October 16, 1979
Page 28375
AMENDMENT NO. 521, AS MODIFIED
(Purpose: To provide energy fuel assistance funds)
Mr. JAVITS. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk and ask that it be stated.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The amendment will be stated.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from New York (Mr. JAVITS), for himself and Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. STAFFORD, Mr. METZENBAUM, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. RIEGLE, Mr McGOVERN, Mr. WEICKER, Mr. DURKIN, Mr. GLENN, and Mr. PELL, proposes an amendment numbered 521, as modified:
On page 4, after line 3, insert the following:
EMERGENCY FUEL ASSISTANCE
For emergency fuel assistance programs administered by the Director of the Community Services Administration under section 222(a) (5) of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, $1,200,000,000, to be transferred to the Director of the Community Services Administration.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New York.
Mr. JAVITS. Mr. President, I yield myself 5 minutes.
Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, will the Senator yield to me just one moment?
Mr. JAVITS. Of course.
Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, it is my understanding the Senator is going to modify this amendment. May I inquire if the Senator from New York would be willing to qualify his amendment, as modifies it, to the extent that this money that is made available to CSA, it cannot be reprogrammed or transferred from CSA?
Mr. JAVITS. Mr. President, will the Senator give me a few minutes to find out what the points are?
Mr. STEVENS. Yes.
Mr. JAVITS. Mr. President, the reason for calling up my amendment was that I noted the presence in the Chamber of Senators MUSKIE and BELLMON, and I know the Budget Committee has a very great interest in this matter.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
Mr. JAVITS. Yes.
Mr. MUSKIE. I would like to make it clear that our presence in the Chamber is accidental. We are not here because we were notified of developments which we understand have already taken place today, and are developments which are planned for the day.
We find ourselves on the threshold of a renewal of the budget conference with the House Budget Committee at 2 o'clock in which this issue, as well as others, is very much in disagreement between the two bodies.
While we expect to find ourselves in the Cannon Office Building, the committee rooms of the House Budget Committee, negotiating this and other issues, apparently here in the Senate Chamber the Senate will be acting to take discretion out of our hands.
Mr. JAVITS. Mr. President, will the Senator allow me to continue?
Mr. MUSKIE. Of course. I just wanted to make it clear we are here without any previous notifications.
Mr. JAVITS. I think the Senator is jumping at very fast conclusions.
Mr. MUSKIE. That is not jumping at a conclusion.
Mr. JAVITS. Mr. President, would the Senator allow me to continue?
Mr. MUSKIE. Of course.
Mr. JAVITS. When I said what I did I meant it literally. I was prepared to give the Senator all the notice in the world. I did not know there were any conflicting engagements or anything else. I was pleased, when they walked into the Chamber, to be able to call up this amendment as we are supposed to vote at 5 o'clock, and there are other amendments en suite.
If the Senator will find it more convenient I am perfectly willing to take theamendment down and offer it again at 4:20 so that the Senator will have plenty of time.
First let me explain what it is all about.
Mr. MUSKIE. Let me just comment on that. If we are going to vote on the Senator's amendment sometime this afternoon, there is no way for me to be here unless I ask the House conferees to simply adjourn the conference which, by law, is supposed to be finished tomorrow, until the Senate decides what it is going to order us to do. It is the same complaint I made yesterday, and it is still relevant today. I find it a most frustrating situation in which to find myself.
I understand the Senator's interests, and I do not challenge his position, but I am simply making the point that I cannot be here and in the Cannon Office Building at one and the same time, fighting this very same issue on the Senate floor and also fighting it in conference with the House Budget Committee. There is no way for me to do both things. I am under a mandate from the Budget Act to finish this conference, which is supposed to be finished in 7 days from the day it begins or the conference is discharged.
We have got difficult issues to resolve in that budget conference, and I can hardly go over there, and engage in that, while this business is pending here.
Mr. JAVITS. Mr. President, the scheduling of the Senate is not my doing. If the Senator from Maine can get his leader to put this matter over until tomorrow or Friday, Saturday, Monday, any time he wishes to, I am more than happy to cooperate. This is not my choice, and I do not wish to be charged with it.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has used his 5 minutes.