United States · United States Congress · 9 March 1989
Reduces from two years to one year the period that a surviving spouse must have been married to a veteran who dies while in receipt of compensation for a service-connected disability in order for such surviving spouse to be eligible for dependency and indemnity compensation.
United States · United States Congress · 9 March 1989
Expresses disapproval of the refusal of the U.S.S.R. to recognize the sovereignty of the Baltic Republics. Designates June 14, 1989, as Baltic Freedom Day. Authorizes and requests the President to call upon the Soviet Union, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Democratic Republic of Germany to renounce the acquisition or absorption of the Baltic Republics by the Soviet Union as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 1989
Designates September 15, 1989, as National POW/MIA Recognition Day. Recognizes the National League of Families POW/MIA flag as the official symbol of the United States' commitment to resolving the fates of Americans still prisoner or missing in action in Southeast Asia.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 1989
Condemns the death threats issued by the Ayatollah Khomeini against Salman Rushdie and other persons associated with distribution of The Satanic Verses . Calls for repudiation of such threats and the immediate withdrawal of any monetary reward or martyrdom for the murder of Rushdie. Commends the European Community member States for condemning the threats and withdrawing their senior diplomats from Iran. Applauds President Bush for his statement of outrage against the Iranian Government's actions. Asks that the President direct Federal agencies to cooperate with State and local law enforcement authorities to protect commercial establishments that display and distribute The Satanic Verses .
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 1989
Veterans Nurse Pay Act of 1989 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to restructure the current nurse grades of the Department of Veterans Affairs so as to provide four grade levels for nurses. (Current law provides for eight grade levels.) Specifies the relationship the new grade levels have with the current nurse grades and to pay grades under the General Schedule.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 1989
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 1992 the period during which qualified mortgage bonds and mortgage credit certificates may be issued. (Under current law, authority for these programs is due to expire as of 1990.)
United States · United States Congress · 28 February 1989
Commends the Board of Immigration Appeals for its decision to allow Joseph Patrick Doherty to apply for U.S. asylum. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Attorney General should approve Joseph Patrick Doherty's asylum application and release him on bond pending the application's review.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 1989
Indian Remains Reburial Act - Requires the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution to determine the tribal origin of all Indian and Native Hawaiian skeletal remains under the control of the Institution which are determined to have originated in the year 1500 A.D. or later. Directs the Secretary, upon the request of an Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization, to transfer the appropriate remains to such tribe or organization for the purpose of providing appropriate interment.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 1989
Commends: (1) Secretary of State Baker's February 8, 1989, statement for focusing world attention upon the humanitarian disaster in Sudan and the urgent need for a ceasefire and peace accord; and (2) the relief activities of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Agency for International Development, the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, and various American, international, and private and voluntary agencies. Deplores the use of food as a weapon by the Government of Sudan and by the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and calls upon each to permit the safe passage of food and emergency relief supplies to civilians in affected areas. Urges the President and Secretary of State to: (1) provide international leadership in pressing for national reconciliation and an end to widespread starvation in Sudan; (2) reassess U.S.-Sudanese relations and U.S. assistance unless the Government of Sudan makes progress in facilitating increased relief to displaced populations and in negotiations for a peace accord; and (3) impress upon the SPLA its responsibility to permit the flow of international relief to civilians and to negotiate with the Government of Sudan for a national peace accord.
United States · United States Congress · 23 February 1989
Condemns the death sentence issued against British author Salman Rushdie by the Ayatollah Khomeini. Calls for its immediate repudiation and the immediate withdrawal of any reward of money and martyrdom for the murder of Mr. Rushdie.
United States · United States Congress · 22 February 1989
Provides for all Federal civilian and military retirees to receive the full cost-of-living adjustment in annuities payable under Federal retirement systems for FY 1990. (Includes benefits payable under the Civil Service Retirement and Disability System, military retirement and survivor benefit programs, the Foreign Service Retirement and Disability System, the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System, and railroad retirement programs.)
United States · United States Congress · 22 February 1989
Prohibits all U.S. military and economic assistance for Turkey until the President certifies to the Congress that negotiations have achieved significant progress toward establishing a constitutional democracy in Cyprus and that the Turkish Government has: (1) withdrawn all Turkish military forces, in excess of those permitted by the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee, and all illegal Turkish colonists from Cyprus; (2) returned the area of Famagusta/Varosha to the Government of Cyprus; (3) returned the five Americans abducted by the Turkish invasion forces in 1974 and the 1,614 Greek Cypriots who have been missing since the Turkish invasion; (4) withdrawn its recognition of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus; and (5) taken steps to reverse the illegal declaration of an independent state in northern Cyprus.
