Congressional Record, Volume 144 Issue 78 (Tuesday, June 16, 1998)

[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 78 (Tuesday, June 16, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6405-S6423]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

By Mr. ALLARD (for himself, Mr. Brownback, and Mr. DeWine):
S. 2170. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to
eliminate the temporary increase in unemployment tax; to the Committee
on Finance.

legislation to repeal temporary unemployment tax

Mr. ALLARD. Mr. President, today I introduce legislation to repeal
the ``temporary'' 0.2 percent Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA) surtax.
The ``temporary'' surtax was enacted by Congress in 1976 to repay the
general fund of the Treasury for funds borrowed by the unemployment
trust fund. While the borrowings were repaid in 1987, Congress has
continued to extend the surtax in tax bill after tax bill.
Since 1987, Congress has used extension of the surtax to help pay for
tax packages. In fact, the surtax was most recently extended to help
pay for the 1997 tax bill.
This is unfair to small business which has been told repeatedly that
the surtax was temporary and would be

[[Page S6406]]

repealed when it was no longer needed to finance the unemployment tax
system.
The reason for the FUTA surtax no longer exists. The economy is
experiencing the highest level of employment in decades, and all state
unemployment funds have surpluses.
It is inappropriate for the government to continue to raise surplus
unemployment taxes and use those surpluses for purposes totally
unrelated to the unemployment tax system.
The FUTA surtax hits small businesses hardest because they are often
labor intensive. Any payroll tax is added directly to the employer's
payroll costs, and payroll taxes must be paid whether the business has
a profit or loss.
Mr. President, prior to my election to the House of Representatives
in 1990, I ran a small business. I am well aware of payroll taxes and
the burden that they can place on a business.
The unemployment surtax was in place when I ran my small business.
I suspect that my view of the surtax is similar to the view of most
small business owners. It is one thing to have a surtax when
unemployment is high. It is totally unjustified when unemployment is at
the lowest level in three decades.
What really upsets small business owners is the fact that the
government is breaking its commitment that the surtax would be
temporary. This is not the way the federal government should do
business.
Repeal of the 0.2 percent surtax will reduce the tax burden on
employers and workers by $6 billion over the next five years.
Lower payroll taxes mean higher wages for workers. While the employer
appears to fully pay the unemployment surtax and other payroll taxes,
the economic evidence is strong that the cost of payroll taxes is
passed on to workers in form of lower wages.
Consistent tax relief will help to ensure that our economy remains
the strongest and most competitive in the world. Low taxes reduce
unemployment and help ensure that future surtaxes are unnecessary.
Mr. President, I ask that the text of the bill be printed in the
Record along with several charts showing the level of State
Unemployment System Reserves from 1991-1997.
There being no objection, the items were ordered to be printed in the
Record, as follows:

S. 2170

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

SECTION 1. REPEAL OF TEMPORARY UNEMPLOYMENT TAX.

Section 3301 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating
to rate of unemployment tax) is amended--
(1) by striking ``2007'' in paragraph (1) and inserting
``1998'';and
(2) by striking ``2008'' in paragraph (2) and inserting
``1999''.
____

