May 20, 1976
Page 14866
Mr. MONDALE. Mr. President, I yield briefly at this point to the distinguished chairman of the Budget Committee.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I have a complete statement on the budgetary implications of this bill, most of which I discussed earlier this year when the bill first passed and at the time of the attempted override.
Mr. BUMPERS. Mr. President, it is extremely important that this body hear the chairman of the Budget Committee on the proposed legislation.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's point is well taken. Senators will kindly clear the aisles and resume their seats. The Senate will be in order.
Mr. MUSKIE. I thank the Chair, and I thank the Senator from Arkansas.
I will not repeat at this time the statements I made earlier this year twice, except to remind the Senate that this program deliberately was included in the second concurrent resolution by the Senate Budget Committee and considered in the conference on the second concurrent resolution. So there is no question that it was covered by the second concurrent resolution, which applies to the remainder of this fiscal year.
The next point I shall make has to do with the 1977 concurrent resolution. As I think most of my colleagues are aware or are becoming aware, the Senate Budget Committee has requested that a hold be placed on all new entitlement legislation, as provided under the Budget Act that has been reported to the Senate, until the appropriate standing committees report to the Senate on their suballocations of new budget authority and outlays which are part of the crosswalk by which the Senate can enforce the first concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 1977.
We did not have that kind of instrument available to us in fiscal 1976. It is available now, because we have ceilings on the 17 functions of the budget. It is an important one, one I would not want to see treated casually or bypassed. It is for that reason that I have delayed consideration of this bill until we could resolve the problem from the point of view of the Committee on Finance.
The Committee on Finance has not been able, because of its preoccupation with its tax bill, to file its crosswalk figures with the Senate. But it has offered to commit itself to a procedure which I think is acceptable from the point of view of the Committee on the Budget. I have discussed that with Senator BELLMON, who is the ranking Republican. The chairman of the Committee on Finance has agreed to deduct the amount of new budget authority in outlays contained in this bill from the allocation made by the budget conference report to the Committee on Finance. With that commitment, I am satisfied that the objective of the Budget Act with respect to this point is being served. I am persuaded that the Committee on Finance will file its crosswalk figures on the remainder of its function in due course, as will other committees.
Incidentally, I urge other committees to do so as rapidly as possible.
Mr. President, H.R. 12455 is a bill which includes both changes in eligibility for social services funded under title XX of the Social Security Act and funding to provide improved child care under the same title. Only the child care provisions in the bill have direct budgetary impact, and it is to those provisions that I will address my remarks.
On January 29, 1976, the Senate passed H.R. 9803, a bill which provided sufficient funding to defray the costs of the new standards, promulgated by HEW in 1968 and enacted in the Social Services Amendments of 1974 to be effective October 1, 1975. The effective date had been postponed until February 1, 1976 and the purpose of H.R. 9803 was to allow day care providers to comply. On April 6,1976, the President vetoed H.R. 9803 because he disagreed with the specific staffing ratios proposed.
The bill we are considering today further suspends compliance until October 1, 1977, in anticipation of an ongoing HEW study which, according to the administration, will determine more appropriate staffing standards. At the same time, however, this bill includes entitlements of up to $62 million in fiscal year 1976, $62 million in the transition quarter, and a full year entitlement of up to $250 million for fiscal year 1977 to support those States, including my own, where day care providers have attempted to move voluntarily toward the recommended staffing ratios, and to provide sufficient funds to allow day care providers in other States to do the same. While compliance with the more controversial staffing standards will be voluntary, the funds included in this bill are also intended to defray the costs of safety, sanitation, and facility standards that were also promulgated by HEW and mandated in the Social Services Amendments of 1974.
In view of the current economic situation, it is unreasonable to expect that the Federal Government can encourage the adoption of improved staffing, sanitation, safety, and facility standards without providing sufficient funds to cover its fair share of the added costs to current day care providers. It was with this view in mind that the Senate Budget Committee included sufficient amounts both in the second concurrent resolution for fiscal year 1976 and the first concurrent resolution for fiscal year 1977 to cover the costs of this bill.
