October 10, 1978
Page 35356
SEVERAL SENATORS. Mr. President?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.
Mr. PERCY. I am happy to yield to my distinguished colleague from Maine.
Mr. MUSKIE. So that Senators may be apprised of the actions of the Budget Committee, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the waiver resolution and the report of the Budget Committee be printed in the RECORD at this point so they will be available to all Senators to identify the particular concerns of title III.
There being no objection, the report and budget waiver were ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
PURPOSE OF THE RESOLUTION
Section 402(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 provides that it shall not be in order in either the House or the Senate to consider any bill or resolution which directly or indirectly authorizes the enactment of new budget authority for a fiscal year unless that bill or resolution is reported in the House or Senate, as the case may be, on or before May 15 preceding the beginning of such fiscal year.
Section 403 of S. 50 authorizes appropriations for "such sums as may be needed to carry out the provisions of this act." S. 50 was reported on September 6, 1978. Section 403 authorizes appropriations in 1979 and thereafter. Since S. 50 was reported after May 15, 1978 and authorizes appropriations for fiscal year 1979, it is subject to a point of order under Section 402 of the Budget Act, unless S. Res. 570 is adopted waiving application of that provision under the Budget Act.
Since S. Res. 570 was introduced by Senators Williams and Proxmire consistent with their generic right as senators to introduce legislation, its consideration by the Budget Committee is not constrained by the provisions of Section 402(c) of the Budget Act. Accordingly, the resolution is amendable and not subject to a limitation on debate. Moreover, the Committee will not be discharged from further consideration at the end of 10 days.
In reporting favorably on the waiver resolution, the Budget Committee is also recommending an amendment to S. 50 to maintain existing procedures for the review of economic matters within the Congress and to maintain traditional relationships among Senate Committees on such questions. If the Senate adopts S. Res. 570 with the Committee amendment, the provisions of S. 50 described in the Committee amendment must be stricken from the bill for its consideration to be in order. The effect of adopting the waiver resolution is to amend the bill to the effect set forth in the waiver resolution.
Prior to reference of S. Res. 570 on September 27, 1978, the Budget Committee had no opportunity to consider S. 50, even though that bill makes very significant amendments to the Budget Act, rewrites provisions of existing Senate rules relating to the appropriate jurisdiction of and relationships between Senate committees, and institutes a new procedure in which the Congress would be required to vote for economic "goals", including inflation and employment. A vote on such goals would be required in the event that the President changed the date for achieving the goals in Title I.
The Committee notes that notwithstanding these significant changes in Senate procedures, S. 50 had not previously been referred to the Budget Committee or to the Committee on Rules. The bill had not, therefore, received thorough scrutiny applied in the formulation of the Budget Act which S. 50 would amend substantially.
THE COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
The Committee believes the Budget Process should be allowed an opportunity to work before piecemeal amendment of it is made. The radical revisions of the Budget Process contained in S. 50 should not be undertaken without more thorough study than has been given them.
No case has been made which justifies disruption of the traditional procedure within the Congress for reviewing economic matters. The Committee notes that when the House counterpart of S. 50 was considered an amendment comparable to that being proposed by the Committee amendment in this case was adopted by a vote of 259 to 156.
The Committee amendment would have the effect of striking the provisions of Title III of the bill which revise the CongressionalBudget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974. The amendment also preserves the existing relationships between the Joint Economic. Budget and other Committees by eliminating the provisions of Title III which would radically revise those relationships. The Committee amendment also deletes the provisions of Title III which would force Congress to vote in favor of unemployment "goals" and inflation "goals" in a new Congressional process which substantially amends existing Senate and House rules and procedures.
The Committee amendment also deletes Section 106, which would have included new matters in the Economic Report of the President which would result in intrusion by the Joint Economic Committee in its review of that report into the jurisdiction of the standing committees of the Congress and duplicate the existing jurisdiction of the Budget Committee and the other standing committees over budget programs and priorities.
Under current law, the Economic Report is transmitted to the Congress and referred to the Joint Economic Committee, which is required to submit its findings and recommendations with respect to the President's report to the Congress no later than March 1. In addition, the JEC is required to submit a report to the Budget Committees of both Houses with its recommendations as to the fiscal policy appropriate to the goals of the Employment Act of 1946.
Under S. 50, as reported by the Human Resources and Banking Committees, the scope of the President's Economic Report is expanded to include not only short-term and medium-term economic goals and policies, but also identification of priority policies and programs.
Section 106 would have required that the Economic Report must develop priorities even in areas such as energy, small business, agriculture, military base relocation, health care and national defense. S. 50 would have authorized the JEC to report to the Congress by March 1 on these new program areas and thereby invade the jurisdiction of the Committees on Agriculture, Energy, Small Business, Armed Services, Appropriations, Banking, Commerce, Public Works, Finance, Foreign Relations, Governmental Affairs, Human Resources, Judiciary, Rules and Veterans Affairs.
Mr. MUSKIE. In addition, S. 50 would have permitted the JEC to offer a privileged amendment to the budget resolution to reflect these programmatic priorities. Without the deletion of section 106, the orderly procedures of the Congressional fiscal and budget process would have been disrupted.
The amendment leaves intact all of the provisions of title I relating to short and medium-term economic goals, and leaves intact the itemization of employment-creating programs in title II.
The Budget Committee does not recommend against enactment of S. 50. It reports favorably on the waiver of section 402, necessary for the bill to be considered by the Senate. The Committee amendment makes the waiver of section 402 contingent, however, on the removal of the provisions described in this report.
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 consideration of S. 50, the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978, provided that the following provisions are changed:
On page 68, lines 3 and 4, strike "by the method set forth in title III of the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978."
Strike page 70, line 8 through page 73, line 21 and renumber the following sections accordingly.
On page 90, strike line 23 through line 25. On page 91, strike lines 1 through 9 and renumber the following section accordingly. On page 91, line 23, delete "the priorities, policies and program and"
On page 92, strike from "who are" on line 23 through "Senate" on line 2, page 93.
On page 93, line 3, strike from "specifying whether and to what" through "1946" on line 14, and insert in lieu thereof "and the House of Representatives."
On page 93, lines 17 and 18, strike "and the programs and policies related thereto."
On page 93, strike line 20 through line 25 on page 102.
On page 105, strike lines,20 through 25.
On page 121, lines 9 through 11, strike "by the method set forth in title III of the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978."
Strike page 124, line 4 through 128, line 17 and renumber the following sections accordingly.
On page 147, strike line 20 through line 25.
On page 148, strike lines 1 through 6 and renumber the following section accordingly.
On page 148, line 20, strike "the priorities, policies and programs and"
On page 149, strike from "who are" on line20 through "Senate" on line 24.
On page 149, on line 25, strike "specifying whether" and insert in lieu thereof "and the House of Representatives."
On page 150, strike lines 1 through "1946"on line 12.
On page 150, on lines 15 and 16, strike "and the programs and policies related thereto".
On page 150, strike line 17 through line 10 on page 160.
On page 16, strike lines 7 through 12.
Mr. MUSKIE. I thank my good friend from Illinois.