Dixson v. United States

465 U.S. 482, 104 S. Ct. 1172, 79 L. Ed. 2d 458, 1984 U.S. LEXIS 35, 52 U.S.L.W. 4262

• Court: Supreme Court of the United States
• Decided: February 22, 1984
• Docket: 82-5279
• Status: Published

Opinions

Justice Marshall

delivered the opinion of the Court.

These consolidated cases present the question whether officers of a private, nonprofit corporation administering and expending federal community development block grants are “public officials” for purposes of the federal bribery statute. 18 U. S. C. § 201(a).

I

In 1979, the city of Peoria received two federal block grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The first was a $400,000 Community Development Block Grant; the second a $638,000 Metro Reallocation Grant. Both grants were funded through the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (HCDA), 88 Stat. 633, as amended, 42 U. S. C. §§5301-5320 (1976 ed. and Supp. V). Under that Act, the Secretary of HUD is authorized to dispense federal block grants to state and local governments and nonprofit community organizations for urban renewal programs such as the rehabilitation of residential structures, code enforcement in deteriorating areas, and the construction of public works projects.

The city of Peoria subsequently designated United Neighborhoods, Inc. (UNI), a community-based, social-service organization, to be the city’s subgrantee in charge of the administration of the federal block grant funds.¹ UNI in turn hired petitioner Dixson to serve as the corporation’s Executive Director and petitioner Hinton as its Housing Rehabilitation Coordinator. Petitioner Dixson was responsible for the general supervision of UNI’s programs, including fiscal control and execution of contracts. Petitioner Hinton’s duties included contracting with persons applying for housing rehabilitation assistance, and contracting with demolition firms.

A federal grand jury named petitioners in an 11-count indictment filed on March 12, 1981. The indictment charged that petitioners, as “public officials” under 18 U. S. C. § 201(a), had sought a series of bribes in return for “being influenced in their performance of an official act in respect to the awarding of housing rehabilitation contracts” in violation of 18 U. S. C. §§ 201(c)(1),(2).

According to the Government’s evidence at trial, petitioners used their positions to extract $42,694 in kickbacks from contractors seeking to work on UNI’s housing rehabilitation projects. One contractor testified how he was approached by petitioner Hinton and persuaded to pay petitioners 10 percent of each housing rehabilitation contract that petitioners awarded him. The contractor explained that on 10 occasions, he received first draw checks from UNI for 20 percent of the contract price, deposited the check at his bank, and paid half the amount of the check in cash to petitioners. A second contractor testified as to substantially the same arrangement.

Before trial, petitioners moved to dismiss the indictment on the grounds that they were not “public officials” within the meaning of the federal statute. Their motions were denied, and following a jury trial in the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois, petitioners were convicted as charged. The District Court sentenced each to TA years’ imprisonment, to be followed by 3 years’ probation. Petitioners appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which affirmed. 688 P. 2d 195 (1982). Both petitioners filed petitions for writs of certiorari, and we granted the writs. 459 U. S. 1085 (1982). We now affirm.

HH H-l

Petitioners sole claim is that they were not “public officials” within the meaning of 18 U. S. C. § 201(a) and therefore not subject to prosecution under the federal bribery statute.² Since our disposition of this claim turns on the relationship between petitioners and the Federal Government, we begin our discussion with an analysis of the HCDA block grant program and petitioners’ role in administering that program.

Congress passed the HCDA to meet the social, economic, and environmental problems facing cities. 42 U. S. C. § 5301(a) (1976 ed. and Supp. V). The primary objective of the Act is “the development of viable urban communities.” § 5301(c). While the HCDA addressed a national problem, Congress enacted the legislation as a federal block grant statute, under which the day-to-day administration of the federal program, including the actual expenditure of federal funds, is delegated to state and local authorities.

