6 "(c) The Comptroller General of the United States 2 shall, to the extent he deems necessary, develop, establish, 3 and maintain a central file or files of the data and informa 5 4 tion required to carry out the purposes of this title. Such a file or files shall be established to meet recurring requirements 6 of the Congress for fiscal, budgetary, and program-related 7 data and information and shall include, but not be limited to, 8 data and information pertaining to budget requests, congres9 sional authority to obligate and spend, apportionment and reserve actions, and obligations and expenditures. Such file or 11 files and their indexes shall be maintained in such a manner as to facilitate their use by the committees of both Houses, 13 joint committees, and other congressional agencies through 14 modern data processing and communications techniques. 10 12 15 "(d) The Comptroller General of the United States 16 shall conduct a continuing review of the reports required by 17 the Congress from the executive branch on a recurring basis, 18 and shall recommend to the Congress "(1) standards for the form and content of such reports; "(2) improvements in reporting procedures he deems necessary to make such reports better serve the needs or fulfill the requirements of the Congress; and "(3) elimination of all or part of such reports, or consolidation of such reports, where he determines that such reports are no longer needed on a recurring basis, 7 1 or where he determines that consolidation of such reports 2 3 will better serve the needs or fulfill the requirements of the Congress. 4 Such recommendations shall be transmitted to both Houses 5 of the Congress by the Comptroller General of the United 6 States and shall become effective within sixty days if not dis7 approved by resolution of either House of the Congress. "(e) The Comptroller General of the United States shall 9 establish an initial capability to perform the functions speci10 fied in this section by January 1, 1974, and shall report to 11 Congress on implementation of the provisions of this section 12 annually thereafter." 8 13 SEC. 4. The table of contents of title II of the Legislative 14 Reorganization Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1140; Public Law 15 91-510; 31 U.S.C. chapter 22) is amended by striking out "TITLE II-FISCAL CONTROLS "PART 1-BUDGETARY AND FISCAL INFORMATION AND DATA "Sec. 201. Budgetary and fiscal data processing system. "Sec. 202. Budget standard classifications. "Sec. 203. Availability to Congress of budgetary, fiscal, and related data.” 16 and inserting in lieu thereof "TITLE II-FISCAL AND BUDGETARY INFORMATION AND "PART 1-FISCAL, BUDGETARY, AND PROGRAM-Related Data “Sec. 201. Federal fiscal, budgetary, and program-related data and infor- "Sec. 202. Standardization of terminology, definitions, classifications, and codes for fiscal, budgetary, and program-related data and information. "Sec. 203. Availability to and use by the Congress of Federal fiscal, budgetary, and program-related data and information.". [From the Congressional Record, Mar. 14, 1973] INTRODUCTION OF S. 1215 BY SENATOR METCALF OF MONTANA FEDERAL FISCAL AND BUDGETARY INFORMATION ACT OF 1973 Mr. METCALF. Mr. President, expansion of congressional capability to command sources of Federal fiscal, budgetary, and programrelated data and information-relevant, reliable, and readily available for uses-is a precondition of effective legislative budgetary control. Our ability to acquire and process such information, most of which must be obtained from the executive branch, today is woefully inadequate. A legislative budget mechanism, as envisioned in the various bills which have been introduced in this Congress, will impose yet another set of demands, which we are by no means in a position to meet. We do not now have the capability, for example, to meaningfully subdivide budget authority on a program basis. This is a central issue: We cannot establish overall budget authority and expenditure ceilings without first providing for congressional determination of priorities. Without provision for congressional choices between competing program priorities and interests, we would be giving the Executive a license to determine the course of our national life. Depending solely or even primarily on existing fiscal, budgetary and program-related data and information such as that contained in the President's budget document, and attempting to reshuffle this in some fashion, will not move us very far toward a more rational congressional budget process and more effective congressional control of Federal expenditures. I am convinced that the time has come for Congress to create modern information handling facilities of its own to meet demands imposed on it by the continuing growth in size and complexity of Federal programs and activities. As Senators will recall, in formulating what became the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, Congress foresaw the need for improvement of executive branch information systems, and for provision for consideration of congressional needs in their development and use. Briefly stated, the intent of title II of that act was to insure, first, congressional participation in the design of and the benefits from establishment of an improved Federal fiscal and budgetary information system, and second, congressional access to such information, when and as needed, in the executive branch. The Joint Committee on Congressional Operations, of which I am chairman in this Congress, has monitored