Lease of Buildings In the District of Columbia

Unless an appropriation act in express terms authorizes a department or establishment of the Government to rent or lease buildings in the District of Columbia, the matter of obtaining quarters in the District of Columbia is for the consideration of the Public Buildings Commission, created by section 10 of the act of March 1, 1919, 40 Stat. 1269, with power to control and allot space in all owned or leased Government buildings in the District of Columbia with certain exceptions therein mentioned. The provision for "lenses" in the act of July 19, 1919, 41 Stat. 175, making appropriation for the Public Health Service, is not so specifically an authority to rent quarters in the District of Columbia as meets the requirements of the act of March 3, 1877, 19 Stat. 370, or in such express terms as to except the Public Health Service from the operation of section 10 of the act of March 1, 1919, 40 Stat. 1269, creating the Public Buildings Commission.