United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Food Stamp Reform Act of 1981 - Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to authorize participating States, rather than the Secretary of Agriculture, to establish eligibility criteria for participation in the food stamp program. Eliminates the uniform eligibility disqualifications and the uniform value of allotment. Eliminates from the State plan of operation all references to or requirements relating to: (1) Federal programs; (2) determinations to be made by the Secretary of Agriculture; and (3) limitations placed on the State agency. Directs the State agency to establish a work program requiring performance of work as a condition of eligibility to receive benefits under the food stamp program. Permits States participating in the food stamp program to establish a program designed to encourage households receiving coupons to purchase nutritional food. Eliminates the Secretary's authority over the administration of the program by the State agencies. Eliminates the administrative cost-sharing and quality control provisions of such Act. Limits the percentage of funds a State agency may use for administrative costs. Eliminates the Secretary's authority to conduct pilot projects and study the feasibility of recovering food stamp benefits from specified households. Sets forth a formula for the distribution of funds by the Secretary to the participating States to provide benefits and pay administrative costs. Directs the State agency to submit annually to the Secretary reports setting forth the purposes for which such funds will be and have been disbursed. Eliminates all Federal restrictions on the value of allotments received by each participating State. Amends the Food Stamp Act Amendments of 1980 to eliminate specified medical deductions for determining income eligibility.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Limitation on Government Recordkeeping Requirements and Actions Act of 1981 - Prohibits any Federal agency from: (1) requiring any person to maintain, prepare, or produce records (other than records relating to a dangerous material) of an event more than four years after the event has occurred; and (2) commencing an action against a person for a violation of a regulation more than four years after such violation has occurred, except as otherwise provided by the Internal Revenue Code.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Tuition Tax Credit Act of 1981 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a taxpayer an income tax credit for 25 percent of the tuition paid for the elementary, secondary, college, or post-secondary vocational education of the taxpayer or the taxpayer's spouse or dependents. Sets forth maximum dollar amounts allowable as a credit for calendar years 1981 through 1983, after which the credit expires. Requires the individual for whom the tuition tax credit is allowed by this Act to be a full-time student during any four months of the calendar year or a part-time student during any eight months of the calendar year. Excludes graduate students from eligibility for such credit. Excludes from the definition of "tuition" any amounts paid for books, supplies, equipment for coursework, meals, lodging, transportation, similar personal expenses, and education below the first-grade level. Forbids any construction of this Act as granting the Government additional authority to examine the books or activities of any church school except to the extent necessary to determine whether such school is an eligible educational institution within the meaning of this Act. Provides for the immediate certification of any judicial action brought in a United States district court concerning the constitutionality of this Act to the appropriate circuit court of appeals. Authorizes direct appeal to the Supreme Court of any such decision by a circuit court. Requires the expedited consideration of such a case at both judicial levels. Requires that any amount received by the taxpayer as a tuition tax credit be disregarded for purposes of determining the eligibility of the taxpayer for Federal, State, or local educational assistance.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Sunset Review Act of 1981 - Requires the House Committee on Rules and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration to jointly develop and maintain an inventory of all Federal programs and tax expenditures. Requires such inventory to classify all such programs and expenditures according to the jurisdiction of the various legislative committees of the two Houses. Requires the General Accounting Office (GAO), before the beginning of the 98th Congress, after consultation with the appropriate legislative committees and the Congressional Budget Office, to submit a draft inventory to the House Committee on Rules and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. Requires such Committees to notify each legislative committee of the programs and tax expenditures which are classified within its jurisdiction. Allows any legislative committee to propose revisions of such inventory within 30 days after notification. Requires that such inventory be published in a single document. Requires that an update be made of such inventory at the beginning of every Congress. Specifies information to be contained in such an inventory. Directs the GAO to publish a supplement to such inventory which includes certain budget information. Requires each legislative committee of the House of Representatives and the Senate, by a specified date, to report a resolution setting forth an agenda for the sunset review of selected Federal programs within its jurisdiction, or, in the case of the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance, of selected tax expenditures. Directs the committees of each House to develop their sunset review agenda in consultation with any other committee which has concurrent jurisdiction over any programs or tax expenditures involved. Requires, where practicable, that related programs and expenditures be reviewed during the same Congress. Requires the report accompanying any agenda reported in the 104th Congress and every fifth Congress thereafter to summarize the programs and expenditures reviewed and not reviewed during the five previous Congresses. Prohibits either the House or the Senate from considering a primary expense resolution for any legislative committee in any Congress until that committee has developed and submitted its sunset review agenda. Requires the House Committee on Rules and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration to incorporate such agendas into a consolidated sunset review agenda and to report such consolidated agenda to its House in the form of a concurrent resolution, within seven legislative days after all committee sunset review agendas have been submitted. Requires the consolidated sunset review agenda to be adopted in the House and in the Senate no later than March 30 in the first session of each Congress. Sets forth the procedures for the consideration and adoption of such agenda. Requires each committee of the House or the Senate, not later than May 15 in the second session of each Congress, to report a bill or bills modifying, continuing, or terminating each program or tax expenditure which it has been directed to review under the consolidated sunset review agenda adopted during the first session. Requires such bill to be accompanied by a report. Requires each department, agency, and instrumentality in the executive branch of the Government which is responsible for the administration of a Federal program or tax expenditure selected for sunset review to provide the appropriate Congressional committees with its views, information, and assistance. Directs the Comptroller General to supply specified information on audits. Exempts foreign intelligence or counterintelligence programs designated by the President as requiring protection from unauthorized disclosure. Directs the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate to review such programs pursuant to the spirit of this Act. Amends rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives to include the consolidated sunset review agendas and the Congressional inventory of Federal programs as part of the House Committee on Rules' functions.