ECONOMY, COMMERCE, AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES

1974 2nd Session, 93rd Congress

Letter: Shortage of steel reinforcing bars, by, 749

749; January 24, 1974; Muskie is one of the signatories to a letter from Senators concerned about the potential shortage of steel bars, widely used in non-residential and highway construction. At this time, the U.S. had experienced substantial dollar devaluation since the Nixon Administration’s 1971 decision to abandon the gold standard, and American products were cheaper to foreign buyers, so a range of commodities, including steel, threatened to be in short supply.

Economic Stabilization Act of 1970: amend (see bills S. 2892, 3114), 1573, 5185

1573; January 31, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor of a Mondale (D- Minnesota) bill, S. 2892, to amend the Economic Stabilization Act of 1970, by requiring the President to freeze and roll back all prices for petroleum products to November 1, 1973 levels. The surge in consumer prices for petroleum products, initially produced by a shortage in U.S. supplies in the earlier part of 1973, was exacerbated by the Arab oil embargo at the time of the Yom Kippur war in the middle east, when the U.S. supplied arms to Israel, and by the end of January, when Senator Mondale proposed his bill, he noted that refined petroleum product prices had soared by 125 percent in 1973, and by 60.9 percent between November 1, 1973 and January 1974.

5185; March 5, 1974; Muskie is shown as a cosponsor with Stevenson (D- Illinois) of S. 3114, a bill to phase out price controls in an orderly fashion. The law giving the President the authority to control prices and wage increases was set to expire on April 30, 1974, and the bill was designed to prevent a sudden surge in prices and wage demands by keeping presidential authority to impose controls for a further 12 months and mandating a scheme of commitments to supply increases from the various sectors of the economy.

Rail transportation system: expand to provide service to certain States (see bill S. 2867), 1889

1889; February 4, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor to a Church (D- Idaho) bill to amend the Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970 to expand the basic rail transportation system to provide service to certain states, in particular six sparsely populated states for which passenger service was not included in the Department of Transportation’s final report. Idaho was one of those states. Maine, which was also one, did not see passenger service resume until December, 2001.

Tourism industry: relative to allocation of energy resources (see S. Res. 281), 2613

2613; February 7, 1974; Muskie is shown as one of the cosponsors of an Inouye (D - Hawaii) resolution urging that travel and tourism be allocated its fair share of gasoline. At this time, the energy crisis was perceived to be a shortage of supply, and the federal government had the authority to allocate fuels to various sectors of the economy. Tourism, although a $61 billion per year sector, providing some four million jobs, had not been recognized as a priority sector in this allocation process.

Fertilizer price and supply: resolution (see S. Res. 289), relative to, 4530

4530; February 27, 1974; Muskie is shown as a cosponsor of S. Res. 289, a McGovern (D- South Dakota) resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that fertilizer manufacturers should expand their production to the limit and maintain reasonable prices as the planting season for farmers approached. Among other commodities directly dependent on oil and gas supplies, fertilizer production was anticipated to fall short of the increased acreage that the nation’s farmers were intending to plant.

Cost of Living Act of 1974: enact (see bills S. 3352, 3918), 10852, 28470

10852; April 11, 1974; Notice only of Muskie’s introduction of S. 3352, a bill to provide authority for continued monitoring of the economy when the existing economic controls bill expired, April 30, 1974.

28470; August 15, 1974; Notice only of Muskie’s introduction of S. 3918, the Cost of Living Act of 1974, a bill to provide the President with the authority to demand a 45-day delay in any price or wage increase and to establish an agency for making economic predictions in specific economic sectors as a means of monitoring price and wage increases.

       

Cost of Living Act of 1974: introduction, 10865, 28484

Economy: Legislation to control inflation, 10865

Text: S. 3352, Cost of Living Act of 1974, 10866

Report: Cost of Living Act of 1974, 10866

Analysis: S.3352, Cost of Living Act of 1974, 10866

10865, 10866; April 11, 1974; Muskie makes an introductory statement on S. 3352, his proposal to provide authority to monitor price and wage increases for one year following the expiration of the current Economic Stabilization Act. Muskie conceded that there was no sentiment favoring any continuation of controls, but argued that when the existing control authority ended on April 30, there was a danger of an explosion of pent-up price hikes and wage demands. In these years, a worldwide inflation infected most of the industrially advanced nations in Europe as well on the North American continent; the belief in the U.S. was that "big" labor and "big" business could and did administer prices, without regard to supply or demand. As a result, the outbreak of serious inflation and shortages led many to conclude that direct governmental control of price increases and wage demands could moderate inflation, a policy that was, in fact, imposed under President Nixon beginning in August, 1971.

28484; August 15, 1974; Muskie makes an introductory statement on the revised Cost of Living Act, S. 3918, noting that his earlier similar proposal had been so weakened that it was set aside, and all economic monitoring of inflationary price and wage increases had effectively ended on April 30. By the time of this introduction, President Nixon had resigned, and one of President Ford’s first actions was to call for the reconstitution of such an office. This bill was Muskie’s response. In addition to providing for subpoena power to gain the information necessary for effective price monitoring, the bill would also give the President authority to delay proposed wage and price increases by a total of 90 days if their effect was held to be a severe danger of increasing inflation. The U.S. inflation rate during 1974 reached 12.3 percent, an unprecedented high.

Cost of Living Act, Senator Chiles, 11298

11298; April 23, 1974; Muskie notes that Senator Chiles (D- Florida) wishes to cosponsor S. 3352, the Cost of Living Act and inserts a statement about it.

International Economic Policy Act of 1972: amend bill (S. 2986) authorizing appropriations. 12109, 12197, 14114

12109; April 29, 1974; Notice only of Muskie’s introduction of Amendment 1229, to S. 2986, the International Economic Policy Act. This amendment was the text of S. 3352, Muskie’s Cost of Living Act, his bill to continue economic monitoring, along with provisions for a 12-month extension of standby wage and price controls

Cost of Living Act of 1974: amendment to S. 2986, 12197, 12199, 12202-12206, 12618-12620, 12625, 12630

Economic conditions: continuation of standby wage and price controls, 12197, 12199, 12202- 12208, 12218, 12616-12619 12625, 12626, 12630, 12632, 12643: 14097-14099, 14101-14106, 14108, 14109, 14114, 14116, 14117

Analysis: Cost of Living Act, 12199

Untimely Flight From Controls, W.W. Heller, Wall Street Journal, 12207.

International Economic Policy Act of 1972: bill (S. 2986) authorize appropriations, 12197, 12199, 12202-12208, 12218, 12616-12619, 12625, 12630, 12632, 12643, 14097-14099, 14101-14106, 14108, 14109, 14114, 14116, 14117

International Economic Policy Act of 1972: bill (S. 2986), to authorize appropriations for, to table Beall amendment, 12641

Ford Raises Price Despite 1973 Pledge, J. L. Rowe, Washington Post, 14098

Wage and Price Controls: A Resurrection? H. Rowan, Washington Post, 14098

Support for Cost of Living Council Act. G. P. Shultz, 14101

International Economic Policy Act of 1972: bill (S. 2986), to authorize appropriations for, to table Tower amendment, 14106

International Economic Policy Act of 1972: bill (S. 2986), to authorize appropriations for, to table bill, 14117

12197, 12199; April 29, 1974; During debate on S. 2986, the Council on International Economic Policy, Muskie along with Senators Johnson (D- Louisiana) and Stevenson (D- Illinois) call up their amendment, No. 1229, which would create a wage and price monitoring agency and provide for an additional twelve months of standby economic controls for the President.

12203-12206; April 29, 1974; During debate on the Cost of Living amendment, Senator Proxmire (D- Wisconsin) argues that because the current controls cover only a quarter of the labor force and a third of the products comprising the Wholesale Price Index, substantial decontrol has already taken place and further standby controls are both unnecessary and, in the hands of the Nixon Administration, potentially damaging for workers’ wages. Muskie counters that if nothing is done before the control authority lapses, there is a risk of a much more dangerous inflationary surge as businesses seek to raise prices and make up for lost time.

12207; April 29, 1974; During debate on the Cost of Living amendment, Muskie asks that an article by Walter Heller be included in the Record. Walter Heller served as President of the Council of Economic Advisors in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations and was widely believed to have been responsible for a period of strong, non-inflationary growth during the first half of the 1960s; by 1974, he was one of the economic elders of the Democratic Party.

12218; April 29, 1974; During debate on the Cost of Living amendment, Muskie commends Senator Humphrey (D- Minnesota) for his presentation in favor of the amendment.

12616-12620; May 1, 1974; In continuing debate on the Cost of Living amendment, Senator Brock (R-Tennessee) argues that the Nixon administration has made it clear that it will impose price regulations on health care services only, in the event Congress passes any form of control authority, and Muskie makes the argument that leaving it to the marketplace ensures inflation will continue.

12625, 12626; May 1, 1974; Muskie makes the argument for the standby controls, pointing out that the Nixon administration has already received commitments from 17 industrial sectors about price restraint and that absent some authority impose controls, those commitments may weaken.

12630-12632; May 1, 1974; In continuing debate on the Cost of Living amendment, Senator Huddleston (D- Kentucky) offers an amendment extending standby control authority for companies that provide services as well as those which manufacture products, and Senator Hathaway (D- Maine) proposes that the public information companies have provided under the existing control authority be continued under the standby authority. Muskie accepts both amendments.

12643; May 1, 1974; Following several votes, by which the Senate tabled the provisions in the Cost of Living amendment that provided for standby controls, but voted to retain the monitoring functions proposed in the amendment, confusion arose over whether to finish voting on the bill in the same evening or to delay the final debate for a few days. This excerpt of the debate shows how such confusion can arise at the end of a long evening.

14097-14102; May 9, 1974; After the passage of eight days, the Senate resumes debate on S. 2589, the International Economic Policy Act, and turns to the pending amendment, Muskie’s amendment Number 1229, the Cost of Living amendment with comments from the principal sponsors, Muskie, Senator Stevenson (D- Illinois) and Senator Johnson (D- Louisiana), outlining why even the remainder of the amendment which the Senate refused to table is better than nothing as a tool to moderate inflation.

14103-14107; May 9, 1973; Under Senate rules, when the Senate approves an amendment to a bill, it becomes, for all intents and purposes, part of the bill and there is a Senate rule prohibiting a motion to strike the language from the bill. In other words, once the Senate has acted, it does not permit perpetual votes on the same issue. Senators, of course, seek ways around this prohibition, and during debate on the Cost of Living amendment, Senator Tower (R-Texas) offered an amendment which would have stricken all the language from the bill and substituted in its place a stripped-down Monitoring Council proposal. Muskie argued that the Tower amendment was merely a prohibited motion to strike in disguise, and moved to table it.

14108, 14109; May 9, 1974; Senator Proxmire (D-Wisconsin) proposes an amendment to limit all federal spending to $295 billion for fiscal year 1975, a figure some $9 billion lower than the President’s budget request. Muskie responds by pointing out that the Congress will be writing a budget reform process shortly, but that a single limit on federal spending has nothing to do with monitoring the economy for inflation.

14114-14117; May 9, 1974; As the debate on the Cost of Living amendment comes to a close, Muskie offers his amendment as a substitute for the Tower Monitoring Agency amendment, and it is rejected; he then moves to table the entire bill, a move that is approved 68-18.

Shultz, George P.: endorsed standby controls, 13670

Economic monitoring agency; need to establish, 13670

Shultz Endorses Standby Controls, R. 0. Nokes, AP wire, 13671

Toward a Less Inflationary Economy. J.T. Dunlop, 13671, 14099

13670; May 8, 1974; Muskie notes that Treasury Secretary George Shultz and John Dunlop, the Director of the Cost of Living Council have both endorsed the idea of a monitoring agency as part of a federal arsenal of economic tools to discourage the surge of inflation which has developed with the end of the mandatory wage and price control authority on April 30.

14099; May 9, 1974; Muskie uses the same Dunlop text as part of his debate on his Cost of Living amendment on S. 2986, the International Economic Policy Act, which began on April 29 and concludes on May 9.

Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965: extend authorizations (see bill S. 3641), 23770

23770; July 17, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor to S. 3641, a Montoya (D- New Mexico) bill extending for three years the authorization for the Public Works and Economic Development Act, a law which provides authority for the Economic Development Administration and for seven Regional Action Planning Commissions.

 

Economy: call domestic summit to stability and prosperity (see S. Res.363), 24677

24677; July 23, 1974; Muskie is added as one of the 66 cosponsors of S. Res. 363, a resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that a domestic economic summit be called, to include the Congressional leadership, the President, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, along with representatives of labor and management to come to some agreement on steps to take to deal with the economic circumstances. At this time, inflation was running in double digits, a recession appeared to have started, and the conspicuous lack of agreement between the President and Congress on how best to approach the situation made it clear that nothing was likely to be done. In the meantime, the Watergate issue, which formed part of the background situation throughout 1974 had heated up again. On July 6, the House Judiciary Committee had reported on articles of impeachment. The Supreme Court was in the process of considering a request by the special prosecutor for tape recorded conversations the President had around the time of the burglary at the Watergate, and in fact, a day later, handed down its unanimous decision that the President must hand over the tapes.

Department of Transportation: bill (H.R. 15405) making appropriations. 26548-26550

26548-26550; August 2, 1974; During debate on H.R. 15405, making appropriations for the Department of Transportation and related agencies, Muskie responds to a proposal to cut the entire bill by 3.5 percent, by observing that the Budget Committee law was signed barely ten days earlier and the Republican members of the Committee have not even been appointed, so until the full Committee is operating, he will defer to Chairmen of Appropriations Subcommittees who know more about the details of each appropriations bill than anyone else, and if a cut is recommended or approved by a Subcommittee Chairman, he will be inclined to defer to his judgment pending the development of the full Budget Committee mechanism.

Tourism: investigate Federal policy and role (see S. Res. 347), 26633

26633; August 5, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor to S. Res. 347, an Inouye (D- Hawaii) resolution authorizing an investigation of the policy and role of the federal government with respect to tourism in the U.S., a proposal based on the recommendations of a 2-year study of tourism mandated by Congress in a 1970 law, which recommended the creation of an affirmative tourism policy at the federal level.

Amtrak: amend bills (S. 3569; H.R. 15427) authorizing appropriations, 27405

27405; August 8, 1974; During debate on S. 3569, the Amtrak Improvement Act, Senator Church (D- Idaho) describes his amendment directing the Secretary of Transportation to designate an extension of the Amtrak system to ensure passenger rail service to all 48 of the contiguous states, including the six states which are largely excluded from the existing Amtrak system, one of which is Idaho. In his remarks, he mentions Muskie as a cosponsor of the bill on which this amendment is based, and notes that Maine is also one of the six states which are excluded from Amtrak passenger service.

Text: S. 3918, Cost of Living Act of 1974, 28484

Inflation: legislation to monitor, 28484, 28886-28888, 28895, 28914, 28915

Council on Wage Price Stability: amend bill (S. 3919) enact, 28690, 28885

Council on Wage and Price Stability: bill (S. 3919) to establish, 28886-28888, 28895, 28914, 28915

Cost of Living Task Force; establish, 28887

Economic conditions: wage and price stability, 28886-28888, 28895, 28914, 28915

Economic Conditions, Joint Economic Committee, A. P. Burns, W. W. Heller (sundry), 28888, 28891

28484; August 15, 1974; Muskie makes an introductory statement on S. 3918, a bill to provide for monitoring of the inflationary pressures in the economy, noting that his effort to provide such authority fell short in April, when the existing authority expired without renewal. He notes that President Ford has asked for such a monitoring capacity to be reinstated. President Nixon resigned on August 8, 1974.

28690; August 16, 1974; Muskie is shown as the cosponsor of a Stevenson (D- Illinois) amendment No. 1807 to the bill authorizing a Council on Wage and Price Stability, S. 3919, which embodies the provisions of S. 3918, the Cost of Living Act introduced a day earlier.

28885-28888; August 19, 1974; When Senator Stevenson (D- Illinois) calls up his amendment to S.3919, the bill creating a Council on Wage and Price Stability, Muskie is shown as a cosponsor. Muskie then goes on to make his own statement on the amendment, arguing that it is a far more realistic proposal to accomplish economic monitoring than the provisions of the underlying bill.

28895; August 19, 1974; During continued debate on the Stevenson (D- Illinois) amendment to the Wage and Price Council bill, S. 3919, Muskie expresses his thanks to Senator Javits (R-New York) for his past support for similar legislation and for his astute comments on the proposal.

28914; August 19, 1974; During debate on the Wage and Price Council bill, S. 3919, Muskie outlines his objections to a Proxmire (D- Wisconsin) amendment which would require the President to report on the total spending he contemplates by each agency and department and allows the Congress 20 days to approve or alter the total figures.

Oceans: pollution threat, 29884

Fishermen Need Facts for Long-Range Programs, T. Welles, Tuesday Weekly, 29884

Environmental Threats Shown, Bangor News, 29885

29884; August 22, 1974; Muskie makes brief comments introducing two Maine press articles about the fisheries business and the threat it faces from foreign competition and potential environmental damage.

Federal-Aid Highway Amendments of 1974: bill (S. 3934) to enact, 30859

Trucks: proposed weight limit increase, 30859

30859; September 11, 1974; During debate on S. 3934, the Federal Aid Highway Amendments bill, Muskie speaks in favor of a truck weight revision which would effectively raise the allowable truck weight to 80,000 pounds, because it would equalize truck weights throughout the country at a rate that Maine had already established for its trucks.

Fishing Claims Assignment Act of 1974: enact (see bill S. 4061), 32831

32831; September 30, 1974; Notice only of Muskie’s introduction of S. 4061, the Fishing Claims Assignment Act, a bill designed to simplify the claims process for fishermen whose boats or gear are damaged by foreign fishing vessels.

Maine: damage to fishing gear off coast of, 32833, 32834

Fishing Claims Assignment Act of 1974: introduction, 32833, 32834

Text: S. 4061, Fishing Claims Assignment Act of 1974, 32834

32833, 32834; September 30, 1974; Muskie makes an introductory statement on S. 4061, his bill to modify the manner in which fishermen can seek compensation for gear damaged by foreign fishing vessels. His proposal was to assign the claims investigation to the Commerce Department and create a system of loans for local fishermen while Commerce pursued the more difficult problem of forcing repayment from foreign governments.

32728; September 26, 1974; Senator Metcalf (D- Montana) takes note of the Individual Views filed by Muskie and Pell (double-check) and cites those views but adds his own gloss by inserting references to mineral resources. The Individual Views were filed by Muskie on S. 1988, the 200-mile fisheries resources measure, which the Foreign Relations Committee reported negatively, albeit against a significant minority. This does not appear in the Congressional Record index under Muskie’s name, but as it reflects his work on a matter of some significance to Maine it has been included here.

County Fairs and Ox-Pulling In Maine, B. Newman. Wall Street Journal, 34322

34322; Muskie mentions a news article about ox-pulling at the Cumberland County Fair, and asks to have it inserted in the Record.

Appropriations: bill (H.R. 16900), making supplemental, 35040

Spruce budworm: Maine forest problem, 35040

35040; October 10, 1974; During debate on H.R. 16900, the supplemental appropriations bill, Muskie briefly mentions the damage to Maine’s forests being inflicted by the spruce budworm, a larval caterpillar which threatens to seriously damage Maine’s spruce fir forests. Although Muskie said the budworm infestation originated in Canada, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has recorded its first appearance in Maine in 1807.

Economy Belongs to the People, Conference of Catholic Charities, Boston, 35318

35318; October 11, 1974; Muskie notes that the Conference of Catholic Charities was one of the groups invited to take part in President Ford’s "economic summit", and inserts their rather critical reaction to the Ford administration’s economic proposals and their alternative recommendations.

Economic conditions: recession, 37165

State of the Economy – a Democratic View, Nationwide TV, by, 37165

37165; November 25, 1974; Muskie notes that his recent weeks in Maine have led him to conclude that most Americans are more concerned about an economic recession than inflation alone, and points out that he made that argument in his televised October speech responding to President Ford’s economic proposals. When President Ford was sworn in after August 8, 1974, he inherited a sluggish economy plagued by the worst inflation until then seen in U.S. history. His plan to respond to this was to hold federal spending down by some $5 billion to $300 billion, to impose a small surtax and to exhort citizens to wear red-white-and-blue "Whip Inflation Now" buttons, save money rather than spend it, and resist asking for wage increases, a program which did not strike many Americans as either appealing or effective.

Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act of 1974: enact (see bill S. 4207), 38001

38001; December 4, 1974; Muskie is shown as a cosponsor of S. 4207, a Ribicoff (D- Connecticut) bill to provide an additional 13 weeks of emergency unemployment compensation when the unemployment rate reaches 4.5 nationally, in place of the existing trigger for benefits which requires that unemployment be 20 percent higher than in the previous two years.

