United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1982
Extends congratulations from the Congress to the Italian Government and its antiterrorist police forces for the successful rescue of Brigadier General James L. Dozier. Extends to General Dozier and his family best wishes for a quick recovery and return to normal life.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1982
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should: (1) advise the Soviet Union of U.S. concern over the deprivation by the Soviet government of the religious freedom of the Vashchenko and Chmykhalov families and the refusal of such government to permit the emigration of such families; and (2) ensure that those families will be permitted to stay in the U.S. embassy in Moscow until the Soviet Union authorizes their emigration.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 1982
Expresses the Congress's opposition to religious persecution and bigotry wherever practiced, encouraged, or tolerated by national governments. Expresses the sense of the Congress that U.S. officials should emphasize U.S. opposition to such persecution. States that the appropriate congressional committees should hold hearings to determine U.S. policy toward governments that violate the international law guaranteeing freedom from religious persecution and bigotry.
United States · United States Congress · 25 January 1982
Authorizes the Director of the International Communication Agency to make available for broadcasting in the United States the film entitled "Let Poland Be Poland: A Day of Solidarity With the People of Poland."
United States · United States Congress · 16 December 1981
Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate, and maintain a Yakima River fish facilities improvement project, and to finance the improvement and rehabilitation of related non-Federal facilities. Provides that the principal works shall consist of diversion dams and appurtenant diversion facilities on the river. Requires the project authorized by this Act to be integrated and coordinated into other features of the existing Yakima project. Authorizes appropriations for fiscal year 1983 and thereafter such sums as may be necessary. Makes the project authorized by this Act an integral part of the Yakima River Basin water enhancement project if the feasibility study on such project is authorized and an appropriation for construction is enacted. Directs that the State of Washington shall be credited for funds it has provided for Yakima River Basin projects to satisfy State matching fund requirements provided in subsequent legislation for such river basin.
United States · United States Congress · 15 December 1981
Orphan Drug Act - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to promulgate regulations to exempt from such Act drugs intended solely for drug treatment investigations. Defines "drug treatment investigation" as an investigation of a drug which involves human participants with a rare disease or condition. Establishes in the Department of Health and Human Services an interagency committee known as the Committee on Orphan Drug Development. Makes it the function of such committee to promote the development of drugs for rare diseases or conditions (orphan drugs). Requires the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to submit to the Committee an annual report on the rare disease and condition research activities of NIH. Requires the Committee to report by June 1 of each year to the appropriate congressional committees on its activities and the results of its evaluations, including the report submitted by NIH. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax credit for qualified experimental expenses incurred while researching orphan drugs.
United States · United States Congress · 11 December 1981
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to permit an individual to elect hospice care, in lieu of certain other benefits, during two periods of 180 days each during the individual's lifetime. Provides for full reimbursement of reasonable costs to a hospice program, subject to a ceiling. Directs the Comptroller General to conduct a study of the hospice reimbursement method. Defines hospice care as including items and services furnished to the terminally ill in their homes, on an outpatient basis, and on a short term inpatient basis.
United States · United States Congress · 11 December 1981
Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 to extend by five months (until September 30, 1982) the period within which an individual must have become a full-time student at a postsecondary educational institution in order to receive, after July 1982, child's insurance benefits on the basis of student status under title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act. Extends by one year (through August 1986) the period during which such benefits may be paid to an individual so qualified.
United States · United States Congress · 11 December 1981
Expands the membership of the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations to include three elected school board officials from different States.
United States · United States Congress · 10 December 1981
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should instruct the U.S. delegation to the February meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to tell the Commission that the Soviet Union should stop harassing Soviet Jews and should allow its citizens to practice their religion and to emigrate. Urges the Soviet Union to comply with its human rights obligations. Urges the President to: (1) express, to the Soviet Union, U.S. opposition to harassment of Soviet citizens and to restrictions on emigration; and (2) reiterate that the United States will consider the extent to which other nations honor their commitments under international law when evaluating its relations with such nations.
United States · United States Congress · 9 December 1981
Amends the Federal National Mortgage Association Charter Act to authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to direct the Government National Mortgage Association, during fiscal year 1982, to provide financial assistance to mortgagors by reducing the mortgage payments for certain new homes to amounts the payments would equal if the interest rates on such mortgages were 12 percent. Directs the Association to provide such assistance by: (1) purchasing and servicing mortgages; or (2) making payments to mortgagees on the principal of or interest on mortgage loans. Requires the Association to recapture the lesser of the amount of assistance provided to a mortgagor or 50 percent of the net appreciation of the assisted property whenever the property is sold or refinanced or whenever the property is no longer the mortgagor's principal place of residence. Directs the Secretary to provide that: (1) assistance is allocated among the regions of the country on the basis of each region's inventory of unsold, newly constructed homes; (2) the amount of assistance provided to any mortgagor shall not exceed $6,000; and (3) priority for assistance is given to first-time buyers who could not otherwise afford to buy and who are purchasing modest homes constructed by small homebuilders.
