Evening star., 1946-02-10
House Group Tighten,
lis Grip on Purse Of
Al U. 5. Corporations
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
The House Appropriations Com
mittee reached out yesterday for a
tighter hold on the purse strings Of
Al Government corporations, in
cluding some of the biggest finan-
cial operators in the Federal family.
1t designated five of its members
Representatives Mahon, Democrat,
of Texas: Whitten, Democrat, of
Mississippi; Gore, Democrat, of Mo-
souri,, and Jensen, Republican, Of
Iowa-as subcommittee to review
annually all transactions and opera
tions of the agencies. Mr.. Mahon
is chairman of the group.
He told reporters the new sub
committee will keep under close
and constant congressional scrutiny
the activities of Government cor
porations."
Scattered Reports Made.
Heretofore the corporations in
volved have obtained approval of
Congress for administrative ex-
penses generally appropriated out
of their capital Their justifications
of these expenses have been made
to scattered appropriations sub
committees, none of which had jur-
isdiction over all Al.
| Last December Congress enacted
a law requiring each corporation to
prepare annually "business-type
budget" containing estimates Of
"the financial condition and opera
tions Of the corporation for the
current and ensuing fiscal years and
the actual condition and results
of operation for the last completed
fiscal year."
The law was known as the '.Fi-
nancial Control of Government
Corporations Act" and was the au-
thority for creation of the new sub
committee.
BY having exclusive jurisdiction
over the activities of the corpora
tions, Mr.. Mahon believes his
group will be able to familiarize it
self with each of them land keep a
better control over their operations
on behalf Of Congress"
Must Justify Expenses.
'"This is something entirely new,
he said, land we will have to move
slowly on it. Hereafter the cor
porations are going to have to justi-
fly before the same committee each
year not only their administra-
tive expenses but all their other
far-f1ung operations. They are
handling billions of public funds
and we intend to carefully review
their operations"
The Al corporations which Mr.
Mahon's subcommittee will scruti.
nize on behalf of Congress are:
| Commodity Credit Corp, Fedora
intermediate Credit Banks, Produc.
ton Credit Corp, Regional Agricul-
tural Credit Corp, Farmers Home
Corp, Federal Crop Insurance Corp.
Federal Farm Mortgage Corp, Fed
eral Surplus Commodities Corp, Re.
construction Finance Corp, Defense
Plant Corp, Defense Supplies Corp.
Metals Reserve Co., Rubber Reserve
Co., War Damage Corp, Federal Ma.
tional Mortgage Association, the
RFC Mortgage Co., Disaster Loar
Corp.
Also. Inland Waterways Corp.
Warrior River Terminal Co., the
Virgin Islands Co., Federal Prison
Industries, Inc; United States
Spruce Production Corp, Institute
Of Inter-American Affairs, Institute
of Inter-American Transportation
Inter- American Educational Foun-
dation, INC: Inter- American Navi-
CATION Corp, Prencinradio, Inc. +;
Cargoes. Inc; Export-Import Bank
Of Washington.
Also, Petroleum Reserves Corp.
Rubber Development Corp, United
States Commercial Co., Smaller War
Plants Corp, Federal Public Hous-
ing Authority, Defense Homes Corp.
Federal Savings and Loan Insur-
ance Corp, Home Owners Loan
Corp. United States Housing Corp.
Panama Railroad Co., Tennessee
Valley Authority, and Tennessee
Valley Associated Co-operatives
Inc.