The HCDA creates a “consistent system of Federal aid,” § 5301(d), by distributing funds committed by Congress through organizations outside the Federal Government, while retaining federal control to assure compliance with statutory federal objectives and implementing regulations. Congress itself specified the 17 categories of community projects upon which HCDA grants can be spent. § 5305. Within the federal constraints, grant recipients design programs addressing local needs. To obtain federal funds, local communities must submit to the Secretary a plan made in accordance with national urban growth policies, and supplement the plan with annual performance reports. §§ 5304(a), (d). The Federal Government retains the right to audit the records of HCDA programs, § 5304(e), and to recover improperly expended funds. § 5311(b)(2).

HCDA grantees give assurances to HUD that they, and their subgrantees, will abide by specific financial accountability, equal opportunity, fair labor, environmental, and other requirements. §§ 5304, 5309, 5310; 24 CFR § 570.307 (1983). By administering HCDA funds, private nonprofit organizations subject themselves to numerous federal restrictions beyond those imposed directly by HUD. Like other recipients of federal grant funds, HUD grantees and subgrantees are subject to a uniform audit procedure, adopted by the Federal Government as “an integral element” of “full accountability by those entrusted with the responsibility for administering the programs.”³

UNI voluntarily assumed the status of an HCDA sub-grantee when UNI and the city of Peoria signed five separate grant agreements in March and October 1979, pursuant to which UNI hired petitioners. Under the first four of these agreements, the city promised to provide UNI with $492,500, and UNI committed itself to spend these funds on urban renewal projects and related administrative costs, such as salaries and fringe benefits for UNI employees. The agreements specifically allocated funds to petitioners’ salaries: $16,000 of the city grants was for UNI’s Executive Director and $15,500 was for a Rehabilitation Coordinator.

In a fifth agreement, Peoria promised UNI another $669,200 to be used “solely for a program operated by UNI which provides loans and grants to the rehabilitation of residential housing units in the designated Metropolitan Reallocation Grant Area.” One anomaly in the five Peoria-UNI contracts is that, beyond this reference to the “Metropolitan Reallocation Grant Area” and to “312 loans,”⁴ none of these first contracts explicitly refers to the federal Act or to UNI’s new status of subgrantee.⁵ UNI’s application to participate in the federally funded program, however, unequivocally shows UNI’s awareness of the Federal Government’s relationship to, and interest in, the grant agreements. UNI’s proposal to Peoria stated: “[W]e wish to undertake a joint effort with the City of Peoria to achieve the common goals as set forth in the Housing and Community Development Act to insure safe, sanitary and decent housing for all people.” Record, Govt. Exh. 19. (Emphasis added.)

Moreover, there is no suggestion in the record that petitioners and other UNI executives failed to understand that they were involved in a federal program. As described above, the task of distributing HCDA funds is governed in numerous respects by federal statutes and regulations. Knowledge of the existence and applicability of these federal requirements and guidelines is presumed as a matter of law.⁶ As a matter of fact, the federal interest in protecting the integrity of its block grant funds undoubtedly was driven home to petitioners when, in early 1980, in the midst of the period covered by the Government’s indictment, Arthur Andersen & Co. conducted an audit of UNI’s records in accordance with HUD’s Audit Guide and Standards for Community Development Block Grant Recipients.

Petitioners’ responsibilities included receiving applications for housing assistance and soliciting contractor bids for qualified rehabilitation proposals. According to UNI’s organizational structure, petitioners were supposed to submit the bids on qualified proposals to UNI’s Housing Committee for final approval, but, in fact, the Committee’s review was a “mere formality.”⁷ As a practical matter, petitioners alone decided which property owners and contractors in the city of Peoria would be the beneficiaries of the federal funds made available to the city through the HCDA block grant program.

HH » — i HH

Petitioners contend now, as they have throughout this litigation, that, as executives of a private nonprofit corporation unaffiliated with the Federal Government, they were never “public officials” as Congress defined that term. 18 U. S. C. § 201(a).

Under § 201(a), the term “public official” includes “an officer or employee or person acting for or on behalf of the United States, or any department, agency or branch of Government thereof, ... in any official function, under or by authority of any such department, agency, or branch of Government.” There being no basis for claiming that petitioners were officers or employees of the United States, the Government’s sole contention is that petitioners acted “for or on behalf of” the United States “in an official function” under the authority of HUD.

