Editorial Note
The legislative history of the post-UNRRA foreign relief bill may be traced in the following documents of the 80th Congress, first Session: House Report 239; Senate Report 153; and Conference Report 395. The bill was introduced originally in the House of Representatives as H.J. Res. 134, hearings beginning in the Committee on Foreign Affairs on February 25 and the first witness being the Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (Clayton). Action was completed in the House on April 30 with the bill redesignated as H.J. Res 153. While the bill was still pending in the House, the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate began hearings in executive session on April 15, the first witness being the Under Secretary of State (Acheson). [Page 1036] Hearings were held in Committee on April 15–18, 22, 25, and 29. The Senate completed action by mid-May, and on May 16 conferees of the two Houses met and reached agreement providing authorization of $350 million for relief assistance to countries devastated by war. Both Houses on May 21 adopted the conference report; and the bill was signed into law by the President on May 31 as Public Law 84 (61 Stat. 125).
The document that follows is printed as exemplifying the type of information requested by the Congress and provided by the Department during the passage of this legislation through the Congress.