DEPARTMENTS OF STATE, JUSTICE, AND COMMERCE, THE JUDICIARY, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 1978 TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 1977 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, The subcommittee met at 9:40 a.m., in room ley Dirksen Office Building, Hon. Ernest F. presiding. Washington, D.C. 1318, Everett McKinHollings (chairman) Present: Senators Hollings, Leahy, DeConcini, Weicker, Stevens, and Young. DEPARTMENT OF STATE ADMINISTRATION OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS STATEMENT OF RICHARD M. MOOSE, DEPUTY UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE ACCOMPANIED BY: JOHN M. THOMAS, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR ADMINISTRATION DANIEL L. WILLIAMSON, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR BUDGET AND FINANCE DON C. ELLER, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF BUDGET BUDGET ESTIMATES Senator HOLLINGS. This morning the subcommittee begins consideration of the 1978 budget estimates for the three departments, the Judiciary, and the 18 related agencies under our jurisdiction. Estimates already transmitted by the President from these agencies amount to $9,346,922,000 including the $2 billion for the local public works that has been advanced to 1977. We expect some additional requests. We will begin our consideration of these estimates with the request of the Department of State. In order to give us an overall view of the $1,247,135,000 requested by the Department, I have asked Mr. Richard Moose, the new Deputy Under Secretary of State for Management, to give us a summary of these requests. Then, in the next 20 minutes the Secretary of State will be along, and hopefully, we will have our off the record session with the Secretary. This afternoon we will go into the details of the 1978 request for the Department. GENERAL STATEMENT Mr. Secretary, we welcome you, Mr. Thomas, and all of your associates. We are glad to hear from you at this time. Mr. Moose. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee. It is a pleasure to appear before you this morning to present the fiscal year 1978 appropriations request for the Department of State. We hope, during these hearings, to confirm your support for the Department and our stewardship of its resources in the coming year. I would like to introduce Mr. Thomas, whom I believe you know, Assistant Secretary for Administration, Mr. Williamson, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget and Finance, and Mr. Eller, the Department's Budget Officer. They are with me today to assist in answering your questions on the Department's budget request. For the session this afternoon, Mr. Maynes, Assistant Secretary for International Organization Affairs; Mr. Friedkin, Commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission; and Mr. Duffey, Assistant Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs, will be available to discuss their individual requests in more detail. For the fiscal year 1978, the Department of State is requesting appropriation of $1,247,135,000. This is an increase of $199,456,000 over the amount appropriated to date for fiscal year 1977 and includes a budget amendment for $2,080,000. However, for comparability purposes we have adjusted the 1977 appropriations to add supplemental requests required by law or international agreements and to deduct fiscal year 1977 rescissions and nonrecurring costs. Taking these changes into account, the net increase over the fiscal year 1977 adjusted appropriations is $77,182,000. MAJOR COMPONENTS OF INCREASE. There are four major components which comprise over 90 percent of the gross increases for fiscal year 1978: First, $50.8 million will be used for our Salaries and Expenses appropriation primarily for mandatory wage and price increases and Federal salary adjustments. Second, $35.7 million is requested for the Foreign Buildings Program, which includes $15 million more for work on the Moscow Embassy compound. In fiscal year 1977, $30 million was appropriated to initiate this project, and $45 million is projected for this purpose in fiscal year 1978. Third, $13.1 million will be used primarily for two construction projects proposed by the International Boundary and Water Commission, United States and Mexico. One project would complete flood control works on the Tijuana River and the other would construct a powerplant for the Amistad Dam on the Rio Grande River. Finally, $11.5 million is requested for Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Activities. One-half of the increase would cover mandatory cost adjustments and the balance principally would increase private sector involvement in international communications programs and augment the international visitors program. It is my opinion, Mr. Chairman, that the budget request before you represents the essential needs of the Department for fiscal year 1978. We will maintain our efforts, discussed with the committee last year, to improve internal management processes, to allocate position resources to priority and policy relevant requirements and thereby ask this committee for only those new resources needed in the conduct of foreign affairs. ADMINISTRATION OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS Mr. Chairman, under the category administration of foreign affairs, we are requesting $741,820,000 for six appropriations which provide the basic funds for salaries, expenses and allowances of nearly all Department