There is another aspect of the budget process which I also wish to discuss in relation to this measure.
As my colleagues are aware, the Senate Budget Committee has requested that a "hold" be placed on all new en titlement legislation that has been reported to the Senate until the appropriate standing committees report to the Senate on their suballocations of new budget authority and outlays which are part of the "crosswalk" by which the Senate can enforce the first concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal 1977 Senate Concurrent Resolution 109.
Specifically, section 302(a) of the Budget Act requires that the joint explanatory statement accompanying conference report on a concurrent resolution on the budget include an estimated allocation of the appropriate levels of total budget outlays and total new budget authority among each committee of the Senate which has jurisdiction over bills providing such new budget authority. These allocations to the standing committees were made in the joint explanatory statement accompanying the first concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal 1977, passed by the Senate on May 12.
Section 302(b) of the Budget Act provides that each standing committee of the Senate with jurisdiction over spending legislation shall subdivide its allocation of new budget authority and outlays among its subcommittees or among programs over which it has jurisdiction and further subdivide the amount with respect to each subcommittee or program between controllable amounts and all other amounts. The Budget Act then requires that "each such committee shall promptly report to its House the subdivisions made by it pursuant to this subsection."
These reports by the standing committees to the Senate are absolutely crucial to the success of the congressional budget process. They are important for at least two purposes:
First, the reports will provide the information necessary to scorekeep accurately against the targets established in the first concurrent resolution and insure that we adhere to these targets: and
Second, these reports by the standing committees are necessary for the Senate to analyze the new entitlement programs reported by the standing committees to determine whether they are within the budget targets of the first concurrent resolution on the budget.
It is for these reasons that the Senate should hold up new entitlement legislation until the appropriate standing committees have submitted their reports subdividing the new budget authority and outlays allocated to them in the conference report on the first concurrent resolution on the budget.
The bill pending before the Senate, H.R. 12455, the child care and social services programs bill, creates a new entitlement for the States to receive additional Federal funds for the support of child day care centers. The Senate Finance Committee has not as yet made its report to the Senate subdividing its allocated new budget authority and outlays among its subcommittees or programs. However, the Senate in this case should make an exception in allowing this bill to come up for Senate consideration prior to receiving the crosswalk report of the Senate Finance Committee for three reasons, all of which are unique.
First, the Senate has already passed this bill in substantially the same form on January 29, 1976. The earlier bill, H.R. 9803, was vetoed by President Ford and Congress failed to override the veto. This bill thus arises as a modified version of a bill we have already passed.
Second, this bill is a fiscal 1976 bill which is now long overdue considering the limited time still remaining in this fiscal year. Since the Finance Committee is presently consumed by the markup of the tax bill, which is also an important priority in the first concurrent resolution for fiscal 1977, they have requested that we make an exception in allowing this bill to be considered since their markup on the tax bill will delay the submission of their report on the budget crosswalk and thereby result in further delay for an already overdue bill.
Finally, the chairman of the Finance Committee has agreed to deduct the amount of new budget authority and outlays contained in this bill from the allocation made by the conference report on the first concurrent resolution for fiscal 1977 to the Finance Committee. I would like to point out that this allocation to the Finance Committee totaled $30 billion in budget authority and $24.3 billion in outlays for entitlement programs that require appropriations action. The distinguished chairman of the Finance Committee, Senator LONG, has agreed that the cost of this bill, $250 million in budget authority and outlays for fiscal year 1977, will be deducted from these allocated sums when the Finance Committee makes its crosswalk report to the Senate subdividing its new budget authority and outlays from the first concurrent resolution.
Under these circumstances, the Senate should consider H.R. 12455 prior to the submission of the "crosswalk report" to the Senate by the Senate Finance Committee. There should be no other exceptions on this matter, and we must oppose any other efforts to consider new entitlements reported by standing committees until the standing committees have reported to the Senate on their suballocation of new budget authority and outlays provided in the joint explanatory statement accompanying the conference report on Senate Concurrent Resolution 109.
I have said that the Senator from Oklahoma agrees with me on the procedural points that are covered by my statement. He disagrees with me on the substance or the merits of the bill.