April 25, 1972
Page 14277
SENATOR MUSKIE'S PROPOSALS TO IMPROVE AMERICAN LIFE AND GOVERNMENT
HON. THOMAS F. EAGLETON OF MISSOURI IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
Tuesday, April 25, 1972
Mr. EAGLETON. Mr. President, during the last year the Senator from Maine (Mr. MUSKIE) has offered a series of specific, detailed proposals to improve American life and government. These proposals cover a broad range of public interests, but emphasize major reform in the Federal approach to job security, economic stability, tax fairness, health care, education, undue concentration of corporate power, and Government secrecy.
I ask unanimous consent that an outline of these proposals and a summary of Senator MUSKIE'S activities during the first session of the 92d Congress be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
OUTLINE OF MUSKIE PROPOSALS
A PLAN FOR PEACE
Muskie has repeatedly urged an end to the Vietnam War and criticized Vietnamization and resumption of American bombing of the North. He has a straightforward plan for peace.
First, we must set a date when every soldier, sailor and airman will be withdrawn from Vietnam, and stop all bombing and other American military activity, dependent only on an agreement for the return of our prisoners and the safety of our troops as they leave.
Second, we must urge the government in Saigon to move toward a political accommodation with all the elements of their society. Without such an accommodation, the war will not end.
MUSKIE ON ECONOMIC ISSUES
Senator Muskie understands how inflation and unemployment have hurt the average family. He has also spoken out against structural problems in our economic system: the unfairness of our tax laws, the concentrated economic power of huge corporations, the burdensome local property tax system. He has proposed major new programs in each of these areas.
A five-point job security program.
First, the federal government should assure every eligible unemployed worker full access to a training program with a job at the end of training. Second, we must make certain that jobs will be available by stepping up public service expenditures. Third, the federal government should establish special aid programs for areas of chronic high unemployment. Fourth, the federal government should develop incentives to bring new industry into depressed areas. Fifth, the federal government should act as an employer of last resort, not only in times of crisis, but during prosperity as well.
A National Fair Share Tax Reform Program.
The goal of this comprehensive tax reform program is to provide greater equity in the distribution of the tax burden. It will close $14 billion in federal income, estate and gift tax loopholes.
Specifically:
1. Income tax laws would be amended to: eliminate the alternative tax on first $50,000 of capital gains; reduce mineral depletion allowances by 20%; repeal of ADR; repeal of DISC and other special treatment of foreign items; repeal the investment credit; restrict the use of certain deductions.
2. Estate and gift taxes would be unified in a single structure, and the exemption for a unified transfer tax be lowered to $25,000. Gains in property transferred at death should be realized. Generation-skipping transfers should be taxed.
Comprehensive Anti-Trust Program.
As part of the attack on the increasing concentration of power in a few hands, Senator Muskie proposed legislation which would curtail the expansion of corporations with sales in excess of $250 million. These companies would be prohibited from acquiring any other corporation without first spinning off assets that are substantially equivalent in value to those which are being acquired.
Local Property Tax Reform.
The Muskie proposal would require states: to collect and publish data comparing property assessment and market value; to establish a fair and easy procedure for taxpayers to appeal their property tax bills; to bring the market value assessment ratio within a taxing jurisdiction within a 10 percent range of the average 5-year ratio.
Military Spending Economics.
Senator Muskie has proposed an immediate saving of over $11.5 billion in the proposed FY 1973 defense budget by making the following cuts: $445 million for the B-1 bomber; $1.5 billion for ABM; $500 million for land-based MIRV; $229 million for a new nuclear carrier; $400 million for a new air warning system; $900 million for the F-15; $734 million for the F-14; $800 million to begin procuring ULMS; $2 billion for the six redundant military commands (CINCPAC, CINCEUR, etc.); and $4 billion for the war in Vietnam.
OTHER IMPORTANT ISSUES
Housing Security System.
This program provides one billion Federal dollars in housing assistance payments to citizens over 65 with limited means. This one billion dollars would be divided among the states in proportion to the number of people over 65 years old living in that State.
Quality Education Guarantee Program.
By providing $7.2 billion in additional federal funds to state and local governments on a per pupil formula, the pressure for high property taxes will be relieved.
Family Farm Protection.
To curb the spreading control of the nation's farms by major corporations and other absentee interests, Senator Muskie proposed a moratorium on new farm purchases by big business as an initial step. It would last throughout a full-scale investigation by the Federal Trade Commission of the corporate takeover in agriculture. For the second step, he proposed legislation to prevent corporations from using their farm investments as tax shelters.
Ninety Day Food Price Freeze.
As part of his program to fight inflation, Senator Muskie proposed a ninety-day freeze on food price increases by grocery chains and middlemen. He also has proposed an investigation of the cause of rising prices should be conducted and a long-range policy to maintain reasonable food prices instituted.
Medical Bill of Rights.
Senator Muskie has developed a five-point program to implement the goal that all Americans are entitled to care within their means; care within their reach; care within their needs. Specifically:
1. National Health Insurance. This system will provide quality health care to every American.
2. Health Maintenance Organizations. With federal support, HMO's should be developed as the basic unit of health delivery. The Muskie plan provides incentives for location and health teams in areas which are now under-served.
3. Health Manpower Legislation. Increased funds are provided for the construction of schools to train medical professionals, provide training grants, and channel medical professionals into areas of practice where there is a present shortage.
4. Health Care for the Elderly. Among the health goals Muskie seeks for the elderly are elimination of the Nixon Administration's cutbacks in Medicare and Medicaid, elimination of the Part B premium under Medicare, and the inclusion under Medicare of the costs of eyeglasses, dentures, hearing aids, and all prescription drugs. Muskie is also concerned with developing alternatives to institutional care for the elderly in need of medical care.
5. Plan to Cut Prescription Drug Prices. The present 17-year patent monopoly which pharmaceutical companies have on basic prescription drugs should be reduced to three years. After that period, any other qualified company could obtain a license in exchange for a reasonable royalty.
Open Government.
This Muskie program calls for five initial reforms within regulatory agencies: (1) No regulatory official should meet with interested parties or their agents unless the meeting is public and a public record is issued; (2) Communications to regulatory agencies should be available to the public; (3) Phone calls to regulatory officials from anyone outside the agency should be noted and described on the public record; (4) Every regulatory agency should issue a monthly digest and index of all public records; (5) closed files should be reviewed every three to six months to remove and reveal data which does not warrant continued confidentiality.
MUSKIE ACTIVITIES DURING THE FIRST SESSION OF THE 92D CONGRESS
OMNIBUS WATER POLLUTION BILL
As chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution of the Senate Public Works Committee, Senator Muskie on October 26 reported to the Senate the strongest and most comprehensive water pollution control bill in America's history. On November 2, 1971, this bill, S. 2770, passed the Senate by a unanimous vote of 86 to 0. It authorizes that $20 billion be expended for the national water pollution control effort and sets as a policy objective the complete elimination of discharges of pollutants into the nation's waters by 1985. The bill fundamentally changes the enforcement mechanism of the federal water pollution control program from standards controlling the quality of water to limits on what can be discharged into the nation's waterways. Under the bill, enforcement of discharge or effluent limits is used to maintain water quality standards. The purpose of the Muskie bill is to restore and to maintain the natural chemical, physical, and biological purity of the nation's waters. It represents the logical culmination of Muskie's efforts to control water pollution during the past eight years.
During the past two years Senator Muskie's Subcommittee held 33 days of public hearings, heard 171 witnesses, and received 470 statements on this bill. In all, there were 6,400 pages of testimony. During a five month period, Senator Muskie's Subcommittee and the Public Works Committee held 45 executive sessions to draft the bill.
This is the bill which the Administration has suddenly attacked as being too expensive and far-reaching. It is now pending in the House. Legislation which is in many ways similar to the Muskie bill has been ordered reported by the House Committee on Public Works.
REVENUE SHARING LEGISLATION
On May 5, 1971, Senator Muskie introduced a general revenue sharing bill, S. 1770, which would provide $6 billion in general financial assistance to hard-pressed cities and States.
Muskie's bill apportions financial assistance to States, cities and counties in relation to their needs, a unique feature, as well as on the basis of population and tax effort. Muskie's bill would lessen the burden of crushing local property taxes.
Muskie's Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations of the Senate Government Operations Committee held hearings for three days in June and one day in August on this bill. Thirty-five witnesses testified and 24 written statements were received. The witnesses included the mayors of 10 of our largest cities and four governors.
Muskie also testified on behalf of his bill before the House Ways and Means Committee and its chairman, Representative Wilbur Mills, on June 9th, 1971. Muskie argued that prompt enactment of general revenue sharing was essential to keep our cities afloat and to restore some balance in the distribution of federal revenue.