STATE UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION SYSTEM RESERVES AND RATIO OF RESERVES TO TOTAL WAGES BY STATE AND YEAR, 1991-1995
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Net reserves as of Dec. 31 of each year (thousands) Ratio of year-end reserves to total wages
---------------------------------------------------------------------- (percent)
State --------------------------------------------
1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama.............................. $534,470 $551,842 $570,118 $550,280 $585,725 1.61 1.77 1.94 1.96 2.24
Alaska............................... 201,017 210,563 227,911 232,320 243,155 3.56 3.81 4.32 4.57 4.98
Arizona.............................. 534,640 432,449 368,782 372,423 437,667 1.48 1.33 1.26 1.36 1.71
Arkansas............................. 200,866 169,795 134,432 81,340 103,629 1.12 1.02 0.87 0.55 0.76
California........................... 2,104,220 2,092,695 2,450,402 2,786,713 4,190,197 0.68 0.72 0.87 0.99 1.52
Colorado............................. 480,582 434,482 390,435 339,246 312,036 1.22 1.21 1.15 1.10 1.09
Connecticut.......................... 116,692 3,311 1,062 (653,215) (353,767) 0.27 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00
Delaware............................. 271,807 244,013 225,943 218,719 223,685 3.24 3.14 3.05 3.04 3.20
District of Columbia................. 68,636 41,141 5,937 (19,286) 12,465 0.57 0.35 0.05 0.00 0.12
Florida.............................. 1,806,432 1,621,614 1,505,570 1,443,603 1,691,814 1.53 1.47 1.45 1.47 1.84
Georgia.............................. 1,453,118 1,281,507 1,094,999 965,870 962,324 2.03 1.95 1.79 1.68 1.81
Hawaii............................... 213,496 232,859 310,155 362,123 420,991 2.07 2.26 3.01 3.57 4.39
Idaho................................ 243,090 245,096 247,823 240,141 243,573 2.88 3.14 3.49 3.67 4.09
Illinois............................. 1,629,210 1,247,066 851,918 847,622 1,172,283 1.22 0.99 0.71 0.74 1.08
Indiana.............................. 1,228,070 1,132,343 1,024,658 941,632 899,139 2.16 2.11 2.05 1.99 2.02
Iowa................................. 725,149 708,450 655,066 615,474 594,626 3.10 3.23 3.20 3.16 3.27
Kansas............................... 704,008 735,717 658,053 605,827 571,904 2.77 3.20 3.03 2.89 2.91
Kentucky............................. 470,826 425,682 402,311 364,287 357,940 1.61 1.55 1.57 1.49 1.58
Louisiana............................ 1,003,378 868,819 689,382 600.917 559,975 3.15 2.92 2.47 2.22 2.15
Maine................................ 95,289 74,621 51,403 35,108 77,553 1.06 0.87 0.62 0.44 1.01
Maryland............................. 605,415 408,994 219,071 145,839 224,970 1.36 0.96 0.54 0.37 0.59
Massachusetts........................ 527,273 184,933 (115,987) (379,918) (234,742) 0.70 0.26 0.00 0.00 0.00
Michigan............................. 1,497,688 866,906 364,530 (72,492) (166,509) 1.45 0.90 0.42 0.00 0.00
Minnesota............................ 459,621 369,776 257,584 224,091 309,473 0.94 0.80 0.59 0.54 0.80
Mississippi.......................... 551,318 490,392 410,259 345,352 348,593 3.19 2.98 2.74 2.48 2.69
Missouri............................. 196,933 118,466 (7,749) 3,101 199,473 0.40 0.26 0.00 0.01 0.30
Montana.............................. 122,242 110,910 104,415 96,370 91,119 2.08 1.95 1.91 1.87 1.91
Nebraska............................. 194,283 188,365 171,938 160,713 146,184 1.45 1.51 1.49 1.46 1.42
Nevada............................... 297,866 289,804 238,398 233,667 295,919 1.69 1.70 1.68 1.79 2.46
