§6735 Program studies and recommendations; evaluation; countercyclical study

Summary

Require the Comptroller General of the United States to study how emergency support grants affect State and local governments and the national economy. He must work with the Congressional Budget Office and the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations while doing the study. He must send a report to Congress within one year after July 22, 1976, that evaluates the program’s big-picture economic effects and offers recommendations. All federal officers must give him needed information when he reasonably asks. Require the Congressional Budget Office and the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations to study how the Federal Government can help steady the economy during fast growth and high inflation by using programs aimed at State and local governments. Their study must compare different ways to trigger and measure the problem and look at how recessions affect State and local spending. They must work with the Comptroller General and report to Congress within two years after July 22, 1976, including the Comptroller General’s views. The Secretary, with the Secretary of Commerce, must study whether allocations should use data on drops in private real wages and salaries, whether factors like relative tax effort belong in the allocation system, and whether data for Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands are available and reliable and whether those territories can be included in the regular allocation system.