174 NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 



mittee: and, as a member of this subcommittee, Mr. Chairman, I 

 pledge myself to approach the development of a legislative solution 

 in a cooperative spirit. I have suggested a solution in a bill, H.R. 

 9667, but I am not inclined to the belief that the solution I have sug- 

 gested is the golden solution. I believe it is a sound solution but, 

 again, my only objective in this area is the development of a national 

 ocean program. 



You already know, of course, Mr. Chairman, and gentlemen, that 

 I believe we should establish a national commission on oceanography, 

 to — 



make a comprehensive investigation and study of all aspects of oceanography 

 in order to recommend an overall plan for an adequate national oceanographie 

 program that will meet the present and future national needs. 



I believe that the national commission on oceanography should be 

 self -liquidating because I foresee that the gi'oup would have no reason 

 for existing after it submits its recommendations to the President 

 and to the Congress. Its major work and its major recommendations 

 would deal with the composition of a national ocean program and the 

 specific organizational structure that would be required to effectively 

 implement the program. 



That is, of course, an oversimplification of the work of the com- 

 mission, Mr. Chairman, but I know you and the members of the sub- 

 committee have received a considerable amount of testimony on this 

 point and I will not repeat the list of study areas and recommenda- 

 tions proposed for the commission. 



In conclusion, we found ourselves at the crossroads of outer space 

 in 1958. I believe we are now at the crossroads of inner space. I 

 believe we must immediately proceed to develop a national ocean 

 program and an effective organization to implement the program. 

 We either move now — and by "now", I mean this year — or we sacri- 

 fice any hope of seeing the United States achieve preeminence in inner 

 space. 



Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, and gentlemen. 



Mr. Lennon. Mr. Casey ? 



Mr. Casey. I want to compliment our colleague for the excellent 

 statement which I knew he would make, because he has been a long- 

 time member, ever since he has come to Congress, of the full committee 

 as well as of this subcommittee since it was created. And, I agree 

 with you wholeheartedly, Mr. Downing, that we should be moving^ 

 and this committee has tried to move and we have begun to gain some 

 support, and I think that the fact that so many of our colleagues who 

 are not on our committee have introduced bills indicates that we are 

 beginning to make some headway. 



I know that we have some Von Brauns in the oceanographie field; 

 if we could just bring them out into the open and focus attention on 

 it a little more so, and pull this together, why, I believe that we might 

 a,ccomplish this over this year. 



Your approach is the same as our colleague. JSIr. Rogei^s, here, to 

 establish this commission, and I think your approach is very meri- 

 torious, and the more we run into headwinds on an immediate agency, 

 such as NASA, why, I think the more favorable your approach appears 

 to be. We just have to wait and see, but certainly I appreciate the 

 contribution you have been making. 



