July 21, 1978
Page 22154
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr.. President, S. 3085, the Child Nutrition Amendments of 1978,would extend and expand the special supplemental food program for women, infants, and children, known as the WIC program, extend the child care food program, and make minor revisions to other child nutrition programs.
All of these programs are included in the nutrition programs mission of budget function 600, income security. In fiscal year 1979 the bill would cost $0.8 billion in budget authority and $0.7 billion in outlays, which represent increases of $0.4 billion in budget authority and $0.3 billion in outlays above the cost that would be incurred if expiring programs were simply extended without substantive modifications.
The bill as reported was subject to a point of order under section 303 of the Budget Act because it would provide new entitlement authority for years for which there is no budget resolution in place. Specifically, S. 3085 would extend the WIC program, which expires in September of this year, as an entitlement for 4 years, raising the entitlement spending limit to $600 million in fiscal 1979, $800 million in fiscal year 1980, $900 million in fiscal year 1981 and $950 million in fiscal1982.
Section 303 of the Budget Act is designed to provide Congress with a tool to prevent congressional control over future year budgets from being curtailed by advance commitments to mandatory spending increases for entitlement programs.
The Appropriations Committee, to which S. 3085 was referred under another section of the Budget Act, has reported an amendment to S. 3085. This amendment addresses the concern over future budget control that is the basis for section 303.
Largely in anticipation of this amendment, on July 20, the Senate passed Senate Resolution 522, waiving the point of order under section 303, so that S. 3085 and the Appropriations Committee amendment could be considered by the Senate.
Section 401 of the Budget Act required that S. 3085 be referred to the Appropriations Committee because it would cause allocations for entitlement programs in the Agriculture Committee's crosswalk report to be exceeded. Under section 401, the Appropriations Committee has jurisdiction to report any bill or resolution referred to it with an amendment limiting the amount of new entitlement spending authority provided in such bill or resolution.
The Appropriations Committee has reported an amendment which would limit the new entitlement spending authority provided in the bill for the WIC program. This amendment would continue the WIC program as an entitlement for only 2 years, to be capped at $550 million in fiscal 1979 and at $800 million in fiscal 1980. In addition, under the Appropriations Committee amendment, the entitlement nature of the program would be eliminated by converting it to an authorization of appropriations of $900 million in fiscal year 1981 and $950 million in fiscal year 1982. Thus, in both these years the Appropriations Committee would have the discretion to fund the WIC program according to its assessment of the program's needs, up to the authorized level.
The amendment is consistent with the President's fiscal year 1979 budget request for the WIC program. The President also recommended that the WIC program be extended as an authorization, rather than as an entitlement.
Mr. President, the Congress should exercise great restraint in the creation of entitlement programs. We should scrutinize carefully whether an entitlement funding mechanism is necessary to achieve the purposes for which a program is designed. Simply because a program is an effective one does not justify locking it in at mandatory spending levels.
I, therefore, support the Appropriations Committee amendment because it would strengthen the Congress control over spending for the WIC program, and I urge Senators to vote for it.
The Appropriations Committee's amendment would bring the cost of S. 3085 more in line with the first budget resolution targets for fiscal year 1979. However, I must caution that adoption of this amendment will not completely eliminate the amount by which this bill would cause the budget resolution targets to be exceeded, despite the fact that the budget resolution allowed for ample and responsible growth in nutrition programs. Not only would the fiscal 1979 budget be exceeded, but the targets for fiscal year 1979-82 would be exceeded as well.
In order for the cost of the bill, as amended, to be consistent with the first budget resolution targets, it will be necessary for the Appropriations Committee to accommodate the amount by which S. 3085 would exceed such targets within its own budget allocation. I have confidence that the committee, under the able and responsible leadership of Senators MAGNUSON and EAGLETON, will be able to achieve this in fiscal year 1979 as well as in future years.
I simply want to indicate that I do support the Chiles amendment and commend him on it.
On the point of order question, I must say at this point, I would not be in a position to comment on it, but I think it is a point worth exploring, because we may have to face similar questions in the future. I shall undertake to do so, I say to my good friend from South Dakota.