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Anti-Inflation Tax Act of 1981 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require annual cost of living adjustments, based on the Consumer Price Index, to individual income tax rates, the personal tax exemption, withholding requirements, and minimum income tax return amounts.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Requires that each State establish and maintain an approved workfare program as a condition of its eligibility for Federal payments or other assistance under the: (1) program of aid to families with dependent children under the Social Security Act; (2) food stamp program under the Food Stamp Act of 1977; and (3) public housing and assisted housing programs under the United States Housing Act of 1937. Requires that such State workfare program shall require every State resident applying for or receiving aid under such Federal public assistance program to perform work in return for, and as a condition for, such aid. Directs the appropriate Federal agencies to promulgate guidelines for approval, supervision, and oversight of such State workfare programs. Exempts from required participation in such programs those who are: (1) under age 18 or over age 65; (2) disabled; (3) regularly employed for at least 40 hours a week; or (4) primarily responsible for the care of a child less than three years old (or for the care of a child more than two but less than six years old if suitable child care is not available at reasonable cost). Requires that each State workfare program must provide that if any individual who is required to participate in such program refuses to accept a bona fide offer of qualified employment or to perform qualified employment, in any month, neither such individual nor any other person in the family or household of which such individual is a member shall be eligible to receive any aid under such Federal public assistance programs for that month. Requires that State workfare programs include provision for job counseling, assistance in obtaining employment outside the program, and job search activities. Provides for: (1) Federal matching funds to cover administrative costs of such State programs; (2) Federal cut-offs of funds to State agencies for failure to comply with this Act; and (3) Federal agency reports to Congress on such State programs. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Amends the Omnibus Crime Control Act of 1970 to revise and increase the mandatory penalties for using or carrying a firearm during commission of a Federal felony. Defines such offense as using a firearm to commit a felony over which the district courts have exclusive jurisdiction or carrying a firearm during such a felony involving violence. Deletes the requirement that the firearm be carried "illegally." Increases the additional penalty imposed for such offense from one to ten years' imprisonment to five to ten years' imprisonment for a first offender and from two to 25 years to ten years to life imprisonment for a second or subsequent offender. Extends to first offenders the directions, currently applicable only to second offenders, that the court not suspend any sentence or grant probation and that the additional sentence not run concurrently with any term of imprisonment imposed for the offense itself. Makes a first offender ineligible for parole for five years and a second or subsequent offender ineligible for ten years. Expresses the sense of Congress that the executive prosecute vigorously such offenses.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Amends the Clean Air Act to repeal the requirement that State implementation plans for meeting the national primary ambient air quality standard provide for periodic inspection and testing of motor vehicles.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Prohibits the phaseout of any particular energy source used by electric powerplants which would adversely affect the adequacy of electric power supply in an electric reliability area. Permits a prohibition on the use of an energy source pursuant to the Powerplant and Industrial Fuel Use Act of 1978, the Energy Supply and Environmental Coordination Act of 1974, or public safety requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income up to $10,000 interest income earned on savings accounts. Makes such exclusion permanent.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Establishes the position of Director of the Office of Management and Budget as a cabinet position at level I of the Executive Schedule. Upgrades the Deputy Director position to level II of the Executive Schedule.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Establishes a Commission on More Effective Government to study and recommend ways of promoting economy, efficiency, and improved service within the Executive branch of Government. Directs the Commission to recommend methods to improve the relationship between Federal, State, and local governments. Directs the Commission to submit a final report to the Congress ten days after the Ninety-eighth Congress convenes. Terminates the Commission 90 days after such date. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Constitutional Amendment - Requires Congress to assure that the total outlays of the Government, during any fiscal year, do not exceed the total receipts of the Government during such fiscal year. Provides for the phased implementation of this requirement after the ratification of this amendment. Permits expenditures to exceed national revenues in time of national emergency, but never by more than ten percent. Provides that during the fifth fiscal year beginning after the ratification of this amendment and for the next 19 succeeding fiscal years thereafter, the total receipts of the Government shall exceed outlays by an amount equal to five percent of the Federal indebtedness at the beginning of the fifth fiscal year.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Constitutional Amendment - Prohibits the total appropriations of Congress from exceeding estimated revenues. Authorizes the suspension of such prohibition in time of war or national emergency. Prohibits any increase in the national debt as it exists on the date this article is ratified. Sets forth a schedule for repayment of the national debt.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Constitutional Amendment - Prohibits a Federal court from requiring that a person be assigned to, or excluded from, a school on the basis of race, religion, or national origin.
