July 13, 1978
Page 20801
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I support H.R. 2777, the National Consumer Cooperative Bank Act. The bill would establish the NCCB to assist consumer cooperatives with long-term loans, technical assistance and other aid. All of these cooperatives are nonprofit and provide goods, services or facilities primarily to their members.
Cooperatives have long been a valuable form of economic organization in this and other countries. They have often helped small producers and consumers to serve their own needs when other private businesses had failed to do so.
Existing Federal programs have responded to the needs of consumer cooperatives either inadequately or not at all.
Cooperatives have typically been unsuccessful in receiving credit from private lenders to finance normal operating needs and long-term expansion. This bill would help develop the managerial and financial strength of consumer cooperatives and thus open new options for American consumers.
Mr. President, I believe this bill helps fulfill the Federal Government's responsibility for encouraging economic diversity. Enactment would assert the interest of Congress in making the economy as responsive as possible to the needs of consumers.
I would note, Mr. President, that the first budget resolution conference report mentions that the fiscal 1979 targets could accommodate "initial financing and operating requirements for the proposed National Consumer Cooperative Bank." Funding for this program would be included in function 370, commerce and housing credit. It should be kept in mind that the funding requirements of other programs in that function account for almost all of the available budget authority and outlays in that function.
In fiscal 1979, the bill could authorize $114 million in appropriated budget authority plus an additional $500 million in borrowing either from the Treasury or the public. If the bill were fully funded,Mr. President, the new bank could operate at a level that would involve about $1.6 billion in budget authority and about $1.4 billion in outlays over the next 5 years.
The first budget resolution could not accommodate these levels of spending either within the fiscal 1979 or the 5-year totals. I understand, however, that levels of budget authority substantially below full funding of this bill would be adequate in the early years for a National Consumer Cooperative Bank. Thus the bank could be initiated without causing the first resolution targets to be breached.
With that understanding I shall vote for H.R. 2777.