[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 29 (Tuesday, March 17, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2138-S2139]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          AMENDMENTS SUBMITTED

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            THE PARENT AND STUDENT SAVINGS ACCOUNT PLUS ACT

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                       CONRAD AMENDMENT NO. 2016

  (Ordered to lie on the table.)
  Mr. CONRAD submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to 
the bill (S. 1133) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow 
tax-free expenditures from education individual retirement accounts for 
elementary and secondary school expenses and to increase the maximum 
annual amount of contributions to such accounts; as follows:

       On page 11, strike lines 5 through 10, and insert the 
     following:
       (d) Modification of Adjusted Gross Income Limitation.--
     Section 530(c)(1) (relating to reduction in permitted 
     contributions based on adjusted gross income) is amended to 
     read as follows:
       ``(1) In general.--In the case of a contributor who is an 
     individual, the maximum amount the contributor could 
     otherwise make to an account under this section shall be 
     reduced by an amount which bears the same ratio to such 
     maximum amount as--
       ``(A) the excess of--
       ``(i) the contributor's modified adjusted gross income for 
     such taxable year, over
       ``(ii) $60,000 ($80,000 in the case of a joint return and 
     $40,000 in the case of a married individual filing 
     separately), bears to
       ``(B) $15,000 ($10,000 in the case of a joint return and 
     $5,000 in the case of a married individual filing 
     separately).''
       On page 19, between lines 5 and 6, insert the following:

     SEC. 106. CREDIT FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PROGRAM 
                   EXPENSES.

       (a) In General.--Subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of 
     chapter 1 (relating to business-related credits) is amended 
     by adding at the end the following new section:

     ``SEC. 45D. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PROGRAM EXPENSES.

       ``(a) General Rule.--For purposes of section 38, in the 
     case of an employer, the information technology training 
     program credit determined under this section is an amount 
     equal to 20 percent of information technology training 
     program expenses paid or incurred by the taxpayer during the 
     taxable year.
       ``(b) Additional Credit Percentage for Certain Programs.--
     The percentage under subsection (a) shall be increased by 5 
     percentage points for information technology training program 
     expenses paid or incurred by the taxpayer with respect to a 
     program operated in--
       ``(1) an empowerment zone or enterprise community 
     designated under part I of subchapter U,
       ``(2) a school district in which at least 50 percent of the 
     students attending schools in such district are eligible for 
     free or reduced-cost lunches under the school lunch program 
     established under the National School Lunch Act, or
       ``(3) an area designated as a disaster area by the 
     Secretary of Agriculture or by the President under the 
     Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act in the taxable 
     year or the 4 preceding taxable years.
       ``(c) Limitation.--The amount of information technology 
     training program expenses with respect to an employee which 
     may be taken into account under subsection (a) for the 
     taxable year shall not exceed $6,000.
       ``(d) Information Technology Training Program Expenses.--
     For purposes of this section--
       ``(1) In general.--The term `information technology 
     training program expenses' means expenses incurred by reason 
     of the participation of the employer in any information 
     technology training program in partnership with State 
     training programs, school districts, and university systems.
       ``(2) Information technology.--The term `information 
     technology' means the study, design, development, 
     implementation, support, or management of computer-based 
     information systems, including software applications and 
     computer hardware.''
       (b) Credit To Be Part of General Business Credit.--Section 
     38(b) (relating to current year business credit) is amended 
     by striking ``plus'' at the end of paragraph (11), by 
     striking the period at the end of paragraph (12) and 
     inserting ``, plus'', and by adding at the end the following 
     new paragraph:
       ``(13) the information technology training program credit 
     determined under section 45D.''
       (c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for subpart 
     D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 is amended by 
     adding at the end the following new item:

``Sec. 45D. Information technology training program expenses.''

       (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section 
     shall apply to amounts paid or incurred after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act in taxable years ending after such 
     date.

  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I submit an amendment to S. 1133, the 
Parent and Student Savings Account Plus Act.
  The amendment that I am offering today would extend tax credits to 
businesses that train workers in information technology skills. The 
credit would be equal to twenty percent of the information training 
expenses provided by a company; however, these expenses could not 
exceed $6,000 in a taxable year. The percentage of the credit would 
increase by five percent to twenty five percent for a business that 
operates a training program in an empowerment zone or enterprise 
community, a school district where fifty percent of students are 
eligible for the school lunch program, or in an area designated by the 
President or Secretary of Agriculture as a disaster zone. This 
amendment would be paid for by reducing the top of the phase-out range 
of the education IRA to $90,000 for joint filers and $75,000 for 
individuals.

[[Page S2139]]

  The intent of my amendment is to encourage businesses to retrain 
current employees who may be about to be discharged, to retrain 
unemployed workers, and to encourage businesses to enter into 
partnerships with schools, job training programs or universities to 
train students and workers in computer and information technology 
skills. As I noted earlier, a higher tax credit would be extended to a 
business that establishes a training program or partnership in an area 
where unemployment or poverty is high.
  Mr. President, several months ago--January 12, 1998--Vice President 
Gore, while meeting with information technology executives in 
California, announced a series of Administration actions to meet the 
growing demand for information technology workers. The Vice President 
cited reports by several federal agencies including the Department of 
Commerce, that the demand for computer scientists, engineers, and 
systems analysts will double over the next decade. Industry spokesmen 
representing the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) 
confirm that the current shortage of information technology workers is 
approximately 346,000. This shortage includes programmers, systems 
analysts and computer engineers.
  For the information technology industry this shortage is threatening 
the competitiveness of U.S. companies. As ITAA President Harris Miller 
commented in January, ``Technical talent is the rocket fuel of the 
information age. As an information-intensive society, we cannot afford 
to stand by as the next wave in our economic future departs for foreign 
shores. Empty classroom seats, a poor professional image, and other 
factors are conspiring to rewrite an American success story. We must 
solve this problem''.
  Mr. President, this matter is critical for the IT industry as further 
evidenced by a hearing held last month in response to industry concerns 
over this critical shortage of workers. The hearing focused on the need 
to amend current immigration law to raise the annual cap--currently set 
at 65,000--for temporary visas for highly skilled workers. This may be 
a short term solution to the IT worker shortage; however, it is not the 
long term answer to this problem. American workers and students must 
have opportunities to learn these new skills whether through 
partnerships, education or retaining programs.
  Mr. President. That is the purpose of my amendment--to encourage more 
opportunities for American students and workers in the IT field. I hope 
that my colleagues will support this critical amendment. We can no 
longer rely on merely adjusting immigration quotas to meet the skilled 
IT worker shortage.

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