Date: 1982-12-14
Speaker: ROBERT C. BYRD (democrat)
Chamber: S

Mr. President. I thank the majority leader and I thank the Senator from Kansas for their willingness to proceed along the lines suggested. Mr. President. our Nation is in the grips of the deepest and most severe recession since the Great Depression. 10.8 percent of the labor force was unemployed in midNovember. Twelve million people are joblessthe largest number since 1933. Our plants and equipment stand idle throughout the country. Overall production in our Nations factories sank to a postwar law of 68.4 percent in October. while our steel and auto plants continued to operate at or below the 50 percent level. Businesses continue to fall at rates not seen since the 1930s. with 23.015 businesses closing their doors for good by the end of Novemberan increase of nearly 50 percent compared to last year. We face an economic emergency. and there is no more important task before this Congress in its waning days. than to take the steps that can begin to reverse our economic fortunes. We must send the Federal Reserve Board and the financial markets a clear message that the Congress will not tolerate a return to the tight money policies which have done so much to wreak havoc on our economy. I am introducing a resolution expressing the sense of the Congress that the Federal Reserve Board should pursue and maintain interest rates consistent with economic growth. which I intend to offer as an amendment to this bill or to the continuing resolution at a later point. I believe there is no more important step we can take than adopting this amendment. There is little time remaining in the life of this Congress. and we cannot hope. in the next few days. to put all of Americas jobless citizens back to work. But we can make a start today. We have an obligation to take at least the first steps which will offer a helping hand to those who must face this Christmas season without jobs or hope. I do not doubt for a moment the importance of the legislation now before the Senate. Without question. there is an urgent and pressing need to repair and maintain Americas deteriorating public infrastructure. We ignore its dangerous state of disrepair at our peril. But even the strongest adherents of this legislation do not claim that it is a jobs program. We must do more before we adjourn to address. the needs of Americas jobless. The amendment I have sent to the desk would add a direct job creation program to this legislation. The amendment which other Senators and I have joined in cosponsoring would more than double the number of Jobs created by the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982. thereby putting more than 731.000 unemployed Americans back to work. Our amendment pays for itself. by partially delaying the third year of the KempRoth tax cut for those making between $50.000 and $65.000 a year. and by fully delaying the third year cut for the few fortunate Americans making more than $65.000 a year. Instead of raising the gasoline tax for all of our citizens. rich and poor alike. our proposal would place a greater share of the burden on those who can most afford to bear it. Our proposal has several major components. First. it would authorize a laborintensive community public works program funded at $2 billion. which would channel funds directly to State and local governments through the community development block grant program. These funds would be used for hiring unemployed workers on such projects as rustproofing bridges. weatherizing public housing. filling potholes and painting public buildings. The decisions on which projects to select would be left with the State and local governments. The program is designed to leave behind a tangible product in the form of improved community facilities. and to avoid the charges of make work which have plagued some jobs programs in the past. Eligible workers would have to have been out of work for 15 of the last 26 weeks. To protect against possible patronage abuse and to make sure that governments cannot use these funds to transfer their existing payroll onto this new program. local governments would have to hire workers referred to them by the local U.S. Employment Service. the agency which administers the unemployment insurance program. The entire program would expire at the end of the fiscal year. All funds would have to be spent during that fiscal year. These features are designed to prevent some of the problems which have plagued some jobs programs in the past. Our amendment would also provide additional weeks of supplemental unemployment benefits in all States. Under the provisions of last summers tax bill. the new temporary program of supplemental benefits provides 6 weeks in States with lower unemploy ment. 8 weeks in States with unemployment in the midrsnge. and 10 weeks in States with the highest unemployment. The proposal would increase this to 8. 