492 NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 



lems in terms of timing of appropriations, the amount of time in- 

 volved, in going before four committees, et cetera. 



There are also — and this is a personal view — some committees which 

 have to give priority to authorization bills. This may mean that 

 other important work in the legislative area has to be delayed until 

 the authorizing bills are acted on. 



Now, it is true you get a different point of view from the legislative 

 committee. The authorizing committee is likely to have a more in- 

 tense interest in the total program than the Appropriations Com- 

 mittee. But it has created certain problems. The requirement for 

 authorizing legislation sometimes has resulted in delays both in the 

 program itself and in action on other legislation which may be before 

 the committee. 



I do not think this has necessarily occurred across the board in all 

 areas, but it certainly has occurred in some. 



Mr. Drewry. Then in some respects it is similar to what you were 

 discussing earlier about the flexibility which the Executive desires 

 to have to review programs, and eliminate those which have outlived 

 their usefulness. Acting under broad legislation, the authorizing 

 committee can lose track of what is going on in things they have 

 provided for under the enabling authority. I wanted to get your re- 

 action. 



Mr. Seidman". I might say there is another side to the coin. At 

 least the authorizing bill does have the virtue of bringing together 

 a total program so it can be looked at as a whole ; otherwise it is looked 

 at in pieces. It goes back to your earlier question that the Congress 

 does not look at the whole program ; it looks at each piece in terms 

 of an individual agency's budget. 



Mr. Drewry. That is all, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Lennon. Doctor, when a department or agency is asked to give 

 its opinion on a certain bill, a report I think we ask for, are those 

 reports always submitted to the Bureau of the Budget for its approval 

 or disapproval before the return to the several committees that make 

 the requests for them ? 



Mr. Seidman. I do not think it works exactly as described. Each 

 agency is required, on instruction of the President, to submit a pro- 

 posed report on legislation to the Bureau of the Budget for the Bureau 

 of the Budget's advice as to the relationship of the report to the 

 President's program. 



On bills introduced in Congress, where reports are required, any 

 agency is authorized to send forward its views as long as it includes 

 in its report the advice it has received from the Bureau of the Budget. 



There have been a few cases in my own recollection where reports 

 have gone forward from agencies where they have indicated this is 

 their view but they have been advised it is not in accord with the pro- 

 gram of the administration. 



Mr. Lennon. I was interested in your summary in which you 

 stated the Bureau of the Budget's opposition to 5884 and 6009 by Mr. 

 Keith of Massachusetts, and Mr, Rivers of Alaska, which leads me to 

 the letter or report the committee received from the Department of 

 State on its opinion of those two bills dated July 30, 1965; that is 

 about a month and a half ago now. I quote : 