United States · United States Congress · 13 November 1980
Amends the Comprehensive Employment Training Act Amendments of 1978 to exclude from participation in any program authorized by such Act any person who publicly advocates the violent overthrow of the United States or has so advocated such a course of action within a specified prior period.
United States · United States Congress · 2 October 1980
Designates the New York Bulk and Foreign Mail Center at Jersey City, New Jersey, as the "Michael McDermott Bulk and Foreign Mail Center" in memory of the postal employee who lost his life in an industrial accident at the Center.
United States · United States Congress · 1 October 1980
Congressional Regulatory Review Procedure Act - Requires each Federal agency to transmit to the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives a copy of each rule upon its promulgation or repromulgation. States that a rule shall not become effective if: (1) both Houses of Congress adopt a concurrent resolution disapproving it within 90 days after it is promulgated; or (2) either House adopts such a resolution within 60 days after the rule is promulgated and the other House does not disapprove such resolution within an additional 30 days. Permits a rule to become effective: (1) 60 days after it is promulgated if no committee of either House has reported or been discharged from further consideration of such a resolution; or (2) not earlier than 90 days after its promulgation if such a resolution has been reported, discharged, or adopted within such 60 day period. Prohibits an agency from promulgating a rule which is identical to a disapproved rule. Authorizes either House of Congress to adopt a concurrent resolution directing agency reconsideration of a rule. States that if the other House does not disapprove such a resolution within 60 days, the rule shall lapse within 180 days after the resolution is adopted unless the agency repromulgates the rule in accordance with the provisions of this Act. Directs an agency to provide notice of a proceeding to consider repromulgation of a rule at least 60 days before it is repromulgated, and to hold a hearing for oral presentations as part of such proceeding. Sets forth House and Senate procedure for the consideration of resolutions of disapproval and resolutions for reconsideration. Establishes in the House and the Senate a Resolutions on Regulations Calendar to which any such resolution reported by a committee or from which the committee has been discharged shall be referred.
United States · United States Congress · 19 September 1980
Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to increase to $24,000 in 1981 the amount of outside earnings which a beneficiary age 65 or over may have without a reduction of benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 19 September 1980
Honors Raoul Wallenberg for his work in Hungary during World War II. Expresses the sense of Congress that the U.S. delegation to the Madrid meeting of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe should urge the consideration of the Wallenberg case. Requests the State Department to discover the whereabouts of Raoul Wallenberg from the Soviet Union and secure his return to Sweden.
United States · United States Congress · 19 September 1980
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the peaceful resolution of the Polish workers' strike contributes to international peace. Encourages implementation of the strike settlement without outside interference.
United States · United States Congress · 15 September 1980
Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act to extend the date by which public water systems which have been granted an exemption from contaminant level and treatment technique requirements must meet such requirements. Provides an alternative procedure by which a State with an underground injection control program relating to oil or natural gas production or recovery may receive approval for obtaining primary enforcement responsibility for protecting its underground water sources. Authorizes a State to demonstrate that its underground injection control program meets the minimum requirements of State program regulations and will prevent underground injection which endangers drinking water sources, rather than file an application which meets the regulations established by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Authorizes a State which has made such a demonstration to make a similar demonstration with respect to any amended requirement of underground injection rather than file a notice that the State program meets the new requirement. Prohibits the application of requirements to determine whether a State retains primary enforcement responsibility if the State initially acquired the responsibility because of such a demonstration. Authorizes the Administrator to determine, after an opportunity for public hearing, that such a demonstration is no longer valid and to remove primary enforcement responsibility from the State. Permits a State which has primary enforcement responsibility to exempt a public water system from a contaminant level or treatment technique requirement if the system was not in operation at the time the requirement took effect and no reasonable alternative source of drinking water is available. Prohibits underground water source protection grants to any State which has not assumed primary enforcement responsibility within a specified time.
