April 9, 1976
Page 10298
Mr. BAKER. Mr. President, I am pleased to join the distinguished Senator from New Mexico in sponsoring this amendment, together with the chairman of the full committee. I think it is important that this amendment be considered and I hope accepted by the Budget Committee. As the Senator from New Mexico pointed out, it does not change the total budget outlay figures of the resolution. It simply changes the allocation of funds between two functions in order to conform to the proposals that are contained in S. 3201, which was reported by the Committee on Public Works and is on the calendar of the Senate now. I understand S. 3201 will come up shortly after we return from recess.
So, Mr. President, I hope the committee will accept this amendment to move $200 million from function 500 to function 450.
Mr. DOMENICI. May I say to my distinguished friend from Tennessee and others who are interested in it what might happen to these functions later. I do not intend to offer this amendment to preclude any other Senators from offering amendments with reference to functions 450 or 500. This is not a way to get around anyone who wishes to bring to the Senate the idea that there ought to be more in public works or that there ought to be more in the jobs portion of function 500. I bring it because I think it is technically more accurate and provides the kind of flexibility that we really intended as we looked at functions 450 and 500 together.
Mr. MUSKIE. I think the Senator is correct. It is on the same assumption that I have agreed to support the Senator's amendment, and I understand the distinguished Senator from Oklahoma has also agreed. It is a technical amendment. It is a shift of jobs money from one function to another.
It does not add to them, and approving this amendment does not foreclose any other amendment or any other initiative to strike at the same problem. As a matter of fact, the rules are such that we could not do that anyway. So, there is complete freedom for any other Senator to also approach this problem by offering amendments to these functions.
Mr. BAKER. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
Mr. MUSKIE. With those assumptions of mine, I am certainly willing to accept the amendment. May I add another note. It does not add or subtract a penny from the spending levels.
I yield.
Mr. BAKER. Let me correct one thing I said a moment ago that I learned was in error. I understand now from the majority leadership that the jobs bill, S. 3201, is going to come up immediately after this resolution and not after the recess as I indicated before.
Mr. RANDOLPH. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
Mr. MUSKIE. I yield to the distinguished Senator from West Virginia who is really the initiator of this amendment and proposal, and I compliment him on it.
Mr. RANDOLPH. I am appreciative of that.
Mr. President, the able Senator from Maine who with the Senator from Oklahoma brings the budget resolutions to this Chamber are very cognizant of the need which is embodied in the amendment offered by the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. DOMENICI) and joined in by the diligent Senator from Tennessee who is the ranking minority member of the Public Works Committee (Mr. BAKER) and myself.
I only underscore the fact, which has already been mentioned, that this is not an increase in outlays, but it is a transfer of funds provided in the education, training, and employment function for the job opportunities program, to the community and regional function, for the programs of the Public Works Employment Act (S. 3201). The $200 million, I would say to our colleagues, will provide the sufficient flexibility in fiscal year 1977 outlays which is needed in the public works job bill.
I take this occasion, not to use more time; but to zero in on the value of accelerated public works to the economic strength of the United States, especially in a time of substantial unemployment.
Members will recall that in 1962 the Congress passed an accelerated public works bill which became law. Seventy-seven hundred projects were carried forward to fruition under that act all over America, benefiting communities and other areas with needed projects of lasting benefit.
The 1962 act provided employment for workers who could not otherwise find work.
The amendment offered here is a recognition of the fact that these public works job programs are vital and helpful to the country. They are not just expenditures of money, but investments in the future, as well as addressing the problems of unemployment currently facing this Nation.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, the Public Works Employment Act of 1976 (S. 3201) which is currently on the Senate Calendar contains authorizations of $2 billion for public works employment and $375 million for the Jobs Opportunities programs (title X) , and $125 million for the business development loan program of EDA. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that outlays under these programs for fiscal year 1977 would be $235 million, $143 million, and $50 million, respectively.
Mr. President, function 500 of the budget resolution contains $500 million in outlay authority for the jobs opportunities program which would exceed the estimated fiscal year 1977 outlays under the program by about $200 million, including carryover authority from fiscal year 1976.
On the other hand, the Budget Committee inadvertently, I believe, stuck the item "Public Works" under function 450. The program as recommended by the Public Works Committee in S. 3201 would entail budget outlays of approximately $200 million under "Public works/countercyclical assistance" in function 450. I, therefore, offer an amendment which does not increase the total budget outlays of the resolution but merely transfers $200 million from function 500, education, training, employment, and social services — to function 450 — community and regional development.
Mr. President, this amendment would provide ample outlay authority during fiscal year 1977 for the jobs opportunities program under function 500 and also provide the necessary outlay authority for the public works employment program under function 450 both as recommended in S. 3201, the Public Works Employment Act of 1976. I reiterate that I would not change the total budget outlay figures of the resolution.
Mr. President, I yield back the remainder of my time.
Mr. MUSKIE. I yield back the remainder of my time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time has been yielded back.
The question is on agreeing to the amendment.
The amendment was agreed to.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the amendment was agreed to.
Mr. BAKER. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.