United States · United States Congress · 29 January 1991
Health Care Savings Account Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow employees and employers, including self-employed individuals, a 60 percent tax credit for contributions to a health care savings account for the benefit of the employee or self-employed individual. Limits total contributions to an account to the aggregate amount of hospital insurance tax paid with respect to the account beneficiary. Describes conditions that must be met by the account. Excludes from the gross income of the beneficiary any account contributions made by an employer. Exempts an account from taxation (except for the tax on unrelated business income of a charitable organization) unless the distributee engages in specified transactions in connection with it. Excludes from gross income any account distributions used to pay the eligible medical expenses of the beneficiary or qualifying spouse. Imposes a ten percent surtax on account distributions used for other than health care purposes or made before the distributee is aged 65 or older. Imposes penalty taxes in connection with: (1) excess contributions or prohibited transactions associated with an account; (2) distributions from an account that reduce a distributee's account level below a specified amount; and (3) failure to effect spousal rollover of an account upon the spouse's death. Imposes penalties for failure to make required reports concerning an account. Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to reduce the Medicare benefits of a health care savings account beneficiary by 60 percent of the maximum amount of Medicare-related expenditures that could be reasonably underwritten (by an insurance company) for the average Medicare beneficiary, given certain assumptions. Establishes special rules for individuals who cannot obtain insurance to cover their added deductible at the standard premium rates. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish rules in connection with recalculations of deductibles when a qualifying spouse becomes eligible for Medicare. Establishes catastrophic health care expense protection for certain individuals who qualify for Medicare and have met specified contribution requirements with respect to one or more health care savings accounts. Describes conditions under which a qualifying spouse becomes eligible for this protection.
United States · United States Congress · 29 January 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to raise from $5,000,000 to $25,000,000 the threshold amount of tax-exempt bonds that a small governmental unit may issue and still remain within the exception from arbitrage rebate requirements. Makes the exception from such rebate for construction bonds effective as if included under the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Permits elections concerning such bonds to be made until 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act. States that any rebates paid shall not be refunded. Increases from $10,000,000 to $25,000,000 the amount of tax-exempt obligations excepted from the pro rata allocation of interest expense of financial institutions to tax-exempt interest for qualified small issuers. Repeals the five percent unrelated and disproportionate private use rules for private activity bonds. Provides that a bond shall not be treated as an arbitrage bond by reason of any failure to meet any requirements of temporary period investments if all earnings which would cause such bond to be an arbitrage bond are paid to the United States by the issuer by the required due dates. Reduces from 100 percent to 90 percent the amount of arbitrage to be rebated to the United States if certain State and local bonds are not to be treated as arbitrage bonds. Provides that an advance refunding bond will not be tax-exempt if it results in amounts becoming available which are invested in substantially guaranteed higher yielding investments pursuant to a contract entered during a certain period before or after issuance of the bond.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1991
Judicial Taxation Prohibition Act - Amends the Federal judicial code to deny to inferior Federal courts jurisdiction to issue any remedy, order, writ, or other judicial decree requiring the Federal Government or any State or local government to impose any new tax or to increase any existing tax or tax rate.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1991
Subjects to execution persons who, within the District of Columbia: (1) commit first degree murder; (2) murder a law enforcement officer while such officer is engaged in official duties or because of the status of an individual as an officer; or (3) engage in conduct during the course of a continuing criminal enterprise and thereby knowingly cause an individual's death. Directs the Government to notify the defendant a reasonable amount of time before trial or the court's acceptance of a guilty plea of its intent to seek the death penalty. Requires that, once a guilty verdict is rendered, a separate sentencing hearing be held at which there must be a unanimous finding, that, in addition to murder, specified aggravating factors, such as a previous murder conviction, commission of the murder for money, or torture of the victim, exist which outweigh specified mitigating factors and justify execution. Requires that the jury be notified that regardless of its findings it is never required to impose the death sentence and that it may not consider the race, color, religious beliefs, national origin or sex of the defendant or victim in passing sentence. Prohibits the execution of minors, the mentally retarded, or certain mentally disabled individuals. Authorizes a sentence of life imprisonment without parole for a capital crime. Sets forth death sentence appeal rights. Affords indigent defendants charged with a capital crime the benefit of an experienced criminal attorney until the execution of judgment. Prohibits correctional employees from being forced to participate in an execution that is against their moral or religious convictions.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend the targeted jobs credit permanently. Increases the maximum age requirement for economically disadvantaged youth from 23 to 25.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1991
Constitutional Amendment - Declares that the Congress and the States shall have power to prohibit the act of physical desecration of the U.S. flag and to set criminal penalties for such act.