United States · United States Congress · 21 February 1989
1991 Mount Rushmore Commemorative Coin Act - Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to issue a specified number of five-dollar gold coins, one-dollar silver coins, and half-dollar clad coins in commemoration of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Provides that such coins shall be considered legal tender. Requires the Secretary to begin issuing such coins on January 1, 1991. Directs the Secretary to obtain silver for the minting of such coins from stockpiles established under the Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act and to obtain gold pursuant to authority under existing law. Provides that the design of such coins shall be selected by the Secretary after consultation with the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Society of Black Hills. Specifies the sales price of such coins as the face value plus costs. Requires that all sales of such coins include a surcharge of $35 per coin for five-dollar coins, $7 per coin for one-dollar coins, and $1 for half-dollar coins. Requires that of the total surcharges received by the Secretary from the sale of such coins: (1) 50 percent shall be returned to the Treasury for purposes of reducing the national debt; and (2) 50 percent shall be paid to the Society to assist efforts to improve the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Authorizes the Comptroller General to audit such payments. Requires the Secretary to ensure that the minting and issuance of such coins shall not result in any net costs to the Government.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1989
Postal Reorganization Act Amendments of 1989 - Declares that the receipts and disbursements of the Postal Service Fund: (1) shall not be included in the totals of the Federal budget or the congressional budget; (2) shall be exempt from Federal budget limitations on expenditures and net lending; and (3) shall be exempt from any sequestration order under the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) and shall not be counted for purposes of calculating the Federal deficit.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1989
Low-Income Housing Revitalization Act - Amends Internal Revenue Code (IRC) provisions relating to the low-income housing credit to: (1) increase the credit from four percent to nine percent with respect to new buildings that are federally subsidized; (2) reallocate unused credit amounts among other States for their housing credit agencies; and (3) permit carryover to the succeeding year of a housing credit amount, if it is reasonably likely that the building will be put into service then. Extends the low-income housing credit through 1991. Amends IRC accounting provisions to exempt low-income housing credit activities from limitations on passive losses. Revises the accelerated cost recovery system in connection with low-income residential rental property to reduce the applicable recovery period from 27.5 to 20 years. Disallows an income tax deduction for any expense relating to residential rental units that violate State or local building, health, or safety codes and are not brought into compliance. Requires the regulatory agency that notifies a taxpayer of the substandard conditions to file an information return with respect to affected taxpayers. Excludes deductions for business expenses, interest on indebtedness, and taxes from calculations to determine the passive loss limitation in connection with rental real estate activity relating to a qualified low-income housing project in which a noncorporate taxpayer actively or materially participates.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1989
Peace Corps Volunteer Education Demonstration Program Act - Authorizes the Director of the Peace Corps to carry out a training and educational benefits demonstration program. Makes eligible for program participation any student at an institution of higher education who: (1) has completed at least two years of satisfactory study and is enrolled in a bachelor-degree program of at least four years; (2) agrees to serve at least three years in the Peace Corps; and (3) is selected in a competitive process. Requires selection procedures to include special consideration for traditionally underserved groups of students and students who will specialize in courses in areas in which the Peace Corps has special need. Requires the Director to carry out a training program under which participants receive appropriate training for their Peace Corps work as part of their course of study. Makes participants eligible for educational benefits to cover attendance costs during their remaining two years of study. Requires repayment of such benefits if the individual fails to complete three years of Peace Corps service. Directs the Secretary of Education to evaluate and report on such program to the President and the Congress by October 31, 1994. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990 through 1995.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1989
Women in Development Act of 1989 - Requires the Administrator of the Agency for International Development (AID) to take specific steps to strengthen the Agency's women in development policy, including: (1) incorporating the active participation of local women and local women's organizations in its development activities; (2) instructing Agency staff and contractors to collect sex-disaggregated data and to insure that country strategies, projects, and programs are designed so that the percentage of women receiving assistance in proportion to the higher of their traditional participation in the targeted activities or their proportion of the population; (3) insuring that project and program evaluations include an assessment of the extent to which the project integrates women in the development process and of the project's impact on women; (4) increasing the number and responsibility of women in professional positions within AID; and (5) establishing within AID a task force on women in development. Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to require that a minimum (currently, maximum) of $10,000,000 in funds made available for foreign assistance programs be used for programs to promote the participation and integration of women in the development process in developing countries. Specifies that a certain amount of such funds shall be made available as matching funds to support activities designed to better integrate women into AID programs. Requires the Administrator to report to the Congress annually on the implementation of this Act. Authorizes appropriations to be made available for the United Nations Development Fund for Women and the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1989
