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23 Tax Foundation's Washington News 1 (1971)

handle is hein.tera/wingnews0025 and id is 1 raw text is: January 15, 1,971                    Vol. 23  No. 1
1725 K Street, N.W.
Washington, D. C. 20006
CONGRESS AND THE FISCAL 1971 FEDERAL BUDGET
The Second Session of the 91st Congress, which cor.vened January 19,
1970, finally adjourned on January 2, 1971. It was a session marke- by con-
troversy and, particularly in the Senate, by prolonged debates which delay-
ed action on major legislation and left a number of issues unresolved. Dur-
ing its two-year life 29,040 bills and resolutions were introduced -- 23,575
in the House and 5,465 in the Senate. A total of 664 public bills were en-
acted into law, 474 of them in the session recently ended; in addition, 245
private bills were enacted.
Obviously it is impossible to review the record of the recent session
in detail. This first 1971 issue of Washington News is devoted to a neces-
sarily brief summary and analysis of the major actions of the session which
affect the fiscal 1971 Federal budget -- a budget which initially projected
a very modest surplus (on the unified concept basis) Lut which now appears
certain to show a deficit of perhaps $15 billion or more.
In mid-year the Congress adopted a ceilingon fiscal 1971 spending,
designed to bind the Executive but be flexible with respect to Congres-
sional budgetary actions. This set a beginning ceiling of $200.8 billion
on fiscal 1971 outlays (the original budget estimate), then provided a
cushion of $4.5 billion to cover anticipated increases in uncontrollable
spending programs, and, finally, provided for automatic adjustment of the
limit based upon the actions, or inactions, of Congress on measures affect-
ing budget outlays. The effectiveness of such ceilings is questionable;
even before its final adoption, outlay estimates had been revised upward,
by $4.8 billion, to $205.6 billion.
Additionally, it became obvious early in the year that, because of the
economic slowdown, there was likely to be a substantial shortfall in reve-
nue collections, and that spending restraint would be required to hold the
budget deficit within reasonable limits. Nevertheless, the following an-
alysis -- based primarily on data supplied in the budget scorekeeping re-
ports of the staff of the Joint Committee on Reduction of Federal Lxpendi-
tures -- sugqests that the result of the actions taken in the recent ses-
sion will be to increase fiscal 1971 spending by significant amounts.
Finally, the record of the recent Congress was no better -- and per-
haps worse -- than that of its recent predecessors with respect to the
handling of the annual appropriation bills. Not one of these measures was
enacted prior to the start of the fiscal year, and the year was half over
before several became law. Such delays, which complicate the budget pro-
cess, have become the rule rather than the exception, prompting many, in-
cluding the President and Senate Majority Leader Mansfield (D-Vont.), to
urge reform of Congressional budgetary processes.

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