March 22, 1974
Page 7933
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, after more than 12 months of hard and often difficult work, the Senate is about to pass a bill to reform the way Congress makes spending and revenue decisions.
The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is perhaps the most important bill Congress will consider this session, and it has not received the attention it deserves.
The details of this legislation are complicated. But the bill is designed to give Congress the information and staff necessary to determine each year how much money the Government has, how much it should take in, and how much it should spend, before determining what to buy with the taxpayers' dollars.
Until now, various committees of Congress have been unable to determine how their spending decisions will affect the budget as a whole. Under the procedures this bill will change, it is not until after individual decisions are made that Congress knows how much it has spent. This is no way to run a household, and it is no way to run a government.
With my colleagues on the two committees which drafted this bill, I have recognized that Congress has seen its control over the Federal purse strings ebb away over the past 50 years because of its inability to get a grip on the overall budget, while the Office of Management and Budget in the executive branch has increased its power and influence.
And since the budget – up to this point – has been the single most important tool for shaping Government policy, the executive branch has increased its control over policy decisions as well.
As this power has gradually shifted to the executive, the people have come to see Congress as an increasingly ineffective, uncreative institution which has difficulty responding effectively to our problems, and is reluctant to reform itself.
Budget reform will not change the people's feelings about Congress overnight. But it will demonstrate that the Congress sees the need for reform and is willing to try new procedures. And it is an important step toward restoring the balance of power between the branches of Government, and between Government and the people.
Budget reform will mean a greater representative voice for the taxpayers in spending decisions, and it will provide the kind of overall control over spending decisions that the taxpayers have a right to expect.
Mr. President, in the past several months we have come a long way toward meaningful and workable budget reform. This legislation, upon its enactment, will not provide a panacea for all the ills that now afflict the process by which Congress considers the budget.
But this legislation proves that Members of the Senate can work together to change their ways. It would not have been possible without the cooperation of both the Committee on Government Operations and the Rules and Administration Committee, which worked together to draft it. I am proud to have been part of the bipartisan effort in the Government Operations Committee that this legislation represents. Special thanks, however, must go to the distinguished chairman of the Government Operations Committee, Senator ERVIN, and the chairman of the Budget and Accounting Subcommittee, Senator METCALF. Also, I want to commend the distinguished chairman of the Rules Committee, Senator CANNON, and the majority whip, Senator BYRD, for their time and diligence in reviewing and perfecting this legislation in the Rules Committee.
Finally, let me say that the process for considering the budget included in this bill can work with the cooperation of the entire Senate. Our job now is to implement it.