January 26, 1971
Page 635
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 17 – INTRODUCTION OF A JOINT RESOLUTION CONCERNING THE CREATION OF A JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE ENVIRONMENT
Mr. MANSFIELD. Mr. President, on behalf of the Senator from Maine (Mr. MUSKIE) I introduce a joint resolution concerning the creation of a Joint Commitee on the Environment.
This resolution is identical to the resolution adopted unanimously by the Senate in the last Congress. Its appearance on the Senate Calendar has been cleared by all parties, and I ask that it accordingly be placed on the calendar and that a statement in its behalf by the Senator from Maine (Mr. MUSKIE) be printed at this point in the RECORD.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The joint resolution will be received and, without objection, will be placed on the calendar; and, without objection, the statement will be printed in the RECORD.
The joint resolution (S.J. Res. 17) to establish a Joint Committee on the Environment, introduced by Mr. MANSFIELD (for Mr. MUSKIE) (for himself and other Senators), was received, read twice by its title, and placed on the calendar, by unanimous consent.
The statement by Senator MUSKIE is as follows:
JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE ENVIRONMENT
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I offer for introduction in the Senate this morning a joint resolution which would establish a non-legislative committee of Senate and House members to be known as the Joint Committee on Environment.
The resolution, with the exception of minor changes for clarification, is identical to the joint resolution approved by the Senate last year. That resolution, as Senators will recall, died in conference when the 91st Congress adjourned.
There was in 1970, among the conferees of the other body, a certain reluctance to allow the members of the Joint Cimmittee to select their own first chairman. The resolution died because agreement could not be reached on this issue.
The language concerning the chairmanship flows freely and clearly. As has been the case with previously established Joint Committees, the chairman would be determined by the members and alternate between the Senate and House of Representatives with each Congress.
I would hope that the certain reluctance among certain conferees of the other body concerning a selection of the chairman has disappeared. We should proceed with the important work in the environment.
Mr. President, I think it is fair to say that during the past three sessions of the Congress, the Senate has come to agree on two major purposes for establishing a Joint Committee on Environment.
1. The Senate recognizes that it needs to improve the congressional capacity for collecting relevant information on present and emerging environmental problems; and
2. The Senate recognizes that it needs to create a well-staffed congressional institution which can conduct a continuing assessment of the relationship between human beings and their environment.
It is no secret that the standing committees are increasingly burdened by legislative proposals in their special fields. The committee staffs have little or no opportunity to test relationships between their fields, those of other committees, and the total environment.
During the 91st Congress, more than 40 bills and resolutions were introduced in the Senate alone to restructure the legislative branch so that it might deal more effectively with environmental problems.
The questions of jurisdiction also became more numerous. During 1970 alone, there were jurisdictional conflicts in the Senate over ocean dumping, land use planning, coastal zone management, pesticides, radiation standards, low emission vehicle development, noise pollution, power plant siting, and environmental class actions.
Let me emphasize that it is not my intent to establish a joint committee which will infringe the substantive jurisdiction of any standing committee. What I am seeking is a source of information and analysis which the standing committees do not have time or authority to produce for themselves.
The joint committee also should help us to keep a record of our accomplishments and failures in the handling of environmental problems. No legislative mechanism exists, for example, to evaluate the criticisms and recommendations of Federal programs sent to the Senate by the Comptroller General. Yet the number of such criticisms and recommendations are bound to increase as the programs mature and progress.
Finally, Mr. President, a joint committee on environment should assist the Congress to maintain its proper role as a balance to the executive and judicial branches in the Federal system.
During the past year, the Congress through new legislation helped the Executive to reorganize its efforts against environmental problems. The Council on Environmental Quality was established; an Office of Environmental Quality was authorized. The Congress approved the reorganization plans which set up the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Now, we need, as the Senate report on last year's resolution observed, "the creation of a non-legislative Joint Committee on the Environment (to) provide the legislative branch with a parallel overview capacity on a continuing basis ...
"It is clear that none of the existing congressional committees is equipped. or has the jurisdictional authority, to provide a comprehensive overview which will identify the
emerging problems which threaten the deterioration of man's environment."