Special Message to the Congress Transmitting Reorganization Plan 5 of 1953 Concerning the Export-Import Bank of Washington

To the Congress of the United States:

I transmit herewith Reorganization Plan No. 5 of 1953, prepared in accordance with the provisions of the Reorganization Act of 1949, as amended.

The purpose of the reorganization plan is to simplify the organization and strengthen the administration of the Export-Import Bank of Washington by providing for a single Managing Director at the head of the Bank. The management of the Bank is now vested in a Board of Directors consisting of four full-time members and the Secretary of State, ex officio. The functions performed by the Board are essentially of an executive nature and are comparable to those vested in the heads of other executive agencies. Experience has demonstrated that the most effective performance of executive functions is more likely to be obtained under a single administrator than under a board.

The plan concentrates authority and responsibility for Bank operations in the Managing Director. Safeguards are provided in the plan and in existing law, however, to assure that the Bank follows sound lending and financial policies and that its activities are coordinated with those of other Government agencies having international responsibilities. Under the plan, the National Advisory Council on International Monetary and Financial Problems is authorized to establish the general lending and other financial policies which shall govern the operations of the Bank. The Council is composed of the Secretary of the Treasury, as chairman, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Commerce, the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Director for Mutual Security.

At present, the Board of Directors is not only subject to policy guidance by the National Advisory Council, under the provisions of the Bretton Woods Agreements Act, but is also required to consult with the Advisory Board for the Export-Import Bank, created by the Export-Import Bank Act, on major questions of policy and to receive recommendations from that Board. The composition of the Advisory Board largely parallels that of the Council. The differences are that only the latter includes the Director for Mutual Security as a member and that the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank is the chairman of the Advisory Board whereas the Secretary of the Treasury serves as the chairman of the Council. Because of the similarity of the composition of the Advisory Board and Council, and of their functions as respects the Bank, the reorganization plan abolishes the Advisory Board. It also abolishes the functions of the Advisory Board (conferred by section 3 (d) of the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945).

The reorganization plan also provides for the abolition of the functions of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank of Washington with respect to his membership on the National Advisory Council on International Monetary and Financial Problems. The function of membership is conferred upon the Chairman by section 4 of the Bretton Woods Agreements Act, as amended. I contemplate that the Managing Director of the Export-Import Bank of Washington will participate as a non-voting member of the National Advisory Council in relation to matters of concern to the Bank. I believe there is merit in reducing the size of the Council and also believe that the interests of the Bank can be properly placed before the Council without conferring full Council membership on the Managing Director of the Bank.

Under the reorganization plan the Export-Import Bank of Washington will continue in its status of a corporate entity, and independent agency, in the executive branch of the Government. The President will retain authority to terminate or modify any delegation or assignment of function made by the President to the Bank or to any of its agencies or officers.

After investigation I have found and hereby declare that each reorganization included in Reorganization Plan No. 5 of 1953 .is necessary to accomplish one or more of the purposes set forth in section 2(a) of the Reorganization Act of 1949, as amended. I also have found and hereby declare that by reason of these reorganizations it is necessary to include in the reorganization plan provision for the appointment and compensation of the new officers specified in sections 1, 2, and 3 of the reorganization plan. The rates of compensation fixed for these officers are, respectively, those which I have found to prevail in respect of comparable officers in the executive branch of the Government.

The taking effect of Reorganization Plan No. 5 of 1953 will accomplish a small immediate reduction of expenditures, since it will substitute one Managing Director, together with a deputy and assistant, for a Board which includes four full-time members. Other reductions in expenditures will probably be brought about also, through increased economy and efficiency in the performance of necessary services of the Bank resulting from the simplification of its organization, but such reductions cannot be itemized in advance of actual experience.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER