CONGRESSIONAL RECORD – SENATE,

December 21, 1973 

Page 43073

THE FEDERAL ENERGY EMERGENCY ADMINISTRATION ACT

Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, this week the Senate passed S. 2776, the urgently needed legislation to establish a new Federal Energy Emergency Administration.

This legislation was given careful and expeditious handling by the Committee on Government Operations. I wish particularly to commend the distinguished chairman of the Committee on Government Operations, Mr. ERVIN, and the distinguished senior Senator from Connecticut, Mr. RIBICOFF, for their outstanding leadership in the development of this legislation.

Mr. President, like all Americans, I welcome the administration's effort to bring some order out of the administrative chaos which presently pervades the Federal Government's efforts to deal with the energy crisis. But as a Senator representing a State whose residents may be cruelly affected by fuel shortages this winter, I also recognize that no mode of organization – or reorganization – will alone solve so complex a problem.

As we learned during the energy-scarce years of World War II, programs of this kind worked only with full public support. And for the people to support efforts to combat the energy crisis, they must be told the whole truth about the nature of that crisis. They must be assured that the Government, in its effort to deal with the crisis will treat everyone equally.

Mr. Presidents during consideration of S. 2776, the Committee on Government Operations and the full Senate approved several safeguards to assure that the impact of the energy crisis and Government efforts to combat it will be better known and more fair. Supplied by the administration with a reorganization plan which would have granted considerable powers beyond those necessary to deal with the energy emergency to a new Federal Energy Administration, the committee undertook to tailor this legislation to meet the crisis that is at hand.

First, the committee rewrote this legislation to create a Federal Energy Emergency Administration – a Federal agency to deal specifically with the energy emergency during the next 18 months.

Second, the committee took specific steps to prohibit the President from transferring to the new FEEA programs now operated by other Federal agencies unless both houses of Congress approve. As originally proposed by the administration, this legislation would have granted the President unprecedented authority to transfer existing programs to the FEEA. The committee's action to curb that power represents an important step in the reassertion of congressional prerogative to determine national energy policy.

Third, the committee gave the Administrator of the FEEA subpoena powers if necessary to obtain full and complete information as he deems it necessary from the oil companies. And it further provided for public disclosure of significant information that does not involve the trade secrets of the oil companies. There is nothing more essential to our efforts to combat the energy crisis than the power to obtain from the oil companies information about the severity of the emergency – information those companies have thus far refused to supply. The information and disclosure amendments added by the committee are an important step toward obtaining that vital information and provide an important safeguard to assure that the public will be well informed about the state of the crisis and efforts to deal with it.

Fourth, the committee added amendments to insure that State and local governments, which bear major responsibility in implementing emergency energy policies are involved in a decision making process from which those policies emanate. The committee also added provisions to assure that the FEEA supplies the States and localities with relevant information it possesses and to afford technical assistance to State and local governments in need of help to combat emergency energy problems.

Fifth, the committee required the Administrator of the FEEA to make regular reports about the economic impact of the decision he makes.

Sixth, the committee granted the Chairman and Director of the Cost of Living Council a veto over policies promulgated by the Administrator of the FEEA which would cause a rise in the cost of energy.

All of these amendments added by the Committee on Government Operations were approved by the Senate. They provide important public protection in the process by which the Federal Government combats the energy emergency.

Mr. President, S. 2776, as passed by the Senate, is a well-thought-out and necessary measure. It will allow, for the first time, the administration to concentrate its resources on combating the energy emergency, but, at the same time, it includes necessary safeguards to protect the American people from unwise or secret Government actions. It deserves prompt enactment into law.