United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1985
Declares that the House of Representatives deplores the denial of the rights of Hungarians and people of other nationalities in Transylvania by the Romanian Government. Requests the President and the Secretary of State to discuss the human rights of the Hungarians in Transylvania with the Government of Romania.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1985
Controlled Substances Penalties Act of 1985 - Amends the Controlled Substances Act and the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act to increase the penalties for offenses involving: (1) a kilogram or more of cocaine; (2) two or more kilograms of any other narcotic drug in schedule I or II; (3) a kilogram or more of phencyclidine (PCP); or (4) 25 grams or more of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Provides for a fine of not more than $500,000 or imprisonment for not more than 30 years. Prohibits any person from being released on bail pending trial for or appeal with respect to an offense under such Act. Requires first offenders to serve at least one half of their sentences before they become eligible for parole. Makes second drug offenders subject to the imposition of the death penalty or life imprisonment. Limits imposition of the death penalty to defendants who resisted arrest or were armed with dangerous weapons at the time of arrest.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1985
Authorizes the Attorney General to make contracts retaining private counsel to furnish legal services in the case of any claim of indebtedness owed the United States. Requires the Attorney General, in making such a contract in any judicial district, to use his best efforts to obtain at least four contracts for legal services with private individuals or firms in such district. Prohibits the fee payable for such legal services from exceeding the fee typically charged in the area for the collection of claims of indebtedness. Permits the head of an executive or legislative agency to refer to a private counsel so retained any claims of indebtedness owed the United States arising out of such agency's activities. Declares that for the purposes of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, a private counsel performing collection services under this Act shall be considered a debt collector. Sets forth the procedure for filing counterclaims. Requires the Attorney General to transmit to the Congress an annual report on the activities of the Department of Justice to recover such indebtedness. Requires the Comptroller General to carry out an annual audit of the actions taken by the Attorney General pursuant to this Act during the preceding two years. Requires the Comptroller General to determine the extent to which there is competition among private counsel to obtain contracts pursuant to this Act, the reasonableness of the fees provided in such contracts, and the results of the debt collection efforts. Requires a report to the Congress on the findings and conclusions resulting from such audit. Requires the Attorney General to transmit to the Congress a report on the actions taken under this Act within 180 days after the date of enactment.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1985
Increases the membership of the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations by adding: (1) one elected official of a township; and (2) one elected school board member.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1985
Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to exempt arrest actions and interrogations in the Bahamas from the ban on participation by U.S. officers and employees in certain foreign drug arrest actions and interrogations.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1985
Caribbean Trade Institute/International Trade Center Authorization Act - Directs the Secretary of State to establish a Caribbean Trade Institute/International Trade Center in Harlem, New York City. Requires investment tax credits and depreciation tax deductions to be determined without regard to: (1) the fact that property is financed by a grant under this Act; and (2) whether the Institute/Trade Center is a tax-exempt entity. Authorizes appropriations for the construction of a building for the Institute/Trade Center and for the operational expenses of the Institute/Trade Center for the first three fiscal years ending after enactment of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1985
Designates May 7, 1985, as Helsinki Human Rights Day. Requests the President to: (1) reassert American commitment to the Helsinki Accords; (2) raise the issue of noncompliance with such Accords with the U.S.S.R. and the Warsaw Pact nations; and (3) convey to U.S. allies the necessity of unity on these points.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1985
Synthetic Fuels Corporation Fiscal Responsibility Act - Amends the United States Synthetic Fuels Corporation Act of 1980 to terminate the authority of the United States Synthetic Fuels Corporation (the Corporation) to enter into any awards or commitments for financial assistance. Directs the Corporation's Board of Directors to submit a final report to the Congress regarding the status of the Corporation within 60 days after enactment of this Act. Prohibits the Corporation from expending any funds or acting in furtherance of any commitment made after February 5, 1985, unless a joint resolution approving such transaction is enacted. Requires the Secretaries of Energy and of the Treasury and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to agree on a Memorandum of Understanding which includes a plan for: (1) the abolition of the Corporation; and (2) for the administration of synthetic fuels projects which will continue after the abolition of the Corporation.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1985
Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to prohibit the payment of title II benefits to individuals who have been deported pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act because of activities conducted under the direction of association with the Nazi government of Germany or its allies.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1985
