United States · United States Congress · 25 January 2005
Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act of 2005 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require an abortion provider, before beginning any abortion of a pain-capable unborn child (defined as an unborn child who has reached a probable stage of development of 20 weeks after fertilization), to: (1) make a specified statement to the pregnant woman that Congress has determined that there is substantial evidence that the process will cause the unborn child pain, and that the mother has the option of having pain-reducing drugs administered directly to the child; (2) provide to the woman an Unborn Child Pain Awareness Brochure (unless she waives receipt) or information on accessing such brochure on the Internet; (3) provide to the woman an Unborn Child Pain Awareness Decision Form; and (4) obtain on the form the woman's signature and her explicit request for or refusal of the administration of drugs to the child. Creates an exception for certified medical emergencies. Establishes penalties for willfully failing to comply with this Act, including civil penalties, medical license suspension, or both. Authorizes: (1) specified officials to bring suit in Federal court; and (2) private rights of action by a parent or guardian of a woman who is an unemancipated minor. Requires each State and State medical licensing authority to promulgate procedures for the revocation or suspension of a provider's license upon a court finding that the provider has violated this Act. Subjects a State that fails to implement such procedures to loss of Medicaid funding.
United States · United States Congress · 25 January 2005
Accumulated Earnings Tax Modification Act of 2005 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude working capital from inclusion in the calculation of accumulated earnings tax.
United States · United States Congress · 25 January 2005
Liquefied Natural Gas Act of 2005 - Amends the Natural Gas Act to transfer from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to the Secretary of Energy oversight functions regarding the exportation or importation of natural gas, including free trade agreements and liquefied natural gas. Declares that no person shall site, construct, expand, or operate a liquefied natural gas import terminal without first having secured a FERC authorization. Prohibits any State or local government from requiring any form of authorization with respect to the siting, construction, expansion, or operation of a liquefied natural gas import terminal except as otherwise provided by Federal law. Prescribes guidelines for FERC oversight authority pertaining to scheduling and administrative proceedings. Defines liquefied natural gas import terminal as including all facilities located onshore or in State waters that are used to receive, unload, store, transport, gasify, or process liquefied natural gas imported to the United States from a foreign country, but does excluding the tankers used to deliver liquefied natural gas to such facilities.
United States · United States Congress · 25 January 2005
Retired Pay Restoration Act of 2005 - Expresses the sense of Congress that military retired pay should not be reduced because a military retiree is also eligible for veterans' disability compensation awarded for a service-connected disability. Allows the receipt of both military retired pay and veterans' disability compensation with respect to any service-connected disability (currently, only a disability rated at 50 percent or more). Repeals provisions phasing in the full concurrent receipt of such pay through December 31, 2013. Makes eligible for the full concurrent receipt of both veterans' disability compensation and either military retired pay or combat-related special pay those individuals who were retired or separated from military service due to a service-connected disability.
United States · United States Congress · 25 January 2005
Individual Investment Account Act of 2005 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an individual taxpayer a tax deduction from gross income (whether or not the taxpayer itemizes deductions) for cash contributions to an individual investment account. Permits tax free distributions up to $15,000 from such accounts for the purchase of a principal residence by a first-time homebuyer. Allows an annual inflation adjustment to the $15,000 limit beginning in 2006. Excludes individual investment accounts from the calculation of the gross estate for estate tax purposes. Excludes from gross income gain from the sale of a principal residence if such gain is reinvested in an individual investment account.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 2005
Military Death Benefit Improvement Act of 2005 - Increases from $12,000 to $100,000 the death gratuity payable to the survivors of members of the Armed Forces who die: (1) while on active duty or inactive duty training; or (2) within 120 days after discharge or release from such duty or training, if the death resulted from an injury or disease incurred or aggravated during such duty or training.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 2005
Iran Freedom Support Act - States that: (1) U.S. sanctions, controls, and regulations relating to weapons of mass destruction with respect to Iran shall remain in effect until the President certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that Iran has permanently and verifiably dismantled its weapons of mass destruction programs and has committed to combating such weapons' proliferation; and (2) such certification shall have no effect on other sanctions relating to Iranian support of international terrorism. Amends the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act of 1996 to: (1) eliminate mandatory sanction provisions respecting Libya; (2) impose mandatory sanctions on a person or entity that aids Iran acquire or develop weapons of mass destruction or destabilizing types and numbers of conventional weapons; (3) revise multilateral regime reporting requirements, including provisions respecting sanctions on individuals aiding Iranian petroleum development; (4) enlarge the scope of sanctionable entities; and (5) eliminate the sunset provision. Authorizes the President to provide financial and political assistance to eligible foreign and domestic individuals and groups that support democracy in Iran and that are opposed to the Government of Iran. Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the President should appoint a special assistant on Iranian matters; (2) contacts should be expanded with democratic Iranian opposition groups; and (3) the President should designate at least one such eligible group within 90 days of enactment of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 2005
