THE EARLY MILLER YEARS 



103 



to probe into the full justification of millions of dollars. In any area 

 under the committee's jurisdiction, whether it was NASA, the National 

 Science Foundation, the Bureau of Standards, or any other agency, the 

 committee members felt that they were supporting a scientific and 

 engineering program which Congress wholeheartedly wanted to be 

 successful. After all, the committee had been prodding NASA for 

 several years to spend more, go faster, get the job done with greater 

 urgency. At the same time, cost-conscious members wanted to have the 

 tools to differentiate between essential expenditures and waste or 

 "padding." 



The situation became critical in the early 1960's as NASA's 

 budget ballooned upward. Committee members faced a billion-dollar 

 budget at the beginning of 1961. By July, following the decision to 

 go to the Moon, the administration was asking Congress for $1.7 

 billion. By the beginning of 1962, the new budget was over twice that 

 big, and in the next few years the budget continued to soar until it 

 leveled off at between $5 billion and $6 billion in the midsixties. To 

 understand and grapple with these massively expanding programs 

 required extensive staff assistance to do the job right. 



"I'm all in favor of accelerating the space program, but I don't 

 want to remain so ignorant about the program that I overlook these 

 critical areas where investigations should be made," said Representa- 

 tive Karth early in 1962 in citing the need for more committee staff. 

 Teague echoed the need for more staff, adding: "I studied animal 

 husbandry. And nobody else on the committee is a scientist either. I 

 just had to work overtime — reading all kinds of stuff and got help 

 wherever I could — NASA, the Air Force, industry — every place I 

 thought I could learn something." 



Representative Anfuso joined his fellow subcommittee chairmen 

 in pointing out that the Science Committee had a much tougher job 

 than the Armed Services Committee, because the latter had a backlog 

 of experience and knowledge to draw on, as well as guidelines to 

 measure performance. 



Representative R. Walter Riehlman (Republican of New York) 

 stated in a committee executive session that "our committee has been 

 lacking in a staff that is qualified to follow thoroughly these programs 

 and be of assistance to members in evaluating them." Riehlman 

 particularly noted the absence of scientists or engineers on the staff. 

 Representative Mosher was somewhat blunter in his assessment. 

 When his subcommittee chairman, Representative Anfuso, made the 

 grand gesture of telling the subcommittee that "each member has 

 become almost an expert," Mosher responded: 



I would say that if I am an expert, then Lord help the Nation. I think it is a 

 frustrating experience for all of us in this new world we are dealing with, that we 