Veterans' Health-Care Programs Amendments of 1989 - Title I: Personnel Provisions - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide special pay for nurses (as is currently provided to physicians and dentists) in a specified amount (depending on full- or part-time employment) upon the execution of a written agreement to complete a specified period of service with the Veterans Health Services and Research Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Directs the Secretary, in addition to such special pay, to provide incentive special pay to Department nurses for: (1) tenure of service within the Administration of two years or more but less than five years; (2) tenure of service within the Administration of five years or more: (3) service in intensive care units, critical care units, emergency rooms, operating rooms, or in nursing specialties for which recruitment and retention of qualified nurses is difficult; (4) service in a specific geographic location in which it is especially difficult to recruit and retain qualified nurses; and (5) service in a head nurse position. Directs the Secretary to provide such incentive special pay, under the same criteria, for eligible part-time nurses employed in the Administration. Provides that the agreement required for the payment of special pay may only be entered into if the nurse is a registered nurse and an employee of the Administration whose duty assignments involve direct patient care. Provides specified amounts (per annum) of such special incentive pay for qualified nurses within the Administration. Extends premium pay for nurses for work performed during certain hours or for overtime work to licensed practical or vocational nurses and nurse assistants of the Administration. Excludes Administration employees appointed and paid under general Federal provisions governing appointments in the competitive service from any Federal veterans' benefits provisions limiting employment outside of the Department. Includes nurses who are retired military personnel and who are necessary to meet emergency employment needs in the category of Administration personnel who are exempt from reductions in retirement pay under Federal provisions regarding pay administration in the competitive service. Authorizes the Secretary, upon the recommendation of the Chief Medical Director of the Department, to appoint qualified individuals in the competitive civil service to the Administration without regard to Federal provisions regarding examination, certification, and appointment in the competitive service. Requires the Secretary to apply the principles of preference for hiring established under such Federal provisions. Title II: Health Program Amendments - Extends permanently the authority of the Secretary to provide respite care services to eligible veterans. (Currently, such authority expires as of the end of FY 1989.) Extends through FY 1992 the authority for the making of grants to States for the construction of State nursing home facilities. Amends the Veterans' Home Loan Program Improvements and Property Rehabilitation Act of 1987 to convey to employers who employ veterans participating in a compensated work therapy program real property and improvements for not less than 75 percent of the fair market value of such property. Rescinds a Department medical regulation relating to the use of community nursing home facilities. Title III: Health-Care Management - Directs the Secretary, during FY 1990 and 1991, to carry out a pilot program in one medical region of the Administration for an improved management system for amounts payable to the United States from programs administered by the Administration. Requires the Secretary to develop an automated program to carry out billing and collection of fees. Sets forth the requirements of such program and the allocation of amounts received by the Department through such program. Provides that the amounts retained and allocated shall be used for: (1) pay and other personnel benefits to enhance the recruitment and retention of Administration health-care employees; and (2) the supplementing of medical equipment accounts of medical centers at which such accounts are deficient. Authorizes appropriations. Makes military dependents who are eligible for medical care under Federal armed forces provisions eligible for health care under sharing agreements for health-care resources between the Department and the Department of Defense. Requires the Secretary, by October 1, 1989, to compile a list of individuals eligible for medical care under veterans' benefits provisions relating to survivors and dependents of certain veterans. Provides that the Secretary may pay benefits only to persons on such list. Directs the Secretary, no later than October 1, 1989, to establish a procedure for the periodic review of the need for, and the cost-effectiveness of, such medical care. Requires the Inspector General of the Department to report to the Senate and House veterans' committees on the Secretary's compliance with the establishment of such list and the procedures of such review. Directs the Secretary to study alternative methods for providing for the costs of such medical care and to report such study to the Congress. Authorizes appropriations. Prohibits the Department canteen service from contracting for the performance by any individual not employed by the United States of any activity that would otherwise be performed by an individual employed by the United States who is compensated with nonappropriated funds. Declares that the head of such service may not be required to report to any Department official other than the Secretary and the Deputy Secretary.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1989
Social Security Transitional Benefit Computation Act of 1989 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to alter the formula for computing the primary insurance amount of individuals who attain age 65 in or after 1982 and would otherwise be subject to the benefit computation rules of the Social Security Amendments of 1977. Extends the application of such transitional benefit computation rules to those who become eligible for benefits before 1989. (Currently those who become eligible after 1983 are subject to the benefit computation rules of the Social Security Amendments of 1977.)
