[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 151 (Wednesday, October 21, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12915-S12916]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 AMENDING SENATE RESOLUTION 209 TO PROVIDE BUDGET LEVELS IN THE SENATE

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 312 submitted earlier 
today by Senator Domenici.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 312) to amend Senate Resolution 209 
     in order to provide budget levels in the Senate for purposes 
     of Fiscal Year 1999 and include the appropriate budgetary 
     levels for fiscal years 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the immediate 
consideration of the resolution?
  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, for the information of the Senate, this 
resolution on behalf of Senator Lautenberg and myself is the so-called 
deeming budget resolution. We have cleared this with our colleagues on 
both sides of the aisle.
  Last year this Congress reached an historic agreement with the 
President. We enacted the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. I think those 
pundits who like to suggest that this Congress has not done anything 
seem to conveniently forget that the balanced budget agreement was done 
in this Congress.
  Nevertheless, that agreement and the implementing legislation--the 
Budget Enforcement Act of 1997--put in place for 5 years spending 
limits on appropriated accounts and extended various other fiscal 
enforcement tools. I have often thought of this legislation as a first 
step in creating a biennial budgeting and appropriations process. We 
have operated in the second session of this Congress under those 
spending caps and applied the discipline of that act to help us secure 
the first balanced budget in decades.
  The levels set forth in this Senate resolution reflect the bipartisan 
balanced budget agreement--updated for the most recent fiscal and 
economic information provided to us by the Congressional Budget Office 
and for legislation enacted since the last budget resolution was agreed 
to.
  This is similar to the action which the Senate took on April 2 of 
this year when we passed S. Res. 209 which provided a section 302 
allocation to the Committee on Appropriations in advance of completing 
action on a budget resolution.
  What we have done today is simply provide committee spending 
allocations and establish overall aggregate levels of spending and 
revenues so that we can continue the fiscal discipline inherent in our 
budget rules--this means we will be able to enforce our section 302 and 
311 points of order and our pay-as-you-go rule.
  I feel this discipline has been critical to our ability to uphold the 
bipartisan balanced budget agreement and led us to a period of budget 
surpluses. Thus we should not let the fact that we were unable to 
complete conference prevent us from going forward with the budget rules 
which have served us so well in the past.
  I am hopeful that early in the next Congress we might consummate the 
2 year budgeting and appropriations process in statute along with other 
changes to the Budget Act necessitated by the changed environment of 
projected budget surpluses.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the allocations of budget 
authority and outlays under section 302 of the Budget Act for Senate 
authorizing committees be printed in the Record. The Senate 
appropriations already received its allocation on April 2 of this year 
when the Senate adopted S. Res. 209.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

SENATE COMMITTEE BUDGET AUTHORITY AND OUTLAY ALLOCATIONS PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET ACT
                                             BUDGET YEAR TOTAL 1999
                                            [In millions of dollars]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                Direct spending jurisdiction      Entitlements funded in annual
                                             ----------------------------------        appropriations act
                  Committee                                                    ---------------------------------
                                                   Budget          Outlays           Budget
                                                 authority                         authority         Outlays
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry........            9,027            6,319           17,273            9,183
Armed Services..............................           48,287           48,160                0                0
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.........            6,538            3,182                0                0
Commerce, Science, and Transportation.......            8,124            5,753              682              678
Energy and Natural Resources................            2,201            2,238               40               39
Environment and Public Works................           31,232            1,349                0                0
Finance.....................................          694,465          688,023          146,033          146,926
Foreign Relations...........................           10,908           12,141                0                0
Governmental Affairs........................           58,299           57,062                0                0
Judiciary...................................            4,953            4,590              231              232
Labor and Human Resources...................            7,989            7,514            1,328            1,328
Rules and Administration....................               93               56                0                0
Veterans' Affairs...........................            1,194            1,418           22,629           22,536
Indian Affairs..............................              492              477                0                0
Small Business..............................                0             -220                0                0
Unassigned to Committee.....................         -303,087         -294,967                0                0
                                             -------------------------------------------------------------------
      Total.................................        1,417,136        1,402,185          188,216          180,922
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


SENATE COMMITTEE BUDGET AUTHORITY AND OUTLAY ALLOCATIONS PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET ACT
                                             5-YEAR TOTAL: 1999-2003
                                            [In millions of dollars]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                Direct spending jurisdiction      Entitlements funded in annual
                                             ----------------------------------        appropriations act
                  Committee                                                    ---------------------------------
                                                   Budget          Outlays           Budget
                                                 authority                         authority         Outlays
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry........           37,593           24,604           86,417           51,226
Armed Services..............................          258,666          258,183           39,022            1,700
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.........           39,022            1,700                0                0
Commerce, Science, and Transportation.......           64,657           52,828            3,680            3,660
Energy and Natural Resources................           10,564           10,487              200              242
Environment and Public Works................          162,510            6,871                0                0
Finance.....................................        3,660,491        3,651,115          827,934          829,129
Foreign Relations...........................           48,981           54,569                0                0
Governmental Affairs........................          312,943          306,281                0                0

[[Page S12916]]

