United States · United States Congress · 4 October 2007
Vision Preservation Act of 2007 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to expand and intensify programs to increase awareness of vision problems. Directs the Secretary to expand and intensify: (1) activities to establish a solid scientific base of knowledge on the prevention, control, and rehabilitation of vision problems and related disabilities; (2) research within CDC on the prevention and management of vision loss; and (3) programs targeted to prevent vision loss, treat eye and vision conditions, and rehabilitate people of all ages who are blind or partially sighted in underserved and minority communities. Amends title V (Maternal and Child Health Services) of the Social Security Act to authorize appropriations to enable the Secretary to introduce core performance measures on eye health by incorporating vision screening and examination standards into state programs. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to eligible institutions of higher education or nonprofit organizations for vision rehabilitation professional development.
United States · United States Congress · 27 September 2007
Revises the requirement that all vending machines operated by federal agencies and instrumentalities accept and dispense $1 coins. Exempts from such dispensing requirement any vending machines that do not receive currency denominations higher than $1.
United States · United States Congress · 25 September 2007
Protect America's Wildlife Act of 2007 - Amends the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 to add to airborne hunting offenses a prohibition against any person shooting or attempting to shoot any bird, fish, or other animal before 3:00 a.m. following a day on which the person has traveled by aircraft other than on a regularly scheduled commercial aircraft. Increases the fine for such offenses to not more than $50,000 (currently, $5,000). Prohibits a state from authorizing or undertaking any action otherwise prohibited under such Act for the purpose of increasing any game population or sport hunting. Authorizes a state to shoot predators from an aircraft to prevent a biological emergency, if: (1) the head of the state's fish and wildlife agency determines that such an emergency is imminent and there is no other means available to eliminate the emergency; (2) the shooting is conducted by an officer or employee of such agency or of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA); (3) the shooting occurs only in the area where the emergency exists; and (4) the shooting removes only the minimum number of predators necessary to eliminate the emergency. Allows the Secretary of the Interior to authorize an otherwise prohibited action to prevent the extinction of any endangered or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 if there is no other means available to address the threat of extinction. Authorizes citizen suits under the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956.
United States · United States Congress · 25 September 2007
States that: (1) it shall continue to be U.S. policy, consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act, to make available to Taiwan defense articles and services necessary for Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability; and (2) the United States should determine the nature and quantity of such defense articles and services based solely upon Taiwan's legitimate defense needs.
United States · United States Congress · 24 September 2007
Subjects civil aircraft, aircraft engines, or propellers (including any component or technology related to such items) to export controls only under the Export Administration Act of 1979, as continued in effect pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Provides that such items shall not be subject to military export controls under the Arms Export Control Act.
United States · United States Congress · 20 September 2007
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the 15-year recovery period for purposes of the tax deduction for depreciation of qualified restaurant property. Revises the term "qualified restaurant property" to include existing buildings as well as improvements to buildings.
United States · United States Congress · 18 September 2007
Designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 4320 Blue Parkway in Kansas City, Missouri, as the "Wallace S. Hartsfield Post Office Building."
United States · United States Congress · 18 September 2007
Honors the accomplishments of Barrington Irving, the youngest pilot and first African-American to fly solo around the world and founder of Experience Aviation, Inc., a nonprofit organization that inspires youth and minorities to pursue careers in aviation and aerospace. Encourages museums throughout the United States related to aviation, including the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum, to commemorate the historic achievements of Captain Barrington Irving.
United States · United States Congress · 17 September 2007
Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to authorize appropriations for the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program through FY2012.
United States · United States Congress · 17 September 2007
Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Act - Amends the federal criminal code to define "criminal street gang" and "gang crime" and to prohibit: (1) the commission of, or an attempt or conspiracy to commit, a gang crime to further the activities of a criminal street gang; and (2) the recruitment of another person to join a criminal street gang. Amends the Controlled Substances Act to impose criminal penalties for murder and other violent crimes committed in the course of a drug trafficking offense. Increases criminal penalties for possession of firearms by repeat criminal offenders. Prohibits the possession of firearms by individuals convicted of a gang-related misdemeanor or in contempt of a gang injunction order. Authorizes the Attorney General to deny the transfer of a firearm or a firearm permit to individuals who may use firearms for terrorist activities. Authorizes the Attorney General to: (1) designate certain areas in states as high intensity interstate gang activity areas and provide assistance to such areas; (2) expand the Project Safe Neighborhoods program to require U.S. attorneys to identify, investigate, and prosecute criminal street gangs operating in their districts; (3) expand the Safe Streets Program of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to support criminal street gang enforcement teams; and (4) make grants to states to prevent abductions of children by family members. Establishes a grant program in the Office of Justice Programs of the Department of Justice (DOJ) for crime prevention, research, and intervention services designed for gang members and at-risk youth. Establishes in the U.S. Marshals Service a Short-Term State Witness Protection Section to provide protection for witnesses in state and local trials involving homicide or other violent crimes. Expands the federal witness relocation and protection program to include protection for witnesses against criminal street gangs. Directs the Secretary of Labor to make grants for juvenile offender reintegration projects and for employment programs for young adult gang members to reduce recidivism and promote long-term employability.