Montgomery GI Bill Enhancement Act of 2005 - Authorizes an individual, during the year following enactment of this Act, to make an irrevocable election for entitlement to basic educational assistance under the Montgomery GI Bill if such individual: (1) first became a member of the armed forces or entered active duty before July 1, 1985; (2) has served on active duty without a break in service and continues to serve for some or all of the year before enactment of this Act; (3) has completed requirements of a secondary school diploma or the equivalent of 12 semester hours in a program leading to a standard college degree; and (4) is discharged or released from active duty honorably. Requires such individual's basic pay to be reduced, over an 18-month period, until the total reduction is $2,700, as a contribution toward such educational assistance.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Personal Responsibility, Work, and Family Promotion Act of 2005 - Amends title IV (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to reauthorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary) to award state family assistance grants. Authorizes States to use grants for marriage promotion activities and requires the Secretary to make bonus grants to each State that has achieved formulated employment goals. Revises requirements for: (1) the consideration of certain child care expenditures in determining State compliance with contingency fund requirements; (2) State work participation standards, incorporating a 40-hour work week standard, and creating a State superachiever participation rate credit; and (3) the use of TANF grants. Replaces personal responsibility plans with family self-sufficiency plans. Authorizes the Secretary to establish TANF performance goals and plans. Makes appropriations for research, demonstrations, and technical assistance. Promotion and Support of Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Marriage Act of 2005 - Amends the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to authorize the Secretary to make grants to public and nonprofit community entities for demonstration projects to test the effectiveness of various approaches to create a Fatherhood Program. Permits States the option to make TANF programs mandatory partners with one-stop employment training centers. Caring for Children Act of 2005 - Amends the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to specify consumer education information States are required to collect and disseminate. Amends the Internal Revenue Code with respect to income tax benefits. Reauthorizes funding for State child care entitlement programs and revises State requirements for child support payments. Amends: (1) SSA title XI (General Provisions) to eliminate specified limitations on the Secretary's authority to approve demonstration projects and grant waivers; and (2) SSA title XVI (Supplemental Security Income) (SSI) to require the Commissioner of Social Security to review State agency blindness and disability determinations. Authorizes the administering Secretary to authorize innovative State demonstration projects involving individual programs, or integrating multiple public assistance, employment security, and other programs to support working families. Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to require the Secretary to establish a program to make grants to States to provide food assistance and funds to operate employment and training programs for needy individuals. Extends abstinence education funding and reauthorizes transitional medical assistance.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
NASA and JPL 50th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Act - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to mint and issue: (1) ten dollar gold coins; (2) five dollar gold coins; (3) one dollar silver coins; and (4) half-dollar silver coins emblematic of the 50 years of exemplary and unparalleled achievements of NASA and JPL. Directs each Federal agency and U.S. instrumentality that has in its possession any craft or any part of a craft that flew in space to: (1) retrieve any gold, silver, copper, and other precious metal that may be used in the production of any coins under this Act from such craft or part; and (2) deposit such metals with the Director of the United States Mint. Requires that all sales of coins minted under this Act include a surcharge of : (1) $75 per coin for the ten dollar coin; (2) $35 per coin for the five dollar coin; (3) $10 per coin for the one dollar coin; and (4) $3 for the half-dollar coin, which shall be paid by the Secretary to the NASA Family Assistance Fund for the purposes of providing financial assistance to the families of NASA personnel who die as a result of injuries suffered in the performance of their official duties.