January 25, 1999

THOMPSON ANNOUNCES JOINT HEARING ON BIENNIAL BUDGET

Washington, DC - Senator Fred Thompson (R-TN), Chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, announced the Committee will hold a joint hearing with the Committee on the Budget to consider budget process reform legislation. The hearing on S. 92, the Biennial Budgeting and Appropriations Act, and S. 93, the Budget Enforcement Act of 1999, will be held on Wednesday, January 27 at 9:30 a.m. in SD-106 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

The Biennial Budgeting and Appropriations Act was introduced on January 19,1999 by Senators Domenici (R-NM), Thompson , and Lieberman (D-CT) and currently has 22 co-sponsors. The bill would convert the annual budget, appropriations and authorization process to a biennial, or two-year, cycle. The Budget Enforcement Act of 1999 incorporates the biennial budget bill, but also includes provisions on reforming emergency spending, clarifying pay-as-you-go budget rules, establishing an automatic continuing resolution and streamlining the process for consideration of budget bills.

"We need to enact biennial budgeting to avoid the repetition and duplication of the current annual budget process while reserving more time for overseeing federal programs that clearly are not working," said Thompson. "While these proposed changes may not cure all the ills of our present system, they represent a sound beginning in efforts to maintain our current fiscal health."

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