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1 representing the minority, who are authorized and directed 2 to meet jointly at the beginning of each regular session of 3 Congress. The joint committee thus created shall be known 4 as the Joint Committee on the Budget. After study and con5 sultation, giving due consideration to the needs of the United 6 States, the state of the economy including considerations 7 of fiscal and monetary policy, the budget recommendations 8 and economic report of the President, and the recommenda9 tions of the Joint Economic Committee, the Joint Com10 mittee on the Budget will make a report to the respective 11 Houses. Such report shall contain a recommendation for the 12 maximum amount for total outlays and budget authority in 13 such fiscal year, an estimate of receipts, and a recommen14 dation for any necessary increase in the national debt or in 15 taxes. Such report shall be made by March 30. The joint 16 committee is authorized to hold such hearings as it deems 17 necessary.

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"(b) The report shall be accompanied by a joint reso19 lution which shall fix the total amount for outlays and budget 20 authority in such year. If the recommended outlay total ex21 ceeds the estimated receipts the joint resolution shall author22 ize that the public debt shall be increased in an amount equal 23 to the amount by which the recommended outlays for the 24 ensuing fiscal year exceed the estimated receipts. Such reso25 lution shall also allocate the budget outlay and budget au

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1 thority amount so established to each subcommittee of the 2 Committees on Appropriations and to such other committees 3 of the Congress as may be necessary.

4 "(c) Until the joint resolution specified in subsection 5 (b) has been agreed to by both Houses by record vote, no 6 bill appropriating money or otherwise authorizing budget 7 outlays for the ensuing fiscal year shall be reported by any 8 committee of either House.

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"SEC. 262. (a) No committee shall report a bill author10 izing budget outlays or authority in amounts which by them11 selves or when added to previous bills reported in the same year exceed its allocation as provided in the resolution ap13 proved under subsection 261 (b). All bills establishing budget 14 authority shall also include a limit on outlays for the current 15 fiscal year.

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"(b) If an Appropriations Subcommittee or other com17 mittee determines that an increase in the ceilings authorized 18 pursuant to section 261 (b) are essential, it shall request 19 the joint committee to make an appropriate revision in the 20 resolution referred to under section 261 (b). If in the judg21 ment of the joint committee a change in such ceilings is nec22 essary it shall report a revised resolution to the Congress 23 stating a new amount for total outlays. Such resolution may 24 provide for lower ceilings with respect to Appropriations 25 Subcommittees or other committees if the joint committee

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1 considers such lower ceilings to be necessary to achieve the 2 purposes of this part, or it may provide for an increase in

3 the ceilings established pursuant to section 261 (b).

4

"SEC. 263. (a) The joint committee is authorized to

5 create a professional staff. The Joint Committee on the 6 Reduction of Federal Expenditures shall cease to exist, and 7 its staff and functions shall be subsumed into the Joint Com8 mittee on the Budget.

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"(b) Among the continuing duties of the joint com10 mittee and its staff shall be to review and analyze the annual 11 budget of the United States and agency estimates and justi12 fications therefor, to analyze and determine estimated budget 13 receipts, to analyze United States fiscal policy including tax 14 and debt policy, to make projections of the effect on expendi

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tures of existing and proposed legislation for coming years, 16 and to make all such other studies, reports and recommenda17 tions as shall further the purposes of this part."

[From the Congressional Record, Feb. 8, 1973]

INTRODUCTION OF S. 846 BY SENATOR PERCY
OF ILLINOIS

CREATING A NEW CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET PROCESS

Mr. PERCY. Mr. President, we are at a crucial moment in the evolution of the Congress as a political institution. Never in my memory has the present combination of congressional will to reassert its powers, and the public demand for reform come together with such intensity. There are a number of areas in which Congress must reorganize itself. One of our most urgent needs is to reform the system for appropriating funds for Government programs. Reform of the appropriations process has been discussed for 50 years; it was a principal element of the historic Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946. The framers of that immensely significant legislation responded to the problem by enacting a provision requiring a "legislative budget.'