New Hampshire........................ 250,884 211,580 164,455 129,582 127,995 2.25 2.06 1.71 1.38 1.46
New Jersey........................... 1,987,790 1,947,033 1,965,236 2,439,970 2,564,278 2.06 2.12 2.23 2.86 3.16
New Mexico........................... 354,874 317,264 271,194 238,999 220,932 3.25 3.13 2.91 2.77 2.73
New York............................. 248,978 190,467 129,409 213,914 1,191,450 0.12 0.10 0.07 0.12 0.69
North Carolina....................... 1,531,117 1,555,329 1,514,674 1,387,170 1,373,719 2.27 2.49 2.60 2.52 2.70
North Dakota......................... 57,415 58,641 56,267 50,306 50,914 1.41 1.55 1.59 1.51 1.64
Ohio................................. 1,600,533 1,166,837 845,054 602,464 647,410 1.46 1.13 0.88 0.65 0.74
Oklahoma............................. 521,683 474,866 437,800 418,907 426,398 2.32 2.21 2.13 2.10 2.24
Oregon............................... 905,985 994,533 1,096,695 1,054,524 1,043,810 3.21 3.86 4.63 4.71 4.98
Pennsylvania......................... 1,914,777 1,518,999 1,105,425 807,828 1,155,988 1.78 1.48 1.12 0.84 1.26
Puerto Rico.......................... 634,291 674,663 730,873 749,255 750,020 6.71 7.54 8.39 9.05 9.64
Rhode Island......................... 110,086 119,262 119,294 104,498 143,617 1.33 1.51 1.56 1.41 2.03
South Carolina....................... 556,650 502,237 467,494 433,442 455,097 1.84 1.79 1.77 1.73 1.92
South Dakota......................... 51,622 51,208 49,773 50,416 49,701 1.09 1.16 1.23 1.34 1.45
Tennessee............................ 822,821 747,477 672,261 603,130 612,653 1.66 1.62 1.58 1.50 1.67
Texas................................ 584,866 480,322 445,633 586,472 942,734 0.34 0.30 0.30 0.41 0.69
Utah................................. 468,030 411,411 366,524 342,146 327,893 2.93 2.86 2.82 2.83 2.96
Vermont.............................. 206,720 195,418 183,025 180,730 192,675 4.51 4.51 4.37 4.49 5.05
Virginia............................. 788,787 658,588 553,441 506,641 591,166 1.27 1.13 1.01 0.97 1.19
Virgin Islands....................... 40,064 40,843 51,575 47,416 43,241 6.86 6.67 6.60 7.32 7.31
Washington........................... 1,417,701 1,565,417 1,743,146 1,766,006 1,707,604 2.93 3.45 4.05 4.18 4.40
West Virginia........................ 164,036 161,671 154,512 140,517 157,124 1.44 1.47 1.49 1.38 1.62
Wisconsin............................ 1,503,641 1,400,119 1,241,918 1,194,553 1,171,822 3.06 3.03 2.87 2.90 3.07
Wyoming.............................. 142,310 136,755 127,332 109,826 98,952 4.22 4.15 4.08 3.71 3.48
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total.......................... 35,403,296 31,343,551 28,187,816 27,111,772 31,494,605 1.40 1.32 1.25 1,25 1.49
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Difference between detail and totals due to rounding 1995 data subject to revision. Ratio of reserves to wages not calculated for States with negative
balances.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor. Prepared by the National Foundation for U.C. & W.C., June 1997.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION BY STATE FOR CY96.4, 1996
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Revenue (12 Total Loans/
State mos) (in TF Balance (in Mos. in loans (in cov.
thousands) thousands) TF thousands) employee
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
United States................................. $23,009,990 $38,631,922 21.3 $0 $0.00
-----------------------------------------------------------------