United States · United States Congress · 17 September 2007
Catalyst to Better Diabetes Care Act of 2007 - Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the Secretary) to: (1) review uptake and utilization of the Medicare diabetes screening benefit; (2) establish an outreach program to identify existing efforts to increase awareness of the diabetes screening benefit among Medicare beneficiaries and providers; and (3) maximize economies of scale, cost-effectiveness, and resource allocation in increasing utilization of the diabetes screening benefit. Requires the Secretary of Commerce to establish an advisory group to examine and recommend best practices of chronic illness employee wellness incentivization and disease management programs. Directs the Secretary to prepare, biennially, a diabetes report card for the nation and for each state. Requires the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to: (1) promote the education and training of physicians on how to properly complete birth and death certificates and the importance of such data; (2) encourage state adoption of the latest standard revisions of birth and death certificates; and (3) work with states to reengineer their vital statistics systems to provide cost-effective, timely, and vital systems data. Allows the Secretary to promote the addition to death certificates of language to improve the collection of diabetes mortality data. Requires the Secretary to conduct a study of the impact of diabetes on the practice of medicine in the United Sates and the level of diabetes medical education that should be required prior to licensure, board certification, and board recertification.
United States · United States Congress · 17 September 2007
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) nonviolence and Mahatma Gandhi's teachings remain relevant in today's world; (2) our nation should take an active role in disseminating the message of nonviolence; and (3) the President should request the American people to observe the International Day of Non-Violence.
United States · United States Congress · 14 September 2007
Public and Teaching Hospital Preservation Act - Amends the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act of 2007 to extend by one year the moratorium on: (1) implementation of a rule relating to the federal-state financial partnership under titles XIX (Medicaid) and XXI (State Children's Health Insurance Program) (SCHIP) of the Social Security Act; and (2) finalization of a Medicaid rule regarding the treatment of graduate medical education (GME).
United States · United States Congress · 14 September 2007
Designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 5815 McLeod Street in Lula, Georgia, as the "Private Johnathon Millican Lula Post Office."
United States · United States Congress · 4 September 2007
Designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 744 West Oglethorpe Highway in Hinesville, Georgia, as the "John Sidney 'Sid' Flowers Post Office Building'.
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 2007
200th Anniversary Commemoration Commission of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade Act of 2007 - Establishes the Transatlantic Slave Trade 200th Anniversary Commission. Sets forth Commission duties, including: (1) plan activities appropriate to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade; (2) encourage civic, historical, educational, religious, economic entities, as well as state and local governments to participate in anniversary activities; (3) facilitate the convening of a joint meeting or joint session of the Congress for related ceremonies and activities; (4) promote the sponsorship of related conferences and exhibitions; and (5) examine reports and raise public awareness of of modern-day slavery and human trafficking. Terminates the Commission on December 31, 2009.
