April 15, 1975
Page 10217
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 32 – ORIGINAL CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REPORTED RELATING TO A DETERMINATION OF THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET
(Placed on the calendar.)
Mr. MUSKIE, from the Committee on the Budget, reported the following concurrent resolution:
S. CON. RES. 32
Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), That the Congress hereby determines, pursuant to section 301(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, that for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 1975–
(1) the appropriate level of total budget outlays is $365 billion;
(2) the appropriate level of total new budget authority is $388.6 billion;
(3) the amount of deficit in the budget which is appropriate in the light of economic conditions and all other relevant factors is $67.2 billion under existing law, and $69.6 billion if the revenue measures referred to in paragraph (4) are extended and enacted;
(4) the recommended level of Federal revenues under existing law is $297.8 billion and, if certain provisions of the Federal Tax Reduction Act. of 1975 are extended to 1976 and additional taxes on energy are enacted, the level of Federal revenues will be $295.4 billion; and
(5) the appropriate level of the public debt is $617.6 billion under existing law and $620 billion if the revenue measures referred to in paragraph (4) are extended and enacted.
SEC. 2. The Congress, in setting forth the amounts contained in the first section of this resolution, estimates that Federal receipts from the leasing of the Outer Continental Shelf for oil exploration purposes will be $4 billion, rather than the $8 billion estimated in the Budget submitted by the President. If the $8 billion estimated is realized, the deficit set forth in paragraph (3) of the first section is $63.2 billion under existing law and $65.6 billion if the revenue measures referred to in paragraph (4) of such section are extended and enacted.
Mr. BELLMON. Mr. President, I would be remiss if I did not call the attention of the Senate to the historical significance of this event. The concurrent resolution of the Senate Committee on the Budget represents the first and long overdue step toward the development of a congressional policy of total budget formulation and review. Further, this resolution represents the Senate's initial effort toward the evaluation of the macroeconomic effects of the budget and the declaration of budget priorities.
Congress has frequently been criticized for its piecemeal approach to dealing with the budget and its economic implications. The creation of the Committee on the Budget was the necessary response to this valid criticism. With this first resolution we have evaluated the various functional categories in terms of need and in terms of their respective effects on overall fiscal policy. We have made an effort to avoid dealing with the merits or lack of merit of particular programs. Rather, we concentrated our energies on our difficult task of establishing priorities among these various categories given the present economic condition of our Nation.
This establishment of priorities was done within the framework of our broader assignment of setting an overall spending limit for fiscal 1976 and recommending an amount of budget deficit which we believe is designed to minimize the risk of reigniting inflation while maximizing our efforts to pull the economy out of the current recession.
This is, of course, not to say that there is total agreement among the committee members on all points. The various recommendations represent compromises. Some members are concerned that we did not recommend sufficient spending to cure our economic ills. Others, myself included, are concerned with the inflationary potential of a historically large budget deficit. Nevertheless, I can state that at least the process of meaningful budget review and control has been initiated and that this marks a great step forward and toward wiser management of our fiscal affairs.
Mr. President, at the appropriate time I will have much to say about the excellent work done by the distinguished Senator from Maine, our chairman (Mr. MUSKIE). For the moment let me only congratulate him for the wise and fair manner he has carried on his important task which makes possible the introduction of this concurrent resolution today.