Petitioners argue that they cannot be considered to have acted “for or on behalf of the United States” because neither they nor their employer UNI ever entered into any agreement with the United States or any subdivision of the Federal Government. In advancing this position, petitioners rely primarily on two Second Circuit decisions holding that a New York City employee involved in the administration of the federal Model Cities Program was not a public official under §201. United States v. Loschiavo, 531 F. 2d 659 (1976); United States v. Del Toro, 513 F. 2d 656, cert. denied, 423 U. S. 826 (1975). Petitioners and these Second Circuit decisions rest on the premise that an individual does not work “for or on behalf of the United States ... in any official function” without some formal bond with the United States, such as an agency relationship, an employment contract, or a direct contractual obligation.

The Government, in response, argues that the term “public official” has a broader sweep, covering not only parties in privity with the United States, but also any private individuals responsible for administering federally funded and federally supervised programs. The Government defends the decision of the Seventh Circuit in the instant cases which held that the “substantial federal supervision over the cities and all sub-grantees responsible for local distribution of grant funds” made petitioners’ public officials for purposes of §201. 683 F. 2d, at 197-198. The court reasoned that petitioners “were acting as federal agents in the sense of having discretion in administering the expenditure of federal funds. ” Id., at 199.

As is often the case in matters of statutory interpretation, the language of § 201(a) does not decide the dispute. The words can be interpreted to support either petitioners’ or the Government’s reading. We must turn, therefore, to the legislative history of the federal bribery statute to determine whether these materials clarify which of the proposed readings is consistent with Congress’ intent. If the legislative history fails to clarify the statutory language, our rule of lenity would compel us to construe the statute in favor of petitioners, as criminal defendants in these cases. See Rewis v. United States, 401 U. S. 808, 812 (1971).

A

Congress passed the current federal bribery provisions, including § 201(a), in 1962, as part of an effort to reformulate and rationalize all federal criminal statutes dealing with the integrity of government. At the time of the 1962 revisions, general federal bribery statutes had been in existence for more than a century. From the start, Congress drafted its bribery statutes with broad jurisdictional language,⁸ and periodically amended the provisions to ensure that the scope of federal criminal liability kept pace with the growth and diversification of the Federal Government.⁹ Prior to 1962, in recognition of Congress’ apparent desire for the federal bribery statutes to have wide application, the federal judiciary interpreted the statutes and, indeed, the phrase “person acting for or on behalf of the United States” to have a broad jurisdictional reach.¹⁰

When drafting § 201(a), Congress was aware of previous federal bribery statutes, as well as the judicial interpretation given those statutes. The phrase at issue here — “person acting for or on behalf of the United States” — was taken directly from predecessor bribery statutes.¹¹ Moreover, the reenactment of this language was no happenstance. Earlier versions of the 1962 statute omitted the phrase, but Department of Justice testimony that “its removal would be undesirable” convinced Congress to retain the language.¹²

Standing alone, Congress’ purposeful retention of the “acting for or on behalf of the Government” phrase does not advance our inquiry into the scope and meaning of those words. When, however, we compare the phrase as enacted with the proposed definition of “public official” in earlier draft bills that were not enacted, we conclude that Congress could not have meant to restrict the definition, as petitioners argue, to those persons in an employment or agency relationship with the Federal Government. Such persons were clearly covered by successive, rejected versions of the reform bill, which defined “public official” in pertinent part as “an officer, agent, or employee of the United States in the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government, or of any agency.”¹³ If Congress intended courts to restrict their reading of the jurisdictional definition to persons in a formal employment or agency relationship with the Government, it would have had no reason to accede to the Department of Justice’s urging to retain the “acting for or on behalf of” language.

