34 
In the House Fiscal Year 1960 Hearings, the desirability and feasibility 
of developing "a center or centers" for primate research was again stressed, 
■with emphasis on multiple centers rather than a single station. The NHI ^\ 
statement, requested by the House subcommittee, is a part of this record. 
The corresponding reportZ/ of the NHI staff to the Senate subcommittee is 
a part of the record of the Senate Hearings. 
In the House Fiscal Year 1961 Hearings, it was made clear that the Con- 
gressional authority to use the primate center appropriations for non- 
matching construction and purchase of land as well as for center operational 
costs was legal and not in conflict with the terms of other authorizations.^'' 
Here also it was clearly understood that the non-matching authority was pro- 
vided by Congress "on a basis that the Centers were to be regional in nature 
and not just local," The testimony indicated that eleven million dollars 
"would be enough in 1961." A little later, the Senate subcommittee was told 
at their hearings that a "tentative award" had been made to establish a center 
in Oregon and that the University of Oregon Medical School would be the "host 
institution." The testimony also indicated that thirteen possible sites had 
been visited by a special committee of the Heart Council and ten applications^^ 
had been reviewed by the National Committee on Primates. 
i 
Testimony at the House hearings for Fiscal Year 1962 brought out that con- 
struction of the center facilities at Portland, Oregon, were nearing completion, 
and that "it may also be desirable to construct at least one center large enough 
to permit comparative studies on various species of primates, and the increasing 
difficulty of obtaining suitable primates for research suggests that it may at 
some future time become necessary to establish breeding colonies for certain ^ 
species in this country." At the Fiscal Year 1962 Senate Hearings the points ' 
brought up in testimony included: (1) Eight or nine key sites were planning to 
compete for primate center grants, (2) Four major species of primates (the rhesus 
monkey, the chimpanzee, the baboon^ and a South American species) plus several ^ 
]_/ "Feasibility and Desirability of Primate Research Centers" 
S/ NIH had obtained the advice of the HEW General Counsel whose opinion was NIH 
could do this because "in this case the legislative history indicates the Con- 
gressional intent to use funds under the regular appropriation for construction 
authorized by section 433(a) in addition to funds appropriated for matching grants 
for construction under Title VII. Should the legislative history be developed 
through instructions in the House report to use the general authority in section 
433(a) for facilities such as we are now discussing, then, I believe it would be 
appropriate to apply our General Counsel's advice and utilize the general authority 
in section 433(a) for construction on a non-matching basis without new legislation. 
(Dr. Shannon speaking). "The advice we got was that the authority provided in the 
matching funds program (Title VII) did not rescind the provisions of Section 433(a) 
but rather made that authority lie dormant except where the legislative record 
indicated that it was the intent of Congress to make the authority of Section 433 
(a) active for a specific purpose." (Mr. Richard Seggel, Executive Officer, NIH, 
speaking.) 
9_/ Actually eleven applications were reviewed. See Chapter II, footnote 43. 