United States · United States Congress · 9 September 1980
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an income tax deduction for expenses incurred in the rental of a dwelling unit as a residence to a member of the taxpayer's family. Provides that this Act shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 1975.
United States · United States Congress · 28 August 1980
Requests the President to furnish to the House of Representatives all information, whether or not classified, concerning the disclosure of classified information relating to the Stealth technology for military aircraft. Authorizes the President to furnish such information with safeguards as he deems appropriate. Stipulates that the information shall be available to Members of the House in accordance with the Rules of the House.
United States · United States Congress · 27 August 1980
Urges the peaceful resolution of issues raised by Polish workers in accordance with international agreements. Requests the Polish government to release persons unjustly imprisoned during recent worker unrest. Asks all signatories to observe the Declaration on Principles Guiding Relations between Participating States.
United States · United States Congress · 26 August 1980
Extends from 50 years to 80 years the period for repayment of revenue bonds issued by the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (the Corporation) to the Secretary of the Treasury. Directs the Corporation and the Secretary to make all revenue bonds outstanding on the effective date of this Act payable in equal annual amounts over the remainder of the 80 year period established by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 25 August 1980
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States should provide immediate humanitarian assistance to help Somalia cope with the massive influx of refugees. Urges executive branch officials to call upon other nations to aid the Somali refugees.
United States · United States Congress · 21 August 1980
Expresses the sense of Congress that the President should convey congressional concern about the deprivation of the rights of Christians by the Soviet Union, particularly the Pentecostals living in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. Directs the President to report to Congress on the prospects for religious freedom in the Soviet Union.
United States · United States Congress · 20 August 1980
Expresses the sense of the Congress that aliens who engage in unlawful or disorderly activities in the United States should be promptly deported in accordance with provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
United States · United States Congress · 19 August 1980
Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to authorize the Secretary of Education to waive specified requirements for the use of title I special educational needs funds by local educational agencies participating in experimental programs designed to consolidate State categorical educational programs. Permits such waiver for any one of fiscal years 1982 through 1985, with possible renewal for an additional one-year period, of requirements that: (1) such Federal funds be used to supplement, not supplant, non-Federal funds for regular and certain special State and local programs; and (2) agencies receiving Federal assistance maintain, through use of non- Federal funds, services comparable to those provided by unassisted agencies. Prohibits the Secretary's approval of a waiver application unless it contains the following assurances plus an assurance that not more than 15 percent of the State's educationally deprived children shall be served under the experimental program. Requires an assurance, in the case of any waiver which enables local educational agencies to consolidate the administration and operation of programs for educationally deprived children and special education programs for handicapped children and for children with limited English-speaking ability, that the educationally deprived children in project areas will be provided with educational programs and services which are comparable to those such children would otherwise receive and that certain Federal funds shall be used to provide programs and services only to eligible children. Requires an assurance, in the case of any waiver which permits local educational agencies to transfer State and local funds among the special educational programs described above and programs for educationally deprived children, that the educationally deprived children shall receive the same level of Federal funds as they would receive in the absence of such waiver and that an accurate accounting of such funds is ensured. Requires an assurance, in the case of any waiver permitting local educational agencies to distribute State and local funds for the programs under this title to project areas and other school attendance areas, that the educationally deprived children at elementary and secondary schools in project areas receive a level of State and local funds not less than, and services from such funds comparable to, the level of such funds and the services from such funds received by elementary and secondary school children in other school attendance areas. Permits a waiver which enables local educational agencies to use funds available for programs under this title to improve educational programs for eligible children who have not met the requirements for grade promotion or for receipt of a high school diploma or to provide educational services to eligible children when required by applicable law or court order.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 1980
Prohibits the phaseout of any particular energy source for use by electric powerplants which would adversely affect the adequacy of electric power supply in any electric reliability area. Permits the prohibition of an energy source pursuant to the Powerplant and Industrial Fuel Use Act of 1978, the Energy Supply and Environmental Coordination Act of 1974, or public safety requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 31 July 1980
New Homestead Act of 1980 - Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to require that not less than 40 percent of the real estate loans made under such Act be for the acquisition of family farms by prospective owner-operators. Sets forth the repayment terms for such loans. Directs the Secretary to make or insure at least 500 but not more than 2,000 such loans.