Moreover, we find the legislative history of § 201(a) inconsistent with the view that the words “person acting for or on behalf of the United States” were added simply to bring within the jurisdiction of the federal bribery laws those individuals tied to the Federal Government by direct contractual obligations. Committee Reports from both Houses of Congress emphasized that the new bribery laws made “no significant changes of substance” and “would not restrict the broad scope of the present bribery statutes as construed by the courts.” S. Rep. No. 2213, 87th Cong., 2d Sess., 4 (1962); H. R. Rep. No. 748, 87th Cong., 1st Sess., 17 (1961). Federal courts interpreting the federal bribery laws prior to 1962 had generally avoided formal distinctions, such as the requirement of a direct contractual bond, that would artificially narrow the scope of federal criminal jurisdiction. See n. 10, supra.

Of particular relevance to the instant case is the House Judiciary Committee’s citation of the Second Circuit’s decision in United States v. Levine, 129 F. 2d 745 (1942), as an exam-pie of how the judiciary had in the past properly construed the federal bribery laws. See H. R. Rep. No. 748, supra, at 17. The Levine decision involved the application of the 1909 bribery statute to a low-level official in a decentralized federal assistance program.¹⁴ The defendant in Levine worked for a locally administered price stabilization program, the New York Metropolitan Milk Marketing Area,¹⁵ and was responsible for receiving milk handlers’ market surplus claims, and checking them for accuracy. Levine solicited a bribe from one of the handlers within his jurisdiction in return for his promise to prevent investigations of the claims.

Although hired by a Market Administrator who, in turn, had been appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture, Levine himself was neither employed by the United States nor paid with federal funds. Nevertheless, Levine’s duties were critical to the proper administration of the federally assisted New York Milk Marketing Area. Because claims for payment were not rechecked by anyone else, his duties resulted in expenditures from the Federal Treasury. After reviewing these facts, the Second Circuit concluded that, notwithstanding the absence of a direct contractual bond between the defendant and the United States, Levine’s responsible position made him a “public official” for purposes of the federal bribery laws. 129 F. 2d, at 747. By explicitly endorsing the Second Circuit’s analysis in Levine, the House Judiciary Committee strongly intimated that the phrase “acting for or on behalf of the United States” covers something more than a direct contractual bond.

Congress’ longstanding commitment to a broadly drafted federal bribery statute, its expressed desire to continue that tradition with the 1962 revisions, its affirmative adoption of the language at issue in this case, and the House Report’s endorsement of the Second Circuit’s reasoning in Levine, combine to persuade us that Congress never intended § 201 (a)’s open-ended definition of “public official” to be given the cramped reading proposed by petitioners. We agree with the Government that § 201(a) has been accurately characterized as a “comprehensive statute applicable to all persons performing activities for or on behalf of the United States,” whatever the form of delegation of authority.¹⁶ To determine whether any particular individual falls within this category, the proper inquiry is not simply whether the person had signed a contract with the United States or agreed to serve as the Government’s agent, but rather whether the person occupies a position of public trust with official federal responsibilities. Persons who hold such positions are public officials within the meaning of § 201 and liable for prosecution under the federal bribery statute.

B

Given the structure of the HCDA program and petitioners’ responsible positions as administrators of the subgrant, we have little difficulty concluding that these persons served as public officials for purposes of § 201(a). As executives of UNI, petitioners had operational responsibility for the administration of the HCDA grant program within the city of Peoria. In allocating the federal resources made available to the city through the HCDA grant program, petitioners were charged with abiding by federal guidelines, which dictated both where and how the federal funds could be distributed. By accepting the responsibility for distributing these federal fiscal resources, petitioners assumed the quintessentially official role of administering a social service program established by the United States Congress.