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Database Act of 2005 or Dru's Law - Directs the Attorney General to: (1) make publicly available in a registry via the Internet, from information contained in the National Sex Offender Registry, specified information about sexually violent predators and persons convicted of a sexually violent offense or a criminal offense against a minor, who are required to register with a minimally sufficient State sexual offender registration program; and (2) allow registry users to identity offenders who are currently residing within a radius of the location indicated by the user. Requires registry information to include the offender's name, address, date of birth, physical description, and photograph, the nature and date of commission of the offense, and the date on which the person is released from prison or placed on parole, supervised release, or probation Requires: (1) any State that provides for a civil commitment proceeding to notify the State attorney general of the impending release of a sexually violent predator or a person has been deemed to be at high-risk for recommitting any sexually violent offense or criminal offense against a minor; (2) the State attorney general to consider instituting a civil commitment proceeding; and (3) each State to intensively monitor, for at least a year, any such person who has been unconditionally released by the State and who has not been civilly committed. Makes a State that fails to implement Act requirements ineligible to receive 25 percent of funds that would otherwise be allocated to it under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Illegal Immigration Enforcement and Social Security Protection Act of 2005 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to require inclusion of encrypted machine-readable electronic identification strips on Social Security cards. Requires the Commissioner of Social Security to: (1) develop the strip in a manner that enables employers to access the Employment Eligibility Database (EED) established by this Act; and (2) transmit to the Secretary of Homeland Security necessary information from an individual's application for a Social Security card or number (as determined by the Secretary) for inclusion in the EED. Directs the Secretary to establish and maintain the EED. Requires the EED to include data on the citizenship status and work and residency eligibility of noncitizens authorized to work in the United States. Restricts access to EED information. Prohibits individuals from commencing employment with a U.S. employer absent a Social Security card that meets the requirements of this Act and presentation of such card to the employer. Prohibits employers from hiring individuals absent verification of identity and work authorization. Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) assess penalties against employers who knowingly hire unauthorized workers or fail to comply with verification procedures; and (2) bring civil actions against those who fail to pay assessments or otherwise violate this Act. Establishes criminal penalties for such violations. Mandates integration of Border Patrol and Federal Bureau of Investigation fingerprint databases. States that nothing in this Act shall be construed to establish a national identification card.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Pell Grant Increase Act of 2005 - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to increase the maximum Pell Grant award to $6,000 for academic years 2005-2006 through 2010-2011.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Social Security Fairness Act of 2005 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to repeal: (1) pension offset provisions applicable to husband's and wife's insurance benefits, widow's and widower's insurance benefits, and mother's and father's insurance benefits with respect to OASDI payments; and (2) windfall elimination provisions with respect to computation of the primary insurance amount of an individual.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to eliminate the requirement that individual retirement accounts (other than Roth IRAs) and elective deferrals under qualified cash or deferred arrangments must have a beginning date for mandatory distributions.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Job Training Improvement Act of 2005 - Amends the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) to revise requirements and reauthorize appropriations for: (1) WIA title I, workforce investment systems for job training and employment services; and (2) WIA title II, adult basic skills and family literacy education programs (renamed as the Adult Basic Skills and Family Literacy Education Act). Directs the Secretary of Labor to implement a national demonstration project on personal reemployment accounts (PRAs), through competitive project grants to States or local boards or consortia to provide PRAs to eligible individuals who are likely to exhaust their unemployment compensation. Revises and reauthorizes workforce investment systems with respect to: (1) State and local planning, allocation, work force investment board membership, and performance accountability; (2) one-stop centers; (3) consolidated funding for adult program activities, including job training, dislocated worker retraining, the employment service system, and reemployment grants; (4) training programs for both out-of-school and in-school youth, including challenge grants; and (5) national job training programs, including the Job Corps and programs for Native Americans, migrant and seasonal farmworkers, and veterans. Exempts religious organizations, with respect to their employment of individuals of a particular religion, from WIA nondiscrimination requirements. Repeals Wagner-Peyser Act provisions relating to the U.S. Employment Service. Revises requirements and reauthorizes appropriations for: (1) vocational rehabilitation services under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; and (2) the Helen Keller National Center Act.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Belated Thank You to the Merchant Mariners of World War II Act of 2005 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to pay a monthly benefit of $1,000 to certain honorably-discharged veterans of the U.S. Merchant Marine who served between December 7, 1941, and December 31, 1946 (or to their survivors). Includes service in the Army Transport Service and the Naval Transport Service. Exempts benefits paid under this Act from taxation. Provides for benefits for World War II Merchant Mariners under title II (Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act - Amends Federal postal service law to direct the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) (established by this Act) to establish a modern system for regulating rates and classes for market-dominant products (all first-class mail, special services, periodicals, standard mail, media mail, library mail, and bound printed matter). Directs the Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service to establish rates and classes for products in the competitive category of mail (priority mail, expedited mail, mailgrams, international mail, and parcel post). Authorizes the Postal Service to conduct market tests of experimental products. Directs the PRC to establish rules to ensure that workshare discounts (presorting, barcoding, etc.) do not exceed the cost that the Postal Service avoids as the result of private sector workshare activity. Establishes in the Treasury a revolving Postal Service Competitive Products Fund which shall be available to the Postal Service without fiscal year limitation for the payment of: (1) costs attributable to competitive products; and (2) all other costs incurred by the Postal Service, to the extent allocable to competitive products. Requires the Postal Service to: (1) compute its assumed Federal income tax (which would be the taxable income of a corporation) on competitive products income for such year; and (2) transfer from the Competitive Products Fund to the Postal Service Fund the amount of that assumed tax. Prohibits the Postal Service from: (1) establishing anti-competitive rules or regulations; (2) compelling the disclosure, transfer, or licensing of intellectual property to any third party; or (3) obtaining information from a person that provides any product, and then offering any product or service that uses or is based in whole or in part on such information, without the person's consent. Makes the Secretary of State responsible for foreign policy related to international postal services and other international delivery services. Replaces the Postal Rate Commission with the Postal Regulatory Commission. Directs the Postal Service to report to the President, Congress, and: (1) PRC on universal postal service in the United States; and (2) Postal Service Board of Governors on the postal processing and distribution network. Repeals the authority of the Postal Service to impose fines on air carriers transporting mail beyond U.S. borders for unreasonable or unnecessary delays and other delinquencies. Directs the Postal Service to prescribe regulations for the safe transportation of hazardous materials in the mail. Provides civil penalties, plus cleanup costs, for violations. Revises postal pension funding requirements under the Civil Service Retirement System. Establishes the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Servicemembers Anti-Predatory Lending Protection Act - Amends the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to set forth terms for consumer credit extended to a servicemember or servicemember's dependent, including terms of interest with respect to the extension of such credit. Prohibits a creditor from imposing an annual percentage rate greater than 36 percent with respect to the consumer credit extended. Sets forth mandatory loan disclosures, including: (1) a statement of the annual percentage rate applicable to the extension of credit; and (2) a clear description of the payment obligations. Prohibits a creditor from automatically renewing, repaying, refinancing, or consolidating any consumer credit with the proceeds of other credit extended to a servicemember or a servicemember's dependent by the same creditor without: (1) executing new loan documentation signed by the servicemember; and (2) providing the mandatory loan disclosures. Preempts any State or Federal law, rule, or regulation, including any State usury law, to the extent that it is inconsistent with this Act. States that this Act does not preempt any such law, rule, or regulation that provides additional protection. Prescribes criminal penalties for violation of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Clean, Learn, Educate, Abolish, Neutralize, and Undermine Production (CLEAN-UP) of Methamphetamines Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior to carry out environmental cleanup and remediation programs involving specified lands that are contaminated with hazardous substances associated with illegal methamphetamine manufacture. Directs: (1) the Secretary of Transportation and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to designate as hazardous certain byproducts of the methamphetamine production process and expand penalties against laboratory operators; (2) the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration to list byproducts likely to cause long-term environmental harm; (3) the Secretary of Labor, acting through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, to provide grants to State and local law enforcement for specified training and equipment acquisition; (4) the EPA Administrator to study the impact of methamphetamine laboratory operation on the environment; and (5) the Secretary of Health and Human Services to study contamination issues. Amends: (1) the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to authorize grants for educational programs; (2) the Public Health Service Act to authorize grants to provide treatment; and (3) the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to include among permissible grant projects under the "cops on the beat" program hiring personnel and purchasing equipment. Urges the President to seek commitments from the Canadian Government regarding the availability of pseudoephedrine.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) the Advisory Committee of the Bureau of Labor Statistics should evaluate its current statistical measurements of employment to ensure that all categories and methods of employment in the U.S. economy are accurately reflected, include specified matters in such evaluation, and report to Congress; and (2) the Bureau of Labor Statistics should update its statistical methodologies in accordance with such evaluation's findings, conclusions, and recommendations as expeditiously as possible.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Expresses support for the goals of Catholic Schools Week, an event cosponsored by the National Catholic Educational Association and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and established to recognize the vital contributions of America's thousands of Catholic elementary and secondary schools.
