United States · United States Congress · 29 November 1977
Declares it the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare should not include in the National Guidelines for Health Planning any guidelines which would directly or indirectly cause the closing of any small, rural hospital which is the only hospital providing primary care services to a local community.
United States · United States Congress · 22 November 1977
Declares it the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare should not include in the National Guidelines for Health Planning any guidelines which would directly or indirectly cause the closing of any small, rural hospital which is the only hospital providing primary care services to a local community.
United States · United States Congress · 15 November 1977
Prohibits the sale or licensing for export to South Africa of defense articles or services under the Arms Export Control Act. Prohibits the exportation to South Africa of articles controlled under the Export Administration Act of 1969 if such articles could be used for military, law enforcement, or internal security purposes. Prohibits the issuing of licenses for export to or distribution within South Africa of any source material, special nuclear material, by-product material, production facility, utilization facility, or restricted data, under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954.
United States · United States Congress · 11 November 1977
Declares it the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare should not include in the National Guidelines for Health Planning any guidelines which would directly or indirectly cause the closing of any small, rural hospital which is the only hospital providing primary care services to a local community.
United States · United States Congress · 4 November 1977
Permits military service performed by an individual after December 1956 to be included in determining the aggregate period of service on which a civil service annuity is based even though such individual is eligible for social security benefits. Requires the Civil Service Commission to exclude from such annuity an amount equal to that portion of the monthly benefit attributable to the individual's military service.
United States · United States Congress · 4 November 1977
Declares it the sense of the House of Representatives that the President should review practices which encourage United States investment in or trade with South Africa, and consider steps to end practices beneficial to South Africa.
United States · United States Congress · 3 November 1977
Biennial Budgeting Act - Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to establish a two-year cycle for the congressional budget process. Requires each standing committee of Congress to review the laws and programs under its jurisdiction every other year and to consider the desirability of new legislation in such areas. Requires separate consideration for authorizing legislation, budget resolutions, and appropriation bills.
United States · United States Congress · 3 November 1977
Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act with respect to emergency and disaster loans to define the "reasonable rates" of sufficient credit which loan applicants cannot find locally, as rates which, at the time of application, do not exceed by more than two percent the average discount rate in effect at Federal Reserve banks. Sets the interest rate for the portion of a loan in excess of the amount of actual disaster loss at the average annual interest rate on all interest-bearing obligations of the United States then forming a part of the public debt as computed as of a certain date and adjusted according to a specified formula. Sets the repayment term for such a loan at no more than 30 years. Provides for an initial five-year suspension of principal payments by the borrower of an insured loan. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to make such payments on behalf of the borrower during such suspension period, and requires the borrower, without charge of interest, to reimburse the Secretary for such payments at any time within the 30-year repayment period. Declares the sense of Congress that, in carrying out the provisions of such Act, the Secretary shall insure: (1) that only officers and employees of the Department of Agriculture who are adequately prepared to understand the particular needs and problems of farmers in an area be assigned to such area; and (2) that a high priority is placed on keeping existing farm operations operating.
United States · United States Congress · 3 November 1977
Federal Emergency Assistance and Preparedness Act - Establishes the Federal Emergency Assistance and Preparedness Administration headed by a Director who shall be a permanent member of the National Security Council. Requires the Director to establish within the Administration the Offices of Disaster Assistance, Emergency Preparedness, and Program Evaluation, and an Emergency Information Center. Requires the Administration to implement and coordinate all Federal disaster assistance and emergency preparedness programs; develop policies with respect to industrial mobilization and economic readiness for emergencies relating to the national defense, undertake research and development to improve programs under its cognizance six; and to gather data on natural, economic, and other phenomena for predicting and planning for industrial and economic mobilization and emergencies and disasters. Directs the Director to make such collected data available to the public and to provide such data to States and localities on a regular basis. Requires the heads of Federal agencies with jurisdiction over any program relating to emergency preparedness or disaster assistance to report annually to the Director on the status of such program. Requires the Director to coordinate such programs with States and localities participating in or applying for such assistance. Transfers to the Administration the functions and authorities of specified agencies respecting programs within the Administration's jurisdiction. Requires the Administration to report annually to Congress. Extends until September 30, 1980, the termination dates of specified provisions of the Federal Civil Defense Act, including those which empower the President to declare a civil defense emergency.