Lest there be any doubt that Congress intended § 201(a) to cover local officials like petitioners, one need only compare petitioners to the defendant in Levine, whose conviction the House Judiciary Committee explicitly endorsed. See swpra, at 494-496. Both Levine and petitioners worked in decentralized federal assistance programs. Both Levine and petitioners effectively determined who would be the beneficiary of federal dollars, and both solicited bribes to influence their official decisions. Levine held a position of public trust with official federal responsibilities: to collect and investigate the accuracy of data submitted by milk producers in support of their claims for federal subsidies. Petitioners held a position of public trust with official federal responsibilities: allocating federal resources, pursuant to complex statutory and regulatory guidelines, in the form of residential rehabilitation contracts. Indeed, in certain respects, petitioners performed duties that were more clearly “official” and more obviously undertaken “for or on behalf of the United States” than the responsibilities of the defendant in Levine. Where Levine was paid through a levy imposed on local businesses participating in the marketing order, petitioners’ salaries were completely funded by the HCDA grant. Where Levine simply compiled data that were submitted to the Department of Agriculture for eventual disbursement, petitioners personally bestowed the benefits of the HCDA program to residents of Peoria.

IV

In concluding that employment by the United States or some other similarly formal contractual or agency bond is not a prerequisite to prosecution under the federal bribery statute, we are supported by the majority of recent decisions in the Federal District Courts and Courts of Appeals. In United States v. Hollingshead, 672 F. 2d 751 (1982), the Ninth Circuit determined that an employee of the Federal Eeserve Bank of San Francisco, which is a private banking institution, was a public official for purposes of § 201(a) because the employee was responsible for carrying out tasks delegated by a federal agency and was subject to substantial federal supervision. The defendant received bribes and kickbacks from independent contractors to influence him in making capital purchase requisitions. In short, like petitioners, he was in a position of responsibility, acting for or on behalf of the Federal Government in administering expenditure of federal funds. Similarly, in United States v. Kirby, 587 F. 2d 876, 879-880 (1978), the Seventh Circuit ruled that two privately employed grain inspectors, licensed by the Department of Agriculture, were public officials because they had responsibility for implementing a warehouse licensing program established by Congress.¹⁷ For analogous reasons, the Federal District Court for the District of New Mexico found a state employee responsible for administering the Farmers Home Administration rural housing improvement grant program to be included within § 201(a). United States v. Gallegos, 510 F. Supp. 1112, 1113-1114 (1981). Again, the defendant’s official duties in processing grant applications directly influenced the expenditure of federal funds. See also United States v. Mosley, 659 F. 2d 812 (CA7 1981); Harlow v. United States, 301 F. 2d 361 (CA5), cert. denied, 371 U. S. 814 (1962); United States v. Griffin, 401 F. Supp. 1222 (SD Ind. 1975), affirmance order sub nom. United States v. Metro Management Corp., 541 F. 2d 284 (CA7 1976). But see United States v. Loschiavo, 531 F. 2d 659 (CA2 1976); United States v. Del Toro, 513 F. 2d 656 (CA2), cert. denied, 423 U. S. 826 (1975); United States v. Hoskins, 520 F. Supp. 410 (ND Ill. 1981).

By finding petitioners to be public officials within the meaning of § 201(a), we do not mean to suggest that the mere presence of some federal assistance brings a local organization and its employees within the jurisdiction of the federal bribery statute or even that all employees of local organizations responsible for administering federal grant programs are public officials within the meaning of § 201(a). To be a public official under § 201(a), an individual must possess some degree of official responsibility for carrying out a federal program or policy. Our opinion today is, therefore, fully consistent with Krichman v. United States, 256 U. S. 363 (1921), in which this Court ruled that a baggage porter, although employed by a federally controlled railroad, could not be said to have “acted for or on behalf of the United States” because the porter lacked any duties of an official character. Similarly, individuals who work for block grant recipients and business people who provide recipients with goods and services cannot be said to be public officials under § 201(a) unless they assume some duties of an official nature.

