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[S. 2857, 81st Cong., 2d sess.]

A BILL To amend section 12 of the Missing Persons Act, as amended, relating to travel by dependents and transportation of household and personal effects

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 12 of the Missing Persons Act, as amended (50 U. S. C. App. 1012), is hereby further amended to read as follows: "SEC. 12. The dependents and household and personal effects of any person in active service (without regard to pay grade) who is officially reported as dead, injured, missing for a period of 30 days or more, interned in a neutral country, or captured by the enemy, upon application by such dependents, may be moved (including packing and unpacking of household effects), upon receipt by such dependents of such official report, to such location as may be determined in advance or subsequently approved by the head of the department concerned or by such person as he may designate: Provided, That when the person is in an 'injured' status, such movement of dependents or household effects may be authorized only in cases where the anticipated period of hospitalization or treatment will be of prolonged duration: Provided further, That no transportation shall be authorized under this section unless a reasonable relationship exists between the condition and circumstances of the dependents and the destination to which transportation is requested: Provided further, That the cost of such transportation, including packing and unpacking of household effects, shall be charged against appropriations currently available: Provided further, That in lieu of transportation authorized by this section for dependents, the head of the department concerned may authorize the payment in money of amounts equal to such commercial transportation costs for the whole or such part of travel for which transportation in kind is not furnished, when such travel shall have been completed.”

SEC. 2. (a) Claims for travel by dependents and for transportation of household and personal effects which arose under section 12 of the Missing Persons Act, as amended, incident to the death of a person in active service, and which were not presented for reimbursement or were presented and were rejected or disallowed, may, until three years after the date of approval of this Act, be presented for consideration or reconsideration and reimbursement under the provisions of section 12 of the Missing Persons Act, as amended by this Act: Provided, That this section shall be applicable only to such claims which arose on or after September 8, 1939, and prior to the date of approval of this Act.

(b) Payments made by disbursing officers on or after September 8, 1939, and prior to the date of approval of this Act, for travel by dependents and for transportation of household and personal effects pursuant to section 12 of the Missing Persons Act, as amended, are hereby ratified.

Senator KNOWLAND. If the provisions of the bill have passed the careful scrutiny of the acting chairman to his satisfaction, I will leave my proxy with him.

Senator BYRD. I would like to bring this up. This bill was introduced by Senator Tydings. I was named a subcommittee of one. We have had hearings on it, and one of the main purposes of the bill is to correct a decision given by the Comptroller General and which, unless corrected, will require the recovering from the estates of a great many persons transportation costs of dependents where travel had been paid by the Government.

In addition, there are a great many claims for travel that have not been paid as a result of the adverse decision of the Comptroller General by reason of previous legislation.

This relates to the travel costs and transportation of household effects of those who are officially reported as injured, dead, missing, as the result of military or naval operations.

The armed services recommend that the word "injured" be deleted from the present act, which this pending bill does, because it does not give the definition of how much injured. They could have a very small injury. They think that has been abused.

Senator SALTONSTALL. Is this a unanimous report of the subcommittee?

Senator BYRD. Yos.

Senator SALTONSTALL. I move the full committee adopt the report. Senator BYRD. I have a full report here, which I will place in the record.

(The report of the subcommittee mentioned above is as follows:) REPORT OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE, COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES (HARRY FLOOD BYRD, CHAIRMAN), PURSUANT TO S. 2857, To AMEND SECTION 12 OF THE MISSING PERSONS ACT, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO TRAVEL BY DependENTS AND TRANSPORTATION OF HOUSEHOLD AND PERSONAL EFFECTS

The subcommittee recommends to the committee that the bill, as amended, be reported favorably.

PURPOSE OF THE BILL

The purpose of this bill is to validate certain payments made by the armed services under the authorities of section 12 of the Missing Persons Act, as amended, (Public Law 490, 79th Cong.); to clarify existing language in that section and to limit certain of the authorities presently contained in the law.

EXPLANATION OF THE BILL

Section 12 of the Missing Persons Act authorizes the travel of dependents of military personnel, serving anywhere, and civilian employees of the Federal Government, serving overseas, to travel and transportation of household effects in the event such personnel are "officially reported as injured, dead, missing as a result of military or naval operations, interned in a neutral country, or captured by the enemy."

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There is little or no legislative history, either in the committee hearings or debate on the floor, which indicates the intention of Congress when it passed this particular section of the Missing Persons Act. The armed services have always taken the position that the language, "as the result of military or naval operations" applies only to those persons who were missing and did not apply to the other categories covered by the section. However, the Comptroller General has ruled that this language should apply to all the categories enumerated in section 12. The result of the Comptroller's decision has been that the services were faced with the necessity of recovering from the estates of a great many persons the transportation costs of dependents where the travel had been paid by the Government. In addition there are a great many claims for travel that have not been paid as a result of the adverse decision of the Comptroller General.

It is also deemed important, as a matter of good administration, that such persons be transported to such points as they might designate in order to meet the practical requirement that they return to their homes or points where they will make their permanent residence. Failure of such authority would work untold hardships and create a great many serious administrative problems for the Military Establishment.

Accordingly, this bill, as introduced, would eliminate this restricting language and would validate payments already made, as well as permit the payment of such claims in the future. As introduced the bill also deleted the authority in the original act to transport the dependents of persons who were injured. These two items were the major changes recommended by the Department of Defense and were contained in the bill as introduced.

