March 9, 1977
Page 6917
WAIVER OF SECTION 402(a) OF CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET ACT OF 1974 WITH RESPECT TO CONSIDERATION OF S. 427
Mr. ROBERT C. BYRD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order to call up the waiver resolution at this time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will state the resolution by title.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 106) waiving section 402(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 with respect to the consideration of S. 427.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the Senate will proceed to its consideration.
The Senate proceeded to consider the resolution.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under Public Law 93-344, debate is limited to 1 hour.
Who yields time?
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I yield myself 5 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, this is the first waiver resolution of section 402, of the Budget Act in this session of Congress. So, I think it appropriate, in light of the fact that there are many new Members of this body, to explain what it is and what is in it in connection with the public works bill, which we shall take up tomorrow. It will not take very much time, perhaps 10 minutes, to present the matter and such time, in addition, as Members may want to take for questions, if any. Therefore, I shall proceed.
Mr. President, the Budget Committee today met and favorably reported senate Resolution 106, a resolution pursuant to section 402 of the Budget Act, waiving the May 15 deadline for the reporting of authorising legislation in the case of S. 427, the public works employment bill. S. 427 is the first major authorization bill to come before the Senate in this Congress. It is also the first major authorizing legislation reported in the Senate to implement the decisions taken in the third concurrent resolution on the budget which Congress adopted last week. S. 427 is also an integral part of President Carter's economic stimulus program submitted to the Congress on January 31.
Senate Resolution 106, waiving section 402 of the Budget Act in the case of S. 427, is necessary because S. 427 provides authorization for new budget authority for fiscal year 1977. Because the Congressional Budget Act prescribes a very tight time table for completion of all authorisation and appropriation legislation, it also provides that authorizations contemplating new budget authority for a fiscal year must be reported before the May 15 preceding the beginning of that fiscal year. Thus, legislation providing authorization for this fiscal year, which began on October 1, should have been reported by May 15 of last year.
This provision 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. In addition, this section was included to provide the Appropriations Committee with some reasonable notice of needed appropriations for the coming fiscal year so that the Appropriations Committee can meet the appropriations time table spelled out in the Budget Act.
Legislation authorizing the enactment of new budget authority which is reported to the Senate after May 15 could delay the enactment of appropriations bills past the Budget Act deadline of 7 days after Labor Day for the completion of the entire appropriations process.
However, the Budget Act also recognizes that events outside the control of an authorizing committee may require the reporting of additional authorizations after the May 15 deadline. Significantly changed economic circumstances such as have occasioned the third budget resolution, President Carter's stimulus program, and S. 427 are among such factors.
To take the possibility of such changed circumstances into account, the Budget Act also provided that the May 15 deadline could be waived by the Budget Committee, upon the application of a committee reporting post-May 15 authorizing legislation. That application takes the form of a simple resolution reported by the committee in question when it reports the post-May 15 authorization bill. 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 of the Budget Act, will consider factors including: the reporting committee's effort to meet the May 15 deadline, the delay in the appropriations process engendered by the delayed reporting of the authorization, and whether the authorization was contemplated in the national priorities established in the congressional budget.
The Budget Committee has favorably reported Senate Resolution 106 in light of the urgent need for the consideration of the important economic recovery legislation S. 427 represents. The effect of defeating the consideration of this bill would be to prevent implementation of a major part of the programs contemplated by President Carter and Congress in adopting the third budget resolution.
In reporting Senate Resolution 106 to clear the way for Senate consideration of S. 427, the Budget Committee is not prejudging the merits of that bill. Individual Senators on the committee and in the Senate will form their own judgment about that bill and amendments to it. However, the committee did vote unanimously, under the special circumstances presented by this case, to favorably report Senate Resolution 106 waiving the May 15 reporting deadline.
Mr. President, in addition to the reasons I have already stated, special considerations affected title III of S. 427. Title III provides short term interim funding of the ongoing waste treatment program. The Public Works Committee did report legislation to provide such funding before the May 15 deadline last year, reported the bill to the Senate, and the Senate approved it when it considered the legislation on the Senate floor. The legislation went to conference and died in conference when the Congress adjourned last year.
