Speech #840152362

That the department head should be given authority to determine the organization within his department. What we are really doing in this bill Is going back to the original act relating to the reorganization of the Department of State. which was enacted in either 1951 or 1952. The provisions of that act were upset or altered by the Immigration and Nationality Act provisions. which require that the Passport Office be included in the Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs. I remind my colleagues that the original act relating to the reorganization of the State Department in accordance with the first Hoover Commission recommendations gave the Secretary the authority to place agencies in the Department within the organizational structure where they would make the most Sense and promote the greatest efficiency. Then the Congress came along with the Immigration and Nationality Act and imposed a block. a stricture. or an impediment in the way of the Secretary being able to design the use of the respective agencies in his Department. This bill would unfreeze that situation. The bill would provide the Secretary with authority over the Passport Service.