Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 110 Part 6.djvu/640

 110 STAT. 4462 CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS-JUNE 13, 1996 (d) LIMITATIONS.—The adjustments made under this section shall not exceed $1,337,000,000 in outlays for fiscal year 1997. TITLE IV—SENSE OF CONGRESS, HOUSE, AND SENATE PROVISIONS SEC. 401. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON BASELINES. (a) FINDINGS. —Congress finds that: (1) Baselines are projections of future spending if existing policies remain unchanged. (2) Under baseline assumptions, spending automatically rises with inflation even if such increases are not mandated under existing law. (3) Baseline budgeting is inherently biased against policies that would reduce the projected growth in spending because such policies are depicted as spending reductions from an increasing baseline. (4) The baseline concept has encouraged Congress to abdicate its constitutional obligation to control the public purse for those programs which are automatically funded. (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.— I t is the sense of Congress that baseline budgeting should be replaced with a budgetary model that requires justification of aggregate funding levels and maximizes congressional accountability for Federal spending. SEC. 402. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON LOAN SALES. (a) FINDINGS.— Congress finds that: (1) The House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government have stated that "more consideration should be given to the sale of nonperforming loans held not only by HUD, but by all Federal agencies that provide credit programs" and directed the Office of Management and Budget to direct Federal agencies to evaluate the value of their credit programs and develop a plan for the privatization of such credit programs. (2) The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies has directed that the Small Business Administration should study and report to Congress on the feasibility of private servicing of SBA loan activities. (3) The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies previously directed the Farmers Home Administration to "explore the potential savings that might occur from contract centralized servicing". (4) The Committee on Agriculture of the House has consistently urged the Secretary of Agriculture to explore contracting out loan servicing operations. (5) The General Accounting Office has found that "Allowing the public and private sectors to compete for the centralized servicing (of loans) could mean reaping the benefits of the competitive marketplace—greater efficiency, increased focus on customer needs, increased innovation, and improved morale.". (6) The House Committee on Small Business has recommended "that 40 percent of the loan servicing portfolio (for Disaster Loans) be privatized".

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