United States · United States Congress · 22 December 2005
Directs the Attorney General to submit to the House of Representatives all documents in the possession of the Attorney General relating to warrantless electronic surveillance of telephone conversations and electronic communications of persons in the United States conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA), other than such surveillance authorized to be conducted under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978.
United States · United States Congress · 16 December 2005
Sowing the Seeds Through Science and Engineering Research Act - Authorizes appropriations for FY2007-FY2011 to: (1) the National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Energy (DOE), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for support of basic research activities in the physical sciences, mathematics and computer sciences, and engineering; and (2) the Department of Defense (DOD) for support of basic research activities. Makes at least 8% of such amounts available for high-risk, potentially high-payoff research. Authorizes appropriations for FY2007-FY2011 to the NSF, National Institutes of Health (NIH), DOE, DOD, and NASA for the support of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers program. Directs NSF to institute the Graduate Scholar Awards in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics program or GSA-STEM program, to award graduate fellowships in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics. Requires the NSF Director to establish an advisory board. Establishes a Presidential Innovation Award, which the President shall periodically award to individuals who develop one or more unique scientific or engineering ideas in the national interest. Directs the Office of Science and Technology Policy to establish a National Coordination Office for Research Infrastructure to: (1) identify and prioritize deficiencies in research facilities and instrumentation in academic institutions and national laboratories; and (2) make recommendations for resource allocation. Authorizes appropriations for FY2007-FY2011 to NSF and DOE for construction and maintenance of research facilities at institutions of higher education or national laboratories and other physical resources for performing leading-edge research.
United States · United States Congress · 15 December 2005
The Fourteenth Dalai Lama Congressional Gold Medal Act - Directs the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro Tempore of the Senate to make appropriate arrangements for the presentation, on behalf of Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design to Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, in recognition of his many contributions to peace and religious understanding.
United States · United States Congress · 15 December 2005
Supports strengthened economic, scientific, military, humanitarian, and anti-terrorism ties between the United States and India. States that the United States and India have a vital common interest in reducing the dangers posed by nuclear weapons through effective nonproliferation and disarmament endeavors. Expresses concern that the supply of nuclear fuel to India could result in the availability of India's existing fissile material stockpile, and in India's capacity to produce fissile material, for weapons purposes and thereby compromise U.S. ability to comply with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Finds that the proposal for full civilian nuclear cooperation between the United States and India poses potentially adverse implications for U.S. nuclear nonproliferation objectives. Disapproves of any nuclear cooperation proposal that would result in the export or transfer to any country that: (1) is not a party to the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons and has detonated a nuclear explosive device; or (2) is a nonnuclear-weapon state under that Treaty, but has not accepted full International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards over all of its nuclear facilities, materials, equipment, or technology that could assist in nuclear weapons production.
United States · United States Congress · 14 December 2005
Mammogram Availability Act of 2005 - Amends the Public Health Service Act and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to require a group health plan, and a health insurance issuer offering group coverage, that provides coverage for diagnostic mammographies for any woman 40 years old or older to provide no less favorable coverage for annual screening mammographies for such a woman. Prohibits related enrollment and renewal discrimination, monetary incentives to women, and penalties or incentives to providers. Applies such requirements and prohibitions to coverage offered in the individual market.
United States · United States Congress · 13 December 2005
Directs the Joint Committee on the Library to accept the donation of a bust depicting Sojourner Truth and display it in a suitable permanent location in the rotunda of the Capitol. Expresses the sense of Congress that the most suitable location for the placement of the bust is one adjacent to the statue known as the Portrait Monument.
United States · United States Congress · 13 December 2005
Amends the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001 to extend from December 31, 2005, to March 31, 2006, provisions of that Act and the "lone wolf" provision of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. (The lone wolf provision redefined "agent of a foreign power" to permit issuance of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) orders targeting terrorists without a showing that they are members of a terrorist group or agents of such a group or of any other foreign power.)
