October 3, 1975
Page 31719
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, H.R. 8070, as agreed to in conference appropriates $49.3 billion for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and eight other smaller agencies.
This bill covers programs that are found in 11 of the 17 functional categories of the budget. The bulk of the money is found in 6 of these 11 functions: General science, space and technology; natural resources, environment, and energy; commerce and transportation; community and regional development; income security; and veterans' benefits and services.
An issue exists over the proper treatment of budget authority for subsidized housing programs which are contained in this bill. The President's budget showed the full 40-year life of the fiscal year 1976 contract commitments as the new budget authority, and the first budget resolution figures were based on that approach. However, the House and Senate disagreed on this concept.
The conference result was that the 40-year figure was used in all but one case, that of the new section 8 housing assistance program. For that program, the conference report adjusted the 40-year figure of $26.1 billion downward to $17 billion, reflecting a more realistic appraisal of what the long-run commitments really will be. In our next weekly Senate budget scorekeeping report, we will include a comparability adjustment to put the first budget resolution targets on the same basis as this bill.
Mr. President, when the budget authority totals are put on a comparable basis, the conference result is some $900 million less than the Senate-passed level for this bill.
While we will have to look carefully at the budget situation during the up-coming deliberations on the second budget resolution — including the impact of several increases in mandatory programs over which we have no control — I believe the conferees on this bill have done admirably in helping to make that task easier. I intend to vote in favor of this conference report.