United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1981
Authorizes the President to present on behalf of the Congress specially struck gold medals to fifty-three individuals held hostage in the United States Embassy in Iran. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to: (1) strike fifty-three gold medals with suitable emblems, devices and inscriptions; and (2) coin and sell bronze duplicates of such medals. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1981
Constitutional Amendment - Defines "person" to include the unborn for the purpose of the right to life guarantee. Makes such amendment inapplicable to laws permitting medical procedures required to prevent the death of the mother.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1981
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the Secretary of Health and Human Services should not approve any portion of the Model State Adoption Act and Procedures prepared under the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment and Adoption Reform Act of 1978 which: (1) confers upon all biological fathers of children born out of wedlock, without distinction, the right to veto adoption of the child upon mere proof of paternity; (2) sets less stringent standards for the placement of children by unlicensed intermediaries than by licensed child-placing agencies; (3) gives parents the right to revoke relinquishments which have not been obtained through fraud, duress, or undue influence; (4) requires automatic opening, at the request of an adult adoptee, of confidential birth records, court records, and adoption agency records; (5) requires agencies to notify adult adoptees that a birth parent desires to meet the adoptee even if the adoptee has not expressed a desire to meet with his or her birth parents; and (6) allows birth parents to have access to the adoption records of their relinquished children without the permission of both the adoptee (over age 18) and the adoptive parents.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit inclusion of employment-related expenses incurred for the care of the spouse and handicapped dependents of the taxpayer, as well as dependents under age 15, in determining the credit for expenses for household and dependent care services rendered outside the taxpayer's household.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Family Business, Ranch, and Farm Protection Act of 1981 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce the value of any jointly held interest in a decedent's gross estate by up to 50 percent (not to exceed $500,000) of any real or tangible property devoted to use as a farm or to use in any other trade or business, where the decedent's spouse and/or children materially participated in the operation of such farm, trade, or business. Specifies a formula for the computation of the special value of any such interest. Imposes an additional tax to recapture any such tax benefits should the spouse and/or child dispose of any interest in such property within five years following the decedent's death.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Capital Cost Recovery Act of 1981 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise the method for determining useful lives of business assets for purposes of computing allowable depreciation deductions. Replaces the asset depreciation range (ADR) method with a schedule of capital cost recovery periods for three classes of business property. Establishes capital cost recovery periods for the following classes of business property: (1) buildings and their structural components, ten years; (2) tangible property, five years; and (3) automobiles, taxis, and light-duty trucks (up to $100,000), three years. Permits calculation of the investment tax credit for such property without regard to the useful life of the property. Requires the recapture of depreciation amounts and investment tax credit amounts applicable to assets which are sold or otherwise disposed of prior to the expiration of the capital cost recovery period. Permits a taxpayer to deduct less than the full allowance for capital cost recovery in any taxable year. Permits a carryover to succeeding taxable years of any depreciation amounts. Disqualifies capital cost recovery property from the allowance for first year depreciation. Treats amounts claimed as the capital cost recovery of noncorporate lessors as an item of tax preference for purposes of the minimum tax. Adopts as an accounting practice the "half year convention" under which investments eligible for capital cost recovery treatment or the investment tax credit which are made at any time during the taxable year are deemed to be made in the middle of such year.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income up to $1,000 ($1,800 for joint returns) of the interest earned on savings accounts in banks, savings and loan associations, or credit unions.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the unified credit against the estate and gift tax from $47,000 to $155,800 by specified annual increments through 1986. Provides for a yearly inflation adjustment of the amount of such credit.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require annual cost of living adjustments, based on the Consumer Price Index, to the income tax rates of individuals, the personal tax exemption, withholding requirements, and minimum income tax return amounts.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Amends title XI (General Provisions) of the Social Security Act to abolish the Professional Standards Review Organizations which were established to review services covered under the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Requires that each State establish and maintain an approved workfare program as a condition of its eligibility for Federal payments or other assistance under the: (1) program of aid to families with dependent children under the Social Security Act; (2) food stamp program under the Food Stamp Act of 1977; and (3) public housing and assisted housing programs under the United States Housing Act of 1937. Requires that such State workfare program shall require every State resident applying for or receiving aid under such Federal public assistance program to perform work in return for, and as a condition for, such aid. Directs the appropriate Federal agencies to promulgate guidelines for approval, supervision, and oversight of such State workfare programs. Exempts from required participation in such programs those who are: (1) under age 18 or over age 65; (2) disabled; (3) regularly employed for at least 40 hours a week; or (4) primarily responsible for the care of a child less than three years old (or for the care of a child more than two but less than six years old if suitable child care is not available at reasonable cost). Requires that each State workfare program must provide that if any individual who is required to participate in such program refuses to accept a bona fide offer of qualified employment or to perform qualified employment, in any month, neither such individual nor any other person in the family or household of which such individual is a member shall be eligible to receive any aid under such Federal public assistance programs for that month. Requires that State workfare programs include provision for job counseling, assistance in obtaining employment outside the program, and job search activities. Provides for: (1) Federal matching funds to cover administrative costs of such State programs; (2) Federal cut-offs of funds to State agencies for failure to comply with this Act; and (3) Federal agency reports to Congress on such State programs. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Pay Continuity Act of 1981 - Appropriates the funds necessary to pay the salaries of employees of the Executive branch, Members of Congress, and members of the uniformed services during any period when such funds are not available because the legislation making appropriations to the Government entity responsible for paying such individuals has not been enacted on time.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Repeals the Postal Reorganization Act and reenacts provisions governing postal service which were in effect immediately before the enactment of such Act (thus abolishing the United States Postal Service and the Postal Rate Commission and reestablishing the Post Office Department).
