June 26, 1976
Page 20825
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, the Senate is now deliberating H.R. 14235, the military construction appropriation bill for fiscal year 1977. I speak in support of this bill and take this opportunity to comment on the relationship between the bill and the totals allocated by the Committee on Appropriations to its Military Construction Subcommittee.
Pursuant to section 302(b) of the Budget Act, the Committee on Appropriations allocated to the Military Construction Subcommittee $3.5 billion in budget authority and $3.2 billion in outlays.
The funds provided in this appropriation bill are $3.4 billion in budget authority and $3.2 billion in outlays. Thus, the bill is $0.1 billion less in budget authority than the amount allocated while the outlay total is the same as allocated.
Mr. President, because this bill deals with the national security function, I believe it is appropriate for me to reiterate a point that I have made time and again before this body. It concerns the proposed legislative savings for pay and compensation and sales of stockpile materials that are essential to our success in meeting the congressional targets for national defense established in the first concurrent resolution. A few of the potential savings we can achieve are: Repeal of the 1-percent kicker for retired pay; establishment of a pay cap for Federal workers; elimination of the commissary subsidy; and sales of strategic materials. If we are to stay within the budget targets that the Congress agreed to for the fiscal year 1977 budget, we must work hard to achieve all possible savings.
I wish to extend my appreciation to my good friends, the distinguished Senator from Montana (Mr. MANSFIELD), chairman of the Subcommittee on Military Construction, and the distinguished chairman of the Committee on Appropriations (Mr. McCLELLAN) , for their
dedicated efforts in bringing before us a bill which is within the guidelines established in the first budget resolution.