United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1973
Establishes a Joint Congressional Committee on the Environment to consist of eleven Members of the House of Representatives to be appointed by the Speaker and eleven Members of the Senate to be appointed by the President of the Senate. Gives the Committee the duty: (1) to conduct a continuing comprehensive study and review of the character and extent of environmental changes that may occur in the future and their effect on population, communities, and industries, including but not limited to the effects of such changes on the need for public and private planning and investment in housing, water resources (including oceanography), pollution control, food supplies, education, automation affecting interstate commerce, fish and wildlife, forestry, mining, communications, transportation, power supplies, welfare, and other services and facilities; (2) to study methods of using all practicable means and measures, including financial and technical assistance, in a manner calculated to foster, promote, create, and maintain conditions under which man and nature can exist in harmony, and fulfill the social, economic, and other requirements of present and future generations of Americans; (3) to develop policies that would encourage maximum private investment in means of improving environmental quality; and (4) to review any recommendations made by the President (including the environmental quality report required to be submitted pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969) relating to environmental policy. Grants the Committee necessary powers to carry out the objectives of this Act, and requires a final report to the House of Representatives and the Senate on the studies and projects undertaken by the Committee. Authorizes necessary appropriations to enable the committee to carry out its functions under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1973
Designates the third week of April of each year as "Earth Week," a week to review and assess environmental progress and to determine what further steps must be taken to continue the nationwide effort of education on environmental problems.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1973
Establishes a "Joint Committee on Peace" to be composed of five members of the Senate to be appointed by the President of the Senate, and five members of the House to be appointed by the Speaker. Requires that in each instance not more than three members shall be of the same political party. Directs the joint committee to make studies of ways to attain world peace. Requires Federal departments and agencies concerned with keeping and maintaining peace to keep the joint committee fully and currently informed, and to furnish any information with respect to the activities or responsibilities of that agency in the field of peace. Requires the members of the committee who are Members of Congress to report to their respective bodies at least once a year. Authorizes the joint committee to hold hearings or investigations, to require the attendance of witnesses and/or the production of documents at such hearings, and to make such expenditures as it deems advisable. Allows only those measures and recommendations receiving the assent of the majority of the members of the committee to be reported from the committee. Provides for the expenses of the joint committee to be paid equally from the contingent funds of the House and the Senate. Authorizes such funds to be appropriated as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act. Gives the joint committee power to classify information originating within the committee in accordance with standards generally used by the executive branch for classifying restricted or defense data. Requires the committee to keep a record of all committee actions including a record of the vote on any question on which a record vote is demanded.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1973
Constitutional Amendment - Provides that the President may approve any appropriation or provision and disapprove any other appropriation or provision in the same appropriation bill. Requires the President to designate the appropriations and provisions disapproved in such bill; and to return a copy of such appropriations and provisions, with his objections, to the House in which the bill shall have originated; and the same proceedings shall then be had as in other bills disapproved by the President.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1973
Constitutional Amendment - Provides for the direct election of the President and the Vice President. Requires a plurality of at least 40 percent of the votes cast for election to office. Provides, in the event that no candidates receive 40 percent of the votes cast, that the Congress shall assemble in special session and choose the President and Vice President by publicly recorded vote from among those two pairs receiving the highest number of votes cast in the election. Requires a uniform national election day, and gives the Congress power to provide for the manner in which the candidacies to appear on the ballot shall be determined, for the places at which and the manner in which the election shall be held, for the manner in which its outcome shall be determined, for primary elections, and for the eventuality of death or withdrawal of a candidate on or before the date of election. States that the qualifications for voters in any State shall be the same as apply in the case of voters in such State in elections of Senators, except that the Congress may by law prescribe uniform qualification as to age and residence.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1973
Authorizes the President to appoint by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a chief judge and two associate judges who shall constitute a court of record known as the United States Court of Ethics. Provides that the court: (1) shall hear complaints of unehtical conduct by Federal officers and employees if it determines that such a hearing is of sufficient public interest and importance to be warranted, and (2) shall render a decision on whether specified ethical principles have been violated. Stipulates that if the court determines that there is probable cause for believing that any person is guilty of an act or omission which violates any law of the United States, it shall forward a copy of its decision and all facts pertinent thereto to the Attorney General of the United States. Provides, upon determination of a violation, for the forwarding of a copy of the decision to the head of the Federal Government agency, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President of the Senate, or a judge of the court concerned, depending on the position and place of employment of the Federal employee. Authorizes appropriate and permissible disciplinary action by the person notified with respect to the officer or employee guilty of a violation. Requires all decisions of the Court of Ethics to be published, and provides for review of decisions by the United States Courts of Appeal.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1973
Makes it the sense of the Congress that the pollution of waters all over the world is a matter of vital concern to all nations and should be dealt with as a matter of the highest priority. Makes it the sense of the Congress that the President, acting through the United States delegation to the United National Conference on the Human Environment, should take such steps as may be necessary to propose an international agreement, or amendments to existing international agreements, as may be appropriate, providing for coordinated international activites to prohibit the disposal of munitions, chemicals, chemical munitions, military material, and any pollutants in territorial waters, contiguous zones, the deep seabed or any international waters, and otherwise to prevent the pollution of the waters of the world.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1973
Establishes a Joint Congressional Committee on Impoundment of Funds to exist during the 93rd Congress and to consist of five Members of the Senate appointed by the President pro tempore of the Senate and five Members of the House of Representatives to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. States that it shall be the duty of the committee to conduct a continuing comprehensive study and review of the President's constitutional power to terminate authorized Federal projects for which appropriations have been made or to withhold funds from such projects, and to report to the Congress its findings in a final report before the close of the 93rd Congress. Authorizes the committee to make such expenditures, hold such hearings, and employ such assistants as necessary, and to utilize the services and facilities of the General Accounting Office, any executive agency, or any congressional committee.
![Official portrait of Rep. Bennett, Charles E. [D-FL-3]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/b000371_200.jpg)