United States · United States Congress · 19 November 2004
Medicare Nursing Facility Pay-for-Performance Act of 2004 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through a contract with a qualified independent party (such as the National Quality Forum), to provide for identification of: (1) between ten and 15 quality measures for the performance of skilled nursing facilities under Medicare; and (2) the data to be reported, including their collection and formatting, on a calendar quarter basis for each such quality measure. Requires the values obtained for quality measures to be appropriately risk-adjusted as applied to individual skilled nursing facilities in order to increase the likelihood that any differences in such values reflect differences in the care provided by the facilities and not differences in the characteristics of their residents. Provides for: (1) adjusting payments for skilled nursing facilities based on quality performance, including an increase of two percent for facilities in the top ten percent in quality as well as a decrease of one percent for facilities below the quality threshold; (2) limiting market basket increases to facilities that voluntarily report information; and (3) using FY 2005 payment rates as a floor for subsequent updates. Establishes the Long-Term Care Financing Commission to analyse and report to Congress on the financing of long-term care.
United States · United States Congress · 17 November 2004
Community Restoration and Revitalization Act of 2004 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) allow an increased rehabilitation tax credit for certain low-income buildings; (2) allow a basis reduction adjustment for property eligible for the credit; (3) increase the credit for certain smaller buildings; (4) allow property eligible for the credit to be used for lodging purposes; (5) modify placed-in-service rules for credit property; (6) modify qualification rules for credit property that is tax-exempt use property; and (7) increase the credit for buildings in high cost areas.
United States · United States Congress · 16 November 2004
Provides that any retirement plan maintained by the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) Retirement Fund as of January 1, 2003, shall be treated as a church plan under provisions relating to tax-exempt pension and other employee benefit plans of the Internal Revenue Code. Exempts YMCA retirement plans from certain limitations applicable to church plans. Allows YMCA retirement plans to qualify for tax treatment as money purchase pension plans and church self-funded death benefit plans.
United States · United States Congress · 7 October 2004
Urges the Senate to give its advice and consent to ratification of Convention No. 87 Concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize as adopted by the International Labor Conference.
United States · United States Congress · 4 October 2004
Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to suspend, through December 31, 2006, the duty on electron guns for cathode ray tubes (CRT's) with a high definition television screen aspect ratio of 16:9, liquid crystal display (LCD) panel assemblies for use in LCD projection type televisions, and plasma display panels for use in plasma flat screen televisions.
United States · United States Congress · 30 September 2004
Combat Meth Act - Directs the Attorney General to carry out a program to provide grants to qualified States (i.e., those which had more than 200 methamphetamine lab seizures in 2003 and that provide a specified mandatory minimum sentence for possession and/or distribution of five grams or more of methamphetamine or 50 grams or more of a substance containing methamphetamine) to combat methamphetamine abuse, focusing on the prosecution of repeat offenders. Authorizes funds to provide training to: (1) State and local prosecutors and law enforcement agents for investigation and prosecution of methamphetamine offenses; and (2) State law enforcement personnel at the Drug Enforcement Administration's Clandestine Laboratory Training Facility in Quantico, Virginia. Amends: (1) the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to expand the public safety and community policing grant program to authorize the use of grant funds to hire personnel and purchase equipment to assist in enforcing and prosecuting methamphetamine offenses and in cleaning up methamphetamine-affected areas; and (2) the Public Health Service Act to authorize grants to local governments and nonprofit private entities to provide treatment for methamphetamine abuse. Directs the Attorney General to allocate funds for the hiring and training of special assistant U.S. attorneys. Authorizes the Attorney General, acting through the Bureau of Justice Assistance, to award grants to States to establish methamphetamine precursor monitoring programs.
