United States · United States Congress · 26 January 2005
Military Retiree Survivor Benefit Equity Act of 2005 - Repeals the requirement that military Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuities be reduced by the amount of survivors' dependency and indemnity compensation being received by such individuals. Prohibits the: (1) payment of retroactive benefits; and (2) recoupment of military retired pay amounts previously refunded to SBP participants.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 2005
Ensuring College Access for All Americans Act - Prohibits the application of the annual updates (published in the Federal Register on December 23, 2004) to the allowance for State and other taxes in the tables used in the Federal Needs Analysis Methodology to determine a student's expected family contribution for the award year 2005-2006 under the Higher Education Act of 1965, to the extent such updates will reduce the amount of Federal student assistance for which the student is eligible.
United States · United States Congress · 25 January 2005
Homeland Security Grant Enhancement Act of 2005 - Preserves specified Federal grant programs for traditional first responder missions that existed prior to September 11, 2001. Establishes the Interagency Committee to Coordinate and Streamline Homeland Security Grant Programs. Creates the position of Executive Director to head the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS's) Office for State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness (OSLGCP). Reconstitutes the DHS Office for Domestic Preparedness as a component of the OSLGCP (currently, within the Directorate of Border and Transportation Security) and gives it additional responsibility for managing the Homeland Security Information Clearinghouse. Establishes the Homeland Security Information Clearinghouse within the OSLGCP. Establishes a Threat-Based Homeland Security Grant Program for States and local governments. Requires grant applications to certify that the State has prepared and received the Secretary of Homeland Security's approval of a three-year State homeland security plan. Requires the Secretary to set national performance standards and to ensure that State homeland security plans are in conformance with those standards. Requires the Director of the Office for Domestic Preparedness to allow any State to request approval to reallocate funds received under the State Homeland Security Grant Program. Requires the Secretary to deny entry to commercial motor vehicles carrying municipal solid waste into the United States until the Secretary certifies to Congress that comparable screening of such waste for the presence of chemical, nuclear, biological, and radiological weapons as is used to screen for such materials in other items of commerce has been achieved.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 2005
Pitkin County Land Exchange Act of 2005 - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture (the Secretary) and the Secretary of the Interior, upon receipt of title to certain lands located in Pitkin County, Colorado, and certain lands located on Smuggler Mountain in the County, to convey to the County or to the Aspen Valley Land Trust, if the County so requests, all right, title, and interest of the United States in and to certain National Forest and Bureau of Land Management lands located in the County. Prohibits the conveyance of a specified parcel to the County unless and until specified conditions are met, including that the County grants to the Aspen Valley Land Trust, the Roaring Fork Conservancy, or to another entity mutually agreeable to the County and the Secretary of the Interior, a permanent conservation easement which provides public access to the parcel and limits future use of the parcel to recreational, fish, and wildlife conservation, and open space purposes. States that lands acquired by the Secretary pursuant to this Act shall become part of White River National Forest.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 2005
Military Death Benefit Improvement Act of 2005 - Increases from $12,000 to $100,000 the death gratuity payable to the survivors of members of the Armed Forces who die: (1) while on active duty or inactive duty training; or (2) within 120 days after discharge or release from such duty or training, if the death resulted from an injury or disease incurred or aggravated during such duty or training.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 2005
Standing With Our Troops Act of 2005 - Increases authorized end strengths for the Army and Marine Corps. Requires the Secretary of Defense to: (1) publish a monthly accounting of military casualties incurred in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, and any other operation undertaken under the Global War on Terrorism; and (2) establish within the Department of Defense (DOD) an Advisory Panel on Military Awards and Decorations. Establishes within the National Security Council a Director of Mobilization Planning and Preparedness to identify and develop plans for the performance of necessary governmental and private sector functions on a sustained basis during a national emergency. Requires reports on: (1) necessary reconstitution of military equipment due to Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom; and (2) DOD policies concerning the length of reserve mobilization and deployment periods in connection with Operation Iraqi Freedom. Requires the correction of military pay problems experienced by activated reserve personnel. Establishes a Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (Reserve Affairs). Provides various programs and authorities to afford financial relief to National Guard and reserve personnel activated for overseas warfighting or domestic homeland security missions, including penalty-free early withdrawals from retirement plans, differential wage payments, and the Ready Reserve-National Guard employee tax credit. National Guard and Reserve Comprehensive Health Benefits Act of 2005 - Makes members of the Selected Reserve eligible for TRICARE (a DOD-managed health care program). Allows the continuation of non-TRICARE health benefits coverage for reserves called or ordered to active duty (and their dependents). Increases from $12,000 to $100,000 the death gratuity for survivors of members killed during active duty or inactive duty training. Requires a report on additional needs for funding U.S. military and reconstruction efforts in Iraq.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 2005