13. and 15 weeks respectively. at a cost of $700 million. In addition. our amendment would increase appropriations for several existing programs that will undertake needed public work and fund new Jobs by adding $400 million to public housing rehabilitaiton and modernization. $200 million to retrain workers displaced by declining industries. $100 million for the senior citizens employment program under the Older Americans Act. $37 million for reclamation of abandoned mine sites. and $100 million for reforestation and timber land improvement through the Forest Service. Our amendment also would help create jobs in rural America. by aiding farmers and ranchers in expanding their markets through increased sales of U.S. Agricultural exports. The amendment provides $750 million for the Agriculture export credit revolving fund in the food for peace program. The fund would be used to finance commerical export sales of all U.S. agricultural commodities and breeding livestock. I will help us compete with other countries. employ thousands more of our citizens and bring urgently needed help to a sector of our economy which everyone. including this administration. believes needs help very badly. Finally. our proposal would modify the heavy public works proposal in the legislation before us to add funds for water and sewer rehabilitation and construction programs. at a cost of $1 billion. We would also require that an inventory of existing major public infrastructures be undertaken. and a plan for their repair. modernization and regular replacement be prepared and submitted to the Congress for its consideration. This package would cost $5.3 billion. To pay for it. and for the additional heavy public works spending already in the legislation before us. our amendment would eliminate the 5 cents gasoline tax increase proposed by the administration and. instead. partially delay the third year of the KempRoth tax cut for those with incomes over $50.000 a year and fully delay It for those with incomes of $65.000 or more. Those affected would have the third installment of the KempRoth tax cut partially or fully delayed for 3 years. After that. these individuals would receive the full 10 percent tax cut. Capping the third year of the tax cut in this fashion would raise approximately $23.8 billion over 3 years. an amount more than sufficient to pay for the jobs program I am proposing. Unlike the gas tax. which affects the rich and poor alike. our amendment affects only upper income families. It is a fairer. and better approach than increasing the gasoline tax for all our citizens. We Democrats believe. as we have said from the start of this administration. that each citizen should bear his or her fair share of the tax burden. We should not ask working and middleclass Americans to bear the entire weight of putting our most hardpressed citizens back to work. We have offered a better alternative. by delaying the final bit of largesse due the wealthiest few among us from the KempRoth scheme. We are asking that a small minority of the wealthiest and most fortunate Americans forgo the final installment of tax cuts so that a large number of unfortunate Americans can get back to work at productive jobs. Instead of making the middle class pay once more. we Democrats believe it is time to let the wealthiest pay their fair share. Why would anyone prefer to tax every single American. no matter how hardpressed he or she may be. no matter how elderly that person may be. no matter how far that person. such as the coal miner in West Virginfa or a steelworker in West Virginia. would have to drive to and from work each day when we can tax only the smallest number of Americans who are already far wealthier than most people? Why would anyone want a gas tax that drains 27 cents from the general revenue fund for every $1 it raises for the trust fund. when a partial tax delay for the wealthier citizen raises more money than is needed and actu. ally reduces the deficits over 3 years? Why would anyone prefer imposing a new tax on working and retired Americans when we can simply delay a new tax cut for wealthy Americans? We have just. recently imposed new taxeswithout my voteon working Americans and small business people and elderly citizens. school teachers. store clerks. and other people in other vocations by imposing an additional telephone tax. an additional unemployment compensation tax. an additional tax on cigarettes. an additional tax on airline tickets. and so on. So. it Is time. we think. to let the wealthiest pay their fair share. We have worked hard to craft a jobs program that targets help where it is needed most. thatfakes careful note of the lessons we have learned from past jobcreation efforts. that is fiscally responsible. and that distributes the burden of paying for this additional spending in the fairest way. We do not claim that our program is a panacea. On the contrary. it is only a beginning in the effort to turn this economy around and put Americas jobless citizens back to work. But it is an important and vitally needed first step. which merits the support of my colleagues on both sides of this aisle. I urge them to join us in adopting this amendment. Mr. President. that completes my statement. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the RECORD R table entitled "Infrastructure and Jobs Amendment Offered by Robert C. Byrd." showing program components and dollars in billions. fiscal year 1983. material with reference to the infrastructure and jobs amendment showing costs and additional jobs created beyond those created by H.R. 6211. an explanation of the laborintensive community public works program. and an editorial from the December 10. 1982. New York Times entitled "It Only Looks Like a Jobs Bill."