So title III of this legislation did, in fact, meet the May 15 requirement of the bill, but must be resurrected in S. 427 so that the Senate may again consider the matter and send it to conference with the House.
Therefore title III has a special case for the waiver under section 402 of the Budget Act.
This may appear to be and is, Mr. President, a technical matter, but it is a very important one. I thought in order to stress its importance I ought to take it up formally on the Senate floor.
Mr. President, I yield to my good friend the distinguished Senator from West Virginia, chairman of the Public Works Committee.
Mr. RANDOLPH. Mr. President, the able chairman of our Subcommittee on the problems of pollution in the Environment and Public Works Committee (Mr. MUSKIE) very properly calls attention to the need for the funding of the waste treatment program. This is a very important vital program.
I appreciate the Senator from Maine explaining the necessity for handling this matter in connection with the waivers that have been discussed.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, in response to the comments of my good friend from West Virginia, I say that although title III represents additional funding for an ongoing program, it is very appropriate to the purposes of the bill itself. This waste treatment program provides tens of thousands of jobs at a time when jobs are not available to over 7 million Americans, and some 34 States are in danger of running out of funding in this calendar year if we do not enact title III of this bill.
That would mean that the programs would slow down or come to a halt. It would mean that the jobs would no longer be available at a time of high unemployment.
So title III is a very important part of the economic package that is represented by S. 427.
I know that is very much in the mind of my good friend from West Virginia as chairman of the Public Works Committee, and his deep concern for the economic stimulus that this legislation can provide to the economy.
Mr. President, let me now make a few observations with respect to the waiver resolution, Senate Resolution 106 and the bill itself, S. 427.
Mr. President, S. 427 would authorize several initiatives that were assumed in the third budget resolution for fiscal year 1977 which is now in place. As I will discuss more fully in a moment, however, the committee's approval of Senate Resolution 106 does not imply committee support of all titles of S. 427. On the contrary, the committee recommends immediate consideration of titles I and III, but agrees with sponsors of the various youth employment bills that title II be separated from the bill so that all seven major youth employment proposals now before the Senate can be considered together in an orderly manner.
Mr. President, S. 427, as reported by the Committee on Environment and Public Works, would authorize funding for public works employment, for youth employment, and for construction of water pollution control facilities and for other programs to protect the environment. The public works employment and youth employment proposals are major components of the economic stimulus package assumed in the third budget resolution that the Congress adopted on March 3.
This bill would authorize a total of $10.9 billion in budget authority this fiscal year, and $5.4 billion in budget authority in fiscal year 1978. If fully funded, estimated outlays would be $700 million this fiscal year, and $4.0 billion in fiscal year 1978.
The need for each of the programs in this bill was discussed during budget committee consideration of the third budget resolution, and the cost of this bill can be accommodated within the third budget resolution ceilings.
We have all shared disappointment as the hoped for strong economic recovery has faltered in recent months. Far too many Americans still are without work. Far too much of this Nation's productive capacity still lies idle. Far too many still are hesitant and uneasy about our economic future.
Last September, when the Congress enacted the second budget resolution for fiscal year 1977, our goal was to have by the end of 1977 an unemployment rate of 6.1 percent. Now, 5 months later, that seems unreachable. In fact, CBO's most recent estimates are that the unemployment rate will be 7.0 percent at the end of this year. This means that as many as 6.8 million Americans may be without jobs.
In fact, the picture is even more troubling than the national statistics indicate. In some areas unemployment remains at levels higher than 15 percent — levels which simply cannot be tolerated. Among young people unyielding joblessness as high as 19 percent causes problems now and in the future. In the construction industry unemployment remains near 14 percent. These are precisely the problems that this legislation addresses.
