United States · United States Congress · 22 March 1978
National Infant Screening Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to make grants and contracts to public and private entities to acquire the automated equipment, supplies, and personnel required to conduct multiple screening of blood specimens routinely collected from newborn infants for metabolic disorders. Requires the States to develop plans for the screening, diagnosis, and management of newborn infants for metabolic disorders. States that no entity shall be eligible for a grant under this Act unless it is in compliance with the applicable State plan.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 1978
Expresses the concern of the House of Representatives regarding the slaughter of dolphins by Japanese fishermen in the Sea of Japan on February 23, and 24, 1978. Encourages the Government of Japan to join in certain discussions and infomration exchanges in an effort to eliminate such slaughter.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1978
Declares it the sense of Congress that the President should direct the Amabassador to the United Nations to offer a resolution removing the observer of the Palestine Liberation Organization at the United Nations.
United States · United States Congress · 16 March 1978
Prohibits affirmative action programs regarding discrimination in federally assisted programs, employment discrimination, Federal grantees or contractors, or Federal employment, from requiring quotas. Prohibits a finding of discrimination to be based solely upon the composition of the work force or membership in question. Prohibits relief in certain civil rights actions unless an act of discrimination has been committed. Prohibits any remedy in a civil rights action which establishes quotas. Prohibits requiring employers or contractors to collect data applicable to discrimination except pursuant to discovery procedures.
United States · United States Congress · 16 March 1978
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 resource or strategic material; or (2) unemployment in an industry not directly involved in such strike or labor dispute.
United States · United States Congress · 16 March 1978
Expresses the condemnation of the House of Representatives of the kidnapping of Aldo Moro. Declares it the sense of the House of Representatives that (1) Italy deserves the support of the United States, and (2) the President should instruct the Permanent Representative to the United Nations to press for consideration of solutions to the problem of terrorism in all appropriate forums.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 1978
Expresses the condemnation by the Congress of the March 11, 1978, attack on Israel by the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the expressed intention of the PLO to continue such attacks and to disrupt the peace efforts between Israel and Egypt. Requests the President to make the disapproval of the Congress known to governments approving the PLO attack. Expresses Congressional approval of the peace efforts between Israel and Egypt. Urges other Middle East countries to join such efforts. Declares negotiation to be the best way to bring peace to the Middle East.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 1978
Amends the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 to restrict the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture to determine the justness or reasonableness of any stockyard service rate or charge to only those rates or charges for services at stockyards which have a certain minimum annual sales volume.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 1978
Directs the Secretary of the Army to pay to each person who served as a Philippine Scout between December 6, 1941, and December 31, 1946, or the survivors of such an individual the difference between the basic pay received by such an individual and the pay received by other members of the Army of corresponding grades and length of service. Requires that the retired pay of such individuals be computed using the rates of basic pay applicable to other members of the Army of corresponding grades and length of service.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 1978
Agriculture Emergency Act - Title I: Agricultural Export Expansion - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1954 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish abroad between six and 25 United States Agricultural Trade Offices, for the purpose of developing, maintaining, and expanding international markets for United States agricultural commodities. Changes the title of Agricultural Attaches to Agricultural Counselors, and requires each Counselor to submit to the Secretary an annual report detailing the social, political and economic factors affecting agriculture and agricultural trade in the country or area to which such Counselor is assigned. Establishes in the Department of Agriculture: (1) an Assistant Secretary for Commodity Programs, to perform duties related to agricultural stabilization and conservation; and (2) an Under Secretary for International Affairs to perform duties related to foreign agriculture. Amends the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act to direct the Secretary to provide Corporation financing to exporters of agricultural commodities who wish to extend deferred payment terms, not to exceed three years, to foreign buyers in order to meet foreign competition and to make additional export sales. Title II: Agricultural Credit - Subtitle A: Amendments to the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act - Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to provide loans to any farm owners or tenants for the purposes of meeting Federal, State, or local requirements for agricultural, animal, or poultry waste pollution abatement and control facilities. Establishes a low-income farm ownership loan program for owners or operators of small or family farms, and extends eligibility for real estate and operating loans to private domestic corporations and partnerships primarily engaged in farming or ranching. Extends eligibility for operating loans to farm cooperatives. Increases the maximum allowable total principal indebtedness for