9/11 Commission Recommendations: Joint Committee on Atomic Energy - A Model for Congressional Oversight? Page: 7 of 38
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CRS-4
effort made by Congress at about the same time to strengthen its position vis-a-vis
the Executive Branch by enacting the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946." 12
Congress was also engaged in additional efforts to make it equal with the
executive, such as enacting the Employment Act of 1946,13 which created in
Congress a Joint Economic Committee charged with providing independent facts
and analyses to Congress on developing economic trends.
One of Congress's apparent motivations in creating the JCAE was to have a
uniquely powerful congressional panel to serve as overseer for the powerful Atomic
Energy Commission it had created. According to Green and Rosenthal, references
to the joint panel in congressional hearings:
... dealt with the potential role of [a] joint committee in controlling the [new
Atomic Energy] Commission's exercise of licensing authority; in safeguarding
the position of the military; and in keeping Congress informed about atomic
energy developments. The Senate Committee's report on the legislation
described the provision relating to the joint committee primarily in terms of
keeping Congress "fully acquainted at all times with the work of the
Commission." The report also suggested that the joint committee would "be in
a position to give substantial aid to the Appropriations Committee" and could
consider supplementary and amendatory atomic energy legislation as the need
might arise.'4
Less than a month after the explosion of the atomic bomb, Senator Brien
McMahon (D-CT) introduced legislation in Congress to establish a board composed
of executive officials to deal with the subject of atomic power." This was the "first
bill on atomic energy in the Senate."'6 It was reportedly a rudimentary proposal that
received little notice.
On that same day - September 6, 1945 - Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg
(R-MI) introduced a concurrent resolution to create a joint congressional committee
which would study the issues associated with the development, control and use of
atomic energy and report recommendations to Congress." The Senate adopted
Senator Vandenberg's resolution calling for a joint committee without debate on
September 27, 1945.18 Allies of the Truman Administration in the House, however,
opposed the Vandenberg measure, preferring instead to keep the subject of atomic
energy, "within the orbit of existing and Democratically controlled standing12 Green and Rosenthal, The Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, p. 288.
"3 P.L. 79-304, 60 Stat 23.
'" Green and Rosenthal, pp. 4-5.
'5 S. 1359, 79th Cong., 1S sess., Sept. 6, 1945.
16 Richard G. Hewlett and Oscar E. Anderson, Jr., A History of the United States Atomic
Energy Commission, 2 vols. (University Park Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University
Press, 1962), v. 1, p. 436.
17S. Con. Res. 28, 79th Cong., 1S sess., Sept. 6, 1945.18 Congressional Record, vol. 91 (Sept. 27, 1945), pp. 9062-9063.
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Davis, Christopher M. 9/11 Commission Recommendations: Joint Committee on Atomic Energy - A Model for Congressional Oversight?, report, August 20, 2004; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs5766/m1/7/: accessed June 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.