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 2007
Recognizes Afro-Colombians for their contributions to Columbia's economic, social, and cultural fabric. Calls upon the government of Colombia to combat racial discrimination and human rights violations. Urges the government of Colombia to: (1) demand politicians linked to para-politics scandals are investigated and brought to justice; and (2) implement a policy that ensures proper execution of assistance programs for Afro-Colombians and internally displaced communities. Encourages the U.S. government to ensure that the previous consultation mechanism with Afro-Colombians and marginalized groups is applied in the free trade agreement negotiation and in Plan Colombia's implementation.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 2007
Minority Health Improvement and Health Disparity Elimination Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) develop an Internet Clearinghouse within the Office of Minority Health; (2) provide for programs of excellence in health professions education for underrepresented minorities; and (3) support demonstration projects designed to improve the health and health care of racial and ethnic minority groups through improved access to health care, patient navigators, primary prevention activities, health promotion and disease prevention activities, and health literacy education and services. Provides for grants to: (1) promote positive health behaviors; (2) implement culturally and linguistically appropriate, evidence-based, and community-driven sustainable strategies to eliminate racial and ethnic health and health care disparities; (3) implement systems of primary care practices to eliminate disparities in the delivery of health care and improve the health care provided to all patients; and (4) address long-standing unmet health needs in the Mississippi Delta. Requires the Secretary to establish the Health Action Zone Initiative demonstration program to support comprehensive state, tribal, or local initiatives to improve the health of racial and ethnic minority groups. Provides for research to improve the health of racial and ethnic minority groups. Requires the Secretary to ensure the collection of data from federally conducted or supported health programs by race, ethnicity, geographic location, socioeconomic position, primary language, and, when practicable, health literacy. Sets forth duties for the Office of Minority Health. Requires the Secretary to establish the Advisory Committee on Minority Health.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 2007
Expresses the sense of Congress that U.S. policy should continue to call upon: (1) the military regime in Burma to release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other detained political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, cease attacks against ethnic minority civilians, and begin the process of dialogue; and (2) the People's Republic of China (PRC) and other countries that provide support to Burma's military junta to utilize their influence to urge Burma's generals to take such actions. States that Congress: (1) urges the U.N. Security Council to take appropriate action to respond to the junta's growing threat in Burma; and (2) expresses support for the restoration of democracy in Burma.
United States · United States Congress · 31 July 2007
Travel Promotion Act of 2007 - Establishes the Corporation for Travel Promotion as a nonprofit corporation that is not an agency or establishment of the U.S. government. Makes the Corporation subject to the provisions of the District of Columbia Nonprofit Corporation Act. Requires the Corporation, among other things, to provide useful information to people interested in traveling to the United States, identify and address perceptions in other countries regarding U.S. entry policies, and promote U.S. travel. Establishes in the Treasury the Travel Promotion Fund. Requires the transfer of Treasury funds to the Corporation, requiring nonfederal matching funds. Authorizes the U.S. government, if a fully automated electronic system is implemented to determine, in advance of travel, the eligibility of an alien to travel to the United States, to charge an applicant a system use fee. Amends the International Travel Act of 1961 to replace references to the United States National Tourism Organization with references to the Corporation. Modifies various requirements applicable to the Tourism Policy Council. Amends the Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2003 to remove provisions establishing the United States Travel and Tourism Promotion Advisory Board.
United States · United States Congress · 30 July 2007
National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center Commemorative Coin Act - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue $1 coins emblematic of the courage, pride, sacrifice, sense of duty, and history of the U.S. Infantry, in commemoration of the legacy of the U.S. Army Infantry and the establishment of the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center. Expresses the sense of Congress that the coins should be struck at the U.S. Mint at West Point, New York, to the greatest extent possible. Restricts coin issuance to calendar year 2012. Requires a $10 surcharge per coin, and payment of all surcharges received to the National Infantry Foundation to establish an endowment to support the maintenance of the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2007
Foreign Service Global Compensation Act of 2007 - Amends the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to revise the Foreign Service compensation system, including: (1) transition to a performance-based system; and (2) uniform compensation for worldwide service. Sets forth the rate of basic salary payable to a Foreign Service employee at the time of death for death gratuity compensation purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2007
Foreign Service Overseas Pay Equity Act of 2007 - Amends the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to: (1) extend comparability pay adjustments to Foreign Service members assigned abroad; and (2) amend the death gratuity computation payable to surviving dependents of Foreign Service employees who die from injuries sustained in the performance of duty abroad.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 2007
Meth Mouth Prevention and Community Recovery Act - Requires the Director of the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention to make grants to enable public and private nonprofit entities to determine whether educating youth about meth mouth (oral decay that is commonly associated with methamphetamine use) is an effective strategy for preventing or reducing methamphetamine use. Reserves a portion of appropriated funds for Indian tribes and tribal organizations. Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to expand and intensify the clinical research, health services research, and public health research on associations between substance use disorders, oral health, and the provision of dental care. Requires the Secretary to study the effect methamphetamine use has on the demand for, and provision of, dental care. Directs the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to support training and offer technical assistance to ensure that dentists and allied dental personnel are prepared to: (1) recognize signs of alcohol or drug addiction; (2) discuss the nature of substance abuse as it relates to their area of expertise; (3) understand how certain dental therapies can affect the relapse potential of substance dependent patients; and (4) help those affected by a substance use disorder find appropriate treatment for their conditions. Authorizes the Administrator to collaborate with professional accrediting bodies to develop and support substance abuse training courses for oral health professionals.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 2007
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that there should be established a National Watermelon Month to recognize watermelon's health benefits and importance to the U.S. agriculture industry.