United States · United States Congress · 31 July 1980
Directs the printing as a House document of a collection of statements made in tribute to the late Mamie Doud Eisenhower. Authorizes the additional printing of copies for use by the House at a cost not to exceed $1,200.
United States · United States Congress · 30 July 1980
Nuclear Safety Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1980 - Directs the Secretary of Energy to establish a research, development, and demonstration program for instituting practical improvements in the safety of nuclear powerplants during the next five years. Sets forth the goals of such program, including: (1) the development of cost-effective improvements in the generic design and operation of nuclear powerplants; (2) the identification of aptitude, training, and manning levels which are necessary to assure reliable operator performance; and (3) the analysis of nuclear powerplant fuels, components, and subsystems which offer significant improvements in plant safety. Directs the Secretary to coordinate such activities with those of other Government agencies, foreign governments, and industry. Requires the Secretary to: (1) make recommendations to minimize the complexity of nuclear powerplant systems and operations; (2) use federally owned research facilities and personnel, to the extent feasible; and (3) fully disseminate information concerning projects and activities conducted under this Act. Directs the Secretary to prepare an annual comprehensive program management plan for the conduct of such activities.
United States · United States Congress · 30 July 1980
Expresses the sense of Congress that the President should request the International Red Cross to: (1) make regular visits to the hostages held in Iran and report back to Congress with its findings; and (2) urge its member countries to solicit Iranian cooperation in such visits.
United States · United States Congress · 29 July 1980
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend to 36 months the rollover period for nonrecognition of gain on the sale of principal residences sold in 1980 and to 24 months for those sold in 1981 (currently, such rollover period is 18 months prior to or following the date of sale).
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 1980
Capital Investment Incentive Act of 1980 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase from 60 percent to 70 percent the noncorporate capital gains deduction from gross income. Reduces from 28 percent to 21 percent the corporate alternative minimum tax rate on capital gains.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 1980
Farm Labor Contractor Registration Act Amendments of 1980 - Amends the Farm Labor Contractor Registration Act of 1963 to revise the definition of "farm labor contractor" to: (1) broaden specified exclusions from such definition (thus broadening certain exemptions from coverage under such Act); and (2) exclude from such definition (and such coverage) any nonprofit or cooperative association of farmers, growers, or ranchers, duly incorporated under appropriate State laws, and operated solely for the mutual benefit of the members thereof, and any full-time or regular employee of such association or cooperative who engages in such activity solely for such employer. Adds other definitions relating to such revisions. Revises the definition of "agricultural employment" to specify that listed activities take place on a farm or ranch. Limits the definition of "migrant worker" to mean (among individuals engaged in agricultural employment on a farm or ranch on a seasonal or temporary basis) only those who cannot regularly return to their domicile each day after working hours, or who are transported from and to their domicile each workday by the person who recruits, solicits, hires, or furnishes such worker for agricultural employment on a farm or ranch owned or operated by another person.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 1980
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the U.S. delegation to the Copenhagen conference on the United Nations Decade for Women should be encouraged to support resolutions relating to health, education, and employment. Declares that the U.S. delegation to the Conference should oppose any resolutions which do not relate directly to the goals of the Conference. Requires the U.S. delegation to report to Congress on the results of the conference.
United States · United States Congress · 2 July 1980
Estate and Gift Tax Act of 1980 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) increase from $47,000 to $155,800 the unified credit against the estate and gift tax; and (2) increase from $3,000 to $6,000 the gift tax exclusion.
United States · United States Congress · 2 July 1980
Tax Rate Reduction Act of 1980 - Title I: Individual Tax Rates - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce individual income tax rates for calendar years 1981 through 1985, and permanently thereafter. Title II: Inflation Adjustments for Taxable Years Beginning After 1985 - Requires annual cost of living adjustments to income levels in each income tax bracket, beginning in calendar year 1985. Requires similar cost of living adjustments to the $1,000 personal tax exemption. Increases the minimum income levels at which a taxpayer is required to file an income tax return by providing that such levels shall be equal to the taxpayer's income tax exemption and zero bracket amount, adjusted for inflation.
United States · United States Congress · 2 July 1980
Expresses the sense of the Congress that U.S. foreign policy should reflect a national strategy of peace through strength with specified principles and goals.
United States · United States Congress · 1 July 1980
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the U. S. delegation to the Copenhagen conference on the United Nations Decade for Women should be encouraged to support resolutions relating to health, education, and employment and to sign the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. Declares that the U. S. delegation to the Conference should be instructed to oppose any resolutions which do not relate directly to the goals of the Conference. Requires the U. S. delegation to report to Congress on the results of the conference.
![Official portrait of Rep. Derwinski, Edward J. [R-IL-4]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/d000269_200.jpg)