tion 18 (e) of the Surplus Property Act, as amended. In the consideration of this legislation, the committee is of the opinion that the objection was not to the priority granted small business but it appeared desirable to relieve the Reconstruction Finance Corporation of its responsibility to administer same. A proviso in the bill requires the War Assets Administrator to reestablish this priority so that it follows States and local governments insofar as both real and personal property are concerned. It is to be noted that with respect to real property the priority of small business follows that of former owners. A proviso has also been added which would authorize the Administrator of War Assets Administration to eliminate priorities and preferences on personal property when the cost to Government is excessive as related to estimated benefit to priority and preference claimants. Much discussion has been had relative to the advisability of the elimination of priorities and preferences for personal property. Testimony has been given as to the substantial money savings which the Government might derive from a surplus-property operation free and clear of priorities for personal property and also as to the increasingly diminishing value of these priorities to the beneficiaries thereof, especially as related to the expense which their existence causes the Government. It is the opinion of the committee that those priorities and preferences should not be entirely eliminated at this time. There may remain some advantage to the beneficiaries of them from the war surplus still undisposed of, especially if suitably extended. The committee believes that the same monetary advantage may well be accomplished through retention of those priorities provided the Administrator of War Assets Administration is given authority to eliminate them when the economies of a given situation demand it. The com mittee further believes that if the Administrator of War Assets Administration is given discretion in suitable cases to make disposals of surplus personal property, without regard to priorities, as provided in the recommended language, the most damaging cost aspects of the priority system can be alleviated without material damage to the interests of priority claimants. INCREASES AND LIMITATIONS The changes in the amounts of the House bill recommended by the committee are as follows: Atomic Energy Commission.. The committee recommends an increase of $20,000,000, to provide a total of $521,850,000 for the expenses of the Commission, which is a reduction of $28,150,000 below the estimate of $550,000,000. The committee also recommends the addition of the following limitations on expenses: For the purchase of newspapers and periodicals: For travel expenses: (not to exceed $1,842,000) $20, 000, 000 INCREASES AND LIMITATIONS-continued Housing Expediter: The committee recommends that the following proviso : And provided further, That as to cases involving the United States Maritime Commission: Salaries and expenses-- The committee recommends an increase of $1,000,- New ship construction, reconditioning, and bet- The committee recommends that the following : Provided further, That the Commission may ex- Veterans' Administration: Readjustment benefits: The committee recommends that the following For the purpose of this proviso, training for the For the purpose of this proviso, education or Veterans' miscellaneous benefits: The committee recommends the addition of the and payments authorized by part IX in order to $1,000,000 INCREASES AND LIMITATIONS continued War Assets Administration (surplus property disposal)____ The committee recommends the restoration of the War Assets Administration in place of the House provision for distributing the surplus property disposal functions among several Government agencies. In restoring the Administration, the committee recommends an increase of $40,000,000 to provide a total of $90,000,000, which is $16,912,000 under the revised estimate of $106,912,000. The committee recommends that the following section be stricken from the bill: SURPLUS PROPERTY DISPOSAL Effective August 31, 1948, the War Assets Administration shall cease to exist as an agency of the Government and its affairs, functions, and responsibilities shall thereafter be disposed of and liquidated in accordance with the following: (1) All right, title, and interest in surplus real property and all right, title, and interest in notes, mortgages, and contracts of sale or lease in connection with surplus real property shall be transferred to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to be held and disposed of by such Corporation in accordance, except as provided herein, with the terms of the Surplus Property Act of 1944, as amended; (2) All aircraft and aircraft parts shall be transferred to the Department of the Air Force to be held and disposed of by such Department in accordance, except as provided herein, with the terms of the Surplus Property Act of 1944, as amended; (3) All personal property (other than aircraft and aircraft parts), except such as may be necessary to the liquidation of the War Assets Administration or the exercise of the functions transferred herein, shall be transferred to the Bureau of Federal Supply, Treasury Department, to be held and disposed of by such Bureau in accordance, except as provided herein, with the terms of the Surplus Property Act of 1944, as amended; (4) Except as necessary to the administration of the functions herein transferred to the Department of the Air Force, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, and the Bureau of Federal Supply, all administrative property, records, and accounts of the War Assets Administration shall be transferred to the Treasury Department for liquidation of the affairs of the War Assets Administration; (5) Such administrative property, records, and personnel of the War Assets Administration as determined by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget to be necessary to the administration of any of the functions herein transferred shall be transferred to the agency to which such function is transferred: Provided, That the right to retention in employment by the Government of the personnel so transferred shall be neither greater nor less than such right would have been had the War Assets Administration continued as an independent agency of the Government; (6) The provisions of section 9 of the Reorganization Act of 1945 (Public Law 263, Seventy-ninth Congress) shall apply to the transfers effected by this paragraph in like manner as if such transfer