Statement by the President Upon Approving Resolution Providing for Congressional Study of Aviation Problems.

I HAVE today approved House Resolution 3587, providing for a study of United States aviation problems by the Congress. The act establishes a temporary Congressional Aviation Policy Board. This 10-man board, to be composed of 5 members of each House, will study such questions as the current and future needs of American aviation, including commercial air transportation and the utilization of aircraft by the armed services, and the nature, type, and extent of aircraft and air transportation industries that are desirable or essential to the national security and welfare.

The Congressional Board will also seek to find methods of encouraging needed developments in the aviation and air transportation industry, and will suggest improved organization and procedures of the Government designed to assist it in handling aviation matters efficiently and in the public interest.

I welcome the attention given by the Congress to our aviation problems, as evidenced by this act. A similar study was recently authorized by the executive branch, when I established a temporary Air Policy Commission, composed of private citizens, to assist me in formulating a national policy on aviation. The findings of the Air Policy Commission, which has been requested to submit its final recommendations by January 1, 1948, will be made available to the Congressional Aviation Policy Board, which will report to the Congress on March 1.

NOTE As enacted, the House resolution is Public Law 287, 80th Congress (61 Stat. 676).