implementation of the title II provisions on a continuing basis since early 1971. Our joint committee has held hearings on this and issued a report describing in detail gaps in existing executive branch reporting practices and capabilities that have serious consequences for congressional review and control of Federal expenditures. Throughout, we have had the fullest cooperation-within Congress of all the committees, their members, and staffs, with whom we have worked in planning for effective imple mentation of title II. The same cannot be said for the Office of Management and Budget, which has primary responsibility under the 1970 act for development and maintenance of standardized fiscal and budgetary information systems designed to meet the needs of the various branches of the Federal Government-including Congress. To date, we have had no evidence that OMB intends to comply with the letter and spirit of the title II provisions. That Office is simply going ahead with its work on budget preparation and related systems intended solely to support Presidential program and budget proposals. In his report of February 7, 1973, for example, the Comptroller General concludes that "the system contemplated by the executive branch will not fulfill the information needs of the Congress." To get off dead center-to create a congressional facility for acquiring and processing fiscal, budgetary, and program related information-I believe we must now shift the responsibility for building congressional requirements into Federal information systems. Accordingly, I have introduced today a bill amending title II of the 1970 Legislative Reorganization Act to insure that Congress has full access to the information it requires. My bill will give a congressional agency, the General Accounting Office, responsibility for developing the standards that determine what kinds of information can be generated by executive branch systems. Moreover, it directs the Comptroller General to develop and maintain an up-to-date inventory of information sources and systems, so that we will not have to rely so completely on the Executive's legislative liaison representatives or on sympathetic employees in the agencies to identify sources of relevant data and information. And, finally, it directs the Comptroller General to establish a central data bank of fiscal, budgetary, and program-related data and information to meet recurring congressional requirements, a facility to be available to the committees of both Houses through the use of automatic data processing and modern communications techniques. In short, my bill is designed to reduce congressional reliance on the executive branch middlemen in the information brokerage business. Such a congressionally based and controlled information system is not an alternative to organization and procedural changes presently being suggested to improve the congressional budget process. Its proper development is, however, essential if we are to deal effectively with the problem of establishing congressional budget priorities. BRIEF OUTLINE OF BUDGET-RELATED SENATE BILLS (93d CONGRESS) The following bills have been referred to the Government Operations Committee, Subcommittee on Budgeting, Management, and Expenditures: S. 40 (BROCK) 1. Joint Committee on the Budget 2. Legislative Budget 3. 5-year Budget projections 5. Pilot testing of new programs S. 565 (NUNN) 1. Budget ceiling 2. President is required to maintain ceiling by impounding funds proportionately from all programs S. 703 (BELLMON) 1. Ceilings on expenditures 2. President must maintain ceiling by impounding funds proportionately from all programs S. 758 (BEALL) 1. Changes fiscal year to coincide with calendar year 2. Requires a statement of the capital assets of the U.S. Government be submitted annually with the budget 3. The tax and appropriations committees of both houses will meet jointly and recommend a ceiling on expenditures 4. Establishes subcommittee on legislative oversight within each committee. 5. Requires Congressional Research Service to compile per-family costs for all programs authorized and funded on a weekly basis. 6. OMB must publish a digest of all federal programs annually. S. 846 (PERCY) 1. Joint Committee on Budget 2. Requires committee to recommend maximum amount for outlays, to estimate receipts, and to recommend for increase in debt or taxes. 3. Requires committee to issue a joint resolution on budget ceiling which must be passed in each house prior to consideration of appropriation bills 4. Provides professional staff for the committee 5. Abolishes the Joint Committee on Reduction of Federal Expenditures S. 905 (STEVENSON) 1. Spending ceiling must be enacted within 30 days of receipt of President's budget 2. Omnibus appropriations bill 3. Prohibits impoundment by President if program is affected 4. 5-year budget forecasts S. 1030 (HUMPHREY) 1. Establishes under Joint Economic Committee a Congressional Office of Budget Analysis and Program Evaluation 2. Appropriation Committees establish budget ceilings 3. Budget process opened to public scrutiny. 4. Procedure by which GAO is to act on executive impoundments. 5. Prohibits impoundment if action impairs legislative intent of a program. 6. 3-year limit on authorizations 7. Taxpayers notified as to where their tax dollars are expended. S. 1213 (Mr. SCHWEIKER) 1. Establishes Joint Committee on Federal Spending. 2. Ceiling on outlays; Joint Committee reports concurrent resolution to each House specifying limit on total outlays for fiscal year. |