United States · United States Congress · 6 May 1981
Repeals the requirement under title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act that the amount of monthly benefits payable to a spouse or surviving spouse be reduced by the amount such spouse or surviving spouse receives monthly from a Federal or State pension fund.
United States · United States Congress · 6 May 1981
Delinquent Payments Act of 1981 - Requires Federal agencies to pay interest on overdue payments to businesses for property or services. Specifies the procedure for computing such interest. Requires an agency to pay any such interest charges out of funds appropriated for its programs. Allows an agency to take advantage of an early payment discount only if payment is made within the time specified by the business. Directs each agency to report to Congress annually on interest payments made during the fiscal year.
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 1981
Establishes a Special Joint Committee on the Centennial of the Birth of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Directs that such committee be composed of sixteen Members of the Congress. Directs that such committee shall prepare an overall program for nationwide observances and make comprehensive plans for commemorating the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, including a joint session of Congress to be held on January 29, 1982. Provides that such committee shall terminate not later than April 30, 1982.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1981
Coastal Barrier Resources Act - Declares the findings and intentions of Congress in regard to the fish, wildlife, and other natural resources associated with the coastal barriers along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States. Establishes the Coastal Barrier Resources System (System) which shall consist of specified undeveloped coastal barriers on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Requires that certain coastal barrier maps shall be available for public inspection through the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to provide copies of such maps to the chief executive officer of: (1) each State and political subdivision in which a System unit is located, and (2) each affected Federal agency. Directs the Secretary to make necessary modifications to such maps and to notify specified Congressional committees of the same. Limits, to specified projects, Federal expenditures on such projects or financial assistance for purposes within the System. Lists those projects eligible for financial assistance. Requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to certify annually to Congress that the Federal agencies concerned have complied with the provisions of this Act. Declares that no provision of this Act shall be construed to invalidate any provision of State or local law. Sets forth the contents of reports to be filed by the Secretary with specified Congressional committees. Authorizes appropriations to the Department of the Interior for fiscal years 1982 through 1986 for the purposes of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 27 April 1981
Peace Corps Autonomy Act - Requires the Peace Corps to be an independent agency within the Executive branch. Amends the Peace Corps Act to delete certain provisions relating to readjustment allowance payments to Peace Corps volunteers. Authorizes the President to delegate the authority to carry out such Act only to the Director of the Peace Corps. Requires the Directors of the Peace Corps, the Action Agency, and the Office of Management and Budget to report to Congress within a specified time on the implementation of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 27 April 1981
Expresses the sense of the Senate that the Senate and the American people: (1) regret the loss of Japanese life and property in connection with the collision of a U.S. submarine and a Japanese freighter; (2) sympathize with the families of those who died; and (3) assure Japan that the collision will be investigated and explained.
United States · United States Congress · 27 April 1981
Declares the sense of the Congress that the President shall take steps to: (1) call upon the Soviet Union to permit the resurrection of the Ukrainian Orthodox and Catholic Churches; (2) contact the officials of the Soviet Union to secure freedom of worship in the Ukraine; and (3) bring to the attention of national and international religious councils Soviet violations of basic human rights.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1981
Amends the Federal criminal code to establish penalties for whomever, with intent to interfere with any person freely exercising his religion, damages or destroys any cemetery, religious building, or any religious article contained in such building, or steals any such religious article.
United States · United States Congress · 8 April 1981
Extends from December 31, 1981, to September 30, 1982, the authority of the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs to contract for hospital care or medical services in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands without reference to patient loads or incidence of provision of medical services for veterans treated by the Veterans' Administration in the contiguous 48 states.
United States · United States Congress · 8 April 1981
Legal Services Corporation Amendments of 1981 - Amends the Legal Services Corporation Act to direct the Legal Services Corporation to make available substantial funds to provide the opportunity for legal assistance to be furnished by private attorneys. Authorizes appropriations for the Corporation in the amount of $321,300,000 for fiscal year 1982 and necessary sums for fiscal years 1983 and 1984.
United States · United States Congress · 8 April 1981
Proclaims Raoul Wallenberg an honorary citizen of the United States. Requests the President to ascertain his whereabouts from the Soviet Union and to secure his freedom.
United States · United States Congress · 7 April 1981
Small Business Innovation Research Act of 1981 - Amends the Small Business Act to direct the Small Business Administration (SBA) to: (1) maintain an information program to provide small businesses an opportunity to participate in Federal small business innovation research (SBIR) programs; (2) coordinate a schedule for release of agency SBIR solicitations and prepare a master release schedule; (3) monitor SBIR programs within Federal agencies; and (4) report annually to the Congressional Small Business Committees on the SBIR programs. Requires each Federal agency with a research and development budget in excess of $100,000,000 in fiscal year 1982 or any subsequent fiscal year to spend a specified percentage of its budget in connection with an SBIR program. Requires each Federal agency with a research and development budget in excess of $20,000,000 for fiscal year 1982 or any subsequent fiscal year to establish specific goals for funding research and development agreements with small businesses. Directs each Federal agency with an SBIR program to report annually to the SBA the number of awards over $10,000 in amount made under the SBIR program and to concerns other than small business concerns. Directs the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, in conjunction with the SBA, to promulgate regulations for the conduct of the SBIR programs. States that this Act does not authorize the appropriation of funds.
