[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1980 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1980

 To provide for demonstration projects throughout the United States in 
   order to celebrate the process of becoming and being an American 
                                citizen.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 30, 1995

    Mr. Farr (for himself, Mr. Mineta, Mr. Berman, Mr. Serrano, Ms. 
  Lofgren, Mr. Dellums, Mr. Gene Green of Texas, Ms. Pelosi, and Ms. 
Roybal-Allard) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide for demonstration projects throughout the United States in 
   order to celebrate the process of becoming and being an American 
                                citizen.
    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; PURPOSE.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Proud To Be an 
American Act of 1995''.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to celebrate the act of 
becoming an American citizen through sponsorship of appropriate public 
ceremonies around the 4th of July each year.

SEC. 2. SUPPORT OF DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.
    (a) In General.--The Attorney General shall make available funds 
under this section, in each of 5 consecutive years (beginning with 
1996), to the Immigration and Naturalization Service or to other public 
or private nonprofit entities to support demonstration projects under 
this section at 10 sites throughout the United States. Each such 
project shall be designed to provide for the administration of the oath 
of allegiance (under section 337(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 
Act) on a business day around the 4th of July for approximately 500 
people whose application for naturalization has been approved. Each 
project shall provide for appropriate outreach and ceremonial and 
celebratory activities.
    (b) Selection of Sites.--The Attorney General shall, in the 
Attorney General's discretion, select diverse locations for sites on 
the basis of the number of naturalization applicants living in 
proximity to each site and on the degree of local community 
participation and support in the project to be held at the site. Not 
more than 2 sites may be located in the same State. The Attorney 
General should consider changing the sites selected from year to year.
    (c) Amounts Available; Use of Funds.--
            (1) Amount.--The amount that may be made available under 
        this section with respect to any single site for a site for a 
        year shall not exceed $5,000.
            (2) Use.--Funds provided under this section may only be 
        used to cover expenses incurred carrying out symbolic swearing-
        in ceremonies at the demonstration sites, including expenses 
        for--
                    (A) cost of personnel of the Immigration and 
                Naturalization Service (including travel and overtime 
                expenses)
                    (B) local outreach,
                    (C) rental of space, and
                    (D) costs of printing appropriate brochures and 
                other information about the ceremonies.
            (3) Availability of funds.--Funds that are otherwise 
        available to the Immigration and Naturalization Service to 
        carry out naturalization activities (including funds in the 
        Immigration Examinations Fee Account, under section 286(n) of 
        the Immigration and Nationality Act) shall be available under 
        this section.
    (d) Application.--In the case of an entity other than the 
Immigration and Naturalization Service seeking to conduct a 
demonstration project under this section, no amounts may be made 
available to the entity under this section unless an appropriate 
application has been made to, and approved by, the Attorney General, in 
a form and manner specified by the Attorney General.
    (e) State Defined.--In this section, the term ``State'' has the 
meaning given such term in section 101(a)(36) of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(36)).
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