were a $40, 000, 000 INCREASES AND LIMITATIONS-continued War Assets Administration-Continued reorganization of the agencies and functions concerned under the provisions of that Act; (7) Priorities and preferences provided for in the Surplus Property Act of 1944, as amended, shall not continue beyond August 31, 1948, as to the disposal of personal property but shall continue as to the disposal of real estate; (8) The agencies herein authorized to dispose of surplus personal property may, after August 31, 1948, transfer any of such property without charge to any other agency of the Government if such property, by such transfer, can be put to public use by the transferee agency; (9) The agencies herein authorized to dispose of surplus property shall proceed with due diligence and use all reasonable means within the purview of this Act and the Surplus Property Act of 1944, as amended, to accomplish such purpose at the earliest practicable date and shall report to the Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and the House of Representatives at the end of each month as to progress made; (10) The Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of the Air Force, or the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation may authorize the abandonment, destruction, or donation to public bodies of personal property herein transferred to their respective agencies which has no commercial value or the estimated cost of care and handling of which would exceed the estimated proceeds from its sale: (11) The Surplus Property Act of 1944, as amended, shall not apply to property of the Government which has not been declared surplus under the terms of such Act as of the date of enactment hereof and any such property determinted to be surplus shall be disposed of in accordance with the terms of other existing law. For administrative expenses in connection with the functions herein authorized to be administered by the War Assets Administration, the Treasury Department, the Department of the Air Force and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, to be available for the same purposes as the appropriation for salaries and expenses, War Assets Administration, fiscal year 1948, and whenever in such appropriation the title "War Assets Administrator" appears it shall be construed to include his successor as to any of the functions herein transferred, $50,000,000, from the special fund account in the Treasury as provided for in the First Deficiency Appropriation Act, 1946, to be allocated as the Director of the Bureau of the Budget may determine: Provided, That the sum herein provided may be obligated during the period ending August 31, 1948, with respect to the War Assets Administration, and during the period ending March 31, 1949, with respect to the other agencies involved. and that the following section be inserted in lieu thereof: SALARIES AND EXPENSES, WAR ASSETS ADMINISTRATION, Salaries and expenses: There is hereby appropriated from the special fund account in the Treasury as provided for in the First Deficiency Appropriation Act, 1946, not INCREASES AND LIMITATIONS-continued War Assets Administration-Continued to exceed $90,000,000 for the fiscal year 1949 for necessary expenses of the War Assets Administration established by Reorganization Plan Numbered 1 of 1947; for allocation or reimbursement by the War Assets Administrator to Government agencies designated by the Administrator as disposal agencies by or pursuant to law, and for payment to Government agencies designated by the Administrator for rendering special services in connec tion with the disposal of surplus property, in such amounts as shall be approved by the Bureau of the Budget; and for allocation or reimbursement to owning agencies for the care and handling (including pay and allowances and subsistence of military and naval personnel) of surplus property subsequent to the filing of a declaration of surplus covering such property with a disposal agency designated by the Administrator, or, if the Administrator prescribes procedures whereby declaralions of surplus are made at approximately the time of disposal or removal, subsequent to notice by the owning agency to the disposal agency that property has been determined to be surplus and is subject to such procedures, such funds to be available for personal services in the District of Columbia; fees and mileage of witnesses at rates provided by law for witnesses attending in the United States courts (28 U. S. C. 600c); payment of claims pursuant to section 403 of the Federal Tort Claims Act (28 U. S. C. 921); services as authorized by section 15 of the Act of August 2, 1946 (5 U. S. C. 55a), and other special services and reports by contract without regard to section 3709 of the Revised Statutes, as amended, including real estate brokers and appraisers al rates of pay or fees not to exceed those usual for similar services; health service program as authorized by law (5 U. S. C. 150), (not to exceed $73,000); acceptance and utilization of voluntary and uncompensated services; printing and binding; expenses of attendance at meetings of organizations concerned with the work of the Adminis tration; procurement of supplies, equipment, reports, and services in connection with the care, handling, and disposition of surplus property without regard to the provisions of section 3709 of the Revised Statutes, as amended, upon determination by the Administrator or by any official designated by him for this purpose that such method of procurement is necessary; purchase and procurement of reports of experts or consultants or organizations thereof; advertising, including radio time; maintenance, operation, and repair of aircraft in the Territories and possessions in connection with disposal activities and, in the continental limits of the United States in connection with the disposition of aircraft and airports; acquisition of buildings, lands, leaseholds, and other interests therein, and temporary use thereof for the care, handling, and disposition of surplus property; payments to States or political subdivisions thereof of sums in lieu of taxes accruing against real property declared surplus to the Administration by Government corporations; advance of funds to Administration cashiers and collection officials upon furnishing bond, for the purpose of handling cash transactions and making change at surplus property sales: Provided, That any employee of the War Assets Administration is authorized, when designated for the purpose by the Administrator, to administer to or take from any person an oath, |