It would be desirable, if practical, to plan at once for construction needed for a considerable time in the future. Authorization for the purchase of additional land adjacent to the present property was included in the 1962 appropriation for salaries and expenses as approved by the House. This authorization anticipated land requirements to accommodate long-range construction planning. However, overconstruction is costly and undesirable. Moreover, the Bureau uses several different types of space. It needs a certain amount of divided office space for administrative and policymaking staff. It also needs operational space, requiring some partitioning but with open areas of appropriate size for efficient processing of work. In addition, it needs storage and warehouse types of space. Additional construction, after expansion of the annex, should involve erection of rather sizable buildings which would require full complements of servicing facilities since the present capacities of such facilities will have been exhausted.

Because of lack of information at the present time respecting proper balance of types of space and for other reasons, the Bureau believes that proper planning for the future would require a degree of firmness of knowledge and data which does not exist now but which is much more likely to exist a year or two from now. Such factors as major additions to the functions of the Bureau because of program changes, and effects resulting from the reengineering of the claims process now underway through the installation of an integrated data process using electronic computers and a telecommunications system (the final design of which is about 2 years away) could substantially affect the space requirements for the future in Baltimore. For these reasons, the Bureau believes that only urgent, short-range construction planning should be undertaken at the present time.

SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATION

To sum up, the present Social Security Building plus the annex under construction will accommodate about 8,500 employees. The Bautimore staff by the end of calendar year 1961 will be about 9,950. The need for additional space to consolidate the disability functions of the Bureau in one building as soon as possible is not only urgent but prudent and necessary for maximum efficiency in operations. On the other hand, long-range construction planning would not be wise at the present time. Therefore, the Bureau requests that authority and funds be granted to expand the annex to the Social Security Building at an estimated cost of $4,360,000, raising the total limitation of cost in the construction appropriation to $36,650,000. This would provide for the immediate space requirements of the Bureau in the fastest possible time and at the lowest possible cost.

Mr. THOMAS. You are looking for an increase in your limitation of $4,360,000 to bring the cost of your building up to a total of $36,650,000. That is a pretty good building, isn't it? That is the addítion over at Baltimore.

LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY FOR INCREASED LIMITATION

Do you need authorization for this or is this authorized in your basic act?

Mr. CHRISTGAU. This is the way we have had it in previous years. Mr. THOMAS. Is it authorized though?

Mr. KELLY. The only basic authorization that we would have would be related to the Public Works and Service Act.

Mr. THOMAS. Did you get it authorized through the legislative committee?

Mr. WYNKOOP. We checked this with our General Counsel and found there existed legislative authorization for this.

Mr. THOMAS. You are sure of that?

Mr. WYNKOOP. Yes, sir.

Mr. THOMAS. You are building this building now and it is not completed and by adding this annex to it now you will put up a temporary wall at a modest cost and then add to it and take out that wall later. [Reading:]

INCREASE IN PERSONNEL

As indicated above, recent amendments have increased staff needs in other areas as well as the disability function. When the annex was planned in 1958, the Baltimore staff was projected to increase to 8,500. Because of amendments since that time, the Baltimore staff is now expected to total 9,950 by the end of calendar year 1961.

That is 1,450 more employees.

Mr. BALL. Yes, sir.

Mr. THOMAS. How much money are you spending downtown for rent and how many square feet are you getting? At $3.50 a foot you are spending $1.6 million annually for rent?

Mr. FUTTERMAN. It is 320,139 square feet.

COST PER SQUARE FOOT

Mr. THOMAS. In this annex, you will add 90,000 square feet of usable space and 22,000 feet of storage space, making 112,000 square feet you are adding?

Mr. BALL. 130,000.

Mr. THOMAS. I have 90,000 and 22,000.

Mr. TOUCHET. And 18,000 additional feet to be finished off.

Mr. THOMAS. What will this cost per square foot?

Mr. BALL. $21.25 for the extension.

Mr. THOMAS. What did the old construction cost you, the unfinished building?

Mr. BALL. $20.27 and the difference there, Mr. Chairman, is that the present annex as planned can use the equipment for air conditioning in the main building, but as we expand into this extension we will need to add towers and an additional compressor or compressors for air conditioning and if you take that out of the figure, the figure is fully comparable. Without that additional equipment for air conditioning, it would be $20 a square foot.

Mr. THOMAS. What was your first estimate in here, does anybody remember? What was that figure last year? You wanted around $26 or $27 a square foot.

Mr. CHRISTGAU. We estimated $20 per gross foot last year. I have a table, Mr. Chairman, of the gross and net space of the various additions and the additional building.

Mr. THOMAS. Let me read this paragraph into the record. This is short, but worth reading:

It is proposed that the annex to the Social Security Building be expanded by adding 90,000 square feet of net office space and 22,000 feet of storage area. By finishing the portion of the first floor that was left unfinished in the present construction contract another 18,000 square feet will be provided for file space. The annex will then contain a total of 298,000 square feet of usable space. The proposed plan is to build a temporary wall without windows on the west end of the annex.

