December 10, 1975
Page 39679
Mr. McGEE. Mr. President, as the committee report indicates, chapter I of this bill provides an additional $500 million in loan authority for the Farmers Home Administration, for use in implementing its housing programs.
This amendment was questioned in committee on the grounds that it was an unbudgeted item and therefore, might have exceeded the figures projected by the Senate Budget Committee.
It was represented to us in committee that the Senate Budget Committee approved and supported the amendment. It was largely on that basis that the amendment was agreed to in committee.
With that background, I would like to ask the senior Senator from Maine (Mr. MUSKIE), the chairman of the Budget Committee, if my understanding is correct. Does the Senator from Maine support this committee amendment?
Mr. MUSKIE. In reply to the Senator from Wyoming, I would simply point out that in my remarks prepared for the floor, I discussed this matter. I stated—
that I did indeed support this amendment and believe that it is consistent with the budget resolution.
I know of the interest and concern of the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. McGEE) for the fiscal situation and I appreciate his cooperation with the Budget Committee. But this amendment providing increased loan authority has my wholehearted support.
Mr. McGEE. With that explanation and assurance of the Senator from Maine(Mr. MUSKIE) , I support the committee amendment and I can assure my colleagues that we will press hard for this item in conference.
Mr. McCLELLAN. Mr. President, the Committee on Appropriations has labored diligently to report out this supplemental appropriations bill. The bill contains 10 chapters and includes appropriations for over 40 different line items. Despite the laborious effort of members of the committee and the Senate to expedite enactment of this measure, I regret to advise the Senate that I feel obligated to vote against its passage. Although I voted to report this bill out of committee, I did so, Mr. President, because I feel the Senate should have the right to work its will on the measure.
At the time, however, I announced to the committee that I reserved the right to vote against it on final passage.
I will vote against it because:
First, I cannot in good conscience support $2.3 billion for aid to New York City. I do not agree that taxpayers from across the Nation should be forced to bear the burden of years of fiscal extravagance and administrative mismanagement in a single metropolitan area. The primary responsibility for restoring fiscal viability to the city of New York should be with the citizens of that city and with the State of New York, not with the rest of the taxpayers who support the Federal Government.
In addition to my disapproval of the funding provision for New York City, I further oppose the bill because I believe it contains excessive funding in other provisions when we take into account the present fiscal difficulties facing our country. I am quite aware that the largest item in the bill, $5 billion for unemployment benefits, is considered uncontrollable in that the authorizing legislation mandates benefits commensurate with these amounts. However, I believe that such a large sum, on top of what we have already appropriated for unemployment benefits over the past year, is too much.
Furthermore, I do not think we should approve the request for $364.1 million for the salaries and expenses to administer the additional $5 billion in unemployment benefits.
The bill also contains almost $600 million for newly authorized programs for the Health Services Administration, for mental health programs, for nurses training, and for developmental disabilities services. Many of these programs have worthy purposes and should be implemented eventually. But, I think $600 million is too much to add at this time to the amounts already in the Labor-HEW appropriations bill.
Mr. President, I do not at all relish what I feel to be the necessity for voting against this bill. However, with a deficit exceeding $70 billion facing us in fiscal year 1976 and the prospect of continuing large deficits for fiscal year 1977, which will be added to the fiscal year 1976 astronomical national indebtedness of more than $600 billion, I believe the Members of Congress should be restrained and not continue to feed the firesof inflation by further exacerbating this bleak fiscal picture that faces us. This Government simply must return to sound fiscal policies, and soon, or devastating inflation will wreck our national economy. Thus, I will reluctantly cast my vote against this $10.3 billion spending measure, H.R. 10647.
Mr. MUSKIE Mr. President, the supplemental appropriation bill contains appropriations for a number of important Federal programs. I am glad to report that it is consistent with the second budget resolution which will be before the Senate shortly.
However, since this bill contains an appropriation of $2.3 billion for funding of the recently passed New York City aid bill, I feel I should set out, for the benefit of my colleagues, the Budget Committee's handling of this important issue. The Budget Committee did not include in the second concurrent resolution any funds for aid to New York City. However, in its markup sessions and in conference, the committee has discussed the possibility of a third concurrent resolution on the budget. Should this appropriation for New York City place pressure on the budget authority ceiling contained in the second budget resolution the Budget Committees will, during the next session of Congress, likely consider a third resolution to increase this ceiling as may be required.
On another matter, I am glad to note that the Appropriations Committee has accepted an amendment to increase by $500 million the amount of loan authority available to the Farmers Home Administration for rural housing programs. This increase which, as I understand it, does not involve additional budget authority or outlays for fiscal 1976, will be of great benefit to farmers and rural residents all across the country.
The importance of the Farmers Home Administration in my own State of Maine is demonstrated by the fact that 80 percent of all new homes in Maine are financed through its housing programs.
Because of the general lack of mortgage money, an unusually high demand has been placed on the Agency's loan funds this year. The result is that almost three-quarters of Maine's rural housing allocation has been committed during the first 5 months of this fiscal year. The additional funds which would be made available by this amendment will assist the troubled home building industry and provide needy families with the decent housing they deserve.
I also note that this appropriation bill contains an appropriation for the Congressional Budget Office. As chairman of the Budget Committee, I believe it is important that the Congress provide the support that is necessary to this important part of the budget process. Congress can never exercise its full responsibilities with respect to the Federal Budget unless and until it has available to it a staff of competent, impartial analysts, and it is my hope that the CBO will fulfill this role.