[[Page S6407]]

Alabama....................................... 134,029 483,472 27.3 0 0.00
Alaska........................................ 109,089 194,188 19.8 0 0.00
Arizona....................................... 223,143 627,059 46.3 0 0.00
Arkansas...................................... 169,670 202,784 13.0 0 0.00
California.................................... 3,590,823 2,877,452 11.7 0 0.00
Colorado...................................... 187,897 510,956 32.5 0 0.00
Connecticut................................... 592,538 277,861 7.4 0 0.00
Delaware...................................... 68,409 258,468 31.9 0 0.00
Dist. of Colum................................ 133,380 99,368 12.2 0 0.00
Florida....................................... 677,796 1,947,557 35.2 0 0.00
Georgia....................................... 382,294 1,634,073 67.0 0 0.00
Hawaii........................................ 179,540 211,267 13.3 0 0.00
Idaho......................................... 105,900 266,228 32.1 0 0.00
Illinois...................................... 1,199,050 1,638,560 15.2 0 0.00
Indiana....................................... 238,343 1,273,086 58.0 0 0.00
Iowa.......................................... 133,905 718,845 45.9 0 0.00
Kansas........................................ 42,487 651,074 52.6 0 0.00
Kentucky...................................... 234,997 501,304 25.7 0 0.00
Louisana...................................... 204,469 1,131,052 94.7 0 0.00
Maine......................................... 122,601 112,122 12.5 0 0.00
Maryland...................................... 421,722 690,786 22.9 0 0.00
Massachusetts................................. 1,130,136 914,631 14.0 0 0.00
Michigan...................................... 1,233,803 1,830,928 21.8 0 0.00
Minnesota..................................... 386,523 513,033 16.4 0 0.00
Mississippi................................... 99,520 553,222 50.0 0 0.00
Missouri...................................... 381,576 307,507 12.8 0 0.00
Montana....................................... 58,841 125,900 24.9 0 0.00
Nebraska...................................... 41,748 195,210 44.8 0 0.00
Nevada........................................ 177,064 348,278 28.6 0 0.00
New Hampshire................................. 41,781 268,011 91.7 0 0.00
New Jersey.................................... 1,448,896 2,028,818 18.1 0 0.00
New Mexico.................................... 85,729 385,531 59.6 0 0.00
New York...................................... 2,211,440 470,400 2.8 0 0.00
North Carolina................................ 113,075 1,335,565 39.6 0 0.00
North Dakota.................................. 24,364 50,072 19.1 0 0.00
Ohio.......................................... 781,640 1,750,968 28.8 0 0.00
Oklahoma...................................... 128,728 563,895 64.3 0 0.00
Oregon........................................ 384,046 941,419 28.9 0 0.00
Pennsylvania.................................. 1,612,406 2,031,947 14.9 0 0.00
Puerto Rico................................... 149,262 595,703 31.8 0 0.00
Rhode Island.................................. 184,004 116,240 7.4 0 0.00
South Carolina................................ 208,829 603,410 36.2 0 0.00
South Dakota.................................. 12,291 49,542 39.9 0 0.00
Tennessee..................................... 284,220 826,526 30.8 0 0.00
Texas......................................... 1,014,460 642,233 7.7 0 0.00
Utah.......................................... 96,262 523,880 89.2 0 0.00
Vermont....................................... 48,595 218,259 49.5 0 0.00
Virginia...................................... 260,890 897,198 55.4 0 0.00
Virgin Islands................................ 9,345 42,069 51.5 0 0.00
Washington.................................... 644,606 1,332,508 19.7 0 0.00
West Virginia................................. 130,182 157,345 12.8 0 0.00
Wisconsin..................................... 445,248 1,556,922 37.2 0 0.00
Wyoming....................................... 28,401 147,087 54.0 0 0.00
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FINANCIAL INFORMATION BY STATE FOR CYQ, 1997
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Revenues, TF as
last 12 TF balance percent
State months (in (in of total
thousands) thousands) wages \1\
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama............................ $140,978 $451,425 1.21
Alaska............................. 131,645 202,416 3.46
Arizona............................ 224,651 741,050 1.70
Arkansas........................... 183,101 204,319 1.03
California......................... 3,367,845 3,737,815 1.05
Colorado........................... 198,748 574,413 1.22
Connecticut........................ 637,125 532,692 1.06
Delaware........................... 75,692 279,173 2.86
District of Col.................... 132,481 135,627 0.94
Florida............................ 685,668 2,090,222 1.55
Georgia............................ 350,964 1,797,102 2.13
Hawaii............................. 186,510 216,658 2.04
Idaho.............................. 99,412 280,382 3.00
Illinois........................... 1,226,328 1,742,968 1.16
Indiana............................ 268,016 1,362,463 2.15
Iowa............................... 144,156 727,327 2.79
Kansas............................. 46,633 606,735 2.16
Kentucky........................... 269,075 571,366 1.71
Louisiana.......................... 213,963 1,275,668 3.55
Maine.............................. 118,089 136,019 1.35
Maryland........................... 349,967 720,552 1.42
Massachusetts...................... 1,222,144 1,446,164 1.64
Michigan........................... 1,184,719 2,222,714 1.93
Minnesota.......................... 398,707 564,628 0.98
Mississippi........................ 166,992 563,901 2.95
Missouri........................... 381,802 417,706 0.75
Montana............................ 65,306 135,604 2.11
Nebraska........................... 57,932 205,727 1.33
Nevada............................. 224,837 387,888 1.79
New Hampshire...................... 26,426 278,296 2.16
New Jersey......................... 1,459,837 2,384,916 2.21
New Mexico......................... 99,244 431,159 3.61
New York........................... 2,402,806 990,176 0.43
North Carolina..................... 253,942 1,301,184 1.67
North Dakota....................... 26,246 38,057 0.83
Ohio............................... 719,622 1,874,943 1.53
Oklahoma........................... 107,585 608,942 2.36
Oregon............................. 462,961 1,068,843 3.13
Pennsylvania....................... 1,587,542 2,253,703 1.87
Puerto Rico........................ 203,816 586,659 5.30
Rhode Island....................... 248,423 160,044 1.78
South Carolina..................... 219,733 687,060 2.02
South Dakota....................... 14,186 48,939 0.91
Tennessee.......................... 296,749 847,842 1.52
Texas.............................. 1,014,596 706,577 0.35
Utah............................... 97,876 572,849 2.97
Vermont............................ 50,047 233,537 4.59
Virgin Islands..................... 7,693 45,434 6.82
Virginia........................... 222,448 979,376 1.35
Washington......................... 810,440 1,447,195 2.42
West Virginia...................... 139,030 165,917 1.37
Wisconsin.......................... 475,595 1,632,214 2.95
Wyoming............................ 31,217 158,573 4.26
------------------------------------
United States...................... 23,731,544 43,833,157 1.51
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Based on estimatd wages for the most recent 12 months.

