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Mr. Chairman: In my presentation today, I would like to discuss some of the major challenges and opportunities facing the Congress as it plunges into the next budget cycle.

I will not limit my remarks to the Fiscal Year 1979 budget, however, because the goals that the Congress may wish to pursue through its budgetary policies cannot be achieved in a single year. Lowering the rates of inflation and unemployment, changing the size or composition of federal spending or the structure of federal taxes, or eliminating the federal deficit can be accomplished only gradually. Reaching such goals will require the adoption of a series of federal budgets that are consistent with certain objectives. Decisions on the Fiscal Year 1979 budget should, therefore, be regarded as part of a general budgetary strategy for the next several years.

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