December 9, 1975
Page 39265
STATEMENT ON ERDA AUTHORIZATION CONFERENCE
Mr. MUSKIE Mr. President, the conference report we are now considering authorizes the funds that the Energy Research and Development Administration needs to accelerate our national energy program. Funds are authorized for a wide range of energy research initiatives including solar energy development, geothermal research, nuclear power, and conservation.
The conference report authorizes a subsequent appropriation in fiscal year 1976 of $5.0 billion in budget authority. This would result in fiscal 1976 outlays of $4.4 billion.
Funds for the Energy Research and Development Administration fall into three of the functional categories of the budget: First, general science, space and technology; second, national defense; and third, natural resources, environment, and energy. In each case the amounts provided by the conference report are consistent with the second budget resolution.
Most of the funds in this bill, however, are classified in the natural resources, environment, and energy category and it is this functional category which I would like to address.
If appropriated fully, the conference report provides $2.5 billion in budget authority and $2.1 billion in outlays for this category in fiscal year 1976. This is, respectively, $0.6 billion and $0.4 billion above the President's initial budget submission of last February. These totals are slightly more than the Senate anticipated when it adopted the second budget resolution. But this conference report will not breach the functional mark. It will, however, reduce the amount of funds provided for other programs in this category that must be funded from these same funds.
By allocating more of the funds for ERDA, we are decreasing the amount available for other uses. In this instance, these other uses are primarily to cover authorizing legislation at various stages of enactment which the Committee on the Budget believes will require funding in this fiscal year. Such legislation includes the strategic petroleum reserves bill, the Coastal Zone Management Act, the proposal for a National Energy Production Board, fuel economy performance legislation, and the uranium enrichment bill.
I believe the Senate should accept this report but it should realize that if ERDA receives full funding the result will be that fewer funds are available for other programs within this functional category.
Mr. President, I would also like to comment on one other aspect of the pending bill. The conference report contains a provision that authorizes a $6.0 billion loan guarantee program to develop a synthetic fuels industry. In passing this provision the Senate indicated its approval of a support program to begin the development of new gaseous and liquid fuels from oil shale and coal.
No fiscal year 1976 budgetary impact was anticipated for this activity and the second budget resolution therefore contained no budgetary allowance for synthetic fuels. The Budget Committee, I should add, received no communication from any Senate committee or from the administration that any 1976 budget authority would be sought nor did the printed record on synthetic fuels make mention of any direct funding. Yet I now learn that the Office of Management and Budget will be requesting $1.5 billion in borrowing authority, which would be carried in the budget as budget authority, for fiscal 1976 to implement the loan guarantee program.
I want to state clearly that in voting for this conference report I in no way commit myself to this request for $1.5 billion. I have heard no reason why this authority is needed. I have heard no reason why it must be made available in fiscal year 1976. The Appropriations Committee should have the opportunity to explore in depth this $1.5 billion request. We must not short circuit the traditional appropriations process that will subject this request to the searching examination it requires. Once the Appropriations Committee has reviewed this request for borrowing authority and has informed the Budget Committee of its conclusions, then and only then can the Budget Committee consider the request in terms of the budget resolution.
Mr. President, let me conclude my remarks by commenting on the practice of authorizing Federal loan guarantees. While these guarantees do not appear in the budget unless and until a default occurs, they do affect the Nation's bond market and they do constitute a significant Federal fiscal action that shapes national priorities. They are thus within the jurisdiction of the Budget Committee and are of great concern to us. While in this first year we have not yet examined this practice, we hope to review it in the future, and present our views to the Senate.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the RECORD a summary of fiscal year 1976 budget authority and budget outlays per conferees action on authorization bill.
There being no objection, the summary was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
[Tables omitted]