United States · United States Congress · 3 November 1977
Directs the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs in regard to the eligibility for educational benefits of a veteran or other person enrolled in a farm cooperative program, to prescribe for the agricultural employment requirement standards of relevance to the courses taken which allow such veteran or person to work: (1) in establishments engaged in the processing, distribution, or sale of agricultural products; (2) less than full-time; and (3) regardless of whether such employment is expected to be the principal source of income of the veteran or person so employed.
United States · United States Congress · 3 November 1977
Amends the Housing Act of 1949 to not consider specified housing benefits available to veterans in determining eligibility of veterans for housing financing from sources other than the Farmers Home Administration.
United States · United States Congress · 3 November 1977
Small Business Impact Statement Act - Directs the head of each Federal agency to prepare a small business impact statement in connection with each rule made by such agency unless the agency head, with the approval of the Office of Advocacy of the Small Business Administration determines that such rule will not have a substantial effect on a significant number of small business. Sets forth information which must be present in each small business impact statement. Prescribes steps which each agency head must follow in preparing any small business impact statement including publication of the statement in the Federal Register.
United States · United States Congress · 3 November 1977
Establishes within the House of Representatives a Select Committee on the Committee System to study the establishment, jurisdiction, and operation of House committees.
United States · United States Congress · 3 November 1977
Requires Amtrak, the Urban Mass Transportation Administration, and Conrail to purchase only steel and steel products which have been mined, produced, or manufactured in a State or territory of the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 2 November 1977
Amends the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act of 1975 to prohibit the Secretary of Transportation from permitting the transportation of radioactive materials in areas containing a population density greater than 12,000 persons per square mile, except when such materials are to be used for medical diagnosis or treatment purposes in such area or during a national emergency.
United States · United States Congress · 2 November 1977
Imposes import quotas on beef and veal products entering the United States, a trade zone thereof, an insular possession thereof, or the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Sets forth the formula for establishment of such quota quantities by the Secretary of Agriculture.
United States · United States Congress · 31 October 1977
Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, the National Housing Act, and the Federal Credit Union Act to increase deposit insurance from $40,000 to $100,000 for accounts which qualify as individual retirement accounts and accounts established under qualified plans for the self- employed.
United States · United States Congress · 31 October 1977
Amends Title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide payment for occupational therapy services under the supplementary medical insurance program.
United States · United States Congress · 28 October 1977
Amends the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 to restrict the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture to determine the justness or reasonableness of any stockyard service rate or charge to only those rates or charges for services at stockyards which have a certain minimum annual sales volume.
United States · United States Congress · 28 October 1977
Establishes a loan program to provide educational assistance to Vietnam-era veterans and their eligible dependents who either did not commence or were unable to complete a program of education before the expiration of the delimiting period.
United States · United States Congress · 28 October 1977
Competitive Energy Development Act - Directs the Federal Trade Commission, in consultation with the Department of Energy, to establish criteria to measure the level of competition in alternative energy source markets as such markets are defined in this Act. Requires the Commission to conduct monitoring studies of the energy industry by applying such criteria in order to isolate any violations thereof. Permits the Commission to exercise its authority to remedy an anticompetitive situation where a person is deemed responsible for any violation after a show cause hearing.
