United States · United States Congress · 12 June 2007
College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to alter the Pell Grant program by: (1) increasing the maximum Pell grant; (2) removing the tuition sensitivity provision reducing the Pell Grant available to students attending low cost schools; (3) allowing year-round Pell grants; (4) increasing students' Pell grant eligibility by increasing their income protection allowance; (5) altering the formula for determining whether a student qualifies for a simplified means test and zero-expected family contributions; and (6) excluding certain income and assets from student need determinations. Alters HEA student loan programs by: (1) cutting the interest rate charged undergraduate student borrowers under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) and Direct Loan (DL) programs; (2) increasing limits on federally-insured loans; (3) reducing special allowance payments to lenders; (4) eliminating exceptional performer status for lenders; (5) reducing the lender insurance percentage; (6) reducing the percentage of defaulted loan collections a guaranty agency may retain; (7) changing the formula for determining the account maintenance fees paid to guaranty agencies; (8) increasing the loan fee charged certain lenders; and (9) requiring lenders and guaranty agencies to provide institutions of higher education (IHEs) and third-party servicers with student loan information to prevent loan defaults. Provides student loan forgiveness to borrowers who serve in areas of national need as early childhood educators, nurses, foreign language specialists, librarians, certain highly qualified teachers, child welfare workers, speech language pathologists, National Service participants, and public sector employees. Forgives the balance due on DLs by borrowers who have been public sector employees for 10 years and made 120 income contingent payments on such loans. Makes FFEL and DL repayments by student borrowers income contingent. Allows such borrowers to have their loans forgiven after 20 years of payments. Redefines economic hardship to include borrowers whose earnings do not exceed 150% of the poverty line. Eliminates deferral limits on FFELs, DLs, and Perkins loans. Includes such deferrals in maximum payment periods. Withholds specified HEA funding from states that reduce their current higher education funding. Requires that the College Opportunity On-Line (COOL) website be redesigned to include additional college affordability information, including a school's placement on affordability alert status due to its costs increasing at twice the consumer price index over a specified period of time. Provides IHEs with additional funding to raise Pell grant amounts by specified percentages if they keep, or guarantee to keep, their tuition increases at no more than the increase in the Higher Education Price Index (HEPI). Provides cooperative education grants to IHEs that keep tuition increases at or below increases in the HEPI, to increase the availability and quality of programs offering students alternating or parallel periods of academic study and related employment. Establishes a TEACH Grant program providing tuition assistance to undergraduate and graduate students who commit to teaching a high-need subject in a high-need school for four years. Awards competitive grants to minority serving IHEs to establish centers of excellence that improve the preparation and support of highly-qualified teachers. Establishes a College Access Challenge Grant program providing matching grants to philanthropic organizations for financial aid, mentoring, and outreach services to increase the number of needy students from underserved populations who enter and complete college.
United States · United States Congress · 12 June 2007
College Affordability and Accountability Act - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to require state maintenance of effort in providing funding to public institutions of higher education (IHEs). Requires all IHEs to plan, engage in, and report on cost containment strategies. Authorizes the Secretary of Education to conduct research on such strategies. Directs the Secretary to publish an annual report on college affordability and to disseminate certain data, including the net price tuition index (NTPI) for each IHE through a college price calculator on an enhanced college opportunities on line (COOL) website. Establishes a Pell Plus program to provide an increased award to each Pell Grant recipient at IHEs that maintain specified types of: (1) low tuition; (2) guaranteed tuition; or (3) affordable tuition. Establishes a program of grants for cooperative education for IHEs that restrain tuition increases. Authorizes grants and contracts for cooperative education demonstration and innovation projects, training and resource centers, and research. Directs the Secretary to commission the National Research Council to study the viability of developing and implementing standards in environmental, health, and safety areas to provide for differential regulation of: (1) industrial laboratories and facilities; and (2) research and teaching laboratories. Authorizes the Secretary to select IHEs, IHE systems, or IHE consortia for voluntary participation in an articulation agreement demonstration program to specify the acceptability of courses in transfer toward meeting specific degree requirements, as a means to lower tuition prices for students. Directs the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance to convene a task force of experts to: (1) determine the best methods to finance higher education in the long-term; (2) help public institutions utilize long-term budgeting; (3) review the trends of financing of higher education; and (4) define the role played by the states, the federal government, families, and outside entities in financing higher education, and determine the best methods to strengthen this partnership.