United States · United States Congress · 7 December 2005
Community Health Workers Act of 2005 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants to promote positive health behaviors for women in target populations, especially racial and ethnic minority women in medically underserved communities. Permits such funds to be used to support community health workers to: (1) educate, guide, and provide outreach regarding health problems among women and especially among racial and ethnic minority women; (2) educate, guide, and provide experiential learning opportunities that target behavioral risk factors, including poor nutrition and tobacco use; (3) educate and guide regarding effective strategies to promote positive health behaviors within the family; (4) educate and provide outreach regarding enrollment in health insurance; (5) promote community wellness and awareness; and (6) educate and refer target populations to appropriate health care agencies and community based programs and organizations. Requires the Secretary to give priority to experienced applicants who propose to target geographic areas: (1) with a high percentage of uninsured or underinsured residents who are eligible for health insurance; (2) with a high percentage of families for whom English is not their primary language; and (3) that encompass the United States-Mexico border region. Requires the Secretary to: (1) encourage community health worker programs to collaborate with academic institutions; and (2) establish guidelines for assuring the quality of the training and supervision of community health workers under programs funded under this Act and for assuring the cost-effectiveness of such programs.
United States · United States Congress · 18 November 2005
Medicare Prescription Drug Flexibility for Seniors Act of 2005 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to: (1) specify extended periods of initial enrollment for the Medicare prescription drug benefit without incurring a late enrollment penalty; (2) permit Medicare beneficiaries enrolled under prescription drug plans that change their formularies to enroll under other plans; and (3) apply a civil monetary penalty to employers who provide false statements with respect to offering Medicare creditable prescription drug coverage.
United States · United States Congress · 17 November 2005
Energy For Our Future Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, relating to alternative motor vehicle credit, to: (1) repeal the limitation on the number of new qualified hybrid and advanced lean-burn technology vehicles eligible for the credit; and (2) allow a composite energy efficient motor vehicle manufacturing tax credit consisting of an initial investment credit, a fuel economy achievement credit, and an eligible components research and development credit. Instructs the Secretary of Transportation to: (1) designate transit-oriented development corridors in urban areas; and (2) award grants to a state or local governments to construct or improve transit facilities, bicycle transportation facilities, and pedestrian walkways in such a corridor. Amends federal transportation law to prescribe phased increases in automobile fuel economy standards. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to subject sports utility vehicles (SUVs) to the limitation on the depreciation of certain luxury automobiles. Instructs the Secretary of Transportation to implement a national passenger car and light truck tire efficiency program. Amends the Energy Conservation and Production Act to double the appropriations authorized for weatherization assistance. Authorizes appropriations for the Energy Star program. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend the credit for: (1) renewable electricity production; and (2) residential energy efficient property. Amends the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to prescribe: (1) efficiency resource standards for retail electricity and natural gas suppliers; (2) federal renewable portfolio standards; and (3) a revised standard for net metering. Amends the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to repeal requirements for: (1) oil and gas royalties in-kind; (2) marginal property production incentives; (3) incentives for natural gas production from deep wells in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico; (4) royalty relief for deep water production; (5) comprehensive inventory of OCS oil and natural gas resources; (6) ultra-deepwater and unconventional natural gas and other petroleum resources; and (7) specified tax incentives. Repeals the Alaska Offshore Royalty suspension. Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to declare certain preemptions of state law inapplicable to state regulation of energy consumption or water use during a specified time period. Amends the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 to restore the former procedure for appeals from consistency determinations revised by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Amends the Federal Power Act to repeal provisions of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 governing the siting of interstate electric transmission facilities. Amends the Natural Gas Act to repeal the authority of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to coordinate federal permits and other authorizations and compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. Amends federal transportation law to repeal the preemption of state law relating to automobile fuel economy standards.
United States · United States Congress · 17 November 2005
States that: (1) the deployment of U.S. forces in Iraq, by direction of Congress, is hereby terminated and the forces involved are to be redeployed at the earliest practicable date; (2) a quick-reaction U.S. force and an over-the-horizon presence of U.S. Marines shall be deployed in the region; and (3) the United States shall pursue security and stability in Iraq through diplomacy.
