Mr. O'CONOR, from the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany S. 103] The Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, to whom was referred the bill (S. 103) to increase rates of compensation of the President, Vice President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and heads and assistant heads of executive departments and independent agencies, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with amendments and recommend that the bill as amended do pass. The purpose of the bill is to increase rates of compensation of the President, Vice President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and heads and assistant heads of independent agencies. The first section of the bill would increase the salary of the President to $100,000 and provide him with an additional expense allowance of $50,000 year. It would also increase the salaries of the Vice President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to $30,000 each and provide these officials with expense allowances of $10,000 a year. Section 2 of the bill would increase the compensation of Cabinet members to $25,000 a year. Sections 3, 4, and 5 would increase the rates of compensation of heads of independent agencies, members of independent boards and commissions, and certain White House officials to $22,500, $20,000, and $17,500, upon the basis of their respective responsibilities. The positions covered and the salaries to be paid are specifically set forth in the bill. The bill (sec. 8) also corrects certain inequities resulting from the exclusion from the provisions of the Postal Rate Revision and Federal Employees Salary Act of 1948 of employees of the District of Columbia municipal government and certain employees in the Foreign Service by granting to these employees the $330 increase provided by that act for Government employees generally. With the following exceptions, the bill as reported is identical with the bill suggested by a subcommittee of this committee which has been studying problems related to pay of top Federal officials for several months: (1) The language of the provisions relating to the salary and expense allowance of the President differs slightly from the language suggested by the subcommittee, the change having been made at the time of introduction of the bill in response to a suggestion by the Comptroller General. (2) Language was also inserted at the time of introduction of the bill to make clear that the Comptroller of the Currency is included among the members of the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation whose compensation is increased by the bill. (3) The committee recommends an amendment which would prevent the compensation of the legal adviser of the State Department from being increased through the operation of a provision of existing law which provides that such official shall receive compensation at the same rate as an Assistant Secretary of the Department of State. Under this amendment the compensation of the legal adviser would remain at its present level notwithstanding the increase under the bill in the rate applicable to Assistant Secretaries. (4) The committee recommends an amendment which would increase the allowance for clerical assistance to the Vice President, contained in the Legislative Branch Appropriation Act for the fiscal year 1949, from $32,385 to $45,000 per annum. Since the bill as reported is identical in all other respects with the bill recommended by the subcommittee, the report of the subcommittee, which explains in detail the background and purposes of the bill, is made a part of this report. The committee recognizes that there are many key positions equally deserving of upward salary adjustment that this bill does not cover. It also recognizes that this bill is only a start toward a comprehensive revision of the Government's whole salary structure. In recommending immediate consideration of this measure, it is the intent of the committee to engage promptly upon a revision of the Classification Act of 1923, as amended. The subcommittee report follows.1 In order to avoid confusion the figures relating to the number of positions and the cost of the bill have been changed to reflect the inclusion of the Comptroller of the Currency as above indicated COMPENSATION OF TOP GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS REPORT OF A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON POST OFFICE AND CIVIL SERVICE UNITED STATES SENATE ON COMPENSATION OF TOP GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS DECEMBER 23, 1948 5 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON POST OFFICE AND CIVIL SERVICE, Hon. WILLIAM LANGER, Chairman, Senate Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, DEAR SENATOR LANGER: On behalf of a subcommittee of the Senate Post Office and Civil Service Committee composed of Senators Raymond E. Baldwin, Herbert R. O'Conor, and Ralph E. Flanders, I transmit the following report and proposed bill with respect to compensation of top Government officials. The subcommittee has reached unanimous agreement on materials contained herein. Sincerely yours, RALPH E. FLANDERS, 7 |