January 30, 1978
Page 1327
COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, the Senate Budget Committee will hold public hearings beginning on February 1 and, running through March 17 in preparation for the first budget resolution for fiscal year 1979. The specific dates of the hearings are February 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 21, 28, March 1, 2, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, and 20.
These hearings will form the basis for the committee's decisions with respect to the first budget resolution for fiscal year 1979. For the first time, the committee also plans to examine the 5-year implications of these decisions and will report back to the Congress on its findings.
The committee hearings will include panels of outside. experts to closely examine the national priorities for Federal spending. The witnesses come from diverse backgrounds and their analyses should be helpful to the committee and to the Congress in analyzing the President's budget.
Hearings with administration witnesses will provide the committee the opportunity to evaluate the President's short- and long-run economic forecasts, to review the CBO analysis of the fiscal and economic objectives of the Carter budget, and to conduct a far-ranging examination of the spending programs proposed for fiscal year 1979.
On Wednesday, February 1, the committee will look at the short- and long-range economic forecasts as well as various policy options for sustaining the economic recovery: Our witnesses will be Dr. Charles Schultze, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, and Dr. Alice M. Rivlin, Director of the Congressional Budget Office.
On Thursday, February 2, the, secretary of the Treasury, W. Michael Blumenthal, will discuss the President's tax cut and tax reform package, as well as the international financial situation.
On Friday, February 3, James McIntyre, the Acting Director of OMB, will highlight the major spending programs in the President's budget and detail the significant changes and developments in this first Carter budget.
The following week we will hear from public witnesses on national priorities and the fiscal crisis in State and local governments. On Wednesday, February 8, we will explore the fiscal dilemma of the cities and States with Gov. Brendan Byrne of New Jersey, Gov. James Thomson of Illinois, and Mayor Kevin White of Boston. On Thursday, February 9, we will examine the questions of national priorities. Our witnesses will include Douglas Fraser, the president of the United Auto Workers Union, Clarence Mitchell, the Washington director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and Rudolph Penner, program director of the American Enterprise Institute and former chief economist of OMB.
After the Lincoln Day recess, we will turn to the question of controlling inflation, a subject of critical importance to all Americans. On February 21, our witnesses will include Dr. Barry Bosworth, Director of the Council on Wage and Price Stability, Dr. Arthur Okun, senior fellow of the Brookings Institution, and Mr. Albert. T. Sommers, senior vice president and chief economist of the Conference Board.
Starting on February 28, we will begin a week of hearings on the energy and the defense budgets. On February 28 our witnesses will include James Schlesinger, the Secretary of the Department of Energy and Paul MacAvoy of the Yale School of Organization and Management and former member of the Council of Economic Advisers.
On March 1, a panel of outside experts will analyze the President's defense proposals. The witnesses will include Townsend Hoopes, former Under Secretary of the Air. Force, Herbert Scoville, former Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and Eugene Rostow, former Under Secretary of State.
On March 2, Secretary, of Defense, Harold Brown, will present the administration's defense budget.
On March 8 and 9 we will look at the welfare reform, health and education programs in the 1979 budget. On March 8, our panel of experts will include Dr. John Knowles, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, Dr. Eli Ginsberg, chairman of the Committee on Manpower Policy, Dr. Frank Armbruster, of the Hudson Institute, and Dr. James Storey of the Urban Institute.
On March 10 we will discuss the administration's welfare, health, and jobs program with Secretary of HEW Joseph Califano and Secretary of Labor Ray Marshall.
On Wednesday, March 15, we will review the question of monetary policy with G. William Miller, the Chairman-designate of the Federal Reserve Board.
On Thursday, March 16, we will turn to the question of the administration's proposals for urban development. Witnesses will include a representative from the Conference of Mayors, Prof. George Steinlieber of Rutgers University, and Carla Hills, the former Secretary of HUD.
On Friday, March 17, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Patricia Roberts Harris, will present the administration's plan for urban development. It is especially important that the committee has this opportunity to develop sound budget numbers for any new initiatives that have not been included in the January budget. On Monday, March 20, Representative RICHARD BOLLING, chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, will present a summary of the JEC's March 15 report to the Budget Committee.
All hearings will be held in room 6202, Dirksen Senate Office Building, beginning at 10 a.m., except the February 3 hearing which will be held in room 318, Russell Senate Office Building. For further information, please contact Karen Williams, chief counsel of the Senate Budget Committee.