Forest Service: further insect and disease control programs (see bill S. 4213), 38018

38018; December 4, 1974; Muskie joins Senator Hathaway (D- Maine) to cosponsor S. 4213, a bill to require that the Forest Service move forward on its insect cost-sharing control program on an emergency basis to counter the devastation of the spruce budworm infestation in Maine’s forests.

Marine Fisheries Protection Act of 1974: bill (S. 1988) to enact, 39059-39062

Ocean fisheries: U.S. Jurisdiction, 39059-39062

Foreign fishing vessels: damage to gear by, 39060

Marine Fisheries Protection Act of 1974: amend bill (S. 1988) to enact, 39060

39059; December 11, 1974; During debate on S. 1988, the Marine Fisheries Protection Act, Muskie speaks about the damage done to Maine fisheries and to the equipment of Maine fishermen by the enormous increase in foreign fishing fleets off the coast, and argues that unless the U.S. immediately recognizes and begins to enforce a 200-mile maritime management zone offshore, the fisheries will be depleted before any international Law of the Seas regime can come into being. He offers his amendment dealing with the reimbursement of fishermen for damaged gear, and the amendment is accepted.

Letter: Emergency Marine Fisheries Protection Act of 1974, to all Senators, by, 39081

39081; December 11, 1974: During continued debate on S. 1988, the Marine Fisheries Protection Act, Senator Stevens (R-Alaska) includes a letter signed by Muskie and other Senators from coastal fishing states setting forth their arguments in favor of immediate approval of the bill.

Maritime programs: amend bill (H.R. 13296) to authorize appropriations for, 39479

Foreign vessels: payment for fishing gear damaged by, 39480

Maritime programs: bill (H.R. 13296) authorize appropriations for, 39480, 39481

39480-39481; December 12, 1974; During debate on H. R. 13296, the maritime programs authorization bill, Muskie again offers his amendment to deal with the problem of foreign fishing vessels damaging U.S. fishing gear or boats, explaining that although the Senate had once approved this language, he is concerned that the full House of Representatives may not take up the 200 mile jurisdiction legislation before the expiration of the Congress, and he is anxious that it be approved and passed as quickly as possible.

ENERGY

1974 2nd Session, 93rd Congress

Energy resources on public lands: inventory (see bill S. 2782), 26

26; January 21, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor to S. 2782, a Nelson (D- Wisconsin) bill, to establish a National Energy Information System, authorizing the Department of the Interior to undertake an inventory of U.S. energy resources on public lands and private reserves. One of the elements of the energy crisis was at the time felt to be the lack of reliable information on reserves; during the debate over the Alaska pipeline, for instance, reserve estimates ranging from 10 billion to 24 billion barrels were used.

Energy Emergency Act of 1973: bill (S. 2589) to enact, 1127-1129, 1148-1151, 1172, 2695, 2696, 2725, 2727-2729, 3431, 3432, 3435-3437

Report: Energy Emergency Legislation, Comparison of House-Passed Bill with Conference Report, 1129

Less Talk, More Action, R. Nader, Washington Star, 1173

Tax Bribes Do Not Work, J. A. Rowe, Nation, 1173

Tax Windfall Seen for Oil-Producing Countries, L. Dye, Los Angeles Times, 1175

Pull the Oil Tax Lever, Boston Globe, 1174

Letter: Securing information on energy industry management, W. E. Simon, by R. Nader, 1173

Senate: rhetoric of delay, 2696

Oil consuming nations: Washington meeting, 2727

Kissinger, Henry A.: oil negotiations, 2728

Letter: Health Effects of Various Forms of Energy Study, correspondence with S. David Freeman, 3206

Tribute, 3435

Letter: Health effects of energy by-products: exchange of correspondence between S. D. Freeman and, 3436

1127-1129; January 29, 1974; When the conference report on S. 2589, the Energy Emergency Act, came to the Senate, it included provisions to delay the effective date of air pollution standards for stationary and mobile sources. Because the House of Representatives also insisted on a windfall profits tax, a motion was pending to recommit the conference report, which means return it to both houses with instructions to strip out the offending section. Muskie speaks about the air pollution standards delays in the bill, and argues that they were less onerous than the delays favored by a majority of the House alone. At this time, in the wake of the Arab oil embargo which severely curtailed the availability of gasoline in many parts of the country, there was enormous controversy over the catalytic controls on auto exhausts, which were said to reduce fuel efficiency to an unacceptable extent, a contention the auto industry was happy to encourage and echo.

1148-1151; January 29, 1974; As the debate on recommitting the conference report on S. 2589, the Energy Emergency Act continues, issues of information are aired (at this time, oil companies were reluctant to share with government agencies the quantities of their known reserves), issues of the windfall profits tax and a provision to perhaps roll back prices in some cases are discussed (public opinion at this time was certain that the oil companies were making enormous profits on oil because the price of a barrel rose from under $3 at the beginning of 1973 and was already over $5 a barrel by the time of this debate. It reached over $10 a barrel several months later.), and the claims by some environmental organizations that pollution standards were being abandoned in the face of the energy crisis. Muskie disputed this claim and sought to dispel the argument that environmental standards were being weakened for no reason.

1173; January 29, 1973; Muskie and Senator Kennedy (D- Massachusetts) have a brief colloquy on the provisions governing the burning of clean fuels like natural gas, and Muskie goes on to point out that information about what the oil and gas companies have in the way of reserves ought to be available through local property tax assessments, if they are thorough and honest.

2695, 2696; February 7, 1974; Following a filibuster of several days’ duration, the Senate argues over an effort to establish a definitive date to vote on S. 2589, the emergency energy bill, and Muskie says that had he known there would be an effort to delay action on the bill he would not have been willing to agree to compromise on environmental standards and deadlines.

2725, 2727-2729; February 7, 1974; Failing to reach agreement to vote on February 19, the Senate turns to immediate consideration of the conference report on S. 2589, the emergency energy bill, and Senator Fannin (R-Arizona) lays out reasons to oppose an oil price roll back, Muskie speaks about the lack of coordination among the oil-consuming nations and the current competitive rush to reach agreements with the oil producers on arms and technology transfers.

3431, 3432; February 19, 1974; During debate on the conference report on S. 2589, the Energy Emergency Act, Muskie takes exception to an assertion that he recklessly abandoned environmental safeguards in a rush to pass the energy bill.

3435-3437; February 19, 1974; Muskie makes his final statement on S. 2589, the Energy Emergency Act, laying out in more detail what actual changes he agreed to in Clean Air Act deadlines and how these will work in practice.

Federal Energy Office: freedom of information policy, 2620

Simon, William E.: energy information policy, 2620

Access to Energy Information, W.E. Simon. National Press Club, 2620

2620; February 7, 1974; Muskie takes note of the fact that the head of the Federal Energy Office, William Simon, has made an open commitment to the press that he would see to it that his agency would respond to press requests within 24 hours of receiving them, and makes the argument that this is a faster turnaround time than he has required in the Freedom of Information Act, although federal agencies affected by that act have complained about the short time deadlines written into it.

New England: construct Dickey-Lincoln Dam and powerplant, 3406

Dickey-Lincoln hydroelectric project: Proposed construction, 3406, 16011

Dickey-Lincoln Dam, Boston Globe (sundry), 3406-3408

Letter: Electric power and imported oil, New England Power Pool, 3408

3406, 3408; February 19, 1974; Muskie notes the irony in the fact that he has been approached by representatives of the New England power industry with complaints about the price of imported residual fuel oil stemming from the OPEC oil embargo even though these are the same power companies which have fought against any form of public power in the region, particularly the Dickey-Lincoln hydroelectric project.

16011; May 22, 1974; Muskie makes a statement responding to the growing environmental opposition to the proposal to build the Dickey-Lincoln Power Project, a hydro-electrical generating plant in northern Maine, and includes some materials supportive of his views.

Energy Emergency Act of 1973: President's veto, 5525-5527

Text: S. 2589, Energy Emergency Act, administration draft proposals, excerpts. 5526, 5527

Nixon Officials Appear Divided on Energy Plan, B. Schorr, Wall Street Journal, 5526

5525-5527; March 6, 1974; Muskie speaks about the manner in which the administration has demanded fuel conservation authority on an "emergency" basis the previous November, but has now vetoed the Energy Emergency Act, S. 2589, because it includes a price roll back provision designed to prevent the OPEC-set world price from becoming the de facto U.S. domestic price for oil. By this time, international oil prices had almost quadrupled over the course of six months, creating a huge inflationary ripple in the U.S. economy. Muskie also notes that the administration is targeting environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act on the claim that such laws prevent fuel conservation.

Standby Energy Emergency Authority and Contingency Planning Act: enact (see bill S. 3267), 8656

8656; March 28, 1974; Muskie is shown as a cosponsor of S. 3267, a Jackson (D-Washington) bill to establish standby emergency authority for energy conservation plans in the case of a recurring energy shortage. The purpose of this measure was to reinstate the authorities which had been provided in the Energy Emergency Act, when the Senate failed to override the President’s veto. Although the formal Arab oil embargo was ended on March 18, many at the time feared it could be reimposed at any moment, and it was to forestall the results of such a renewed embargo that emergency authorities were thought to be essential.

Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974, conference report, by, 11281

11281; April 23, 1974; Muskie is listed as one of the signatories to the Joint Explanatory Statement on the H. R. 11793, the Federal Energy Administration conference report. This bill was the successor to the vetoed Energy Emergency Act, and consolidated the energy-related functions of the federal government into a single agency for the sake of efficiency and control.

Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974, by, 12928

12928; May 2, 1974; During debate on the conference report on H.R. 11793, the legislation creating a new Federal Energy Administration, EA bill, Senator Javits (R-New York) asks that a Muskie statement be inserted in the record. The statement is a brief explanatory comment to the effect that the new agency will cooperate with the Cost of Living Council, should such a body be reconstituted in the future. The actual Cost of Living Council, which enforced the various phases of the Nixon economic program, was terminated on April 30, when its statutory authority lapsed.

Energy: create Federal administration, 13224

Federal Energy Administration Act: provisions, 13224

13224; May 6, 1974; Muskie describes the provisions of the Federal Energy Administration bill, H.R. 11793, particularly with respect to cooperation with state and local governments in the areas of their responsibility.

Maine: proposed Dickey-Lincoln Power project, 16011

Report: Dickey-Lincoln Power Project, (sundry), 16012

Letter: Dickey-Lincoln Power project, Senator Hathaway, 16013

16011, 16012, 16013; May 22, 1974; Muskie makes a statement responding to the growing environmental opposition to the proposal to build the Dickey-Lincoln Power Project, a hydro-electrical generating plant in northern Maine, and includes some materials supportive of his views.

Report: History of the Dickey-Lincoln Power Project, Library of Congress, 16433

16433; May 28, 1974; In his continuing effort to achieve the goal of constructing a federal hydroelectric station in northern Maine, Muskie commissioned a review of the history of the project from the Congressional Research Service, an arm of the Library of Congress, and he presents the result of this study to the Senate.

Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973: extend (see bill S. 3717), 21400

21400; June 27, 1974; Muskie is listed as a cosponsor of S. 3717, a Humphrey (D- Minnesota) bill to require the fuel allocation program to channel sufficient supplies to independent oil refiners and marketers whose overall role in the oil industry was being reduced by efforts by the major oil companies to maintain supplies to their own dealerships at the expense of independents.

Dickey-Lincoln hydroelectric project: funds, 26336

26336; August 1, 1974; During debate on H.R. 15155, the Water and Power Development and Atomic Energy Commission appropriations bill, Muskie argues that the $800,000 contained in the bill to continue planning for the Dickey-Lincoln hydroelectric project in northern Maine is needed precisely to determine its environmental impact.

Senate rules: amend, relative to energy research development administration (see S. Res. 352), 26633

26633; August 5, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor of S. Res. 352, a Moss (D- Utah) resolution to amend Rules 25 and 26 of the Standing Rules of the Senate with respect to jurisdiction for energy research and development issues. Rules 25 and 26 related to Senate Committees’ jurisdictional limits and committee procedures, respectively. The proposal was to place all responsibilities in the new Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) in a single committee, rather than in the dispersed committees which had jurisdiction over different elements of energy research and development. The resolution proposed to shift these responsibilities to the Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences.

Environmental Protection Agency: R. & D. functions, 28660

Energy Reorganization Act of 1974: bills (S. 2744; H.R. 11510) to enact, 28660

28660; August 15, 1974; During debate on S. 2744, the Energy Reorganization Act, which was the vehicle by which the Energy Research and Development Administration was created, Muskie says that the problems he earlier had with the appropriations for the new agency, which included a broad grant of permission to transfer research funds from the Environmental Protection Agency and to which he was opposed, is in the process of being worked out in a satisfactory fashion.

Oil imports: bill (H.R. 8193) to require a percentage to be carried in U.S. vessels, 30335

Energy Transportation Security Act of 1974: bill (H.R. 8193) to enact, 30335

30335; September 5, 1974; During debate on H.R. 8193, the Energy Transportation Security Act, Muskie says he has reluctantly decided he must vote against the measure because of the price hike it would mean for New England consumers of oil products. The legislation would have required that a certain percentage of oil imports into the U.S. be carried in U.S.-flag tankers.

Oil-producing and consumer nations: seeking world economic stability between (see S. Res. 410), 32531

32531; September 25, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor to S. Res. 410, a Metzenbaum (D- Ohio) resolution expressing support of President Ford in seeking world economic stability between oil-producing and consumer nations. At a U.N. speech on September 23, President Ford made comments about the possibilities of conflict among nations because of access to natural resources, which some interpreted as a veiled threat to the OPEC nations.

Energy Research and Development Administration Act: bill (H.R. 11510) enact conference report, 34855

34855; October 10, 1974; Muskie speaks on H.R. 11510, the Energy Research and Development Administration bill, which the Senate is preparing to approve, and explains the agreement that was reached over the Environmental Protection Agency’s research programs and the new organization’s research mandate.

ERDA: Passamaquoddy project, 35083

Passamaquoddy: The Dream That Won't Die, G. R. Marvin, Ellsworth American, 35084

35083; October 10, 1974; Muskie notes that with approval of the Energy Research and Development Administration there will now be an agency exclusively reviewing advanced energy proposals and technology and expresses the hope that the potential of the tidal power at the Passamaquoddy Bay in northern Maine might be revived, and includes a complete history of the project’s 1930s fate as a New Deal works relief program.

Intergovernmental Emergency Heating Fuel Assistance Act of 1974: enact (see bill S. 4209), 38001

38001; December 4, 1974; Notice only of the introduction of S. 4209, Muskie’s proposed legislation to provide emergency assistance for heating costs to low-income Americans.

Intergovernmental Emergency Heating Fuel Assistance Act: introduction, 38013

Text: S. 4209, Intergovernmental Emergency Heating Fuel Assistance Act, 38014

Analysis: Intergovernmental Emergency Heating Fuel Assistance Act, 38015

Table: Allotments to States Under Intergovernmental Emergency Heating Fuel Assistance Act, 38016

38013; December 4, 1974; Muskie makes an introductory statement on S. 4209, his proposal to provide the states with grants to make supplemental funds available to families with incomes under $8000 per annum, arguing that the enormous price rise in home heating oil, coal, propane and other residential heating fuels, coupled with poorly-insulated housing and general shortages of available credit from fuel distributors will mean hardship for the low-income in the winter.

Natural Gas Agricultural Priority Act: enact (see bill S. 4216), 38329

38329; December 5, 1974; Muskie is shown as a cosponsor of S. 4216, a Talmadge (D- Georgia) bill introduced by McGovern (D- South Dakota) which would allocate natural gas for agricultural use on the same priority as residential use, for the purposes of fertilizer production, essential agricultural chemical production and crop drying.

Standby Energy Emergency Authorities Act: bill (S. 3267) to enact, 40752

40752; December 18, 1974; Muskie says he is sorry the Senate will not take up the Standby Energy Emergency Authorities bill, S. 3267, because he had been hoping to add his low-income fuel assistance proposal to it as an amendment to get the program operating and money into the hands of low-income families as quickly as possible.

ENVIRONMENT, PARKS, HISTORIC PRESERVATION, WILDLIFE

1974 2nd Session, 93rd Congress

Clean Air Act: extension of deadline for compliance, 1127, 1128

Automobile Emission Standards, by, 1128

Environment: energy crisis, 1127, 1128 3431, 3432, 3435-3437

Pollution: energy crisis effect on regulations, 3431, 3432, 3435-3437

1127-1129; January 29, 1974; When the conference report on S. 2589, the Energy Emergency Act, came to the Senate, it included provisions to delay the effective date of air pollution standards for stationary and mobile sources. Because the House of Representatives also insisted on a windfall profits tax, a motion was pending to recommit the conference report, which means return it to both houses with instructions to strip out the offending section. Muskie speaks about the air pollution standards delays in the bill, and argues that they were less onerous than the delays favored by a majority of the House alone. At this time, in the wake of the Arab oil embargo which severely curtailed the availability of gasoline in many parts of the country, there was enormous controversy over the catalytic controls on auto exhausts, which were said to reduce fuel efficiency to an unacceptable extent, a contention the auto industry was happy to encourage and echo.

3431, 3432; February 19, 1974; During debate on the conference report on S. 2589, the Energy Emergency Act, Muskie takes exception to an assertion that he recklessly abandoned environmental safeguards in a rush to pass the energy bill.

3435-3437; February 19, 1974; Muskie makes his final statement on S. 2589, the Energy Emergency Act, laying out in more detail what actual changes he agreed to in Clean Air Act deadlines and how these will work in practice.

Environmental concerns; effects of energy crisis on, 5525-5527

Ecology Act Waiver Splits White House, G. C. Wilson, Washington Post, 5525

5525-5527; March 6, 1974; Muskie speaks about the manner in which the administration had demanded fuel conservation authority on an "emergency" basis the previous November, but has now vetoed the Energy Emergency Act, S. 2589, because it includes a price roll back provision designed to prevent the OPEC-set world price from becoming the de facto U.S. domestic price for oil. By this time, international oil prices had quadrupled over the course of six months, creating a huge inflationary ripple in the U.S. economy. Muskie also notes that the administration is targeting environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act on the claim that such laws prevent fuel conservation.

Energy crisis: Proposed lessening of EPA standards, 8428 8429

Environment: proposed changes to Clean Air Act, 8428, 8429

Air quality: proposed lowering of EPA standards, 8428, 8429

Clean Air Act: amendments proposed by Administration, 8428, 8429

Pollution Control in South Coast Air Basin, Los Angeles, Mayor Bradley, 8429

8428, 8429; March 27, 1974; Muskie comments on the Nixon administration’s proposed changes to the Clean Air Act of 1970, saying he does not understand their full intent and that the potential for up to a ten-year delay in achieving clean air makes it virtually certain that cities with bad air problems will never see clean air. The 1970 Act for the first time created enforceable deadlines for achieving clean air and required both stationary and mobile sources of pollution to actively seek means of reducing polluting emissions, so as the implications of the law became more widely known, a great deal of vocal concern was heard about the "impossibility" of achieving emission reductions on deadline. The 1973 oil shortages and Arab oil embargo helped create and sustain an atmosphere of impending doom, with auto makers claiming that the industry would be engulfed by chaos unless deadlines could be extended, and utilities companies predicting enormous and unsustainable costs. It is extremely likely that in the absence of oil shortages and the embargo, identical claims would have been made, but the fortuitous advent of shortages and high prices for consumers endowed such claims with considerably greater weight.

Energy and Resources Recovery Act of 1974: enact (see bill S. 3277), 8839

8839; March 29, 1974; Muskie is shown as a cosponsor of S. 3277, a Domenici (R-New Mexico) bill to intensify and concentrate the activities of the Environmental Protection Agency with respect to the solid waste issue, by providing additional money to the states and creating a network of institutes to provide technical guidance for the recovery of potential energy sources and other resources from the solid waste stream.

The Whole Society, Earth Week 1970, by, 11324

Earth Day, 1974: observance, 11324

The Environmental Agenda, Earth Day, 1974, by, 11325

11324; April 23, 1974; Muskie comments that his remarks on Earth Day four years earlier in 1970 are just as applicable today as they were then, and includes that text alongside the current year’s speech.

Environment: water cleanup funds, 13516-13518

Appropriations: bill (H.R. 14013), making second supplemental, 13516-13520, 13527

Letter: Pollution control construction grants. R. E. Train, by, 13517

List: Pollution control projects submitted for step III grant, EPA, 13518

Letter: Industrial waste cleanup funds, R. G. Ryan, 13518

13516-13518; May 7, 1974; During debate on an appropriations bill, H.R. 14013, Muskie engages in a colloquy with Senator Pastore (D- Rhode Island) over the plight of a small town in Rhode Island whose plans for waste water treatment plant construction have been badly affected by the veto of the 1972 Clean Water Act and subsequent impoundment of some of the funds as well as by delays in issuing regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency. In the course of the discussion, Muskie makes a commitment to hold hearings on the issue and in exchange, Senator Pastore agrees to withdraw his amendment.