United States · United States Congress · 17 January 1991
Amends Federal postal law to permit the mailing of wine if it is mailed by a licensed winery governed by specified regulations. Amends Federal criminal law to: (1) exempt such winery from fines or penalties; and (2) permit the mailing of such wine in Indian country, subject to the restrictions of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 10 January 1991
Amends the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 and the Rules of the House of Representatives to modify the ban on honoraria to allow Federal officers and employees to receive payments for any appearance, speech, or article unrelated to that individual's official duties or status.
United States · United States Congress · 10 January 1991
Employee Educational Assistance Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the income tax exclusion of amounts paid under employee educational assistance programs. (Under current law the exclusion expires for taxable years beginning after December 31, 1991.)
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1991
Federal Government Foreign Travel Accountability Act of 1991 - Prohibits the obligation or expenditure for foreign travel by Federal employees and officials (including Members of Congress) of funds not specifically appropriated for such travel. Requires such employees and officials to travel by the most economical means possible and to travel aboard U.S. commercial carriers, unless an alternative means of foreign travel is more economical. Directs Federal agency heads to designate foreign travel supervisors. Requires each supervisor and each congressional committee to: (1) approve foreign travel of employees and officials in advance; (2) establish guidelines for such travel to prevent unnecessary trips; and (3) file quarterly reports with respect to such travel which shall be made available for public inspection. Requires such reports to: (1) specify the purpose and agenda of the trip; (2) identify each such employee or official and any other person who accompanies them at Government expense; and (3) describe any determination by a supervisor or congressional committee that such travel could be accomplished by a more economical alternative means when such travel is not aboard such a carrier. Requires such reports to be destroyed six years after being filed unless they are required in an ongoing investigation.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Budget Process Reform Act - Title I: Statement of Congressional Purpose - Declares that the purpose of this Act is to facilitate rational, informed, and timely decisions by the Congress. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Federal budget process should focus the attention of policymakers and the public on the aggregate impact of Federal spending on the economy, and on the tradeoffs that must be made among priorities in order to control overall levels of spending. Declares that the budget process should contain safeguards against delay and inaction, so that temporary shut-downs of the Government may be avoided. Title II: Binding Budget Law - Requires the Congress to enact a binding budget law, in the form of a joint resolution, by April 15 of the calendar year before that in which the fiscal period commences. Requires the budget law to fit on a single page, which sets forth specific budget ceilings in major functional categories. Makes it out of order in the House of Representatives or the Senate to consider any spending bill affecting spending in a major functional category unless and until a joint resolution on the budget is enacted. Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to prohibit baseline budgeting. Requires the budget to include comparisons of current fiscal year and proposed subsequent fiscal year spending. Requires the President to submit to the Congress on or before the fifteenth day after a joint resolution on the budget is enacted a detailed budget for the fiscal period beginning on October 1 of the current calendar year. Title III: Enforcement Mechanics - Subtitle A: Supermajority Required to Break Budget Law - Requires a two-thirds majority vote in the House and the Senate to consider any spending bill prior to the enactment of the budget law. Requires the Congressional Budget Office to provide to the Congress an estimate of the costs in each major functional category of any spending bill as soon as practicable after its introduction. Limits such estimates to those bills likely to result in costs of more than $10,000,000. Requires a two-thirds affirmative vote in the House and the Senate to consider over-budget spending bills. Requires a two-thirds affirmative vote in the House and the Senate to waive any provision of this Act. Subtitle B: Limited Enhanced Rescission Authority - Amends the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to limit the President's rescission authority to spending that is above the limits of the budget law. Subtitle C: "Blank Check" Appropriations Prohibited - Declares the intent of the Congress to end open-ended, "blank check" appropriations which typically authorize spending "such sums as may be necessary." Requires fixed-dollar appropriations for every account except social security and interest on the debt. Prohibits open-ended appropriations. Requires Executive agencies to adjust benefit levels to ensure that appropriations for