United States · United States Congress · 15 November 2005
Outer Continental Shelf Natural Gas Relief Act - States that all provisions of federal law that prohibit the expenditure of appropriated funds to conduct natural gas leasing and preleasing activities for any area of the Outer Continental Shelf are without any force or effect. Revokes all withdrawals from leasing of federal submerged lands of the Outer Continental Shelf, including withdrawals by the President under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. States such withdrawals are no longer in effect with respect to the leasing of areas for natural gas exploration, development, and production. Prohibits granting a gas lease for any area of the Outer Continental Shelf located within 20 miles of a state's coastline unless the Governor grants state approval. Directs the Secretary of Energy, in each five-year oil and gas leasing program, to include lease sales that when viewed as a whole propose to offer for gas leasing at least 75% of the available unleased acreage within each Outer Continental Shelf planning area. Sets forth a scheme for bonus bids and royalties that affects: (1) new and existing gas leases; and (2) leased tracts lying partially within the seaward boundaries of a state. Permits leases that authorize development and production solely of natural gas and associated condensate, including leases for program years 2002-2007, and for program years 2007-2012.
United States · United States Congress · 10 November 2005
Makes January 23, 2002, the effective date of the modification of treatment for retirement annuity purposes of part-time service performed before April 7, 1986, by certain health-care professionals of the Veterans Health Administration pursuant to the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Programs Enhancement Act of 2001.
United States · United States Congress · 10 November 2005
Nursing Home Staffing Act of 2005 - Amends titles XVIII (Medicare) and XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to promulgate standards for minimum nurse staffing levels in nursing facilities receiving Medicare or Medicaid payments. Reinstitutes (Boren amendment) payment methodology, providing for payment of Medicaid services through the use of rates determined pursuant to the criteria under state Medicaid plan requirements as in effect on August 1, 1997. Establishes safe harbor rates. Provides a permanent 1.5% increase of the Medicaid federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) for a state beginning with FY 2006. Authorizes inclusion of: (1) financial accountability requirements in the survey and certification process with respect to facilities receiving Medicare or Medicaid payments; and (2) professionals trained in financial accounting and auditing in the multidisciplinary survey teams of professionals under Medicare and Medicaid.
United States · United States Congress · 7 November 2005
Calls for the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee to recommend, and the United States Postal Service to issue, a commemorative postage stamp honoring the late Rosa Parks.
United States · United States Congress · 3 November 2005
Medicaid Preservation Act of 2005 - Prohibits reductions in authorized federal funding under the Medicaid program under title XIX of the Social Security Act until full consideration has been given to the recommendations of the Bipartisan Commission on Medicaid. Establishes the Bipartisan Commission to review and make recommendations about: (1) each of Medicaid's major functional responsibilities; (2) issues that either threaten or could improve the long-term financial condition of Medicaid; (3) the way Medicare payment policies impact Medicaid, and ways to address specific payment problems that such policies may create in service delivery to populations typically not covered by Medicare, such as children and pregnant women; and (5) payments to safety net providers. Requires each recommendation to include an analysis of its effect under Medicaid and, if applicable, Medicare and other federal health programs, on: (1) federal and state expenditures; (2) provider payment rates; (3) beneficiary out-of-pocket expenditures; (4) beneficiary access to covered items and services; and (5) coverage of items and services.
United States · United States Congress · 3 November 2005
Supports the goals and ideals of Cambodian-American Freedom Day. Honors the 30th anniversary of the arrival of the first Cambodian immigrants to the United States, and recognizes the contributions Cambodian-Americans have made to the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 1 November 2005
Internet Anti-Corruption and Free Speech Protection Act of 2005 - Amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to exclude from coverage by the Act as a public communication any communication over the Internet, except one placed on another person's website for a fee, or made by: (1) any national bank, corporation (other than a web log operator), or labor organization; (2) a state, district, or local committee of a political party; or (3) any political committee.
