March 30, 1977
Page 9673
Mr. RANDOLPH. Senator MUSKIE also well knows that the construction of waste treatment plants is a very important part of the construction programs that might be carried forward in this country if we are able to bring out a bill.
I think it is also important for us to underscore the fact that the construction season is starting. If we wait until summer to iron out this situation, in a State like Maine, the construction season will soon be coming to an end. I think it is very, very important that the leadership of the Senate will give us its help in a time which, as I have underscored, is a very difficult one.
Mr. MUSKIE. Will the Senator yield?
Mr. MOYNIHAN. With great pleasure, I yield to the Senator from Maine.
Mr. MUSKIE. I think it might be appropriate to answer a question which has been raised with respect to the waste treatment title of the public works bill. The question has been raised as to whether or not that title is relevant to the public works jobs objective of the bill. I point out that, using the formula of 40,000 jobs per billion dollars, which would be applicable both to the accelerated public works title and the waste treatment construction title, this is what it comes to:
The accelerated public works title provides $4 billion, or 160,000 jobs, in fiscal 1977 and fiscal 1978. The waste treatment construction program provides $9 billion for fiscal 1977 and fiscal 1978, or a total of 360,000 jobs. With respect to the fiscal year in which we find ourselves, with 34 States running out of waste treatment construction money, their loss in expenditure totals an estimated $3 billion, or 120,000 jobs. Those are jobs we could begin to put in place at the beginning of this construction season, whatever it is in any State.
In my State, almost any day now, as soon as the snow disappears — and it is melting fast — we could begin the construction season, which would end in October. So there are 120,000 jobs provided by the waste treatment construction program which is close to the total of 160,000 jobs in 2 years provided by the accelerated public works part of the bill. So the two go hand in glove.
I make one other point. Whenever I talk about the justification of public works jobs in a time of recession, I find that the public responds most enthusiastically and most favorably when I connect the public works objective with the objective of cleaning up our waters. That is an argument that, to most citizens, makes about as much sense as any other public works construction in this country. So it seems to me that the leadership in both Houses ought to focus on the importance of getting that important legislation, which is ready, which the Senate has voted to go to conference on, which we could move on before the Easter recess, and on which action at this time would coincide with the beginning of the construction season. There is every conceivable reason under the sun why the Senate and the House should meet in conference, work out their differences, and get this bill to the desk of the President before the recess. I am sure he would sign it as soon as it reached his desk.
I find it incredible that the House has refused, since March 10, to go to conference with the Senate. Senator RANDOLPH said to me privately today that he has never encountered this kind of attitude on the part of the House, that they simply will not sit down with us to talk about the problem. As a matter of fact, as a condition to sitting down with us in conference, they insist that the waste treatment construction part of the bill be stricken. If ever I saw strong arm tactics used in the legislative process, this is it. I think it runs counter to the public interest and I hope that the leadership finds a way to break the impasse.
I thank my good friend from New York, who has been a strong supporter of this program in the Committee on Public Works, for yielding to me so I could raise the subject in the context of this unemployment compensation program.
Mr. MOYNIHAN. Will the Senator mind if I ask one brief question to him? Would he not think that, by the Senate action in providing the funds that will enable 36 States to complete programs that are underway, for which they do not have the resources but which were mandated by the Federal Government, the Senate has acted to keep good faith with the people of those 36 States who, following the directions of the national Government, undertook programs for which there was to be Federal aid, but for which Federal aid is not now forthcoming?
Mr. MUSKIE. The Senator is absolutely correct. We laid down that promise in 1972. It is true that President Nixon withheld some of that promise by impounding half of that funding, but that impoundment has been lifted. The money has been spent, inflation has eroded its value. Now we need to continue the funding so that States which have these projects ready to go, and whose cost is constantly climbing under the impact of inflation, will be given the means and the wherewithal to go forward. The Senator is absolutely correct. It is a matter of a good faith commitment.
Mr. MOYNIHAN. I thank the Senator. I thank the chairman.
Mr. President, in sum, the Senate of the United States wants to put America back to work. We have done this in our public works bill. We are doing this through the bill before us today. I regret to say that the amendment we are dealing with involves a tax of $1 billion on American employers. It is a prospective tax, but it is one that they will have to pay. It is a fact they will have to take it into consideration in their present plans. It can only inhibit their plans for expansion and for the creation of jobs, which is what we truly desired when we provided insurance against the loss of jobs.
Therefore, with the greatest respect to the cherished Senator from Nebraska, I must rise to say that the Committee on Finance, on the majority side, requests that this amendment not be adopted.
I thank the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. MELCHER) . The question is on agreeing to the amendment of the Senator from Nebraska. The yeas and nays have been ordered. The clerk will call the roll.