CBO
TESTIMONY
Statement of
Alice M. Rivlin
Director
Congressional Budget Office
Before the
Committee on the Budget
U.S. Senate
February 6, 1979
There should be no release of this statement before
its delivery, scheduled for 11:00 a.m. (E.S.T.) February 6, 1979
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Mr. Chairman, in 1978, unemployment declined substantially, but inflation
accelerated to near record levels for the postwar period. As a result,
the Administration and the Federal Reserve have undertaken an anti-inflation
program of tightened credit, wage-price guidelines, and proposed spending
cuts. As you begin your deliberations on the First Concurrent Resolution
on the Budget for Fiscal Year 1980, the central question facing this Committee
is: How should the budget respond to this anti-inflation effort? To assist
your consideration of this question, my statement this morning will cover
five topics:
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The outlook for the economy over the next two years as forecast by CBO;
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The prospects for slowing inflation;
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The main outlines of the fiscal year 1980 budget--both the budget prepared
by the Administration and the budget if current policies were continued
with no changes;
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Long-run fiscal policy options; and
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Long-run economic goals.
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