In 1969, Muskie had introduced one of the first revenue sharing bills. Developed in conjunction with the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, it distributed funds on the basis of tax efforts and population. The 1971 Muskie revenue sharing bill modified the first by basing the distribution of funds upon local need as well as tax effort and population. This "need factor" would channel funds into poor rural and urban areas. The Muskie bill also contained two other innovations. One was a provision allowing the Federal government to collect State income tax as a service to the States. The other provision provided a financial incentive for States to use a state income tax rather than a sales or property tax. All these new features were incorporated in the revenue sharing proposal announced by Chairman Mills on November 30, 1971.
ARMS CONTROL HEARINGS
As a member of the Foreign Relation Committee, Senator Muskie at the opening of the 92 Congress was named Chairman of the Arms Control, International Law and Organization Subcommittee. His Subcommittee has held hearings during 1971 on the arms control implication of the current defense budget and on the prospects for a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty.
In announcing the hearings on arms control on June 15, 1971, Muskie stated that the purpose of the hearings which were held on June 16, 17 and July 13 and 14 was to "try to add another perspective to the debate over the defense budget: whether a particular weapons system, because of its effects on the arms race and prospects for future arms control agreements, will increase or decrease our security." Muskie argued that "buying more arms does not necessarily lead to more security, and that the control of arms can provide us with a more stable peace and more security than the best weapons money can buy."
The hearings on arms control budget implications were focused on the need for continuing and modernizing the American nuclear triad of bombers, land-based missiles and sea-based missiles as well as the strategic and cost impact of the ABM and MIRV weapons systems. Fourteen experts testified, including Admiral Moorer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Dr. Carl Kayson, Director of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, Dr. John Foster, Jr., Director of Defense Research and Engineering of the Department of Defense, Paul Warnke, former Assistant Secretary of Defense, and Dr. Herbert York, former Science Adviser to President Eisenhower.
The hearings on a comprehensive nuclear test ban were held on July 22 and 23. At the opening of these hearings Muskie said: "Among all the difficult problems that face our civilization, none has the urgency of the nuclear dilemma – for the consequences of a failure to control the arms race, to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, to prevent a nuclear war – are too painful even to contemplate." Muskie's Subcommittee heard from such experts as Philip Farley, Acting Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, and Carl Walske, Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Atomic Energy. At the direction of Muskie, a staff Subcommittee report was issued on November 1, 1971 analyzing the barriers to negotiating a Comprehensive Test Ban. At that time, Muskie called upon the President to reevaluate his position on the onsite inspection question and to move for immediate negotiations of a Comprehensive Test Ban.
FOREIGN AID
On Friday, October 29, 1971, the Senate voted to defeat the Foreign Aid authorization for Fiscal Year 1972. During the next week the Senate Foreign Relations Committee met to consider ways to reshape the aid program. On November 3 in a major speech, Senator Muskie outlined an interim proposal to provide essential foreign assistance until a new program could be devised. He recommended that economic development assistance and humanitarian relief be continued as proposed, but that military assistance be authorized only on a country-by-country basis. On a long-term basis, Muskie urged a separation of the military and economic assistance programs and a channeling of aid through multilateral institutions.
NATO TROOPS WITHDRAWALS
In May of this year Senator Mansfield offered an amendment to the draft bill that would unilaterally withdraw 150,000 men from NATO'S forces. In a detailed Senate speech on May 18, 1971, Muskie expressed his opposition to the amendment. While strongly endorsing phased withdrawal of American troops after adequate consultation with our allies, the Senator objected to such a large, unilateral withdrawal which would undermine the negotiations for mutual withdrawals of Soviet and Allied troops, the West German effort to achieve rapprochement with Eastern Europe, and the effectiveness of NATO. However, Muskie urged the Administration to increase the pressure for negotiated troop withdrawals.
SERVICEMEN'S BENEFITS
On October 26, 1971, Senator Muskie introduced a bill creating a Charter of Economic Opportunity for Vietnam era servicemen and women which would entitle them to receive, at government expense during duty hours, a high school diploma, refresher courses for college, training for a civilian job, and coordinated assistance in securing a job after discharge.