of State employees in the United States and abroad. I would first like to address specifically the Salaries and Expenses appropriation since it comprises most of this category, and is the largest of all our accounts. SALARIES AND EXPENSES Over 59 percent of these funds are used to pay the salaries and related benefit costs of our American and local employees. The remainder, or 41 percent, is used for the operating expenses incident to the Department's conducting business on an international and domestic level. This, in effect, is our fundamental appropriation as it funds the predominant foreign policy activities of the U.S. Govern ment. The amount requested for Salaries and Expenses in fiscal year 1978 is $599.5 million, a net increase of $50.8 million over the 1977 adjusted appropriation. Of this amount, $37 million or 73 percent stems from mandatory costs. The primary force compelling this increase is overseas wage and price increases. The remaining $13.8 million of the increase will be used to meet high priority needs which cannot be met by reprograming funds or personnel. Specifically: $2.4 million of this increment will be used to open a new post in Djibouti, Afars, and Issas, on the eastern horn of Africa, and to expand Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Peking, People's Republic of China, and Suva, Fiji; $3.3 million will upgrade, modernize, and improve the Department's electronic communications and mail processing capabilities; $1.9 million will provide additional equipment to combat and prevent acts of terrorism against U.S. Embassy personnel abroad; $2.6 million will fund various increases such as external research, training, and staff strengthening; $1.6 million will be allocated for passport expenses, primarily for the Travel Document and Issuance System—this system will develop a better passport document and provide more efficient and convenient passport service to the American traveling public and funds in fiscal year 1978 will be used to purchase required equipment for the project and to develop a pilot production line; $2 million will be allocated for consular operations, principally to develop with the Immigration and Naturalization Service an automated nonimmigrant visa issuing system of machine readable visas and other automated document checking devices for our ports of entry and border inspection points to combat the problem of illegal aliens entering the United States. OTHER APPROPRIATIONS The remainder of the increase within administration of foreign affairs is attributed primarily to an additional $35.7 million for the regular appropriation for the Foreign Buildings Program. In fiscal year 1978, we are requesting that this appropriation include $30.1 million more for various construction projects, including an additional $15 million for work on the Moscow Embassy compound. The remaining $5.6 million is for mandatory operating costs. On the Moscow project, I am pleased to report that a team of experts recently in Moscow concluded an agreement on the exchange of sites and commencement dates for construction. This important development has given the project needed momentum at a crucial time. Concerning other appropriations, we are also requesting increases of $0.5 million for Representation Allowances, $0.7 million for Payment to the Foreign Service Retirement and Disability Fund, and $0.5 million for Emergencies in the Diplomatic and Consular Service. POSITIONS Mr. Chairman, our principal resource is people, and the most efficient use of these positions is one of our overriding concerns. The Department is continuing its policy of closely examining how we now use our personnel resources in terms of the Department's objectives and what we can do to more effectively deploy the resources we already possess. By continuing examination of our employment patterns, we have made every effort to draw the needed positions from within the current overall resources of the Department during fiscal year 1977 to meet increased workloads and shifts in policy emphasis. At the same time, we have reduced the 121 American positions mandated by the Congress. This task has required that we examine carefully our base. Such a review is necessary because the Department is a dynamic organization that needs constant adjustment to meet changing priorities, taking into account that personnel are geographically dispersed throughout the world. In our Salaries and Expenses appropriation we have programed or abolished, during fiscal years 1976 and 1977, 5 percent of the Department's employable man-years. These position changes are computed on an American staff that is, on a comparable basis, 461 positions under our strength in fiscal year 1968. In formulating the fiscal year 1978 budget, it became apparent that an increment of new positions in our Salaries and Expenses appropriation would be required for us to continue to manage and reprogram our position resources to meet new requirements. Accordingly, we determined that an additional 117 positions would be necessary during fiscal year 1978. Forty-one of these new positions are required to meet rising workloads in passport and consular services alone. The balance of the new positions will be used to open a post at Djibouti and expand the post at Riyadh, to modernize and strengthen the global communications network of the Department, to augment the Department's language training capability to comply with a General Accounting Office audit report, to respond to new |