We recognize that the manner in which the HCDA block grant program combines local administration with federal funding initially creates some confusion as to whether local authorities administering HCDA grants should be considered public officials under the federal bribery statute.¹⁸ However, when one examines the structure of the program and sees that the HCDA vests in local administrators like petitioners Hinton and Dixson the power to allocate federal fiscal resources for the purpose of achieving congressionally established goals, the confusion evaporates and it becomes clear that these local officials hold precisely the sort of positions of national public trust that Congress intended to cover with the “acting for or on behalf of” language in the bribery statute.¹⁹ The Federal Government has a strong and legitimate interest in prosecuting petitioners for their misuse of Government funds. As this Court has said in another, closely related context, grant funds to state and local governments “are as much in need of protection from [fraud] as any other federal money, and the statute does not make the extent of [grant moneys’] safeguard dependent upon the bookkeeping devices used for their distribution.” United States ex rel. Marcus v. Hess, 317 U. S. 537, 544 (1943) (footnote omitted) (holding that one who contracts with a local governmental unit to work on federally funded projects can “cheat the United States” through the state intermediary).

Because we agree with the Seventh Circuit that petitioners were public officials under § 201(a), the judgment of the Court of Appeals is affirmed.

It is so ordered.

1 Local recipients of HCDA block grants have the option of distributing the funds directly or of subcontracting the administration of the funds to private, nonprofit organizations. 42 U. S. C. §§ 5302(a)(1), (c) (1976 ed. and Supp. V); 24 CFR § 570.204 (1983).

2 Title 18 U. S. C. §201 reads in pertinent part:

“(a) For the purpose of this section: ‘public official’ means Member of Congress, the Delegate from the District of Columbia, or Resident Commissioner, either before or after he has qualified, or an officer or employee or person acting for or on behalf of the United States, or any department, agency or branch of Government thereof, including the District of Columbia, in any official function, under or by authority of any such department, agency, or branch of Government, or a juror;

“(c) Whoever, being a public official or person selected to be a public official, directly or indirectly, corruptly asks, demands, exacts, solicits, seeks, accepts, receives, or agrees to receive anything of value for himself or for any other person or entity, in return for:

“(1) being influenced in his performance of any official act; or

“(2) being influenced to commit or aid in committing, or to collude in, or allow, any fraud, or make opportunity for the commission of any fraud on the United States; . . .

“Shall be fined not more than $20,000 or three times the monetary equivalent of the thing of value, whichever is greater, or imprisoned for not more than fifteen years, or both, and may be disqualified from holding any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.”

3 Guidelines for Financial and Compliance Audits of Federally Assisted Programs, reprinted at 45 Fed. Reg. 21837, 21838 (1980). The Guidelines explain the uniform audit procedure, and are distributed as Attachment P to OMB Circular A-102 (1980), Uniform Requirements for Assistance to State and Local Governments. See also OMB Circular A-110 (1976). Attachment O, which contains a Code of Conduct for administering federal funds, including a specific requirement that “the [grantee’s] officers, employees or agents shall neither solicit nor accept . . . anything of monetary value from contractors or potential contractors [or parties to subagreements].”

4 One of Peoria’s HCDA grants was a Metro Reallocation Grant. 42 U. S. C. § 5306(c) (1976 ed. and Supp. V). HUD rehabilitation loans to owners and tenants in urban renewal areas are called “312 loans.” Pub. L. 88-560, §312, 78 Stat. 790, codified at 42 U. S. C. § 1452b (1976 ed. and Supp. V). The Secretary of HUD is authorized by statute “to delegate to or use as his agent any Federal or local public or private agency or organization ... to carry out the objectives of [the loan program].” § 1452b(f).

5 When UNI and Peoria renewed their agreement for the following fiscal year, a few days after the period named in the indictment, they amended the first series of contracts to warrant in explicit terms that UNI would comply with HUD Community Development Block Grants regulations, 24 CFR pt. 570 (1983). Record, Govt. Exh. 25.

6 44 U. S. C. §1507. The appearance of rules and regulations in the Federal Register gives legal notice of their contents.

7 Of the 10 contracts awarded to one of the contractors who testified on behalf of the Government at trial, UNI’s Housing Committee approved only one. Petitioner Hinton signed the remaining nine.