United States · United States Congress · 21 November 1981
Establishes a Special Joint Committee on Arrangements to provide for a joint meeting of the Congress on February 22, 1982, or such other day as designated by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and to coordinate its activities with other organizations as it deems appropriate, in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of George Washington.
United States · United States Congress · 19 November 1981
Commends and supports the President's peace initiatives. Reaffirms the desire of Congress to work with the President to reduce the threats of nuclear war.
United States · United States Congress · 17 November 1981
Revises provisions concerning conservation and management of U.S. fisheries. Allows foreign fishing vessels to engage in recreational fishing within specified U.S. waters and in compliance with restrictions set forth by the Secretary of Commerce and others. Makes certain reporting requirements of the Regional Fishery Management Councils discretionary. Declares that specified guidelines established by the Secretary shall not have the force of law. Revises the organization of the eight Regional Fishery Management Councils. Describes changes in the contents and implementation of fishery management plans prepared by the Councils.
United States · United States Congress · 12 November 1981
Comprehensive Smoking Prevention Education Act of 1981 - Amends title XVII (Health Information and Health Promotion) of the Public Health Service Act to establish in the Department of Health and Human Services an Office of Smoking and Health to inform the public of the health hazards of cigarettes. Sets forth the Office's authority and duties, including conducting research and assisting educational programs directly or through grants. Establishes an Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health to be composed of representatives from the Departments of Labor and Education, the Federal Trade Commission, and any other Federal agency designated by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Directs such Committee to meet at least four times a year and names the Director of the Office of Smoking and Health as it chairman. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to report annually to the Congress. Amends the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act to make it unlawful to advertise or export (repeals the existing export exemption) cigarettes without the required labeling. Changes labeling requirements. Directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to establish cigarette labeling regulations as set forth by this Act. Eliminates certain congressional notification and reporting requirements. Increases the fine for violation of such Act from $10,000 to $100,000. Permits an individual civil action to be brought in U.S. district courts for violations of such Act. Requires such plaintiff to give 60-day notice to the FTC and the defendant. Permits intervention and consolidation. Allows the court to award attorneys fees and other costs.
United States · United States Congress · 12 November 1981
Condemns the treatment of Yuli Kosharovsky and his family by the Soviet Union. Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) the President should express U.S. opposition to the refusal of the Soviet Union to permit Kosharovsky and his family to emigrate to Israel; (2) the Soviet Union should comply with international agreements and with its constitution by permitting the Kosharovsky's to emigrate; and (3) the Soviet Union should end its persecution of persons seeking to emigrate and its denial of basic religious, civil, and human rights to Jews.
United States · United States Congress · 12 November 1981
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that guidelines relating to title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (concerning sex discrimination in education) should not be repealed or altered.
United States · United States Congress · 12 November 1981
Expresses the sense of the Congress that policies of Jewish emigration discrimination and anti-Semitism are morally reprehensible. Urges the President to tell the Soviet Union that the United States opposes these policies and wants emigration restrictions on Soviet Jews removed.
United States · United States Congress · 5 November 1981
Expresses the sense of the Congress that no limitation should be placed on the Federal income tax deduction for interest paid on a residential mortgage.
United States · United States Congress · 4 November 1981
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the United States and Japan should exert maximum efforts to resist Soviet challenges in Asia; (2) Japan should make a greater contribution to its own defense; and (3) Japan's defense expenditures should be at least one percent of its gross national product.
