July 25, 1975
Page 24959
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, the Senate has before it H.R. 8365, the Department of Transportation and related agencies appropriation bill. The staff of the Committee on the Budget has analyzed this bill, with a view to comparing the spending levels it recommends with the spending levels recommended by the first concurrent resolution on the budget, which we passed in May. I want to review for the Senate the highlights of that comparison.
I am very happy to report that with regard to those items that it controls, the bill reported by the appropriations committee is wholly consistent with the Senate's earlier expression of intentions.
H.R. 8365 provides $4.1 billion in new fiscal 1976 budget authority. For the same agencies, programs, and projects funded by the bill, the first concurrent resolution assumed a target budget authority figure of roughly $4.4 billion. The difference, which is actually somewhat less than $300 million, is accounted for almost entirely by an appropriations committee decision to withhold new budget authority of $250 million for FAA facilities and equipment because the committee found there is sufficient unobligated authority remaining from fiscal 1975 to satisfy the agency's full needs.
With regard to outlays, enactment of H.R. 8365 would produce Federal spending in fiscal 1976 of almost exactly the amount recommended in the first concurrent resolution on the budget. At most, there may be $20 million to $30 million of difference between the bill and the resolution. The difference takes the form primarily of numerous line item savings which the appropriations committee has found, and for which we are all grateful.
In summary, then, I am able to report that total budget authority and outlays are very much in line with the first concurrent resolution. But perhaps, just as important, H.R. 8365 makes a start toward implementing a major spending priority endorsed by the Senate in the resolution — expanded aid to railroad transportation.
H.R. 8365 includes $200 million for public service jobs repairing railroad roadbeds and track, $72 million for interim operating assistance to the bankrupt railroads to cover deficits projected prior to completion of their reorganization, and an additional $15 million for research and development on conversion of railroad stations to intermodal terminals. None of this was in the President's budget submitted in February, or in the House-passed DOT appropriations bill.
However, it is provided for in the first concurrent resolution. Expanded aid to rail transportation was emphasized as a national priority in the March 15 report submitted to the Budget Committee by the Committee on Commerce, and the Budget Committee's concurrence with that priority assessment is reflected in the budget resolution. In fact, the resolution provides enough for these specific programs and more.
In total, the first concurrent resolution provides $1.2 billion in budget authority and $1.7 billion in outlays for assistance to railroad transportation. This compares with only $600 million in budget authority and $500 million in outlays requested in the administration's February budget submittal. The committee added to the President's request even though it was very much aware that the specific forms for providing assistance had yet to be defined. Clearly, the railroads in this country are in desperate financial straits, and railroad roadbeds, track, and other physical facilities are deteriorating at a geometric rate. Not to recognize this, not to recognize that the existence of such a situation is certain to exert a priority claim on Federal spending in the coming fiscal year, would have been to deceive the Senate as to the budgetary situation it faced. The Budget Committee, therefore, decided to include a rough estimate of the cost in its first concurrent resolution. The President, on the other hand, chose the other course, and as a consequence, now finds it increasingly necessary to alter his earlier budget estimates.
The President's budget, submitted in February, made no mention of the certainty of increased Federal assistance to railroad transportation. Since then, however, the chickens have started coming home to roost. In May, the administration offered its Railroad Revitalization Act of 1975, calling for financial assistance in the form of $2 billion of loan guarantees for upgrading physical facilities nationwide. Since then, knowledgeable railroad analysts have noted that $2 billion will not begin to correct the problem of deteriorated physical facilities nationwide, and that certainly there will be a requirement for something more than simple loan guarantees, much of which would likely turn out to be simply deferred outlays. Next, on June 18, Secretary Coleman indicated that the administration is prepared to provide assistance to the restructured bankrupt railroads through a plan involving an additional $1.8 billion, including not only loan guarantees but also more direct forms of assistance. Finally, just a few days ago, the administration requested another $72 million for interim operating assistance to the bankrupt railroads.
Slowly but surely, numerous items left out of the President's February budget message are coming to the fore. Slowly but surely, the President's proposed spending and deficit levels are coming to look more like those approved by the Congress in the first concurrent resolution on the budget.
Parenthetically, I might point out that while it was necessary during its deliberations on the first concurrent resolution for the budget committee to consider aid to railroads in somewhat general terms, since that time the issues and alternatives have been more clearly drawn. A major portion of any near term expansion of Federal aid will focus on assistance to the restructured railroad industry in the Northeast and Midwest; and I note that USRA's proposal for such assistance will be presented to the Congress on July 26. In accordance with the provisions of the Regional Rail Reorganization Act, the Congress must act within 60 legislative days to give its approval or disapproval to this plan. Accordingly, the budget committee as a part of its consideration of the second concurrent resolution will review the budgetary implications of the proposed assistance.
In conclusion, I wish to commend the Appropriations Committee on the bill it has reported to the Chamber. As far as the items it controls are concerned, the committee has recommended a bill that is entirely consistent with the first concurrent resolution on the budget. I know that the members of the committee, and particularly Senator BAYH, chairman of the Transportation Subcommittee, are anxious for the Senate to support a comprehensive transportation policy consistent with the transportation needs of the country and with the current energy and economic situation. I commend them for having taken a worthwhile step in that direction with this bill, and I give my full support to the spending recommendations it proposes.