entitlement programs are not exceeded. Restricts budget authority and entitlement authority to one fiscal period. Subtitle D: "Pay As You Go" Requirement for New Spending - Prohibits the Congress from considering any legislation which exceeds the budget ceiling unless it offsets such increased spending with an equal amount of reductions. Requires a two-thirds affirmative vote in the House and the Senate to waive such prohibition. Title IV: Sustaining Mechanism - Makes appropriations to provide for an automatic continuing resolution if for any account an appropriation for a fiscal period does not become law before the beginning of such period. Restricts legislation providing funding to the Committees on Appropriations. Title V: Protection of Social Security - Provides that no reduction in benefits under title II of the Social Security Act (Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) shall be made as a consequence of this Act. Title VI: Timetable - Revises the timetable for the congressional budget process. Title VII: Conforming Amendments - Makes various technical and conforming amendments, including changing references to a concurrent resolution on the budget to references to a joint resolution on the budget. Title VIII: Definitions and Rules of Interpretation - Sets forth definitions for specified terms. Title IX: Effective Date - Declares the effective date of this Act to be January 1, 1993, applicable to fiscal years beginning after September 30, 1993. Applies to FY 1993 certain provisions of Federal law, including the Congressional Budget Impoundment Control Act of 1974 and the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act).
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Wetlands Protection and Regulatory Reform Act of 1991 - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to require guidelines concerning permits for the discharge of dredged or fill material into navigable waters to accord different levels of protection to wetlands based on acreage, function, and value. Repeals a provision that authorizes the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to deny or restrict the use of areas as disposal sites. Sets forth provisions concerning permit applications. Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to issue general permits within a State for categories of wetlands or navigable waters if the State has an approved wetlands conservation plan. Requires the Secretary to monitor the progress in achieving the goal of no net loss of wetlands in relation to such permits. Limits permit terms to five-year periods. Authorizes the revocation or modification of a permit if the activities authorized by such permit have adverse environmental impacts or are more appropriately authorized by individual permits. Exempts the discharge of dredged or fill material into navigable waters from the following activities from regulation under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act: (1) aquaculture; and (2) the construction or maintenance of an abandoned mine reclamation project which is approved by State agencies and receives funds pursuant to the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977. Authorizes the Governors of States desiring to administer their own permit programs for the discharge of dredged or fill material and other alterations of navigable waters to submit State wetlands conservation plans to the Administrator. Requires the Secretary to establish standards to govern the delineation of lands as wetlands. Authorizes State Governors to submit State wetlands conservation plans. Sets forth plan approval procedures. Permits the Administrator, upon the request of a State, to provide technical assistance in developing such plans. Requires the Administrator, upon application of a State with an approved plan, to make grants to such State for implementing the plan. Limits the Federal share of such grants to 60 percent of the total cost of implementation. Prohibits more than 15 percent of the amount appropriated to carry out such plans from being used for grants to States. Authorizes appropriations. Reserves a specified amount of funds for wetlands conservation planning. Increases the amounts required to be reserved by States for water quality and wetlands conservation planning. Directs the Administrator to establish: (1) a national wetlands program to promote understanding and dissemination of information on the functioning of wetlands ecosystems; (2) a national wetlands restoration and creation program; and (3) a wetlands restoration clearinghouse. Permits the Administrator to impose cost-sharing requirements on non-Federal sponsors of such activities. Authorizes and directs the Secretary to establish a program to evaluate and demonstrate: (1) the use of constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment; and (2) methods by which such projects restore and maintain the physical, chemical, and biological integrity of U.S. waters and attain the goals of the Act. Requires the Secretary to conduct research and pilot projects utilizing constructed wetlands with a total treatment capacity of up to 200,000,000 gallons per day to determine the economic and technical feasibility of using such wetlands to treat wastewater from point and nonpoint sources. Requires priority to be given to siting projects in small and rural communities lacking wastewater treatment facilities or with substandard