United States · United States Congress · 28 October 1977
Radioactive Waste Management Act - Amends the Atomic Energy Act to require the transfer of radioactive waste generated by licensees under such Act to Federal repositories for storage. Directs the Energy Research and Development Administration to construct and operate such repositories. Directs the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to establish and enforce standards for construction and operation of all Federal repositories. Requires the Commission to hold public hearings in each State which has jurisdiction of any property within 25 miles of the site of the proposed repository and to consult with the Governors of such States. Amends the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 to grant the Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing and regulatory authority regarding Federal repositories. Requires the transfer of military radioactive waste to Federal repositories. Directs the Administrator of the Energy Research and Development Administration to restore the background radiation at abandoned uranium mill sites or mines as designated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to levels which approximate those levels which existed before operations commenced at such sites. Authorizes States to exercise concurrent authority regarding radioactive waste storage if the State requirements impose additional or more stringent standards for the construction or operation of such facilities.
United States · United States Congress · 28 October 1977
World War I Pension Act - Requires the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs to pay a monthly pension of $150 to each veteran of World War I who meets specified service requirements, to the surviving spouse (who meets specified requirements), or, when there is no surviving spouse, to the child or children (who meet specified requirements).
United States · United States Congress · 27 October 1977
International Emergency Food Reserve Act - Authorizes the President: (1) to enter into negotiations with other nations to develop an international system of food reserves for humanitarian food relief needs; and (2) to establish and maintain an International Emergency Food Reserve as a contribution of the United States toward the development of such a system. Requires for such Reserve minimum stocks of two million tons, allowing an increase up to six million tons pursuant to an international agreement.
United States · United States Congress · 27 October 1977
Directs the President of the United States, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Foreign Service, and the Department of State to formulate and implement a plan for the expansion of sales of American agricultural commodities abroad, including increased food-for-peace (Public Law 480) sales as well as private international transfers of food.
United States · United States Congress · 26 October 1977
Alcohol Fuel Encouragement Act - Requires all gasoline stations, within three years of the passage of this Act, to sell a mixture of gasoline and alcohol in the same manner as they sell gasoline. Imposes a civil penalty for violations of such requirement. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow rapid amortization of facilities producing alcohol for use as a fuel in motor vehicles. Amends the Clean Air Act with respect to the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate the use of alcohol as a fuel additive.
United States · United States Congress · 26 October 1977
Declares that there be no reduction of customs duties on textile, apparel, or fiber products and that such products be excluded from the current Tokyo Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations in Geneva.
United States · United States Congress · 26 October 1977
Pledges Congressional support to the President in efforts to advance the cause of human rights. Urges the President to inform other nations that the United States will take cognizance of the extent to which such nations protect human rights.
United States · United States Congress · 25 October 1977
Prohibits commerce in contraband cigarettes. Defines "contraband cigarettes" as a quantity of more than 20, with respect to which the applicable State cigarette taxes which have not been paid and which are in the possession of any person other than: (1) a person licensed by the State where the cigarettes are found or by the Internal Revenue Service; (2) a common or contract carrier; or (3) a government agent in the performance of duties. Subjects dealers in cigarettes to such reporting requirements as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe.
United States · United States Congress · 25 October 1977
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development should not implement the proposed reorganization of the field and insuring offices of the Department of Housing and Urban Development prior to the time when the appropriate committees of the Congress have had an opportunity to hold hearings on such reorganization.
United States · United States Congress · 20 October 1977
Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate from the classes of excludable and deportable aliens those aliens who: (1) are anarchists; (2) are opposed to organized government; or (3) are members or advocates of the Communist or a totalitarian party. Amends the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950 to remove the prohibition against the application by a member of a Communist organization for a U.S. passport, and the issuance of a passport to such a member.
United States · United States Congress · 20 October 1977
Declares it the sense of the House of Representatives that the President of the United States (1) should propose an immediate suspension of underground nuclear explosions to remain in effect so long as the Soviet Union abstains from conducting underground explosions, and (2) should set forth promptly a new proposal to the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and other nations for a permanent treaty to ban all nuclear explosions.
United States · United States Congress · 19 October 1977
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to treat as a scholarship and to exclude from gross income any amounts received by an individual under the Armed Forces health professions scholarship program or the National Health Service Corps scholarship program, without regard to whether such individual is receiving training while on active duty or in an off-duty or inactive status, and without regard to whether a period of active duty or other service is required of such individual as a condition of receiving such payments.