United States · United States Congress · 23 July 2007
Financial Literacy for Homeowners Act - Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to make grants to state and local governments and nonprofit organizations to implement anti-predatory lending activities, including: (1) consumer education programs; (2) certified home ownership counseling programs; and (3) referral services for homeowners and prospective homeowners. Directs the Secretary provide for establishment, operation, and publication of a nationwide toll-free telephone number to receive consumer complaints regarding predatory and unscrupulous lending practices relating to home loans. Establishes the Predatory Lending Advisory Council to: (1) advise the Secretary; and (2) study and report to the Secretary and Congress on the root causes of default and foreclosure of home loans.
United States · United States Congress · 23 July 2007
Recognizes the dedication and devotion of former Secretary of Commerce Ronald H. Brown to public service. Commends his actions and achievements and his inspiring example to the African-American community.
United States · United States Congress · 17 July 2007
Public Land Communities Transition Assistance Act of 2007 - Authorizes appropriations for FY2008-FY2012 for the making of payments to units of general local government in which entitlement lands are located. Sets forth provisions for the making of transition payments for FY2008-FY2012 to eligible states, U.S. territories, and counties previously receiving payments under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000. Sets forth special requirements with regard to transition payments for FY2008-FY2011 applicable to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington and eligible counties in those states in lieu of the payments that otherwise would have been made under the above transition payment provisions. Directs the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture to promulgate regulations to establish new fees or fee increases for commercial activities on federal lands, National Forest System lands, and National Grasslands administered by the respective Secretary.
United States · United States Congress · 16 July 2007
Condemns: (1) the attempts by Hezbollah and other pro-Syrian groups to undermine the government of Lebanon; (2) the assassination campaign targeting members of parliament and public figures in favor of Lebanese independence; and (3) Syria and Iran for their ongoing roles in arming Lebanese militias. Confirms U.S. support for U.N. Security Council resolutions concerning Lebanon, and the clear and binding mandate of the international community for the arms embargo and disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon. Expresses appreciation to the countries whose military personnel serve in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Urges the government of Lebanon to request UNIFIL's assistance to secure the Lebanese-Syrian border. Affirms U.S. support for efforts to bring to justice those responsible for the terrorist bombing of February 14, 2005, and both prior and subsequent politically inspired assassinations. Pledges continued support for the government of Lebanon and the Lebanese people against the campaign of terror directed at the Lebanese people and at political and public figures opposing Syrian interference in Lebanon. Commends the many Lebanese who continue to adhere to the principles of the Cedar Revolution. Applauds the government of Lebanon's efforts to fully extend Lebanon's sovereignty over the entire country.
United States · United States Congress · 16 July 2007
States that the House of Representatives: (1) congratulates the people of Ethiopia on Ethiopia's second millennium and recognizes Ethiopia's long and rich history; (2) commends Ethiopia's contribution to peace and stability on the African continent through its role in the creation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU); (3) recognizes the longstanding Ethiopia-U.S. relationship; (4) commends the organizers of the second millennium celebration in Ethiopia and the United States; and (5) calls for a peaceful and jubilant celebration of Ethiopia's second millennium.
United States · United States Congress · 16 July 2007
Recognizes the importance of the Gulf Coast region to the U.S. economy, as well as the cultural contributions of its people. Expresses the support of the House of Representatives for all individuals still affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita two years after these terrible natural disasters struck.
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 2007
Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2007 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish the Robert T. Matsui Center for Cultural and Linguistic Competence in Health Care. Provides for health care workforce diversity activities, including the establishment of: (1) a technical clearinghouse on health workforce diversity; and (2) Regional Minority Centers of Excellence Programs. Requires health-related programs of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to collect data on race, ethnicity, and primary language. Directs each federal health agency to implement a strategic plan to eliminate disparities and improve the health and health care of minority populations. Requires the Secretary to establish: (1) an Office of Health Disparities within the Office of Civil Rights; and (2) civil rights compliance offices in each HHS agency that administers health programs. Reestablishes the Indian Health Service as an agency within the Public Health Service of HHS to be administered by an Assistant Secretary of Indian Health. Requires the establishment of an Office of Minority Health within specified agencies. Directs the President to execute, administer, and enforce provisions to address environmental justice in minority and low-income populations. Provides for the establishment of health empowerment zone programs in communities that disproportionately experience disparities in health status and health care. Requires the Secretary to designate centers of excellence at public hospitals and other health systems that demonstrate excellence in providing care to minority populations and reducing health disparities. Makes immigrants from certain U.S. territories and possessions eligible for specified federal programs. Requires the Secretary to expand the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative. Provides for grants for strategies to eliminate racial and ethnic health and health care disparities. Requires the Secretary to establish the Rural Health Quality Advisory Commission.
