June 27, 1978
Page 19122
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, the Senate has before it H.R. 12930, the Treasury, Postal Service, and general Government appropriation bill for fiscal year 1979. This bill provides funds for the Treasury Department, the Federal payment to the Postal Service, the Executive Office of the President, and several independent agencies, including the Civil Service Commission and the General Services Administration.
The bill provides $9 billion in new budget authority. Outlays associated with the bill total $9 billion for fiscal year1979, including $0.4 billion in outlays from budget authority provided in prior years.
Under section 302(b) of the Budget Act, the Appropriations Committee divides among its subcommittees, the total budget authority and outlays allocated to the committee under the first budget resolution. The Appropriations Committee has allocated $9.9 billion in budget authority and $9.7 billion in outlays to the Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government.
The funds provided by H.R. 12930 as reported are $0.9 billion in budget authority and $0.7 billion in outlays below the subcommittee's section 302(b) allocation. Foreseeable additional requirements indicate that programs within the subcommittee's jurisdiction will require supplemental funding of about $0.9 billion in budget authority and $0.7 billion in outlays for items not included in H.R. 12930 as reported. The major items are $0.6 billion in budget authority and $0.4 billion in outlays for strategic stockpile acquisitions, and an additional payment of $0.3 billion to the civil service retirement and disability fund due to the anticipated October 1978 Federal pay raise.
The civil service retirement and disability fund will not be known until the amount of the October pay raise has been determined, and likely will be accommodated in a spring 1979 supplemental, along with additional appropriations to cover the pay raise itself. This additional payment was not included in the President's budget request, nor in the House bill. After accommodating these additional requirements, the subcommittee would be at its section 302(b) allocation. I include a table showing this information in the RECORD at this point:
[Table omitted]
Funds for stockpile acquisitions were requested by the administration and included in the House bill, but were not included by the Senate subcommittee, pending Senate action on H.R. 4895, which would require specific legislative authorization of such acquisitions. The amount of the additional payment to H.R. 12930, as reported, is basically consistent with the functional and aggregate targets in the first budget resolution. Since not all appropriations have been reported, it is too early to say whether other appropriations or supplemental requirements will breach the functional targets. It now appears that there is pressure to exceed the targets for function 750, Administration of Justice, and that later appropriations for this function must be reviewed carefully.
I support H.R. 12930, as reported, and commend the distinguished chairman of the Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service and General Government, Senator CHILES, for his dedicated efforts in support of the budget process, both as an Appropriations Subcommittee chairman and as a member of the Budget Committee.
In conclusion, let me state that the first budget resolution represents the collective judgment of the House and Senate as to fiscal policy and priority allocations within the budget. That resolution allows for a 1979 budget deficit of $50.9 billion. At a time when high inflation is a matter of grave national concern, we simply cannot afford to push that deficit any higher. I trust that in dealing with regular and supplemental appropriation bills for fiscal year 1979, and with other spending and tax legislation, we can maintain the discipline of the budget process and keep the deficit at or below the budget resolution target.