United States · United States Congress · 7 April 1981
Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1981 - Amends the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to extend from August 6, 1982, to August 6, 1992: (1) the time period during which jurisdictions covered by the triggering mechanism must not have used a test or device to deny the right to vote on account of race in order to be released from coverage; and (2) the time period during which changes in voting laws must be precleared with the Federal Government. Extends the bilingual election requirements from August 6, 1985, to August 6, 1992. Restates the prohibition against denying the right to vote based on race to prohibit any State from imposing voting practices "in a manner which results in a denial or abridgement" of the right to vote.
United States · United States Congress · 2 April 1981
Financial Integrity Act of 1981 - Amends the Accounting and Auditing Act of 1950 to require the head of each executive agency to prepare and transmit to the President an annual report on the adequacy of the agency's systems of internal accounting and administrative control. Requires the report to include detailed plans for correcting any inadequacy. Directs the Comptroller General of the United States to: (1) establish guidelines for evaluating such systems; and (2) define internal auditing and administrative controls to prevent waste or misuse of agency funds or property and to assure accountability of assets.
United States · United States Congress · 2 April 1981
Commends Secret Service Agents Timothy McCarthy and Jerry Parr and Metropolitan Police Officer Thomas Delahanty for their performance in the line of duty with respect to the assassination attempt on the life of the President of the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 1 April 1981
Directs the Office of Personnel Management and any Federal agency to consider the service of a term employee of the Government Printing Office (GPO) who was separated from duty as a linotype or monotype operator in the Composing Division between December 15, 1980, and March 27, 1981, as service under a career appointment when preparing a list of eligibles for, or appointing an individual to, a civil service position. Requires the Public Printer to pay such an individual severance pay equal to one month's salary unless the individual gains employment with the Federal Government or the District of Columbia government within one month after being separated from service at GPO. Authorizes appropriations to carry out the provisions of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 25 March 1981
Directs the Postmaster General to issue a commemorative postage stamp to honor the two hundredth anniversary of the election of John Hanson of Maryland as first President of the United States in Congress Assembled. Provides that such stamp shall be first sold on November 5, 1981.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1981
Requests the President to designate the week of May 10 to May 16, 1981, as "CARE Week" in observance of the thirty-fifth anniversary of CARE (the Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere, Inc.).
United States · United States Congress · 10 March 1981
Amends the highway safety programs uniform standards to include: (1) comprehensive alcohol-traffic safety programs; and (2) penalties to deter motorists from driving while under the influence of alcohol.
United States · United States Congress · 10 March 1981
National Capital Boundary Stones Act - Makes the Secretary of the Interior, through the National Park Service, responsible for the preservation and maintenance of the original boundary stones delimiting the District of Columbia. Directs the Director of the National Park Service to submit a program to the Secretary for preserving such boundary stones. Sets forth provisions to be included in such program. Authorizes the Secretary to acquire the necessary lands and interests to carry out such program. Provides criminal penalties for willfully damaging or removing such boundary stones. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 10 March 1981
Urges the President to extend for three years the orderly marketing agreements between the United States and Taiwan and between the United States and South Korea which limit the exportation from Taiwan and South Korea of nonrubber footwear to the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 1981
Commodity Straddles Tax Act of 1981 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that any loss which exceeds gain from the holding of a position held as part of an offsetting position may not be recognized, for income tax deduction purposes, for the period during which a taxpayer holds such a position, plus 30 days. Defines "offsetting position" to mean that there is a substantial reduction of the taxpayer's risk of loss from holding any position with respect to personal property (commodities, evidences of indebtedness, and other types of personal property) because the taxpayer also holds one or more other positions with respect to personal property (commonly referred to as a "straddle"). Treats as offsetting, with specified exceptions, two or more positions which include equivalent long and short positions if: (1) such positions are in the same commodity; (2) the aggregate margin requirement for the positions is less than the sum of the margin requirements for each position; (3) the positions are in debt instruments; or (4) the positions are determined under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury to be offsetting positions. Defines "long position" and "short position" as positions which increase in value or decrease in value respectively, the personal property to which they relate increases in value. Disallows as a deduction, and makes chargeable to capital account, interest and carrying charges with respect to personal property which is part of an offsetting position. Provides that obligations of the United States, a State or local government, or a U.S. possession issued on a discount basis and payable without interest in less than one year shall be treated as capital assets in determining tax consequences of gain or loss with respect to such obligations. Excludes from capital gains tax treatment gain by a securities dealer from the sale or exchange of any security unless the security was clearly identified in the dealer's records, before the end of the day after the date of acquisition, as a security held for investment (currently, before the end of the 30th day after the date of acquisition).
United States · United States Congress · 3 March 1981
Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit the manufacture, importation, installation, offer to sell, rent, or lease, or other distribution of telephone receivers or similar equipment manufactured after the date of enactment of this Act for use in connection with any interstate or foreign communication, unless such receiver or equipment is designed and manufactured to permit telephone reception by means of hearing aids with inductive receptors.