United States · United States Congress · 7 June 2007
SSI Extension for Elderly and Disabled Refugees Act - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to extend for two years (through FY2010) the eligibility of certain refugees, asylees, and other immigrants with pending applications for naturalization for supplemental security income (SSI) benefits. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require the Secretary of the Treasury to offset overpayments of federal taxes by any amount owed to a state for a covered unemployment compensation debt. Defines "covered unemployment compensation debt" as a past-due debt (including penalties and interest) for erroneous payment of state unemployment compensation due to fraud which has become final and remains uncollected.
United States · United States Congress · 7 June 2007
340B Program Improvement and Integrity Act of 2007 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to expand the drug discount program to allow participation as a covered entity by certain: (1) children's hospitals; (2) critical access hospitals; (3) entities providing maternal and child health services, community mental health services, or treatment services for substance abuse; (4) Medicare-dependent, small rural hospitals; (5) sole community hospitals; and (6) rural referral centers. Prohibits enrolled hospitals from obtaining covered outpatient drugs through a group purchasing arrangement. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish reasonable exceptions to such requirements, including for drugs unavailable through the program and to facilitate generic substitution when a generic covered drug is available at a lower price. Expands the program to include a drug used in connection with an inpatient or outpatient service by enrolled hospitals. (Currently, only outpatient drugs are covered under the program.) Requires hospitals enrolled in the 340B drug discount program to provide to each state a credit on the estimated annual costs to such hospital of single source and innovator multiple source drugs and noninnovator multiple source drugs provided to Medicaid recipients for inpatient use. Sets forth a formula for calculating the credit. Allows a hospital to avoid paying such credits under certain circumstances. Requires the Secretary to: (1) carry out activities to improve compliance by manufacturers and covered entities with the requirements of the drug discount program; and (2) establish an administrative process for resolving claims by covered entities and manufacturers of violations of such requirements. Requires manufacturers to offer each covered entity covered drugs for purchase at or below the applicable ceiling price if such a drug is made available to any other purchaser at any price.
United States · United States Congress · 7 June 2007
Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation of 2007 - Amends the International Financial Institutions Act to direct the Secretary of the Treasury, within the Paris Club of Official Creditors, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), and other international financial institutions, to: (1) provide for debt cancellation of eligible low-income countries (as defined by this Act) to such institutions and to the United States; (2) provide for establishment of frameworks for creditor transparency and responsible lending; and (3) provide that such debt cancellation is not conditioned on harmful economic or environmental conditions. Directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to audit the debt portfolios of previous governments in certain countries, including South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
United States · United States Congress · 6 June 2007
Empowerment Zone and Renewal Community Enhancement Act of 2007 - Amends Internal Revenue Code provisions relating to tax-preferred empowerment zones, rural enterprise communities, and renewal communities to: (1) extend the period of designation for such areas through 2015; (2) provide a safe harbor standard for employee residency requirements in empowerment zones; (3) eliminate certain residency requirements for the empowerment zone employment tax credit; (4) grant authority to expand the boundaries of empowerment zones and enterprise communities, including those located in rural areas; (5) allow carryovers of unused expensing allowances for enterprise zone businesses; (6) allow certain empowerment zone businesses to elect to receive payments in lieu of tax benefits; (7) allow federal guarantees and tax exemptions for enterprise zones and renewal communities; and (8) allow the issuance of tax-exempt rural enterprise community bonds.