In his introductory statement, Muskie noted that only 26% of all Vietnam-era veterans eligible for educational benefits are taking advantage of the opportunity, and that the unemployment rate for Vietnam veterans is 80% higher than the intolerably high national unemployment rate. To overcome the shortcomings of present veterans' programs which provided assistance too late to be helpful, Muskie's bill provides government assistance for servicemen from the day active duty begins. This is an entirely new approach for providing servicemen's benefits. The bill also totally reorganizes job training for servicemen.
LEGISLATION TO COMBAT DRUG ABUSE
Senator Muskie was a coauthor, of the comprehensive drug abuse legislation that passed the Senate unanimously, 92-0 on December 2, 1971.
This legislation, which was reported unanimously by the Committee on Government Operations and the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, embodied the principal provisions of S. 2217, a bill introduced on June 30 by Senator Muskie with Senators Hughes, Javits and Williams. On May 25 Senator Muskie had introduced the first Senate bill to create a White House level office to coordinate the entire Federal antidrug effort. Three weeks after the Muskie bill was introduced, the President also offered a bill to create a White House drug abuse office.
In July, Senator Muskie and Senator Ribicoff co-chaired joint hearings of Muskie's Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations and Ribicoff's Subcommittee on Executive Reorganization and Government Research on the various drug bills.
After those hearings, Muskie, Ribicoff, Hughes, Javits, Percy and Gurney coauthored the legislation that passed the Senate. The compromise bill incorporated the most significant features of the Hughes-Muskie-Javits bill, including:
A provision requiring the development of a national strategy to combat drug abuse, consisting of a complete analysis of the present drug abuse problem, a detailed comprehensive Federal plan for combating it, and an evaluation of programs carried out to date.
A provision giving the White House Office on Drug Abuse significant authority for the policy for all Federal drug abuse law enforcement and international control programs.
A provision creating a National Institute of Drug Abuse within the Department of Health, Education and Welfare to administer major drug treatment and prevention programs.
A provision creating two new grant programs for drug treatment, providing $1.5 billion for drug abuse treatment programs over the next five years.
A provision requiring the Veterans Administration to furnish treatment and rehabilitation services for drug abuse without regard to the type of discharge a veteran has received.
None of these provisions were included in the bill sent to Congress by the President. In addition, Senator Muskie introduced on May 25, 1971, the International Drug Control Act, S. 1945, a bill to set up a two-pronged attack on international drug trafficking. First, the bill would provide support for a greater international police effort against illegal narcotics. Second, the bill would provide a broad economic development program of crop substitution to bring illicit opium production under control.
SOCIAL SECURITY TAX REFORM
On October 5, 1971, Senator Muskie introduced a bill that would make the Social Security payroll tax progressive. If enacted, it would reduce payroll taxes for 63 million American families and be one of the most significant tax reform measures of the century.
The goal of the bill is to provide greater equity in the payroll tax system, which presently is the second greatest source of federal revenue and which has eliminated most of the income tax reductions provided low and middle income Americans in 1964 and 1969. In his introductory statement, Senator Muskie said:
The effective rate of the payroll tax declines as a worker's earnings rise above the ceiling on the wage base. The school teacher earning $7,000 a year pays 5.2 per cent of her earnings in payroll tax. The engineer earning $25,000 pays about 1.6 per cent of his entire earnings, and the business executive earning $100,000 pays about .4 of one per cent. While each of those workers becomes eligible for the same social security benefits, they simply cannot afford to pay the same amount for those benefits.
The bill would eliminate the present $7,800 ceiling on wages subject to the payroll tax and provide for exemptions for dependents and a low income allowance as is presently allowed for income tax purposes. The bill would also allow the reduction of planned increases in the payroll tax rate.
These changes would bring major and fundamental improvements to the payroll tax. Persons at or below the poverty level would be sheltered from payroll taxes altogether. And the relief would extend well into the middle- and upper middle-income ranges. Every family of four with earnings of $14,500 or less would pay less taxes. Every married couple with earnings of $12,250 or less would pay less taxes. At every income level up to $25,000, more people would save on their taxes than would pay increased taxes.
Within the area to which it is addressed, the bill would accomplish broad-scale improvement of the payroll tax. It would shift the burden of that tax from the low-income and the middle-income worker to those with greater ability to pay. It would make today's payroll tax fairer and sounder. And it would facilitate future increases in social security benefits by making it possible to increase payroll taxes without imposing unacceptable burdens upon low- and middle-income families. No longer would a decent income for the elderly depend on an indecent increase in the tax burden of the working man.
