June 24, 1977
Page 20862
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, the Senate is now considering H.R. 7556, the fiscal year 1978 appropriation bill for the Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce, the judiciary, and related agencies. I support this bill, but I would like to call the attention of the Senate to the relationship of this bill to the first budget resolution.
Under section 302(b) of the Budget Act, the Appropriations Committee divides among its subcommittees the total budget authority and outlays allocated to it under the budget resolution. These allocations, together with the functional targets established in the first budget resolution, provide benchmarks so that the Senate's action on individual bills can implement the congressional budget. The totals for this bill are under the subcommittee's section 302(b) allocation for budget authority and only slightly over this allocation in outlays and can generally be accommodated within the first budget resolution targets. However, the Congress must show restraint on items in this bill and on related programs in other bills or both the subcommittee allocation and a functional target will be breached.
The State-Justice Subcommittee's allocation under section 302(b) of the Budget Act is $7.8 billion in budget authority and $10.8 billion in outlays. The reported bill provides $7.7 billion in budget authority and $10.9 billion in outlays, including $5.2 billion from prior year authority. Therefore, if H.R. 7556 is enacted as it has been reported, about $0.1 billion in budget authority would remain available within the subcommittee's allocation. The allocation would be exceeded by $0.1 billion in outlays.
Mr. President, I must point out that in the coming months other claims are likely to be made against this allocation. Supplemental requests may be made to fund additional Federal judges, compensation for victims of crime, expansion of economic development programs, and several other needs. A compelling case can be made for each of them. It is estimated that these requests might require an additional $200 million in budget authority and $100 million in outlays.
Together with the amount included in the bill now before the Senate, these later requirements could breach the subcommittee's allocation by $100 million in budget authority and $200 million in outlays.
It is the prerogative of the full Appropriations Committee to exceed its subcommittee allocation by such amounts, as long as the full committee remains within its total allocation. I was gratified to receive a letter recently from the distinguished chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Senator McCLELLAN, stating that he does not expect the full committee's allocation to be breached. Although the State-Justice Subcommittee's action on H.R. 7556 does place pressure on its section 302(b) allocation, there is reason for confidence that the Congress can maintain the priorities established in the first budget resolution.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have inserted in the RECORD at this point a table that shows the relationship of this bill and possible later requirements to the State-Justice Subcommittees section 302(b) allocation.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
[Table omitted]
Although this bill is generally consistent with assumptions underlying the first budget resolution, the targets for function 750, law enforcement and justice, would be breached slightly by enactment of the bill before us plus action expected on other appropriations bills now being considered by the Congress. In fact, supplemental requests that are now expected could cause function 750 to exceed the first budget resolution targets by about $0.2 billion in budget authority and about $0.1 billion in outlays. The Congress must seek savings in those programs, or elsewhere in the budget, or the Federal deficit for fiscal year 1978 will rise above the first budget resolution target.
Mr. President, I wish to thank the distinguished chairman, Senator HOLLINGS, for his support of the budget process and his contributions as a member of the Budget Committee. I note that the amounts in the House-passed bill are somewhat lower than those in the bill now before the Senate. So that we can remain within the congressional budget targets, I urge the members of the subcommittee to continue looking carefully at these programs and making real savings as opportunities are presented in conference and on supplemental requests.