United States · United States Congress · 1 November 2005
Focus on Family Health Worldwide Act of 2005 - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to authorize the President, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), to provide assistance for voluntary family planning programs in developing countries, including activities to: (1) improve public knowledge of voluntary family planning programs; (2) support public and private voluntary family planning programs, including networks for community-based and subsidized commercial distribution of contraceptives; (3) expand training for health care providers and educators; (4) provide improved coordination between voluntary family planning programs and programs that receive U.S. assistance for the prevention of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections; and (5) strengthen supply chain logistics for the procurement and distribution of safe contraceptives, including coordination with the supply chain for HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment. Gives priority to developing countries with acute family planning and maternal health needs. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 28 October 2005
Honors the memory of, and identifies, 2,249 members of the Armed Forces who died in service to the United States in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom as of October 25, 2005.
United States · United States Congress · 27 October 2005
Urges: (1) the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) to observe its 1995 Interim Accord obligations and take steps to halt the proliferation of negative propaganda toward Greece and review textbooks, maps, and teaching aids to ensure their accuracy; and (2) FYROM to work within the U.N. process to reach a mutually acceptable permanent name.
United States · United States Congress · 26 October 2005
Designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 320 High Street in Clinton, Massachusetts, as the "Raymond J. Salmon Post Office."
United States · United States Congress · 26 October 2005
Directs the Architect of the Capitol to enter into an agreement to obtain a statue of Rosa Parks and to place the statue in the Capitol in a suitable permanent location in National Statuary Hall.
United States · United States Congress · 26 October 2005
Requests the President to provide to the House of Representatives certain federal agency documents in his possession on the effects of climate change on the coastal regions of the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 25 October 2005
Condemns the government of Syria for its apparent involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and demands that Syrian President Bashar Assad and the government of Syria cooperate with international and Lebanese efforts to further investigate such assassination and bring those responsible to justice. Supports: (1) the findings of the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission (UNIIIC); and (2) full implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1595. Urges the United States to support international and Lebanese efforts to investigate such assassination and bring its perpetrators to justice, including establishment of an international tribunal, if so requested by the government of Lebanon.
United States · United States Congress · 20 October 2005
American Parity Act of 2005 - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to make grants to states and local governments for assistance in making priority expenditures. Defines priority expenditures as ordinary and necessary maintenance and operating expenses for: (1) primary, secondary, or higher education; (2) public safety; (3) public health; (4) social services for the disadvantaged or aged; (5) roads, transportation, and water infrastructure; and (6) housing, as well as ordinary and necessary capital expenditures authorized by state law. Requires at least one third of grant amounts to be made available to local governments.
United States · United States Congress · 20 October 2005
Requests the President and directs the Secretary of State to provide to the House of Representatives: (1) all documents from 2003 pertaining to the taskforce organized by Andrew Card, consisting of Karl Rove, Karen Hughes, Mary Matalin, Nicholas E. Calio, James R. Wilkinson, Condoleezza Rice, Stephen Hadley and I. Lewis Libby, known as the White House Iraq Group; (2) all drafts of all white papers concerning Iraq's nuclear threat assembled in 2003 by the Group; and (3) all documents, including notes from meetings, memos, telephone and electronic mail records, logs and calendars, and records of internal discussions in the possession of the President or the Secretary relating to the Group.
United States · United States Congress · 7 October 2005
Pension Benefits Protection Act of 2005 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code with respect to pension benefits of employees in defined benefit plans. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to apply Code provisions regarding continued accrual of benefits beyond normal retirement age under a defined benefit plan, which prohibit certain discrimination based on age, without regard to the portion of the preamble to a specified Treasury Decision which relates to allocation of interest adjustments through normal retirement age under a cash balance plan. Prohibits forced conversions of certain defined benefit plan participants to cash balance plans, and other such plans that are hybrids of defined benefit and defined contribution plans, by plan amendments which: (1) change the way the accrued benefits to participants or beneficiaries are expressed; and (2) reduce the rate of future benefit accrual of one or more participants. Requires employers, at the time such amendment takes effect, to provide employees who have attained 40 years of age or 10 years of service with certain notices and an election upon retirement to receive benefits as determined either under the plan in effect at time of retirement or under the plan in effect immediately before the plan amendment. Sets forth a formula to determine when a plan amendment adopted by a large (100 or more participants) defined benefit plan shall be treated as wearing away accrued benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 7 October 2005
Children's Gasoline Burn Prevention Act - Directs the Consumer Product Safety Commission to promulgate final child-resistance product safety standards for closures on portable gasoline containers intended for use by consumers. Prescribes criteria for such standards.
