[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3532 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3532

  To support the goals of the Commission on the Abraham Lincoln Study 
                       Abroad Fellowship Program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 16, 2006

   Mr. Lugar introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To support the goals of the Commission on the Abraham Lincoln Study 
                       Abroad Fellowship Program.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Higher Education Study Abroad Act of 
2006''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) According to the report ``Global Competence & National 
        Needs: One Million Americans Studying Abroad'' by the 
        Commission on the Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Fellowship 
        Program--
                    (A) business leaders recognize that they need to 
                draw on people with global skills if their corporations 
                are to succeed in a world in which 1 American job in 6 
                is tied to international trade;
                    (B) study abroad programs for undergraduate 
                students provide a unique opportunity to expand the 
                number of foreign language speakers and enhance foreign 
                language learning;
                    (C) more than 65 Federal agencies, including the 
                Central Intelligence Agency and the Peace Corps, need 
                to fill annually 34,000 positions requiring foreign 
                language skills, and this requirement is often unmet or 
                filled only through outside contractors;
                    (D) higher education in the United States is 
                increasingly providing opportunities for study abroad 
                programs, and some of the finest colleges and 
                universities of the United States are making major 
                commitments to this essential element of today's 
                educational experience; and
                    (E) it is in the national interest of the United 
                States to send at least 1,000,000 postsecondary 
                students abroad each year to study the languages and 
                cultures of other countries.
            (2) The Lincoln Commission report described in paragraph 
        (1) represents the opinions of some of the most thoughtful 
        experts on higher education in the United States.

SEC. 3. RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE LINCOLN COMMISSION.

    (a) Sense of the Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate that the 
Federal Government should endorse the goals outlined by the Commission 
on the Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Fellowship Program, established 
under section 104 of the Miscellaneous Appropriations and Offsets Act, 
2004 (division H of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2004 (Public 
Law 108-199, 118 Stat. 435) regarding expanding the opportunity for 
students at institutions of higher education in the United States to 
study abroad.
    (b) Review of Recommendations.--Not later than 1 year after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Education shall--
            (1) review the recommendations of the Commission on the 
        Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Fellowship Program regarding 
        expanding the opportunity for students at institutions of 
        higher education in the United States to study abroad; and
            (2) prepare and submit a report to the Committee on Health, 
        Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and the Committee 
        on Education and Workforce of the House of Representatives that 
        considers the feasibility of--
                    (A) implementing the recommendations of the 
                Commission on the Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad 
                Fellowship Program; and
                    (B) establishing a national scholarship program, as 
                recommended by the Commission, that provides 
                opportunities for students at institutions of higher 
                education to study abroad.
    (c) Definition of Institution of Higher Education.--In this 
section, the term ``institution of higher education'' has the meaning 
given the term in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 1001).
                                 <all>