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1989
Public Housing Gateway Act of 1989 - Authorizes the Secretary of Labor (the Secretary) to make gateway program grants to public housing agencies to use public housing in the provision of employment training and services to economically disadvantaged public housing residents who are not more than 25 years of age. Requires that such grants be made with the advice and participation of the Gateway Task Force established under this Act. Requires public housing agencies to make the following training and services available to eligible individuals through the gateway program they must establish when they receive such a grant: (1) information on training, education, or services offered by the agency; (2) literacy training and bilingual training; (3) remedial education and training in basic skills (including communication skills, arithmetic, and problem-solving); (4) development of work habits and other personal management skills; and (5) free child care to facilitate participation in training and other services. Specifies additional training and services which may be offered to eligible individuals who are qualified through literacy training, training in basic and employment skills, and support services. Requires participants in gateway program training and services to be: (1) residents of public housing; (2) not more than 25 years of age; (3) economically disadvantaged; and (4) educationally disadvantaged. Limits mandatory child care services to: (1) participants in gateway program training or services during participation; (2) unemployed former participants who have successfully completed the program, for a specified period; and (3) employed former participants who have successfully completed the program, for a specified period. Permits support services to continue for up to 18 months to any individual after termination of participation in program training or services only if the individual has completed the training or services. Requires public housing agencies receiving such grants to attempt to employ in the gateway programs qualified residents of the public housing project involved. Prohibits consideration of earnings of and benefits to any individual resulting from participation in gateway training and services as income for public assistance or rent limitation purposes during specified periods of participation or post-participation employment. Provides that the use of the facilities of a recipient public housing agency in the provision of gateway training or services shall have no effect on the amount of operating assistance to such agency under the United States Housing Act. Establishes an interagency Gateway Task Force (the Task Force) to advise and assist the Secretary in carrying out this Act. Directs the Secretary to provide the Task Force with necessary information and facilities. Directs the Secretaries of Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Education, and Health and Human Services to each appoint members of the Task Force. Terminates the Task Force five years after its first regularly called meeting. Directs the Secretary to review at least annually compliance with this Act by public housing agencies receiving gateway program grants. Directs the Task Force to review gateway programs at least annually to determine their merits in enhancing the employability of public housing residents, and report its recommendations to the Secretary. Sets forth procedures for withholding grant payments in cases of agency noncompliance. Directs the Secretary to transmit to the President and the Congress: (1) annual reports on Task Force activities and recommendations; and (2) a final report, by the date of Task Force termination, on Task Force findings, conclusions, and recommendations. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1989
Volunteer Protection Act of 1989 - Prescribes circumstances under which volunteers working for nonprofit organizations or government entities shall be immune from personal financial liability for acts on behalf of the organization or entity. Sets forth exceptions to and conditions on the granting of such immunity that a State may impose. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to increase by one percent the fiscal year allotment which would otherwise be made to a State to carry out the Social Services Block Grant Program under title XX of the Social Security Act if such State has, within two years, certified to the Secretary that it has enacted a State law which provides such immunity. Provides for the continuation of such increase based on an annual recertification.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1989
Designates July 27, 1989, as National Korean War Veterans Recognition Day and expresses the gratitude of the Congress and the Nation for the contributions made by the Korean War veterans.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1989
States the sense of the Congress that the President or the Congress should immediately abrogate the Panama Canal Treaties of 1977 and the Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal and that the Congress should repeal the Panama Canal Act of 1979.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1989
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Soviet Union should: (1) continue to abide by the agreement governing the withdrawal of its armed forces from Afghanistan; (2) give all necessary aid and information to assist in the removal of mines deployed in Afghanistan by Soviet and allied Afghan armed forces; (3) provide all funds, equipment, and personnel necessary for such removal; and (4) set aside funds to provide medical care and assistance to those Afghan people injured as a result of, and to pay claims for property damage caused by, mines which were not removed.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1989