Judiciary...................................           25,025           23,765            1,155            1,160
Labor and Human Resources...................           46,608           43,850            6,926            6,926
Rules and Administration....................              455              422                0                0
Veterans' Affairs...........................            5,381            7,028          119,335          119,073
Indian Affairs..............................            2,486            2,418                0                0
Small Business..............................                0             -989                0                0
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I support this resolution, which is 
essentially a technical change that will facilitate enforcement of the 
Budget Act in the Senate.
  This resolution would update the following figures for purposes of 
enforcing points of order in the Senate only. First, aggregates for 
revenues, budget authority, outlays, and Social Security revenues and 
outlays. Second, Section 302(a) allocations for Senate committees.
  The resolution does not include functional totals or reconciliation 
instructions. It would not endorse the spending priorities included in 
the Senate-passed resolution, or any other spending priorities, for 
that matter. Also, it would not apply to the House of Representatives. 
It therefore it not a budget resolution in any sense.
  The allocations and aggregates in this resolution are based on CBO's 
August baseline estimates, updated for enacted legislation and some 
technical corrections. The resolution is based on legislation enacted 
as of today. However, it includes a provision allowing the Chairman to 
revise the aggregates and allocations once more based only on 
legislation enacted through the end of the session. This means that 
each committee, and the Senate paygo ledger, will start the year with a 
clean slate.
  Mr. President, since Congress has not adopted a budget resolution for 
FY99, the Senate is now operating under the budget resolution approved 
last year for FY98 and beyond. This has the effect of limiting the 
availability of points of order to enforce the basic rules of the 
Balanced Budget Agreement.
  For example, when the Senate considers legislation proposing revenue 
reductions or new mandatory spending, the Senate's ``pay-as-you-go'' 
rules require that all costs be offset in the first, the first five, 
and the second five years of the budget resolution in effect at the 
time. Since we are now operating under last year's resolution, there is 
now no point of order available based on the failure of such 
legislation, for example, to offset all costs in the first year after 
enactment. This resolution would address this problem.
  So, Mr. President, I support this resolution. It is not a budget 
resolution. It does not propose a set of spending priorities. It is 
simply a technical change that will help us enforce the basic structure 
of the Budget Enforcement Act.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution 
be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that 
any statements relating to the resolution appear at this point in the 
Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 312) was agreed to, as follows:

                              S. Res. 312

       Resolved, That Senate Resolution 209, agreed to April 2, 
     1999 (105th Congress), is amended by striking all after the 
     resolving clause and inserting the following:

     SECTION 1. SENATE BUDGET LEVELS.

       (a) In General.--For the purpose of enforcing the 
     Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and section 202 of House 
     Concurrent Resolution 67 (104th Congress), the following 
     levels, amounts, and allocations shall apply in the Senate in 
     the same manner as a concurrent resolution on the budget for 
     fiscal year 1999 and including the appropriate budgetary 
     levels for fiscal years 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003:
       (1) Federal revenues.--The recommended levels of Federal 
     revenues are as follows:
       Fiscal year 1999: $1,358,919,000,000.
       Fiscal year 2000: $1,388,039,000,000.
       Fiscal year 2001: $1,424,774,000,000.
       Fiscal year 2002: $1,480,891,000,000.
       Fiscal year 2003: $1,534,362,000,000.
       (2) New budget authority.--The appropriate levels of new 
     budget authority are as follows:
       Fiscal year 1999: $1,417,136,000,000.
       Fiscal year 2000: $1,453,654,000,000.
       Fiscal year 2001: $1,489,637,000,000.
       Fiscal year 2002: $1,517,259,000,000.
       Fiscal year 2003: $1,577,949,000,000.
       (3) Budget outlays.--The appropriate levels of total budget 
     outlays are as follows:
       Fiscal year 1999: $1,402,185,000,000.
       Fiscal year 2000: $1,438,029,000,000.
       Fiscal year 2001: $1,473,660,000,000.
       Fiscal year 2002: $1,484,272,000,000.
       Fiscal year 2003: $1,548,914,000,000.
       (4) Social security revenues.--The amounts of revenues of 
     the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and 
     the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund are as follows:
       Fiscal year 1999: $441,749,000,000.
       Fiscal year 2000: $460,115,000,000.
       Fiscal year 2001: $477,722,000,000.
       Fiscal year 2002: $497,290,000,000.
       Fiscal year 2003: $518,752,000,000.
       (5) Social security outlays.--The amounts of outlays of the 
     Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and the 
     Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund are as follows:
       Fiscal year 1999: $321,261,000,000.
       Fiscal year 2000: $330,916,000,000.
       Fiscal year 2001: $344,041,000,000.
       Fiscal year 2002: $355,614,000,000.
       Fiscal year 2003: $368,890,000,000.
       (b) Revisions.--
       (1) In general.--The Chairman of the Senate Committee on 
     the Budget may file 1 set of revisions to the levels, 
     amounts, and allocations provided by this resolution and 
     those revisions shall only reflect legislation enacted in the 
     105th Congress and not assumed in this resolution.
       (2) Congressional pay-go scorecard.--Upon making revisions 
     pursuant to paragraph (1) and for the purpose of enforcing 
     section 202 of House Concurrent Resolution 67 (104th 
     Congress), the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Budget 
     shall reduce any balances of direct spending and receipts for 
     any fiscal year to zero.
       (c) Effective Date and Expiration.--This resolution shall--
       (1) take effect on the date that the Congress adjourns sine 
     die or the date the 105th Congress expires, whichever date is 
     earlier; and
       (2) expire on the effective date of a concurrent resolution 
     on the budget for fiscal year 1999 agreed to pursuant to 
     section 301 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.

     SEC. 2. COMMITTEE ALLOCATIONS.

       Upon the adoption of this resolution, the Chairman of the 
     Committee on the Budget shall file allocations consistent 
     with this resolution pursuant to section 302(a) of the 
     Congressional Budget Act of 1974.

                          ____________________