United States · United States Congress · 17 October 1977
Water Resources Management and Pricing Reform Act - Requires the Secretary of the Interior to establish in each region where the United States provides water for agricultural purposes: (1) a base volume of water necessary to grow suitable crops; and (2) a base rate per acre foot for water delivered. Prescribes rates for volumes of water used in excess of the base volume. Requires all water service contracts to provide for a recalculation of water delivery cost and a modification of price at least once every two years. Requires Congressional approval of water service contracts involving water in excess of a specified volume.
United States · United States Congress · 14 October 1977
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to authorize any taxpayer to elect to have any portion of any overpayment of tax or any contribution in money which the taxpayer forwards with the return for such taxable year be available, as the taxpayer may designate on such return, for the National Endowment for the Arts or the National Endowment for the Humanities.
United States · United States Congress · 12 October 1977
Telephone Privacy Act - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit unsolicited commercial telephone calls to a telephone subscriber who has notified the telephone company that he does not wish to receive such calls. Directs the Federal Communications Commission to prescribe regulations specifying the manner in which a telephone subscriber shall notify the telephone company that he does not wish to receive unsolicited calls. Prescribes criminal penalties for violations of this Act. Excludes from the definition of "unsolicited commercial telephone calls" calls made in response to an express request of the individual called or made in connection with an overdue debt or contractual obligation.
United States · United States Congress · 11 October 1977
Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to prohibit the admission into the United States of an alien who is likely to become a public charge unless a United States citizen posts a $5,000 bond on behalf of such alien. Terminates the liability of the sponsor upon the death of the alien, or three years after such bond is given.
United States · United States Congress · 6 October 1977
Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to deem any article of wearing apparel assembled abroad and imported under the relevant section of the Tariff Schedules of the United States to be an article of foreign origin. Requires such article to be marked with the English name of the country in which it was assembled.
United States · United States Congress · 5 October 1977
Urges the International Whaling Commission to adopt a ten-year moratorium on the commercial killing of whales, and to undertake the management of unprotected, small cetacean. Encourages specified nations to comply voluntarily with a ten-year moratorium on such killing, as endorsed by the United Nations.
United States · United States Congress · 4 October 1977
Declares it the sense of the House of Representatives that the President should request South Africa to permit an impartial or international organization to investigate the death of Steve Biko and the circumstances and conditions of all South Africans currently held under the Terrorism Act and Internal Security Act.
United States · United States Congress · 3 October 1977
Provides that an unremarried former spouse of a Federal employee who was married to such employee for five years or more shall be entitled to a portion of such employee's annuity and to a portion of the annuity of any surviving spouse of such employee.
United States · United States Congress · 28 September 1977
Right to Financial Privacy Act - States that the purposes of this Act are to protect and preserve the confidential relationship between financial institutions and their customers and the constitutional rights of those customers, and to promote commerce by prescribing policies and procedures to insure that customers have the same right to protection against unwarranted disclosure of customer records as if the records were in their possession. Prohibits any Federal agency or employee, or any State or local government, from obtaining copies of, access to, or the information contained in, the financial records of any customer from a financial institution unless such records are described with particularity and: (1) such customer has authorized such disclosure in accordance with this Act; (2) such records are disclosed in response to an administrative subpena or summons; (3) such records are disclosed in response to a court order; or (4) such records are disclosed in response to a judicial subpena. States that no financial institution may provide to a Federal agency or employee, or to any State or local government, copies of or the information contained in the financial records of any customer except in accordance with the requirements of this Act. Sets forth provisions governing customer authorization, administrative subpenas and summons, and judicial subpenas. Prescribes civil and criminal penalties for violation of the provisions of this Title.
![Official portrait of Rep. Bedell, Berkley W. [D-IA-6]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/b000298_200.jpg)