facilities. Directs the Secretary to establish in the Corps of Engineers an interagency working group on wetlands for wastewater treatment to coordinate and oversee such wetlands program. Directs the interagency group to report to the Congress on the use of constructed wetlands for treating sources of wastewater, together with recommendations on methods by which such wetlands might be utilized to improve local water quality. Requires the Secretary to establish a demonstration program to determine the feasibility of utilizing mitigation banks to satisfy wetlands mitigation requirements and the goals of this Act. Defines a "mitigation bank" as a system or process of accounting under which an applicant may deposit or withdraw units measuring wetlands restoration, enhancement, and creation efforts to satisfy mitigation or compensation requirements. Requires the Administrator to amend guidelines under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to require consideration of property ownership and other matters in the public interest in reviewing individual and general permit applications and renewals. Directs the Secretary and the Administrator to report to the Congress on efforts to implement a specified Executive Order relating to governmental actions and interference with constitutionally protected property rights. Requires the Comptroller General to study and report to the Congress on the need and feasibility of expanding the situations requiring the preparation of a takings analysis pursuant to such Order. Directs the Administrator to continue to provide advanced identifications of wetlands subject to regulation under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. Requires the Secretary or the Administrator to provide public notice of any identification or delineation of wetlands subject to regulation under such Act. Directs the Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Tennessee Valley Authority to develop programs to achieve no net loss of wetlands. Requires specified Federal officials to organize public and private entities in undertaking a cooperative wetlands restoration initiative. Provides that such initiative shall focus on restoring wetlands: (1) on publicly owned lands; (2) in areas where wetlands were previously converted as a result of facilities that the Federal Government constructed, sponsored, or licensed; and (3) in association with the construction of new facilities which the Federal Government constructs, sponsors, or licenses. Requires the Director of the Office of Technology Assessment to study and report to the Congress on: (1) incentives under Federal and State law for private individuals and entities to protect and manage wetlands; (2) modifications which may be made to Federal laws to create such incentives and increase the permanence of such protection; and (3) ways in which the Federal Government may encourage State and local governments to create additional incentives for such individuals. Directs the Secretary to study and report to the Congress on certain fees collected for permit processing pursuant to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and the Rivers and Harbors Appropriations Act of 1899.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Amends Federal law to prohibit any State from imposing an income tax on the pension income of any individual who is not a resident or domiciliary of that State.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services or a peer review organization from denying Medicare payments (under title XVIII of the Social Security Act) for inpatient hospital services on the basis that the services were not reasonable and medically necessary, if a physician has certified the services as reasonable and medically necessary and has not established a clear pattern of making faulty certifications.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Privatization of Art Act of 1991 - Amends the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 to abolish the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Council on the Arts (NCA). Provides for transfer of all NEA property to the National Endowment for the Humanities. Requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to provide for the termination of the affairs of NEA and NCA.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Sport Hunting Safety and Preservation Act of 1991 - Prescribes civil penalties for knowingly interfering with the conduct of a lawful hunt in a national forest or on other Federal lands. Authorizes injunctive relief, the recovery of actual and punitive damages, and the awarding of attorney's fees. Grants hunting and sportsman's organizations standing to sue under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Permits certain veterans with service-connected disabilities who are retired members of the uniformed services to receive compensation concurrently with retired pay, without deduction from either.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to prescribe the necessary regulations to ensure that burials in national cemeteries be permitted on weekends and holidays.