Memorandum from Charles Murphy to President Harry S. Truman

THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON June 25,1951. TRUMAN Memorandum for : The President ARCHIVES AND From: Charles S. Murphy cmn "NATIONAL RECOROS : SERVICE Subject: White House Appropriation Attached are papers setting forth at some length the situation with respect to the White House appropriation in the Independent Offices Bill. I believe that the best approach to this matter would be for you to call Clarence Cannon and Senator McKellar on the phone to say that you hope the situation can be straightened out in conference so far as the White House Office is concerned. I think you might make the following points: 1. This is a bad precedent. The practice has always been for the Congress to appropriate for the White House the amounts included in the budget, just as it has always been the practice, on the other hand, for the President to take the estimates that are submitted by the Legislative Branch for its own operation and include that in the budget without any change. I think you will find both Senator McKellar and Mr. Cannon very sympathetic to this argument. I understand that Senator McKellar made quite a fight against the Williams amend- ment on the Senate floor on this ground. 2. The size of the appropriation is not unreasonable; - a. A large part of the increase in the White House Appropriation in recent years is accounted for by the fact that it is no longer the practice to detail so many employees to the White House from other agencies. b. The increase above last year's appropriation is due to increased work load resulting from the emergency, although it represents in part an attempt to provide relief for staff that has been badly overworked for some time. C. The size of the appropriation is relatively insignificant in the light of the awful responsibilities which