Evening star., 1949-07-08
Atomic Board Fund
Increase Refused by
Senate Committee

Fresh troubles piled up today
for the Atomic Energy Commis-
sion as it defended itself against
congressional charges of in
credible mismanagement' of the
Nations atomic program.
While witnesses were testifyiug
yesterday that great progress mas
been made in developing and i'm
proving atomic weapons since the
program was transferred to civil
ian control in 1947. the Senate
Appropriations Committee handed
the commission money setback.
The committee refused to in
crease the ,oeo,o00.000 in cash
and contract authorization al
lowed by the House. This repre-
sents a reduction of $76,879,603
from the $1,167 100000 budget
estimate of needs for the fiscal
year which began July /.
Previously a Senate appropria-
tions subcommittee had recon-
mended an increase of approx
mately $35,00o,0oo in the House
bill figure.
Floor Fight Planned.
Both Chairman OMahoney Of
the subcommittee and Chairman
Mcmahon of the Joint Senate
House Atomic Energy Committee
said a fight would be made on
the Senate floor to override the
full committees action.
Senator OMahoney described
the reduction as "unrealistic" and
Senator Mcmahon said it was "a
mistake"
While voting a slash in Acc
funds beyond the point that Sen
ator O'Mahoney wished to go, the
full Appropriations Committee also
approved an O'Mahoney proposal
for a check on commission spend
ing. 1t would require the COM
mission to obtain approval OF the
Budget Bureau before starting a
new construction project costing
more than $500,000 for which
there was no budget estimate. 1t
also calls for other Budget Bureau
checks on Acc spending.
Senator Mcmahon has pending
proposed amendment to the
atomic energy law to require that
each year Congress authorize the
general programs of the Atomic
Energy Commission and also the
total amount of money requested
to support these programs Rep
resentative Durham. Democrat, of
North Carolina, vice chairman of
the joint committee. is sponsor
ing a similar measure in the
House designed to improve,
through a different approach from
Senator OManoney's proposal,
some checks on Acc spending.
Bill Long Under Study.
Senator Mcmahon and Mr..
Durham. in a Joint statement, said
their bill has been under con-
sideration for long time and had
no connection with the joint COM
mittee's current investigation Of
the work of the Acc.
This investigation, now ending
its sixth week. stems from charges
by Senator Hickenlooper. Republi-
can, of Iowa of incredible mis-
management" on the part of the
Acc and its chairman, David E.
Lilienthal.
The Acc is now presenting its
defense against those charges.
Yesterday Brig Gen. James Nc
Cormack, jr., a top Acc official,
testified that since the Acc took
over the direction of the program
production bottlenecks have been
broken and the output of atomic
bombs is now on stable basis
after a complete model change.
Says Plant is Expanding.
Gen. Mccormack added that
when the commission took charge
two years ago the main atomic
plant at Los Almos, N. Mex, was
FIAT on it's back" and since then
the Acc has been "revitalizing
and expanding the weapons pro-
gram"
During his testimony, Senator
Mcmahon observed that when the
civilian commission took control
the Nations A-bomb arsenal was
empty or nearly so. But after
the hearing he modified his state
ment to say that the period he
referred to was at the end of
u