United States · United States Congress · 6 June 2007
Condemns the vote by the University and College Union of May 30, 2007, to boycott Israeli academics and academic institutions. Urges the international scholarly community, the European Union, and individual governments, to reject, or continue to reject, calls for an academic boycott of Israel and reaffirm their commitment to academic freedom and cultural and scientific international exchange. Urges governments and educators throughout the world to reaffirm the importance of academic freedom and open dialogue and to condemn measures that would prevent the production, sharing, and exchange of knowledge. Urges other unions and organizations to reject the troubling and disturbing actions of the UCU. Urges the general members of the UCU to reject the call of the union's leadership to boycott Israel.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 2007
Bring Our Children Home Act - Amends the Missing Children's Assistance Act to expand the definition of "missing child." Requires the Attorney General to provide state and local law enforcement agencies with information for locating a child from a foreign country who has been abducted and is believed to be in the United States. Amends the Crime Control Act of 1990 to require state missing children reports to include a statement specifying whether a missing child is believed to have been taken outside of the United States. Amends the International Child Abduction Remedies Act to provide funding for legal and technical assistance and training relating to international child abduction. Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to require the Secretary of State to report to Congress on the efforts of foreign countries to prohibit international child abduction. Requires the Secretary of Transportation to study and report to Congress on the cooperation of domestic and foreign airlines with the investigation of international child abduction cases. Authorizes additional funds for the investigation and prosecution of international parental kidnapping and for the extradition of individuals from foreign countries to the United States for violations of child abduction laws. Establishes a grant program to reimburse travel costs related to the return of abducted children to the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 2007
National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Act - Identifies roadless areas within the National Forest System set forth in specified maps as National Forest Inventoried Roadless Areas, and directs the Secretary of Agriculture to manage such Areas to maintain their roadless character. Authorizes the Forest Service to modify such maps for the sole purpose of improving their accuracy or inclusiveness. Requires any substantial modification of those maps to be made through the national forest management planning process and documented in an environmental impact statement.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 2007
Protecting Our Children Comes First Act of 2007 - Amends the Missing Children's Assistance Act to reauthorize through FY2013, and revise requirements for uses of, the annual grant to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children by the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Deliquency Prevention.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 2007
FERS Redeposit Act - Allows each federal employee who has returned to government service and who has received a refund of retirement contributions under the Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS) (or any other retirement system established for federal employees covering service for which such employee or Member may be allowed credit under FERS provisions) to deposit (to the credit of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund) the amount that was so received, with interest. Allows deposits in one or more installments. Disallows the recapture of credit for service covered by the refund until such a deposit is made.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 2007
Medicare Secondary Payer and Workers' Compensation Settlement Agreements Act of 2007 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to: (1) create an exception to Medicare secondary payer requirements for certain workers' compensation settlement agreements; and (2) provide for the satisfaction of such requirements through use of qualified Medicare set-asides under workers' compensation settlement agreements.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 2007
America's Better Classrooms Act of 2007 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax credit for investment in qualified public school modernization bonds, defined to include: (1) bonds for the construction, rehabilitation, or repair of a public school facility or for the acquisition of land for such facility (qualified school construction bonds); and (2) bonds to finance certain academic programs below the postsecondary level in empowerment zones or enterprise communities (qualified zone academy bonds). Establishes a national limitation on the issuance of such bonds and provides for the allocation of bond amounts among the states according to a specified formula. Terminates the authority for issuance of such bonds after 2009. Amends the General Education Provisions Act to apply certain labor standards to public school construction projects financed by this Act. Amends the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 to require states to establish employment and training programs relating to the construction or reconstruction of public school facilities.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 2007