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 2007
21st Century High-Performing Public School Facilities Act - Requires the Secretary of Education to make grants in each fiscal year to local educational agencies (LEAs) in each state for the construction, modernization, or repair of kindergarten, elementary, or secondary schools to make them safe, healthy, high-performing, and technologically up-to-date. Gives priority to LEAs serving a high number or percentage of disadvantaged children and those whose public schools are in relatively poor condition. Requires LEAs to contribute funds toward the costs of the program, but uses a sliding scale that factors in the relative poverty of an LEA's service area. Requires the Secretary to make low-interest loans to LEAs in each fiscal year for the same purposes and with the same priorities given in the distribution of the grants. Establishes the School Construction, Modernization, and Repair Revolving Fund consisting of amounts derived from the low-interest loans and appropriations made to the Fund by this Act. Amends part D of title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to authorize and make appropriations for educational technology.
United States · United States Congress · 10 July 2007
Every Student Counts Act - Requires states, local educational agencies (LEAs), and high schools annually to calculate and report, as part of the report cards required under title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), the percentage of high school students: (1) graduating in four years and in five years with a regular high school diploma from each cohort graduating class; and (2) the percentage of students in each grade, except the graduating grade, prepared to advance to the next grade. Requires such data to be reported in the aggregate and disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender, disability status, migrant status, English proficiency, and status as economically disadvantaged. Directs states that lack a statewide longitudinal data system with individual student identifiers to make certain interim graduation rate calculations, but requires all states to make the four and five-year adjusted cohort graduation rate calculations by 2012. Requires the use of such rates in determining the success of each high school and LEA in making adequate yearly progress (AYP) toward state academic performance standards under the ESEA. Requires schools and LEAs whose four and five-year adjusted cohort graduation rates fall below 90% overall or for any low-income, minority, disabled, migrant, or limited English proficient student subgroup, to make specified yearly progress in improving such rates or be deemed as failing to make AYP.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 2007
Civil War Battlefield Preservation Act of 2007 - Amends the American Battlefield Protection Act of 1996 to extend the American Battlefield Protection Program until September 30, 2013.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 2007
Eurasia Foundation Act - Directs the Secretary of State to make an annual grant to the Eurasia Foundation to: (1) promote civil society, private enterprise, and public administration and policy in the former Soviet Union; (2) strengthen indigenous institutions that foster national development, social change, economic growth, and cooperative international relationships consistent with U.S. interests in Eurasia; and (3) conduct programs in the region that would be difficult or impossible for an official U.S. entity.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 2007
Graduation Promise Act of 2007 - Authorizes the Secretary of Education to make grants to states and, through them, subgrants to local educational agencies (LEAs) for differentiated high school improvement systems targeting support to schools with low student achievement and graduation rates after the school fails for two consecutive years to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) pursuant to state academic performance standards. Requires LEAs also to use funds to: (1) improve feeder middle schools; and (2) identify and support struggling students before they reach high school. Requires state grantees to establish comprehensive school performance indicators and minimum annual improvement benchmarks for use, in addition to current AYP measures, in analyzing school performance and determining the improvement category into which a school is placed. Directs LEA subgrantees to convene a local school improvement team for each school placed in an improvement category that will use performance indicators to conduct a school needs assessment and develop a multiyear school improvement plan tailored to the school's need categorization. Authorizes the Secretary to award competitive grants to: (1) LEAs, nonprofit organizations, and institutions of higher education to develop and implement, or replicate, effective school models for struggling students and dropouts; and (2) states to adjust their policies to allow for educational innovations that improve high school graduation rates while ensuring rigorous education content standards and assessments, if such states implement differentiated high school improvement systems and statewide longitudinal student data systems.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 2007
Declares that it is the policy of the United States not to: (1) establish any military installation or base for providing for the permanent stationing of U.S. Armed Forces in Iraq; and (2) exercise U.S. control over Iraqi oil resources. Prohibits any funds made available by any Act of Congress from being obligated or expended to: (1) establish any military installation or base for providing for the permanent stationing of U.S. Armed Forces in Iraq; or (2) exercise U.S. economic control of the oil resources of Iraq.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 2007
Walter Carl Jordan, Jr. Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic Act of 2007 - Designates the Department of Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic in Albany, Georgia, as the "Walter Carl Jordan, Jr. Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic."