Social Security Reorganization Act of 1985 - Title I: Establishment of the Social Security Administration - Amends title VII (Administration) of the Social Security Act to establish as an independent executive agency a Social Security Administration, headed by a Social Security Board. Provides that it shall be the duty of the Administration to administer the programs established by titles II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) and XVI (Supplemental Security Income) of the Social Security Act. Establishes in the Administration a General Counsel and an Inspector General. Requires the Board to study and make recommendations as to the most effective methods of providing economic security through social insurance and as to legislation and matters of administrative policy. Establishes in the Administration: (1) a Commissioner of Social Security; (2) a Deputy Commissioner of Social Security; and (3) an Office of the Beneficiary Ombudsman, to be headed by a Beneficiary Ombudsman who shall represent the interests of beneficiaries under the Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance program and the Supplemental Security Income Program within the Administration. Requires the annual report of the Board to include a description of the activities of the Beneficiary Ombudsman. Requires the Board to make annual budgetary recommendations relating to the Administration. Requires that appropriations requests by the Administration for staffing and personnel be based upon a comprehensive workforce plan as established by the Board. Provides for the apportionment of administrative costs. Requires the annual report of the Board to include a section reflecting the use of budget authority provided to the Administration. Requires that authority for automated data processing procurement and facilities construction be provided in the form of contract authority covering the total cost of such acquisitions. Makes amounts needed for the liquidation of contract authority so provided available from the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund to the extent that such amounts are not needed to meet current obligations for benefit payments. Specifies the authorities which are to be delegated to the Board from the Administrator of the General Services Administration. Requires the Board to cause a seal of office to be made and judicial notice taken thereof. Provides for the transfer to the Administration of all functions carried out by the Secretary of Health and Human Services with respect to the programs and activities to be carried out by the Administration under this Act. Abolishes the position of Commissioner of Social Security in the Department of Health and Human Services. Title II: Miscellaneous and Conforming Amendments - Sets forth a contributor and beneficiary bill of rights under which: (1) all individuals are required to be treated fairly by the Board and the Secretary; (2) the Secretary and the Board are prohibited from discriminating on the basis of age, sex, race, creed, color, handicap, national origin, or economic condition; and (3) the Board and the Secretary should maintain prompt, professional, and effective service which is responsive to the community. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Board to report to Congress within 120 days after the beginning of each regular session on their administration under this Act. Requires the Secretary to study and make recommendations on the most effective methods of providing economic security and on the administrative policy for the programs which he or she administers. Title III: Effective Dates and Transitional Rules - Sets forth effective date and transitional rule provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1985
Arson Prevention Act of 1985 - Establishes an Interagency Committee on Arson Prevention and Control to coordinate Federal anti-arson programs, gather and analyze data relating to arson, and provide assistance to Federal agencies, States, and local governments in anti-arson efforts. Terminates the Committee two years following enactment. Directs the Administrator of the United States Fire Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency, to: (1) conduct a research program for the development of techniques and equipment for use by State and local fire fighting and law enforcement personnel for arson detection, investigation, prevention, and prosecution; (2) establish anti-arson educational and training programs for State and local government; (3) develop materials for community awareness programs; and (4) provide information relative to the prevention, investigation, detection, and prosecution of arson. Authorizes appropriations for such purposes. Directs the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to assist the Committee by providing access to personnel and resources of the Bureau.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1985
Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct a study on the collection of information by the Department of Health and Human Services in order to determine what information is being collected from the same class of individuals more than once. Requires: (1) the Secretary to report to the Congress on such study; and (2) such report to include detailed recommendations for more efficient information collection.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1985
Confers jurisdiction upon the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York to hear, determine, and render judgment on any claims of a named individual arising out of his employment with the Federal Aviation Administration and his subsequent medical disqualification from such employment.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1985
Directs the President to: (1) secure from the Indochina nations a full accounting of Americans captured or missing as a result of the Vietnam conflict; and (2) work for the release of captive Americans and the return of the remains of those American servicemen and civilians who died in Southeast Asia. Requires the President to submit two reports to Congress on American POW/MIAs in Southeast Asia.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1985
Expresses the opposition of the House of Representatives to efforts to reduce the availability of housing under the section 202 assistance program operated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development for the elderly and handicapped.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1985
Directs the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives to conduct an investigation into the murders of U.S. citizens in El Salvador and report to the House with findings and conclusions.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1985
Designates the U.S. Post Office Building, Flushing, New York, as the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Post Office Building. Requires the Postmaster General to install an appropriate plaque indicating such designation.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1985
