114 NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 



tion. It is gratifying to all of us to have the benefit of such a broad 

 spectrum of ideas to work with as we consider the legislation before 

 us. 



In addition to the bills pending before our committee, the Senate 

 Committee on Commerce has recently ordered reported S. 9M, which 

 contains features similar to those embodied in some of our bills. Also 

 in the Senate, there was recently introduced by Senator Muskie for 

 himself and 17 cosponsors a bill which would create a new executive 

 Department of Marine and Atmospheric Affairs. 



Just the other day, Mr. Hathaway, of Maine, introduced an identi- 

 cal bill in the House, H.R. 10106. In both Houses these bills were 

 referred to the Government Operations Committees. Though not 

 before us, the Chair mentions these latter two bills because of their 

 close and important relationship to the objectives we have under 

 study. 



I might say that in the interest of compiling a complete and com- 

 prehensive record the Chair would have no objection whatever to 

 comments by any of the witnesses concerning the subject matter of 

 these bills. 



Finally, we have again scheduled consideration of H.R. 5175, which 

 would provide for a study of the legal problems of management, use, 

 and control of the natural resources of the oceans and ocean beds. 

 Although this bill is only collaterally related to the others we have 

 scheduled, the Chair thought it desirable to take this opportunity to 

 receive testimonj^ on this subject during this session. 



In order to be as helpful as possible to the membership of the com- 

 mittee in the consideration of the rather involved concepts we have 

 before us, the staff has heretofore prepared and distributed a list of 

 the bills on which these hearings are being held, as well as copies of 

 the bills themselves as they were introduced. 



Each member of the committee has also received a memorandum, 

 dated July 26, setting forth the background of these hearings and an 

 abstract of the provisions of eacli of the several types of bills. 



As an aid to understanding of the background of legislative activity 

 in the field of oceanography, there has also been distributed a commit- 

 tee print entitled "Abridged Chronology of Events Eelated to Fed- 

 eral Legislation for Oceanography 1956-65," which was prepared with 

 great care by the excellent staff of the Library of Congress Legislative 

 Reference Service under the direction of Dr. Edward Wenk, Chief 

 of the Science Policy Eesearch Division. 



Finally, as a convenience to members, the staff has prepared a com- 

 mittee print which is a compilation of the pending bills on ocean- 

 ography and departmental reports related thereto. 



In preparation for these hearings, we have set aside the mornings 

 of Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of this week and the same days 

 next week. If more time is needed, we will continue into the third 

 week of this month. 



In line with the usual custom, those congressional witnesses who 

 wish to do so will be heard first at this opening session. It is our gen- 

 eral plan that they will be followed by witnesses from the executive 

 departments and agencies, and they in turn followed by institutional, 

 industry, and other public witnesses. 



I am sure all are aware that it is impossible to schedule times of 

 appearance in major legislative hearings with precision. Adjustments' 