United States · United States Congress · 7 October 2005
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 (2) establish a national registry for the collection and storage of ALS data. Requires the Secretary, acting through the Director, to establish the Advisory Committee on the National ALS Registry to study 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. 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 public access to an electronic national database that accepts data from state registries, health care professionals, and others 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 · 6 October 2005
Interrogation Procedures Act of 2005 - Prohibits any individual in the custody or control of the U.S. government, regardless of nationality or physical location, from being subject to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. Prohibits any person in the custody or control of the Department of Defense (DOD), or under detention in a DOD facility, from being subject to any treatment or technique of interrogation not authorized by and listed in the U.S. Army Field Manual on Intelligence Interrogation.
United States · United States Congress · 6 October 2005
Recognizes the 40th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council's Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, Nostra Aetate. Expresses support for the new collaborative relationship that has grown between Jews and Roman Catholics. Requests the President to: (1) issue a proclamation recognizing the 40th anniversary of the Nostra Aetate; and (2) exert U.S. leadership toward ensuring that anti-Semitism and all forms of religious and racial bigotry are not tolerated worldwide.
United States · United States Congress · 29 September 2005
Social Security COLA Protection Act of 2005 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to limit increases in the monthly Medicare premium, including the Medicare Advantage prescription drug program premium, to 25% of any Social Security cost of living increase.
United States · United States Congress · 28 September 2005
Downed Animal Protection Act - States that it is U.S. policy that all nonambulatory livestock in interstate and foreign commerce be immediately and humanely euthanized when such livestock become nonambulatory. Amends the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act of 1958 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to promulgate regulations providing for the humane treatment, handling, and disposition of nonambulatory livestock by a covered entity, including a requirement that nonambulatory livestock be humanely euthanized. Requires an entity to: (1) humanely euthanize nonambulatory livestock (while not limiting the Secretary's ability to test nonambulatory livestock for disease, such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy); and (2) not move nonambulatory livestock while such livestock is conscious, and ensure that such livestock remains unconscious until death. Prohibits an inspector at an establishment covered by the Federal Meat Inspection Act to pass nonambulatory livestock, carcass, or carcass parts through inspection. Requires an inspector or other employee at such establishment to label such material as "inspected and condemned." Defines "covered entity," "nonambulatory livestock," and "humanely euthanize."
United States · United States Congress · 28 September 2005
Federal Response to Energy Emergencies Act of 2005 - Declares unlawful: (1) unconscionable pricing of gasoline, oil, natural gas, and petroleum distillates during emergencies; (2) intentional reporting of false price information concerning wholesale prices of such products; and (3) market manipulation regarding the purchase or sale at wholesale of such products. Authorizes the President to declare a federal energy emergency upon finding that the national health, safety, welfare, or economic well-being is at risk because of an actual or imminent shortage of such products due to a disruption of the national distribution system, or significant pricing anomalies in national or regional energy markets for the products. Empowers the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and State Attorneys General to enforce this Act. Sets forth civil and criminal penalties for violations of this Act. Requires fines and penalties collected under this Act to be deposited in a separate fund in the treasury to be known as the Consumer Relief Trust Fund to provide assistance under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Directs the FTC to facilitate price transparency in wholesale markets for the sale of crude oil and essential petroleum products. Instructs the FTC to transmit a confidential report to Congress on the potential impact on domestic prices of crude oil, residual fuel oil, and refined petroleum products that would result from the disruption for periods of one week, one year, and five years, respectively. Directs the Secretary of Energy and the Energy Information Administration to review and report to Congress on expenditures and activities undertaken by certain size companies to protect the energy supply system from terrorist attacks, international supply disruptions, and natural disasters, and ensure a stable and reasonably priced supply of such products to consumers in the United States. Requires such report to assess the companies' preparations for the forecasted period of more frequent and more intense hurricane activity in the Gulf of Mexico and other vulnerable coastal areas.
