Special Message to the Congress Transmitting Reorganization Plan 16 of 1950.

To the Congress of the United States:

I transmit herewith Reorganization Plan No. 16 of 1950, prepared in accordance with the Reorganization Act of 1949. The plan transfers to the Federal Security Agency the functions of the General Services Administration relating to assistance to local school districts and grants and loans for water pollution control projects. My reasons for transmitting this plan are stated in an accompanying general message.

After investigation I have found and hereby declare that each reorganization included in Reorganization Plan No. 16 of 1950 is necessary to accomplish one or more of the purposes set forth in section 2(a) of the Reorganization Act of 1949.

The transfer of the responsibility for making payments to local school districts whose operating deficits are due in part to Federal activities is unlikely to result in an immediate reduction in expenditures for the administration of the program. However, by placing the function in the agency of the Government best informed in matters of public school administration and presently charged with the payment of other grants for educational purposes, the plan will provide additional assurance that the funds appropriated for assistance to overburdened school districts will be most advantageously expended.

The relative newness and expanding character of the water pollution control program prevents the itemization of the reductions in expenditures which will follow the consolidation of responsibility for this activity. It is expected that the elimination of overlapping and the simplification of relationships which will result from the transfer will make it possible to administer grants and loans more expeditiously and at lower costs per project than can be done under the present division of responsibility.

HARRY S. TRUMAN