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“SUSPENDING CERTAIN PROVISIONS PURSUANT TO SECTION 258(a)(2) OF BALANCED BUDGET AND EMERGENCY DEFICIT CONTROL ACT OF 1985” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the Senate section on pages S877 on Feb. 14, 2002.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SUSPENDING CERTAIN PROVISIONS PURSUANT TO SECTION 258(a)(2) OF BALANCED
BUDGET AND EMERGENCY DEFICIT CONTROL ACT OF 1985
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that previous consent with respect to S.J. Res. 31 be modified to provide that all time be yielded back; that the joint resolution be read the third time, and the Senate then vote on passage, without intervening action or debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, once again, as was that case last November, the Senate today must consider a measure that comes to us as a result of the recession. S.J. Res. 31 is an automatic resolution, required to be introduced by the majority leader and considered by the Budget Committee and the Senate under expedited procedures.
The resolution is automatic when the Congressional Budget Office notifies the Congress of an economic slowdown.
On January 30, the Department of Commerce's advance report on real economic growth, showed the economy in the fourth quarter grew at an annual rate of 2 tenths of a percent. In the third quarter the economy shrank at an annual rate of 1.3 percent.
This report triggered the CBO notification of low-growth, and subsequently triggered the introduction of the resolution before us today.
The provision in the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985--sometimes referred to as the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act--
that necessitated the reporting of this resolution, was simply that we did not want to be initiating major spending cuts in a time of recession.
I might add that the same section of that law that suspends spending cuts in the time of recessions also covers events of war.
S.J. Res. 31 was reported unfavorably from the Budget Committee yesterday. The committee is required to report the resolution without amendment or be discharged without comment.
Again, I concurred with the chairman that the committee should express its disfavor with the Resolution, to send a signal to the full Senate to disapprove it. I ask the Senate to join the chairman, Budget Committee, and me on disapproving the resolution.
If this resolution were somehow to make it to the President for his signature, which he would not sign, it would effectively eliminate all fiscal discipline, all the enforcement tools we have here in the Congress all the way through September 2003.
I do not think we need to take such drastic action.
Having taken this position on a bipartisan basis, however, does not mean that we should not act to address both the economic slow down and the war on terrorism. We should and we must.
Having said that, the business sector was the focus of the economic weakness in the fourth quarter--as it has been throughout the recession.
Businesses reduced inventories at a very rapid pace and decreased investment in new plant and equipment. These factors were such a drag on economic growth that had it not been for a large increase in government purchases, GDP would have been negative in the fourth quarter.
However, the outlook for economic growth this year is becoming increasingly positive. This morning the Labor Department reported that initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped last week to the lowest level since August. Claims are down 26 percent since the peak in October. Businesses may not be adding workers and the unemployment rate may continue to rise a bit from here, but the pace of layoffs has slowed.
The inventory cycle, productivity, monetary policy, and fiscal policy all suggest better growth this year. Having decreased inventories by more than $70 billion in 2001, business have more room to make purchases in the months ahead.
Remarkably, it seems no one told productivity that we had a recession. Productivity growth averaged more than 2 percent during the recession and it usually increases rapidly during recoveries.
With short-term interest rates at 1.75 percent, monetary policy is loose. Lower energy prices should contribute to growth this year. And, although I wish we could agree on additional policies to stimulate growth, the tax cut we enacted last year will boost the economy this year.
The tools of fiscal discipline must be contained so we can convey to the American public and the markets that we are keeping an eye not only on the current challenges we face, but also those longer term challenges.
We must maintain the provisions of the Budget Act that provide us with that future discipline, and we must deal with both tax and spending legislation today while waiving the Budget Act on a case by case basis as needed.
I appreciate the chairman's willingness to approach this issue on a bipartisan basis and I join with him in recommending that the full Senate now reject this resolution when it votes later today.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on the engrossment and third reading of the joint resolution.
The joint resolution was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading and was read the third time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The joint resolution having been read the third time, the question is, Shall the joint resolution pass?
The joint resolution (S.J. Res. 31) was rejected.
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