747 



I can assure you, Mr. Chairman, that we will continue to 

 press for tight budget levels in the future. As in the past, we 

 will continue to approach the executive heads of the major 

 organizations to urge them to prepare reasonable budgets 

 before they put pen to paper because we do not have the votes 

 in the organizations on budget matters, and the best time to 

 influence budget levels is before the estimates become frozen 

 in a printed document. 



We will also, of course, push for budgetary stringency in 

 the governmental bodies of the organizations. Throughout 

 the process we will continue to concert with other major con- 

 tributors to try to maximize our impact on the programs and 

 budgets. A dozen of the largest contributors have developed 

 the practice of coordinating their positions on these matters 

 in the major specialized agencies. 



For example, I attended a 2-day meeting of these major 

 contributors in Geneva last March. This meeting devoted a 

 great deal of attention to the problem of rising budgets. 

 There was wide agreement on the need to promote a policy 

 of budgetary restraint, and plans were made to pursue this 

 objective during this year. At the same time, I have to note 

 that while other major contributors share our desire for effi- 

 ciency and economy, not all of them think that the budgets 

 of these organizations are excessive. In fact, we often find it 

 very difficult to persuade them to join us in pushing for 

 budget levels as low as we like. We are also working to estab- 

 lish better administrative and fiscal procedures to promote 

 efficiency and economy in these organizations. 



Again, in my statement, I have pointed out a few of the 

 things that are being done. I will not go into them at this 

 point. 



In addition to these efforts to improve the operations of the 

 international organizations, we are also trying to make our 

 own participation in international organizations as effective 

 as possible. On the 8th of January of this year the White 

 House issued a memorandum which conveyed the President's 

 wish that the Secretary of State direct, coordinate, and super- 

 vise the activities of the executive agencies relating to our 

 participation in international organizations. To implement 

 this memorandum, I held a meeting of an interdepartmental 

 committee on international organizations, consisting of offi- 

 cials from 15 Government agencies, and I asked for their help 

 in carrying out the President's directive. I particularly asked 

 them for help in assessing the programs of the organizations 

 in terms of current and future priorities.^" 



IN THE HOUSE OF RErRESEXTATIVTSS 



]Mr, RooNEY. I feel this committee has been wasting the 

 taxpayers' money with the Government Printing Office in 

 printing each year an admonition in our report to cut down 



»" Ibid., page 443. 