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow taxpayers to value excess inventory at its net realizable value. Eliminates the qualification requirement for the last-in, first-out (LIFO) method of accounting that a taxpayer use no inventory method for financial reporting or credit purposes other than the LIFO method. Allows a taxpayer who adopts the LIFO method to spread increases in taxable income attributable to such change over a ten-year period.
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to eliminate the requirement that States reduce the amount of unemployment compensation payable for any week to an eligible individual by the amount of certain retirement benefits received by such individual.
United States · United States Congress · 24 February 1981
Expresses the sense of Congress that agricultural resources are of strategic importance to the United States' future and calling for Federal cooperation with State and local governments and assistance to persons engaged in agriculture.
United States · United States Congress · 19 February 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide homebuilders with an income tax credit for the construction of residences which incorporate a passive solar energy system. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury, after consultation with the Secretaries of Energy and Housing and Urban Development, to prescribe regulations setting forth a solar construction credit table for purposes of determining the amount of the credit for which the incorporator of the solar energy system is eligible. Limits the dollar amount of such credit to $2,000. Defines "passive solar energy system" as a system which contains a solar collection area, an absorber, a storage mass, a heat distribution method, and heat regulation devices. Requires such system to be installed in a new residence after September 30, 1981 and before January 1, 1987.
United States · United States Congress · 17 February 1981
Directs the Secretary of Labor to pay a benefit of $50,000 to the survivors of any Federal law enforcement officer or firefighter who has died as the direct result of an injury sustained in the line of duty. Sets forth the order of precedence as to the beneficiaries of such payment. Authorizes the Secretary to make an interim payment not to exceed $3,000 to a survivor who, in the Secretary's determination, probably will receive such a benefit. Declares that no such benefit shall be subject to execution or attachment. Prohibits payment of such benefits: (1) if death was caused by the intentional misconduct, suicide, or intoxication of the officer or firefighter; and (2) to any beneficiary whose actions contributed to the death of the officer or firefighter.
United States · United States Congress · 17 February 1981
Expresses the sense of the Senate that the United States will cease to participate in the activities of, or make support payments to, the United Nations General Assembly or any other U.N. body which rejects the credentials of the Israeli delegation.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1981
State Set-aside Act of 1981 - Directs the Secretary of Energy to promulgate regulations establishing a State set-aside system for propane, middle distillates, motor gasoline, residual fuel oil, and aviation fuels Sets State set-aside levels.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1981
Prisoners of War Health-Care Benefits Act of 1981 - Authorizes the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs to establish an advisory committee to assess new medical and other information on former prisoners of war (POW's). Requires that such committee include former POW's of World War II, the Korean conflict, and the Vietnam era and individuals who are recognized authorities in certain fields of medicine. Directs the committee to submit a biennial report to the Administrator on its activities. Makes POW's with the disease of psychosis manifest to a degree of ten percent presumably eligible for wartime disability benefits (presently such psychosis must have occurred within two years of separation from service). Entitles POW's of not less than 60 days during World War I, World War II, the Korean conflict, or the Vietnam era eligible for hospital, nursing home, and domiciliary care benefits. Directs the Administrator to prescribe regulations and furnish medical services for any disability on an outpatient or ambulatory basis to such POW's. Includes veterans held in captive status due to the seizure of the United States Embassy in Iran among those veterans eligible for educational assistance.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1981
Farmland Protection Policy Act - Defines "agricultural land" as any land (including crop, pasture, range, or forest lands) being used or capable of being used for agriculture, forestry, or timber production. Requires each Federal agency or other unit to: (1) develop procedures within 60 days for identifying the effects of its programs regarding the conversion of agricultural land to nonagricultural uses; (2) review within 90 days relevant administrative and legal provisions which may prevent such unit from acting to mitigate losses of such land; and (3) develop within 120 days appropriate administrative and legislative proposals.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1981
Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation, upon application by the States of Maryland and Virginia and the District of Columbia, to make a grant for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge. Requires the Federal share of the project costs to be 100 percent. Authorizes to be appropriated, out of the Highway Trust Fund, a specified sum to carry out the provisions of this Act beginning in fiscal year 1982.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 1981
Expresses the sense of Congress that, in accordance with specified international agreements, the Soviet Union should provide proper medical care for Viktor Brailovsky and permit him to emigrate to Israel with his family. Urges the President to: (1) continue to express U.S. opposition to the imprisonment and treatment of Brailovsky; and (2) inform the Soviet Union that the United States, in evaluating its relations with other countries, will consider the extent to which those countries honor their commitments to human rights under international law.
United States · United States Congress · 29 January 1981
Declares that seven members of named families have resided since a certain date in the United States Embassy in Moscow and have been living there in accordance with United States laws. Authorizes the granting of a visa and admission to the United States for permanent residence to each individual. Provides that each individual shall be held and considered to have been lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence as of a specified date, and to have been physically present and residing therein continuously since such date.
![Official portrait of Sen. Sarbanes, Paul S. [D-MD]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/s000064_200.jpg)