8. Deficit Reduction Act Report. Section 2903 of the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984 (P.L. 98-369) required the President to review recommendations for management improvement and cost control opportunities, including those made by congressional committees, executive and legislative branch agencies, educational and research organizations, and public and private bodies, task forces, councils, panels, and study groups. He then was to report to Congress with a list of the recommendations reviewed, the actions which the President proposes to take or has taken, and the amount of cost savings expected to result from implementation of those recommendations in fiscal years 1985, 1986, and 1987. The President submitted his response to this requirement in an OMB addendum to the budget entitled "Management of United States Government-Fiscal Year 1986." Instead of responding to the comprehensive requirement described above, the OMB submission concentrates on the recommendations of a single entity, the so-called "Private Sector Survey on Cost Control." The rest of the report presents a management overview but does not refer to any other specific recommendations as required by P.L. 98-369. OMB either ignored or overlooked numerous other studies in this area, by public and private organizations alike. It should be noted that while the Deficit Reduction Act was under consideration, the conferees specifically expanded the coverage of the provision which became section 2903 in order to avoid over-reliance on the recommendations of any specific entity or study. In the case of the group which is discussed to the exclusion of all others in the OMB management report, the reason the Congress expanded the requirement becomes clear. A number of recent objective studies have cast serious doubt on the methodology employed, and thus on the validity of the conclusions reached, by the organization featured in the OMB response. The Administration's failure to comply with the requirements of section 2903 denies Congress the opportunity to receive the benefit of the Administration's views on a wide range of well-researched cost control studies. As a result of the Administration's failure to provide a comprehensive overview of recommendations in the area of management improvement and cost control opportunities, as required by section 2903 of the Deficit Reduction Act, it is impossible for the Committee to comply with the requirements of section 2904 of that Act. This letter transmits the views and estimates of the Committee on House Administration, as required by Section 301(c) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, on budget matters for Fiscal Year 1986 as they relate to the Committee's jurisdiction. In preparing this report the Committee has reviewed the major programs, i.e., programs with budget accounts which exceed $1M annually, under the direct spending control of the Committee, as well as those programs which are authorized by the Committee but whose spending is controlled by the Appropriations Committee. Pursuant thereto, the Committee estimates that the total budget authority for these programs will not exceed $58M for FY 86, and that the total outlays will not exceed $21M for FY 86. The Committee does not anticipate that these estimated recommendations will result in any major programmatic or budget impact. Please be advised that, at this time, there are no revenue or credit programs within the sole jurisdiction of the Committee. The Committee would like to take this opportunity to express its concerns with regard to the state of the national economy and the projected Federal deficit. Please be advised that the Committee stands ready to work closely with the House Leadership and the House Budget Committee in developing a FY 86 budget that significantly reduced the Federal deficit. |