Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
The estimates also provide for the maintenance of our war-expanded naval
and merchant fleets, military installations, and stocks of military
equipment and supplies. Our naval combatant fleet is three times its
pre-Pearl Harbor tonnage. Our Merchant Marine is five times its prewar
size. The War Department has billions of dollars worth of equipment and
supplies. Considerable maintenance and repair expense is necessary for the
equipment which we desire to retain in active status or in war reserve.
Expenses will be incurred for winnowing the stocks of surpluses, for
preparing lay-up facilities for the reserve fleets, and for storage of
reserve equipment and supplies.
Military expenditures .in the current fiscal year include 650 million
dollars for civilian supplies for the prevention of starvation and disease
in occupied areas. Expenditures on this account will continue in the fiscal
year 1947. The war expenditures also cover the expenses of civilian
administration in occupied areas.
During the war, 15 cents of each dollar of our war expenditures was for
lend-lease aid. With lend-lease terminated, I expect the direct operations
under this program to be substantially completed in the current fiscal
year. The expenditures estimated for the fiscal year 1947 under this
program are mainly interagency reimbursements for past transactions.
Relief and rehabilitation expenditures are increasing. It is imperative
that we give all necessary aid within our means to the people who have
borne the ravages of war. I estimate that in the fiscal year 1946
expenditures for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation
Administration will total 1.3 billion dollars and in the following year 1.2
billion dollars. Insofar as possible, procurement for this purpose will be
from war surpluses.
(b) Authorizations for war and national defense.
During the war, authorizations and appropriations had to be enacted well in
advance of obligation and spending to afford ample time for planning of
production by the procurement services and by industry. Thus our cumulative
war program authorized in the period between July 1, 1940, and July 1,
1945, was 431 billion dollars, including net war commitments of Government
corporations. Expenditures against those authorizations totaled 290 billion
dollars. This left 141 billion dollars in unobligated authorizations and
unliquidated obligations.
With the end of fighting, it became necessary to adjust war authorizations
to the requirements of war liquidation and continuing national defense.
Intensive review of the war authorizations by both the executive and the
legislative branches has been continued since VJ-day. As a result, the
authorized war program is being brought more nearly into line with
expenditures.
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