2, 856, 198 1, 434,994 134, 959 81, 170 Apportionment of forest highway funds authorized for the fiscal year 1951 by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1948, Nov. 29, 1949 Alabama. Arizona. Arkansas California. Colorado Florida_ Georgia $66, 438 | New Mexico 1, 137, 825 271, 215 North Carolina_. North Dakota_ $810, 483 141, 093 82 11, 728 15,717 2,753, 489 Oklahoma.. Oregon__. Pennsylvania_ Idaho_. 2,040,877 South Carolina. 61, 959 75,896 MANDATORY APPORTIONMENT PROCEDURE Mr. ROONEY. The chart at page 860, Mr. MacDonald, shows the manner in which you expect to apportion the money for fiscal year 1951. Is that a mandatory direction of the Congress? Mr. MACDONALD. Yes, sir. Mr. ROONEY. What is the underlying legislation providing for that? Mr. MACDONALD. The underlying legislation provides that the funds for the forests shall be apportioned one-half first on the basis of area and second on valuation. Mr. CURTISS. The Secretary of Agriculture determines the area and value of the forests and we-that is the Secretary of Commerce-make the apportionment based on those figures. PROGRAM LIMITED TO FUNDS APPROPRIATED Mr. ROONEY. Well, would you say we were tied hand and foot with regard to this as we are with regard to the highway programs? Mr. MACDONALD. No, sir; you are not. While the authority exists, Mr. Chairman, for the commissioner to proceed with this program on the basis of our authorization, we have held our program always within the appropriations granted by the Congress. Mr. ROONEY. In other words, you expend only the amount of money appropriation; you do not have authority here to make obligations which we subsequently are called upon to appropriate cash to pay off? Mr. MACDONALD. That is right. FOREST TRAILS IN OKLAHOMA Mr. ROONEY. A few days ago two distinguished Members of the House, Mr. Stigler, of Oklahoma, and Mr. Albert, of Oklahoma, brought a distinguished delegation to see me with regard to some money for trails. Are you familiar with that? Mr. MACDONALD. Yes, sir. Mr. ROONEY. What is the situation in that regard? Mr. MACDONALD. I advised them they never would get enough money to build from the forest-highway fund. That road should be put on the secondary system or primary system and built under combined Federal aid and State funds. Mr. ROONEY. What do they propose to do? Mr. MACDONALD. Their proposal was to get it built from these funds, Federal funds. It was in the national forest. Mr. ROONEY. Has it ever been approved by the Bureau of the Budget? Mr. MACDONALD. There is never any appropriation made for specific roads, Mr. Chairman. The only way that that road could be built would be to increase the over-all authorization to an amount that would give to our Mr. ROONEY. Well, suppose you were to decrease the amount allotted at page 860 for the State of Pennsylvania, could you thereby increase the amount shown for the State of Oklahoma? Mr. ROONEY. The last item for the Bureau of Public Roads is entitled "Access Roads," which is found at page 110 of the committee print and at page 854 of the justifications. At this point we shall insert in the record pages 854 and 855 of the. justifications referred in explanation of this item. (The pages referred to are as follows:) Language provision pertaining to an existing appropriation requesting authority to use unexpended funds: APPROPRIATION TEXT Access roads.-During the current fiscal year not to exceed $70,000 of funds remaining unexpended upon completion of access road projects authorized to be constructed under the provisions of the Defense Highway Act of 1941, as amended by the act of July 2, 1942 (23 U. S. C. 106), shall be available for the maintenance of roads and bridges under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Public Roads on Government-owned land in Arlington County, Va. MAINTENANCE OF HIGHWAYS, ARLINGTON COUNTY, VA. The Independent Offices Appropriation Act for the fiscal year 1950 authorizes the Bureau of Public Roads to use not in excess of $70,000 of access road funds not required for the completion of access-road projects for the maintenance of principal roads and bridges constructed over Government-owned land in Arlington County, Va., to serve the Pentagon area, Navy Annex, Fort Myer, and other Federal installations in Arlington County. At the present time no other Federal or State agency is authorized to maintain these highways on land under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Public Roads and it is necessary for the authority' to Public Roads to be continued in the fiscal year 1951. The roads on which the Bureau of Public Roads is responsible for maintenance consist of 21.4 miles of highways and connections and 27 bridges. This network of roads is equivalent to 35 miles of pavement 24 feet in width. The daily traffic on this network of roads is tremendous. Traffic counts indicate that the three bridges across the Potomac River which the system serves are now carrying an average week-day traffic of more than 150,000 vehicles per day for the year ending September 30, 1949, and a peak month traffic of 164,000 vehicles per day in August. The peak traffic for a 24-hour period counted in August was over 170,000 vehicles. The maintenance work performed includes all necessary repairs to the roads and bridges to keep them in safe condition for travel, including keeping drainage outlets open, patching and repairs to pavement and other structures, snow removal, ice control, replacing and maintaining signs and traffic markers, caring for the grassed roadside area, and any other work customarily done in the maintenance of roads and bridges. The estimated cost of the maintenance work in the fiscal year 1951 is the same amount as authorized for the current fiscal year. No appropriation or reappropriation is required as the work will be financed from savings in the access-road funds resulting from the completion of access-road projects at less than estimated cost. Mr. ROONEY. That concludes the hearing with regard to the Bureau of Public Roads. (Discussion off the record.) THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1950. NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS WITNESSES DR. E. U. CONDON, DIRECTOR DR. E. C. CRITTENDEN, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR H. E. WEIFENBACH, BUDGET OFFICER T. B. MORROW, EXECUTIVE OFFICER N. E. GOLOVIN, ASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR DR. R. D. HUNTOON, CHIEF, ATOMIC AND RADIATION PHYSICS DIVISION DR. A. V. ASTIN, CHIEF, ELECTRONICS AND ORDNANCE DIVISION F. R. CAWLEY, BUDGET OFFICER, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE ESTIMATES, FISCAL YEAR 1951 Mr. ROONEY. Gentlemen, the first item for our consideration this afternoon-and, in fact, the only item we shall be able to get through this afternoon-is that for the National Bureau of Standards which appears beginning at page 128 of the committee print and at page 901 of the justifications. Pages 908, 909, and 910, which we shall insert in the record, contain an over-all summary of the figures making up the total request of $10,009,000. (The matter referred to is as follows:) NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS Mr. ROONEY. Doctor, do you have a general statement with regard to the National Bureau of Standards? Dr. CONDON. Mr. Chairman, I do not have a general statement in the formal sense, prepared in advance, but I have had prepared some general material on which I could give a general presentation on our work, which I would like to do. Mr. ROONEY. Suppose you proceed to make a statement which might indicate that the request for $1,160,259 above the current year's appropriation is justifiable, and pointing out what results have been obtained as the result of an appropriation of $8,880,000 in the current fiscal year. Dr. CONDON. I think I can do that. Do you mind if I make my presentation from these charts that we have prepared? Mr. ROONEY. That is perfectly all right. |