Congressional Commission on the Abolition of Modern-Day Slavery Act - Defines "modern-day slavery." Establishes a congressional Commission on the Abolition of Modern-day Slavery which shall: (1) study matters relating to modern-day slavery; (2) review programs of relevant governmental agencies; (3) examine efforts by foreign countries and multilateral organizations to combat modern-day slavery; and (4) convene additional experts from nongovernmental organizations as part of the Commission's review. States that the Commission shall: (1) advise Congress on how the United States could support efforts to eradicate modern-day slavery; (2) evaluate comparative strategies to prevent modern-day slavery, rescue and rehabilitate its victims, and prosecute traffickers and increase accountability within countries; (3) examine the economic impact on communities and countries that demonstrate measured success in fighting modern-day slavery; (4) evaluate the effectiveness of U.S. laws prohibiting the importation of goods produced through forced labor or child labor; (5) evaluate U.S. trade policy's effect on modern slavery, including a list of the 10 countries with the highest number of slaves within their borders; and (6) evaluate U.S. government procurement policies regarding slave-made goods or services. Terminates the Commission 90 days after submission of a report required under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 2007
Hepatitis C Epidemic Control and Prevention Act of 2007 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop and implement a plan for the prevention, control, and management of hepatitis C virus (HCV). Requires the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to: (1) implement programs to increase awareness of HCV; and (2) support activities to promote the early detection of HCV infection, identify risk factors for infection, and conduct surveillance of HCV infection trends. Directs the Secretary, acting through the Director of CDC and the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to: (1) conduct epidemiologic research to identify best practices for HCV prevention; (2) establish a Hepatitis C Clinic Research Network to conduct research related to the treatment and medical management of HCV; and (3) conduct basic research to identify new approaches to prevent and treat HCV. Requires the Secretary to: (1) promote state, local, and tribal programs to provide referrals for medical evaluation and management to HCV-positive individuals; and (2) develop benchmarks for evaluating the programs and activities conducted under this Act. Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to states, political subdivisions of states, Indian tribes, or nonprofit entities to carry out activities under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 2007
Geriatricians Loan Forgiveness Act of 2007- Amends the Public Health Service Act to include each year of fellowship training in geriatric medicine or geriatric psychiatry required in order to obtain a certificate of added qualification in those fields as a year of obligated service under the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program. Requires an individual to provide services in geriatric medicine or geriatric psychiatry during the period of obligated service upon completion of training.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 2007
Commends the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for working with leading scientists and researchers to organize the first NIH conference on hydrocephalus in September 2005 and the Inaugural Cerebellar Development: Bench to Bedside International Conference in November 2006. Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the Director of NIH should continue the current collaboration, with respect to Dandy-Walker syndrome, among the National Human Genome Research Institute, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and the Office of Rare Diseases; (2) further research into such syndrome should be conducted and supported; (3) NIH should take the lead in sponsoring an annual workshop to increase awareness and set national research priorities for such syndrome and hydrocephalus; (4) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) should form a coordinating committee for such syndrome and hydrocephalus research; and (5) public awareness and professional education regarding Dandy-Walker research should increase through partnerships between the federal government and patient advocacy organizations.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 2007
Declares that the President and Congress should reaffirm the federal commitment to eradicate poverty in America as a leading national priority, immediately establish a national goal of cutting poverty in half in the next 10 years, and adopt a national strategy to reach that goal.
United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2007
Ovarian and Cervical Cancer Awareness Act of 2007 - Amends provisions of the Public Health Service Act commonly referred to as Johanna's Law to revise requirements for a national public awareness campaign regarding gynecologic cancers to: (1) require the Secretary of Health and Human Services specifically to increase awareness and knowledge of ovarian and cervical cancers; and (2) expand such campaign to include public service announcements targeted to low-income women. Expresses the sense of the Congress that funding by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of gynecologic cancer education and awareness efforts should reflect the fact that ovarian and cervical cancers are the most deadly of the gynecologic cancers.
United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2007
Universal Higher Education and Lifetime Learning Act of 2007 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to replace the Hope Scholarship and Lifetime Learning Tax Credits with a partially refundable Higher Education Tax Credit covering: (1) up to 50% of a taxpayer's higher education expenses for a taxable year that do not exceed $3,000; and (2) up to 30% of such expenses between $3,000 and $8,000. Sets a lifetime credit limitation of $12,000 per student. Applies the credit to no more than two years of graduate education. Repeals the tax deduction for qualified tuition and related expenses.
United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2007
Same Day Voter Registration Act of 2007 - Amends the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require states to permit individuals to register to vote in an election for federal office on the date of the election.
United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2007
Observes the 40th Anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia. Commemorates that case's legacy in: (1) ending the ban on interracial marriage in the United States; and (2) recognizing that marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man" at the heart of the 14th Amendment protections.