real estate loans which may be outstanding by any one borrower to $200,000, or $300,000 in the case of a guaranteed loan. Removes the $500,000 ceiling from the aggregate principal of loans made using the Agricultural Credit Insurance Fund. Increases the amount of indebtedness which may be outstanding for operating loans for an individual from $50,000 to $100,000, or in the case of a guaranteed loan, $200,000. Authorizes the Secretary to purchase the guaranteed portion of any rural development loan using funds from the Rural Development Insurance Fund and the guaranteed portion of all other loans with funds from the Agricultural Credit Insurance Fund. Replaces the current provision for an up to five-year renewal of an operating loan with a provision for the consolidation or rescheduling of outstanding loans for payment over a period not to exceed seven years from the date of such consolidation or rescheduling. Authorizes the Secretary to make loans and grants, and approve transfers and assumptions under such Act in connection with property securing a loan made, insured, or held by the Secretary notwithstanding the fact an area ceases to be eligible for assistance under the Act. Authorizes the Secretary to provide a procedure for appeal and review of determinations by a county committee that a loan applicant is able to obtain sufficient credit elsewhere to finance his actual needs at reasonable rates and terms. Increases from $15,000 to $25,000 the amount of claims that can be compromised without approval of the Administrator of the Farmers Home Administration. Authorizes the Secretary to grant a moratorium upon the payment by an individual of interest and principal on a loan, upon a showing of temporary inability to continue making payments, beyond the individual's control. Subtitle B: Emergency Agricultural Credit Adjustment Act - Directs the Secretary to insure, guarantee, or make direct loans for the purpose of making payment of principal and interest installments or refinancing, in whole or in part, equipment or operating loans, giving preference to owners or operators of small or family farms. Requires the Secretary to guarantee 100 percent of the principal and interest of any such loan. Limits the total principal balance outstanding on insured or guaranteed loans to $200,000. Allows the total outstanding principal indebtedness of any borrower to reach $150,000 without approval of the senior State official of the Farmers Home Administration. Limits the total principal amount of all outstanding loans under this title during 1978 to $1,500,000,000, and during 1979 to $3,000,000,000. Terminates such program on December 31, 1979. Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Provisions - Extends the Emergency Livestock Credit Act through September 30, 1979. Title III: Wheat, Feed Grains, and Cotton Price Supports, Set-Aside and Release Prices - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to provide for the 1978 and 1979 crops of the following commodities a sliding-scale of established prices, keyed to voluntary five percent increments above the required acreage set-aside level, ranging: (1) for wheat, from $3.00 per bushel for a 20 percent set-aside up to $5.00 per bushel for a 50 percent set-aside; (2) for corn, from $2.10 for a ten percent set-aside up to $3.49 for a 50 percent set-aside; and (3) for upland cotton, from 54 cents per pound for a 20 percent set-aside up to 85 cents per pound for a 50 percent set-aside. Sets the 1979 established price for a 50 percent set-aside of all three commodities at the January, 1979 parity price for the 1979 crops. Prohibits: (1) the Secretary from providing for the redemption of stored wheat and feed grains loans unless the market price for such commodities is not less than parity; (2) the calling of such loans until the market price for wheat and feed grains is at least 105 percent of parity; and (3) the Commodity Credit Corporation from selling its stocks of wheat and feed grains for less than the parity price of such commodities. Title IV: Sugar - Amends the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977 to increase the price support for the 1978 through 1980 crops of sugar beets and sugarcane to a minimum of 65 percent of parity, but not less than 17 cents per pound raw sugar equivalent. Title V: Meat Imports - Sets formulae for quotas on the importation of specified meat products as of January 1, 1979. Prohibits the annual importation of specified kinds of cattle in excess of the smaller of either: (1) the average number of such livestock imported during the period January 1, 1973, through December 31, 1977; or (2) 960,000 head. Title VI: National Farmer and Rancher Board - Establishes the National Farmer and Rancher Board, composed of bona fide farmers and ranchers from eight agricultural regions of the United States who shall be elected to such Board by agricultural producers according to specified procedures. Limits the duties of such Board to advising, consulting with, and making written recommendations to the President, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretaries and Administrators of other specified departments and agencies on matters pertaining to the family farm and/or the production and marketing of agricultural commodities. Title VII: Congressional Review of Embargoes or Sale Suspensions - Amends the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977 to require notification of Congress of any embargo or suspension of a commercial export sale of specified commodities, and to permit Congress to halt such embargo by adoption of a resolution of disapproval within 60 days after notification. Title VIII: Government Purchases - Declares that it is the sense of Congress that all departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of all three branches of the United States Government use their resources and facilities to the maximum extent practicable to purchase agricultural products produced in the United States. Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1964 to exclude from food stamp coverage any food labeled imported. Title IX: Agricultural Tax Provisions - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an investment tax credit for buildings and structural components used in the business of farming. Grants an exemption from the excise tax for any trailer or semitrailer used for farming purposes or for transporting horses or livestock, whose gross vehicle weight is 10,000 pounds or less. Entitles aerial applicators to a refund of gasoline and special fuels taxes. Repeals the carryover basis provisions of the Tax Reform Act of 1976 which provide that beneficiaries receiving property from a decedent's estate will retain the decedent's basis in the property. Restores prior law which "stepped up" or "stepped down" the property's basis to its market value at the time of death without imposing tax consequences on the appreciation or depreciation the property underwent while held by the decedent. Allows a deduction from income for State estate taxes in the case of income in respect of a decedent. Title X: Natural Gas for Essential Agricultural Purposes - Directs the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to prohibit curtailment by a natural gas company of natural gas for essential agricultural, food processing, and food packaging purposes for which natural gas is necessary. Requires the Secretary to determine the purposes for which natural gas is necessary. Title XI: Increase Farm Storage Loan Ceiling - Amends the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act to increase the farm storage loan ceiling from $50,000 to $100,000. Title XII: Regulatory Reform - Authorizes either House of Congress by resolution to disapprove, in whole or in part, any rule or regulation prescribed by the head of any Federal department or agency. Requires the heads of all Federal departments and agencies to submit a comprehensive review and evaluation of their programs and activities so that the Congress may determine if the merits of each program or activity support its continuation or diminution rather than its termination.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 1978
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to issue regulations corresponding to the principles set forth in a certain private letter ruling relating to the exclusion from gross income of amounts deferred by participants in public deferred compensation plans.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 1978
Delays for six months the effective date of the increase in the hospital deductible for 1978 under the hospital insurance program of Title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 1978
Amends Title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide payment under the supplementary medical insurance program for dental care including dentures, eye examinations including eyeglasses, and hearing aids including examination. Directs the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to take steps to eliminate unnecessary or excessive medical (appliance) expenditures under the Medicare program. States that the Federal Trade Commission should continue and increase scrutiny of the medical appliance industries in the interest of consumer protection.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 1978
Amends the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to rescind the authority of the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to designate a type of disability as qualifying as a "severe handicap" for purposes of such Act.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 1978
Directs that orders of a State court or a court of the District of Columbia relative to the custody of children of divorced or separated parents be given full faith and credit by every other State and the District of Columbia until such issuing court no longer has under the law of the State in which it is located, or declines to exercise, jurisdiction over modifications of such orders. Permits a court to refuse to recognize a custody order obtained by a parent or other person who removed the child from a State in order to conceal the child from the other parent or from a person acting as a parent.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 1978
Expresses United States determination (1) to prevent the aggressive activities of the Soviet Union and Cuba in the Western Hemisphere, (2) to prevent the creation of externally supported Cuban military capability, and (3) to work with the Organization of American States for hemisphere security.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 1978
Reserve Survivors' Benefits Act - Title I: Annuities Under Survivor Benefit Plan - Grants annuities to the survivors of individuals who would have been eligible for retired military pay for non-regular service but who died before reaching the age of 60. Establishes formulae for computing such benefits. Title II: Medical and Dental Care - Entitles such survivors to specified medical and dental benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 1978
Solar Power Satellite Research, Development, and Demonstration Program Act - Directs the Secretary of Energy and the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to initiate a Solar Power Satellite Research, Development, and Demonstration Program to study technical problems regarding the viability of the solar power satellite concept. Requires the Secretary to cooperate with the Administrator in the submission to Congress, by September 30, 1978, of a comprehensive plan to implement the Program.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 1978
Standards Repeal Act - Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to repeal the provisions of such Act and the standards promulgated thereunder relating to fuel economy standards for trucks and other nonpassenger vehicles.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 1978
Declares it the sense of Congress that the President and the Secretary of the Treasury be inspired to apply countervailing duties and special dumping duties to imported steel.
United States · United States Congress · 24 February 1978
Urges the Secretary of Defense not to include within the competitive rate program (under which services are procured for the movement of the household goods of Department of Defense employees) the movement of household goods of Department personnel who are being transferred between the continental United States and Alaska or Hawaii.
