June 30, 1976
Page 21441
Mr. MUSKIE. I thank the Senator.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate will be in order. The Senator from Maine.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished floor manager of the bill, Senator MAGNUSON, for yielding to me at this time.
Mr. JAVITS. We cannot hear.
Mr. MUSKIE. I thank the distinguished floor manager of the bill for yielding to me at this time so that Members, as we get into the money side of the bill, will have the budget perspective on what is involved.
Mr. President, the bill before us today, H.R. 14232, would appropriate funds for the Departments of Labor and Health, Education and Welfare and related agencies totaling $56.9 billion in budget authority and $63.6 billion in outlays for fiscal 1977. These amounts are below the Labor-HEW Subcommittee's allocations under section 302(b) of the budget act by $9 billion in budget authority and $5.7 billion in outlays.
I plan to support this appropriations bill, Mr. President, but I do want to point out that there are numerous claims on the funds remaining in the subcommittee's allocation, claims that could exceed available funds unless we as a body exercise great care in handling pending legislation and keep a watchful eye on the overall fiscal situation.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a table listing possible supplementals for Labor-HEW programs be printed in the RECORD at this point.
There being no objection, the table was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
[Table omitted]
Mr. MUSKIE. I urge Members to look at this table. The table groups these possible supplementals—
Mr. MAGNUSON. Mr. President, may we have some order?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Yes. Will the Senator suspend until the Chamber and the galleries are in order. Will Senators confer in the cloakroom or in the lobby.
The Senator from Maine.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, the table I have just inserted in the RECORD groups possible supplementals into three categories:
First, higher estimates were used in developing the congressional budget than the President used in his budget for several entitlement programs. The President's estimates were used in the pending bill. If the Congressional Budget Office estimates prove to be accurate, we will have to add $1.1 billion in supplementals for medicaid, AFDC, SSI, and other programs.
The second category of possible supplementals includes pending bills for entitlement programs that have passed either the House or Senate. These bills could add as much as $0.9 billion for black lung benefits, child care grants to States, and SSI benefits. In addition, legislation allowed for in the budget resolution to extend temporary unemployment benefits could raise this amount to $1.2 billion unless offset by legislative savings assumed for other programs.
The third, and by far the largest category of supplementals, Mr. President, covers programs not yet authorized for which no funding is included in this bill. These items could require supplementals totaling up to $7.8 billion in budget authority and $4.3 billion in outlays for such important programs as CETA emergency jobs and higher education grants.
Adding up all the possibilities, we could have claims summing to $10.1 billion in budget authority, or $1.1 billion more than the remaining allocation. Outlays could reach $6.6 billion or $0.9 billion more than the remaining allocation. However, there are several reasons why these potential overages need not occur, and I think the Senate ought to focus on those.
First, the black lung bill, which has passed the House and is now in Senate subcommittee markup, may cost as much as $600 million in budget authority and outlays, and was not allowed for in either the congressional budget or in the Labor and Public Welfare Committee's section 302(b) allocation of budget authority. Consequently, if the bill is reported in the Senate, it will be referred to the Appropriations Committee for consideration, and the Appropriations Committee will have the opportunity to recommend whether to fund the bill or not based on the status of the budget and appropriations at that time. This new procedure for referral of such new entitlements to the Appropriations Committee is an important aspect of the Budget Act, and it will extend the Appropriations Committee's ability to control overall Federal spending.
A second factor we should keep in mind is that some pending entitlements may not be enacted as the Senate passed them, such as the child care bill, for example. The President may once again veto the bill, or the House may modify it to significantly reduce its cost. Also, there is uncertainty over what the final funding level will be for emergency public service jobs, an important anti-recession program that the congressional budget assumed would require $4.4 billion in budget authority in fiscal 1977. No funding has yet been provided pending action on authorizing legislation.
Finally, Mr. President, a technical accounting problem results in the Labor-HEW bill being overcharged by $0.6 billion in outlays for advances to the unemployment trust fund. It appears likely that savings in transition quarter spending from the fund can be applied to fiscal1977 so that outlays from the new fiscal 1977 advance to the fund are apt to be $0.6 billion less than assumed by the congressional budget office when it priced out this bill.
Mr. President, if we simply deduct the possible supplementals for the two entitlement bills I mentioned and if we make the technical adjustment to outlays, the possibility for overspending in Labor-HEW programs is reduced. This adjusted total would be $0.3 billion over the allocation in budget authority, and $0.5 billion under the allocation in outlays. Given the considerable uncertainty over much of the remaining authorizing legislation, we seem to have a safe margin at this stage, but I want to stress that the budgetary situation remains very tight as we look down the road at these possible supplementals.
In summary, Mr. President, the fiscal 1977 funding for Labor-HEW programs may well stay within the subcommittee's allocation. That certainly appears possible at this point. But it will not happen automatically, and I will endeavor to keep the Senate fully informed on the status of the congressional budget as we move along.
I thank the distinguished floor manager of the bill (Mr. MAGNUSON). May I express my appreciation to him for his efforts to stay within the budget target.
Mr. MAGNUSON. Mr. President, I do hope we have enough leeway, as we look down the road, so that we can stay within the ceiling. But as the Senator points out, it is going to be very tight.
Mr. MUSKIE. We ought to avoid adding anything.
Mr. MAGNUSON. That is why we should not add anything more to this bill.
Mr. MUSKIE. I thank my good friend from Washington.