June 13, 1977
Page 18741
WAIVER OF CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET ACT WITH RESPECT TO THE CONSIDERATION OF S. 1231
Mr. ROBERT C. BYRD. Mr. President, on behalf of the Senator from Maine (Mr. MUSKIE), I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar Order No. 246, Senate Resolution 178. That is the Congressional budget waiver resolution with respect to S. 1231, a bill to raise the limitation on appropriations for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The resolution will be stated by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 178) waiving sec. 402(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 with respect to the consideration of S. 1231, a bill to raise the limitation on appropriations for the United States Commission on Civil Rights.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, the Committee on the Budget to which was referred the resolution, Senate Resolution 178, waiving section 402(a) of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 with respect to consideration of S. 1231, a bill to raise the limitation on appropriations for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, has carefully considered the resolution.
Without dissent, 14 members of the committee have voted to report favorably and recommends to the Senate that the resolution be agreed to.
BUDGET IMPAIRMENTS
S. 1231 provides an authorization for appropriations beyond the present expiration date of September 30, 1977, so that the U.S. Commission on Civil Rightscan effectively carry out its statutory duties in fiscal year 1978.
The program provided for in this bill is classified to function 750: Law enforcement and justice. The first budget resolution for fiscal year 1978 provides $3.7 billion in budget authority and $3.85 billion in outlays for programs in this function.
The amount authorized in S. 1231 is slightly below the administration's budget request of $10.5 million in budget authority, and it is only slightly above the $10.1 million appropriated for the Commission in fiscal year 1977.
Full funding of this authorization bill will not breach the totals of the first budget resolution for function 750, since the amount is small and it is within the assumptions of the resolution.
Therefore, consideration of S. 1231 will not delay the regular appropriations process.
The Budget Committee notes, in favorably reporting the resolution, that although this bill was prepared for report by the Committee on the Judiciary by May 15, unique and peculiar circumstances prevented committee action to report the bill until May 19, 1977.
Under these circumstances, the Budget Committee recommends that Senate Resolution 178 be adopted.
PURPOSE OP RESOLUTION
For the information of the Senate, Mr. President, let me briefly review the purpose of such resolution.
Section 402(a) of the Congressional Budget Act provides that it shall not be in order in either the House or the Senate to consider any bill or resolution which directly or indirectly authorizes the enactment of new budget authority for a fiscal year unless that bill or resolution is reported in the House or Senate, as the case may be, on or before May15 preceding the beginning of such fiscal year. Because S. 1231 which authorizes enactment of new budget authority which would become available in fiscal 1978, was reported by the Committee on the Judiciary on May 19, 1977, Senate Resolution 178, waiving section 402(a) of the Budget Act with respect to S. 1231 must be adopted before this bill can be considered by the Senate.
Mr. President, in reporting favorably on the resolution, the Budget Committee is simply recommending that the Senate proceed to consideration of S. 1231, and is not prejudging the merits of that bill.
COMMITTEE CRITERIA
Mr. President, the Budget Committee is extremely reluctant to recommend the adoption of resolutions waiving section 402(a) of the Budget Act. In each case where a waiver has been recommended, the committee has weighed the circumstances on the late reporting against rigid criteria based on the legislative origins of section 402(a).
This section was included in the Budget Act to insure that all authorizing legislation is considered as far as possible in advance of the fiscal year in which it will take effect so that it could be considered in the formulation of the first concurrent resolution. Moreover, this section was included to provide the Appropriations Committee with some reasonable advance notice of needed appropriations for the corning year and to avoid delaying enactment of appropriations bills past the Budget Act deadline for the appropriations process.
Mr. President, the legislative history of the Budget Act indicates that the May 15 reporting deadline is not to be lightly waived. Under these circumstances, the Budget Committee in deciding whether to favorably report resolutions waiving section 402 (a) of the Budget Act has considered the following factors:
First. The effect of defeating consideration of the bill;
Second. The reporting committee's effort to meet the May 15 deadline;
Third. The delay in the appropriations process engendered by the untimely reporting of the authorization; and
Fourth. Whether enactment of the authorization will significantly affect the priorities established in the congressional budget.
CONSIDERATIONS AFFECTING WAIVER DECISION
Mr. President, the effect of not considering S. 1231 would be to prevent the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from receiving funds to continue its statutory duties. From the time of his appointment, the distinguished chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Senator BAYH, worked diligently and prepared this bill for timely full committee action, but unique and peculiar circumstances prevented its report until May 19.
The Budget Committee is advised that S. 1231 was on the Judiciary Committee's agenda at its meeting of May 12 and would have been reported by that committee had not the number of Senators present been reduced below the point of a quorum by the time the point on the agenda was reached at which S. 1231 had been placed. The bill however, had been reported from the Subcommittee on the Constitution and had been ready for full committee action but for the failure of the quorum toward the end of the full committee meeting on May 12. The committee then reported the bill at its next called meeting on May 19.
Mr. President, if this were not a unique case, the Budget Committee might well have recommended against the consideration of S. 1231 after May 15. But in this case, the Judiciary Committee was prepared to report the bill which was on its full committee agenda and was ready for action prior to May 15. The committee did report the bill as soon as possible. It failed to meet the May 15 deadline because Senators critical to continuing a quorum established at the May 15 meeting left the meeting before S. 1231 could be taken up.
Mr. President, I wanted to make very clear that the Budget Committee considers this a unique circumstance. There is no other bill on the calendar which meets these standards. This bill was ready for report before May 15. It was reported immediately thereafter. Under these special circumstances, no precedent is established by the Budget Committee's action in this case which is applicable to any other bill we will confront this year.
Mr. President, I would add that the Budget Committee was notified by the Committee on the Judiciary in its March 15, 1977 report that funds in the amount authorized in this bill would be requested in legislation.
Further, the amount of the appropriations authorized by S. 1231 for fiscal 1978 can be accommodated within the function 750 totals of the first budget resolution. It will not delay the regular appropriations process as the funds can be easily included in the State, Justice, Commerce, the Judiciary and related agencies appropriation for 1978.
Mr. President, in the view of an overwhelming majority of Budget Committee members, these circumstances compelled waiver of the Budget Act deadline to permit the Senate to fully consider this important legislation. For the same reasons, I urge the Senate to adopt the resolution.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the resolution.
The resolution (S. Res. 178) was considered and agreed to, as follows:
Resolved, That, pursuant to section 402(c) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the provisions of section 402(a) of such Act are waived with respect to the consideration of S. 1231, a bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 1978 in the amount of $10,420,023 and such additional amounts as may be necessary for increases in salary, pay, retirement, and other employee benefits authorized by law. Such waiver is necessary in order to insure that the Commission on Civil Rights will be able to carry out its statutory duties during the fiscal year 1978, on the last day of which its final report is due. The authorization involved is sufficiently small that its consideration will not significantly affect the congressional budget. Because the Committee on the Judiciary was engaged in substantial efforts to reorganize itself during the first three months of this session of the Congress, the committee was prevented from giving timely attention to the authorization of appropriations for the Commission on Civil Rights.