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Enterprise Zone Jobs-Creation Act of 1991 - Title I: Designation of Enterprise Zones - Authorizes the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Secretary) to designate enterprise zones for purposes of providing tax and regulatory relief and improving local services. Limits choices to areas nominated by States and local governments. Limits the total number of areas that may be designated, and the time period of the designation. Authorizes the Secretary to designate a zone only if the area meets certain locational, demographic, unemployment, and poverty criteria. Requires nominating local governments, as a condition of the Secretary's designation, to agree in writing to follow a course of action that may include reducing tax rates, improving local services, simplifying or streamlining regulation of business, and providing job training to area residents. Describes areas to which the Secretary must give preference in selecting areas for designation. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress every four years on the effects of such enterprise zones' designation in accomplishing the purposes of this Act. Title II: Federal Income Tax Incentives - Allows a nonrefundable income tax credit to enterprise zone employees for five percent of any wages earned as do not exceed a specified amount. Phases out such credit. Provides for the nonrecognition of capital gain on the sale of enterprise zone property. Allows a taxpayer a deduction on the aggregate amount paid for the purchase of enterprise stock on its original issue by a qualified issuer. Requires any gain from the disposition of the stock to be treated as ordinary income. Title III: Regulatory Flexibility - Amends Federal law to revise the definition of "small entity" for purposes of the analysis of regulatory functions to include qualified business, government, and nonprofit enterprises operating within enterprise zones. Authorizes Federal agencies, upon request by a designating government, to waive or modify rules and regulations pertaining to the implementation of projects or activities within an enterprise zone. Requires agencies to approve the request if the resulting benefits of job creation, community development, or economic revitalization outweigh the public interest in retaining the rule unchanged. Disallows waiver or modification of a rule that would directly violate a statutory requirement or present a danger to the public health and safety. Title IV: Establishment of Foreign-Trade Zones in Enterprise Zones - Requires the Foreign-Trade Zone Board to consider on a priority basis and to expedite the processing of applications for the establishment of foreign-trade zones within enterprise zones. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to give priority to, and expedite applications for, the establishment of ports of entry necessary to establish such zones. Title V: Repeal of Title VII of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1987 - Repeals title VII (enterprise zone development) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1987.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Merchant Mariners Fairness Act of 1991 - Provides that certain qualified service of a member of the U.S. merchant marine, including a vessel crewmember of the U.S. Army Transport Service, during World War II constituted active military service for purposes of eligibility for various veterans' benefits under the GI Bill Improvement Act of 1977. Requires the Secretary of Defense to issue an honorable discharge under such Act to each merchant marine member whose qualified service warrants such a discharge. Defines "qualified service." Prohibits the payment of any retroactive benefits under this Act. Mandates a processing fee of a specified amount for any benefit application for such qualified service. Amends the Merchant Marine Act, 1936 to add references to components or ingredients of equipment, materials, or commodities in certain cargo preference provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Legislative Line Item Veto Act of 1991 - Amends the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to grant the President legislative line item veto rescission authority. Authorizes the President to rescind all or part of any budget authority if the President determines that such rescission: (1) would help balance the Federal budget, reduce the Federal budget deficit, or reduce the public debt; (2) will not impair any essential Government functions; and (3) will not harm the national interest. Requires the President to notify the Congress of such a rescission by: (1) special message not later than 20 calendar days after enactment of appropriations legislation; or (2) special message accompanying the budget when such rescissions have not been proposed previously for that fiscal year. Makes such a rescission effective unless the Congress, during a review period of 20 calendar days, enacts a rescission disapproval bill. Describes: (1) information to be included in the President's message; and (2) procedures to govern consideration of rescission disapproval legislation in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Legislative Line Item Veto Act of 1991 - Amends the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to grant the President legislative line item veto rescission authority. Authorizes the President to rescind all or part of any budget authority if the President determines that such rescission: (1) would help balance the Federal budget, reduce the Federal budget deficit, or reduce the public debt; (2) will not impair any essential Government functions; and (3) will not harm