United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2007
Expresses support for: (1) the goals and ideals of National Peripheral Arterial Disease Awareness Month; (2) efforts to educate people about the disease; and (3) raising awareness of the consequences of undiagnosed and untreated peripheral arterial disease and the need to seek appropriate care. Acknowledges the importance of peripheral arterial disease awareness to improve national cardiovascular health.
United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2007
Recognizes the historical significance to the nation, and supports the continued celebration, of Juneteenth Independence Day (June 19, 1865, the day Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, with news that the Civil War had ended and that the enslaved African Americans were free). Declares the sense of Congress that: (1) history should be regarded as a means for understanding the past and more effectively facing the challenges of the future; and (2) the celebration of the end of slavery is an important and enriching part of the history and heritage of the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 22 May 2007
Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007 - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to replace the term "navigable waters," throughout the Act, with the term "waters of the United States," defined to mean all waters subject to the ebb and flow of the tide, the territorial seas, and all interstate and intrastate waters and their tributaries, including lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, natural ponds, and all impoundments of the foregoing, to the fullest extent that these waters, or activities affecting them, are subject to the legislative power of Congress under the Constitution. Declares that nothing in such Act shall be construed as affecting the authority of the Secretary of the Army or the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the provisions of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act related to discharges: (1) composed entirely of agricultural return flows; (2) of stormwater runoff from oil, gas, and mining operations; or (3) of dredged or fill materials resulting from normal farming, silviculture, and ranching activities or from activities with respect to which a state has an approved program, or for the purposes of maintenance of currently serviceable structures or drainage ditches, construction or maintenance of farm or stock ponds, irrigation ditches, or farm, forest, or temporary roads for moving mining equipment, or construction of temporary sedimentation basins on construction sites.
United States · United States Congress · 22 May 2007
Equal Protection for All Workers Act - Amends the Occupational Safety and Health Act to specifically include any individual employed under contract among employees whose deaths resulting from employers' willful violations of standards under the Act subject such employers to criminal penalties.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 2007
Proud to Be an American Citizen Act - Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to make funds available annually to the Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services or to approved public or private nonprofit entities to support public ceremonies for administering oaths of allegiance to naturalizing legal immigrants. States that such ceremonies shall: (1) be held on a date that is on or near Independence Day; and (2) include appropriate outreach, ceremonial, and celebratory activities. Specifies: (1) ceremony fund limits ($5,000); and (2) permitted fund uses.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 2007
Montgomery GI Bill Second Chance Act of 2007 - Authorizes certain members of the Armed Forces to make an irrevocable election during October of any year beginning in 2005 to become entitled to basic educational assistance under the Montgomery GI Bill. Requires a reduction in basic pay of those members electing such educational assistance or, if the member is discharged or released from active duty prior to such reduction, the collection of specified amounts from the member or an equivalent reduction in retired or retainer pay. Requires the Secretary concerned, in conjunction with the Secretary of Defense, to provide notice of the opportunity created by this Act to elect educational assistance under the Montgomery GI Bill.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 2007
Calls for establishment of a National Brain Cancer Awareness Month. Applauds the actions of those who strive to combat and raise public awareness of brain tumors and brain cancer.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 2007
Declares that the House of Representatives and the American people have lost confidence in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Urges the President to request his resignation and to nominate a new candidate more capable of serving as the head of the Department of Justice (DOJ).
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 2007
Calls upon the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to condemn the atrocities taking place in Darfur, Sudan, and end military and economic assistance to the government of Sudan until Sudan stops civilian attacks and engages in peace negotiations. Recognizes the close relationship between the PRC and Sudan and urges the PRC to use its political, international, and economic influence to stop the violence in Darfur, Sudan. Recognizes that the spirit of the Olympics, which is to bring together nations and people from all over the world in peace, is incompatible with actions supporting acts of genocide.