13527; May 7, 1974; In the course of dealing with the issue of the Pastore (D- Rhode Island) amendment to H.R. 14013, Muskie makes the point of order that it constitutes legislating on an appropriations bill, which is not allowed under Senate rules.

Text: Amendment (No. 1303) to Energy Supply and Environmental Coordination Act of 1974, 14235

Energy Supply and Environmental Coordination Act of 1974: amend bill (H.R. 14368) to enact, 14235, 14523

Energy Supply and Environmental Coordination Act of 1974: introduction of amendment, 14235

Energy Supply and Environmental Coordination Act of 1974: bill (H.R. 14368 to enact), 14523, 14526-14529, 14536, 14542-14546, 18956-18959

Clean Air Act: bill (H.R. 14368) to amend, 14523, 14526-14529, 14536, 14542-14546, 18956- 18959

Legislative History of the Environmental Impact Problem, by, 14529

Report: Legislative History of NEPA, 14530

Letter: Issues regarding NEPA-EPA, L. G. Billings, 14530

NEPA-EPA question, 14530

List: Rulemaking actions possibly affected by EIS provision, 14543

Memorandum: Intermittent control systems for air quality, W. H. Megonnell, 18959

Report: Control Systems for Air Quality Standards, EPA, 18960

Letter: Energy Supply and Environmental Coordination Act of 1974, J. C Sawhill, 18961

Memorandum: Use of supplementary control standards and strategies (sundry), 18963, 18964

Report: State Air Pollution Implementation Plan Progress Report, EPA, 18965

Report: Use of Supplementary Control Systems, 18968

Report: Levels of Air Pollution With Effects to Health Risks, J. F. Finklea, D. I. Hammer, and G. I. Love, 18972

14235; May 13, 1974; Muskie submits a Public Works Committee amendment to H.R. 14368, the Energy Supply and Environmental Coordination Act which contains the Committee’s agreed language to cover the air pollution implications of converting power plants to coal and of a one-year delay in the interim emissions standards for autos.

14523-14531; May 14, 1974; Debate on H.R. 14368, the Energy Supply and Environmental Coordination Act begins, and Muskie offers the Committee amendment as a substitute explaining that it is a restatement of what the Senate has already approved for coal conversion and clean air deadlines to respond to an uncertain energy supply situation.

14542-14546; May 14, 1974; During debate on the Committee amendment to H.R. 14368, the Energy Supply and Environmental Coordination Act, Senator McClure (R-Idaho) argues that the provision in the amendment which clarifies the application of the National Environmental Policy Act to the Environmental Protection Agency is incorrect, and that the Agency should be required to balance its regulations against other competing values including social and economic values. The argument over the application of the Policy Act, which primarily requires an Environmental Impact Statement whenever a proposed federal action could have a major effect on the environment, specifically distinguished the actions the Environmental Protection Agency took in carrying out its statutory responsibilities and Muskie argues that where Congress has instructed the agency to achieve certain standards of air quality based on protecting human health, it was never intended that an Impact Statement be required, because Congress had specified that the only value to be considered is the protection of human health. In these years, as the requirements of the 1970 Clean Air Act became more evident and, in some respects, more expensive to industry and consumers, there was a substantial groundswell against catalytic converters and other potentially costly adjustments to polluting industries and consumer habits. The argument that the Environmental Protection Agency should not be exempt from applying for an Environmental Impact Statement was one of the means by which opponents of environmental regulation sought to hamstring the agency and its regulatory activities.

14544-14545; May 14, 1974; During continuing debate on H.R. 14368, Senator Mathias (R-Maryland) offers an amendment to prohibit the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from requiring that a parking surcharge form part of a region’s clean air plans, and Muskie explains that because the Committee intends to have hearings on this issue later in the year, it has been purposefully not included in the Committee’s amendment to H.R. 14368, and upon assurances that conference committee Senators will support the House action inserting this provision, agrees to withdraw his amendment.

14545-14546; May 14, 1974: At the close of the debate on H.R. 14368, Senator McClure clarifies a point about the low-sulphur fuel allocation program which is covered by the coal conversion language in the Committee amendment, and Muskie and he explore the meaning and intent of that language. This was known as "creating a legislative record" and was done to clarify the understanding and intent of what Congress wanted to achieve in a particular bill. At this time, the federal courts were often guided by "legislative history" in interpreting federal laws, although that judicial approach has not been preserved.

18956-18972; June 12, 1974; Muskie speaks on the conference report on H.R. 14368, the Energy Supply and Coordination act, describing how the Senate and House reached agreement on a number of issues related to the temporary modification of the Clean Air Act, and includes a series of technical documents on air pollution issues along with his statement.

Energy Recovery and Resource Conservation Act of 1974: enact (see bill S.3549), 16948

16948; May 30, 1974; Notice only of the introduction of S. 3549, a Muskie bill to provide for energy recovery and resource conservation.

Solid waste: recover energy and resources, 16951

Energy Recovery and Resource Conservation Act of 1974: introduction, 16951

Text: S. 3549, Energy Recovery and Resource Conservation Act of 1974, 16953

16951; May 30, 1974; Muskie makes his introductory remarks on S. 3549, the Energy Recovery and Resource Conservation Act, which authorizes grants to the states to encourage recycling of usable materials from municipal waste and innovations in generating energy from solid waste.

Energy research and development: bill (H.R. 14434) making appropriations, 18377, 18381- 18385, 18387, 18388

Energy research and development: Parliamentary inquiry, 18381, 18382 18385-18388

Letter: Energy research and development programs of EPA, sundry, by, 18381, 18382

Environmental Protection Agency: question of transferring funds, 18381, 18382, 18948-18950

Letter: Proposed transfer of EPA energy research functions, Senator Jackson, 18382

Legislative program, 18384, 18385

Energy research and development: question of germaneness of amendment, 18948-18950

18377; June 10, 1974; During debate on H.R. 14434, the Energy Research and Development appropriation, Muskie moves to make a point of order, but he withholds it temporarily in deference to Senator Fong (R-Hawaii), who will present the opposition to the point of order but who has not yet reached the Senate chamber.

18381-18388; June 10, 1974; Muskie makes a point of order against language in H.R. 14434 which would have the effect of transferring all energy-related research from the Environmental Protection Agency to a proposed new Energy Research and Development Administration, and argues that research directed to enforcing regulations is entirely different than developmental research designed to produce energy efficiency in automobiles and power plants using coal.

18948; June 12, 1974; Continuing the debate on Muskie’s point of order on H.R. 14434, the Energy Research and Development appropriation, Muskie restates his argument that the proposal to permit the Environmental Protection Agency to transfer research funds to other federal agencies is a disguised means of allowing the Office of Management and Budget to gut the research work of the Agency, and the vote is taken.

Environmental law: role of the courts, 22554

Environmental Law, E. R. Cutler, ABA Conference, 22554

22554; July 10, 1974; Muskie notes that the interactions of executive agencies, the Congress and the judiciary in shaping environmental law is developing its own complex dynamic and recommends an analysis of the issue provided by a former Muskie staffer, Eliot Cutler, at an American Bar Association conference.

Atlantic Wetlands Research Center establish (see bill S. 3493), 24259

24259; July 22, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor to a Hathaway (D- Maine) bill, S. 3493, to authorize the establishment of an Atlantic Wetlands Research Center to provide study and information on ways to conserve the wetlands that form part of the Atlantic flyway for migratory wildfowl, a recommendation of the Atlantic Waterfowl Council. The Waterfowl Councils work cooperatively with the federal Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife and state fish and wildlife agencies to preserve migratory birds on the nation’s four flyways.

Environmental Protection Agency: funds, 24385-24387

McGee, Gale W.: tribute, 24385-24387

Agriculture, environmental. and consumer protection programs: bill (H.R. 15472) making appropriations for, 24385-24387

24385-24387; July 22, 1974; During debate on H.R. 15472, the appropriations bill which at this time included funding for the Environmental Protection Agency, Muskie speaks to the claims advanced in the House version of the bill through its report language, requesting that the EPA conduct a study and report back to the House Appropriations Committee, and seeking to establish a legal view, through report language, that the federal environmental standards represent maximum cleanup standards, not minimums. Muskie’s argument is that the legislative committees which have the jurisdictional authority for writing the laws under which EPA enforces environmental standards are the proper bodies to request studies from EPA and to interpret the legal meaning of the standards they write. Although this was presented as an inter-committee jurisdictional dispute, the underlying dynamic at this time was the fact that the House of Representatives maintained a consistent effort to undercut and weaken elements of the Clean Air Act in response to demands from auto makers and other industries, an effort that was primarily contained in appropriations bills which must originate in the House

Enviropolitics is a Pollutant, Too, P. D. Schaumberg, National Observer, 24886

Response to an Enviro-Elitist, R. Kudikis, National Observer, 24887

24886, 24887; July 24, 1974; Muskie speaks about two articles which have recently appeared in the National Observer, one arguing that the water pollution control law can not fulfil its goals because it was written and is overseen by non-technical personnel, and the other, refuting that argument by charging elitism on the part of the author. There has never been a shortage of academics willing to dispute any and all environmental legislation on the grounds it will not work from the 1960s forward.

Environmental education, 32725

32725; September 26, 1974; Muskie speaks about the efforts of an educator from the University of Maine to explain how to structure a course on the subject of environmental history, and includes the article with his comments.

Deepwater Port Act of 1974: bills (S. 4076; H.R. 10701) to enact, 34630, 34660, 34661

Deepwater Port Act of 1974: amend bills (S. 4076; H.R. 10701) to enact, 34659, 34661

34630; October 9, 1974; As debate begins on S. 4076, the Deepwater Port Act, Muskie speaks on the provisions that particularly interest him, including oil spill liability, states’ rights to establish more stringent liability laws than the federal standard, and the right of neighboring states to review plans for deepwater ports that could potentially endanger their coastal environments.

34659, 34660; October 9, 1974; During debate on S. 4076, the Deepwater Port Act, Muskie offers an amendment he describes as providing assurance that in cases where a state may have a higher liability standard, the federal law will not preempt the state law, and after some discussion, agrees to modify his language to be certain the issue will be raised during conference. All legislation must be passed by both House and Senate, and the differences are ironed out during a conference committee composed of members on both sides; language approved by both houses which is identical is not subject to action by the conference committee. As a result, in many instances, a slight modification in language is made by one side or the other to be certain that the issue will be raised in conference and an agreement reached.

Letter: Offshore oil and gas development, President Ford, by, 34681

34681; October 9, 1974; Responding to a Ford initiative to lease 10 million offshore acres for oil and gas drilling, Senator Tunney (D- California) makes reference to a letter sent by twenty Senators, including Muskie, arguing that the states be allowed to complete the baseline environmental studies required by the Coastal Zone Management Act, passed in 1972, before firm plans for such extensive oil and gas drilling leases are put into effect. The energy price crisis at this time, not surprisingly, had the effect of making many officials ultra-responsive to the oil and gas industry, a response to which the Ford administration was not immune.

Pollution control equipment: TVA, 36440, 36441

Tennessee Valley Authority Pollution Control Financing Act: bills (S. 3057; H.R. 11929) to enact, 36440, 36441

Letter: Pollution control facilities approved by EPA for accelerated amortization under Internal Revenue Code, R. E. Train, D. C. Alexander, and, 36441

36440, 36441; November 19, 1974; During debate on S. 3057, the Tennessee Valley Authority Pollution Control Financing Act, a bill to provide some short-term relief to a public utility which cannot access the same tax-exempt bond market, accelerated amortization and tax credits as are available to privately-owned utilities, Muskie describes the relief the Senate bill would provide, compared with the broader House language, and explains the types of pollution control equipment eligible under the Senate bill, which does not include tall smokestacks and dispersion or intermittent controls.

Environmental Protection Agency: use of funds to tax, limit, or regulate parking facilities by, 37220-37222

Agriculture, environmental. and consumer protection programs: bill (H.R. 16901) making appropriations for, 37220-37222, 40371, 40372

Letter: EPA's use of funds to tax, limit, or regulate parking facilities (sundry), 37222

Report: Effects of Enacting Section 511 of H.R. 16901: Role of Parking Controls in Clean Air Programs, 37223

37220-37223; November 25, 1974; During consideration of H.R. 16901, the appropriations bill that includes the Environmental Protection Agency, Muskie congratulates the Senate Committee on Appropriations for eliminating certain of the House Appropriations Committee’s report language, particularly the provisions dealing with parking regulations and the language on environmental regulation which sought to prevent any regulation that would add to the cost of generating electricity or producing a higher-priced food supply. The efforts of industry to weaken the EPA’s regulatory authority at this time focused almost entirely on claims that it was "driving up" the costs of various farming and manufacturing activities, claims that resonated at a time of historically high inflation in both food prices and energy costs.

Letter: Automobile fuel economy and pollution standards, R. E. Train, with Senators Randolph, Baker, and Buckley, 37497

Press release: Senate Committee on Public Works to examine car engine development, 37497

Automobile industry, fuel economy and pollution standards, 37497

Committee on Public Works (Senate): automobile fuel economy and pollution standards, 37497, 37498

37497, 37498; November 26, 1974; Muskie says a recent report from two Vermont inventors who are claiming outstanding fuel efficiency in their automotive engineering design deserves to be investigated as the country looks for fuel efficiency and reduced emissions to meet environmental and economic needs.

Energy or Environment, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, by, 38338

38338; December 5, 1974; Muskie makes a speech to the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, arguing that ever since the Clean Air Act and the Water Pollution Control Act began to force people to adjust their activities to take environmental effects into account, resistance to such change has grown, although it has not been proved that the goals of either law are wrong.

Parking facilities: EPA regulation of, 40371-40373

40371-40373; December 17, 1974; During debate on the conference report on H. R. 16901, the Agriculture-Environment appropriations bill, Muskie notes that the House Committee’s ban on the use of any appropriated funds to administer parking programs by the Environmental Protection Agency is again in the final product, despite repeated efforts on the Senate side to remove it. He engages in a colloquy with Senator McGee (D- Wyoming) the chairman of the appropriations subcommittee which oversees the bill to clarify that this language does not in any fashion affect anything other than parking and that it would not reach to State or local administration of State or local parking regulations, even if carried out by means of federal grants for air pollution control.

NATIONAL SECURITY/FOREIGN AFFAIRS

1974 93rd Congress, 2nd Session

Vietnam: relative to ending war and restoring peace (see S. Con. Res. 63), 1055

1055; January 29, 1973; Muskie is added as a cosponsor to a Percy (R-Illinois) resolution, S. Con. Res. 63, to seek new efforts to obtain compliance with the terms of the Paris peace agreement as they apply to prisoners of war and personnel missing in action. Although North Vietnam returned prisoners of war following the peace agreement, it failed to provide information on those missing in action, or to allow the return of remains buried in the North, or to permit U.S. exploratory teams to investigate local sites for missing Americans.

SALT treaties: relative to (see S. Res. 283), 2798

2798; February 8, 1974; Muskie is shown as a cosponsor on S. Res. 283, a Mathias (R-Maryland) resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that a successful conclusion to the SALT II talks be the highest national priority, that agreements on mutual reductions be the goal, and that equality of nuclear power be based on accuracy, reliability, and other qualitative factors, rather than a numerical balance alone, and that the Senate be fully informed and consulted throughout the process. Despite the successful ratification of the SALT I treaty and the fact that it limited certain kinds of weapons, the Nixon administration continued to submit defense budgets which many judged to be too high for a peacetime military, and attention was much focused on means by which to reduce arms spending. Resolutions like this one were one common approach.

Appointed U.N. Law of the Sea Conference, 3189

3189; February 18, 1974; Muskie is appointed by the presiding Senator as one of the U.S. congressional delegation to attend the third United Nations Law of the Sea Conference to be held in Caracas, Venezuela, June 20 through August 29, 1974.

United Nations: grant priority access to INTELSAT, 4217

Stevenson, Adlai E., III: U.N. access to INTELSAT, 4217

Letter: U.N. access to INTELSAT, Senator Stevenson, 4217

INTELSTAT: grant U.N. priority access to, 4217

Communications: INTELSAT network, 4217

4217; February 26, 1974; Muskie notes that thanks to the intervention of Senator Adlai Stevenson (D- Illinois) the United Nations organizations involved in peace keeping missions and disaster relief would receive cost-free communications services through the space satellite network operated by INTELSTAT, at that time, an 80-nation treaty-based organization which created the commercial space satellite industry. The United Nations at this time was using an older short-wave radio communications system.

Southeast Asia: relative to missing newsmen in (see S. Res. 291), 4239

4239; February 26, 1974; Muskie is one of 48 Senators who cosponsor a Buckley (I- New York) resolution, S. Res. 291, to encourage action to find and rescue Americans reporters believed to be held in Cambodia, which the Senate immediately considers and passes by voice vote.

Hearings – U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy, by, 5024

5024; March 4, 1974; A press release jointly issued by Muskie and Senator Symington (D- Missouri) announces a series of joint hearings on the U.S. nuclear arsenal and its implications for existing commitments abroad, and on our strategic relationship with the Soviet Union.

Letter: Investigate U.S. military activities in Cambodia, Senator Stennis, by, 6785

6785; March 13, 1974; Muskie is one of forty Senators who are signing on to a letter to Senator Stennis (D- Mississippi) asking him to launch an investigation into news stories about possible U.S. personnel serving in Cambodia, which would have been illegal at this time. Senator Stennis chaired the Armed Services Committee, which would have had jurisdiction in such a case.

Goldwater, Barry M., Sr.: position on Nitze nomination, 7870

Nitze, Paul H.: nomination, 7870

Impeachment Politics May Cost Nitze Pentagon Post, J. W. Pinney, New York Times. 7871

7870; March 22, 1974; Muskie comments that a news story, reporting the White House staff to be concerned about a proposed nomination to the Pentagon of Paul Nitze, in case that nomination caused Senator Goldwater (R-Arizona) to begin to support the impeachment of the President. The story attributes this connection to the need for President Nixon to keep the support of at least one-third plus one members of the Senate, which could block a Senate vote to convict. This is an illustration of the manner in which a preoccupation with the Watergate scandal came to form and deform policy through much of 1974, as it had in 1973. By the time of this statement, the 18-minute gap in one of the White House tapes had been revealed, the House of Representatives had authorized its Judiciary Committee to begin investigating whether there were grounds for impeachment hearings to be held, but hearings had not begun, and on March 1, in connection with the indictment of several White House aides by the Watergate grand jury, President Nixon was named an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the Watergate affair.

Department of State appropriations: bill (S. 3117) authorizing, amendment, 8681

Text: Amendment (No. 1117) to S. 3117, State Department appropriations, 8681

Ambassadors: expanding authority, 8681

Department of State Appropriations Authorization Act of 1974: amend bill (S. 3117) to enact, 8681

8681; March 28, 1974; Muskie offers an amendment to the State Department authorization bill to make it a matter of statutory law that each country’s ambassador be kept fully informed of the activities of all government officials and employees in-country, with the exception of military personnel under an area command, to ensure that ambassadors are not embarrassed by covert activities carried on by the CIA or its contractors.

Foreign Policy Today, Restoring the Bi-partisan Tradition, by, 12157

12157; April 29, 1974; Senator Hart (D- Michigan) inserts the text of a speech Muskie gave at the Naval Academy, where he expresses optimism about the foreign policy consensus he sees in the nation, despite the demoralizing effects of the Vietnam war.

Crime: espionage, 14004

Espionage: legislation relative to, 14004

Espionage Laws, W. G. Florence, before Judiciary Committee, 14004, 14005

14004, 14005; May 9, 1974; Muskie notes that a recent witness testifying on proposed changes in espionage statutes has argued that if the law is changed so as not to require a showing of injury to the nation, then the espionage statutes will have become a limitation on First Amendment rights for no better reason than to buttress the classification regime for government documents without any benefit to the nation. The Nixon administration was pushing for a recodification of the criminal statutes which would have included the criminalization of any classified document, even where the information was already public knowledge, and no national security damage had been done.

Appointed National Ocean Policy Study, 14050

14050; May 9, 1974; Muskie is appointed as one of a number of Senator to the Ocean Policy Study group by the presiding officer of the Senate.

Israeli schoolchildren: terrorist action threatening (see S. Res. 324), 14847

14847; May 15, 1974; Muskie is listed as one of a number of Senators shown as cosponsoring S. Res. 324, a Humphrey (D-Minnesota) resolution urging that action be taken against nations which harbor Arab terrorists. This resolution was sparked by an incident in Maalot, in northern Israel near the Lebanon border, where three Palestinians dressed as Israeli soldiers killed a caretaker and his family and took over a local school in which more than 100 children, aged 14 to 16, were sleeping after a day’s hike in the region. They demanded the release of 26 prisoners held by Israel, including one Japanese national who had been involved in the Lod Airport massacre of May 1972, where 27 civilians were machine-gunned to death and 65 others injured. On the day following the hostage-taking, Israeli defense forces attempted to raid the school, but were met by explosives and gun fire in which 18 children were killed and 70 wounded.