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Anti-Discrimination Act of 1981 - Prohibits affirmative action programs administered by Federal agencies under title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Equal Employment Opportunity) and other Federal laws from requiring quotas or ratios of individuals on the basis of their race, color, religion, national origin, or sex. Requires that such programs be designed to expand the pool of applicants and participants without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, or sex. Prohibits any Federal agency or court from making a finding of discrimination based soley on the composition of the work force. Conditions the granting of relief under title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other Federal laws on a finding by the agency or court that an act of discrimination has been committed by an employer, employment agency, or labor organization. Prohibits any remedy from including quotas or ratios of individuals on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex, or goals or timetables to meet such quotas. Prohibits any Federal agency from requiring an employer or other entity to collect data regarding the race, color, religion, national origin, or sex of any employees, except as a result of discovery procedures under court order after reasonable grounds have been established that discrimination exists.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Repeals the Postal Reorganization Act and reenacts provisions governing postal service which were in effect immediately before the enactment of such Act (thus abolishing the United States Postal Service and the Postal Rate Commission and reestablishing the Post Office Department).
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Amends the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to require separate metering of the electricity or natural gas used in each new building unit constructed after enactment of this Act. Authorizes the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to bring actions against electric and gas utilities to require compliance with such requirements. Sets forth penalties for violations of such requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Terminates the Department of Energy on January 15, 1982, unless prior to such date a law is enacted continuing such Department. Requires the President to submit to Congress within 60 days after termination a plan for transferring the functions of such Department to other Federal agencies. Prohibits such plan from creating a new Executive department. States that such plan shall take effect unless disapproved within 60 days by either House of Congress. Requires submission of successive reorganization plans until one is not disapproved by either House.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an income tax deduction, not to exceed $250, for 50 percent of the expenses paid or incurred by a speech- or hearing-impaired individual for the use of toll telephone service by means of teletypewriters.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an income tax deduction, not to exceed $200, for 50 percent of the cost of purchase and installation of teletypewriters for use by individuals whose sight, hearing, or speech is impaired.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit married individuals filing separate income tax returns an election to be taxed at rates applicable to unmarried individuals.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Product and Professional Design Liability Insurance Tax Equity Act of 1981 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to qualify trusts established for the payment of product liability claims, professional design liability claims, and related expenses as tax-exempt organizations. Allows a tax deduction for contributions to such trusts only to the extent that such contributions exceed the reasonable cost, as determined under Treasury regulations, of design liability insurance.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow individuals to designate $10 or less of their income tax liability to be used for the purpose of reducing the public debt of the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a refundable income tax credit for amounts paid or incurred for television subtitle equipment for use by hearing-impaired individuals.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Constitutional Amendment - Prohibits the total amount of money expended by the United States in any fiscal year from exceeding the total amount of revenue received by the United States during such fiscal year, except in time of war as declared by the Congress. Allows the suspension of the amendment by a joint resolution approved by a vote of three-fifths of the Members of each House of the Congress and approved and signed by the President, or by a vote of two-thirds of the Members of each House of the Congress. Requires tax rates to be reduced to offset the effects of inflation. Establishes a procedure for the approval of bills or joint resolutions affecting taxes.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Constitutional Amendment - Limits any increase in the Federal spending from the previous fiscal year to the average annual percentage increase in the gross national product for the preceding three years. Permits the suspension of such limitation for two years in time of war or national emergency upon the passage of a concurrent resolution by a three-fourths vote of both Houses of Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Constitutional Amendment - Prohibits the total appropriations of Congress from exceeding estimated revenues. Authorizes the suspension of such prohibition in time of war or national emergency. Prohibits any increase in the national debt as it exists on the date this article is ratified. Sets forth a schedule for repayment of the national debt.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should seek the establishment of an international food cartel, made up of the major food exporting countries, which would negotiate with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries for reasonable oil prices.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt from taxation income earned from sources outside the United States for all individuals who are bona fide residents of foreign countries or who are present in a foreign country for a specified time (current law excludes such income of such individuals only if they reside in camps located in hardship areas). Eliminates restrictions on such tax exclusion with respect to: (1) the dollar amount of such exclusion; (2) the taxable year to which the income earned abroad is attributed; (3) community income earned abroad; and (4) meals and lodgings provided by the employer. Repeals provisions added by the Tax Reform Act of 1976 which allow income tax deductions for various expenses related to living abroad.
