PRIORITIES FOR THE PROGRAM DIVISIONS DURING FY 1993 Priorities for the Program divisions for FY 1993 include: Natural Resources and Commerce Division: In FY 1993 the division anticipates providing important analytical services to the Congress in several areas, including agriculture, energy policy, environmental programs, financial regulation, international trade, science policy, and public investment. World and national events are likely to continue to focus the attention of Congress on these areas, but the exact nature of legislative activity cannot be pinned down so far in advance. For example, in agriculture the agenda depends strongly on the success of current negotiations on a GATT agreement to liberalize agricultural trade. If the negotiations are successful, potential studies would examine the effects on U.S. agriculture and farm program spending of implementing such an agreement; otherwise, potential studies would focus on the effects of the international trade environment that will emerge if the negotiations fail. Energy issues are likely to be dominated by the aftermath of conflict in the Middle East, restructuring in the Soviet Union, and by environmental concerns, such as the current international discussions of global warming. These separate developments are likely to focus attention on energy conservation policies and support for alternative energy sources. Other environmental issues are likely to continue to develop in the areas of solid waste disposal, cleanup of hazardous waste sites, and the impact on water quality from pesticide and other agriculture practices. The evolution of the structure of the U.S. financial industry, and changes in the Federal regulatory system and deposit insurance funds will provide a challenging agenda for the division, as will potential problems with the insurance industry. Trade issues associated with competitiveness concerns and changes in the world economic system that may accompany the economic unification of Europe, the democratization of Eastern Europe, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and the GATT are expected to command Congressional attention. Science policy and public investment can play an important role in economic growth, and questions of how to allocate resources most effectively in these areas may assume heightened importance as the budget agreement forces hard choices among domestic appropriated programs. The division will continue to support the other divisions of CBO by providing models of federal enterprises, assisting in cost and revenue estimates, forecasting oil and agricultural commodity prices, and tracking the PRIORITIES FOR THE PROGRAM DIVISIONS DURING FY 1993 cont. Human Resources and Community Development Division: During FY 1993 the division will continue to provide several types of analytic support to Congressional committees on issues of immediate legislative concern. Areas in which the division expects to be active include: federal student aid programs; budgetary priorities related to federal housing assistance; ways of aiding workers with low wages; issues and options related to revisions in the nation's welfare system, such as limiting the duration of benefits or guaranteeing child support; the distributional impact of options for covering the uninsured; options for controlling health care costs; the distribution of uncompensated care and its impact of hospitals; and the financing of graduate medical education. National Security Division: The division expects no change in its basic mission: supplying highquality, timely information on defense budget issues at the request of Congressional committees of jurisdiction. It is likely that in the wake of the failed Soviet coup, much of this information will consist of analyses of budget alternatives that reflect reductions in the threats to U.S. security. Specific requests could focus on the costs of broad approaches to reducing the size of the military, the effects of the budget caps enacted in 1990 on defense and nondefense spending, assessments of the personnel effects of reducing the size of the military, and information about the effects of defense spending cutbacks on the economy. General Government: Through FY 1993, the General Government Unit will continue to work on issues concerning the compensation of the federal work force (including possible new pay-for-performance systems), the financing and allocation of resources for the national war on drugs, and the operating and capital investment requirements of the U.S. Postal Service. PRODUCTS OF THE PROGRAM DIVISIONS See section on "Accomplishments of the Program Divisions in FY Staffing of the Program Divisions On June 13, 1991, Jan Paul Acton was named Assistant Director for Natural Resources and Commerce. Acton, an economist, spent his professional career prior to joining CBO with The RAND Corporation. At RAND, he was a member of the graduate school faculty, served as Co-Editor of The RAND Journal of Economics, served as Director, Regulatory Policies Program, carried out research on energy, the environment, and regulated industries, and was responsible for program development and guidance on topics affected by governmental regulatory, tax, and trade policies. The FY 1993 request contains no provision for a change in staffing of the program divisions. * Includes employees, whose services are obtained under contract with 50 50 |