Commencement, K. Waldheim, Catholic University, 15986

15986; May 22, 1974; Muskie notes that the General Secretary of the United Nations, Kurt Waldheim presented an interesting address at Commencement ceremonies at Catholic University and provides it for the benefit of his colleagues.

Senate: visit by Delegation from Poland, 16096,16097

Poland: visit to U.S. Senate by Delegation from 16096, 16097

16096; May 22, 1974; Muskie welcomes a visit to the Senate from two Polish officials, in America to discuss possible trade arrangements, and welcomes them to the Senate, along with other Senators who are present.

Increasing Nuclear Danger of Counterforce Policy, Senator McIntyre, Washington Post, 17445

Foreign policy: nuclear counterforce strategy, 17445, 21147

Nuclear weapons: counterforce strategy, 17445

Russia: nuclear strategies, 17445

New Strangelove Scenario, R. Wilson, Washington Star, 17446

17445, 17446; June 4, 1974; Muskie discusses the emerging strategic theory called counterforce, which he says goes beyond deterrence to potentially raise nuclear fears to a new high, because the theory goes beyond simple deterrence, in which the enemy’s civilian population and infrastructure is at risk of immeasurable damage and instead focuses on improved accuracy and kill capacity against military targets, making it potentially possible for an enemy to fear that his weapons are vulnerable to a first strike. During the 1970s period of nuclear standoff, the debate was between those who favored deterrence as a strategy and those who said simple deterrence was inadequate because it might fail. It is impossible to judge which side’s arguments were correct, but the debate itself became increasingly esoteric and confused as each party sought to drive its conclusions to what were seen to be the logical conclusions.

Military procurement: amend bill (S. 3000) authorizing appropriations, 17718, 18313

NATO: U.S. commitment to, 18054

Europe: withdrawal of U.S. troops from Western, 18054

Armed Forces: reduction of overseas assignments, 18054

Military procurement: bill (S. 3000) to authorize appropriations, 18054, 18058, 18313-18316, 18488, 18490, 18731

Military retirement pay: recomputation, 18058

Secretary of Defense: distribution of report on use of tactical nuclear weapons by, 18313

Soviet Defense Chief Says West Pursues Arms Race, New York Times, 18316

Missiles: delay R. & D. expenditures until SALT II results are known, 18315-18316, 18488, 18490, 18491

Table: U.S. strategic missiles, 18488

Table: U.S.S.R. strategic missiles, 18489

Report: Comparison of U.S.-U.S.S.R. Missile Strength, 18489

17718; June 5, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor to a McIntyre (D- New Hampshire) amendment, No. 1380, to the military procurement bill, S. 3000, an amendment which sought to eliminate the counterforce elements of the defense budget, those dedicated to improving the accuracy of the land-based Minuteman III missiles along with their yield, and the terminal guidance systems of submarine-based missiles to improve their accuracy. The combination of increased yield and efficiency was designed to give U.S. strategic forces the ability to destroy large numbers of Soviet missiles in hardened silos, provoking just the first-strike fears that many then believed would put nuclear war on a hair trigger.

  

18054; June 6, 1974; During debate on the military procurement bill, S. 3000, Muskie describes his views on reductions in the U.S. overseas troops commitment, and announces he intends to support the Mansfield (D-Montana) amendment to make certain troop reductions in the coming two years.

18058; June 6, 1974; In continued debate on the military procurement bill, S. 3000, Muskie responds to a Hartke (D- Indiana) amendment to return to recomputation of military retired pay. Before 1958, military retirees had their benefits recomputed every time the active duty military pay scales were raised. When that system was abandoned for an annual cost-of-living increase, military retirees lobbied intensively for many years to reinstate the recomputation system alongside the annual cost-of-living raise, a proposal whose cost ruled it out. As with other military benefits, the political cost of voting against recomputation was held to be high.

18313; June 7, 1974; Muskie calls up his amendment to S. 3000, the military procurement bill, which would require that a report on tactical nuclear weapons in Europe be provided to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as well as to the Armed Services Committee, on the grounds that it will affect the areas of jurisdiction of both committees. The amendment is accepted.

18315; June 7, 1974; Muskie responds to a statement by Senator McIntyre (D-New Hampshire) describing his amendment to slow funding of the counterforce elements of the procurement program until it becomes clear that the SALT II talks will not be productive,

18488, 18490,18491; June 10, 1974; During continued debate on the military procurement bill, S. 3000, Muskie speaks in support of the McIntyre (D- New Hampshire) amendment which would delay programs to improve the accuracy and yield of the strategic nuclear force until the SALT II talks have incontrovertibly failed to produce results.

Patrol frigate program: funds, 18731

18731; June 11, 1974; During debate on S. 3000, the military procurement bill, Muskie makes a brief statement in support of the U.S. Navy’s plan to construct patrol frigates as escort ships to replace the World War II destroyers which are being mothballed, and mentions that although the House has approved a request for 7 more frigates, the Senate has approved only 3 and made that approval conditional on the successful conclusion of tests of the Mark-92 fire control system with which the ships will be equipped.

Appointed Conference of Committee on Disarmament, 19454

19454; June 17, 1974; Muskie is one of the Senators appointed to attend the Conference on Disarmament to be held in Geneva, Switzerland beginning July 2, 1974, along with Senators Pastore (D- Rhode Island) and Roth (R-Delaware).

Senator Nunn's NATO maneuver, S. S. Rosenfeld, Washington Post, 20483

20483; June 21, 1974; During debate on the budget reform legislation, Muskie makes a statement expressing admiration for Senator Nunn (D- Georgia) in his work on the military procurement bill and the proposal to reduce overseas troop numbers.

Nuclear Test Bans, Senator Buckley and, Baltimore Sun, 20768, 20769

20768, 20769; June 24, 1974; Senator Mathias (R-Maryland) notes that the Baltimore Sun newspaper has invited Muskie and Senator Buckley (I-New York) to offer opposing points of view on the desirability of a comprehensive test ban treaty and includes both columns with his remarks.

The New Nuclear Debate, T. Greenwood, M. Nacht, Foreign Affairs, 21147

Nuclear weapons: debate on counterforce strategy, 21147

21147; June 26, 1974; Muskie recommends an article on counterforce nuclear theory as a useful element of the debate that the Senate is having over the structure and strategic planning of the U.S. nuclear forces.

News media: CIA hopes to plug leaks, 21447

CIA: attempt to plug news leaks, 21447

CIA Seeks Power To Halt Leaks, L. Stern, Washington Post, 21448

21447; June 27, 1974; Muskie reacts to news reports that describe the CIA director’s proposed authority to prevent the publication of materials harmful to the intelligence collecting process by pointing out that this constitutes prior restraint on the media and is forbidden by the Constitution.

Famine and human suffering. U.S. participation in international effort to reduce risk of (see S. Res. 329), 22370

22370; July 9, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor of a Humphrey (D- Minnesota) resolution, S. Res. 329, relating to the participation of the United States in an international effort to reduce the risk of world famine and lessen human suffering in underdeveloped countries. This resolution was, in part, a response to the increasing pressures of high food prices and soaring energy prices worldwide, which worked much more damage on undeveloped nations, and the prospect of a U.N. World Food Conference, scheduled for November, 1974 in Rome. It was believed that the costs of energy and the shortages and high costs of fertilizer, in particular, could have a devastating effect on parts of Africa, in particular.

Drug Enforcement Administration: amend bill (S. 3355) to provide appropriations on a continuing basis for, 22923

22923; July 11, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor of a Mondale (D- Minnesota) amendment to S. 3355, the Drug Enforcement Administration bill, intended to eliminate foreign economic assistance to Turkey so long as Turkey refused to negotiate with the U.S. over safeguards on the cultivation of opium poppies. In 1972, the Nixon administration had persuaded the then- Turkish government to ban all poppy cultivation but in mid-1974, a newly-elected government announced it would resume poppy cultivation, primarily for domestic political reasons. Ironically, the U.S.-inspired suspension of Turkish poppy cultivation had produced a world-wide shortage of codeine base for legitimate pain-killing drugs by 1974.

Letter: Deny funds for binary nerve gas weapons to Senator McClellan, by, 26602

26602; August 2, 1974; Senator Kennedy (D- Massachusetts) makes a statement denouncing the administration’s efforts to include funding in the defense department appropriations bill for nerve gas weapons, and includes a letter signed by Muskie and other Senators to the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, asking that his Committee not agree to provide the requested funding.

Law of the Sea Conference, 28021

Law of the Sea Conference (sundry), 28022-28024

28021; August 13, 1974; Muskie speaks on the Law of the Sea Conference in Caracas at which he was one of the Senate’s observers, and announces that he will support an immediate unilateral U.S. declaration of a 200-mile fisheries zone, because he believes the international delegates will not meet the 1975 timetable they have set to complete work.

Report: Japanese Capital Investment in the United States, Boston Consulting Group (summary), 28032-28036

Japan: investments in the United States, 28032

28032; August 13, 1974; Muskie recommends a consultant’s report on the prospects and potential political problems involved in Japanese investment in the U.S. At this time, the Japanese economy was among the strongest in the world, at a time when Americans were feeling battered by high peacetime budget deficits, inflation in food and fuel prices, and the continuing aftershocks of the Arab oil embargo. There were some who feared that a Japan awash with dollars would be able to buy up anything it wanted.

Department of Defense: amend bill (H.R. 16243) making appropriations, 29091, 29584

CONUS OTH radar system: deny funds, 29584-29586

Department of Defense: bill (H.R. 16243) making appropriations, 29584-29586, 29630

Defense budget question of $81 billion ceiling, 29630

Defense Spending and Inflation, American Enterprise Institute, by 29631

29091; August 20, 1974; Notice only of Muskie’s introduction of an amendment, No. 1834, to the Department of Defense Appropriations bill, H.R. 16243, to delay spending on the over-the-horizon radar system planned for Washington County, Maine.

29584; August 21, 1974; Muskie calls up his amendment to H.R. 16243, the Defense Department appropriations bill, explaining that because local residents and interested parties in Washington County have not yet had a hearing on the location chosen for the radar receiver, which will take up about 1000 acres of blueberry crop land, the amendment simply delays site acquisition until that public hearing can be held, without reducing or eliminating the funding. The amendment is accepted.

29630-29631; August 21, 1974; Muskie makes a comment on an Eagleton (D- Missouri) proposal to reduce the level of proposed defense spending by $2 billion, a position Muskie endorses and supports with the text of a speech in which he laid out specific defense budget cut possibilities.

Military construction: bill (H.R. 16136) authorize certain, 30807

Maine: radar system receiver antenna site, 30807

Military construction: amend bill (H.R. 16136) to authorize certain, 30807

30807; September 11, 1974; When the Senate debates the military construction bill, Muskie again calls up his amendment on the over-the-horizon backscatter radar receiver site in Maine and urges that it be approved. The amendment bans all spending for land acquisition and development for the system until May 30, 1975, to provide time for Washington County residents and farmers to negotiate with the Air Force over the precise 1000-acre tract they wish to purchase for the radar receiver.

Foreign Assistance Act of 1974: amend bill (S. 3394) to enact, 32060, 37772

32060; September 23, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor of an Abourezk (D- South Dakota) amendment, No. 1850, to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1974, S. 3394, which would cut off aid to Turkey until an agreement is reached between Greece, Turkey and Cyprus.

Cyprus, a Mediterranean island, was part of the Ottoman Empire until World War I and became a British Crown Colony in 1925, achieving independence in 1960. The island’s population was about 80 percent Greek and 18 percent Turkish. The history of Greek-Turkish conflicts over the long Ottoman reign, the Greek invasion of Turkey in 1921, and the compulsory exchange of populations in 1922, in which 1.5 million Greeks were forced to leave Asia Minor, and 800,000 Turks were expelled from the Greek peninsula, resulted in tense relations between the two populations, with Greeks demanding "enosis" or union with Greece and Turks demanding independence.

The military junta which ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974 was suspected of having a hand in the overthrow of the Greek Cypriot President, Archbishop Makarios, in July, 1974, and five days later, Turkey sent troops to protect its nationals on Cyprus. A United Nations cease fire between both sides was agreed to on July 22, 1974, but by that time, Turks had withdrawn to about 30 percent of the island in the north, while Greek Cypriots occupied the remainder of the island to the south.

In the U.S., Greek-Americans generally enjoyed more support for the position of Greek Cypriots than Turkey received on behalf of Turkish Cypriots.

37772; December 3, 1974; Muskie is shown as a cosponsor of a Nelson (D- Wisconsin) amendment No. 2002 to S. 3394, the Foreign Assistance Act. The amendment would have required the Executive branch to notify Congress of an agreement or contract to sell $25 million or more in weapons to a single country, or a cumulative $50 million or more within one year in the form of arms sales, credits and guarantees to a single country. The amendment had been approved by the Senate twice before, but never became law. At this time, the sales of arms to Latin American nations and to Persian Gulf nations was escalating, and weapons sold were often of the more advanced type the U.S. produced. In 1974, arms sales were estimated to amount to a total of $3.9 billion, but in fact reached a total of $5.9 billion, and when credits and guarantees were added, a total of $8.6 billion. It was estimated that in four years, the Foreign Military Sales program had grown sixfold. No law required any prior consultation with Congress before such sales were finalized, and the purpose of this amendment was to create such a requirement.

Law of the Sea Conference: Kissinger should take command, 32074

Letter: Kissinger should command Law of the Sea Conference, Senator Case, 32074

32074; September 23, 1974; Muskie makes a statement endorsing a letter Senator Case (R-New Jersey) has sent Secretary of State Kissinger, urging him to move the continued Conference on the Law of the Sea to a ministerial level, because the outstanding issues have moved beyond the technical and into the political area.

Senators Answer Greek Star Letter on Cyprus, Greek Star, 32681

32681; September 25, 1974; Congressman Brademas (D- Indiana) offers the texts of five Senators’ responses to a Greek-American newspaper’s inquiry on their views on the Cyprus situation, among them, Muskie’s. This illustrates the intensive lobbying effort by the Greek-American community in the wake of Turkey’s action in sending troops into Cyprus.

Report: Development of Deep Seabed Mineral Resources, additional views, by, 32728

32728; September 26, 1974; When the Senate Foreign Relations Committee considered S. 1988, the bill to unilaterally declare an exclusive U.S. fisheries conservation ocean zone for 200 miles from U.S. shores, Muskie and Senator Pell (D- Rhode Island) supported the bill, while a slim majority of the Committee voted against it. The argument was that a unilateral declaration by the U.S. would be seen as an invitation to similar unilateral declarations by other countries, leading to a chaotic situation in regions like the Mediterranean and South China Sea. Senator Metcalf (D- Montana), whose interest was in mineral resources rather than fisheries, associates himself with the individual views of Muskie and Pell on the Emergency Marine Fisheries protection act, to which he adds the words "mineral resources."

U.S. Foreign Policy, Senator Bentsen, 32742

32742; September 26, 1974; Muskie notes that Senator Bentsen (D- Texas) has given a wide- ranging speech on foreign policy issues, including the then-recently revealed involvement of the CIA in the overthrow of Salvador Allende, the man elected to be President of Chile, and challenges the newly inaugurated Ford administration to pay attention to regions and issues which have been neglected as the Nixon administration focused its attention on China and the Soviet Union.

America Must Act on the Spread of Nuclear Reactors, Senator Stevenson, Foreign Affairs, 34562

34562; October 9, 1974; Muskie notes that with the May 18 explosion of a nuclear device by India, there are at least six countries with acknowledged nuclear weapons and more will have them by the end of the decade, and recommends an article by Senator Stevenson (D-Illinois) discussing the transfer of technology that occurred under the Atoms for Peace program, which has resulted in the widespread growth of nuclear reactors supplying energy and the concomitant spent nuclear fuel, which can be readily re-processed into plutonium for nuclear weapons.

Agriculture-environmental and consumer protection programs; amend bill (H.R. 16901) making appropriations for, 37175

37175; November 25, 1974; Muskie’s name is listed as one of the cosponsors of a Clark (D- Pennsylvania) amendment to H. R. 16901, the Agriculture appropriations bill which would require all Food for Peace concessionary sales and grants to be directed to the nations of greatest nutritional need. The amendment was a response to the Ford administration’s rejection of a request for additional food aid from delegates to the World Food Conference in Rome. Widespread crop failures had produced the threat of famine in portions of Southern Asian and Africa at a time when U.S. grain surpluses had been seriously depleted by the 1971-1972 Soviet grain deal, and poor weather had not yet replenished them.

Atomic Energy Commission: amend bill (S. 4033, H.R. 16609) to increase authorization for appropriations, 38893

38893; December 10, 1974; Muskie is shown as a cosponsor of a Kennedy (D- Massachusetts) amendment to S. 4033, a bill to increase the authorization of funds for the Atomic Energy Commission, which would eliminate $57.5 million of that increase, a sum requested by the Ford administration for an accelerated nuclear weapons testing program to be carried out before the Threshold Test Ban treaty came into effect in March, 1976. At the time, the Ford administration had not sent the treaty to the Senate for ratification, and the Soviets were raising questions about test limits on "peaceful" nuclear explosions.

Nuclear weapons: funds for testing and safeguards, 38896

Atomic Energy Commission: bills (S. 4033; H.R. 16609), to increase authorization for appropriations, 38896

38896; December 10, 1974; During debate on S. 4033, increasing funds for the Atomic Energy Commission, Muskie speaks on the Kennedy amendment to strike the funds specifically earmarked for an accelerated weapons testing program, pointing out that the Non-Proliferation Treaty Conference scheduled for spring, 1975 in Geneva would be occurring simultaneously with an expanded U.S. testing program

Nuclear arms control: relative to Vladivostok agreement (see bill S. Res. 448), 40436

40436; December 17, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor to a Kennedy (D- Massachusetts) resolution, S. Res. 448, giving a general expression of support for the "agreement in principle" reached by Soviet Secretary Brezhnev and President Ford at their November meeting in Vladivostok. Although not a formal nuclear arms treaty, the agreement produced by this meeting broke a deadlock at the broader Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) by excluding U.S. "forward-based" systems, such as those stationed in Europe and on carriers and which were capable of reaching Soviet territory. The agreement stipulated that both sides would agree to a limit on total weapons launchers to "equal aggregates" on each side until 1985.

Detente: The Balance Sheet, Atlanta Forum, by, 41308

41308; December 19, 1974; Senator Humphrey (D- Minnesota) recommends a speech Muskie gave in Atlanta to explore what the concept of detente requires of both sides, and making the argument that trade conditioned on human rights, is a valid U.S. goal, not an interference with the internal affairs of another sovereign nation, and the additional point that a true peace based on shared moral precepts is not a realistic goal for his generation.

HUMAN RESOURCES PROGRAMS

1974 2nd Session, 93rd Congress

Health Care in America. Wilkes-Barre, Pa., by, 59

59; January 21, 1974; Senator Ribicoff (D- Connecticut) recommends a speech Muskie delivered at the Regional Governors Health Conference in Pennsylvania, analyzing the fragmentation of health care delivery and financing.

Vietnam Veterans GI bill of rights: enact (see bill S. 2789), 889

889; January 28, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor of S. 2789, a McGovern (D- South Dakota) bill to create a GI Bill for Vietnam-era veterans, analogous to the education benefits granted to World War II and Korean veterans some 25 years previously. In contrast to the tuition payments and monthly stipends granted to earlier veterans, Vietnam-era veterans were faced with little tuition aid, no monthly stipend, and a foreshortened eligibility period to undertake their education and complete it.

Keep Pine Tree Legal Alive, Portland Express, 1401

Support Lawyers for the Poor, Brunswick Times Record, 1401

Pine Tree Legal Is Worth Supporting, Biddeford-Saco Journal, 1401

Legal Services Corporation: bill (S.2686) to establish, 1400, 1401

Pine Tree Legal Assistance, Inc.: Marshall Cohen directs, 1401

Maine: legal services, 1401

1401; January 30, 1974; During debate on S. 2686, the bill to establish the Legal Services Corporation as a public corporate entity, Muskie describes the three-year effort to enact a law preserving legal services and praises Pine Tree Legal Assistance, the Maine program, for its work.

Committee on Aging (Special): authorize permanent status (see S. Res. 267, 294) 1575, 4607

1575; January 31, 1974; Muskie is shown as one of the cosponsors of S. Res. 267, a Church (D- Idaho) resolution seeking to make the Special Committee on Aging a permanent committee of the Senate, eliminating the need for an annual resolution to continue the committee’s activities, and permitting improved planning for hearings and studies by the staff. The Special Committee was first established in 1961 and had never been permitted to lapse. The resolution does not seek legislative jurisdiction for the Committee.

4607; February 28, 1974; Muskie is listed as one of the cosponsors of S. Res. 194, a Church (D- Idaho) resolution to make the Special Committee on Aging a permanent Senate committee, a slightly modified renewal of the original resolution.

