Summertime Slowdown

Once again, Congress puts off any energy program

As Congress prepared to adjourn last week for a month's recess, all sense of urgency seemed to evaporate in the summer heat. Much to the disgust of the White House, the push to pass the President's energy bill ground to a halt.

The slowdown was started by Democratic Senator Gary Hart of Colorado, who wrote a letter to Budget Committee Chairman Edmund Muskie urging him to set up a task force to study both the economic and environmental impact of Carter's $141 billion energy program. It was too vast and too complicated, Hart argued, to be approved without extensive research. "We ought to understand what all this means," he said. Muskie agreed and took the argument to Senator Henry Jackson, who wanted an omnibus energy bill as soon as possible. Despite Jackson, the Hart-Muskie view prevailed, and Jackson's own Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted to request only $3 billion for the synthetic fuel program in the fiscal 1980 budget instead of the $22 billion sought by the President.

Hart was placed in charge of the task force he had recommended. He plans to consult the Congressional Budget Office and several other agencies, then report to the Senate when it reconvenes after Labor Day. He said with relief: "A lot of steam has come out of the effort, allowing the fever to cool off and calm to reassert itself. It's too much, too soon. It is a good program for the 1990s, not something you have to pass in the summer of 1979. We might create a monster we can't get rid of." Agreed Abe Ribicoff: "We have the responsibility not to rush to judgment."

The Senate was also uneasy about approving such an expensive program because the budget deficit is ominously rising. Congress set a goal of a $23 billion deficit for fiscal 1980 with the intention of balancing the budget the following year. But inflation has wrecked these plans, and additional spending is expected. To get SALT II approved, its supporters will probably have to agree to increased defense outlays of as much as $7 billion. The recession may trigger further spending; a jump of 2% in the unemployment rate could add $40 billion to the deficit because of lower tax revenues and higher spending on social programs. If there is a tax cut to combat the recession, that alone could push the deficit for fiscal 1980 to $50 billion or $60 billion.

Before adjourning, the Senate displayed another sign of independence. The White House had called for a 43% reduction in Amtrak routes in order to trim the $600 million annual subsidy. Then came the gas shortage, and Amtrak ridership jumped 24% in June over the year before. So the Senate voted to pare the system by just under 20%. To remain in service, a train must average 150 passengers per mile and lose no more than 7-c- a mile per passenger. Among the trains that will survive: the New York-New Orleans Southern Crescent, considered the best passenger train in the nation; the Washington-Montreal Montrealer; and one of the two trains running between New York and Florida. Those likely to be dropped: the Chicago-Miami Floridian, the New York-Kansas City National Limited, the Chicago-Seattle North Coast Hiawatha. Since the Senate bill resembles the one passed by the House, the Administration will probably grudgingly go along with the more limited cutback.

Carter was not faring much better in the House. That body approved the standby gas rationing bill urged by the President, but it was hobbled by so many amendments that it represents a hollow victory. Rationing cannot be imposed unless a 20% oil shortage is likely to occur for at least 30 days, a reduction about three times as severe as the one that caused the recent gas lines. The House added an amendment that was especially offensive to the White House because it allows any building to avoid mandatory thermostat settings of 78DEGF in summer and 65DEGF in winter if the owner can show that he is saving comparable amounts of fuel in other ways. Another amendment excluded farmers from all conservation controls, and new allocations were established to promise farmers enough diesel oil and homeowners enough heating fuel.

The House Ways and Means Committee virtually laughed off Carter's proposals for $2.4 billion in tax credits to encourage development of new energy sources. Drawing the most ridicule were credits for installing wood-burning stoves and for positioning buildings so that they have maximum southern exposure. Republican Representative Barber Conable quipped that credits should be allowed for windows that face east, "since the sun rises in the east." Democrat William Brodhead warned that a tax break for wood-burning stoves might make it necessary to "post guards around our trees." Declared Florida Democrat Sam Gibbons: "I'm going to be hard as the dickens to convince that any of these proposals are worth the paper they are printed on."

Responding to the House actions, the Administration complained that once again its energy program was being cannibalized by parochial interests. Vice President Walter Mondale chided the House for adopting "crippling amendments to our proposals for an absolutely essential stand-by gasoline rationing program . . . amendments that undermine existing laws to save energy. As the gas lines have receded and the inevitable interest-group pressure has mounted, I regret to say Congress has failed to make adequate progress on the President's proposals." Press Secretary Jody Powell called the week's votes in Congress "ill advised, unworkable, unenforceable and unacceptable."

Before departing, Congress had one unpleasant piece of housekeeping to do: the punishment of Detroit Democrat Charles Diggs, the senior black in the House, who had been convicted of forcing his staff to kick back part of their salaries to him. Republicans pressed for his expulsion, but failed by a vote of 205 to 197. Then the House voted 414 to 0 for censure. Diggs will have to repay $40,000 he had pocketed to the U.S. Treasury, and as long as he remains in Congress, his employees must certify that they are receiving their full pay. Diggs, who is appealing a three-year prison sentence, promptly announced that he would run for reelection.

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