B-142983 September 18, 1962

B-142983 September 18, 1962

Honorable John W. Byrnes House of Representatives

Dear Mr. Byrnes:

By letter of May 8, 1962, you called to our attention articles appearing in the Christian Science Monitor and the New York Herald Tribune indicating that members of the White House Staff were engaged in "lobbying" activities with respect to the Administration's program for elderly medical care under Social Security. In view of certain prohibitory statues, you requested that we investigate the matter and, if the newspaper accounts were found to be accurate, that we disallow any illegal expenditures form appropriated funds.

We requested the White House to furnish us a complete report in the matter to include the names of the employees involved and the appropriation from which they were being paid. As we informed you by letter of September 6, 1962, the Assistant Special Counsel to the President advised us that the activities of the government personal concerned consisted of supplying information in response to specific inquiries. We stated that although we did not have firsthand knowledge of the facts of the matter, the information reported to us by the White House did not indicate any violation of law.

Your letter of September 7, 1962, raises the questions as to whether we have determined that the newspaper accounts which generated your request for investigation are false, and you request that we furnish you a copy of the report of investigation upon which such determination might have been based.

We did not conduct an investigation of the newspaper allegations and we did not reach a determination as to their accuracy. As stated in our letter of September 6, our conclusion that there was no violation of law was predicated upon the information furnished us by the White House. We recognized, of course, that the White House response conflicted with the newspaper reports.

You correctly point out that our Office is charged with the responsibility for determining that public funds are used in accordance with law and that we are provided with broad investigative powers for executing that responsibility. However, our responsibility with respect to overseeing the expenditure of public funds, covering as it does the entire Executive Branch of the Government, is a large one. Upon a number of occasions we have encountered, notwithstanding the broad investigative powers granted us by statute, considerable resistance on the part of Executive Agencies in the matter of our access to information necessary to the conduct of our investigations. Where there were significant sums of money in question or where we otherwise considered the issues of major significance we have pressed for ultimate resolution of such controversies over our right to obtain the information we were seeking. Although we have gone as far as to enlist the assistance of committees of the Congress, and notwithstanding clear indications of the congressional will that we not be denied any material we consider necessary to the proper discharge of our responsibility, we have not always been successful in such controversies.

At present our relations with the Executive Branch concerning the furnishing of information are relatively good. But we are certain you understand that investigations of White House activities are not subject to the same techniques as those conducted in the various departments and agencies. Files of the White House Office, with the exception of financial records, are normally not available to us. Also, White House personnel are not always available for interview. This has been the situation in all recent Administrations.

In the final analysis, therefore, we concluded that to proceed beyond the White House reply in the subject matter would entail the probability of reaching a stalemate which we would not be able to ultimately resolve and which, consequently, might serve to jeopardize the reasonably ready access we now have to information in other important areas. And since we do not consider that the amount of funds which might have been involved in the reported activities was significant, we decided not to pursue the matter further.

While we can understand that our response might not be satisfactory in terms of your interest in the violations indicated, we trust that you will appreciate our position in the matter as it relates to the overall responsibility of this Office.

Sincerely yours,

JOSEPH CAMPBELL Comptroller General of the United States