8 Congress passed the first federal bribery statute of general application in 1853. See Act of Feb. 26,1853, ch. 81, § 6,10 Stat. 171. As its name— “An Act to Prevent Frauds upon the Treasury” — implies, the Act sought to prevent the misuse of federal funds by any person charged with a public trust. See Cong. Globe, 32d Cong., 2d Sess., 392 (1853). Although primarily concerned with individuals who were bringing fraudulent claims against the United States, id., at 242, 295-296, Congress did not limit this early statute to fraudulent claims, but chose to draft a general provision encompassing the bribery not only of Members of Congress, but also of “any officer of the United States, or person holding any place of [public] trust or profit, or discharging any official function under, or in connection with, any department of the Government of the United States.” (Emphasis supplied.)

9 One telling amendment came in 1948, largely as a result of this Court’s decision in United States v. Strang, 254 U. S. 491 (1921). In Strang, the Court had considered whether a person working for a federally owned and controlled corporation was covered by the 1909 version of the federal conflict-of-interest statute. Act of Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, § 41, 35 Stat. 1097. The Court ruled that such a person was not covered because his employer was “a separate entity” from the United States. 254 U. S., at 493. To Congress, the Strang decision indicated that the existing federal bribery statute was inadequate to reach “the present ramifications of the executive branch [which] were not foreseen” when the 1909 Code was enacted. H. R. Rep. No. 304, 80th Cong., 1st Sess., A14 (1947). Accordingly, the 1948 Congress supplemented its earlier language to read “any officer or employee or person acting for or on behalf of the United States, or any department or agency thereof, in any official function, under or by authority of any such department or agency.” Act of June 25, 1948, ch. 645, § 201, 62 Stat. 691 (italics indicate new language). While the 1948 amendment expressly broadened the scope of the federal bribery law, a House Report suggests that drafters of the 1948 revisions were uncertain whether the amendments were necessary and included them only to guarantee “what appeared unquestionably to be the intent of Congress, namely, to cover all persons acting for the United States Government in an official function.” H. R. Rep. No. 304, supra, at A15.

10 For instance, before 1948, employees of Government agencies were not expressly covered by the federal bribery statutes. See n. 9, supra. Nevertheless, federal courts repeatedly found that these employees were covered by the term “person acting for or on behalf of the United States.” See, e. g., United States v. Birdsall, 233 U. S. 223, 230-231 (1914); United States v. Levine, 129 F. 2d 745 (CA2 1942). But cf. United States v. Strang, supra.

11 The term “any person acting for or on behalf of the United States” was coined in the recodifications of the 1870’s, Rev. Stat. §§ 5451, 5501, and replaced the phrase “person holding any place of [public] trust or profit, or discharging any official function under, or in connection with [the Government],” which appeared in previous statutes. See n. 8, supra. For purposes of our decision today, it is of some relevance that the term “persons acting for or on behalf of the United States” was originally drafted as a stylistic substitution for “person[s] holding any [position] of [public] trust,” and that Congress accepted the analogous language. See 2 Cong. Rec. 129 (1873) (remarks of Rep. Butler) (statutory Revision Committee’s authority limited); Dwan & Feidler, The Federal Statutes — Their History and Use, 22 Minn. L. Rev. 1008, 1012-1017 (1938) (1878 version corrected congres-sionally identified errors in 1873 Rev. Stat.).

12 Federal Conflict of Interest Legislation: Hearings on H. R. 302, H. R. 3050, H. R. 3411, H. R. 3412, and H. R. 7139 before the Antitrust Subcommittee of the House Committee on the Judiciary, 87th Cong., 1st Sess., 36 (1961). The Department of Justice analysis of H. R. 3411 stated:

“The definition of ‘public official’. . . does not include any reference to persons ‘acting for or in [sic] behalf of the United States.’ This latter phrase appears in the existing law and we think its removal would be undesirable. Under the proposed definition it could be construed that, under certain circumstances, a person acting in behalf of the United States would not be held to be an ‘officer, agent, or employee of the United States’ as these terms are used in the bill. Persons acting in such a capacity should be protected from bribe offers (or punished for their acceptance).” Ibid.