Title I of the bill authorizes $4 billion in additional budget authority for the local public works program of the Economic Development Administration of the Department of Commerce. This program provides grants to State and local governments for public buildings, roads, and other local public works that will quickly stimulate employment. The extent of the need for this program was demonstrated when over $24 billion in projects were submitted in competition for the $2 billion made available in the first round of grants last December. It has been estimated that as many as 75 thousand jobs can be created for each $1 billion in spending. Senators RANDOLPH, BURDICK, and my other colleagues on the Environment and Public Works Committee deserve rich praise for having skillfully crafted a bill which corrects most of the problems encountered in the first round of grants and still allows these funds to be quickly released for projects badly needed in local communities hard hit by unemployment.
Title II of this bill proposes a new initiative to address the employment problems unique to the Nation's young people. This title is one among many useful attempts now under consideration to respond to the national concern surrounding the high unemployment rate and low earnings that persist among teenagers and young adults.
I want to congratulate my colleagues on their thorough consideration of alternative proposals for addressing the youth employment problems. Three legislative committees and the administration have worked together, in spite of differences of view, in the common interest of crafting a comprehensive legislative response to this pressing national problem.
I am neither an author nor a cosponsor of any of the various youth employment bills. However, in my responsibility to this body as chairman of the Committee on the Budget, I spoke about the alternative bills on the floor at the time of the passage of the third budget resolution. I also offered my additional views when the Environment and Public Works Committee reported this bill.
In 1976, 3.2 million Americans between the ages of 16 and 24 were in the labor force but unemployed. Youth represented 24 percent of the labor force, but 46 percent of the unemployed. An additional 262,000 who had become discouraged dropped out of the labor force altogether, and 1.4 million who wanted to work full time could only find part time employment. Young people who cannot find work are incapable of supplementing family income and unable to develop employment records, skills, and the habits necessary to future employment.
The Senate is responding to this national concern. Both the Senate and House versions of the third budget resolution for fiscal 1977 assumed that $1.5 billion in budget authority and $600 million in outlays would be available for new efforts to reduce youth unemployment. In view of the fact that there are seven distinct initiatives, the Budget Committee did not express a preference for any single proposal, reserving the choice among competing proposals for the Congress as a whole.
Title II of S. 427 would establish local nonprofit agencies to provide for labor intensive public works projects for neighborhood improvements in urban areas and the maintenance of natural resources on publicly held land. It provides minimal training, but would cost roughly $11,600 per job compared to the $8,300 cost in the CETA program. Eligibility is unrestricted.
The youth title included in S. 427 would be appropriated by the State, Justice, and Commerce Subcommittee on Appropriations. An alternative proposal made by the Interior Committee would create a young adult conservation corps and would be appropriated by the Interior Subcommittee on Appropriations. The other five youth employment bills originate in the Human Resources Committee and would be appropriated by the Labor-HEW Appropriations Subcommittee. The Senate approach to youth unemployment will need to be carefully coordinated if an effective result is to be achieved within the funds available under the third budget resolution. The agreement I understand my colleagues have reached provides an opportunity to fashion legislation that avoids a budgetary horse race and the creation of competing lines of legislative and administrative authority.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the RECORD at the end of my remarks several tables prepared by the Budget Committee staff that compare the various youth employment bills. I hope my colleagues will consider this information in developing a bill to deal with youth unemployment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(See exhibit 1.)
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, title III of S. 427 authorizes in each of the fiscal years 1977 and 1978 budget authority of $5.4 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency construction grant and other programs. As I noted earlier, this title is similar to legislation that was considered by the 94th Congress but which did not pass in the final days of the last session. This will support construction of facilities to treat sewage and otherwise reduce water pollution. Many States have been fully participating in the construction program, and without these additional funds, as many as 34 States will run out of funds before the end of this fiscal year. If these funds are not provided, as many as 50,000 construction jobs could be lost this year, and up to 200,000 jobs lost next year. The water treatment facilities are needed. The jobs are needed. The Congress can and should act quickly.
Mr. President, with the understandings that I have outlined, I support adoption of Senate Resolution 106.
[Tables omitted]
Mr. MUSKIE. I gather that the pending parliamentary question is on the adoption of the waiver resolution.