______

By Mr. BOND:
S. 2173. A bill to amend the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to provide
for research and development of assistance technology and universally
designed technology, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Labor
and Human Resources.

ASSISTIVE AND UNIVERSALLY DESIGNED TECHNOLOGY IMPROVEMENT ACT FOR
INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, today I am introducing a bill which will
improve assistive and universally designed technology research and
development and increase access to this technology for all Americans
with disabilities.

Assistive and universally designed technology provides a disabled
individual the means to function better in the workplace or the home.
Assistive and universally designed technology is technology that aids
the millions of Americans with physical or mental disabilities. For
example, assistive technology can mean a computer that can be used by
an individual with Cerebral Palsy, a hearing aid for an aging
individual or enhanced voice recognition for someone with Multiple
Sclerosis, while universally designed technology can mean closed
captioning for the deaf or for patrons in crowded restaurants and
accessability ramps for individuals in wheelchairs or mothers with
strollers.
A year ago my office was approached by a small business owner and
Missouri's United Cerebral Palsy asking for support for testing of a
breakthrough in Voice Recognition technology. During my search to find
an appropriate place for funding for this voice recognition technology,
my staff and I became familiar with the overall government efforts in
this area.
There are many significant problems in the federal government's
efforts in assistive technology research and development. My finding's
were validated by a recent report from the National Academy of
Sciences' Institute of Medicine, ``Enabling America: Assessing the Role
of Rehabilitation Science and Engineering,'' which stressed that the
federal government's efforts in this area are lacking awareness,
funding, and coordination.

[[Page S6408]]

My distinguished colleague in the House, Congresswoman Connie
Morella, Chairwoman of the House Science's Subcommittee on Technology,
joins me today in introducing the Assistive and Universally Designed
Technology Improvement Act for Individuals with Disabilities.
The Act provides federally supported incentives in all areas of
assistive and universally designed technology, including need
identification, research and development, product evaluation,
technology transfer, and commercialization. These incentives achieve
the goal of improving the quality, functional capability, distribution,
and affordability of this essential technology.
This legislation does several things.
First, the bill includes an improved peer review process at the
National Institute on Disability Research and Rehabilitation (NIDRR) at
the Department of Education. This provision requires standing peer
review panels and clarifies the evaluation of applications for funding
of assistive and universally designed technology. These improvements
provide more assistive and universally designed technology products to
the marketplace, increase small business involvement in research and
development, and assure research and development efforts cover all
disability groups including persons with physical and mental
disabilities as well as the aging and rural technology users.
Second, the legislation augments technology transfer through
improving the role of the Interagency Committee on Disability Research
(ICDR) by increasing its authority, accountability and ability to
coordinate. Provisions are included for increased usage of the Federal
labs to improve coordination with all Federal agencies involved in
assistive and universally designed technology research and development
and for providing public and private sector partnerships for assistive
and universally designed technology research and development.