United States · United States Congress · 17 May 2007
Student Bill of Rights - Directs the Secretary of Education to make annual determinations as to whether each state's public school system provides all its students with educational resources to succeed academically and in life. Requires such education to enable students to: (1) acquire knowledge and skills necessary for responsible citizenship; (2) meet challenging academic achievement standards; and (3) compete and succeed in a global economy. Requires each system to do so through: (1) providing specified fundamentals of educational opportunity to students at each public elementary and secondary school; (2) providing educational services in school districts that receive funds for disadvantaged students that are, taken as a whole, at least comparable to educational services provided in school districts not receiving such funds; and (3) complying with any final federal or state court order in any matter concerning the adequacy or equitableness of the system. Requires withholding of specified portions of its federal funding for administrative expenses if a system: (1) fails to meet a yearly interim goal; (2) does not remedy, after two school years, a failure to provide comparable educational services to schools that receive funds for disadvantaged children; or (3) does not comply with a court order. Allows students or parents aggrieved by violations of this Act to bring civil actions for enforcement in federal district courts. Directs the Commissioner of Education Statistics to study the effects of educational disparities on economic growth and on national defense.
United States · United States Congress · 17 May 2007
Family and Workplace Balancing Act of 2007, or Balancing Act of 2007 - Family Income to Respond to Significant Transitions Act - Directs the Secretary of Labor to make five-year grants to a state or local government to pay for the federal share of projects that assist families by providing wage replacement for eligible individuals responding to family caregiving needs, especially those related to the birth or adoption of a child. Family and Medical Leave Enhancement Act of 2007 - Amends the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) and federal civil service law to allow employees covered by FMLA and civil servants to take specified additional leave for: (1) parental involvement in their children's or grandchildren's educational and extracurricular activities; and (2) routine family medical care needs. Amends FMLA to revise criteria for covered employees. Amends the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to authorize additional funds for expanding child care activities for young children under age three. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), in collaboration with the Secretary of Education, to make grants to enable states, Indian tribes, and tribal organizations to establish or expand quality programs of early childhood home visitation. Establishes: (1) the Child Care Provider Development and Retention Grant Program; and (2) the Child Care Provider Scholarship Program. Healthy Early Education Workforce Grant Program Act - Authorizes the HHS Secretary to allot funds to eligible states, Indian tribes, and tribal organizations to pay the federal share of providing access to affordable health benefits coverage for: (1) eligible child care providers; and (2) at state option, the spouses, domestic partners, and dependents of such providers. Child Care Construction and Renovation Incentive Grants Act - Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to provide for use of community development block grants to establish child care facilities. Amends the National Housing Act to provide for related mortgage insurance. Authorizes the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to make technical and financial assistance grants for acquiring or improving such facilities or related equipment. Directs the Secretary of HHS to establish a business child care incentive grant program. Universal Prekindergarten Act - Directs the HHS Secretary to make grants to state agencies to develop full-day, full-year universal prekindergarten programs for all children three, four, and five years old. Amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (CNA) to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out a universal free school breakfast program without regard to family incomes. Amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (NSLA) to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a program of healthy school nutrition environment incentive grants. Afterschool Education Enhancement Act - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to require state educational agencies to give priority to 21st century community learning centers program grant applications submitted jointly by eligible entities consisting of at least: (1) one local educational agency receiving funds under ESEA provisions for disadvantaged students; and (2) at least one community-based organization or other public or private entity. Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to provide for treatment of employees working at less than full-time under participation, vesting, and accrual rules governing pension plans and under group health plans, including certain individuals whose services are leased or contracted for. United States Business Telework Act - Directs the Secretary of Labor to conduct a pilot program in up to five states to raise awareness about telework among employers and to encourage them to offer telework options to employees.
United States · United States Congress · 17 May 2007
MediKids Health Insurance Act of 2007 - Amends the Social Security Act to add a new title XXII (Medikids Program), which creates a program to guarantee comprehensive health care coverage, including prescription drugs for all children meeting specified age requirements. Creates the MediKids Trust Fund. Expands the membership of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission to 19. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) impose a MediKids premium for the taxable year, with an exemption for very low-income taxpayers; and (2) create a refundable tax credit providing a catastrophic limit on MediKids cost-sharing expenses. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to propose a gradual schedule of progressive tax changes to fund the Medikids program, as the number of enrollees grows in the out-years.
United States · United States Congress · 17 May 2007
Responsible Renewable Energy Tax Credit Act of 2007 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to disallow the tax credit for renewable diesel used as fuel for any fuel derived from coprocessing biomass with a feedstock that is not biomass.