Mr. JAVITS. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
Mr. MUSKIE. I yield to my good friend, the Senator from New York.
Mr. JAVITS. Mr. President, I noticed with great interest in the report on the resolution the statement of the Senator respecting the targeted youth employment bills.
I am delighted that Senator RANDOLPH is in the Chamber. Because of the extraordinary statesmanship and forbearance of Senator RANDOLPH and Senator STAFFORD, the authors of title II in the bill, which relates to targeted youth employment, they will stay their hand on that particular measure, and, hopefully, we will have a consensus measure which has been introduced, in order to get a unified position.
Today, the President sent us a message which consummates that effort, what I consider a most constructive, cooperative effort, between the Executive and Congress.
I should like to pay my respects today — and I will do so again tomorrow — and call attention of the country to the fact that the very danger which Senator Muskie so wisely foresaw — that is, a race to the finish line by the earliest bill on the scene — has been avoided through the statesmanship of these two fine Senators.
We will have an opportunity, together, to fashion a youth bill which I now feel very strongly will be a good one, as a separate item.
With Senator RANDOLPH's cooperation, the Human Resources Committee, of which I have the honor to be the ranking minority member, has now provided $2.5 billion in our budget request to the Budget Committee to take care of this type of activity.
We hear a great deal about things we do that are not right. Here is something we are doing which is right and defies all the conventions about Senators competing with each other. It is a fine example of working together to achieve a result in the most selfless possible way, and we owe the opportunity to Senator RANDOLPH and Senator STAFFORD.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I join the distinguished Senator from New York in complimenting Senator RANDOLPH and Senator STAFFORD, other interested Senators, including the Senator from New York, and representatives of the administration, for resolving what promised to be a very sticky dilemma for the Budget Committee. There were some seven proposals for youth programs designed to get at the problem of youth unemployment, which is 50 percent of our total unemployment. The Budget Committee was not in a position to resolve it because we are not a legislative committee.
I am delighted that the raising of this question during the consideration of the third concurrent budget resolution should have triggered this kind of constructive and cooperative effort. So I am delighted to compliment all my colleagues on that effort, and I look forward to a resolution of the question.
Mr. JAVITS. I thank the Senator.
Mr. RANDOLPH. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
Mr. MUSKIE. I yield.
Mr. RANDOLPH. I can say, for Senator STAFFORD and myself, that we are appreciative of the cooperation of the senior Senator from New York (Mr. JAVITS) . His work was a factor in the development of this compromise, a good compromise. It gives the opportunity for us, hopefully soon, to join in a coordinated effort to take care of constructive youth employment.
Mr. JAVITS. I am very grateful to my colleague.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I do not think it is necessary to ask for a roll call vote on the waiver resolution. I am ready for the question.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is all remaining time yielded back?
All time is yielded back.
The question is on agreeing to the resolution.
The resolution was agreed to, as follows:
S. Res. 106
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. 427, to provide additional authorizations for the public works employment program, to authorize a program for employment of teenaged youth in community improvement projects, and for other purposes. Such waiver is necessary for the Senate to complete action on legislation which authorizes a substantial portion of the administration's economic recovery program, and which authorizes funds for the waste treatment works construction grant program. These include three provisions authorizing appropriations for fiscal year 1977: $4,000,000,000 for the public works employment program, $1,500,000,000 for a youth community improvement program, and $4,540,000,000 for the waste treatment works construction grant program.
Compliance with section 402(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 was not possible by May 15, 1976, because the continued necessity for economic recovery stimulus legislation could not have been anticipated.
Mr. ROBERT C. BYRD. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the resolution was agreed to.
Mr. JAVITS and Mr. MUSKIE moved to lay the motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
Mr. ROBERT C. BYRD. Mr. President, it is getting to be a habit, but I would not want today to end without the RECORD showing that I complimented Mr. MUSKIE and Mr. BELLMON once again on the expeditious handling of their responsibilities in the Budget Committee.
Mr. MUSKIE. I thank my good friend, the distinguished majority leader. This is the right time of day to do it. [Laughter.]