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 2007
Revises corporate average fuel economy standards (CAFE standards) provisions for non-passenger and passenger automobiles to: (1) provide for increased average fuel economy standards for non-passenger and passenger automobiles; (2) permit separate average fuel economy standards for non-passenger and passenger automobiles based on vehicle attributes related to fuel economy; (3) establish a a corporate average fuel economy credit transferring program within a manufacturer's fleet; (4) establish an account to fund domestic commercialization and production of advanced technology vehicles and vehicle components; and (5) extend for 10 years provisions providing manufacturing incentives for alternative fuel automobiles. Establishes a national tire fuel efficiency consumer information program. Provides for the establishment of a public education campaign to provide information to U.S. drivers about immediate measures that may be taken to conserve transportation fuel.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2007
Credit Monitoring Clarification Act - Amends the Credit Repair Organizations Act to cite conditions under which provision to a consumer of credit reports, credit score analysis, and assistance in a case of identity theft shall not be considered as an activity to improve a consumer's credit status, which is subject to regulation under such Act. Exempts from regulation under such Act any person (credit repair organization, or CRO) representing that it can modify or remove, or assist the consumer in modifying or removing, any information in the consumer's credit report if the CRO gives clear and conspicuous notice, before the consumer pays or agrees to pay it, that: (1) neither the consumer nor anyone else has the right to have accurate and current information removed from a credit report; and (2) the consumer has the right to dispute any inaccurate information by contacting the credit bureau directly. Requires a CRO, to qualify for this exemption from regulation, also to give the consumer, before payment or agreement to pay, a specified disclosure entitled "Your Rights Concerning Your Consumer Credit File."
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 2007
Recognizes and congratulates Malaysia on its 50th anniversary of independence. Supports a strong bilateral relationship between the United States and Malaysia and continued cooperation in such important areas as counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics, and trade.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 2007
Improving Classroom Learning and Student Performance Act of 2007 - Directs the Secretary of Education to award five-year grants to states that receive funds under title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to enable them to: (1) collaborate with institutions of higher education, other research institutions, and other organizations to improve the quality, validity, and reliability of state and local academic assessments, including performance assessments that evaluate the application of knowledge to real-world tasks; (2) develop the capacity of local education agencies (LEAs) to assess student academic achievement using multiple measures, including school-based performance assessments; and (3) develop, together with LEAs, the capacity of teachers and school leaders to develop, use, and reliably evaluate the results of locally-administered performance assessments. Requires state grantees to ensure that state and local assessments are aligned to learning standards, unbiased, valid for the purposes for which they are used, reliably scored, and meet professional standards.
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 2007
Authorizes the Secretary of State to provide compensation to relatives of U.S. citizens who were killed in the U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa on August 7, 1998.
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 2007
Local Community Radio Act of 2007 - Repeals provisions in the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001, that required the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to: (1) modify rules authorizing the operation of low-power FM radio stations to prescribe minimum distance separations for third-adjacent channels; (2) prohibit applicants who have engaged in the unlicensed operation of any station from obtaining a low-power FM license; and (3) conduct a program to test whether low-power FM radio stations will result in harmful interference to existing FM radio stations if minimum distance separations for third-adjacent channels are not required. Requires the FCC to modify its rules to eliminate third-adjacent minimum distance separation requirements between specified stations. Requires the FCC to retain rules that provide third-adjacent channel protection for full-power noncommercial FM stations that broadcast radio reading services via a subcarrier frequency from potential low-power FM station interference. Requires the FCC when licensing FM translator stations to ensure: (1) that licenses are available to both FM translator stations and low-power FM stations; and (2) that such decisions are made based on the needs of the local community.
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 2007
Recognizes that Japan is one of the most reliable security partners of the United States. Commends the government of Japan for its role in enhancing stability in the Asia-Pacific region. Expresses appreciation for Japan's efforts in the global war against terrorism.