United States · United States Congress · 23 February 1978
Directs the Postal Service to issue a commemorative postage stamp in observance of the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of the modern State of Israel.
United States · United States Congress · 23 February 1978
Constitutional Amendment -- Provides for popular enactment and repeal of laws, except those with respect to declaring war and similar matters. Requires a petition signed by a number of persons equalling at least three percent of the total number of persons voting in the last Presidential election both in each of at least ten States and nationwide to place such an issue on the ballot and a nationwide majority of votes cast to pass it.
United States · United States Congress · 23 February 1978
Expresses the sense of the House that the national motto, "In God We Trust," shall continue to be engraved and printed on the currency of the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 22 February 1978
Merit Selection for United States Attorneys Act - Revises the method for selection of United States Attorneys to establish a United States Attorney Selection Commission for each judicial district. Provides for appointment of commission members by the appropriate State chief executive. Directs a Commission to select and forward to the President and Attorney General a list of four to eight candidates within 90 days of the expiration of the incumbent's term. Requires the President to nominate a commission candidate or to request another list. Limits U. S. attorneys to two four year terms. Restricts the power of the President to unilaterally remove a U.S. attorney.
United States · United States Congress · 16 February 1978
Condemns the recent poisoning of Israeli oranges. Declares it the sense of the House of Representatives that the President direct the United States delegations to the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament and the United Nations Special Session on Disarmament to urge that the poisoning incident be placed high on the agenda of these organizations. Declares it the sense of the House of Representatives that the President direct the United States delegation to the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament to recommit itself to efforts to negotiate an effective prohibition of chemical weapons.
United States · United States Congress · 15 February 1978
Amends the Board for International Broadcasting Act of 1973 to prohibit assistance to Radio Free Europe or Radio Liberty if any Communist country is permitted to use such broadcast facilities.
United States · United States Congress · 15 February 1978
Requires the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to install telecommunication devices to enable deaf persons and persons with speech impairments to engage in toll-free communications with Members of Congress. Authorizes appropriations to carry out this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 14 February 1978
Amends the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, l978 to repeal the provision of such Act which prohibits the payment of lodging expenses for individuals away from their post of duty on official business when adequate government quarters are available but are not occupied by such individual.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1978
Authorizes air carriers holding a certificate to engage in foreign air transportation to carry domestic traffic between points in the United States on flights operated in foreign air transportation. Stipulates that such authority shall be limited to one round trip flight per day in each city-pair market unless otherwise authorized by the Civil Aeronautics Board.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1978
Declares it the sense of Congress that the President should (1) terminate negotiation efforts to formulate a Rhodesian settlement acceptable only to radical Marxist oriented external forces and a terrorist-guerilla faction, and (2) declare support for Rhodesian leaders who are prepared to allow the Rhodesian government to be chosen in free elections based on adult universal suffrage.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1978
Prohibits commerce in contraband cigarettes. Defines "contraband cigarettes" as a quantity of more than 20,000 cigarettes, bearing no evidence of payment of applicable State cigarette taxes, which are in the possession of any person other than (1) a person licensed by the State where the cigarettes are found or by the Internal Revenue Service, (2) a common or contract carrier, or (3) a government agent in the performance of duties. Subjects dealers in cigarettes to such reporting requirements as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1978
Steelhead Trout Protection Act - States that notwithstanding any Indian treaty, laws and regulations of a State prohibiting or restricting the taking or sale of steelhead trout for commercial purposes shall apply to Indians and Indian tribes in the same manner and to the same extent as such laws and regulations apply to other persons.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1978
Amends the United States Housing Act of 1937 to authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to make assistance payments for the purpose of aiding any lower-income family in making rental payments with respect to real property on which is located a mobile home owned by such family and utilized by such family as its principal place of residence.
United States · United States Congress · 1 February 1978
Deems a certain period to be creditable service for purposes of civil service retirement for a certain individual. States that any deductions shall be considered to have been made for such period.
United States · United States Congress · 1 February 1978
Expresses the insistence of the House of Representatives that the Government of the Republic of Korea cooperate with a certain investigation of the House of Representatives Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. Declares that failure of the Government to cooperate with such investigation will have a negative impact on relations between the United States and the Republic of Korea, including assistance for the latter country.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1978
Tax Averaging Equity Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt certain individuals utilizing income averaging from the minimum income attribution rules for former spouses.
![Official portrait of Rep. Lagomarsino, Robert J. [R-CA-19]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/l000020_200.jpg)