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the U.S. Government should reassess current policy and pursue a negotiated settlement to the civil war in El Salvador.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1989
American Heritage Trust Act of 1989 - Title I: American Heritage Trust - Establishes the American Heritage Trust, comprised of the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the Historic Preservation Fund, to provide funding for the preservation of America's natural, historical, cultural, and outdoor recreational areas. Title II: Land and Water Conservation Fund - Amends the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act to require the Secretary of the Treasury to invest a portion of the Land and Water Conservation Fund in public debt securities. Requires that the interest from such investments be used for the preservation of the Nation's recreational areas. Requires any excess interest to be credited to the Treasury. Sets forth a formula for the allocation of such interest income to the Federal Government and the States. Sets forth specified requirements with respect to the apportionment of such income to local and State governments, Indian tribes, and Alaska Native Village Corporations. Title III: Historic Preservation Fund - Amends the National Historic Preservation Act to extend the Historic Preservation Fund through 2015. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to invest a portion of such Fund in public debt securities. Requires that the interest from such investments be used for the preservation of historic sites. Provides for allocation of a percentage of annual appropriations for State historic preservation trust funds. Title IV: Miscellaneous Provisions - Requires the owner of any site that benefits from moneys derived from the American Heritage Trust to install a sign indicating that fact. Requires the Secretary of the Interior, within 18 months after enactment of this Act, to provide for a contest for elementary or secondary school children for the design of a symbol to represent such Trust and for use in such signs.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1989
Amends titles II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) and XVI (Supplemental Security Income) of the Social Security Act to permit blind beneficiaries to select the agency or organization to which they will be referred for vocational rehabilitation services. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to determine whether the agency or organization is an appropriate choice given each beneficiary's particular needs. Directs the Secretary to establish an advisory panel on rehabilitation services for the blind, a majority of which shall consist of blind consumers of rehabilitation services, to develop guidelines and standards for the provision of such services to the blind and to assist the Secretary in determining which agencies or organizations meet the needs of blind beneficiaries.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1989
Black Lung Benefits Eligibility Clarification Act of 1989 - Amends the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 to provide for a rebuttable presumption of disability due to pneumoconiosis with respect to certain coal miners whose claims were filed during a specified period under the Black Lung Benefits Program. Establishes such presumption if a single piece of qualifying evidence is presented. Provides that other relevant medical evidence shall be considered only in connection with rebuttal of the presumption.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1989
Extends regards to the people of France on the occasion of the bicentennial of Bastille Day. Urges the people of the United States to observe the bicentennial on July 14, 1989. Finds that France and the United States remain committed to the principles of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and the Bill of Rights.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1989
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an income tax deduction for interest on any indebtedness incurred to pay the educational expenses of the taxpayer, spouse, or dependent. (Under current law, such a loan must be secured by an interest in real property.)
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1989
State Energy Conservation Programs Improvement Act of 1989 - Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to mandate that each State energy conservation plan which receives Federal assistance under the Act contain a specified reduction in energy consumption as one of its goals. Adds to Federal assistance eligibility prerequisites for proposed State energy conservation plans, including an emergency planning program for energy supply disruption. Cites optional State energy conservation programs. Repeals the mandate for supplemental State energy conservation plans. Authorizes appropriations for energy conservation programs for FY 1990 through 1992. Establishes within the Department of Energy a State Energy Advisory Board to report annually to the Congress regarding recommended energy efficiency objectives, the technology transfer aspect of Federal research and development with respect to energy efficiency and renewable resources, and recommended changes with respect to State and Federal energy policies. Authorizes the use of loan programs and performance contracting for the non-Federal share of energy conservation project costs under the grant program. Cites conditions under which the Secretary is authorized to approve a State application for a waiver of: (1) the requirement that at least 40 percent of Federal weatherization assistance for low-income persons be used for weatherization materials; and (2) the limitations placed upon expenditures per dwelling unit for weatherization measures. Terminates the Performance Fund used for State weatherization assistance.
![Official portrait of Rep. Applegate, Douglas [D-OH-18]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/a000214_200.jpg)