United States · United States Congress · 16 May 2007
School Safety Enhancements Act of 2007 - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to: (1) allow the placement and use of surveillance equipment in schools under the matching grant program for public elementary and secondary school security; (2) allow the use of grant funds to establish hotlines or tiplines for reporting potentially dangerous students and situations and for making capital improvements to make school facilities more secure; (3) set the federal matching share of program costs at 80%; and (4) revise application requirements for school security grants. Requires the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Secretary of Education to establish an interagency task force to develop and promulgate advisory school safety guidelines. Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require each institution of higher education participating in any program under title IV (Student Assistance) of that Act to: (1) conduct an annual campus safety assessment in consultation with local law enforcement officials; and (2) develop and implement a campus emergency response plan that addresses a comprehensive set of emergency situations, including natural disasters, active shooter situations, and terrorism.
United States · United States Congress · 16 May 2007
Abusive Tax Shelter Shutdown and Taxpayer Accountability Act of 2007 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise or add provisions relating to tax shelter activity, including provisions to: (1) define "economic substance" for purposes of evaluating tax shelter transactions; (2) increase penalties for large entities and high net-worth individuals for failure to disclose certain tax shelter transactions; (3) impose penalties for understatements of tax due to transactions lacking economic substance; (4) deny material tax advisors a claim of privilege as to the identity of a client; (5) revise standards for the penalty for understatement of tax liability by income tax return preparers and increase the penalties for such understatements; (6) revise and increase the penalties for frivolous tax submissions; (7) deny a tax deduction for interest on underpayments of tax due to nondisclosed reportable transactions and transactions lacking economic substance; (8) expand the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury to disallow certain tax benefits arising from the acquisition of corporate stock; (9) modify certain passive loss rules for controlled foreign corporations; and (10) provide a rule for the reduction in basis of corporate stock for which certain extraordinary dividends are received.
United States · United States Congress · 16 May 2007
Expresses support for the goals and ideals of National Health Information Technology Week. Encourages the President to call upon all stakeholders to promote the use of information technology and management systems to transform the health care system.
United States · United States Congress · 15 May 2007
Polar Bear Protection Act of 2007 - Amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to prohibit issuing permits for the importation of polar bear parts taken in a sport hunt.
United States · United States Congress · 15 May 2007
Celebrates: (1) the accomplishments of title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, also known as the Patsy Takemoto Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, in increasing opportunities for women and girls in all facets of education; and (2) the magnificent accomplishments of women and girls in sports.
United States · United States Congress · 14 May 2007
ALS Registry Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to: (1) develop a system to collect data on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other motor neuron disorders that can be confused with ALS, misdiagnosed as ALS, or progress to ALS; and (2) establish a national registry for the collection and storage of such data. Requires the Secretary, acting through the Director, to establish the Advisory Committee on the National ALS Registry to review information and make recommendations to the Secretary concerning: (1) the development and maintenance of the registry; (2) the type of information to be included; (3) the manner in which data is to be collected; (4) the use and availability of such data; and (5) the collection of information about diseases and disorders that primarily affect motor neurons that are considered essential to furthering the study and cure of ALS. Allows the Secretary, acting through the Director, to award grants to, and enter into contracts and cooperative agreements with, public or private nonprofit entities for the collection, analysis, and reporting of data on ALS and other motor neuron disorders. Requires the Secretary, acting through the Director, to: (1) identify, build upon, expand, and coordinate among existing data and surveillance systems, surveys, registries, and other federal public health and environmental infrastructure wherever possible; and (2) provide for research access to ALS data as recommended by the Advisory Committee in a manner that protects personal privacy. Requires the Secretary to ensure that epidemiological and other types of information is made available to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
United States · United States Congress · 14 May 2007
Designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 3916 Milgen Road in Columbus, Georgia, as the "Frank G. Lumpkin, Jr. Post Office Building."
