Evening star., 1937-06-24
NEW BILL W|DENS
PRESIDENTS RULE
Fourth Reorganization Draft
Makes Concessions to
Congress, However.
BY WILL u. KENNEDY.


tndependent establishment which are
common to other agencies of the Gov
ernment, such as preparation of estl-
mates Of appropriation, the appoint
ment of personnel" are contained in
the new fourth) draft of the ad-
ministrative reorganization bill intro
duced yesterday by Senate Leader
Robinson.
In restoring to the Senate its power
Of confirmation Of appointments
which earlier administration meas
ures sought to take away, the new
Robinson bill further extends this
right of confirmation to any Office
or position Of head of any bureau, III
vision, service or similar agency
The new bill, however, still insists
on abolishing the General Account
ing Office and the Controller Gen.
erals office. setting up a new auditor
general with authority to make post
audits instead of pre-audits which
Congress now requires. This is the
one outstanding feature of reorganiza-
ton proposals which the membership
of Congress is determined not to ap-
prove. The new Robinson bill also
proposes a joint congressional COM
mlttee on public accounts.
House Committee Starts Work.
AS Senator Robinson was introduc-
ing the new administration omnibus
reorganization bill, Chairman Coch-
ran of the House Reorganlzat ton Com
mittee started work on four bills cov-
ering the same program, by appoint
ing as many subcommittee: Cd
delegation of power to the President
and creation of new executive depart
ments, with Representative Lindsay
c. Warren of North Carolina as chair
man; (2) extension of the Civil Serv-
ice, with Representative James M
Mead of New York as chairman; CD
the proposed change in name and
duties of the General Accounting Of
flee and the Controller General, with
Representative Fred M. Vlnson OF
Kentucky as chairman, and "a in
crease in the White House Secretarlat,
with Representative j. w. Robinson
of Utah as chairman.
These subcommittee are to draft
Tentative bills"
Senator Robinson explained that his
bill proposes to give the President
broad powers to transfer, group, con-
solidate and abolish agencies and their
functions for the purpose OF promot-
ing greater economy and efficiency In
administration" The limitations are
that the President cannot abolish any
executive department Or independent
establishment Gas defined in the bllD;
neither can he abolish certain gov
ernmental agencies which are rec
ognized as of permanent Importance
including the Municipal Govern
ment of the District of Columbia.
The bill gives Congress the power
of veto within so days on any execu-
tive order to carry out the PreSi-
dents reorganization program.
Abolishes Civil Service Commission.
The new bill provides for abolish
ment of the present Civil Service
Commission and the creation Of q
single Civil Service administrator.
1t DEGREES that hereafter appoint
ments to positions which are policy
determining in character, or positions
as head of various bureaus OF de-
partments and agencies, who are re-
sponsible directly to the heads of such
departments or agencies, shall be
made by the President and confirmed
BY the Senate. This is distinct con-
eession to Congress over previous ad-
uinistration reorga aniZation proposals.
The new bill provides that within
year after enactment, all offices and
positions in the various agencies shall
be covered into the classified Civil
Service upon recommendation OF the
head of the agency and upon passing
suitable non competitive examina-
ton prescribed by the proposed new
administrator. This, however, does
hot apply to positions in Government
owned corporations except by direc-
ton of the President, or to certain
other positions which are specifically
exempted by the bill.
The classification act would be ex-
tended to all positions in the Govern
ment service, both departmental and
the field, with the exception OF those
positions now covered by laws specifl-
cally fixing the compensation Of va
rious classes Of employees
The General Accounting Offices
functions relating to the settlement Of
public accounts and claims and pre-
scribing administrative accounting
systems would be transferred to the
Bureau of the Budget.
Auditing Under CONGRESS.
A general auditing Office would be
established by the Robinson bill to
make a post-audit of all public ac-
counts. 1t is specifically stated in
the bill that this Office is an agency
OF Congress and is to be independent
OF the executive branch OF the Gov
ernment. 1t would have the duty of