Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE, COASTAL PLAINS REGIONAL COMMISSION, Chairman, Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations, DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: This is in response to your letter of March 24 requesting comments on S. 60, a bill to create a catalog of Federal assistance programs. We have reviewed the bill and believe its purpose of providing a current, accurate and complete report of Federal aid programs for the use of beneficiaries is commendable. We have no substantive comments on the bill's provisions other than to note that, in view of the comprehensiveness of the information to be included in the catalog (Sec. 6), the frequency of issuance might appropriately be on a quarterly basis, rather than monthly (Sec. 9). Sincerely, G. FRED STEELE, Jr., GENERAL COUNSEL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE, DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This is in further reply to your request for the views of this Department concerning S. 60, a bill "To create a catalog of Federal assistance programs, and for other purposes." This bill would require the President to transmit annually to the Congress a catalog of all Federal programs providing such benefits as grants, loans, scholarships, services, technical assistance, expert information, etc. The President would also be required to submit to the Congress monthly revisions of the catalog. The bill prescribes the general form and contents of the catalog. The Department of Commerce believes that a catalog of Federal assistance programs is desirable. We would, however, defer to the views of the Bureau of the Budget as to the exact form which legislation for such purpose should take, the information which should be included in such a catalog of Federal assistance programs, and the frequency of revisions. We have been advised by the Bureau of the Budget that there would be no ojection to the submission of our report to the Congress from the standpoint of the Administration's program. Sincerely, JAMES F. LYNN, General Counsel. Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE, THE CHAIRMAN OF THE Chairman, Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations, Committee on Government Operations, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This is in response to your request for views from the Council of Economic Advisers on S. 60, a bill "to create a catalog of Federal assistance programs, and for other purposes." The CEA is very much in sympathy with the objectives of this bill, to make the many domestic assistance programs more available to recipients, current and potential. We feel that a beginning in this is already existent in the form of the Office of Economic Opportunity's compilation. The initial effort by OEO in June of 1967 had a number of shortcomings a number of which have been corrected in the new Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance issued in March of this year. We feel that future efforts based on improving, updating and expanding the existing catalog will bear the greatest returns. In addition we feel that domestic assistance programs should be dealt with separately from foreign programs. The participants in these are by and large mutually exclusive groups and are not eligible for each other's programs. We do not feel that monthly revision of the catalog is justified by the number of changes occurring in that period. However, more frequent intervals than annual would seem desirable, and the appropriate schedule of revision can best be determined through experience in developing the catalog. With respect to financial information, some indication of the availability of funds for each program is surely desirable, but we do not feel the amount of data required in S. 60 is necessary. Finally, whereas S. 60 would delegate the President's functions only to the Bureau of the Budget, we believe the President should be allowed to delegate this task to the agency or agencies he believes to be the most appropriate. In summary, the Council is in agreement with the objectives of S. 60 but as indicated above, we have reservations with respect to certain provisions of the bill. We have been advised by the Bureau of the Budget that there is no objection to the submission of this report to the Congress. Sincerely, PAUL W. MCCRACKEN. GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE, EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Washington, D.C., October 15, 1969. Chairman, Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations, Committee on Government Operations, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: The Government of the District of Columbia has for report S. 60, 91st Congress, a bill "To create a catalog of Federal assistance programs, and for other purposes.' The bill requires the President to transmit annually to the Congress a catalog of Federal assistance programs, together with a report on measures taken during the preceding year to simplify, coordinate, and consolidate application forms and guidelines for such programs. The bill specifies items of information on each program which must be included in the catalog and sets forth the form of the catalog. It also provides that the catalog must be updated on at least a monthly basis. Finally, the bill provides that the catalog of programs is to be made available to the public. Under the bill, the President could delegate only to the Bureau of the Budget the responsibility for carrying out the functions conferred by the bill. The functions of operating the Federal information exchange system and of preparing the catalog of Federal assistance programs now carried out by the Office of Economic Opportunity would be transferred to the Bureau of the Budget, together with related personnel, records, property and unexpended balances of appropriations. The Government of the District of Columbia is in agreement with the objective of this legislation to make a catalog of Federal assistance programs more available to the public. However, the District deems it appropriate to defer to the Office of Economic Opportunity and Bureau of the Budget with respect to the efficacy of the language of this bill to accomplish this objective. The Government of the District of Columbia has been advised by the Bureau of the Budget that, from the standpoint of the Administration's program, there is no objection to the submission of this report to the Congress. Sincerely yours, THOMAS W. FLETCHER, Assistant to the Commissioner (For Walter E. Washington, Commissioner). COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE, Washington, D.C., April 15, 1969. Chairman, Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations, U.S. Senate. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: By letter of March 24, 1969, you requested our comments on S. 60, 91st Congress, entitled: "A BILL To create a catalog of Federal assistance programs, and for other purposes." The bill requires the President to prepare and keep current a catalog containing comprehensive and current information on all Federal assistance programs so that potential beneficiaries can better understand and take advantage of the programs. While we are in general agreement with the overall objective of publicizing the various Federal assistance programs to all potential beneficiaries, the manner of accomplishing that objective is a matter of policy for the Congress to determine and one on which we have no special information or comment to offer Sincerely yours, R. F. KELLER, Comptroller General of the United States. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION, Washington, D.C., July 24, 1969. Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE, Chairman, Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations, Committee on Government Operations, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: Your letter of March 24, 1969, requested the views of the General Services Administration on S. 60, 91st Congress, a bill "To create a catalog of Federal assistance programs, and for other purposes. The primary purpose of the bill is to require the regular publication of a catalog of Federal assistance programs in order to assist potential beneficiaries of such programs in identifying all existing Federal assistance programs so that they can determine whether particular assistance or support sought might be available for use. Bureau of the Budget Circular A-89, dated August 23, 1968, established policies for the development and periodic issuance of a "Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance" for use in providing information similar to that which would be included in the catalog to be published under S. 60. We defer, therefore, to the views of the Bureau of the Budget with respect to the necessity of the bill. In the event your Committee favorably considers S. 60 we suggest one amendment. Section 12 authorizes the Bureau of the Budget to acquire automatic data processing equipment needed for any activity authorized by S. 60. The General Services Administration is required under section 111 of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (40 U.S.C. 759), to provide for the economic and efficient purchase, lease, and maintenance of automatic data processing equipment by Federal agencies. Exempting specific agency programs from the requirements of section 111 of the Property Act would impair the overall effectiveness of GSA's procurement and management program with respect to ADPE. We strongly recommend, therefore, that section 12 of S. 60 be amended by deleting the words "acquire automatic data processing equipment and" on lines 3 and 4, page 9 of the bill. The deletion would permit GSA to provide ADPE to the Bureau for the program authorized by the bill in the same manner as ADPE is provided for other Federal programs. The Bureau of the Budget has advised that, from the standpoint of the Administration's program, there is no objection to the submission of this report to your Committee. Sincerely, ROBERT L. KUNZIG, Administrator. THE SECRETARY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, Subject: S. 60, 91st Congress (Boggs) Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE, Chairman, Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This is in further reply to your request for a report from this Department on S. 60, a bill "To create a catalog of Federal assistance programs, and for other purposes." We are in general agreement with the objectives of this proposal. The need for a readily accessible, comprehensive, and periodically updated catalog of Federal assistance programs has been amply demonstrated. The Office of Economic Opportunity, under the auspices of the Bureau of the Budget, has recently published the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance. The information in the Catalog reflects the efforts of all Federal departments and agencies to provide the most useful and up to date information available on Federal assistance programs. It supersedes an earlier catalog published by the Office of Economic Opportunity on June 1, 1967. We understand that current plans are to revise the Catalog every twelve months in order to keep it as current as practicable and thereby maximize its usefulness. We defer, therefore, to the Bureau of the Budget as to whether specific legislative authority is necessary to accomplish the purposes of this bill. We have serious_reservations, however, about the provisions in S. 60 which would prohibit the President from delegating any function conferred upon him by the bill to any department or agency other than the Bureau of the Budget. This would be an inappropriate restriction on the President. We might note, in addition, that the Department of Housing and Urban Development has a leadership role in providing a central clearinghouse for information to aid States and localities as required by section 3(b) of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965. The Bureau of the Budget has advised that there is no objection to the presentation of this report from the standpoint of the Administration's program. Sincerely, GEORGE ROMNEY. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION, Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE Chairman, Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Regulations, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This is in further response to your request for comments on S. 60, "To create a catalog of Federal Assistance Programs." The National Science Foundation endorses the purpose of the proposed bill and believes that such a catalog would be useful. We would, however. like to offer the following comments for your consideration: Section 7(a) requires that detailed budgetary information be given for each Federal assistance program. It seems to us that the statement of the level of funding for each program required by Section 6(3) should be sufficient to achieve the objectives of the catalog, as stated in Section 5. Section 9 requires monthly revision of the catalog. In our view, the multiplicity of Federal assistance programs, the frequent revisions in their funding levels made at the behest of both the Executive Branch and Congress, and the periodic addition and elimination of programs, or other programmatic information, would make monthly revision cumbersome, confusing, and unduly expensive. Section 10 provides that the catalog shall be the only compendium of Federal assistance program information. We believe this requirement should be modified so that Section 10 does not impede the distribution of information about each agency's own programs, or about similar programs in a given field. The National Science Foundation, for example, issues statistical and other informational material concerning Federal support of research and education in the sciences which seems to fall within the prohibition of this Section. The Bureau of the Budget has advised us that there is no objection to the submission of this report from the viewpoint of the Administration's program. Sincerely yours, WILLIAM D. MCELROY, Director. THE POSTMASTER GENERAL, Washington, D.C., August 29, 1969. Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE, Chairman, Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations, DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This is in response to your request for a report on S. 60, "To create a catalog of Federal assistance programs, and for other purposes.' The bill would require the President to send to Congress at the beginning of each regular session a catalog of Federal assistance programs. The purpose of the proposed catalog is to identify all existing Federal assistance programs so that potential applicants can determine whether they may qualify for assistance. The catalog would be revised at least monthly. It would replace the present catalog put out by the Office of Economic Opportunity. The Department does not object to enactment of this measure, but would defer to the Bureau of the Budget on the specific provisions of the bill. The Bureau of the Budget has advised that there is no objection to the submission of this report to the Committee from the standpoint of the Administration's program. Sincerely, WINTON M. BLOUNT. UPPER GREAT LAKES REGIONAL COMMISSION, April 17, 1969. Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE, Washington, D.C. DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: In response to your letter requesting comment on Senate Bill S. 60, we are enclosing our response to a similar request concerning S. 3732 of the 90th Congress, the two bills being almost identical. We support the more restrictive provisions of Section 10 of S. 60 only if additional information is made available for each program as suggested in point seven of our letter. Sincerely, HAROLD C. JORDAHL, Jr., Acting Federal Cochairman. Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE, Washington, D.C. DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: We are pleased to respond to your request for comments on the Senate Bill 3732, currently under consideration by your Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations. We, as you know, deal extensively with State and local officials in our threeState Region and are, therefore, acutely aware of the need for a concise and informative_catalog proposed in the bill. It has been our experience that the Catalog of Federal Assistance Programs distributed by the Office of Economic Opportunity is valuable for local Government officials. We are also aware of some confusion with the several other such catalogs by other Federal agencies and are, therefore, pleased with the idea of one official catalog as suggested by Section 10 of the bill. We have several suggestions concerning the detail of information to be contained in the catalog and in the mechanics of its makeup and distribution. These are: (1) In discussing program structure of Federal assistance programs, it would be helpful to describe the priorities under which the program is conducted, e.g., preference for the disadvantaged in manpower training programs. (2) Some examples of already-funded programs would help local officials in understanding more intimately the types of projects which the program is designed to assist. (3) Some discussion of the mechanics of approval would also be helpful, e.g., are projects approved at the district or regional level as well as, or instead of, in Washington? (4) As the catalog is to contain a full description of each program, and will therefore be large, it would appear advisable to separate it into several volumes by functional area, i.e., one volume on education programs, one volume on agricultural programs, etc. (5) If the catalog is to be updated monthly, in accordance with Section 9 of the bill, the catalog might be best produced in loose-leaf form so that changes could be readily made by users of the catalog rather than having to consult several volumes of monthly data. (6) The index suggested in Section 7 would be made much more valuable if it were cross-indexed to reflect the inter-relationships of the various programs as well as identifying all programs related to a particular need. |