United States · United States Congress · 27 October 1981
Designates that section of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway within the State of Maryland as the Gladys Noon Spellman Parkway. Directs the Secretary of the Interior, in cooperation with the State of Maryland, to erect an appropriate marker commemorating the contributions of Gladys Noon Spellman. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 27 October 1981
Multinational Force and Observers Participation Resolution - Authorizes the President to assign U.S. military personnel to the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) to implement the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. Directs the President to give Congress specified information about the other countries providing military personnel for the MFO before the President assigns U.S. military personnel to the MFO. Requires every possible effort to be made to ensure that at least four foreign countries are represented on the MFO. Authorizes U.S. military personnel assigned to the MFO to perform only the functions specified in the peace treaty and its protocol. Limits the number of such military personnel. Authorizes the President to assign U.S. civilian personnel as observers in the MFO. Limits the U.S. share of the costs of the MFO. Authorizes appropriations to pay the U.S. contribution to the MFO budget. Authorizes Federal agencies to provide support to the MFO, without reimbursement if such support would not significantly increase U.S. costs. Directs the President to report annually to Congress on the MFO, on U.S. participation in the MFO, and on specified discussions with Egypt and Israel. Requires such reports to be as detailed as possible. States that nothing in this resolution is intended to signify congressional approval of any agreement made by the executive branch other than the agreement to participate in the MFO.
United States · United States Congress · 26 October 1981
Authorizes the President to present, on behalf of the Congress, a specially struck gold medal to Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands in recognition of the bicentennial anniversary of diplomatic and trade relations between the Netherlands and the United States. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to coin and sell bronze duplicates of such medal. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 21 October 1981
Commitment to the Clean Air Act resolution of the Ninety-seventh Congress - Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) clean air is fundamentally important for the health and well-being of the citizens, economy, and environment of the United States; and (2) the existing Clean Air Act should be maintained and strengthened subject only to changes that will improve its administration and effectiveness.
United States · United States Congress · 21 October 1981
Gives the endorsement of Congress to the principles relating to family planning set forth in a resolution adopted by the World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women. Urges the President to take steps to implement those principles in the United States and in other countries.
United States · United States Congress · 20 October 1981
Bankruptcy Improvements Act of 1981 - Amends title 11 of the United States Code (Bankruptcy) to establish an eligibility test for liquidation bankruptcy relief based on the individual petitioner's ability to pay a reasonable portion of his debts out of future income. Permits the court to dismiss a bankruptcy case under chapter 7 (liquidation) upon the motion of any party in interest filed not later than 30 days after the meeting of creditors, and after notice and a hearing, if the debtor is ineligible for relief under such title. Requires the bankruptcy judge to preside at any meeting of creditors and to perform such additional judicial duties any may be required. Declares that the value of the creditor's interest in the estate's interest in such property shall be determined in light of the purpose of the valuation and of the proposed disposition or use of such property, and in conjunction with any hearing on such disposition or use or on a plan affecting such creditor's interest. Declares that the value of consumer goods which the debtor seeks to redeem in liquidation shall be presumed to be the established resale market price, if such market exists. Requires the debtor in bankruptcy cases to file a statement of income and expenses. Requires the debtor, if the debtor's schedule of assets and liabilities includes consumer debts which are secured by property of the estate, to file and serve upon each creditor holding such security and the trustee, a statement expressing the debtor's intention with respect to retention or surrender of the collateral. Requires the debtor, at or before the meeting of creditors provided for by such title, to perform his intention with regard to such secured creditors. Repeals the provisions concerning exempt property and makes the States responsible for establishing exemptions to bankruptcy proceedings. Makes any debt which was incurred on or within 90 days before the date of the filing of a petition under such title nondischargeable. Allows creditors to enforce liens which have not been voided in bankruptcy. Permits reaffirmation of consumer debts subject to the debtor's right to rescind any such agreement within 60 days or until a discharge is received, whichever occurs later, by giving a written notice of rescission to the creditor. Declares that at the meeting of creditors the court shall inform the debtor of the nature and effect of a discharge. Eliminates the trustee's power to avoid liens or recover payments made within 90 days of filing petition in bankruptcy (within one year in the case of an insider) unless the creditor had reasonable cause to believe the debtor was insolvent. Permits the court, upon notice and hearing, to require a creditor to accept payments in redemption of the value of a claim secured by a nonpossessory, nonpurchase money security interest in tangible personal property, over a reasonable period not to exceed five years, if such tangible personal property consists of specified objects. Allows a creditor, upon 10 days notice to the debtor and codebtor, to collect any portion of a debt from the codebtor which is not being paid by the debtor through the adjustment of debts of such debtor with a regular income. Requires payments under an adjustment of debts payment plan to commence at the time of the filing of the plan. Provides for the return of such funds after deducting the costs of administration if no plan is confirmed. Provides for the separate classification of co-debtor claims and non-dischargeable claims and authorizes payment of them under an adjustment of debts payment plan. Allows a debtor to choose such a repayment plan of up to five years. Bases such repayment upon the debtor's ability to repay out of future income after taking into account the basic living necessities for the debtor and dependents. Provides for an early discharge of debts where at least 70 percent of all allowed unsecured claims are paid. Permits a hardship discharge of otherwise non-dischargeable debts to the extent the debtor attempted to pay such debts under an adjustment of debts payment plan.