Rio Grande Natural Area Act - Establishes the Rio Grande Natural Area in Colorado (which shall include the Rio Grande River from the southern boundary of the Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge to the New Mexico State border, extending 1/4 mile on either side of the bank of the River) to conserve, restore, and protect the natural, historic, cultural, scientific, scenic, wildlife, and recreational resources of the Area. Establishes the Rio Grande Natural Area Commission to: (1) advise the Secretary of the Interior with respect to the Area; and (2) prepare a management plan relating to non-Federal land in the Area. Prohibits the Commission from acquiring any real property or interest in real property. Directs the Commission to assist the Secretary in implementing such management plan by carrying out authorized activities to preserve and interpret the Area's resources. Directs the Secretary to prepare a management plan relating to the management of Federal land in the Area. Applies the management plan for the non-Federal land to private land in the Area only if the private landowner agrees to be bound by such plan. Withdraws all Federal land in the Area from: (1) all forms of entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws; (2) location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and (3) disposition under the mineral leasing laws. Permits the Secretary to acquire land or an interest in land within the Area from willing sellers.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 2005
Extends the U.S. Postal Service's authority to issue special postage stamps to help provide funding for breast cancer research through December 31, 2007.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 2005
Combat Meth Act of 2005 - Authorizes funds to provide training to State and local prosecutors and law enforcement agents for investigation and prosecution of methamphetamine offenses, including a set-aside for prosecutors and law enforcement agents for rural communities. Amends: (1) the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to expand the public safety and community policing grant program to authorize the use of grant funds to hire personnel and purchase equipment to assist in enforcing and prosecuting methamphetamine offenses and in cleaning up methamphetamine-affected areas; (2) the Controlled Substances Act to add pseudoephedrine to schedule V; and (3) the Public Health Service Act to authorize grants for the development of drug endangered children rapid response teams and grants to local governments, Indian tribes, and nonprofit private entities to provide treatment for methamphetamine abuse. Directs the Attorney General to allocate funds for the hiring and training of special assistant U.S. attorneys. Authorizes the Attorney General, acting through the Bureau of Justice Assistance, to award grants to States to establish methamphetamine precursor monitoring programs.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 2005
Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Trust Act of 2005 - Authorizes the United States to take into trust certain land (formerly known as the Dawson Ranch) in Kiowa County, Colorado, owned by the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian Tribes of Oklahoma (property). Directs the Tribes to convey title to the property to the United States. Declares that all right, title, and interest of the United States in and to the property (except specified facilities) are to be held in trust by the United States for the Tribes. Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to: (1) acquire by donation the improvements in fee; and (2) construct a facility on the property only after obtaining the agreement of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, and the Northern Arapaho Tribe. Permits the use of Federal funds to be expended only on improvements or facilities that are owned in fee by the United States. Directs the Secretary to cause a survey to be conducted by the Office of Cadastral Survey of the Bureau of Land Management of the boundary lines. Requires the property to be administered in perpetuity by the Secretary as part of the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site, only for historical, traditional, cultural, or other uses in accordance with the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Establishment Act of 2000.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 2005
Targeting Terrorists More Effectively Act of 2005 - Sets forth provisions with respect to: (1) Army special operations forces increases; (2) increasing foreign language expertise in the United States for the purpose of improving national security; (3) preventing terrorist financing; (4) prohibiting transactions with countries that support terrorism; (5) preventing the growth of radical Islamic fundamentalism, and promoting democracy and development in the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia; (6) advancing U.S. interests through diplomacy; (7) the treatment of detainees, including establishment of a National Commission to Review Policy Regarding the Treatment of Detainees; (8) strategy for the U.S. relationship with Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia; (9) non-proliferation programs, including Russian nuclear facilities and tactical nuclear weapons; (10) border protection, including border personnel increases; (11) seaport protection, including deployment of radiation detection portal equipment, tanker security, and acceleration of the Megaports Initiative; (12) first responders, including training for law enforcement personnel; and (13) prohibitions on war profiteering.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 2005
