DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR AND HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE APPROPRIATIONS FOR 1963 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1962 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., pursuant to call, in room 1318, the New Senate Office Building, Hon. Lister Hill (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Senators Hill, Pastore, Byrd, Cotton, and Case. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR STATEMENT OF HON. ARTHUR J. GOLDBERG, SECRETARY, ACCOMPANIED BY V. S. HUDSON, DEPUTY ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT SECRETARY; C. D. CARLSON, ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER; LEO WERTS, ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT SECRETARY; AND SAM MERRICK, LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR INTRODUCTION OF WITNESSES Senator HILL. The committee will kindly come to order. May I say the committee is very happy to have with us our colleague from the State of New Hampshire, Senator Cotton. We are happy to have you with us. We are certainly delighted to have with us this morning the Secretary of Labor, Arthur J. Goldberg. Mr. Secretary, we welcome you and we will be happy to have you proceed in your own way. But first permit me to insert in the record this table showing the current year appropriations, the requests of the Bureau of the Budget, the 1963 budget estimates, and the change in the estimates compared to the 1962 funds. (The table referred to follows:) 1 Includes $96,000 for defense mobilization. " Includes $132,000 to be derived from "Employment Security Administration account, Includes $122,000 to be derived from "Employment Security Administration account, " Includes $100,000 for defense mobilization. Includes $50,000 for defense mobilization. 7 Includes $254,000 to be derived from "Employment Security Administration account, Includes $250,000 for defense mobilization. 10 Excludes $326,300 for the President's Advisory Committee on Labor-Management Policy. TRIBUTE TO MR. DODSON Secretary GOLDBERG. Senator Hill, Senator Cotton, I appreciate very much the opportunity to appear here this morning. I would like to present my colleagues. Leo Werts, since my last appearance has succeeded Mr. Dodson, who has retired. I want to record, as I am sure this committee would want me to, our universal regret about Mr. Dodson's retirement as Administrative Assistant Secretary. Senator HILL. I share that regret. He was a very fine, able, devoted public servant. He was always most helpful to this committee. We regret to see him go and we will certainly miss him. Secretary GOLDBERG. I share that altogether. I earnestly tried to persuade him to stay on but his wife prevailed over me and insisted upon his retirement. Senator HILL. It is not surprising. Secretary GOLDBERG. Mr. Werts is the new Administrative Assistant Secretary. He is here with me as well as Mr. Hudson, who has been a fine career servant of the Department working with Mr. Dodson and with Mr. Werts and with me; and Mr. Sam Merrick whom you know is our Legislative Director of the Department. Senator HILL. Mr. Merrick is an old friend. He was with our Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare. We regretted to see him leave us but we realized that you had very important work for him to do in the Department. Secretary GOLDBERG. It is very important work and we are very glad to have him. This appearance before your committee this morning affords me an opportunity to report to you developments since I last appeared before you a year ago when I was newly appointed to the important post I now occupy. PREPARED STATEMENT I have a prepared statement which I would like to offer for the record. Senator HILL. That will appear in the record in full. (The statement referred to follows:) Mr. Chairman, I appreciate this opportunity, my second, to appear before this committee to speak on our accomplishments so far which have been possible through the committee's active support and interest in the Department's program and to outline our program for 1963. The primary task of the U.S. Department of Labor during 1961, aside from the operations of its established programs, has been to implement the administration's concern over the immediate and short-term problems which faced U.S. working men and women at the time the administration took office, while at the same time assisting in the President's program of legislative action, in a concerted attack on the basic economic problems which face the Nation. We are glad to join with others in reporting that our economy is once more showing its traditional capacity for growth. In both October and November there were more people at work than in any other autumn in our history-an average of more than 671⁄2 million people. Personal income in November was at an annual rate of $429 billion, 6 percent more than a year earlier. Despite this sharp recovery, prices have remained relatively stable. Wholesale prices in November were actually lower than a year earlier and consumer prices advanced over the year by only 0.7 percent, the smallest increase for a comparable period since 1955. Thus, the purchasing power of the average factory worker was 6 percent greater in November than a year earlier and a full 30 percent greater than the average for 1947-49. Per capita purchasing power reached a new high in the third quarter of 1961, and continued to expand in the last quarter. |