[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1702 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1702

    To reallocate funds toward sensible priorities such as improved 
   children's education, increased children's access to health care, 
expanded job training, and increased energy efficiency and conservation 
    through a reduction of wasteful defense spending, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 26, 2007

  Ms. Woolsey (for herself, Ms. Lee, Mr. Kucinich, Ms. Jackson-Lee of 
 Texas, Ms. Kilpatrick, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Serrano, Mr. 
  Stark, Mr. Becerra, Ms. Carson, Mrs. Christensen, Mr. Ellison, Mr. 
    Filner, Mr. Gutierrez, Mr. Hinchey, Mr. Honda, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. 
     McDermott, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Rush, Ms. Solis, and Ms. Watson) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
    Armed Services, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and 
Commerce, Education and Labor, Homeland Security, Foreign Affairs, and 
 Veterans' Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To reallocate funds toward sensible priorities such as improved 
   children's education, increased children's access to health care, 
expanded job training, and increased energy efficiency and conservation 
    through a reduction of wasteful defense spending, and for other 
                               purposes.

    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 ``Common Sense Budget Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Department of Defense's increasingly large budget 
        provides for total defense spending that is greater than that 
        of the other 192 countries in the world combined, yet--
                    (A) the United States now ranks 42nd in the world 
                in infant mortality, behind most of the nations of 
                Western Europe and the industrialized Far East, while 
                $60,000,000,000 of the United States defense budget is 
                expended annually on weapons designed to thwart Soviet 
                Union aggression during the Cold War and other wasteful 
                programs;
                    (B) Federal spending on elementary and secondary 
                education has fallen to less than 8 percent of the 
                proposed 2008 outlays for the Department of Defense, 
                while schools throughout the Nation are eliminating 
                programs in music, foreign language, and physical 
                education;
                    (C) 46,000,000 individuals in the United States 
                lack health insurance during some period of any given 
                year, and half that number of individuals (over 
                9,000,000 of whom are children) lack such insurance for 
                the entire year;
                    (D) the Government Accountability Office estimates 
                that--
                            (i) \1/3\ of the Nation's public schools, 
                        serving 14,000,000 children, need extensive 
                        repair or need to have their entire physical 
                        plants replaced;
                            (ii) 85 percent of the Nation's public 
                        schools, 73,000 facilities serving 40,000,000 
                        children, need some repair work; and
                            (iii) the total cost for the repairs and 
                        replacement described in this subparagraph is 
                        over $120,000,000,000;
                    (E) research conducted by the National Center for 
                Education Statistics shows that middle school students 
                in the United States rank 9th in science test scores 
                and 15th in math test scores internationally, behind 
                students in such countries as the Republic of Korea, 
                the Slovak Republic, Singapore, the Russian Federation, 
                and Malaysia; and
                    (F) the Government Accountability Office estimated 
                in 2003 that the Department of Defense could not 
                account for over $1,000,000,000,000 in funds 
                appropriated to the Department of Defense.
            (2) The United States spends over $20,000,000,000 annually 
        to maintain its nuclear arsenal, although many of the weapons 
        in that arsenal no longer have practical utility. The United 
        States needs to eliminate spending on obsolete weapons systems 
        and use the funds saved to meet urgent domestic needs for 
        health care, education, job training, and increased energy 
        efficiency and conservation.
            (3) The Department of Defense is spending billions of 
        dollars developing space weapons and preparing plans to deploy 
        them, although--
                    (A) those expenditures and plans contravene White 
                House policy, in place for a decade, that emphasizes 
                arms control and nonproliferation pacts; and
                    (B) the development of those weapons is opposed by 
                many United States allies, who have rightly stated that 
                a shift in policy towards that development will create 
                an arms race in space.
            (4) The United States needs to reduce its dependence on 
        foreign oil by promoting long-term energy security through 
        greater investment in sustainable and renewable energy 
        alternatives.
            (5) The United States is facing unprecedented challenges to 
        national security and broader national interests. Sustainable 
        development and humanitarian assistance programs should be a 
        central part of United States foreign policy. To address the 
        root causes of instability and terrorism and undercut the 
        ability of terrorist organizations to recruit effectively, the 
        United States needs to address the global challenges of 
        poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, disease, and disaster by 
        increasing funding for sustainable development and humanitarian 
        assistance programs.

SEC. 3. REDUCTIONS IN AMOUNTS AVAILABLE FOR DEFENSE AND ENERGY 
              PROGRAMS.

    (a) Reductions in Amounts Available for Programs.--
            (1) Department of defense programs.--Notwithstanding any 
        other provision of law, the amounts appropriated or otherwise 
        available for fiscal year 2008 for the Department of Defense 
        shall be reduced by $47,000,000,000.
            (2) Department of energy national security programs.--
        Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the amounts 
        appropriated or otherwise available for fiscal year 2008 for 
        the Department of Energy shall be reduced by $13,000,000,000.
    (b) Domestic Programs.--From amounts made available under 
subsection (a)--
            (1) $10,000,000,000 shall be made available to carry out 
        the modernization of school facilities under section 8007(b) of 
        the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
        7707(b));
            (2) $9,000,000,000 shall be made available to carry out 
        State child health plans under title XXI of the Social Security 
        Act (42 U.S.C. 1397aa et seq.);
            (3) $5,000,000,000 shall be made available to carry out 
        employment and training activities under chapter 5 of subtitle 
        B of title I of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 
        2861 et seq.) and the Department of Labor shall determine the 
        fair apportionment of these funds on a per capita job loss 
        basis;
            (4) $10,000,000,000 shall be made available to the 
        Secretary of Energy for such programs as that Secretary may 
        specify to increase energy efficiency and conservation and 
        increase investment in sustainable and renewable energy 
        alternatives;
            (5) $13,000,000,000 shall be made available to the 
        Secretary of State for such sustainable development and 
        humanitarian assistance programs as that Secretary may specify 
        to alleviate the global challenges of poverty, illiteracy, 
        unemployment, disease, and disaster;
            (6) $5,000,000,000 shall be available to the Secretary of 
        Homeland Security to improve safeguards pursuant to the 
        Homeland Security Act of 2002;
            (7) $5,000,000,000 shall be made available to reduce the 
        deficit; and
            (8) $3,000,000,000 shall be made available for Veterans' 
        health care.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act takes effect 90 days after the date of enactment of this 
Act.
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