Vernon Ehlers: “Mr. Chairman, I am afraid I have not provided a built-in cheering and applause section, but I believe my ideas are…”

“Mr. Chairman, I am afraid I have not provided a built-in cheering and applause section, but I believe my ideas are probably worth more applause. What the gentleman proposes is not a bad idea. I had proposed this myself some time ago, and not only in this department but also in the Energy Department I have worked on a similar proposal. The administration at the same time has advanced a proposal to reduce the number of under secretaries and does not support the development of new under secretaries. But what the administration did in response to our request to create this under secretary for manufacturing in the Department of Commerce, the administration heeded these calls and it created a new assistant secretary for manufacturing and took other steps to create a focus on manufacturing in the department, such as creating a manufacturers' council which met just 2 weeks ago. They had their initial meeting. I was present at that meeting, and I was impressed with the quality of the appointees, and I am delighted that the President and the administration took these steps. So I think it is really time to declare victory and go home on this issue because we basically got what we asked for. If instead the Larson amendment were adopted at this point, and if it passed through the Senate and were signed into law, it would force the administration to reorganize yet again. I think that would be counterproductive at that point.”