United States · United States Congress · 27 September 2005
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow individual taxpayers to designate income tax overpayments to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund of the William J. Clinton Foundation and the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund of the Greater Houston Community Foundation.
United States · United States Congress · 22 September 2005
States' Right To Innovate in Health Care Act of 2005 - Amends the Social Security Act to add a new title XXII (State Comprehensive Health Care and Cost Containment Demonstration Projects) to allow up to ten states to receive from the Secretary of Health and Human Services planning and demonstration grants to develop a cost-effective delivery system of universal, comprehensive health care with simplified administration.
United States · United States Congress · 22 September 2005
Medicare Informed Choice Act of 2005 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to: (1) provide for an extended period of open enrollment during all of 2006 without late enrollment penalty; (2) give Medicare beneficiaries the opportunity to make a one-time change in prescription drug plan enrollment at any point in 2006; and (3) provide protection from loss of employment-based retiree health coverage upon enrollment for Medicare prescription drug benefit, including a Medicare Advantage-Prescription Drug benefit, during 2006.
United States · United States Congress · 22 September 2005
Remembers and commemorates the lives and work of Sisters Maura Clarke, Ita Ford, and Dorothy Kazel and lay missionary Jean Donovan, and extends sympathy and support for the families, friends, and religious communities of the four U.S. churchwomen. Calls upon the people of the United States and religious congregations to participate in local, national, and international events commemorating the 25th anniversary of their martyrdom. Calls upon the President, the Secretary of State, the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the heads of other U.S. agencies to support the government of El Salvador and private sector, nongovernmental, and religious organizations in their efforts to reduce poverty and to promote educational opportunity, health care, and social equity for the people of El Salvador.
United States · United States Congress · 21 September 2005
Microbicide Development Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Director of the Office of AIDS Research to: (1) expedite the implementation of the Federal strategic plan for the conduct and support of microbicide research; and (2) expand, intensify, and coordinate all activities with respect to research and development of microbicides to prevent the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Requires the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to: (1) establish within the Division of AIDS an organizational unit to carry out microbicide research and development; and (2) assign priority to ensuring adequate funding and support for the integration of basic science and clinical research. Requires the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to fully implement the CDC's topical microbicide agenda to support microbicide research and development. Directs the head of the Office of HIV/AIDS of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to develop and implement a program to support the development of microbicides products and facilitate wide-scale availability of such products.
United States · United States Congress · 20 September 2005
Hurricane Katrina Accountability and Contracting Reform Act - Establishes in the legislative branch the bipartisian Independent Commission to Prevent Fraud and Abuse in the Response to Hurricane Katrina to conduct a complete, independent, and impartial investigation of federal government contracting relative to Hurricane Katrina recovery, relief, and reconstruction, as well as allegations of price gouging or profiteering. Requires a federal agency head, within 14 days after the award of a Hurricane-related contract, to make publicly available, including by posting on the Internet in a searchable database, specified information with respect to the contract, including the name and address of the contractor and the contract's total amount. Requires federal agency heads to provide certain contract-related information to Congress, including copies of the contract and all modifications. Prohibits the federal government from entering into a Hurricane Katrina-related monopoly contract, with certain exceptions. Requires the federal government to use competition in the purchase of goods and services in excess of $100,000 pursuant to any Hurricane Katrina-related multiple award contract. Prohibits an agency from entering into a Hurricane Katrina-related contract for the performance of a function relating to contract oversight wtih any contractor with a conflict of interest. Prohibits an agency from entering into a Hurricane Katrina-related contract for the performance of inherently governmental functions for contract oversight. Revises the prohibition against a former official's acceptance of compensation from a contractor. Prevents former employees of private contractors who become federal government employees from awarding government contracts to their former employers for a period of five years after leaving the private contractor's employ . Subjects additional offenses to criminal penalties. Amends the Second Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act to Meet Immediate Needs Arising from the Consequences of Hurricane Katrina to repeal the $250,000 micropurchase threshold (thus applying the regular $2,500 micropurchase threshold of federal procurement law).