United States · United States Congress · 14 October 1981
Amends the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act to establish, within the Department, an Office of Housing for the Elderly. Lists the responsibilities of the Office which include coordinating housing programs for the elderly and representing the Assistant Secretary for Housing on matters concerning housing for the elderly. Directs the Assistant Secretary to establish an Advisory Committee on Housing for the Elderly. Requires the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Act to submit to Congress an annual report on housing for the elderly.
United States · United States Congress · 7 October 1981
Directs the Attorney General to conduct a study of the appropriate role of the Federal Government in the enforcement of alimony, child support, and property settlement orders against an absent spouse or parent. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 7 October 1981
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code which provide incentives for energy conservation and development of renewable energy sources should not be repealed or amended to reduce such incentives.
United States · United States Congress · 1 October 1981
National Commission on Down Syndrome Act - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Director of the National Institutes of Health, the President's Committee on Mental Retardation, and other concerned organizations, to establish a National Commission on Down Syndrome to formulate a long-range plan for the study, prevention, and treatment of Down Syndrome. Requires a final report to the President and the Congress within 12 months after the Commission is organized. Requires the Secretary to submit a related budget analysis to specified congressional committees. Terminates the Commission three months after submission of the final report. Authorizes specified appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 1 October 1981
Repeals provisions of the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 which set forth special rules for the leasing of depreciable business property between corporations.
United States · United States Congress · 30 September 1981
Authorizes the President to present, on behalf of the Congress, a gold medal to Fred Waring, Louis L'Amour, and the widow of Joe Louis. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to strike and sell bronze duplicates of each medal. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 30 September 1981
Port Development and Navigation Improvement Act of 1981 - Title I: Priority Maintenance and Navigation Improvement Projects - Directs the Secretary of the Army, through the Chief of Engineers, to submit to Congress within two years after enactment of this Act a deep-draft commercial port channel maintenance program. Specifies that such program shall include alternate disposal sites for dredged or fill material. Directs the Secretary, in cooperation with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, to submit to Congress a programmatic environmental impact statement, including an analysis of the adequacy of deep-draft commercial ports to accommodate increasing import and export trade. Provides for veto of such maintenance programs and navigational improvement projects by concurrent resolution of Congress within 60 days. Directs the Secretary to submit to Congress modifications of approved maintenance and navigational improvement projects. Requires the Secretary to undertake navigation improvements in deep-draft commercial ports on a priority basis under specified circumstances. Sets forth procedures by which the Secretary shall submit feasibility studies, survey reports, and environmental impact statements to Congress. Prohibits a State port authority from dredging or performing other maintenance with regard to a navigation improvement project constructed by or with assistance from the Secretary except under specified circumstances. Requires the Secretary to enter into memorandums of agreement with: (1) the Administrator in regard to the disposal of dredged and fill material into navigable waters; and (2) the Secretaries of the Interior and Commerce concerning the environmental aspects of the maintenance and improvement of federally authorized channels in deep-draft commercial ports. Sets forth procedures for congressional approval of new navigational improvement projects. Title II: Financing of Navigation Improvement Projects - Grants the consent of Congress to the levying by States of tonnage duties. Lists the purposes of such duties, including reimbursement of Federal and State entities in regard to navigation improvement projects. Directs the Comptroller General to audit periodically the operations of State port authorities dealing with such duties of tonnage. Title III: Miscellaneous Provisions - Authorizes appropriations. Allows the Secretary, upon congressional approval, to transfer funds from existing Department of the Army civil appropriations pending appropriation of such authorized sums.
United States · United States Congress · 30 September 1981
Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act to revise requirements for waivers that permit the hiring of 10- and 11-year-old children to hand harvest certain crops for eight weeks of a calendar year. Provides that the submission of signed statements from trained medical personnel in the affected region satisfies the requirement that the Secretary of Labor find that such employment would not be deleterious to the health or well-being of such children. Eliminates a requirement that the Secretary find, based on objective data submitted by the applicant, that the pesticides and other chemicals used would not have an adverse effect on such children. Provides, instead, that the Secretary grant such waivers unless the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency determines, based on scientific findings and other technical information, that such pesticides or chemicals may have a significant adverse effect on such children.