United States · United States Congress · 13 January 1981
Constitutional Amendment - Directs Congress to assure that the total outlays of the Government during any fiscal year (except for repayment of debt) do not exceed 33 1/3 percent of the average national income for the three prior calendar years. Authorizes the suspension of such measure in the case of national emergency or war. Requires approval of all expenditures in excess of such percentage, during a period of national emergency or war, by a concurrent resolution agreed to by three-fourths of all the Members of each House of Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1981
Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to eliminate the five-month period which is presently a prerequisite of eligibility for disability insurance benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 1981
Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to phase out by 1986 the limitation on outside income for beneficiaries age 65 or older.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce from 70 percent to 50 percent the maximum rate of income tax for individuals. Requires separate computation of personal service income and nonpersonal service (unearned) income, applying each category to the lowest tax rates initially. Prohibits separate computations in the case of any taxpayer with more than $10,000 in tax preference items.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Individual Housing Act of 1981 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a deduction for cash contributions to a savings account created or organized for the benefit of the taxpayer (or the taxpayer and spouse if married) for the exclusive purpose of purchasing the taxpayer's first principal residence. Limits the maximum annual deduction to $3,000, with a maximum lifetime deduction of $12,000. Excludes distributions from such account from gross income so long as they are used exclusively for the purchase of a first principal residence. Imposes a ten percent surtax on distributions from an individual housing account which are not used for the purchase of a principal residence.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Research Modernization Act - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish within the National Institutes of Health a National Center for Alternative Research to develop and coordinate alternative methods of research and testing which do not involve the use of live animals. States that the Center shall be managed by a Director appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services and that the head of any Federal agency which conducts or sponsors research or testing involving the use of live animals appoint one employee to serve as a member of the Center. Directs the Secretary to establish within the Center an Advisory Committee to advise the Center. Requires the Secretary to make and publish in the Federal Register descriptions of alternative methods of testing which meet the regulatory scientific needs of the agencies and which have been reported in summary or plan. Prohibits the use of Federal funds to sponsor research or testing involving the use of live animals if alternative methods have been published in the Federal Register or if such work duplicates work performed by another agency. Requires each agency conducting research involving the use of live animals to: (1) implement a program to develop and utilize alternative methods of research and testing that would reduce or eliminate reliance on the use of live animals; and (2) make grants and enter into contracts with educational institutions to establish courses for the training of scientists in methods of research and testing which do not involve the use of live animals. Requires the Secretary to submit to Congress annually a summary of the Director's annual report of the performance of the Center.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Limitation on Government Recordkeeping Requirements and Actions Act of 1981 - Prohibits any Federal agency from: (1) requiring any person to maintain, prepare, or produce records (other than records relating to a dangerous material) of an event more than four years after the event has occurred; and (2) commencing an action against a person for a violation of a regulation more than four years after such violation has occurred, except as otherwise provided by the Internal Revenue Code.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit taxpayers who do not itemize income tax deductions to claim a deduction from gross income for charitable contributions.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Child Care Agency Tax Amendments of 1981 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt from the windfall profit tax oil produced from interests held by or for a residential child care agency. Defines such an agency as a tax-exempt charitable organization operated primarily for the residential placement, care, or treatment of delinquent, dependent, neglected, or handicapped children.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to include within the categories of deportable aliens foreign students who knowingly participated in a political demonstration resulting in, or intending to result in, injury or damage to another's person or property. Permits the Attorney General to suspend deportation of such students.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Financial Integrity Act of 1981 - Amends the Accounting and Auditing Act of 1950 to require the head of each Executive agency to prepare and transmit to the President an annual report on the adequacy of the agency's systems of internal accounting and administrative control. Requires the report to include detailed plans for correcting any inadequacy. Directs the Comptroller General of the United States to: (1) establish guidelines for evaluating such systems; and (2) define internal auditing and administrative controls to prevent waste or misuse of agency funds or property and to assure accountability of assets.