Dependence on Foreign-Trained Physicians (sundry), 2658, 2661, 2662

Physicians: dependence of foreign-trained, 2658

Health: dependence on foreign physicians, 2658

2658; February 7, 1974; Muskie notes that both the quantity and distribution of health care personnel in the country warrants attention, pointing out that about 20 percent of doctors practicing in the U.S. are foreign-trained, raising questions about the brain drain from poorer nations and the U.S. health training infrastructure.

Library of Congress: establish library of television and radio programs (see bill S. 2497),4606

4606; February 28, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor of S. 2497, a Baker (R-Tennessee) bill to require the Librarian of Congress to establish and maintain a library of television and radio programs. Senator Baker noted that just as contemporaneous newspapers and other documents are crucial to historians, the advent and broad exposure of television and radio programming constitute a potential historical record which is, nonetheless, extremely difficult to retrieve, and that it is in the interest of future historians that the national library obtain and retain a full record of these otherwise ephemeral broadcast programs.

Elderly: relative to nutrition program (see bill S. 2488), 4606

4606; February 28, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor to S. 2488, a Kennedy (D- Massachusetts) bill providing for a three-year extension of the nutrition programs for the elderly, the goal of which is to ensure that elderly Americans receive at least one hot meal daily. The programs began as pilot programs in 1968 and were popular with state and local officials, who often found them a useful avenue through which to offer other services to the elderly.

Blind persons: strengthening Randolph-Sheppard Act (see bill S. 2581), 4606

4606; February 28, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor to S. 2581, a Randolph (D- West Virginia) bill intended to strengthen the Randolph-Sheppard act for the disabled by granting preferential access to the blind to operate food vending services on federal property, including military installations. Under the law, federal agencies reach agreements with State Licensing Agencies over the placement of vending equipment, and sharing of income in some circumstances, so that state citizens who are blind have the opportunity to become self-supporting.

Committee on Aging (Special): notice of hearings, 5559, 20138, 22244

5559; March 6, 1974; Muskie announces that the Subcommittee on the Health of the Elderly, which he chairs, will hold hearings on the potential effects on the elderly of the administration’s national health insurance proposal, the comprehensive health insurance plan on March 12 and 13; These hearing would constitute the 8^th and 9^th in the series “Barriers to Health Care for Older Americans.”

20138; June 20, 1974; Muskie announces hearings by the Subcommittee on the Health of the Elderly on the subject of long-term care to be held later in the month.

22244; July 8, 1974; Muskie announces two further hearings on the barriers to long term care and day care for the elderly to be held in July.

List: Tax deductions and relief measures for elderly, Committee on Aging (special), (sundry), 5799, 5800

5799, 5800; March 7, 1974; Muskie makes a statement describing how hearings by the Special Committee on Aging have found that a substantial percentage of older Americans do not avail themselves of all the tax deductions they may legally use and therefore may be paying more in income taxes than they actually owe, and inserts a list of allowable deductions and income exclusions. This tax listing became an annual service project for Muskie, which he produced each year and had reprinted for distribution to his constituents. It became one of the more frequently requested publications from his office.

Tax counseling to the elderly: provide (see bill S. 2868), 5892

5892; March 8, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor to S. 2868, a Church (D- Idaho) bill which would provide for tax counseling for the elderly in preparation of their federal income tax returns, modeled on a volunteer program operated by the National Retired Teachers Association and the American Association of Retired Persons. Hearings earlier in the 1970s indicated that elderly persons, particularly widows who often had little experience of filing tax returns while their husbands were alive, were often unaware of legal tax deductions available to them. The bill would have provided for reimbursement for the actual costs of volunteering, as well as authorizing the Internal Revenue Service to conduct a retirement income credit alert, to make more retirees aware of the existence of the credit.

National Health Insurance Policy, New England Hospital Assembly, by, 8435.

8435; March 27, 1974; Senator Hart (D- Michigan) inserts the text of a keynote speech Muskie gave to the New England Hospital Assembly about the choices that will confront the nation as it debates the issue of national health insurance. At this time, it was widely taken for granted that a tax-based system of national health insurance would be created in the not-too-distant future, and the debate was over its configuration, not its desirability.

Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan: unworkable proposal, 9959-9961

Medicare: CHIP proposal costs, 9959-9961

Older persons: costs of proposed health insurance plan. 9959-9961

Table: Cost of comprehensive health insurance program, 9960

9959-9961; April 5, 1974; Muskie examines the assumptions which underlay the Nixon administration’s proposed Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan (CHIP) and notes that they would increase cost-sharing for the elderly for relatively little benefit to a small number, while at the same time raising the costs for the majority.

National Arthritis Month: proclaim (see S.J. Res. 203), 10007

10007; April 8, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor on S. J. Res. 203, a Roth (R-Delaware) resolution authorizing the President to issue a proclamation designating the month of May, 1974, as National Arthritis Month.

Arthritis: advance national attack bill (S. 2854), 10273

10273; April 9, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor to a Cranston (D- California) bill, S. 2854, amending the Public Health Service Act to expand the authority of the National Institute of Arthritis, Metabolism and Digestive Diseases in order to advance a national attack on arthritis.

Veterans: 10-year delimiting period relative to educational benefits (see bill S. 3398), 12091

12091; April 29, 1974; Muskie is shown as one of the cosponsors of S. 3398, a Hartke (D- Indiana) bill to provide that veterans education benefits remain available to eligible veterans for ten years after they initially become eligible. At this time, the existing eight year eligibility period was set to expire for some 285,000 veterans already enrolled in education programs on May 31, 1974. Not surprisingly, the bill on introduction had 58 Senate sponsors.

Home Health Services Act: bill (S.2695), 16018

Support for Home Health Services Act, C. F. Brickfield, 16018

16018; May 22, 1974; Muskie argues that the health insurance and medicare structure leads to inappropriate overuse of in-hospital acute care for the elderly who frequently have the kinds of chronic health problems more appropriately treated in a home health care or extended care setting and urges enactment of his Home Health Services bill, which would expand coverage and therefore use of home health services as an alternative to hospital beds.

Harry S. Truman Memorial Scholarships: establish (see bill S. 3548), 16948

16948; May 30, 1974; Muskie is listed along with 44 other Senators as a cosponsor of S. 3548, a bill to authorize a program of 51 scholarships per year (one from each state and the District of Columbia) for students wishing to enter government service or to make careers in public service. This was designed to be the sole memorial to President Harry S Truman.

Education Amendments of 1974: bill (H.R. 69) to enact, 24918

24918; July 24, 1974; Muskie speaks on the final version of H.R. 69, the education bill which extends the basic Elementary and Secondary Education Act for a further 4 years and expresses hope that the antibusing language in the bill will be set aside by the courts as unconstitutional. By 1970 the busing of school children was being used in several regions of the south as a means of counteracting the reality of housing segregation, which usually meant that neighborhood schools reflected the ethnic makeup of a given neighborhood. The use of busing was highly unpopular in most school districts and was usually the product of court orders or judicial enforcement. It led as well to more severe self-segregation as whites who could afford to moved out of inner cities to the usually all-white surrounding suburbs, reducing many urban school districts to virtually single-race students, usually African-American and other minorities. In 1974, when a federal judge ruled that the Boston Education Committee was intentionally keeping Boston schools segregated and ordered a 17,000 student cross-busing program, whites reacted at first with a boycott of the schools and then with increased violence. Congressional opposition to busing as a tool of integration gradually increased and hardened, but for Muskie, because of the minimal African-American presence in Maine, it remained a matter of equal justice that all children receive equal educational opportunity.

Consumer Protection Agency: bill (S. 707) to establish independent, 24929, 24930

Agency for Consumer Advocacy (bill S.707), to establish independent, 24930, 24931

24929; This page citation is an error. The page contains the text of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.

24930; July 24, 1974; Muskie speaks in support of S. 707, a bill to establish an independent agency charged with protecting the interests of consumers, and describes some of the heated and emotional opposition that such proposals have been evoking for several years.

Health Services Act of 1974: bills (H.R. 14214) to enact, 30612, 30613, 30774

Report: Home Health Services, Committee on Home Health Care, 30774

30612, 30613; September 10, 1975; Muskie makes a brief statement on H.R. 14213, the Health Services Act, noting that it incorporates a Commission on the Mental Health of the Elderly, a proposal he recommended in legislation introduced in 1973, and funding for start up home health services, a proposal included in the bills he and Senator Church (D- Idaho) introduced the previous year as well.

 

30774; September 11, 1974; Muskie announces that a new report from Health Insurance Benefits Advisory Council has endorsed several of the proposals he has made for expanding the use of home health benefits for the care of patients with chronic conditions that do not require full hospitalization but need some elements of assistance to remain in their own homes.

Employees of the United States: resolution (S. Res. 394) disapproving of alternate plan for pay adjustments for, 31883

31883; September 19, 1974; Muskie speaks on President Ford’s request that the annual federal pay raise be delayed by three months for a saving of $700 million as a way to combat inflation, and argues that a pay raise of 5.52 percent in a year in which the Consumer Price Index is up almost 12 percent is an inappropriate way to combat inflation.

Health Professions Educational Assistance Act of 1974: bill (S. 3585) to enact, 32753

Medical education and training, 32753

32753; September 26, 1974; Muskie speaks on S. 3585, the Health Professions Educational Assistance Act which the Senate passed, after removing the mandatory service provision which would have required two years’ post-training service in medically under-served areas in exchange for federal assistance to medical schools and substituting a voluntary proposal in its place.

Medicare: freeze deductibles and copayments (see bill S. 4093), 33913

33913; October 4, 1974; Muskie is shown as one of over thirty cosponsors of S. 4093, a Ribicoff (D- Connecticut) bill that aims to prevent the automatic hike in medicare deductibles and copayments which will take effect January 1, 1975.

National Historical Publications and Records Commission: designating (see bill S. 4102), 34311

34311; October 8, 1974; Muskie is shown as a cosponsor of S. 4102, a Pell (D- Rhode Island) bill to expand the Commission on National Historical Publications and provide additional funding to allow the Commission to work with state and local archives as well as privately financed records collections to expand the nation’s capacity to care for and publish historical records of interest.

Letter: Conference report on Vietnam-Era Veterans Education bill, Senator Hartke, by, 35072

35072; October 10, 1974; Muskie is a signatory to a letter sent by Senator Mathias (R-Maryland) to the Chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Senator Hartke (D- Indiana) asking that he schedule a vote on a bill dealing with Vietnam-era veterans education benefits so as to take advantage of action on this issue which has occurred in the House, where an earlier bill had been held up through a point of order.

Museum services: improve (see bill S. 796), 36456

36456; November 19, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor to S. 796, a Pell (D- Rhode Island) bill to provide for support for museums beyond the technical assistance offered by the Smithsonian Institution, modeled on the Library Services Act, which extended funding to local libraries.

Social Services Amendments of 1974, enact (see bill S. 4082), 38475

38475; December 9, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor to S. 4082, a Mondale (D- Minnesota) bill to amend the Social Services provisions of Title XX of the Social Security Act. Some eighteen months prior, the Nixon administration proposed new regulations which would reduce eligibility for services, curtail the use of private donations to make up a state’s matching share of funding, and excluded a broad range of services. In the interim, Congress twice voted to suspend the proposed regulations, and the bill introduced by Senator Mondale represented a post-Nixon agreement with the administration on scrapping many of the proposed regulations. This was the largest social service program operated by the federal government, and states relied on it for sustained provision of services like Meals on Wheels, child care for the low-income, drug and alcohol abuse treatment, and prevention of child neglect and abuse.

Older persons: Ford inflation plan a blow to, 40810

Ford Inflation Plan – Blow for Elderly, J. Stowell, Washington Star, 40810

Letter: Financial burden of the elderly, President Ford. B. S. Adkins, 40811

40810, 40811; December 18, 1974; Muskie comments on the medicare and food stamp cuts proposed by President Ford, pointing out that the impact on the elderly would be severe since the majority of older Americans have relatively low incomes and no ready means of raising additional income.

  

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

1974 2nd Session, 93rd Congress

Committee on Government Operations, notice of hearings, 205, 3342, 10889, 11587, 12652, 14779, 16392, 37701

Corporate Disclosure, Securities and Exchange Commission, Senator Metcalf and, (sundry), 10889

List: Prospective witnesses on corporate disclosure, before Committee on Government operations, 10889

205; January 22, 1974; Muskie announces that the Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations will on January 28 continue its hearings on the impact of the energy crisis on states and localities.

3342; February 19, 1974; Muskie announces that the Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations hearings on the energy crisis will continue on February 21 and 22, with a focus on the effects on states and localities.

10889; April 11, 1974; Muskie announces additional joint hearings on corporate disclosure to be held on April 23 and 24, by the subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations and Senator Metcalf’s (D-Montana) subcommittee on Budgeting, Management and Expenditures, and inserts his and Metcalf’s opening remarks from the original hearings, which explain the purpose of the hearings and describe some of their earlier findings.

11587; April 24, 1974; Muskie announces hearings by his subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations on May 2 and 3, and 29, 30, and 31, on government secrecy and citizen surveillance, with the first of the hearings focused on classification procedures.

12652; May 1, 1974; Muskie announces that the scheduled Intergovernmental Relations subcommittee hearings on secrecy in government planned for May 2 and 3 have been postponed until later in May, and re-scheduled for May 23, May 29, 30, and 31.

14779; May 15, 1974; Muskie again announces hearings on federal classification procedures for May 22, 29, 30, 31 and June 10, to be held by the subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations.

16392; May 28, 1974; Muskie reconfirms the location and time of the government secrecy hearings of the subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations, and provides witness lists for several days.

37701; December 2, 1974; Muskie announces hearings on four proposals to strengthen oversight of the intelligence agencies by the Congress, to be held by the Intergovernmental Relations subcommittee on December 9 and 10, and notes that these will be continued in 1975, with the FBI and the CIA invited to participate.

Government: loss of public confidence in, 211

Crushing Verdict on Watergate, J. J. Kilpatrick. Washington Star, 211

Interview, Dr. Margaret Meade by M. Agronsky, WETA-TV, Washington, D.C., 212

211; January 22, 1974; Muskie notes that the 1973 Harris Poll he commissioned through the subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations, and which found a general lack of confidence in national institutions, including government at all levels is getting lots of attention since it was released in December, 1973, and includes a news column as well as an interview of Dr. Margaret Mead, a well-known anthropologist, exploring the theme.

Disclosure of Corporate Ownership, by, 2662

2662; February 7, 1974; Senator Metcalf (D- Montana) makes a statement about corporate stock ownership and reporting, and publishes the introduction he and Muskie wrote to the study on corporate disclosure.

Office of Federal Procurement Policy: create (see bill S. 2510), 3338

3338; February 19, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor to S. 2510, Chiles (D- Florida) bill to create an Office of Federal Procurement Policy within the Executive Office of the President, designed to streamline and simplify the procurement process for goods and services. Senator Chiles served on the Congressional Commission on Procurement Reform and this bill stemmed from that assignment.

Corporate Disclosure, Securities and Exchange Commission, by, 6062

6062; March 11, 1974; Senator Metcalf (D- Montana) on behalf of Muskie and himself announces that they will hold joint hearings of two Government Operations subcommittees on corporate ownership disclosure, and includes a part of their joint statement on the subject in his statement.

Government: restoration of credibility, 6380

The States Step Forward. D. S. Broder, Washington Post, 6381

Social conditions: lack of confidence in Government, 6380

6380; March 12, 1974; Muskie talks about the public’s lack of confidence in government, and recommends a columnist’s view on this subject to his colleagues. During the period of the Watergate scandal, which was well under way at this time, polling firms consistently concluded that broad numbers of the general public were disenchanted with national officials and distrusted announcements made by government.

Time for Clipping White House Wings, R. N. Goodwin, Rolling Stone, 7423

Government: restore balance of power, 7423

7423; March 20, 1974; Muskie recommends an article describing the shift in governing power from the Congress to the President in part by the accretion of an immense presidential staff which duplicates in many respects the existing departments and agencies formally charged with the duty to carry out the laws.

Improving Communications in Government, Joint Committee on Government Operations, by, 7464

7464; March 20, 1974; Senator Ervin (D- North Carolina) cites the testimony given by Muskie at a hearing where he reviewed some of the data discovered by the Harris polling company about public knowledge of government and discussed some of the shortcomings of media coverage of the Congress.

Government Secrecy Control Act of 1974: enact (see bill S. 3393), 12091

12091; April 29, 1974; Notice only of Muskie’s introduction of S. 3393, a bill designed to broaden the imposition of classification status on defense and intelligence information.

   

Government Secrecy Control Act of 1974: introduction, 12098, 12099

Freedom of information: legislation to promote, 12098, 12099

Text: S. 3393, Government Secrecy Control Act of 1974, 12100

12099, 12100; April 29, 1974; Muskie makes his introductory remarks on S. 3393, the Government Secrecy Control Act, which would create an office in the Executive Office of the President and a new Joint Committee of the Congress to review classification and disclosure policies for defense and intelligence information. By this time, the Watergate revelations and the frequent invocation of "national security" by the Nixon administration had helped create a climate in which broad public skepticism about "national security" threatened to degenerate into cynicism about any form of classification at all. Muskie’s bill was produced in an effort to provide what he called a constitutional sharing of authority over the classification process.

Federal Privacy Board: establish (see bill S. 3418), 12644

12644; May 1, 1974; Muskie is shown as a cosponsor of S. 3418, an Ervin (D- North Carolina) bill to establish a Federal Privacy Board and standards under which private information can be collected, maintained and disseminated by public or private organizations. Information storage and retrieval issues became more prominent in this period, not only because of the revelations of wire tapping and other surveillance by government, but also because of the increased use of more powerful computers for this purpose.

Federal Grant and Cooperative Agreement Act of 1974: enact (see bill S.3514), 15341

15341; May 20, 1974; Muskie is shown as a cosponsor of S. 3514, a Chiles (D- Florida) bill intended to make clear the distinctions between federal procurement contracts and federal grants to state and local governments and private organizations. A study of the procurement systems in use by federal agencies had found that some agencies used a grant procedure to avoid some of the requirements of procurement contracts, or to shift workload or to hasten year-end expenditures of funds.

Freedom of Information Act: amend bill (S. 2543; H.R. 12471) to amend, 16390, 16616, 17022

Freedom of Information Act: introduction of amendment,16390

Memorandum: Freedom of Information Act, by, 16390-16392

16390; May 28, 1974; Muskie introduces his amendment No. 1356 to S. 2543, the Freedom of Information Act, to treat an information request for classified documents the same way as other documents are treated under the Act, where a number of exemptions allow material to be withheld. The specific purpose of the proposed amendment was to permit a federal judge to conduct an in camera review of classified documents, in place of language which essentially instructed judges to accept a classifying agency’s warrant that the information could not be released, without actually reviewing the information directly. Dispute over judicial review of classified documents was renewed by a Supreme Court ruling which found that the language of the law itself prohibited such a review.

16616; May 29, 1974; Muskie is shown as a cosponsor of Amendment No. 1361 to S. 2543, the Freedom of Information Act, a Hart (D- Michigan) proposal to clarify the circumstances under which information could be withheld on the grounds that it would interfere with a criminal investigation.

17022-17025; 17027-17029; 17031; May 30, 1974; During debate on S. 2543, the Freedom of Information Act Amendments, Muskie calls up his amendment and debates it with the manager of the bill, Senator Kennedy (D- Massachusetts) and against Senator Hruska (R-Nebraska) who argues that the amendment would force judges to make rulings on matters of which they are not knowledgeable. The amendment is accepted.

Government Secrecy, McG. Bundy, A. Schlesinger, Jr., before Committee on Government Operations (sundry), 16427, 16430

16427; 16430; May 28, 1974; Muskie inserts the testimony of McGeorge Bundy and Arthur Schlesinger on the need and scope of secrecy in government, delivered at a hearing before the subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations, which was examining a series of proposals to review or codify government classification procedures. The active review of classification issues which the Congress undertook in this period was substantially provoked by the Nixon administration’s use of the claim of "national security" in the case of the Pentagon Papers and in connection with the so-called "plumbers’" operation in Watergate.

 

Freedom of Information Act: bills (S.2543; H.R.12471) to amend, 17022-17025, 17027-17029, 17031

Information: facilitate freer access to government, 17022-17025, 17027-17029, 17031

17022-17025; 17027-17029; 17031; May 30, 1974; During debate on S. 2543, the Freedom of Information Act Amendments, Muskie calls up his amendment and debates it with the manager of the bill, Senator Kennedy (D- Massachusetts) and against Senator Hruska (R-Nebraska) who argues that the amendment would force judges to make rulings on matters of which they are not knowledgeable. The amendment is accepted.

Survey of Public Attitudes: print document entitled (see S. Con. Res. 100), 22503

22503; July 10, 1974; Muskie submits a resolution, S. Con. Res. 100, that the compilation entitled “Confidence and Concern: Citizens View American Government – a Survey of Public Attitudes” prepared by the Intergovernmental Relations Subcommittee have 2000 additional copies printed for the use of the Government Operations Committee.