United States · United States Congress · 24 September 1981
Hunger Prevention and African Food Security Act - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to require the President to use at least half of the funds available for development assistance to provide assistance for persons living in absolute poverty as defined by specified standards. Requires special emphasis to be placed on alleviating hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa and particularly on facilitating the participation of women in food production in that region. Amends the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 to specify a minimum aggregate value of all famine relief agreements. Requires famine relief agreements to provide that at least one-fifth of the commodities made available for famine relief or funds generated from the sale of those commodities in participating countries shall be used to strengthen food distribution systems in famine-prone countries, especially those in Sub-Saharan Africa. Requires each such agreement to specify the measures taken to ensure that such commodities and funds benefit primarily the poor.
United States · United States Congress · 16 September 1981
Amends the Controlled Substances Act to establish in the Department of Health and Human Services the Office for the Supply of Internationally Controlled Drugs, to be responsible for regulating the domestic production of marihuana and the distribution of marihuana for medical, scientific, and research purposes. Establishes procedures for the production of medicinal marihuana. Permits the distribution of medicinal marihuana only to hospitals and pharmacies registered to dispense schedule II controlled substances for the purposes of treating glaucoma or the nausea of cancer patients or research approved under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
United States · United States Congress · 15 September 1981
Title I: Amendments to Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 - Justice Assistance Act of 1981 - Amends title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (Justice System Improvement) to eliminate the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration and the Office of Justice Assistance, Research and Statistics. Retains the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the National Institute of Justice. Establishes a new Office of Justice Assistance. Revises the formula grant program to make the following changes. Eliminates the authority for local governments to receive formula grants. Decreases from 23 to 15 the purposes for which formula grants may be made. Requires States to provide a 50 percent match to receive Federal funding, or 25 percent match for innovative programs addressing critical problems of crime. Requires grant recipients to assume program costs after a four-year period. Revises the application requirements for a State to receive formula grant assistance. Requires States to include assurances that not more than ten percent of assistance will be spent on innovative programs addressing critical crime problems or five percent of assistance on administrative costs. Requires submission of the formula grant application for approval to the State legislature which shall act on the application as it would for State budget requests. Retains the current requirement that 80 percent of total funding be allocated for formula grants. Requires a State to distribute formula grants among local governments in the same proportion that such governments expend State funds for law enforcement purposes. Eliminates the national priority grant program. Retains the discretionary grant program. Revises the general purposes for which such grants may be made. Requires that private nonprofit organizations be the primary recipients of such grants for providing educational, training, and technical assistance and undertaking national projects. Revises the training and manpower development program to eliminate the training programs for prosecuting attorneys and State and local criminal justice personnel by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration. Retains the Federal Bureau of Investigation training of State and local criminal justice personnel and the criminal justice education program. Permits "construction" under such Act to include renovation, repairs, or remodeling. Decreases from $750,000,000 to $170,000,000 the amount authorized to be appropriated for each of FY 1980 through 1983. Authorizes additional appropriations as are necessary to provide emergency law enforcement assistance to States. Eliminates the current authorization of appropriations for the Office of Community Anti-Crime Programs and the requirement that at least 19.15 percent of total appropriations be maintained for juvenile delinquency programs. Title II: Emergency Federal Law Enforcement Assistance - Authorizes a State or local government to apply for emergency Federal law enforcement assistance in the event that a crime problem of serious and epidemic proportions exits. Requires the Attorney General, in approving or disapproving such application, to consider: (1) the nature and extent of the crime problem; (2) the emergency or extraordinary circumstances; (3) the availability of State and local resources; (4) the cost of increased Federal presence; and (5) the need to avoid unnecessary Federal involvement in local concerns. Authorizes appropriations for such purpose.
United States · United States Congress · 10 September 1981
United States Olympic Development Fund Checkoff Act of 1981 - Permits taxpayers to designate on their income tax returns an election to contribute one dollar of their income tax refunds or one dollar forwarded with returns to support the fund established by this Act. Establishes in the Treasury of the United States a United States Olympic Development Fund. Appropriates to the Fund an amount equivalent to the amount designated on tax returns to be available to the Fund. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to pay amounts so transferred to the U.S. Olympic Committee for use in a program of expansion and improvement of amateur athletics. Sets forth reporting requirements with respect to the expenditure of such funds by the Committee.
United States · United States Congress · 9 September 1981
Amends the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to direct the Administrator of the General Services Administration, upon recommendation of the Attorney General, to donate surplus Federal property to any State or municipality for the construction and modernization of criminal justice facilities, including correctional facilities.
![Official portrait of Rep. Pritchard, Joel [R-WA-1]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/p000546_200.jpg)