That is the entire building, is that right?

Mr. CHRISTGAU. Yes, sir.

Mr. THOMAS. What is it going to cost you? $36,650,000 and you have in round figures 300,000 square feet. How much is that per square foot?

Mr. BALL. For the total building it is 1,838,522 square feet and a little bit under $20.

Mr. THOMAS. A little bit over?

Mr. TOUCHET. $19.93.

Mr. THOMAS. With the 300,000 square feet it will cost $36,650,000 and it figures under $20.

Mr. BALL. Yes, sir.

Mr. THOMAS. How much under?

Mr. BALL. $19.93. That is for the total building.

Mr. TOUCHET. The 298,000 square feet of usable space for the annex and the extension will come to an average of about $20.75 per gross square foot. It is $20.75, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. THOMAS. Are there any questions? You are going to amortize it in 25 years?

Mr. BALL. Yes, sir.

Mr. KIRWAN. I have no questions.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1961.

ASSISTANCE FOR U.S. CITIZENS RETURNED FROM

FOREIGN COUNTRIES

WITNESSES

MISS KATHRYN D. GOODWIN, DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF PUBLIC AS

SISTANCE

ANDREW R. N. TRUELSON, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF PUBLIC ASSISTANCE

ROY L. WYNKOOP, ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER, SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

JAMES F. KELLY, DEPARTMENT BUDGET OFFICER

Mr. THOMAS. Also in House Document No. 217, you are requesting $575,000 for assistance to U.S. citizens returned from foreign countries. [Reading:]

For necessary expenses of carrying out section 1113 of the Social Security Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1301-1312), including reimbursement to the "Emergency Fund for the President, National Defense," fiscal year 1962, for expenditures heretofore made during the current fiscal year for welfare services and emergency financial assistance to repatriated American nationals, $575,000; Provided, That the appropriation granted in the Department of Health, Educa

tion, and Welfare Appropriation Act, 1962, for "Hospitalization and Services for Repatriated Mentally Ill American Nationals,” shall be merged with this appropriation.

Is that subject to a point of order?

Mr. KELLY. I do not believe so.

Mr. THOMAS. This is new legislation, is it not?

Miss GOODWIN. Yes, sir.

GENERAL STATEMENT

Mr. THOMAS. The prepared statement of the Director of Public Assistance will be inserted in the record at this point.

(The statement follows:)

OPENING STATEMENT BY DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF PUBLIC ASSISTANCE, SOCIAL

SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

The Social Security Act Amendments of 1961, Public Law 87-64, approved June 30, 1961, contains new authority for the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to provide temporary assistance and care to needy U.S. citizens and their dependents who are identified by the Department of State as having been returned to this country because of destitution, illness, war, threat of war, invasion, or similar crisis. Since this new authority became law after the consideration of our 1962 estimates by the Congress, it is necessary to request funds in a supplemental appropriation for the implementation of the program for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Plans for emergency evacuation of civilians from oversea areas to the United States have been for some years a part of U.S. defense planning. The agencies of the Federal Government responsible for our national security have long recognized the need to have machinery ready to be put into operation in the event of an international crisis, for the return to this country of the many U.S. citizens who are living in all areas of the world. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare has cooperated in development of plans for the reception of such evacuees when they reach the United States, for helping them to reach their destination within the United States, and to provide emergency assistance to those without resources.

Since February 1961, the Department, under an allocation of funds from the President's emergency fund, has been rendering assistance to needy U.S. citizens who have returned from Cuba. As of the end of June, the number of U.S. citizens from Cuba who were receiving cash assistance was 103. We estimate that this number will increase to about 170 such cases in July and to 200 in August. It is difficult to predict how many persons will require assistance during the remaining 10 months of the fiscal year, but we have estimated that the August level of 200 cases will remain constant throughout the fiscal year. In other words, we assume that to the extent new assistance cases are added, other cases will be closed. Based upon an average monthly payment of $130 per family, this results in an estimate for cash assistance to U.S. repatriates from Cuba of $332,000. It is estimated that transportation to places of former residence or to join relatives will require approximately $62,000; medical care, $18,000; and other goods and services, $13,000. Thus the total estimate for the U.S. repatriates from Cuba is $425,000. In addition, because of the difficulty in estimating the number of persons who will need assistance, a $50,000 contingency has been provided in the estimate.

An amount of $75,000 is estimated as the cost of assisting persons returned from countries other than Cuba in 1962. For a number of years, the Department of State has requested the assistance of the Department in arranging for the reception and care of U.S. citizens who, due to ill health, destitution, etc., have had to return to this country. The Department of State identifies the persons as having returned to this country under these conditions. During the fiscal year 1961, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare received 83 such referrals for the very limited assistance that could be obtained through nonFederal agencies. The 1962 estimate assumes that the number of repatriated families in need of assistance will continue to increase and that 120 will require some form of assistance or care during the year.