January 22, 1976
Page 677
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr, President, before us today is the question of whether the economic and fiscal aspects of our national security should be given full statutory consideration, by congressional mandate, in the deliberations of the National Security Council. The National Security Council is directed by law "to advise the President with respect to the integration of domestic, foreign, and military policies relating to the national security."
Our distinguished colleague, Senator SYMINGTON, whose command of these issues is matched by few Senators, has argued persuasively that the Secretary of the Treasury, the Cabinet member charged specifically with guarding our economic interests, should be a full member of the National Security Council. Senator SYMINGTON has cited the impact of the 1973 oil embargo and overseas grain sales on the domestic economy, both as examples of national security matters profoundly affecting economic prosperity.
Everyone here is aware that the National Security Council, now composed of the President, the Vice President, the Secretary of the State, and the Secretary of Defense, deals with foreign and domestic policies regarding our national security, with the President making decisions based on Council discussions. And we are all increasingly concerned with the interdependence of these national security issues with our economic concerns both in the world at large and here at home.
Senator SYMINGTON expresses it better than I could:
Inasmuch as a sound economy, with a sound dollar, is vital to national security, should there not be concern that the Nation's chief fiscal and monetary officer ... has no statutory right to participate in these high level discussions of national security issues?
This concern was expressed by the Congress when this bill was passed unanimously by both Houses. Senator SYMINGTON's bill has been recommended recently by the Presidential Commission on the Organization of Government for the Conduct of Foreign Policy, the Murphy Commission, and has been recommended in principle in the past by former President Hoover, in his capacity as Chairman of the Commission on the Organization of the Executive Branch of Government.
And the President has said that to grant full Council status to our top economic official is "undesirable as well as unnecessary."
Both Houses of Congress have already disagreed with this judgment.
Both Houses of Congress have recognized the importance of the economic implications of our foreign policy and our national security, and have addressed the need for closer consideration of our economic needs in decisions relating to our national security.
Both Houses of Congress have recognized that existing mechanisms for coordination of our national security and domestic and international economic policy are inadequate.
For all these reasons, Mr. President, both Houses of Congress should continue to insist that as the Murphy Commission stated:
National security policy is no longer simply a mix of diplomatic and military affairs; properly understood, national security embraces economic policy as well. Accordingly, the membership of the National Security Council should be expanded to include the Secretary of the Treasury.
We should, therefore, vote to override this veto.