Pharmaceutical Market Access Act of 2005 - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to promulgate regulations permitting pharmacists, pharmacies, wholesalers, and individuals to import qualifying drugs from certain countries into the United States. Sets forth registration requirements for exporters. Requires the Secretary to: (1) educate consumers with regard to the availability of qualifying drugs for import for personal use; (2) inspect the facilities and records of importers and registered exporters to ensure compliance with this Act; and (3) establish a registration fee program to collect an annual fee from registered exporters. Deems a prescription drug to be misbranded unless the packaging of such drug complies with the requirements for counterfeit-resistant technologies. Prohibits: (1) failing to register in accordance with this Act; and (2) importing or offering to import a prescription drug in violation of a suspension order. Declares that selling or importing a patented drug in the United States that was first sold abroad by or under authority of the owner or licensee of the patent is not patent infringement. Prohibits drug manufacturers from discriminating against a person that engages in the importation of a prescription drug, including by charging higher prices or denying supplies of the drug. Allows the Secretary to suspend or terminate the registration of an exporter for failing to maintain substantial compliance with all registration conditions.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 2005
Fulfilling Our Duty to America's Veterans Act of 2005 - States that, upon enactment, funding for the programs, functions, and activities of the Veterans Health Administration shall be provided through a combination of discretionary and mandatory funding in order to ensure access to health care for all veterans. Requires: (1) the Comptroller General to report to Congress on the extent to which such funding has achieved its objectives; and (2) congressional consideration of such report via the joint resolution process. Provides for: (1) post-traumatic stress disorder treatment for veterans of service in Afghanistan and Iraq and the Global War on Terrorism; and (2) a review by each military department of the sufficiency of its military health care programs. Authorizes Department of Veterans Affairs pharmacies to dispense medications to Medicare-eligible veterans on prescriptions written by private practitioners. Retired Pay Restoration Act of 2005 - Requires the full concurrent payment of military retired pay and service-connected disability compensation. Requires a joint report from the Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs on the development of interoperable electronic records for military personnel and veterans that are utilized by both departments. Expands preseparation physical examination and counseling requirements. Authorizes such Secretaries to carry out epidemiological studies relating to health conditions that develop as a result of occupational exposure during military service. Requires such Secretaries to develop protocols to facilitate the sharing of members' and veterans' duty assignments and medical conditions information. Increased Government Commitment to Veterans' Education Act - Provides for the: (1) exclusion of basic pay contributions for participation in veterans' educational assistance from computations used to determine eligibility for student financial aid; and (2) opportunity to enroll in a basic educational assistance program for certain individuals who participated, or were eligible to participate, in the post-Vietnam era veterans' educational assistance program.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 2005
Fiscal Responsibility for a Sound Future Act - Amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) to extend through FY 2005 the spending caps for discretionary, highway, and mass transit categories in new budget authority and outlays. Declares that Congress should enact a limit on total discretionary spending for FY 2006. Retains (eliminates the expiration of) pay-as-you-go. Reenacts into law (effective for FY 2005) certain budget enforcement mechanisms through FY 2015. Makes it out of order in the Senate to consider under expedited procedures applicable to reconciliation in the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 any measure that increases the deficit in the: (1) first fiscal year covered by the most recently adopted concurrent resolution on the budget; (2) first five fiscal years covered by such adoption; or (3) first five fiscal years following such period. Amends H.Con.Res. 95 (108th Congress) to revise provisions concerning the Pay-As-You-Go point of order rule in the Senate to: (1) modify the formula used to estimate the baseline; and (2) extend the application of such rule through FY 2015.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Expresses: (1) sympathy for the victims and families of the earthquake and tsunami that struck communities throughout Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Eastern Africa on December 26, 2004; and (2) gratitude and respect for the work of all aid and relief personnel, including U.S. military personnel. Supports President George W. Bush's pledge of $350,000,000 in direct financial assistance, and additional indirect assistance, through the dispatch of U.S. military assets and personnel and through substantial voluntary and annual contributions to international organizations and bodies. Commends the ongoing international relief effort. Recognizes that U.S. Government assistance will be greatly supplemented by private U.S. donations and volunteers. Supports the long-term U.S. commitment to provide financial aid and other assistance to the impacted region.
![Official portrait of Sen. Salazar, Ken [D-CO]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/s001163_200.jpg)