July 21, 1977
Page 24264
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, S. 1538, the Black Lung Benefits Reform Act of 1977, has an admirable goal — to place the burden for compensating miners disabled by pneumoconiosis, or black lung disease, on the coal industry rather than the taxpayer. Since 1969, almost the entire burden of black lung compensation has rested with the general fund of the Treasury, which will have paid out a total of $5.6 billion in black lung benefits by the end of this fiscal year. Under S. 1538, while the general funds would continue to pay benefits to those who applied prior to June 30, 1973, benefits to those applying after that date, where the Department of Labor is unable to identify a single operator responsible for the working conditions which caused black lung, would be paid from a newly established trust fund financed through an excise tax assessed against coal operators. Through this mechanism, then, much of the financial responsibility for black lung benefits would be assumed by the coal industry.
The Human Resources Committee, in its section 302(b) allocation of budget authority and outlays among its programs, found room to allocate $306 million in budget authority and $137 million in outlays for this legislation. The new costs added by S. 1538 are $149 million in budget authority and outlays.
Thus, the bill is consistent with the committee's budget authority allocation, but it does exceed the outlay assumptions slightly. Thus this bill, when viewed alone, can be accommodated by the 1978 First Budget Resolution except for the small outlay increase.
However, Mr. President, I must point out that First Budget Resolution also assumed savings due to legislation in other programs in the income security function of the budget. These savings were assumed to occur in programs under the jurisdiction of the Finance Committee and were expected to total $50 million in budget authority and $827 million in outlays. Both Presidents Ford and Carter recommended such savings in their fiscal 1978 budgets. The Finance Committee in its March 15 letter to the Budget Committee, suggested that most of these savings be assumed in the budget resolution, and the Finance Committee assumed all these savings in its section 302(b) allocation under the First Budget Resolution. Nonetheless, to date no action has been taken on legislation to achieve these savings in either the House or the Senate.
It goes without saying that without these savings the targets for the income security function will be breached, even if the black lung bill or other legislation is not enacted. As chairman of the Budget Committee, we are bound to attempt to enforce the spending targets of the congressional budget.
Therefore, if the Finance Committee is unable to take prompt action to bring about the savings assumed in the first budget resolution, we must make an effort to achieve those savings on the floor of the Senate by amending the next appropriate legislation.
I shall not attempt to attach my savings amendment to the black lung bill now before us, because the savings would be achieved in programs unrelated to the black lung benefits program, and because the black lung bill was initiated by the Human Resources Committee and not the Finance Committee. However, I understand that the Finance Committee will soon report H.R. 7200, a bill pertaining to various programs under the Social Security Act. If the savings suggested by the Finance Committee are not contained in that measure, I, along with other Senators, shall sponsor an amendment to H.R. 7200 which would achieve those savings.
We understand that the Finance Committee has had a heavy schedule of legislation this year. But the savings suggested by the Finance Committee and assumed in the first budget resolution have not been achieved. We must do all in our power to achieve these savings in order to maintain the fiscal discipline of the congressional budget and see that the budget policy we adopted in May is not thwarted.
In regard to S. 1538, the bill before us today, I will vote for this bill to improve the financing of black lung benefit payments. However, I do plan to support amendments to eliminate certain benefit liberalizations contained in this bill in order to assist the Congress in living within its budget. I urge my colleagues to consider carefully these amendments in the context of the huge budget deficit we face for fiscal year 1978 and vote to live within our budget so that a larger 1978 deficit will not be necessary.