.S.C. 612c), shall be available during the fiscal year 1939 for administrative expenses, in accordance with the provisions of section 392 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, in carrying out the provisions of said section, including the employment of persons and means in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, in accordance with the provisions of law applicable to the employment of persons and means by Agricultural Adjustment Administration". DISPOSAL OF SURPLUS COMMODITIES, FISCAL YEAR 1940 (Public Law 159, 76th Cong. June 30, 1939, 53 Stat. 975) The Agricultural Appropriation Act, fiscal year 1940, appropriated funds for the disposal of surplus commodities in addition to regular section 32 funds for this purpose and incorporated in the basic section 32 language authority to donate commodities among persons in low income groups. "To enable the Secretary of Agriculture to further carry out the provisions of section 32, as amended, of the Act entitled 'An Act to amend the Agricultural Adjustment Act, and for other purposes', approved August 24, 1935, and subject to all provisions of law relating to the expenditure of funds appropriated by such section, $113,000,000. Such sum shall be immediately available and shall be in addition to, and not in substitution for, other appropriations made by such section or for the purpose of such section: Provided, That not in excess of 25 per centum of the funds herein made available may be devoted to any one agricultural commodity: Provided further, That of that part of the funds appropriated in this paragraph which may be allocated for expenditure in connection with cotton not less than 50 per centum shall be allocated for use in carrying out clause (3) of such section, or in carrying out clause (2) of such section, which clause (2) is hereby amended by inserting before the semicolon after 'commerce' the following: 'or by increasing their utilization through benefits, indemnities, donations or by other means, among persons in low income groups as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture'." SECTION 32 ADMINISTRATIVE FUNDS, FISCAL YEAR 1940 (Public Law 159, 76th Cong., June 30, 1939, 53 Stat. 974) "And provided further, That the funds provided by section 32 of the Act entitled 'An Act to amend the Agricultural Adjustment Act and for other purposes', approved August 24, 1935 (7 U.S.C. 612c), shall be available during the fiscal year 1940 for administrative expenses, in accordance with the provisions of section 392 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, in carrying out the provisions of said section 32, including the employment of persons and means in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, in accordance with the provisions of law applicable to the employment of persons and means by the Agricultural Adjustment Administration." PURCHASE AND DISTRIBUTION OF SURPLUS FISHERY PRODUCTS AND PROMOTE MARKETS FOR FISHERY PRODUCTS (Public Law 393, 76th Cong., Aug. 11, 1939, 53 Stat. 1411, 1412) This law authorizes an annual transfer of section 32 funds to the Interior Department for the purpose of conducting a fishery educational service and developing markets for fishery products. In previous years special legislation was passed appropriating funds from the Treasury to enable the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation to divert fish and fish products from the normal channels of trade by acquiring them and providing for their distribution through Federal, State, and private relief agencies. (When FSCC authority expired in 1945 it did not terminate the authority for the Department of Agriculture to transfer section 32 funds to the Interior Department for purposes provided in this act, nor did it terminate the authority for the Department of Agriculture to |