December 13, 1979
Page 35921
Mr. MUSKIE..Mr. President, the Senate now is considering the conference agreement on H.R. 5359, the defense appropriation bill for fiscal year 1980. I want to take this opportunity to comment on the budgetary implications of this bill.
The conference agreement on the bill provides for $131.0 billion in budget authority and $84.2 billion in fiscal year 1980 outlays. This represents a reduction to the Senate-passed bill of approximately $700 million in budget authority and $300 million in outlays. The amounts in this conference agreement are well within the assumptions for defense appropriations contained in the second budget resolution.
Mr. President, I want to take this opportunity to single out Senator STENNIS, the distinguished chairman of the Defense Subcommittee — and the chairman of the Armed Services Committee — for the very effective leadership he continues to provide the Congress. His devotion to a strong national defense is unquestionable. His leadership and support among all Senate committee chairmen has been instrumental to the development of a sound budget process. I thank him for his continuing encouragement and support.