The subcommittee, in studying the bill, felt that certain amendments were necessary in order to place safeguards around promiscuous travel and to provide a technical assurance that the bill will accomplish its desired purpose. It was also deemed proper to liberalize the bill as introduced by reinserting authority to transport the dependents of injured personnel but drastically limiting it over the authorities in the present law.

Specifically the subcommittee recommends—

(a) That the bill as introduced be amended to provide that dependents of injured personnel be entitled to transportation when such injuries are of such a severe nature as will require prolonged treatment or hospitalization. The departmental witnesses indicated that if such an amendment is made, the cost would be extremely small, because of the restrictions as to the nature and duration of the injury.

(b) That the bill as introduced be amended by limiting the authority for dependents of missing persons to travel to those cases where such persons are

missing for a period in excess of 30 days. Testimony at the hearing indicated that under existing law and under the bill as introduced, the dependents of an individual reported as missing would be entitled to transportation, even though the missing man reappeared and was carried on the muster rolls within a day or two. It was felt that such authority is entirely too broad, and, accordingly, the limitation mentioned above is recommended.

(c) The subcommittee found at the hearings that dependents could be travelled to any point they requested provided such travel was approved by the head of the department concerned. In some cases such travel had little or no relation to the needs of the dependents or their subsequent permanent residence, but rather was based on the whim of the dependents at that particular time. It is the belief of the subcommittee that the bill should be further amended to provide that transportation authorized for any cause under the provisions of section 12 be limited to such points as the facts indicate are necessary to meet the needs of the individual case.

(d) The bill as introduced validated payments and claims arising after March 7, 1942. The original Missing Persons Act, while approved on March 7, 1942, was made retroactive to September 8, 1939. Accordingly it is believed that this bill would not accomplish the desired purpose unless it is amended by substituting the effective date of the original Missing Persons Act in lieu of the date of approval. The subcommittee therefore recommends that in section 2, the date of March 7, 1942, be deleted in both places it occurs, and September 8, 1939, be substituted in lieu thereof. The fiscal effects of this bill as introduced are rather difficult to estimate because of the fact that it is not known how many claims are being held up as a result of the adverse ruling of the General Accounting Office. It is estimated that the total amount of any new claims would not exceed $3,410,000 and the recurring cost of such claims in the future would not exceed $1,050,000 annually. increased cost due to reinserting the provision granting transportation for dependents of injured personnel was not, according to departmental witnesses, deemed to be other than "extremely small." In addition, by limiting the type of transportation allowed and requiring persons to be missing in excess of 30 days before their dependents would be authorized transportation, there should be a further substantial decrease in the total cost of the bill.

The

This bill has been recommended by the Department of Defense and has the approval of the Bureau of the Budget. The Comptroller General of the United States, commenting on this bill to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget, stated he had no particular reason to object to its enactment.

Senator BYRD. It validates these past claims but tightens up the law for the future with respect to who is to be considered as injured, and they are required now to be missing 30 days while the previous law had no standards. They could be missing 1 day.

Also, those that just leave, they are not permitted to get it.

I think it has been pretty carefully worked over.

Senator KEFAUVER. I second the motion.

Senator BYRD. The motion has been made and seconded. (The motion was passed unanimously.)

H. R. 7708

Senator BYRD. Next is H. R. 7708, an act to authorize the Secretary of the Navy to grant to the Monmouth Consolidated Water Co. certain easements and rights-of-way within the United States naval ammunition depot, Earle, N. J.

(H. R. 7708 is as follows:)

[H. R. 7708, 81st Cong., 2d sess.]

AN ACT To authorize the Secretary of the Navy to grant to the Monmouth Consolidated Water Company certain easements and rights-of-way within the United States Naval Ammunition Depot, Earle, New Jersey

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Navy is hereby authorized, for and on behalf of the United States, to grant to the Monmouth Consolidated Water Company, Long Branch, New Jersey, its successors and assigns, on such terms and conditions as he determines to be in the public interest, easements and rights-of-way for the construction, operation, and maintenance of a water tower, together with necessary pipe lines and other appurtenant facilities, at such place or places within the United States Naval Ammunition Depot, Earle, New Jersey, as may be approved by the Secretary.

Passed the House of Representatives May 2, 1950.
Attest:

RALPH R. ROBERTS, Clerk.

Mr. GALUSHA. That bill was passed by the House of Representatives. The purpose of the bill is to authorize the Secretary of the Navy to grant to the Monmouth Consolidated Water Co. certain easements and rights-of-way within the United States Naval Ammunition Depot, Earle, N. J.

This water company supplies the water service to most of Monmouth County. During the dry season of the year communities located at the higher elevations in the county experience periodic water shortages. To remedy this situation the water company proposes to erect a water tower on the highest location within the county, which comes within the naval depot. The Navy Department approves the plan and states that the tower and water lines will not interfere with the operations of the depot.

Senator BYRD. There is no transfer of property, it is just an easement?

Mr. GALUSHA. Yes, sir.

Senator BYRD. Is there any objection?

Senator KEFAUVER. I move it be reported.

Senator KNOWLAND. Second.

(The motion was carried unanimously.)

Senator BYRD. We will adjourn until next Thursday.
(Whereupon, at 12 noon, the meeting was adjourned.)

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