Corporations: concentrated ownership, 24879

Economy: corporate concentration, 24879

Report on Annual Reports, A. A. Sommer, Jr., 24881

24879 [Muskie statement begins p. 24880]; July 24, 1974; Muskie notes that the joint hearings on corporate ownership disclosure which he has been holding with Senator Metcalf (D- Montana) have sparked the interest of S.E.C. Commissioner A. A. Sommers, who compares the disclosures corporations make in their annual reports with those they are required to make in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Saving Revenue Sharing, Washington Post, by, 32553

32553; September 25, 1974; Senator Brock (R-Tennessee), a strong supporter of the program of General Revenue Sharing, recommends three viewpoints on the likely future of the program when it comes due to be reauthorized, among which is a Muskie article which notes that because of the Nixon administration’s efforts to reduce grant programs, although the original promise was that revenue sharing would be "new" money, it has become politicized and may potentially be denied reauthorization.

Federal policies and programs: Participation by State and local governments in formulation (see S. Res. 427), 34686

34686; October 9, 1974; Muskie is shown as a cosponsor of S. Res. 427, a Domenici (R-New Mexico) resolution urging that greater efforts be made to facilitate the inclusion of state and local officials in the formulation of major federal policies.

Report: Disclosure of Corporate Ownership, Senators Metcalf and, 34315

34315; This page citation is an error.

Intergovernmental Personnel Act Amendments of 1974: enact (see bill S. 4135), 35294

35924; October 11, 1974; Notice only of Muskie’s introduction of S. 4135, the Intergovernmental Personnel Act Amendments of 1974.

Intergovernmental Personnel Act of 1970: bill to amend, 35295

Indians: inclusion to Intergovernmental Personnel Act of 1970, 35295

Text: S. 4135, Intergovernmental Personnel Act Amendments of 1974, 35295

Purpose and Justification of Bill to Amend Intergovernmental Personnel Act of 1970, by, 35296

Letter: Proposed Legislation to Amend Intergovernmental Personnel Act of 1970, to President Ford, by R. E. Hampton, 35297

35294-35297; October 11, 1974; Muskie makes introductory remarks on S. 4135, a bill to extend the authorization for the Intergovernmental Personnel Act for three years, expand its coverage to include Indian tribes and the Pacific Trust territories, and to retain the federal matching grant at a 75 percent level, instead of allowing the federal share to fall to 50 percent in 1975.

Freedom of Information Act: support, 36083

Kennedy, Edward M.: tribute, 36083

More Open Government, New York Times, 36084

36083; October 17, 1974; Muskie talks about congressional passage of the Freedom of Information Amendments, and notes news reports are suggesting that President Ford may veto the bill. Muskie notes that because it was sent to the President in early October but has still not been signed or vetoed, the President may be hoping Congress will recess by Saturday, at which time he could subject it to a pocket veto, which can only be done when Congress is out of session, and which also means Congress has no chance to override the veto.

Ford, Gerald R.: Freedom of Information Act Amendments veto, 36523

Letter: Freedom of Information Act Amendments veto, by P. H. Kurland. 36523

Freedom of Information Act: bill(H.R. 12471) to amend, President's veto, 36523, 36869, 36870

36523; November 19, 1974; Muskie speaks about the President’s asserted reason for vetoing the Freedom of Information Act, and shares an opinion on the constitutionality of the amended law from law professor Philip Kurland.

36869, 36870; November 21, 1974; During debate on the veto override of the Freedom of Information Act, Muskie again urges that the Senate vote to override the veto and enact the amendments to the law that both House and Senate have supported.

Letter: Vote to override veto of Freedom of Information Act, to all Senators by, 36875

36875; November 21, 1974; During the debate on the vote to override the veto of the Freedom of Information Act, Senator Ervin (D- North Carolina) urges the veto override, and shares a letter jointly written with other Senators, including Muskie, which was sent to all Members, describing the veto and reasons to override it.

Intergovernmental Personnel Act of 1970: progress to improve administration of State and local governments, 36723

Merits of Intergovernmental Personnel Act, Gov. Mike O'Callaghan of Nevada, Emeryville, California, 36723

36723; November 20, 1974; Muskie says the Nevada Governor, Mike O’Callaghan, has nothing but positive views of the effects on state and local workers of the training and management provided through the Intergovernmental Personnel program, which allows state-level personnel to work with and train local government staff, and to improve merit and performance assessments of employees, and includes a text of the Governor’s comments.

Joint Funding Simplification Act of 1974: bill (S. 2299) to enact, 36923, 36924

36923, 36924; November 21, 1974; Muskie notes that the House has passed S. 2299, the Joint Funding Simplification Act he introduced in 1973, for the purpose of streamlining the federal grant process, so that states and local governments could access more than one program to fund their particular needs, and says that state and local authorities have endorsed the concept of the bill, and urges the Senate to accept without change two minor accounting changes made by the House. The bill is agreed to on a voice vote.

List: Proposals to strengthen congressional oversight of intelligence agencies, Committee on Government Operations, 37701

37701; December 2, 1974; Muskie announces that his Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations will hold two hearings on December 9 and 10 on four different proposals that have been introduced to strengthen congressional oversight of the U.S. intelligence agencies, beginning with Senators and outside experts, and with the intention of inviting the FBI and CIA to testify in 1975. One of the unintended but significant outcomes of the Watergate scandal was to encourage more intensive reporting by journalists and a series in the New York Times, claiming that the CIA had engaged in extensive domestic spying, along with incremental reports of CIA involvement in the overthrow of President Allende of Chile in 1973, led to a determination by the Congress to review the operations of the nation’s intelligence community.

Report: Committee on Government Operations, 37768

37768; December 3, 1974; Muskie reports, from the Committee on Government Operations, the nomination of Paul H. O’Neill to be Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget, with the recommendation that the nomination be confirmed subject to the nominee’s commitment to respond to requests to appear and testify before any duly constituted committee of the Senate.

Corporate Disclosure, Securities and Exchange Commission, by Senator Metcalf, 39425

39425; December 12, 1974; Muskie says that in addition to the report his and Senator Metcalf’s (D- Montana) subcommittees published a year ago on the question of disclosure of corporate ownership, the Securities and Exchange Commission was holding a hearing on information collection and disclosure, at which Senator Metcalf testified, and includes the text of his testimony.

Letter: Handling of classified materials (sundry), 41697-41699

Questions and answers, handling of classified materials, Department of Defense, 41699

41697- 41699; December 20, 1974; Muskie notes that elements of the proposal to recodify the criminal laws will affect next session’s efforts to rewrite the espionage statute and the handling of classified documents, which was also affected by the earlier consideration of amendments to the Freedom of Information Act, and includes a letter to the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Criminal Laws and Procedure and also to himself.

Report: Intergovernmental Personnel Act of 1970, State of Maine, 41710-41713

41710; December 20, 1974; Muskie notes that the Intergovernmental Personnel program’s grants have allowed state and local employees in Maine to improve state employee training programs for the second year of the grant’s existence, and includes a summary of the program activities undertaken by the state.

CRIMINAL LAW, CIVIL LAW, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

1974 2nd Session, 93rd Congress

Public officials: criminal liability for actions, 223

Criminal code: relative to public officials, 223

Make It All Perfectly Legal, R. R. Korn and G. B. Craig, Washington Post, 223

223; January 22, 1973; Muskie takes note of two proposals which form part of the administration’s proposed re-codification of the criminal code, and which would carve out for public officials a defense based on a reasonable belief that an action was authorized or legal, a version of the so-called Nuremberg defense, in which the accused Nazis in post-war trials all pleaded that they were "just obeying orders," a defense which U.S. presiding judge Jackson rejected.

Nixon, Richard M.: message on privacy legislation, 5829

Nixon, Richard M.: message on privacy legislation, 5829

Congressional Response to President Nixon's message on Privacy, Senator Hart, radio, 5829

Privacy: President's message on, 5829

Privacy: President's message on, 5829

5829; March 7, 1974; Muskie notes that the congressional response to President Nixon’s message on privacy was given as a radio address by Senator Hart (D- Michigan) and included five specific actions the President could take immediately to protect privacy, without the need for legislation, such as ending the practice of military spying on civilians, of seeking warrantless wiretaps, and prohibiting government officials from law breaking, one of the features of the Watergate scandal. President Nixon’s proposed action was to set up a White House Committee to report back him.

Crime: death sentence, 6749

Report: Additional Views on S. 1401, Senator Hart, 6749

Capital punishment: bill (S. 1401) establish mandatory imposition of, 6749

6749; March 13, 1974; During debate on the mandatory capital punishment bill, S. 1401, Muskie speaks against the death penalty and says the minority views of Senator Hart (D- Michigan) published in the Committee report on the bill, reflect his own misgivings about it.

Press release: Wiretap Hearings by Judiciary Committee, by, 8682

8682; March 28, 1974; A joint announcement on wiretap hearings to be held by three Senate subcommittee’s, including Muskie’s Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Surveillance, says the hearing follows an intensive five-month study of the practice of surveillance by government without court order. As the Watergate scandal had unraveled in 1973, it was revealed that at least 17 persons, both reporters and government employees, secretly had their home and work phones wiretapped by order of the Nixon administration and of the President’s re-election committee.

Education: busing of students, 14913, 17292

Education Amendments of 1974: (S. 1539) to enact, 14913

Busing of students: legislation, 14913

Equal Educational Opportunity, U.S. Senate, 1972, by, 14914

Race, Schools and the Senate, Washington Post, 14914

Brown Decision 20 Years Later, R. C. Maynard, Washington Post, 14914

Court That Dared the Unknown, J. P. McKenzie, Washington post. 14916

Topeka Treadmill: Linda Brown's City Faces a New Battle, A. Scott, Washington Post, 14917

Where Has "Brown" Led in 20 Years? C. B. Motley, New York Law Journal, 14918

14913; May 15, 1974; Muskie speaks during debate on S. 1539, the Education Amendments of 1974, a bill extending assorted education programs, and argues that the anti-busing amendment inserted in the bill is a politically-inspired retreat from the goal of equal educational opportunity to which the nation was committed when the Supreme Court ruled that separate schools did not provide equal educational opportunity and must change. The 1954 ruling, Brown v. Board of Education, was widely ignored when it was initially handed down and when efforts to enforce it began, it was widely resisted. The State of Virginia, for instance, closed down its public schools rather than permit integration; Governors of several southern states led the fight against integration and violence was threatened in more than one community against African-Americans who sought to enroll in previously all-white schools. For the better part of a decade, resistance to integration was largely limited to the southern states, and the Members of Congress representing those states did not constitute a sufficiently large voting bloc to mount an effective federal challenge. But when efforts to broaden the reach of the ruling to de facto, as well as de jure segregated school districts in the north caused the same threats of violence and resistance in cities like Boston, there were a sufficient number of House and Senate members whose constituents were directly affected to constitute a majority. Thus, de facto school segregation was allowed to reflect housing segregation. Maine had at that time an extremely small minority population and had never had a tradition of segregated schools, so Muskie’s position reflected his political preference for integration, because the issue of busing never arose in Maine.

Without Busing, Would Anyone Care? W. Raspberry, Washington Post, 17292

Busing of students: value, 17292

17292; June 3, 1974; Muskie talks about a point made by a Prince George’s County teacher on the value of busing to the quality of local schools, and includes the column with his remarks.

Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970: amend bill (S. 3355) to amend, 21133.

21133; June 26, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor of Amendment No. 1487, a Nelson (D- Wisconsin)-Ervin (D- North Carolina) amendment to S. 3355, the amendment to the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970. The proposed amendment would repeal the "no knock" provisions of a 1970 law which applied to District of Columbia police and to federal narcotics agents. The Constitutional command of the Fourth Amendment is that no search may be carried out without a warrant; the authority in the 1970 crime law provided for judges to issue warrants on a no-knock basis, which had resulted in a series of mistaken police break-ins at incorrect addresses, terrorizing innocent citizens.

Warren, Earl: eulogy, 22804

Warren Court Reshaped Nation. Washington Post, 22804

22804; July 11, 1974; Muskie speaks on the death of the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Earl Warren, who had been a personal friend of his family’s, and includes a news story that describes Warren’s legacy on the Court.

National Institutions Reform Act: enact (see bill S. 3877), 26573

26573; August 2, 1974; Muskie is shown as a cosponsor of S. 3877, a Javits (R-New York) bill intended to redress the balance of power between the legislative and executive branches of the federal government, by seeking to make the President more directly answerable to the Congress for the manner in which carries out the laws Congress passes, along with corresponding changes in certain congressional operations. This was a bill directly drawing on the entire Watergate experience which by now was days away from President Nixon’s resignation. By this time, not only had the country learned of illegal wiretaps, surveillance of citizens, law-breaking to prevent information leaks, but also about the President’s tax troubles, his use of Secret Service funds to have improvements constructed at his personal residence, and the convoluted way in which he acquired his residence with the help of close friends. The House Committee had voted several articles of impeachment, and the Supreme Court on July 24 had ruled unanimously that the tape recorded conversations requested by the Independent Counsel must be turned over. The entire scope and duration of the Watergate affair led many in the nation to propound significant constitutional changes in the system so as to assure such a scandal could not recur.

National Emergencies Act: enact (see bill S. 3957), 32287

32287; September 24, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor to S. 3957, a Church (D- Idaho) bill which proposed to end four national emergencies declared over the prior forty years and to institute, in place of presidential national emergency declarations based on sections of existing law, an explicit provision for the declaration of a national emergency with an automatic 6-month termination, unless extended by Congressional vote. In 1971, Congress established a Special Committee on National Emergencies and Delegated Emergency Powers, after noting that these declarations had triggered some 470 emergency statutes without any provision for Congressional review or termination. From the March 6, 1933 national banking emergency declared by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, through the 1950 Korean War declaration of President Truman, to a 1970 declaration to deal with a Post Office strike, to the August 18, 1971 currency controls embodied in President Nixon’s last national emergency declaration, the President’s authority was augmented by such arbitrary rights as the right to seize property, organize and control the means of production, institute martial law, control all transportation and communication and restrict travel. The proposed legislation would also repeal substantial elements of those 470 emergency statutes.

Freedom from Surveillance Act of 1974: enact (see bill S. 4062), 32831

32831; September 30, 1974; Muskie is shown as a cosponsor of S. 4062, a Kennedy (D- Massachusetts) bill to establish the administrative practices, procedures and standards by which electronic surveillance warrants would be granted by a court. This bill grew out of the joint hearings by Senators Kennedy, Muskie and Ervin (D- North Carolina) earlier in the year on the Nixon administration’s practice of using "national security" claims to bypass warrants and place wiretaps on news reporters as well as a number of federal employees.

Freedom From Surveillance Act of 1974: introduction, 32841

Wiretapping: legislation to prevent abuses, 32841

32841; September 30, 1974; Muskie makes a statement on the introduction of the wiretap bill, pointing out that when Congress did not directly outlaw warrantless surveillance in the field of national security, it had relied upon good faith use of such wiretaps, but that the joint hearings uncovered far too many instances of spurious claims of "national security" for wiretaps that could not in any case have been justified to a judge.

Privacy Protection Commission: bill (S. 3418) to establish, 36896, 36897, 36900, 40410

Privacy Protection Commission: amend bill (S. 3418) to establish, 36896

State and local governments: guidelines for privacy protection legislation, 36896, 36897

36896; November 21, 1974; During debate on S. 3418, the Privacy Protection Commission bill, Muskie expresses his support for the bill itself, and describes the amendment he is proposing, which would direct the Commission to establish guidelines for the collection of private information at the state and local level, and develop model legislation for the states and localities to enact.

MISCELLANEOUS

1974 2^nd Session, 93^rd Congress

Marriner, Ernest C.: 1000th radio broadcast, 5821

Little Talks on Common Things, E.C. Marriner, WTVL-Radio (sundry). 5821- 5824

Biographical sketch, Marriner, Ernest C., 5824

Marriner Presents 1,000th Broadcast, I. Faunce, Maine Telegram, U.S. Radio (sundry), 5824, 5825

5821-5824; March 7, 1974; Muskie pays tribute to a Maine institution, Ernest Marriner, the 82-year-old Colby College Historian who has broadcast the 1000^th program in his radio talk shows, "Little Talks on Common Things," and includes the transcripts of a couple of the shows.

Ervin, Sam J.: tribute, 7943, 41741

7943; March 22, 1974; Members who were active on the work on the Congressional Budget Act exchange compliments and views, and Muskie gives Senator Ervin (D- North Carolina) credit for his work on developing the budget act while so many other responsibilities, particularly the Watergate hearings, were his at the same time.

41741; December 20, 1974; Muskie pays tribute to Senator Ervin.(D- North Carolina) upon his retirement from the Senate at the close of the session, reminding his colleagues that Senator Ervin brought a strong feeling for the purposes of the constitution to his work, most particularly to his duties as Chairman of the special committee appointed to investigate Watergate. At the time, Senator Ervin became a popular and familiar public figure, since the first several months of the Watergate hearings were broadcast nationally, and were also the venue in which some of the more stunning revelations were made, including the fact that President Nixon had a taping system installed in the White House which recorded virtually all his conversations.

Maine Made Sense, S. Garson. New York Times, 8705

8705; March 28, 1974; Muskie notes that a short essay in that morning’s edition of the New York Times made sense to him, and includes it in the Record.

Morse, Wayne: eulogy. 25414

Senate's Loss, New York Times, 25414

25414; July 29, 1974; Muskie speaks on the death of former Oregon Senator Wayne Morse, with whom he served from 1959 until Morse was defeated for reelection in 1968. Morse was originally elected as a Republican in 1944, but broke with Eisenhower in 1952, over the choice of Richard Nixon as Vice President, and remained an Independent for four years until winning reelection in 1956, at which time he ran as a Democrat. He was famous as a maverick and was one of two Senators who voted against the Gulf of Tonkin resolution authorizing war in Vietnam in 1964.

Gruening, Ernest: eulogy, 25435

25435; July 29, 1974; Muskie speaks of the death of Senator Ernest Gruening, (D) one of the first U.S. Senators to represent Alaska upon the attainment of Alaskan Statehood, he had also worked as a journalist in Maine and joined in Muskie’s strong crusade for public power in Maine. He was one of two Senators who voted against the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, along with Senator Wayne Morse (D- Oregon).

Farley, James A.: tribute, 25441

Jim Farley Honored (sundry), 25441, 25442

Laetare Award to James A. Farley, University of Notre Dame, 25441, 25442

25441, 25442; July 29, 1974; Muskie describes the award of the Laetare Medal to honor Jim Farley, former Postmaster General and campaign manager for the first two of President Franklin Roosevelt’s campaigns. The Laetare Medal is an award of the University of Notre Dame and is given to an outstanding American Catholic every year.

Ford, Gerald R.: resolution (S. Con. Res. 108) extending best wishes to, 27619.

27619; August 9, 1974; Although no Senator is specifically listed, Muskie and all other members of the Senate jointed in supporting S. Con. Res. 108, a concurrent resolution of the joint leadership to express the good wishes of the entire body upon Gerald Ford’s assumption of the presidency. On the previous day, August 8, Richard Nixon had resigned the presidency.

Mansfield, Mike: record of service as majority leader, 28465

28465; August 15, 1974; Muskie is one of many Democratic Senators who speaks to congratulate Senator Mike Mansfield (D- Montana) for becoming the longest-serving Senate Majority Leader in history. The Senate in these years was a highly collegial institution in many ways, and among its rites was the ceremonial recognition of significant events in the careers of individual Senators, such as a record number of votes cast, a record number of votes cast without absences, and time served in some Senate position.

Mundt, Karl: eulogy, 29878

29878; This page reference is an error. The eulogy appears on page 28882.

28882; August 19, 1974. Muskie describes his ten years’ work with Senator Karl Mundt (R-South Dakota) on the Intergovernmental Relations Subcommittee and the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations. Senator Mundt was the ranking member on the subcommittee, but suffered a stroke in 1969 which prevented his returning to the Senate, or running for reelection in 1972.

McIntire, Clifford G.: eulogy, 33188

33188; October 1, 1974; Muskie pays tribute to a former Maine congressman, Clifford McIntire (R-Maine) who had died one month after being appointed to the U.S. Railway Association. Representative McIntire had left his House seat in 1964 to run for election to the Senate against Muskie, a contest Muskie won.

Hughes. Harold E.: tribute, 41086

41086; December 19, 1974; Muskie pays tribute to Senator Hughes (D- Iowa) who had become a close Senate friend of his, on the occasion of his retirement from the Senate. Senator Hughes decided to enter the ministry instead of running for a second term in the Senate.

Fulbright, J. William: tribute, 41097

41097; December 19, 1974; Muskie pays tribute to Senator Fulbright (D- Arkansas) whose fight for reelection was lost, thus forcing his retirement from the Senate. Senator Fulbright chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1959 until 1974, the longest serving chairman in the committee’s history, and became one of the most influential voices on foreign policy in the U.S. Congress, whose election defeat was one of the upset victories in the 1974 mid-term elections. He is probably best remembered today as the originator of the Fulbright Scholarships, a program established in 1946, and modeled on the British Rhodes scholarship program, of which he was a graduate.

