Congress argues over budget cuts, energy

Abstract

The work of Congress in recent weeks has not been conducted on the floor but rather behind the scenes in corridors and committee rooms as both houses struggled to reach compromises on energy bills that have been in the works for more than a year and wrangled oyer how to balance the fiscal 1981 budget. The sudden call for a balanced budget from both the Administration and Congress comes at an awkward time. Most Congressional subcommittees already have completed hearings on the budget proposals for the agencies they oversee and many have already begun and some have completed markup of the fiscal 1981 budget authorization bills. The results, in some cases, won't help balance the budget. For example, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation has ordered reported the National Bureau of Standards' first ever authorization bill, with a budget ceiling for fiscal 1981 of $108 million, $20 million more than the Administration requested ...