United States · United States Congress · 29 September 2004
Boutique Fuels Reduction Act of 2004 - Amends the Clean Air Act (CAA) to authorize the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to temporarily waive controls or prohibitions on the use of a fuel or fuel additive regulated under specified provisions of that Act or prescribed in an applicable State Implementation Plan (SIP) if the Administrator determines that: (1) extreme and unusual circumstances exist in a State or region that prevent distribution of an adequate supply of the fuel or fuel additive to consumers; (2) such circumstances are the result of a natural disaster, an Act of God, a pipeline or refinery equipment failure, or another unforeseeable event; and (3) it is in the public interest to grant the waiver. Permits such a waiver only if it: (1) applies to the smallest necessary geographic area; (2) is effective for 20 days or the shortest practicable time period; (3) permits a transitional period after the termination of the temporary waiver to allow wholesalers and retailers to blend down their inventory; (4) applies to all persons in the motor fuel distribution system; and (5) is preceded by public notice to all parties in the distribution system, local and State regulators, public interest groups, and consumers in the State or region covered by the waiver. States that the Administrator shall have no authority, when considering a SIP or SIP revision regarding State controls or prohibitions on motor vehicle fuel or fuel additives, to approve any fuel: (1) if doing so would increase the total number of approved and fully implemented fuels as of September 1, 2004, in all SIPs; and (2) unless that fuel was approved and fully implemented in at least one SIP in the applicable Petroleum Administration for Defense District (with the exception of fuels with a specified summertime Reid Vapor Pressure). Requires the Administrator and the Secretary of Energy jointly to study and report to Congress on the effects on air quality, number of fuel blends, fuel availability, fuel fungibility, and fuel costs of SIPs adopted pursuant to CAA provisions regarding State controls or prohibitions on motor vehicle fuel or fuel additives.
United States · United States Congress · 23 September 2004
National Fish and Wildlife Policy Fellowship Program Act of 2004 - Requires the Secretary of the Interior to award fellowships to qualified graduate and post-graduate level students engaged in advanced degree programs concerning freshwater and anadromous fish, wildlife, conservation management, or biology in order to: (1) provide such students with opportunities to participate in the policy process within executive and legislative branches of the Federal Government; and (2) provide Federal agencies and Congress with specific expertise to aid in the effective management of the nation's natural living resources. Requires the Secretary to strive to ensure equal access to the fellowship program for minority and disadvantaged students and to report to Congress on such efforts. States that the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shall administer fellowships awarded under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 22 September 2004
Major Regulation Cost Review Act of 2004 - Amends Federal civil service law to require each Federal agency to publish in the Federal Register a plan, which may be amended at any time by publishing a revision, for the periodic review of all the major rules issued by the agency. Requires that the plan provide for review within five years after publication as a final rule, with a five year extension permitted. Directs the agency, in reviewing major rules, to consider: (1) the continued need for the rule; (2) the nature of complaints or comments received from the public concerning the rule; (3) the complexity of the rule; (4) the extent to which the rule overlaps, duplicates, or conflicts with other Federal rules, and with State and local governmental rules; and (5) the length of time since the rule has been evaluated or the degree to which technology, economic conditions, or other factors have changed in the area affected by the rule. Requires that: (1) the review include a cost-benefit analysis of the rule, including an identification and consideration of a range of less costly regulatory alternatives; and (2) each year each agency publish a list of the major rules which are to be reviewed and which are to be included in the accounting statement and associated report submitted to Congress by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Makes conforming changes to the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act, 2001.
United States · United States Congress · 21 September 2004
Agricultural Bond Improvement Act of 2004 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) exempt agricultural bonds from the volume cap applicable to private activity bonds; (2) permit a Federal guarantee of an agricultural bond under the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act without loss of tax exemption; (3) increase the loan limit on agricultural bonds to $450,000 and index such limit amount for inflation after 2004; and (4) eliminate the dollar limitation in the definition of substantial farmland used for agricultural bonds.
United States · United States Congress · 17 September 2004
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that there should be established a National Weatherization Day to recognize the need for reducing home energy costs, particularly for low-income families, through the use of conservation technologies.
United States · United States Congress · 15 September 2004
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the increased expensing allowance ($100,000) for depreciable business property. Increases to $500,000 the income threshold for reducing the expensing allowance and makes such threshold amount permanent. Provides for an inflation adjustment to the allowance and the threshold. Allows a credit against alternative minimum tax liability for the work opportunity tax credit, the welfare to work tax credit, and the tax credit for increasing research activities. Provides for a minimum standard tax deduction of $2,500 for expenses for the business use of a home. Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to: (1) increase the minimum wage for tipped employees to $3.25 beginning on October 1, 2005; (2) exempt from minimum wage requirements employers with less than ten employees; (3) phase in an increase of the minimum wage to $6.50 beginning October 1, 2007; and (4) phase in an increase in the gross volume of sales amount applicable to the small business exemption from minimum wage requirements. Amends title XVI (Supplemental Security Income) of the Social Security Act to exclude from income determinations under the supplemental security income programs minimum wage income that exceeds certain earned income.
United States · United States Congress · 15 September 2004
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit premature distributions from certain tax-exempt retirement plans without penalty to individuals residing or holding real property within an area declared by the President as a disaster area due to a natural disaster at least part of which occurred in 2004, if such distributions are made within six months after the disaster declaration.
United States · United States Congress · 15 September 2004
Constitutional Amendment - Prohibits a person from being a Senator or Representative in Congress who has not attained the age of twenty-one years (thus lowering the age qualification for Senators from 30 years and the age of Members of the House of Representatives from 25 years).
United States · United States Congress · 9 September 2004
Comprehensive Peace in Sudan Act - Expresses the sense of Congress regarding: (1) the relevance of the Sudan Peace Act and its extension to the Darfur region of Sudan; (2) the genocide unfolding in Darfur and the Government of Sudan's violation of the Convention of the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide; and (3) actions to address the conflict in Sudan. Requires an annual report on the identities of entities doing business in Sudan. Prohibits an entity doing business in Sudan from raising capital or trading its securities in the United States. Provides for: (1) sanctions in support of peace in Darfur; and (2) actions to secure multilateral efforts against the Government of Sudan. Amends the Sudan Peace Act to authorize the President to assist Sudan to support the implementation of a comprehensive peace agreement that applies to all regions of Sudan, including the Darfur region, and to address the humanitarian and human rights crisis in the Darfur region and its impact on eastern Chad, contingent upon a continuing certification to the appropriate congressional committees that the Government of Sudan is taking specified actions. States that certain export prohibitions shall not apply to any export or related transaction from an area in Sudan outside of the Government of Sudan's control if the President determines that the export or related transaction would directly benefit the economic development of that area and its people.
United States · United States Congress · 9 September 2004
American Heroes Act - Authorizes each State to provide one statue of an individual representing that State to be displayed in the Capitol Visitor Center. Specifies criteria for such statues. Requires the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate to assign jointly to one of their employees the post of the American Hero Administrator to prepare statue guidelines. Requires: (1) a State to establish an American Hero Commission to select the individual to represent that State; and (2) the Architect of the Capitol to procure and install a statue honoring the passengers of United Airlines flight number 93 who died on September 11, 2001, for their heroic role in protecting Washington, D.C. from attack.
United States · United States Congress · 9 September 2004
Increases the death gratuity payable with respect to members of the Armed Forces from $12,000 to $50,000. Makes this increase applicable to deaths occurring on or after September 11, 2001. Requires the Secretary of Defense to derive funds for payments under this Act in FY 2005 from travel funds for personnel of the Office of the Secretary.
United States · United States Congress · 22 July 2004
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow employers a business tax credit of $1,000 for each of their employees who teaches a course at an accredited community college for which the employee receives no compensation.
United States · United States Congress · 22 July 2004
America Saving for Personal Investment, Retirement, and Education Act of 2004, or the ASPIRE Act of 2004 - Establishes a KIDS Account Fund (KIDS) in the Treasury. Establishes within the KIDS Account Fund a Kids Investment and Development Savings Account (KIDS Account). Provides that a U.S. citizen born after December 31, 2005, and under 18 years of age, whose modified adjusted gross income is below the applicable national median adjusted gross income amount, is eligible to contribute to such account and to receive a matching Federal contribution. Establishes the KIDS Account Fund Board to establish a default investment program under which, in a manner similar to a lifecycle investment program, sums in each KIDS Account are allocated to investment funds in the KIDS Account Fund based on the amount of time before the account holder attains the age of 18. Subjects the Board to the same statutory composition requirements, duties, and responsibilities as the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board. Instructs the Secretary of the Treasury, in coordination with the Financial Literacy and Education Commission, to develop programs to promote the financial literacy of account holders of KIDS Accounts.
