June 24, 1976
Page 20182
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, the Senate has before it H.R. 14261, the Treasury, Postal Service, General Government appropriation bill for fiscal year 1977 which provides funds for the Treasury the Postal Service, the Executive Office of the President, and certain other Federal agencies. I take this opportunity to comment on the relationship between this bill and the targets set out in the first concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 1977.
This bill provides $8.3 billion in budget authority and $8 billion in outlays for fiscal year 1977.
In addition, outlays arising from prior year appropriations for these programs amount to $0.3 billion so total outlays for these programs are $8.3 billion in fiscal year 1977.
The funds provided in this appropriation bill are within the totals allocated by the Senate Appropriations Committee to the Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government pursuant to section 302(b) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. That allocation is $8.5 billion in budget authority and outlays, and this appropriation bill is thus $0.2 billion in budget authority and outlays below the amounts allocated to the subcommittee.
H.R. 14261 is $0.3 billion in budget authority and outlays above the President's request for these programs. The difference between the President's budget and this bill is principally due to the addition of $307 million in budget authority and outlays for the Postal Service to carry out the provisions of the Postal Reorganization Act.
This bill provides new budget authority and outlays in nine functions of the budget. I ask unanimous consent to insert in the RECORD a table showing the distribution of budget authority and outlays in this bill by function.
There being no objection, the table was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
[Table omitted]
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, there are two important potential requirements for funding for fiscal year 1977 not covered by this legislation. First is an additional $500 million in budget authority and outlays which would be authorized by legislation which has passed the House and has been reported in the Senate to help cover the Postal Service deficit. Second is $200 million in budget authority and outlays for claims and judgments expected later in the year. The amounts for claims and judgments can clearly be accommodated by the $200 million allocated by the Appropriations Committee to the Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government Subcommittee but not included in this bill. The Postal Service deficit amount is another matter.
Funds for such amounts as might be authorized and appropriated to help cover the Postal Service deficit were considered by the Congress when the first concurrent resolution on the budget was adopted. The Senate's version of the budget resolution included $1 billion for that purpose. The House resolution contained nothing. The House conferees on the budget resolution were adamant in their determination that the budget resolution should not reflect a hypothetical amount attributed to legislation which, they argued, might not be enacted to cover the Postal Service deficit. The decision of the conference was to delete, without prejudice to their inclusion in the second budget resolution, any amounts for the Postal Service deficit. Instead, the conference left to subsequent congressional action the determination of how much, if anything, should be appropriated for that deficit this year.
The Post Office and Civil Service Committee has reported legislation, H.R. 8603, which would authorize the appropriation of $500 million for the Postal Service deficit for fiscal year 1977. If this authorization is enacted, and the amounts are subsequently appropriated, the second resolution will need to reflect that reality, the possibility of which was recognized but not provided for in the first concurrent resolution on the budget.