the national interest. Requires the President to notify the Congress of such a rescission by: (1) special message not later than 20 calendar days after enactment of appropriations legislation; or (2) special message accompanying the budget when such rescissions have not been proposed previously for that fiscal year. Makes such a rescission effective unless the Congress, during a review period of 20 calendar days, enacts a rescission disapproval bill. Describes: (1) information to be included in the President's message; and (2) procedures to govern consideration of rescission disapproval legislation in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Directs the Secretary of the military department concerned to pay an annuity under the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) to each individual who is the surviving spouse of a reserve member of the uniformed services who: (1) died after September 20, 1972, and before October 2, 1978; and (2) at the time of death would have been entitled to military retired pay but for the fact that he or she was under age 60. Provides conditions for the receipt of such annuity. Sets forth procedures for computing such annuity. Provides that if an individual entitled to an annuity under this Act is also entitled to an SBP annuity based upon a subsequent marriage, the individual may not receive both annuities, but must choose one.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Airline Bankruptcy Passenger Protection Act of 1991 - Amends the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to direct the Secretary of Transportation to issue an order authorizing a covered air carrier to develop an air transportation plan which protects airline ticket holders in the event it becomes a debtor in bankruptcy proceedings after the ticket purchase date. Provides that if satisfactory plans have not been submitted by a specified deadline, the Secretary must promulgate regulations requiring all covered air carriers to provide air transportation for such ticket holders.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Directs the Secretary of the Army to carry out a streambank protection project along 2.2 miles of the Tennessee River adjacent to Sequoyah Hills Park in Knoxville, Tennessee.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Language of Government Act of 1991 - Declares English to be the official language of the U.S. Government. States that the Government has an affirmative obligation to preserve and enhance the role of English as the official language. Prohibits anyone from being denied Government services because they communicate in English. Prohibits a Government entity from making or enforcing an official act requiring the use of a language other than English. Deems anyone discriminated against for communicating to the Government in English to have been discriminated against on the basis of national origin. Makes available to a person so discriminated against all lawful remedies available under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Veterans' Compensation Amendments of 1991 - Increases the rates of: (1) veterans' disability compensation; (2) additional compensation for veterans' dependents; (3) the clothing allowance for certain disabled veterans; (4) dependency and indemnity compensation for surviving spouses and children; and (5) supplemental dependency and indemnity compensation for disabled adult children. Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to adjust administratively the rates of disability compensation payable to persons who are not in receipt of compensation for service-connected disability or death.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to reduce from: (1) $1,000 to $500 the limitation on contributions by persons other than multicandidate political committees to any candidate for Federal office; and (2) $5,000 to $500 the limitation on contributions by such committees to any such candidate. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide tax credits for contributors to candidates for public office equal to 50 percent of the annual total of a contributor's political contributions. Limits tax credits to an annual total of $125 and $250 respectively for individual and joint contributors. Disallows estates and trusts from receiving such tax credits.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Repeals provisions of the Internal Revenue Code that limit the deductibility of contributions to individual retirement plans by active participants in employer-maintained retirement plans.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Constitution provides that all citizens have the right to keep and bear arms and that such right supersedes the power and authority of any government.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Demands that the Iraqi Government: (1) comply fully with specified United Nations Security Council resolutions concerning Iraq's aggression against Kuwait; (2) withdraw from Kuwait; and (3) be responsible for all financial losses resulting from the invasion. Commends the President for his actions in responding to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and threat to the region. Supports U.N. Security Council Resolution 678 regarding the use of "all necessary means" to uphold and implement such other U.N. resolutions, should Iraq fail to withdraw from Kuwait on or before January 15, 1991.
