August 30, 1976
Page 28395
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, the Senate is now considering H.R. 15193, the District of Columbia appropriation bill. I would like to comment on the relationship between this bill and the first budget resolution.
There are two parts to this bill. The first includes payments and loans to the District of Columbia. For these purposes, this bill provides $365 million in budget authority and $436 million in outlays, including $10 million in outlays from prior year authority, these amounts are respectively $35 million and $64 million under the Appropriations Committee's allocation to the Subcommittee on the District of Columbia.
I commend Senator CHILES, chairman of the District of Columbia Subcommittee and Senator McCLELLAN chairman of the Appropriations Committee, for bringing in a bill which is well within the first budget resolution assumptions.
I understand a supplemental request for the District of Columbia may be made. I encourage the subcommittee to continue the work which they have begun so well and to maintain a budget which is consistent with the targets Congress has set.
The second part of this bill provides $36.5 million in budget authority and $30.7 million in outlays for the new Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation action plan. These amounts are charged against the Interior Subcommittee's first budget resolution allocation.
The latest Senate budget scorekeeping report shows that if several possible later requirements are funded, the Interior Subcommittee could substantially exceed its allocation. Enactment of this part of this bill will place even more pressure on these allocations. This is a problem that the Appropriations Committee will have to consider carefully as the fiscal year proceeds, since we must stay within the budget.
The Budget Committee is now beginning its markup of the second budget resolution. I believe I speak for all members of the Budget Committee when I say we will try our best to keep the second budget resolution ceilings from exceeding the first budget resolution targets. That will be a tough job that will require the cooperation of the entire Senate.