United States · United States Congress · 14 May 2007
Striving Readers Act of 2007 - Directs the Secretary of Education to provide peer-reviewed grants for literacy initiatives benefiting students in grades 4 through 12 to: (1) local educational agencies (LEAs) eligible for school improvement funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, if appropriations under this Act are less than $200 million; or (2) state educational agencies (SEAs), and through them, to LEAs, if appropriations equal or exceed such amount. Allots funds to SEAs on the basis of their relative proportion of needy children aged 5 to 17 and eighth graders underachieving in reading. Requires SEAs, in addition to providing subgrants, to use grant funds to: (1) provide professional development assistance to LEAs; (2) enhance public higher education for students preparing to teach any of grades 4 through 12; (3) recommend improvements to state licensure and certification standards for reading instruction in such grades; and (4) report to the Secretary of Education on SEA and LEA progress in improving adolescent literacy. Requires LEAs to use grant or subgrant funds on literacy initiatives that include: (1) student need and progress assessments and reports; (2) development of adolescent literacy plans for underperforming students that provide intensive, accelerated, and extended instruction for such students and professional development for teachers; and (3) initiative training for school leaders. Prohibits the use of subgrant funds on schools that do not meet specified need criteria. Authorizes the withholding of grant or subgrants funds from SEAs and LEAs making insufficient progress in improving adolescent literacy. Requires a national evaluation and the dissemination of information regarding the effectiveness of the grant and subgrant programs.
United States · United States Congress · 14 May 2007
Energy Conservation through "Smart Meters" Act of 2007 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to assign a five-year recovery period for depreciation of qualified energy management devices placed in service by a supplier of electric energy or a provider of electric energy services. Defines an "energy management device" as any time-based meter and related communication equipment used to measure and record electricity usage data on a time-differentiated basis in at least 24 separate time segments per day.
United States · United States Congress · 14 May 2007
Supports the goals and ideals of Caribbean-American Heritage Month (in the month of June). Affirms that: (1) the contributions of Caribbean-Americans are a significant part of the history, progress, and heritage of the United States; and (2) the ethnic and racial diversity of the United States enriches and strengthens the nation.
United States · United States Congress · 10 May 2007
United States Commitment to Global Child Survival Act of 2007 - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to authorize the President to furnish assistance to improve the health of newborns, children, and mothers in developing countries. Directs the President to develop a comprehensive U.S. government strategy to reduce mortality and improve the health of newborns, children, and mothers in developing countries. Establishes the Interagency Task Force on Child Survival and Maternal Health in Developing Countries.
United States · United States Congress · 10 May 2007
Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2007 - Applies this Act to any mining claim, millsite claim, or tunnel site claim located under the general mining laws. Conditions federal issuance of a patent for any mining claim located under the general mining laws upon specified determinations made by the Secretary of the Interior. Subjects production of locatable minerals from a mining claim to a royalty of 8 % of the net smelter return. Sets forth requirements governing: (1) lands open to location; (2) environmental protection standards, including reclamation, in connection with mineral activities on mining claims, millsite claims, or tunnel site claims; and (3) state or local law that meets or exceeds requirements of this Act. Establishes the Abandoned Locatable Minerals Mine Reclamation Fund and the Locatable Minerals Community Impact Assistance Fund. Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture (Secretaries) to establish user fees to reimburse federal expenditures in administering this Act. Requires the Secretaries to inspect and monitor mineral activities to ensure compliance with the environmental protection requirements of this Act. Amends the Energy Policy Act of 1992 to subject oil shale claims to the reclamation requirements of this Act. Declares the Multiple Minerals Development Act, and specified federal law regarding unpatented mining claims, applicable to all mining claims located under the general mining laws and maintained in compliance with this Act. Subjects deposits of specified mineral materials to disposal only under the Materials Act of 1947.
United States · United States Congress · 9 May 2007
Disabled Veterans Tax Fairness Act of 2007 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow members of the uniformed services whose retired pay in any taxable year is reduced due to an award of disability compensation by the Department of Veterans Affairs an extension of the three-year limitation period for filing tax refund claims until one year after the date of a disability determination. Limits the period for which such refund claims may be filed to taxable years beginning less than 15 years before the date of a disability determination.
![Official portrait of Rep. Lewis, John [D-GA-5]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/l000287_200.jpg)