Evening star., 1951-07-22
Sc Million Cut
Voted in Payroll
AtAgricu|t:ure
Senute Committee
Action Moy Bring
Some Loyoffs Here
By J. A. O'Leory

likely 10 lose some employees in
Washington and in regional Of
fees if its budget becomes law as
reported from the Senate Appro-
priations Committee yesterday.
In approving $751 million sup
ply bill for all farm programs fol-
the year ending next June, the
Committee voted a reduction OF
approximately $82 million in the
Departments budget estimates
for personnel.
At the same time, however, the
iSenators again rejected the Jen-
sen amendment, which the House
has written into most of the de-
partmental bills. to prevent an
agency from filling more than
one-fourth of the jobs becoming
vacant during the year.
| A major battle is developing be-
tween the House and Senate over
the Jensen amendment which
may delay final action until fall
on these appropriation bills, which
should have been laws on July /.
The departments are running this
month on a stop-gap resolution,
which probably will have to be
extended through August.
Senate Stands Firm.
The 10 per cent Ferguson cuts
the Senate has been applying on
a selective basis to certain func-
tions are generally regarded as
less crippling than the ban on
filling more than one-fourth of all
vacancies.
The House recently refused to
accept compromise version of
the Labor Department Federal
Security Administration bill, after
the conferees had dropped the
Jensen amendment. This threw
the Labor-Federal Security bill
back into conference. and no new
agreement has yet been reached.
There are no signs the Senate
will back down. either, in its op-
position to the Jensen proposal.
Senator Russell, Democrat, ef
Georgia, in charge of the agricul-
tural bill, said yesterday, 1T will
be quite some time before the
Senate gives in OIL the Jensen
amendment"
! Agriculture officials had not
figured out last night how many
employees the department might
lose If the $8.2 million cut in its
payroll money stands.
May Affect 2,0Oc Jobs.
One informed source made a
guess that it may eliminate be-
tween $500 and 1000 jobs-some
here and some at reg onal points.
Part of the cut could be absorbed
by giving up new positions asked
for in the budget estimates, but
one official said there we're not
many jobs requested by Agricul-
ture this year. He said also the
department has been slow in fill
ing vacancies recently because of
the uncertainty over appropri-
ations. He said he was certain,
however, that existing vacancies
would not absorb all of the $8.2
million without dropping some
employees.
The $8.2 million figure is a 10
per cent cut on certain specified
groups of workers. but is far from
ian across-the-board cut. The
total Agriculture payroll is $219
million. The 10 per cent cut was
applied to functions representing
only $82 million of the total. The
committee exempted field operat-
ing and research employees, and
the crop and livestock reporting
services.
Despite the payroll cut, the SEN
ate version of the bill as a whole
lis higher than the House measure.
The personnel saving was more
than offset by other increases.
The cash total of $751 million
for all purposes is $34.4 million
more than the House allowed. The
bill also contains lending au-
thority up to 1852 million, which
is $11 million more than the
House allowed. Senator Russell
said, however, that SO per cent
of these funds come back to the
Government.
The Committee did not make
any special cut in the informa-
tion and educational services,
similar to the Is per cent cut
Senator Byrd, Democrat. of Vir-
ginia. inaugufated in the Inde-
pendent Offices bill. Senator Rus
sell said that if such a cut is
proposed on the Senate floor this
week. he will offer substitute to
confine the cut to the depart
ment's press. radio, and television
information services.