Amends the Federal criminal code to establish criteria for the imposition of the death penalty for treason and espionage. Requires the Government, for an offense punishable by death, to serve notice upon the defendant a reasonable time before trial or acceptance of a plea that it intends to seek the death penalty, as well as notice of the aggravating factors upon which it will rely. Requires a separate sentencing hearing before a jury or the court upon motion by the defendant when the defendant is found guilty or pleads guilty to an offense punishable by death. Provides that no presentence report shall be prepared in such cases. Allows the defendant and the Government to present any information relevant to sentencing, without regard to the rules of evidence, but permits information to be excluded where its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading of the jury. Specifies mitigating factors which the defendant must establish by a preponderance of the information and aggravating factors which the Government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt. Sets forth special aggravating factors with respect to the crimes of treason and espionage. Includes among the mitigating factors that the defendant was less than 18 years old at the time of the crime. Conditions imposition of the death penalty on a unanimous finding by the jury that: (1) some aggravating factor exists in addition to a threshold factor; and (2) the aggravating factor sufficiently outweighs any mitigating factor found to exist. Directs the court to impose the death penalty upon a finding that such sentence is justified. Requires the court to instruct the jury not to consider the race, color, national origin, creed, or sex of the defendant in its consideration of the death sentence. Limits the circumstances under which the offense of delivering defense information to aid foreign governments is punishable by death. Establishes procedures for appeal from a death sentence. Requires the court of appeals, upon considering the record and the information and procedures of the sentencing hearing, and any special finding, to affirm the decision if: (1) the sentence was not imposed under influence of passion, prejudice, or arbitrariness; and (2) the information supports the finding of aggravating factors or the absence of mitigating factors. Requires the court to provide a written explanation of its determination.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1985
Amends the Federal criminal code to establish penalties for damaging or destroying any cemetery, religious building, or any religious article contained in such a building or interfering with any person freely exercising his or her religion.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1985
States that the Congress supports the President's commitment to arms control policies that provide for substantial reductions in strategic nuclear weapons and their delivery systems; the elimination of such weapons; and the development and deployment of nonnuclear defensive technologies that would ensure the safety of the United States and its allies and that would neutralize a terrorist nuclear missile attack. States that the Congress supports the President in the negotiation of new arms control agreements with the Soviet Union under which compliance is verifiable, which offset reductions in offensive weapons with sufficient defensive weapons, and which eliminate nuclear weapons from the arsenals of all nations.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1985
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should: (1) ensure that U.S. officials carry out the pledge to resolve the issue of the Americans still missing and unaccounted for in Indochina; (2) work for the immediate release of any Americans still held captive and the return of the remains of those who died in Southeast Asia; and (3) make every effort to secure the further cooperation of Laos and Vietnam in resolving this issue.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1985
States that the Congress adopts as an objective the release of all Americans still held captive in Southeast Asia and the full accounting of those still missing. Supports the President's leadership with respect to those Americans and efforts in impressing upon the Southeast Asian nations the determination of the United States to resolve this issue. Encourages the President to continue to use all means to secure a full accounting of those Americans still missing and to inform the Congress of the progress regarding this matter.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1985
Amends the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 to require the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in the Department of Justice (Administrator) to make grants to States for the purpose of establishing, operating, or expanding Missing Children Information Clearinghouses. Limits the grants to 50 percent of the costs of establishing and operating the Clearinghouse. Requires any State Clearinghouse to: (1) work in conjunction with the National Crime Information Center; (2) educate parents, children, and community agencies; (3) provide public information to assist in locating missing children; (4) publish a directory of organizations that provide assistance in locating missing children; (5) establish an in-State toll-free line for reporting missing children; (6) work with other public and private organizations; and (7) work with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Allows the Administrator to prescribe rules necessary to carry out this Act. Grants the Comptroller General of the United States access to any books, documents, or records of any State receiving assistance for the purpose of audit. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1985
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to include as "medical and other health services" ambulette service furnished to a wheelchair-bound individual where the use of other methods of transportation is contraindicated by the individual's condition.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1985
Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to provide that disability insurance benefits for an individual having a terminal illness shall begin with the first month such individual has such illness.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1985
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Federal Home Loan Bank Board should delay until June 30, 1985, the effective date of its proposed regulations regarding limitations on direct investment in real estate, service corporations, and equity securities by federally insured savings and loan associations. Directs the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs of the House of Representatives to examine alternatives to the proposed regulations which will ensure safety and sound investment activities.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1985
State and Local Narcotics Control Assistance Act of 1985 - Authorizes the Attorney General to make grants to States to assist States and local governments to increase their drug enforcement activities. Requires such grants to be based on the relative needs of the States, taking into consideration the severity of drug trafficking and abuse and the availability of State and local resources to resolve such problems. Establishes a procedure for grant applications. Requires such an application to include a State-wide strategy for the enforcement of State drug laws. Imposes limitations on the use of such grants, including a maximum ten percent allocation for administrative purposes. Requires each State which receives a grant to submit a yearly report to the Attorney General, who shall in turn report to the Congress with respect to such grants. Allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to States for developing more effective drug abuse prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation programs. Establishes a procedure for grant applications. Authorizes appropriations for both grant programs for FY 1986 through 1990.
![Official portrait of Rep. McGrath, Raymond J. [R-NY-5]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/m000458_200.jpg)