United States · United States Congress · 20 September 2005
Honors the life and work of Simon Wiesenthal to memorialize the victims of the Holocaust and bring the perpetrators of crimes against humanity to justice. Reaffirms Congress's commitment to fighting anti-Semitism and intolerance. Urges the international community to facilitate the investigation and prosecution of surviving Nazi war criminals and to continue documenting and collecting information on Nazi war crimes.
United States · United States Congress · 14 September 2005
Department of Peace and Nonviolence Act - Establishes a Department of Peace and Nonviolence, which shall be headed by a Secretary of Peace and Nonviolence appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. Sets forth the mission of the Department, including to: (1) hold peace as an organizing principle; (2) endeavor to promote justice and democratic principles to expand human rights; and (3) develop policies that promote national and international conflict prevention, nonviolent intervention, mediation, peaceful resolution of conflict, and structured mediation of conflict. Establishes in the Department the Intergovernmental Advisory Council on Peace and Nonviolence, which shall provide assistance and make recommendations to the Secretary and the President concerning intergovernmental policies relating to peace and nonviolent conflict resolution. Transfers to the Department the functions, assets, and personnel of various federal agencies. Establishes a Federal Interagency Committee on Peace and Nonviolence. Establishes Peace Day. Urges all citizens to observe and celebrate the blessings of peace and endeavor to create peace on such day.
United States · United States Congress · 14 September 2005
Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act of 2005 - Provides for increased regular unemployment compensation payments or emergency extended unemployment compensation for certain individuals who held employment or resided in an area declared a disaster as a result of Hurricane Katrina in the states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
United States · United States Congress · 14 September 2005
Establishes in the legislative branch a bipartisan Katrina Commission to: (1) examine and report upon the federal, state, and local response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Region of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and other affected areas; (2) evaluate and report on the information developed by all relevant governmental agencies related to Hurricane Katrina before it struck the United States and in the days and weeks following; (3) make a complete accounting of the circumstances surrounding the approach of Hurricane Katrina to the Gulf states, and the extent of the Government's preparedness for and response to it; (4) examine planning necessary for future cataclysmic events that will require a significant marshaling of federal resources, mitigation, response, and recovery to avoid significant loss of life; (5) analyze whether any decisions differed with respect to response and recovery for different communities and what problems occurred as a result of a lack of a common plan, communication structure, and centralized command structure; and (6) investigate and report to the President and Congress on immediate corrective measures that can be taken to prevent problems with federal response to future cataclysmic events.
United States · United States Congress · 14 September 2005
Fair Wages for Hurricane Victims Act - Reinstates the application of the wage requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act to all federal contracts in counties affected by Hurricane Katrina, notwithstanding the President's proclamation dated September 8, 2005, or any other provision of law.
United States · United States Congress · 14 September 2005
Amends federal transportation law to direct the Secretary of Transportation by regulation to prescribe (corporate) average fuel economy (CAFE) standards for automobiles manufactured after 2008 that ensure that the CAFE achieved by automobiles manufactured after 2015 is at least 33 miles per gallon, and meets other specified criteria. Authorizes the Secretary to establish separate standards for different classes of automobiles according to size. Authorizes the Secretary to establish a CAFE credit trading program to allow a manufacturer that exceeds fuel economy standards to sell credits to another manufacturer.
![Official portrait of Rep. Meehan, Martin T. [D-MA-5]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/m000627_200.jpg)