Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
Recisions and authorizations through the fiscal year 1946.--Readjusting the
war program, as the Congress well knows, is not an easy task.
Authorizations must not be too tight, lest we hamper necessary operations;
they must not be too ample, lest we lose control of spending. Last
September, I transmitted to the Congress recommendations on the basis of
which the Congress voted H.R. 4407 to repeal 50.3 billion dollars of
appropriations and authorizations. I found it necessary to veto this bill
because it was used as a vehicle for legislation that would impair the
reemployment program. However, in order to preserve the fine work of the
Congress on the recisions, I asked the Director of the Bureau of the Budget
to place the exact amounts indicated for repeal in a nonexpendable reserve,
and to advise the departments and agencies accordingly. This has been
done.
In accord with Public Law 132 of the Seventy-ninth Congress, I have
transmitted recommendations for additional rescissions for the current
fiscal year of appropriations amounting to 5.8 billion dollars and of
contract authorizations totaling 420 million dollars. The net reduction in
authority to obligate will be 5.0 billion dollars, because, of the
appropriations, 1.2 billion dollars will have to be restored in subsequent
years to liquidate contract authorizations still on the books.
The appropriations recommended for repeal include 2,827 million dollars for
the Navy Department, 1,421 million dollars for the War Department, 850
million dollars for lend-lease, 384 million dollars for the War Shipping
Administration, and 260 million dollars for the United States Maritime
Commission. The contract authorizations proposed for repeal are for the
Maritime Commission.
In addition, there are unused tonnage authorizations for construction of
naval vessels now valued at 5.4 billion dollars. In September 1945, I
suggested that this authority be reviewed by the appropriate committees of
the Congress, and the Congress has moved to bar construction under these
authorizations during the remainder of the fiscal year 1946. I propose to
continue this prohibition in the Navy budget estimates for the fiscal year
1947 and now renew my recommendation that legislation be enacted at the
earliest time to dear the statute books of these authorizations.
The amounts indicated for repeal in H.R. 4407 and the further rescissions
which I have recommended, excluding duplications and deferred cash payments
on existing authorizations, represent a cut in the authorized war program
of 60.8 billion dollars. The war authorizations will also be reduced 3'7
billion dollars by carrying receipts of revolving accounts to surplus, by
lapses, and by cancellation and repayment of commitments of the Government
war corporations.
On the other hand, supplemental appropriations of 600 million dollars will
be required for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation
Administration.
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