United States · United States Congress · 27 October 1990
Budget Process Reform Act - Title I: Statement of Congressional Purpose - Declares that the purpose of this Act is to facilitate rational, informed, and timely decisions by the Congress. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Federal budget process should focus the attention of policymakers and the public on the aggregate impact of Federal spending on the economy, and on the tradeoffs that must be made among priorities in order to control overall levels of spending. Declares that the budget process should contain safeguards against delay and inaction, so that temporary shut-downs of the Government may be avoided. Title II: Binding Budget Law - Requires the Congress to enact a binding budget law, in the form of a joint resolution, by April 15 of the calendar year before that in which the fiscal period commences. Requires the budget law to fit on a single page, which sets forth specific budget ceilings in major functional categories. Makes it out of order in the House of Representatives or the Senate to consider any spending bill affecting spending in a major functional category unless and until a joint resolution on the budget is enacted. Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to prohibit baseline budgeting. Requires the budget to include comparisons of current fiscal year and proposed subsequent fiscal year spending. Title III: Enforcement Mechanisms - Subtitle A: Super majority Required to Break Budget Law - Requires a two-thirds majority vote in the House and the Senate to consider any spending bill prior to the enactment of the budget law. Requires the Congressional Budget Office to provide to the Congress an estimate of the costs in each major functional category of any spending bill as soon as practicable after its introduction. Limits such estimates to those bills likely to result in costs of more than $10,000,000. Requires a two-thirds affirmative vote in the House and the Senate to consider over-budget spending bills. Requires a two-thirds affirmative vote in the House and the Senate to waive any provision of this Act. Subtitle B: Limited Enhanced Rescission Authority - Amends the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to limit the President's rescission authority to spending that is above the limits of the budget law. Subtitle C: "Blank Check" Appropriations Prohibited - Declares the intent of the Congress to end open-ended, "blank check" appropriations which typically authorize spending "such sums as may be necessary." Requires fixed-dollar appropriations for every account except social security and interest on the debt. Prohibits open-ended appropriations. Requires Executive agencies to adjust benefit levels to ensure that appropriations for entitlement programs are not exceeded. Subtitle D: "Pay As You Go" Requirement for New Spending - Prohibits the Congress from considering any legislation which exceeds the budget ceiling unless it offsets such increased spending with an equal amount of reductions. Requires a two-thirds affirmative vote in the House and the Senate to waive such prohibition. Title IV: Sustaining Mechanism - Makes appropriations to provide for an automatic continuing resolution if for any account an appropriation for a fiscal period does not become law before the beginning of such period. Restricts legislation providing funding to the Committees on Appropriations. Title V: Protection of Social Security - Provides that no reduction in benefits under title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act shall be made as a consequence of this Act. Title VI: Timetable - Revises the timetable for the congressional budget process. Title VII: Conforming Amendments - Makes various technical and conforming amendments, including changing references to a concurrent resolution on the budget to references to a joint resolution on the budget. Title VIII: Definitions and Rules of Interpretation - Sets forth definitions for specified terms. Title IX: Effective Date - Declares the effective date of this Act to be January 1, 1991, applicable to fiscal years beginning after September 30, 1991.
United States · United States Congress · 23 October 1990
Civil Rights Act of 1990 - Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to provide for the burden of proof which the complaining party and the respondent must meet in certain situations relating to unlawful employment practices based on disparate impact. Allows a rule barring employment of an individual who currently and knowingly uses or possesses an illegal drug unless the rule is adopted or applied with intent to discriminate. Allows establishment of an unlawful employment practice on a demonstration that a certain basis was a motivating factor for a practice, even though other factors also motivated the practice. Prohibits certain types of relief on a demonstration that the respondent would have taken the same action in the absence of any discrimination. Allows, on such a showing, declaratory and injunctive relief, attorney's fees, and costs. Provides for the finality of litigated or consent judgements or orders, barring actions (challenging an employment practice required by a judgment or order) by persons who had certain types of notice and opportunity. Declares that an alleged unlawful employment practice occurs, with regard to a seniority system, when: (1) the system is adopted; (2) an individual becomes subject to the system; or (3) a person is injured by application of the system or provision, adopted for an intentionally discriminatory purpose, whether or not the discriminatory purpose is apparent on the face of the provision. Allows a court, in fashioning remedies for unlawful intentional employment discrimination, to require the respondent to pay a specified amount if: (1) needed to deter the respondent from engaging in such practices; and (2) otherwise justified by the equities, consistent with the purposes of the equal employment opportunities provisions of the Act, and in the public interest. Requires all employment discrimination cases to be heard and determined by a judge, except that, if the court determines that the claims presented may require the payments authorized by this paragraph and that a jury trial is constitutionally required for such relief, a jury may be empaneled to determine such issues and no others. Allows expert fees to be included in attorney's fees awarded to the prevailing party in an employment discrimination case. Extends the time limit for an aggrieved employee or employment applicant to file a civil action after notice of final action by a department, agency, or unit of the Federal Government. Requires the same interest to compensate for delay in payment by the Government as in cases involving non-public parties. Amends Federal law to declare that: (1) for purposes of provisions relating to equal rights under the law, the right to make and enforce contracts includes the making, performance, modification, and termination of contracts, and the enjoyment of all benefits, privileges, terms, and conditions of the contract; and (2) the rights protected by the amended provisions are protected against impairment by non-governmental discrimination as well as against impairment under color of State law. Amends the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 to require the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to notify the person aggrieved if an age discrimination charge is dismissed by the Commission. Allows a civil suit to be brought within a specified time limit after the dismissal. Provides for the application of this Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to the Senate, the House of Representatives, and instrumentalities of the Congress. Prohibits construing the amendments made by this Act, or any statute amended by this Act, so as to require, permit, or result in the adoption or implementation of quotas. Encourages the use of alternative means of dispute resolution to resolve disputes arising under the Acts amended by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 17 October 1990
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should declare November 2, 1990, a national day of prayer for: (1) members of American military forces and American citizens stationed or held hostage in the Middle East, and for their families; and (2) American and Iraqi authorities to bring about a just resolution of the Persian Gulf crisis.
United States · United States Congress · 11 September 1990
Authorizes the Secretary of Education to provide financial assistance to pay the cost of renovating and rehabilitating specified academic, administration, and dormitory facilities at Knoxville College in Knoxville, Tennessee.
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 1990
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) 1991 should be considered as Rebuild America Year; (2) a national effort to rebuild the infrastructure of the United States should be undertaken to provide assistance to States and localities in meeting core infrastructure needs; (3) the multibillion dollar balances in the Highway and Airport and Airway Trust Funds should be spent to rebuild the infrastructure of the United States; (4) the President should work with the Congress to establish a comprehensive national infrastructure policy and to revitalize and supplement existing programs to achieve this goal; (5) the Federal Government along with State and local governments and the private sector should share their expertise and support in formulating and developing a national effort to rebuild the infrastructure of the United States; and (6) the President and the Congress should dedicate appropriate funding to implement a national effort to rebuild the infrastructure of the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 30 July 1990
Expresses the sense of the Congress that Walker Percy of Covington, Louisiana, be remembered as one of the finest writers and contributors to the culture of the United States of the 20th century.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 1990
Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1990 - Prohibits a governmental authority from restricting any person's free exercise of religion unless: (1) the restriction is in the form of a rule of general applicability that doesn't intentionally discriminate against religion or among religions; and (2) the governmental authority demonstrates that application of the restriction to a person is essential to furthering a compelling governmental interest and the least restrictive means of doing so. Authorizes a party aggrieved by a violation of such prohibition to obtain relief, including attorney fees, in a civil action.
![Official portrait of Rep. Duncan, John J., Jr. [R-TN-2]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/d000533_200.jpg)