Special Message to the Congress on the Hoover Commission Report on Budget and Accounting.

To the Congress of the United States:

The Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government, headed by former President Herbert Hoover, has set important and desirable objectives for the improvement of Federal administration and for providing more effective methods in the financing and control of Government services. Cooperative action on the part of the legislative and executive branches is required in order to bring about more rapidly the fulfillment of those objectives.

The Commission's report on Federal budgeting and accounting practices is an important contribution toward the attainment of more effective and economical governmental services. It includes significant recommendations showing how the Federal Government can bring about improvements in budgeting, accounting, and management practices generally. Because these recommendations pertain to vital responsibilities of the Chief Executive, I am especially and personally appreciative of the contribution which Mr. Hoover and his distinguished associates have made.

These recommendations of the Commission have been studied extensively by the Executive Branch with a view toward identifying all possible actions that can be taken to strengthen the administration of the executive agencies. I have already approved plans developed by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget to intensify efforts of the executive branch toward that objective. These plans include actions to accelerate the establishment and use of modern accounting methods and improved budget presentations and controls. I consider it desirable and necessary that the executive departments and agencies actively and fully participate in carrying out these plans.

The actions being taken by the executive branch to put many of the Commission's proposals into effect will require close coordination with the legislative branch and merit the support which the Congress should and can provide. I urge that the Congress seek the early enactment of appropriate legislative provisions to support the major objectives of the Commission's recommendations.

The initial recommendation of the Commission's report on budget and accounting calls for the strengthening of the management review and budgeting functions of the Bureau of the Budget. This is of signal importance to the attainment of the Commission's objectives in this field. It has a direct bearing on how fast and how well the executive branch carries out the plans which I have approved. Because the resources of the Bureau of the Budget must be increased if it is to provide, on my behalf, strengthened leadership in the improvement of executive branch budgeting, accounting, and other management practices, I am proposing to the Congress a supplemental appropriation to permit an expansion of the Bureau's staff for this purpose.

Today's Government demands the use of the best and most economical methods that can be devised. To that end, we should take full advantage of the constructive proposals put forth by Mr. Hoover and his able associates.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER