Letter to the President of the Senate and to the Speaker of the House on the Need for Permanent Reorganization Authority.

Dear Mr. President: (Dear Mr. speaker:)

In my recent Budget Message I stated that "I will ask that permanent reorganization authority be granted to the President to initiate improvements in Government organization, subject to the disapproval of the Congress."

Accordingly, there is forwarded herewith a draft of legislation "To further amend section 5 of the Reorganization Act of 1949." The bill would eliminate the expiration date for the authority to transmit reorganization plans to the Congress under the Act.

Under section 2(a) of the Reorganization Act of 1949, the President has a duty to "examine and from time to time re-examine the organization of all agencies of the Government and ... determine what changes therein are necessary .... "This responsibility under the statute is permanent. However, the authority to transmit reorganization plans to effect changes in the Government's structure has been limited to specified periods. The Congress has periodically extended that authority and last year renewed it until June 1, 1965.

With only a few lapses since 1932, authority generally similar to that conferred by the present Reorganization Act has been available to the Presidents then in office. The usefulness of the authority to transmit reorganization plans to the Congress and the continuing need for such authority to carry out fully the purposes of the Reorganization Act have been clearly demonstrated. The time has now come, therefore, to eliminate any expiration date with respect to that authority; the authority should be made commensurate with the responsibility of the President under the same statute.

From this authority will come benefits for the people whose government this is.

The people expect and deserve a government that is lean and fit, organized to take up new challenges and able to surmount them. Reorganization can mean a streamlined leadership, ready to do more in less time for the best interests of all the people.

Reorganization authority is not a whim or a fancy. It is the modern approach to the hard, sticky problems of the present and the future. Government has a responsibility to its citizens to administer their business with dispatch, enthusiasm and effectiveness.

The Congress itself recognizes these ideals, and has many times approved the ideas and hopes of this request. It is in that spirit of the Congress I respectfully urge the Congress to an early and favorable consideration of the proposed legislation.

Sincerely,

LYNDON B. JOHNSON