United States · United States Congress · 22 July 2004
ESRD Modernization Act of 2004 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, as amended by the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, to provide for an annual update mechanism under the Medicare end stage renal disease (ESRD) program to adjust the payment rates for changes in input prices and inflation. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish demonstration projects to: (1) increase public awareness about the factors that lead to chronic kidney disease, and how to prevent and treat it; and (2) enhance chronic kidney disease surveillance systems and research. Requires the Secretary to establish demonstration projects to enable individuals with ESRD to develop self-management skills. Provides for Medicare coverage of kidney disease patient education services. Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish demonstration projects to evaluate how blood flow monitoring affects care for Medicare beneficiaries with ESRD; (2) provide appropriate incentives to improve the home dialysis benefit; (3) arrange with the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences to evaluate the barriers to increasing the number of individuals with ESRD who elect to receive home dialysis services under Medicare; (4) cover surgical procedures the full range of dialysis access procedures for Medicare-entitled individuals with ESRD; and (5) establish demonstration projects evaluating methods that improve the quality of care provided to Medicare beneficiaries with ESRD. Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on the impact of the temporary codes for nephrologists' services applicable under the fee schedule for physicians' services.
United States · United States Congress · 21 July 2004
NASA and JPL 50th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Act - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to mint and issue: (1) ten dollar gold coins; (2) five dollar gold coins; (3) one dollar silver coins; and (4) half-dollar silver coins emblematic of the 50 years of exemplary and unparalleled achievements of NASA and JPL. Directs each Federal agency and U.S. instrumentality that has in its possession any craft or any part of a craft that flew in space to: (1) retrieve any gold, silver, copper, and other precious metal that may be used in the production of any coins under this Act from such craft or part; and (2) deposit such metals with the Director of the United States Mint. Requires that all sales of coins minted under this Act include a surcharge of : (1) $75 per coin for the ten dollar coin; (2) $35 per coin for the five dollar coin; (3) $10 per coin for the one dollar coin; and (4) $3 for the half-dollar coin, which shall be paid by the Secretary to the NASA Family Assistance Fund for the purposes of providing financial assistance to the families of NASA personnel who die as a result of injuries suffered in the performance of their official duties.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 2004
Services for Ending Long-Term Homelessness Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Director of the Center for Mental Health Services to: (1) administer the grant program established by this Act; (2) provide technical assistance to entities that provide permanent supportive housing to the chronically homeless; and (3) implement an approach to disseminate information about such housing that is targeted to individuals who have been homeless for long periods and have disabilities. Defines "chronically homeless" as an individual or family that is currently homeless, has been homeless continuously for at least one year or on at least four separate occasions in the last three years, and has an adult head of household with a disabling condition. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Administrator of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, to: (1) design national strategies to provide services in supportive housing to end chronic homelessness; (2) collaborate with specified Federal departments and programs to implement programs that address chronic homelessness; (3) develop improved methods for serving individuals with mental or physical illnesses, disabilities, substance abuse problems, or co-occurring disorders; and (4) promote collaboration between Federal, State and local agencies that are responsible for systems of care to ensure that services for the chronically homeless are delivered in a coordinated manner that promotes housing stability. Requires the Secretary to award matching grants for the provision of services to chronically homeless individuals in permanent supportive housing.
United States · United States Congress · 19 July 2004
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) at the 56th Annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission the United States should remain firmly opposed to commercial whaling, and take other specified related steps; and (2) the United States should make full use of all appropriate diplomatic mechanisms, relevant international laws and agreements, and other appropriate means to implement these goals.
United States · United States Congress · 15 July 2004
Tax Simplification for America's Job Creators Act of 2004 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend for two additional years (through 2007): (1) the increased expensing (up to $100,000) of small business assets; (2) the increase (to $400,000) in the cost limitation for property eligible for expensing; and (3) the inflation adjustments for the increased expensing amount and the limitation amount. Allows an inflation adjustment, beginning in 2004, of the $5 million gross receipts test amount used to determine eligibility for the cash method of accounting. Repeals or amends certain expired or inoperative provisions of the Code. Enacts a savings provision to prevent changes in tax liability resulting from repeals or amendments made by this Act for periods ending after its enactment date.
United States · United States Congress · 15 July 2004
Retirement Security for Life Act of 2004 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an exclusion from gross income for 50 percent of the amount otherwise includible in gross income as guaranteed payments from certain annuity or life insurance contracts. Limits the amount of such exclusion to $20,000 in any taxable year. Provides for an inflation adjustment of the $20,000 limitation beginning in 2006.
![Official portrait of Rep. English, Phil [R-PA-3]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/e000187_200.jpg)