DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF THE FLORIDA CANAL


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 "Funds have been provided from the Emergency Belief Appropriation Act of
1935 for the partial construction of the projects listed herewith which will re-
quire in addition to the above estimates $204,174,000 to complete."
 The projects listed are: Passamaquoddy tidal power project, Maine; the
Atlantic-Gulf ship canal; Conchas Dam, N. Mex.; Bluestone Reservoir, W. Va.;
and Sardis Reservoir, Miss.
 The discussion which took place in the committee appears in part on page
23, where Mr. Bolton said:
 "I want this point distinctly understood, that, as a member of the Appro-
 priations Committee of Congress, I believe we are supposed to provide funds
*for carrying out activities which have been authorized by Congress, but I think
it is entirely wrong to suggest to this committee the appropriation of funds
for activities which have never been authorized by Congress. I think that
would be entirely beyond the scope of our authority.
 Mr. Parks, who was chairman of the subcommittee, said:
 "I think it has been held that any project that actually has been begun and
 on which money has been expended stands on the same level with projects
 authorized by Congress. Of course, that does not mean we have to do it, but
 so far as the authorization is concerned, it is there."
 Mr. President, my contention is that these projects have been authorized by
 Congress under the act of 1935; that work has been begun upon them, fully
 authorized, and funds have been properly allotted for beginning the work upon
 the projects. But the House committee decided not to place the projects in the
 appropriation bill. The bill came to the Senate. I offered an amendment which
 included the projects and it was referred to the Committee on Appropriations.
 That committee by a majority of one rejected the amendment. The subcom-
 mittee by a majority of one and the full committee by a majority of one
 rejected the project.
 The bill was reported to the Senate. I offered the amendment on the floor of
 the Senate. By that time the Senators from Maine [Mr. Hale and Mr. White]
 suggested and claimed that the Passamaquoddy project ought not to be included
 in the bill, so the amendment which I finally offered on the floor of the Senate
 referred only to the Atlantic-Gulf ship canal.
 On the floor of the Senate in the meantime provisions were Inserted in the
 bill for the New Mexico'project and for the Mississippi project, the first a dam
 and the latter a reservoir. The amendment which I offered provided for the
 Atlantic-Gulf ship canal in accordance with the recommendations of the Secre-
 tary of War and the Chief of Engineers. The Bureau of the Budget approved
 it and submitted an estimate of $12,000,000. The amendment now before us
 provides for $10,000,000 for 1937, while the Budget estimate was for $12,000,000.
 The Budget estimate was submitted to the House, so the item was regularly
 submitted to the Congress by the Budget Bureau and should properly have been
 inserted in the appropriation bill for 1937.
 The amendment came to a vote in the Senate. Unfortunately, quite a num-
 ber of Senators were absent and the amendment which I had offered was
 defeated. I think the vote was 35 for and 39 against. One of the Senators
 then absent, the Senator from Missouri [Mr. Clark], returned next day and
 entered a motion to reconsider the vote whereby the amendment was defeated.
 When that motion was considered, again some Senators were absent. I know
 if they had been present they would have voted for the motion to reconsider.
 That motion was defeated by a majority of one. The vote, as I recall, was 35
 for and 36 against.
 The claim that these projects have been overwhelmingly eliminated by the
 House and the Senate, it seems to me, is not altogether well founded. A ma-
 jority of only one vote against the motion to reconsider was the result of the
 test in the Senate.
 So far as the Passamaquoddy and Florida ship canal projects are concerned.
 they come again before the Senate in the form of the pending amendment. The
 joint resolution offered by the Senator from Arkansas [Mr. Robinson] was
 referred to the Committee on Commerce and has been reported favorably by
 that committee. The amendment now pending is the same as the joint resolu-
 tion favorably reported by the Commerce Committee to the Senate with the
 exception that the boards provided for are to report to the President on or
 before July 20, 1986, according to the amendment, instead of by June 20, 1936,
 as provided in the joint resolution.
 It is claimed that that is too early a time to enable the boards to make study
 and investigation and examination of the reports which have already been fur-