Responsibility for this committee was transferred from the Assistant Secretary for Economics to the Under Secretary for International Affairs and Commodity Programs. **Committee is in the process of being established.

DEPARTMENTAL ADMINISTRATION

PASSENGER MOTOR VEHICLES

The 1988 Budget Estimates propose no additional or replacement passenger motor vehicles.

As of November 1, 1986, only one Department-owned automobile was operated in the District of Columbia. This car is used primarily for pickups and deliveries. Five vehicles are rented on an annual basis for use by the Under Secretaries, Assistant Secretaries, and other officials of the Department.

Age and mileage data for passenger motor vehicles on hand as of September 30, 1986, are as follows:

FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 1987.

OFFICE OF GOVERNMENTAL AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS

WITNESSES

WILMER D. MIZELL, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR GOVERNMENTAL AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS

JAMES BOILLOT, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY, OFFICE OF GOVERNMENTAL AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS

LA VERNE AUSMAN, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

STEPHEN B. DEWHURST, BUDGET OFFICER, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

JOHN MCCLUNG, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF INFORMATION

Mr. WHITTEN. We have with us our former colleague and friend, Mr. Wilmer Mizell. Mr. Mizell, we saw you in the audience, and we would have been glad to have you volunteer any answer if you wished to, but we are glad to have you here.

Mr. MIZELL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have my team with me. You know how an old pitcher is. I don't like to pitch to a empty ball park, so I brought my crew along with me today.

Mr. WHITTEN. Don't cut any corners. Throw it right over the middle of the plate.

INTRODUCTION OF STAFF

Mr. MIZELL. With me is Jim Boillot, who is my Deputy Assistant Secretary, former Commissioner of Agriculture in Missouri, and on my right is La Verne Ausman, former Secretary of Agriculture in Wisconsin.

Mr. WHITTEN. We will be glad to have their résumés put in the record.

Mr. MIZELL. And I have John McClung, who is the Director of our Office of Information.

Mr. WHITTEN. I had passed to me today's paper about the circulation of information down there. Anybody could have written that? Mr. MIZELL. The little mention that was related to John and myself

Mr. WHITTEN. I am not excited by that.

Mr. MIZELL. I understand.

Mr. WHITTEN. He is our President, too. But by the same token this policy we are talking about, we can't live with it. May I say it started in earlier administrations and it has gotten 10 times worse. We will be glad to hear from you.

Mr. MIZELL. We understand completely.

Mr. WHITTEN. We will be glad to have you make your presentation.

Mr. MIZELL. Mr. Chairman, I would like for you to meet our new Director of Congressional Relations, John Frydenlund, who is sitting in the audience. It has been just about a year since he took over as Director of Congressional Relations, and to my knowledge we haven't slipped up anywhere yet.

Then, we have Ron Buckhalt, who is Director of Public Liaison.

HATCH ACT-100TH ANNIVERSARY

Mr. MIZELL. We haven't had to use any excuses in the last year, Mr. Chairman. That is what makes it so good. You know, I was thinking as I was preparing to come before the committee today that we have just celebrated 100 years of the Hatch Act that was enacted by this Congress.

Mr. WHITTEN. Do you know what they say the Hatch Act is, Mr. Mizell?

Mr. MIZELL. The part we were celebrating.

Mr. WHITTEN. They say it is an excuse to keep a civil servant from helping you in an election. I have heard it described as that.

Mr. MIZELL. The Hatch Act, I was going to say, is the one that established research at the Department of Agriculture, and it was certainly a good celebration. This is the 100th year.

Mr. WHITTEN. Did it take 100 years to get into this situation?

Mr. MIZELL. I wasn't going to comment on that, Mr. Chairman. We also are celebrating 200 years of our Constitution this year. On May 15, we are celebrating 125 years of the Department of Agriculture.

Mr. WHITTEN. You might proceed.

Mr. MIZELL. That is great, Mr. Chairman. I noted when President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the Act that was passed by the Congress establishing the Department, he was quoted as saying this is the peoples' Department. From our perspective, we still look on it as the peoples' Department. I think those that visit the Department leave feeling that it is their Department and that it covers a great deal of area. We do have a great deal of responsibility in dealing with our constituency.

But my statement is so brief, Mr. Chairman, that if I tried to summarize it, it would take longer than it would if I gave it verbatim, so I would like to do that.

OPENING STATEMENT

As you are aware, OGPA is the communication core of the Department of Agriculture. Although we are under tight budget restraints, the use of technology has allowed us to respond to an increasing inquiry load. Through advances in print technologies, electronic communications and satellite transmissions, we are able to communicate the Department's policy and program information to Congress, the public, and State and local governments.

Through organizational streamlining, OGPA has developed an efficient communications operation which enables us to communicate to a larger audience. OGPA has, in the past year, responded to an average of 1,200 calls per month from congressional offices, and up to 2,000 calls per month from the public. Our Office of Information last fiscal year issued over 1,600 news releases, features and re