[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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