Dominick. Peter: tribute, 41111

41111; December 19, 1974; Muskie pays tribute to Senator Peter Dominick (R-Colorado) who was defeated for reelection in 1974, and who served for the last several months of 1974 as the ranking member of the newly-created Budget Committee, of which Muskie was Chairman.

Bible, Alan: tribute, 41724

41724; December 20, 1974; Muskie comments on the retirement of Senator Alan Bible (D- Nevada) who chose to retire in 1974 rather than seek reelection. Senator Bible was one of the many Senators in the 1953-1955 period whose election helped alter the political balance of the Senate in that period, as nine Senators died and others were appointed to take their places. Senator Bible defeated one such appointee, a Republican, and regained the seat for the Democratic Party which the death of Senator Pat McCarran had held until his September 1954 death permitted the Governor of Nevada to appoint a Republican to the seat.

Cotton. Norris: tribute, 41727

41727; December 20, 1974; Muskie makes brief comments on the retirement of Senator Norris Cotton (R-New Hampshire), with whom he had worked on issues of importance to northern New England.

Riddick. Floyd M.: tribute, 41730

41730; December 20, 1974; Muskie makes a brief statement paying tribute to Floyd Riddick, the Senate’s Parliamentarian, on his retirement. Because of the Senate’s tradition of unlimited debate, the rules and precedents of the Senate are quite abstruse and constitute a substantial body of procedure. Most Senators are far from knowing them all or being comfortable with their different applications. It is the task of the Parliamentarian to clarify which rules and precedents apply in any situation so as to maintain the momentum of the Senate’s activity.

Aiken, George D.: tribute, 41748

41748; December 20, 1974; Muskie speaks on the retirement of Senator George Aiken (R-Vermont), who served with him on the Foreign Relations Committee. Aiken was a prototypical New Englander and is probably best remembered as the Senator who said, on the subject of ending U.S. involvement in Vietnam, that we should just declare victory and get out.

POLITICAL, CAMPAIGN REFORM

1974 93rd Congress, 2nd Session

Elections: public funding, 4475

Income tax: dollar check-off for campaign funds, 4475

Presidential campaigns: tax dollar check/ off funding, 4475

Taxpayer's Reply to Political Corruption, Washington Post, (excerpts), 4475

4475; February 27, 1974; In the course of a colloquy on the issue of public financing of the presidential campaign through the tax checkoff process, which allowed every taxpayer to earmark $1 on his own account and another for his spouse on a joint return, Muskie joins in and mentions a Washington Post editorial on the subject. The checkoff was enacted in part in response to the fund raising of the Nixon effort to reelect the President in 1972, and more than a few corporate officers were known to have regarded the fund raising as being closer to extortion than a purely voluntary effort.

Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act: enact (see bill S. 4016), 32717

32717; September 26, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor to S. 4016, a Nelson (D- Wisconsin) bill to authorize the federal government to take possession of former President Nixon’s papers, tape recordings and other records. When President Nixon resigned on August 8, he telephoned his former chief of staff, Alexander Haig, the following day, requesting that the records of his five years in office be immediately sent to him in California. President Ford instead requested the Justice Department to advise him on who was the legitimate owner of the materials, and the Special Prosecutor in the Watergate case, Leon Jaworski, advised that some of the materials would be needed for use in court proceedings. The controversy over ownership of the records arose because earlier, President Nixon had given some of his Vice Presidential records to the National Archive and then used a doubtful valuation of their worth to reduce his personal income taxes for several years to less than $1000, even though his presidential income alone was $200,000.

The Nixon records remained in Washington, but immediately after President Ford’s September 8 pardon of Nixon, a "letter of agreement" was revealed between Nixon and the Administrator of the General Services Administration, to the effect that all the Nixon records would be transferred to California, and that three years later tape recordings specified by Nixon would be destroyed and by 1984, all remaining tapes would also be destroyed. The public reaction to this revelation was not favorable, and both House and Senate Members moved immediately to introduce legislation to make certain that the Nixon records would not be lost to history by formally overturning the agreement and maintaining them in Washington D.C. until questions of ownership could be thrashed out.

Subsequently, continuing legal challenges by Nixon himself and by his estate after his death kept all his records closed, except for 63 hours of tapes made public in trials, until October, 1996.

Nixon, Richard M.: provide for protection and preservation of tapes and material produced during tenure as President, 33876

Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act: bill (S. 4016) to enact, 33876

33876; October 2, 1974; During debate on S. 4016, a Nelson (D- Wisconsin) bill dealing with the records of the Nixon administration, Muskie notes that the bill’s most important function is to safely preserve all the materials for the courts, without necessarily pre-judging the question of Nixon’s degree of ownership in them. Former President Nixon made vociferous claims to the private ownership of public records, but no statute actually governed questions of ownership. After Congress ultimately agreed in 1978 to make all presidential papers public, the Nixon estate finally reached agreement with the Department of Justice in June, 2000, and was paid $18 million for the materials, which are housed at the National Archive.

Letter: In answer to General George Brown's remarks, H. Bookbinder, 37780

37780; December 3, 1974; Muskie notes the reaction of Hyman Bookbinder, the Washington representative of the American Jewish Committee, to comments by General George S. Brown, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during a question and answer session at Duke University Law School. In answer to a query about U.S. force possibly being used against the oil states, he said there were no plans to use force, but added that if there were another oil embargo, people might turn against the "Jewish influence" in the country, and went on to suggest that Jews controlled Congress because they "own, you know, the banks in this country, the newspapers, you just look at where the Jewish money is in this country." At the time, a furor erupted and President Ford was forced to disavow his Chairman’s comments.

SENATE RULES, PROCEDURES, ASSIGNMENTS, HOUSEKEEPING

1974 93rd Congress, 2nd Session

 

Cloture, 725, 1084, 1244, 2338, 9272, 9780, 9968, 10353, 19633, 20104, 22611, 25865, 26327, 31437, 31904, 37606, 37749, 37819, 38070, 38419, 39116

725; January 24, 1974; Mansfield (D- Montana) files a cloture petition on S. 2589, the Energy Emergency bill, and Muskie is listed as one of the petitioners. The Senate’s tradition of unlimited debate has meant that a small minority of Senators who oppose a bill but lack the votes to defeat it can prevent a vote on the bill by essentially "talking it to death," or filibustering. Cloture is the term used to describe the process by which a filibuster can be ended in the Senate. At the time of this vote, the requirement was that a cloture petition, signed by no fewer than 16 Senators, be filed by being formally presented at the desk where Senate business is filed, and that a cloture vote, a vote on the petition, be held no sooner than 48 hours thereafter. A successful cloture vote in 1974 required the affirmative votes of two-thirds of the Senators in the Chamber at the time, a high hurdle to overcome. Signing a cloture petition was a way for a Senator to indicate stronger-than-average support for a position in favor of or against the pending legislation.

1084; January 29, 1974; This is an error; there is no cloture petition on this page..

1244; January 29, 1974; This is an error. The page reflects bill introductions in the House.

 

2338; February 6, 1974; Muskie is listed as one of the cloture petition signers on a Metzenbaum (D- Ohio) petition to bring the Genocide Convention to the floor and ratify it.

9272; April 2, 1974; Muskie is listed as a signatory on a cloture petition on S. 3044, a bill to create a system of public financing for Congressional election campaigns.

9780; April 4, 1974; Muskie is listed as a signatory on a second cloture petition on S. 3044, to create a system of public financing for Congressional election campaigns.

9968; April 5, 1974; Muskie is listed as a signatory on a third cloture petition on S. 3044, to create a system of public financing for Congressional election campaigns.

      

10353; April 9, 1974; Muskie is listed as a signatory on a fourth cloture petition on S. 3044, to create a system of public financing for Congressional election campaigns. The constant re-filing of cloture petitions when the necessary two-thirds votes were not available could reflect a number of circumstances: it could signal the majority’s strong support for an issue; it could reflect differing head counts of Senators likely to be present and voting; it could reflect the fact that some Members would vote against cloture on the first one or two petitions, but said they might vote in favor on a later one.

     

19633; June 18, 1974; Muskie is listed on a cloture petition on H.R. 14832, a bill to raise the temporary debt ceiling. At this time, the Congress maintained the fiction of a $400 billion "permanent" debt ceiling, but increased the "temporary" debt ceiling as needed, in this case, from $475 billion to $495 billion through March, 1975. In the case of this debate, a clean bill had been passed in the House, and Senator Allen (D- Alabama) moved to amend it by reducing the increase to $490 billion instead of $495. He then proceeded to filibuster, not permitting a vote on his amendment. As a result, Senator Mansfield (D- Montana) was forced to file repeated cloture petitions against the Allen amendment in an effort to end the filibuster.

20104; June 19, 1974; Muskie is listed on the second cloture petition on H.R. 14832, the bill increasing the temporary debt ceiling.

22611; July 10, 1974; Muskie is listed on a cloture petition on the question of sending H.R. 7824, the Legal Services Corporation bill, to conference with the House. Normally when the Senate has completed its work on a bill and the House has passed a version that differs slightly, the Senate will "insist on its amendments" and there will be a joint conference committee of House and Senate members who will seek to iron out the differences and report back a reconciled conference report. In this instance, Senator Helms (R-North Carolina) and others were seeking to block action because it had been rumored that President Nixon would sign, rather than veto, the final version.

25865; July 30, 1974; Muskie is listed on a cloture petition on S. 707, a bill to establish an independent Consumer Protection Agency. The proposal had already been defeated by filibuster in the two previous Congresses, and opponents maintained that it would hamstring government agencies, place businesses in double jeopardy, and add to the paperwork burden inside government and out.

26327; August 1, 1974; Muskie is listed on the second cloture petition on S. 707, a bill to establish an independent Consumer Protection Agency.

31437; September 17, 1974; Muskie is listed on the third cloture petition on S. 707, a bill to establish an independent Consumer Protection Agency.

31904; September 19, 1974; Muskie is listed on the fourth cloture petition on S. 707, a bill to establish an independent Consumer Protection Agency. This was only the third time in Senate history that there had been more than three attempts to close off debate, but in the end, even the last cloture vote fell short by two votes.

37606; November 26, 1974; Muskie is listed on a cloture petition filed by Packwood (R-Oregon) on the conference report on H.R. 15977, the Export Import Bank Act amendments. The Senate tried several times to cut off debate on the conference report and thus move to approve it, but in the end was forced to send it back to conference two more times before it could be approved. Disagreement centered on the Senate’s insistence on greater restrictions on exports to the Soviet bloc and on the export of oil drilling equipment in short supply within the U.S.

37749; December 2, 1974; Muskie is listed on the second cloture petition filed by Packwood (R-Oregon) on the conference report on H.R. 15977, the Export Import Bank Act amendments.

37819; December 3, 1974; Muskie is listed on the third cloture petition filed by Packwood (R-Oregon) on the conference report on H.R. 15977, the Export Import Bank Act amendments.

38070; December 4, 1974; Muskie is listed on the fourth cloture petition filed by Packwood (R-Oregon) on the conference report on H.R. 15977, the Export Import Bank Act amendments.

38419; December 5, 1974; Muskie is listed on a cloture petition to bring to an end the debate on H.R. 14449, the Community Action Agency bill. The bill was the remnant of President Johnson’s Office of Economic Opportunity, which President Nixon had been attempting to eliminate through denial of funds since early 1973. In this case, the threatened filibuster never materialized and the Senate passed the bill easily on a 75-15 vote.

39116; December 11, 1974; Muskie is shown on a cloture petition on H.R. 16900, the supplemental appropriation bill. The House had inserted an amendment in the supplemental to prohibit the withholding of education funding from any school district to compel it to apply nondiscrimination requirements, which the Senate sought to modify so as to make it inapplicable where it conflicted with the requirements of federal law. And effort to table the proposed modification failed, an Senator Allen (D- Alabama) threatened a filibuster, which was overcome by a 56-27 cloture vote on December 14.

Senate: privilege of the floor, 1127, 14523, 14597, 18381, 20190, 20464, 24383

1127; January 29, 1974; Muskie asks that members of the Public Works committee staff have the privilege of the floor during debate on S. 2589, the conference report on the Energy Emergency bill.

14523; May 14, 1974; At the beginning of the debate on H.R. 14368, the Energy Supply and Environmental Coordination Act, Muskie asks that members of the Public Works Committee staff be allowed the privilege of the Senate floor.

14597; May 14, 1974; During debate on S. 1539, the Education Amendments, Muskie asks that Reid Feldman and Rick Bayard of his staff have the privilege of the Senate floor.

18381; June 10, 1974; Muskie requests the privilege of the floor for staff when he rises to make a point of order against H.R. 14434, the Energy Research and Development appropriation

20190; June 20, 1974; Muskie asks if during consideration of H.R. 14832, the temporary increase in the Debt Limit and its amendments, that Reid Feldman have the privilege of the floor. During debate on the debt limit bill, Muskie joined other Senators in an effort to attach tax reform provisions.

24383; July 22, 1974; Muskie asks that Karl Braithewaite have the privilege of the floor during debate on H.R. 15472, the Agriculture, Environment and Consumer Protection Appropriations Act.

Employees of the United States: President's proposal for pay raises for certain, 5125

Members of Congress: resolution (S. Res.293) to disapprove pay recommendations of the President for, 5125, 5126

Letter: Criticism from constituents (sundry), 5126, 5127.

Diary of a Mad Housewife, D. Cord. Newsweek 5126

5125; March 4, 1974; During debate on S. Res. 293, a resolution of disapproval of President Nixon’s proposal to raise federal salaries by 7.5 percent, a proposal which would have granted the increase to Members of Congress, federal judges, and top-level political and career civil service workers, Muskie makes the argument that it is not the appropriate moment to increase the pay of those already best-paid in the federal service when inflation is severely affecting the ability of average Americans to make ends meet, and includes some outraged mail from constituents to illustrate the point. This was one of the few pay increases Muskie voted against. Normally, he considered voting against pay increases as a form of grandstanding and with five children to raise and educate, he was not a wealthy man.

Appointed Conferee, 6742, 7938, 14546, 19258, 29142, 40641

6742; March 13, 1974; Muskie is appointed a conferee on S. 2776, a bill creating a Federal Energy Administration and H.R. 11793, a House bill reorganizing certain federal functions.

7938; March 22, 1974; Muskie is appointed a conferee on H.R. 7130, the Congressional Budget Act.

14546; May 14, 1974; At the close of debate on H.R. 14368, the Energy Supply and Environmental Coordination Act, Muskie appoints Senate conferees, including himself.

19258; June 13, 1974; Muskie is appointed a conferee on H.R. 12799, extending authorizations for the Arms Control and Disarmament Act.

29142; August 20, 1974; Muskie is appointed a conferee on H.R. 11510, the Energy Research and Development Administration bill.

40641; December 18, 1974; Muskie is appointed a conferee on H.R. 13296, authorizing appropriations for maritime programs.

Acting President pro tempore, 18621

18621; June 11, 1974; Upon the request of Senator Eastland (D- Louisiana) Muskie is appointed the Acting President pro tempore of the Senate.

Rockefeller, Nelson A.: nomination, 38932

38932; December 10, 1974; Muskie makes his statement on the occasion of the vote to confirm President Ford’s choice of former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller to become the Vice President of the United States. The Rockefeller nomination was somewhat controversial, but the main objections came from the right wing of the Republican Party, which would have preferred a more ideological choice. The mid-seventies was a period in which the hardline conservative faction of the Party was growing, along with conservative lobbying and other organizations, and this wing of the Republican Party did not become reconciled to him, and in November, 1975, he announced he would not be a candidate for the vice presidency in the 1976 elections.

BUDGET, TAXES, FISCAL POLICY

1974 2nd Session, 93rd Congress

Prisoner of War and Missing in Action Tax Act: amend bill (H.R. 8214) to enact, 542, 783

Income tax: legislation, 784-788

Prisoner of War and Missing in Action Tax Act: bill (H.R. 8214) to enact, 784-788

542; This page citation is an error.

783, 784-788; January 24, 1974; During debate on H.R. 8214, a bill granting favored tax treatment for the incomes of POWs and MIAs to which the Finance Committee attached a number of broader provisions, Muskie is listed as a cosponsor of a Kennedy (D- Massachusetts) minimum tax amendment on which he speaks, and the amendment is passed. The Chairman of the Finance Committee then moved to recommit the bill, taking it off the Senate floor and returning it to the Committee, thus effectively killing the bill for the time being. It is not uncommon for the Senate to take up a minor tax or tariff measure and turn it into a vehicle for a much broader tax bill, because Article 1, Sec. 7 of the Constitution expressly provides that "All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; ..." a provision that has the effect of limiting Senate revenue activities to the amendment of House bills.

Budget reform congressional objectives, 3339, 3360

Federal spending, responsibility of Congress to limit, 3359, 3360

Congress: need to control budget, 3359, 3360

3339; This page citation appears to be a misprint for 3359.

3359, 3360; February 19, 1974; Muskie speaks about the budget reform bill which he helped develop in the Government Operations Committee, and describes some of its provisions and the reasoning behind the proposed legislation.

Impoundment Prohibition Act of 1974: enact (see bill S. 3034), 3706

3706; February 21, 1974; Muskie is one of the lead cosponsors of S. 3034, an Ervin (D- North Carolina) bill which would severely narrow the grounds on which a president could impound any appropriated funds. At this time, the impoundment legislation passed in 1973 by both Houses, which permitted for a legislative disapproval of any impoundment and required the president to advise on proposed impoundments, had been in conference for over six months, and Ervin noted that more than 30 court rulings had made it clear that the president’s claimed discretion to impound funds at will was tenuous, at best.

Congressional Budget Act: amend bill (S. 1541) enact, 6612, 7398, 7533, 7673, 7719, 7900, 7929

Congressional Budget Act of 1974: bill (S 1541) to enact, 7479-7481, 7493, 7494, 7497, 7498, 7512-7514, 7525, 7657, 7658, 7661, 7662, 7666-7670, 7900, 7904, 7905, 7933, 7935, 7943

Congress, budget policies, 7479, 7480

Committee on Rules and Administration: tribute, 7479, 7480

Committee on Government Operations: tribute, 7479, 7943

Analysis: S. 1541, Congressional Budget Act of 1974, 7481.

Letter: Congressional Budget Procedures Act (S. 1541), J. T. Conway, 7514

Drop-Out's Lament, U.S. News & World Reports (excerpt), 7512

Budget: reform of procedures for enactment of fiscal policy, 7479-7481, 7493, 7494, 7497, 7498, 7512-7514, 7525, 7657, 7658, 7661, 7662, 7666-7670, 7900, 7904, 7905, 7933, 7935, 20468, 20469, 20483, 20484

Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974: bill (H.R. 7130; S 1541) to enact, 20468, 20469, 20483, 20484

6612: March 13, 1974; Muskie is shown as a cosponsor of a Chiles (D- Florida) amendment to S. 1541, the Congressional Budget Act, which would add a requirement for an annual report on national goals and priorities to the Congress from the Director of the Congressional Budget Office which the bill proposed to set up.

 7398; March 20, 1974; Muskie is shown as a cosponsor of a Javits (R-New York) amendment No. 1047 to the Congressional Budget Act, S. 1541, a version of a proposal later accepted to have the director of the proposed new Congressional Budget Office draw up an annual report on national needs and priorities as reflected in the budget. There was a great deal of interest at this time in such a wide-ranging report and the concept of "balanced" economic growth, but many also argued that the new office should not be loaded up with too many obligations beyond the strictly budgetary provisions in the bill.

7479-7482; March 20, 1974; Muskie makes an opening statement on S. 1541, the Congressional Budget Act at the beginning of the debate, laying out in some detail the deadlines built into the measure and making clear that although the Act will make some changes in the way the Congress operates, it will not infringe on the rights of legislative authorizing committees or, more importantly, the appropriations committees. One of the most difficult negotiations in developing the bill were the anxieties of other Senate chairmen that their authority could be diminished by the creation of an over-arching budget committee.

7493, 7494; March 20, 1974; During debate on S. 1541, the Congressional Budget Act, Muskie responds to a Humphrey (D- Minnesota) amendment which would require the Congressional Budget Office to consider national goals and priorities along with the budget, to point out that this idea was given consideration during the development of the bill but was deferred to the purely budgetary reform procedures which were judged to be more immediately pressing.

7497, 7498; March 20, 1974; During continued debate on S. 1541, the Congressional Budget Act, Muskie argues that a proposed amendment by Senator Harry F. Byrd (I- Virginia) would not be a helpful addition to the bill because it would simply instruct the president to present a balanced budget each year without augmenting the information that Congress needs to make its own decisions about how to balance the budget.