This provision-section 138 of the bill-would have resulted in creation by Congress of an annual budget based on estimated receipts, a determination of the amount of necessary expenditures, and an estimated deficit, if any. It would have imposed a new discipline on the appropriations process. The provision was never implemented because the chairman and the ranking Republican of the House Appropriations Committee opposed it.

Had it been implemented, I believe, an orderly congressional budget process would very likely have evolved.

No doubt embarrassed by continuous failure to implement section 138 of the 1946 Legislatve Reorganization Act, Congress repealed it in the 1970 Reorganization Act amendments. Because it was never utilized, it was considered to be unusable.

Thus we are left-26 years after the 1946 Reform Act, and 73 years into the 20th century-with a system that belongs to the mid-19th century. We are trying to operate the largest budget in history with a system largely unchanged since the Civil War. Congress is like a giant corporation trying to operate with an accountant with a green eyeshade and a quill pen.

This congressional unwillingness to modernize its budget process is the key to the current dispute about impoundments. In my opinion, if we had established a logical, orderly new budget process in which congressional outlays were related to amounts available for expenditures. the Federal budget would be under much better control, and impoundments would not now be a major issue.

Congress has the ability to determine a n annual expenditure level that is related to budget receipts and to national needs. These kinds of fiscal policy determinations and decisions about national priorities are entirely within the competence of a well-organized Congress. That is the purpose of the bill Senator Cranston, Senator Harry F. Byrd, Jr., and I are introducing today.

The bill is based on an amendment Senator Cranston and I offered to the debt ceiling bill last year, and on the tentative finding recommended by the Joint Study Committee on Budget Control in its interim report of February 6. This special study committee was created last

year to recommend a new congressional appropriation system. The February 6 interim report did not, however, recommend a specific new system. It did recommend the principles that should guide the creation of the new system. Senator Cranston, Senator Byrd, and I have attempted to reflect these principles and tentative recommendations in the bill we are introducing today. To a very substantial extent, I believe we have succeeded in providing a workable new mechanism. No doubt, it can be improved. What it represents, however, is a careful attempt to achieve a highly desirable objective that is consistent with the tentative recommendations of the Joint Study Committee. The major difference between our bill and the interim report is that we believe a Joint Budget Committee is preferable to creating two separate budget committees, one in each House.

Our bill would work as follows:

A Joint Committee on the Budget would be creating consisting of 28 Members, seven, from each of four Committees the House and Senate Appropriations Committes, the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee. Four Members from each committee would represent the majority, and three the minority. This joint committee would meet at the beginning of each regular session of Congress. After considerin gthe overall budget situation and the state of economy, and taking into account the President's annual economic account report and budget recommendations and the annual economic review of the Joint Economic Committee, the Joint Committee would make a report to each House of Congress by March 30. The report. would contain a recommendation for the maximum amount to be appropriated or authorized for outlays in the coming fiscal year. This recommendation would be based on an estimate of expected budget receipts during the coming fiscal year, and on this basis the Joint Committee would also make recommendations regarding any necessary increase in the national debt or in Federal income taxes.

The report would be accompanied by a joint resolution which would be introduced in each House of Congress. The joint resolution would fix an amount for all outlays and budget authority for the coming fiscal year. If the recommended outlay total exceeds the estimated receipts, the joint resolution would authorize an increase in the public debt

The joint resolution would also provide for a division of the total amount of outlays among the subcommittees of the Appropriations Committees and all other committees having the authority to authorize outlays.

This provision is intended to implement the important recommendation of the Joint Study Committee on Budget Control that the appropriations process should be coordinated with the authorizations process. It also deals with another important problem stemming from the fact that there are several committees of the Congress other than the Appropriations Committees which have the authority to create new spending.

For example, the Ways and Means Committee and the Finance Committee both authorize and appropriate increases in social security.