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Tuition Tax Credit Act of 1981 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a taxpayer an income tax credit for 25 percent of the tuition paid for the elementary, secondary, college, or post-secondary vocational education of the taxpayer or the taxpayer's spouse or dependents. Sets forth maximum dollar amounts allowable as a credit for calendar years 1981 through 1983, after which the credit expires. Requires the individual for whom the tuition tax credit is allowed by this Act to be a full-time student during any four months of the calendar year or a part-time student during any eight months of the calendar year. Excludes graduate students from eligibility for such credit. Excludes from the definition of "tuition" any amounts paid for books, supplies, equipment for coursework, meals, lodging, transportation, similar personal expenses, and education below the first-grade level. Forbids any construction of this Act as granting the Government additional authority to examine the books or activities of any church school except to the extent necessary to determine whether such school is an eligible educational institution within the meaning of this Act. Provides for the immediate certification of any judicial action brought in a United States district court concerning the constitutionality of this Act to the appropriate circuit court of appeals. Authorizes direct appeal to the Supreme Court of any such decision by a circuit court. Requires the expedited consideration of such a case at both judicial levels. Requires that any amount received by the taxpayer as a tuition tax credit be disregarded for purposes of determining the eligibility of the taxpayer for Federal, State, or local educational assistance.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Sunset Review Act of 1981 - Requires the House Committee on Rules and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration to jointly develop and maintain an inventory of all Federal programs and tax expenditures. Requires such inventory to classify all such programs and expenditures according to the jurisdiction of the various legislative committees of the two Houses. Requires the General Accounting Office (GAO), before the beginning of the 98th Congress, after consultation with the appropriate legislative committees and the Congressional Budget Office, to submit a draft inventory to the House Committee on Rules and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. Requires such Committees to notify each legislative committee of the programs and tax expenditures which are classified within its jurisdiction. Allows any legislative committee to propose revisions of such inventory within 30 days after notification. Requires that such inventory be published in a single document. Requires that an update be made of such inventory at the beginning of every Congress. Specifies information to be contained in such an inventory. Directs the GAO to publish a supplement to such inventory which includes certain budget information. Requires each legislative committee of the House of Representatives and the Senate, by a specified date, to report a resolution setting forth an agenda for the sunset review of selected Federal programs within its jurisdiction, or, in the case of the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance, of selected tax expenditures. Directs the committees of each House to develop their sunset review agenda in consultation with any other committee which has concurrent jurisdiction over any programs or tax expenditures involved. Requires, where practicable, that related programs and expenditures be reviewed during the same Congress. Requires the report accompanying any agenda reported in the 104th Congress and every fifth Congress thereafter to summarize the programs and expenditures reviewed and not reviewed during the five previous Congresses. Prohibits either the House or the Senate from considering a primary expense resolution for any legislative committee in any Congress until that committee has developed and submitted its sunset review agenda. Requires the House Committee on Rules and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration to incorporate such agendas into a consolidated sunset review agenda and to report such consolidated agenda to its House in the form of a concurrent resolution, within seven legislative days after all committee sunset review agendas have been submitted. Requires the consolidated sunset review agenda to be adopted in the House and in the Senate no later than March 30 in the first session of each Congress. Sets forth the procedures for the consideration and adoption of such agenda. Requires each committee of the House or the Senate, not later than May 15 in the second session of each Congress, to report a bill or bills modifying, continuing, or terminating each program or tax expenditure which it has been directed to review under the consolidated sunset review agenda adopted during the first session. Requires such bill to be accompanied by a report. Requires each department, agency, and instrumentality in the executive branch of the Government which is responsible for the administration of a Federal program or tax expenditure selected for sunset review to provide the appropriate Congressional committees with its views, information, and assistance. Directs the Comptroller General to supply specified information on audits. Exempts foreign intelligence or counterintelligence programs designated by the President as requiring protection from unauthorized disclosure. Directs the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate to review such programs pursuant to the spirit of this Act. Amends rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives to include the consolidated sunset review agendas and the Congressional inventory of Federal programs as part of the House Committee on Rules' functions.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Anti-Inflation Tax Act of 1981 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require annual cost of living adjustments, based on the Consumer Price Index, to individual income tax rates, the personal tax exemption, withholding requirements, and minimum income tax return amounts.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to deny eligibility for food stamps to any household including a person participating in a strike or labor dispute which the President determines is causing or substantially contributing to: (1) a critical shortage of any essential energy resource or strategic material; or (2) unemployment in an industry not directly involved in such strike or labor dispute.
![Official portrait of Rep. Guyer, Tennyson [R-OH-4]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/g000537_200.jpg)