March 20, 1974
Page 7525
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET ACT OF 1974
The Senate resumed the consideration of the bill (S. 1541) to provide for the reform of congressional procedures with respect to the enactment of fiscal measures; to provide ceilings on Federal expenditures and the national debt; to create a Budget Committee in each House; to create a congressional office of the budget, and for other purposes.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. President, I call up my amendment which is at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The amendment will be stated.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to read the amendment.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that further reading of the amendment be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered; and, without objection, the amendment will be printed in the RECORD.
The amendment is as follows:
On page 168, line 3, strike out the quotation marks and on page 168, between lines 3 and 4, insert the following: "(i) The President shall include in the Budget transmitted to the Congress pursuant to subsection (a), estimates for appropriations to be made during the fiscal year to which that Budget applies which are by law authorized to be obligated in the immediately succeeding fiscal year for grants, contracts, or other payments under any program for which such appropriations are or may hereafter be authorized (including but not limited to appropriation estimates pursuant to section 412 of the General Education Provisions Act (20 USC 1223)). Within 30 days after enactment of this subsection, the President shall transmit to the Congress supplemental budget estimates for such appropriations to be obligated in the immediately succeeding fiscal year.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. President, this amendment is virtually identical to S. 3163, which I introduced last week on behalf of Senators BIDEN, BROCK, CASE, COOK, HANSEN, KENNEDY, and PASTORE, and has been modified only to integrate it with the provisions of the pending bill.
The basic thrust of the amendment is to include in the budget the President submits under the Budget and Accounting Act, as amended by this bill, estimates for the advanced funding of programs which are authorized by law to be appropriated 1 year in advance of the year they are to be obligated, as for example certain educational programs administered by the Commissioner of Education.
One of the principal problems school administrators face today is the delay in appropriating funds for education programs. Even if the administration were more cooperative, the actual appropriations would not be made until the late spring or early summer before the start of the new school year with notice of the individual school district entitlements some months later. For the school districts to plan the next school year properly and negotiate teacher contracts, they ought to know the amount of Federal funds they will receive the following year by early spring at the latest. So, even under the best of circumstances, the present fiscal year appropriations process does not meet school district administrative needs.
This means that the school administrator does not know what Federal funds to expect for the school year until 2 or 3 months after school has opened. Since an administrator cannot plan on dollars which may not come, this has meant less education for students and economic uncertainly for teachers.
The change in the start of the fiscal year proposed under S. 1541, from July 1 to November 1, while helpful in many other areas, would actually further delay notice of individual school district entitlements by as much as 4 months unless we provide for the advance funding of those programs.
In 1968, the last year of the Johnson administration, the Congress enacted a statute which if implemented would avoid this problem entirely.
This statute (20 U.S.C. 1223) authorizes appropriations for educational programs administered by the Commissioner of Education in "the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year for which they are available for obligation." In other words, this statute would move the appropriations process back 1 year so that appropriations for fiscal year 1976 would be passed in fiscal year 1975 even though they would not be available for obligation until the following year. If this procedure were followed, school officials would know the amount of funds they would receive 1 year earlier than is presently the case.
The statute also provides for a 2-year appropriation in the first year it is implemented in order to effectuate a transition to this method of appropriating educational funds.
Appropriating funds on this basis would have no effect on the size of the Federal budget, since the funds would show up as outlays only in the year they were to be expended and not in the year they are appropriated.
The amendment I am offering would implement this and other similar forward funding statutes which have been or may hereafter be enacted by including in the budget estimates of the funds necessary to be appropriated on that basis. This would not only facilitate the congressional budget process but also provide for the kind of notice school districts and other similarly situated entities need to plan their budgets rationally.
Mr. President, I know of no objection to the amendment. I have checked with the managers of the bill on both sides. I hope the amendment will be adopted.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the amendment.
Mr. ROBERT C. BYRD. I ask the managers of the bill whether they agree to accept the amendment.
Mr. PERCY. From the standpoint of this side of the aisle, there is no objection at all. We have agreed to accept it.
Mr. MUSKIE. That is right. Speaking for this side of the aisle, we have agreed to accept the amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The queson is on agreeing to the amendment.
The amendment was agreed to.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the amendment was agreed to.
Mr. MUSKIE. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.