PUBLIC DISCLOSURE ACT
To open the government more to the people, Muskie introduced on December 6 the Truth-In- Government Act of 1971. This bill, S. 2965, would create an independent, seven member Disclosure Board to supervise the government's classification system and to determine what executive documents can be released to Congress, the press, and the public. The Board would investigate cases of misclassification and declassify documents when classification is no longer necessary.
A major responsibility of the Board will be to provide Congress the documents it needs. As Senator Muskie stated in his introductory statement, Congress needs such documents "to make reasoned choices about appropriations, new legislation, and required oversight. Without this information, our system of checks and balances breaks down."
The decisions of the Board can be modified by the President if he invokes executive privilege, but both the Board's and the President's decisions can be appealed to the Courts.
Muskie first recommended an independent review board of this type on June 20 in response to the Nixon Administration attempts to prevent the publication of the Pentagon Papers.
Muskie's bill also liberalizes the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, granting the public easier access to government information. It would:
Provide attorney's fees for those who successfully force an agency to release improperly withheld documents.
Allow courts to judge the reasonableness of a claimed exemption by an agency under the Freedom of Information Act.
HEALTH CARE
On June 4, 1971 Muskie introduced major health manpower legislation. This legislation, accepted as amendments to the Health Manpower Act of 1971 in the Senate, increased funds for building new medical schools and for training of interns and residents. It will increase the number of doctors in medical fields where there are now shortages.
Muskie is Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Health of the Elderly of the Senate Committee on Aging. This year, the Subcommittee held hearings in three cities, including Los Angeles, California. The hearings revealed the hardship many aged people suffer because of federal cut backs in Medicare and state cut backs in Medicaid.
The Subcommittee documented for the first time the substantial financial barriers elderly Americans face in trying to obtain adequate health care. As Muskie revealed at the Los Angeles hearings on May 10, 1971:
Our elderly require greater health care than any other age group. Americans over 65 are twice as likely to have one or more chronic conditions than younger persons. They are in hospitals more frequently for longer stays caused by more serious illnesses. In 1970, the average stay in a hospital for an older American was 13 days.
Those who suffer most from illness – our elderly – can least afford to pay for health care. Persons 65 and over comprise about 10 percent of our population, but they account for nearly 20 percent of all persons in poverty. Over half of all persons 65 and older who live alone have annual incomes below $2,000.
And yet, the cost of health care for the elderly – despite Medicare and Medicaid – is rising:
In fiscal year 1970, the average health bill for a person 65 or older was $791, six times that of a youth, and three times that of people between 19 and 64 years old.
Medicare covers 43 percent of the total health care cost of the aged, leaving uncovered an amount larger than the total health bill for the average younger person.
Despite the valuable protection that Medicare and Medicaid affords, the older person must still pay annually $226 out-of-pocket for health care. This is more than double the out-of-pocket payments for those under 65. Thus the elderly – with less than half the income of those under 65 – themselves, pay twice as much for health services.
The Subcommittee also explored proposals to bring health care to the elderly, such as home health care teams, new rehabilitation centers, special clinics for the elderly, and transportation for those presently unable to reach a doctor.
AID TO INNER CITIES
An amendment offered by Senator Muskie to the Disaster Relief Act of 1971, which will provide massive federal assistance to areas of chronic unemployment such as ghettoes, was accepted by the Senate Public Works Committee and incorporated into the final bill which passed the Senate on August 5.
Muskie's amendment also changed the bill so that aid to economic disaster areas is not limited only to "major labor areas." This definition frequently masked ghetto unemployment due to the prosperity of the surrounding suburbs. The Muskie amendment allows "areas, communities, and neighborhoods" of high unemployment to become eligible for federal aid.
REHNQUIST OPPOSITION
Muskie voted against Nixon Supreme Court nominee William H. Rehnquist. He had also voted against Clement Haynsworth and G. Harrold Carswell. Speaking in the Senate, on December 3, 1971, Muskie said:
"I am not satisfied that as a Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist would consider himself a guardian of the Bill of Rights, that he would be a bulwark against abuse or overreaching by the Executive and Legislative branches, or that he would resist encroachments on the liberties guaranteed to all of us by the Constitution."
Muskie told the Senate that he felt a Senator had a responsibility to vote against a nominee when he believed that the "shift in the direction and the thrust of the Court's opinions" represented by the President's nomination "would not be in the best interests of the country." This was a major address reflecting Muskie's views on the role of the Supreme Court in America.