13 See H. R. 12547, 85th Cong., 2d Sess., §201(a) (1958); H. R. 2156, 86th Cong., 1st Sess., §201(a) (1959); H. R. 3411, 87th Cong., 1st Sess., § 201(a) (1961). The complete definition of “public official” in each of these bills was: “Member of, or Delegate to Congress, or Resident Commissioner, either before or after he has qualified, an officer, agent, or employee of the United States in the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government, or of any agency, or juror.”

14 At the time of the Levine opinion, the federal bribery statute applied by its terms only to officers of the United States or persons acting for or on behalf of the United States or Congress in any official capacity. § 117 of the Criminal Code of 1909, 18 U. S. C. §207 (1946 ed.).

15 The program was established by the Secretary of Agriculture to achieve goals set by the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937. See 5 Fed. Reg. 1258 (1940). The Act authorized the Secretary to stabilize farm prices by issuing marketing orders to regulate production in whichever regions of the country were in need of such assistance. 7 U. S. C. §§ 601, 608c (1940 ed.). As such, the Act was an early form of federal assistance program, and, in its present form, is still classified as such. See Office of Management and Budget, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance § 10.155 (1983). A Marketing Administrator, appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture and paid with federal funds, was to supervise the Area. The Marketing Administrator was to hire his own staff to administer the price stabilization program locally. The staff salary and other administrative expenses were to be paid through a levy imposed on milk producers within the Area. 5 Fed. Reg. 1263 (1940).

16 Conflicts of Interest: Hearing on H. R. 8140 before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 87th Cong., 2d Sess., 22 (1962) (statement of Deputy Attorney General Katzenbach).

17 Petitioners argue that the Kirby defendants were liable under the federal bribery statute only because the Grain Standards Act explicitly provides that grain inspectors are “persons acting for or on behalf of the United States” for purposes of § 201(a). See 7 U. S. C. § 84(d). We disagree with this analysis. The Kirby defendants acted under the United States Warehouse Act, 7 U. S. C. § 252, which unlike the Grain Standards Act makes no reference to § 201(a).

We also reject petitioners’ more general argument that because § 201(a) is incorporated directly into the Grain Standards Act, Congress did not intend for § 201(a) to apply to other private individuals who conduct analogous services on behalf of the United States. Precisely this argument was raised in and disposed of by the Second Circuit in Levine, the case cited by Congress as correctly construing a predecessor of § 201(a). See supra, at 494-496. The Second Circuit wrote, and we agree:

“The mere fact that several other Acts creating different agencies of government have specifically provided that the employees of those agencies are to be subject to this criminal provision does not, of course, mean that the broad provisions of the section are not applicable to this Market Administrator and his employees.” 129 F. 2d, at 748.

18 We have noted the juxtaposition of local control over daily operations and federal retention of oversight of its funds in another context. In United States v. Orleans, 425 U. S. 807 (1976), the Court noted that federal funding and federal regulation do not convert the acts of recipients, be they entrepreneurs or States, into federal governmental acts, for purposes of the Federal Tort Claims Act, precisely because the local entities, such as UNI, have complete control over daily operations. We also noted, however, that those entities are responsible to the United States for compliance with the specifications of a contract or grant. Id., at 815-816. Regulation and oversight of the funds, as stressed in Orleans, is aimed precisely at the harm that occurred here — diversion of federal money to unauthorized purposes. Id., at 818.

19 Because the legislative history of §201(a) shows that Congress intended the phrase “persons acting for or on behalf of the United States . . . in any official function” to encompass individuals like petitioners, we have no need to resort to the rule of lenity in deciding this case. “ ‘The canon in favor of strict construction [of criminal statutes] . . . does [not] demand that a statute be given the “narrowest meaning”; it is satisfied if the words are given their fair meaning in accord with the manifest intent of the lawmakers.’” United States v. Moore, 423 U. S. 122, 145 (1975), quoting United States v. Brown, 333 U. S. 18, 25-26 (1948).