7512-7514; March 20, 1974; During debate on S. 1541, the Congressional Budget Act, Muskie makes the argument that the proposal to require the new Budget Committee to hold open markup sessions and meetings is a means of providing better insight into the decision making process in Congress. Until the mid-seventies, closed Committee meetings were the norm, and many Members found the idea of requiring open meetings an unsettling one. The provision on open meetings in S. 1541 reached only to the proposed Budget Committee, not to any of the existing standing committees of the Senate.

7525; March 20, 1974; During debate on the Congressional Budget Act, S. 1541, Senator McGovern (D- South Dakota) offers an amendment to provide for a form of advance funding of certain programs, such as those affecting schools, so that school districts would know each year what they could expect the following year’s funding to be, an amendment which is accepted.

7533; March 20, 1974; Muskie is shown as the cosponsor of a Percy (R-Illinois) amendment to S. 1541, the Congressional Budget Act, which specifies in some detail the reporting requirements under the new budget system, and identifies those officials required to comply with them. The issue of information reporting, although central to the entire question of an adequate congressional budget process, was a technical matter of how particular spending ought to be classified and reported, and the Office of Management and Budget had expressed concerns about the congressional watchdog agency, the Government Accounting Office, issuing "orders" to OMB about its reporting responsibilities. The amendment is accepted on a voice vote.

7657, 7658; March 21, 1974; During debate on the Congressional Budget Act, S. 1541, Senator Roth (R-Delaware) offers an amendment to provide for a one-house veto by the Congress of any presidential impoundment of appropriated funds, and Muskie argues that the language already in the bill provides a better means of dealing with inappropriate impoundments.

7661, 7662, 7660-7670; March 21, 1974; As debate on S. 2541, the Congressional Budget Act, continues, Senator Ribicoff (D- Connecticut) proposes an amendment to eliminate a provision in the bill which would have required any change in certain entitlement programs to be referred to the Appropriations Committees before reaching the Senate floor. The relationships among federal benefits programs, such as Social Security, the different classes of veterans’ pensions, and income support programs for the elderly and disabled who did not qualify for Social Security benefits were among the most tangled issues in developing budget guidelines, because Social Security and trust fund program spending rose more or less automatically with each year’s cost- of-living increase, whereas persons eligible for more than one federal benefit, for example, a retired veteran on a disability pension, were dependant on Congress changing the law to reflect their continued entitlement. Muskie sought to work with Ribicoff to keep the element of spending discipline on those entitlement programs but without permitting the Appropriations Committee to alter the substantive provisions of the proposal. Much of the debate over the budget reform process was based in the concern that this new process could strip existing authorizing committees (and their chairmen) of their powers by extending control over the form of laws to either the Appropriations Committee or more broadly, the new Budget Committee.

7673; March 21, 1974; During debate on S. 1541, the Congressional Budget Act, Senator Javits (R-New York) notes that he has been a long-time supporter of the "goals and priorities" amendment to the budget and plans to offer one himself. In the course of his speech, he mentions several colleagues’ work on the budget bill, including Muskie. There is no Muskie text at this location.

7719; March 21, 1974; This is the notice only of the Chiles (D- Florida) and Javits (R-New York) amendments to S. 1541, the Congressional Budget Act, on both of which Muskie is listed as a cosponsor.

7929; March 22, 1974; Senator Chiles (D- Florida) calls up his amendment, No. 1056, to S. 1541, the Congressional Budget Act, and Muskie is shown as a cosponsor. This is the "goals and priorities" amendment designed to elicit a report from the Congressional Budget Office each year.

7900; March 22, 1974; Muskie offers a technical amendment to the Congressional Budget Act, S. 1541, to clarify that any change in a tax expenditure, whether to create one or to expand an existing tax law, shall be reported to the Budget Committee.

7904, 7905; March 22, 1974; Muskie engages in a colloquy with Senator Metcalf (D- Montana) about the makeup of the membership of the new Budget Committee and how it will relate to the structure of existing legislative committees.

7933; March 22, 1974; Muskie makes a brief closing statement before the final vote on passage of the Congressional Budget Act, S. 1541, iterating his support for its intent and the mechanisms by which it will fulfil that intent.

7935; March 22, 1974; Muskie makes a statement explicitly describing the treatment of tax expenditures under the proposed new Congressional Budget Act, S. 1541. The concept of tax expenditures was a relatively newly formulated one for the majority of Senators at this time, and proponents of budget reform (and tax reform) emphasized it accordingly.

7938; March 22, 1974; At the close of the debate on the Congressional Budget Act and following the final vote, which was 80-0 in favor, Senator Mansfield (D- Montana) the Senate Majority Leader makes a brief statement highlighting the contributions made by various Senators, including Muskie, to the development and passage of the bill.

7943; March 22, 1974; Members who were active on the work on the Congressional Budget Act exchange views, and Muskie gives his opinion on the manner in which the new procedure is going to force Senators to adapt their working styles and the operations of their staffs.

20468, 20469; June 21, 1974; Muskie speaks on the conference report on H.R. 7130, the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, the final version of the budget reform bill, and describes the process by which the Congress will manage the budget under the provisions of the new law.

20483, 20484; June 21, 1974; During discussion of the conference report on H.R. 7130, the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act, Muskie compliments Senator Nunn (D- Georgia) on his contribution to the bill, and offers a complimentary article on Nunn’s work in NATO, a gesture in which Senator Mansfield (D- Montana) joins.

Legislative review subcommittees: establish (see S. Res. 300), 8679

8679; March 28, 1974; Muskie is shown as a cosponsor of S. Res. 300, a Humphrey (D-Minnesota) resolution proposed as an addition to the budget reform process by which each standing Senate committee would be enlarged by the creation of a legislative review subcommittee with the purpose of ensuring that at the very least, there would be a program review of all federal programs in a five year period, and providing for backup program review by the General Accounting Office.

Tax loopholes: need to close, 10816

Income tax: need to reform, 10816

Economy: stimulate through tax reform, 10816

10816; April 11, 1974; Muskie makes his statement on tax reform as part of a bipartisan colloquy on the need for tax reform to end the assorted loopholes through which wealthy individual and corporate tax obligations are lightened or lifted

Vessels: amend bill (H.R. 8217) duty exemptions for certain foreign repairs, 15091, 15809, 15814, 16616.

Internal Revenue Code: amend bill (H.R. 8217) to amend, 15091,15809,15814,16616

15091; May 16, 1974; Senator Humphrey (D- Minnesota) announces that there are additional cosponsors of his proposed amendment to repeal the percentage depletion allowance for oil, which amendment will be offered to a House bill dealing with duty exemptions, H.R. 8217; Muskie is one of the listed cosponsors. There is no Muskie text at this location.

15809; May 21, 1974; Senator Kennedy (D- Massachusetts) describes a proposed tax relief amendment he intends to offer to H.R. 8217, a House bill dealing with duty exemptions, which would increase the personal exemption, provide for an optional tax credit in place of the exemption, and provide for a refund of 10 percent of payroll taxes for low-income workers with children. Muskie is shown as one of the cosponsors.

15814; May 21, 1974; Senator Bayh (D- Indiana) introduces four tax reform amendments to H.R. 8217, a tariff bill, and Muskie is shown as a cosponsor. The Bayh amendments were to eliminate the so-called "Domestic International Sales Corporation," an accounting device that permitted tax-free exporting for businesses; the oil depletion allowance; the Accelerated Depreciation Rate schedule for business investments, and to tighten the rules surrounding the minimum tax.

16616; May 29, 1974; Senator Ribicoff (D- Connecticut) asks that Muskie be added to his proposed amendment No. 1325 to H.R. 8217, a tariff bill, which would repeal the oil depletion allowance.

Debt Ceiling Act: amend bill (H.R. 14832) to enact, 16968

16968; May 30, 1974; When Senator Kennedy introduces his tax relief amendment to the Debt Ceiling Act, H.R. 14832, Muskie is shown as a cosponsor. It is common for tax amendments to be offered to more than one measure as Senators try to judge which bill is likely to be the first one to be taken up, and which is more must-pass legislation. The amendment is to increase the personal exemption, provide an alternative tax credit to the exemption and provide for a refundable credit against payroll taxes for low-income workers.

Public debt limit: amend bill (H.R. 14832) provide for temporary increase, 18642, 19908, 20739, 20901

18642; June 11, 1974; Muskie is shown as a cosponsor of a Ribicoff (D- Connecticut) amendment to H.R. 14832, the bill to increase the public debt limit, to further extend the extended unemployment benefits program and to alter the triggering requirements to bring the extended unemployment benefits program into effect, a request also made in a letter to the Senate Finance Committee.

19908; June 19, 1974; Muskie is shown as a cosponsor of a Mansfield (D- Montana) amendment to H.R. 14832, the temporary increase in the debt limit. This bill, because it had to be passed by June 30 or the debt limit would default to the "permanent" $400 billion level, thus confronting the federal government with a need to find an immediate $75 billion, was considered to be "must pass" legislation, so Democratic Senators, including Muskie, wanted to use it as a vehicle for tax reform amendments, to force the House (and the Senate Finance Committee) to consider several tax reform amendments. Senator Mansfield’s amendment was a compendium of all the Democratic tax reform proposals, on almost all of which Muskie was a cosponsor.

20739; June 24, 1974; Muskie proposes an amendment, No. 1523 to the bill to increase the debt limit, H.R. 14832. His amendment would terminate the DISC program, an export incentive he describes in detail.

20901; June 25, 1974; Muskie is listed as a cosponsor of Amendment 1526, a Kennedy (D- Massachusetts) amendment to H.R. 14832, increasing the temporary debt ceiling. The bill was filibustered by a combination of Republicans and conservative Democrats, who had joined in with Senator Allen (D- Alabama) to prevent any tax reform amendments of any kind being offered, and the debate featured such show-stopping events as the emergency arrival from hospital of an ailing Senator Cotton (R-New Hampshire) to cast a deciding vote on a tabling motion. The Kennedy amendment was a proposal to increase the personal exemption from $750 to $825, grant an alternative $190 tax credit in place of the exemption, and to refund a portion of Social Security taxes to low-income workers with children.

Public debt limit: bill (H.R. 14832) to provide for a temporary increase, in, 20103, 20104, 20739, 20804

Income tax: terminate DISC benefits, 20739

Domestic International Sales Corporation: terminate tax benefits, 20739

Social security: payroll tax reform, 20804

20103, 20104; June 19, 1974; During debate on H.R. 14832, a bill providing for an increase in the debt limit, Muskie expresses the hope that the filibuster against amendments to the bill, on which the Senate would vote later in the day, can be defeated to permit the Senate a chance to consider some tax reforms.

20739; June 24, 1974; Muskie proposes an amendment, No. 1523 to the bill to increase the debt limit, H.R. 14832. His amendment would terminate the DISC program, an export incentive he describes in detail.

20804; June 24, 1974; During debate on H.R. 14832, the temporary increase in the debt ceiling, Muskie makes a brief comment about a tax amendment offered by Senator Hartke (D- Indiana) explaining why he intends to vote against it.

Budget: reform legislation, 20158

Managing the Budget on Capitol Hill, Washington Post, 20158

20158; June 20, 1974; Muskie notes that the forthcoming debate on the conference report on the budget reform legislation has produced a supportive editorial in the Washington Post.

Legislative branch: bill (H.R. 14012) making appropriations for, 20190, 20191

20190; 20191; June 20, 1974; As the Senate begins consideration of H.R. 14012, the legislative branch appropriations bill, Muskie clarifies with the manager of the bill, Senator Hollings (D- South Carolina) that the Congressional Budget Office will be funded through a separate supplemental appropriation later in the year and the Budget Committees will be funded through the contingency budget of the Senate initially.

Legislation: prepare fiscal notes for (see bill S. 3759), 23129

23129; July 15, 1974; Muskie is shown as a cosponsor of S. 3759, a Proxmire (D- Wisconsin) bill requiring that all bills and resolutions reported by a committee include on their face a five-year cost estimate developed by the Congressional Budget Office.

Chairman of the Committee on the Budget, 25064

25064; July 25, 1974; The Senate passes a resolution, S. Res. 367, naming the Democratic members of the new Budget Committee and naming Muskie as Chairman of the Budget Committee.

Public works: bill (H.R. 15155) making appropriations for water and power development, 26327, 26328, 26330, 26336, 26337

Water and power development: funds, 26336

Committee on the Budget: responsibilities, 26327, 26328, 26330

26327-26330; August 1, 1974; During debate on H.R. 15155, the appropriation for water and power development and the Atomic Energy Commission, Muskie outlines the steps his Budget Committee will be taking to seek to bring the budget under control, in the context of a proposed amendment to the bill which would require an across-the-board 5 percent cut in all funds.

26336; August 1, 1974; During debate on H.R. 15155, the Water and Power Development and Atomic Energy Commission appropriations bill, Muskie argues that the $800,000 contained in the bill to continue planning for the Dickey-Lincoln hydroelectric project in northern Maine is needed precisely to determine its environmental impact.

Committee on the Budget: notice of hearings, 27327

27327; August 8, 1974; Muskie announces that the Budget Committee will hold hearings to make a clearer analysis of the federal budget’s contribution to the rate of inflation in the overall economy.

Text: Rules of Procedure for the Committee of the Budget, 28523

28523; August 15, 1974; Following the Budget Committee’s first organizational meeting, the membership agreed on the Rules of Procedure the Committee would follow, and in accordance with Senate Rules, Muskie has them published in the Record.

Budget: efforts to reduce, 30997-31000

Government spending, reductions, 30997-31000

Congress: reduction of Federal expenditures, 30997-31000

30997-31000; September 12, 1974; Muskie undertakes, without much success, to clarify and differentiate the various meanings of the term "budget cuts" as the minority leader, Senator Scott (R-Pennsylvania) and the majority leader, Senator Mansfield (D- Montana) engage in an argument over the effect of appropriations reductions below the presidential requests. One of the more difficult tasks the Budget Committee took on as it was created and began its work was to define the distinctions between budget authority, budget outlays, budget estimates and so forth.

Report: Committee on the Budget, 31799

31799; September 19, 1974; Muskie reports S. Res. 406, an original resolution authorizing supplemental expenditures by the Committee on the Budget for inquiries and investigations (Rept. 93-1157).

Committee on the Budget: authorize supplemental expenditures (see 406), 31811

31811; September 19, 1974; Muskie publishes the text of S. Res. 406, an original resolution authorizing funds from the Senate contingency fund for the operation of the Budget Committee through the following February.

Federal budget: Proposed return of Eximbank to, 31962

Export-Import Bank Amendments of 1974: (bills S. 3917; H.R. 15977) to enact, 31962, 40059

31962; September 19, 1974; During debate on S. 3917, an extension of the authority of the Export-Import Bank, Muskie speaks against an amendment which would include the bank’s accounts in the unified budget immediately, because the institution was specifically excluded from the unified budget three years earlier, and accounting changes would be required to accurately incorporate its disbursements and income.

40059; December 16, 1974; During debate on the conference report on the Export-Import Bank amendments, H.R. 15977, Muskie says he is inclined to vote to recommit the measure back to conference, because the language in the bill has been modified to require the institution’s accounts in the unified budget by October, 1976, a date he says he can accommodate.

Text: Resolution, proposed ceiling on 1975 budget, by, 34610

Budget: place $300 billion ceiling on 1975, 34610

34610; October 9, 1974; Muskie joins in proposing a concurrent resolution to provide for a $300 billion ceiling on Fiscal Year 1975 budget outlays under the terms and procedures of the budget reform law, which specify how rescissions of appropriated funds may be approved. This action was taken in response to a request by President Ford, whose principal political difficulty at this time was the condition of the national economy.

Tax Reform and Relief Act of 1974: enact (see bill S. 4187), 37104

37104; November 25, 1974; Muskie is shown as a cosponsor of S. 4187, a Mondale (D- Minnesota) bill which incorporates most of a House Ways and Means Committee’s actions on a tax package, including repeal of depreciation for the oil industry, repeal of the special treatment for exporters, and tax relief for lower and middle-income workers.

Committee on the Budget (Senate): notice of hearings, 38335

38335;December 5, 1974; On behalf of Muskie, Senator Cranston (D- California) announces that the Budget Committee intends to hold a series of hearings in the coming two weeks to examine the administration’s proposed fiscal policy in light of the continuing economic weakness of the country.

Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974: title X, 41660

Impoundment of funds: congressional review, 41660

41660; December 20, 1974; Muskie speaks about a decision by the Ford administration to withhold over $250 million from housing programs under a ruling by the Attorney General that the funds are not subject to the requirements of the budget act, and that therefore the refusal to spend them is not within the power of Congress to overturn.

TRADE, EXPORT SUBSIDIES, TARIFFS

1974 2nd Session, 93rd Congress

Economic conditions: shoe industry, l0891

Shoe industry: foreign imports hurt. 10891

Shoe Industry Needs Aid, R. S. Lockridge, Committee on Finance, 10891

10891; April 11, 1974; Muskie shares the testimony of footwear industry leaders to the Finance Committee in the course of hearings on proposed trade legislation, and argues that although he has made numerous efforts to gain for footwear the same kind of executive branch attention as is given to the textile and apparel industry, nothing is being done to help the footwear industry combat or survive the massive increases in imports.

Customs services: relative to certain responsibilities (see S. Res. 92), 21430

21430; June 27, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor to S. Con Res. 92, a Humphrey (D- Minnesota) concurrent resolution opposing the shift of certain Customs Service responsibilities to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Although by this time, the Watergate affair was taking its toll on members of the Nixon administration, an earlier plan to consolidate as many law enforcement activities as possible within the Department of Justice, under a friendly Attorney General, continued to roll forward, even though the "friendly" Kleindienst had departed and the principal authors of the plan in the White House had also been forced to resign. The Customs Service is within the U.S. Treasury Department.

Trade Reform Act: bill (H.R. 10710) to enact, 39766, 39812, 39815, 39816

Trade Reform Act: amend bill (H.R. 10710) to enact, 39812, 41170

39766; December 13, 1974; Muskie speaks against the cloture petition to close debate on H.R. 10710, the Trade Reform Act of 1974, saying that the lateness of the session and the complexity of the legislation make it inadvisable for the Senate to act without more time for consideration.

39812; December 13, 1974; Muskie expresses his support for Senator McIntyre’s (D- New Hampshire) amendment to the trade reform act on behalf of the footwear industry and says that although help for the industry was intended by a 1962 trade bill amendment, no administration has ever implemented such assistance.

39815; December 13, 1974; Muskie engages in debate on the Trade Reform Act, H.R. 10710 with the Chairman of the Finance Committee, Senator Long (D- Louisiana), about the failure of trade legislation to effectively alter the negotiating positions adopted by U.S. administrations engaged in trade negotiations, and points out that for small towns with only one industry, adjustment assistance is tantamount to burial expenses.

41170; December 19, 1972; Muskie is added as a cosponsor of a Hathaway amendment to H.R. 10710, the Trade Reform Act, which would eliminate a 2-year waiver period on countervailing duties, and would require that all countervailing duty petitions filed before the enactment of the bill be settled within 6 months. Countervailing duties are import tariffs on goods which compete unfairly with U.S.-made products by providing bounties or other explicit export assistance to manufacturers. It was held to be the case at this time that only such an explicit tariff, directed at goods from an offending country, would have the result of ending illegal export payments and other assistance that resulted in unfair trade. The goal of the amendment was the domestic footwear industry.

HOUSING, URBAN RENEWAL, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1974 2nd Session, 93rd Congress

Economic Opportunity and Community Partnership Act of 1974: enact, (see bill S. 3798), 24683

24683; July 23, 1974; Muskie is shown as a cosponsor of S. 3789, a Javits (R-New York) bill to provide a three-year extension of the authorizations for the programs under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, which the Nixon administration had proposed to eliminate entirely, and to create a new independent agency to administer them.

Home Purchase Assistance Act: support, 35323

Housing: buyers and builders suffer, 35323

Economic conditions: credit crunch in housing industry, 35323

Letter: Housing problems (sundry), 35323, 35324

35323; October 11, 1974; Muskie speaks in qualified support of the Home Purchase Assistance Act, noting that it will help home buyers with the tight credit market, but noting that with the freezing of all housing subsidy funds for two years, families at the lower end of the income scale are still unable to buy or rent minimally decent housing.

Appropriations: amend bill (H.R. 16900) making supplemental, 36220

36220; November 18, 1974; Muskie is added as a cosponsor to Amendment No. 1965, a Weicker (R-Connecticut) amendment to the supplemental appropriation, H.R. 16900, which was to appropriate $50 million in contract authority for interest subsidies for state housing authorities which issued taxable bonds to raise funds for below-market mortgages. At this time, Congress had passed and President Ford had signed the first housing bill in August, 1974, after a moratorium on federal housing aid imposed by the Nixon administration in January, 1973, and housing starts were the lowest in four or five years. The goal of the proposal was to speed up the issuance of taxable bonds by states by providing for a one-third interest subsidy and a federal guarantee for such state-issued bonds.