Third, to increase the market for assistive technology, the bill
clarifies Title III of the Tech Act for the Microloan program. This
microloan program assists disabled persons in obtaining assistive and
universally designed technology.
Fourth, funds are authorized for the Interagency Committee on
Disability Research to hire staff and for operating costs associated
with issuing surveys and reports. Additionally, $10 million in funds
are authorized for the National Institute on Disability Research and
Rehabilitation to provide for assistive and universally designed
technology research and development.
Finally, to increase access to assistive and universally designed
technology, tax incentives are included to provide businesses a tax
credit for the development of assistive technology, to expand the
architectural and transportation barrier removal deduction to include
communication barriers, and to expand the work opportunity credit to
include expenses incurred in the acquisition of technology to
facilitate the employment of any individual with a disability.
These tax incentives and micro loans will assist individuals with
disabilities to obtain assistive and universally designed technology in
order to improve their quality of life, to secure and maintain
employment, and to assist small businesses in complying with Americans
with Disabilities Act requirements, which in effect, results in
lessened financial burdens on society.
As technology increasingly plays a role in the lives of all persons
in the United States, in the conduct of business, in the functioning of
government, in the fostering of communication, in the transforming of
employment, and in the provision of education, it also greatly impacts
the lives of the more than 50 million individuals with disabilities in
the United States.
An agenda, including support for universal design, represents the
only effective means for guaranteeing the benefits of technology to all
persons in the United States, regardless of disability or age, in
addition to assuring for United States industry the continued growth in
markets that will warrant continued high levels of innovation and
research.
This legislation has the support of many organizations, including:
The Missouri Assistive Technology Advisory Council, the United Cerebral
Palsy Association, the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive
Technology Society of North America, the National Easter Seal Society,
and the Association of Tech Act Projects.
The bill also has broad bipartisan and bicameral support. My
colleagues, Senator Jeffords, Senator Harkin, Senator Grassley, and
Congresswoman Connie Morella have been very helpful in my efforts to
improve the role of the federal government in assistive and universally
designed technology.
Let me conclude by taking special note of the help of the National
and Missouri United Cerebral Palsy, as well as the Missouri Assistive
Technology Project, the Federal Laboratory Consortium, and the numerous
assistive and universally designed technology and disability community
advocate organizations, for their assistance in developing and
advocating this legislation.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill, the amendment I
submit today, and letters of support be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the items were ordered to be printed in the
Record, as follows:

S. 2173

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 ``Assistive and Universally
Designed Technology Improvement Act for Individuals with
Disabilities''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:
(1) The area of assistive technology is greatly overlooked
by the Federal Government and the private sector. While
assistive technology's importance spans age and disability
classifications, assistive technology does not maintain the
recognition in the Federal Government necessary to provide
important assistance for research and development programs or
to individuals with disabilities. The private sector lacks
adequate incentives to produce assistive technology, and end-
users lack adequate resources to acquire assistive
technology.
(2) As technology has come to play an increasingly
important role in the lives of all persons in the United
States, in the conduct of business, in the functioning of
government, in the fostering of communication, in the conduct
of commerce, in the transformation of employment, and in the
provision of education, technology's impact upon the lives of
the more than 50,000,000 individuals with disabilities in the
United States has been comparable to technology's impact upon
the remainder of our Nation's citizens. No development in
mainstream technology can be imagined that will not have
profound implications for individuals with disabilities.
(3) In a technological environment, the line of demarcation
between assistive and mainstream technology becomes ever more
difficult to draw, and the decisions made by the designers of
mainstream equipment and services will increasingly determine
whether and to what extent the equipment and services can be
accessed and used by individuals with disabilities.
(4) A commitment to assistive technology, while remaining
important, cannot alone ensure access to technology and
communications networks by individuals with disabilities. An
agenda, including support for universal design, represents
the only effective means for guaranteeing the benefits of
technology to all persons in the United States, regardless of
disability or age, and for assuring for United States
industry the continued growth in markets that will warrant
continued high levels of innovation and research.
(5) The Federal Government needs to make improvements to
peer review processes that affect assistive technology
research and development.
(6) There are insufficient links between federally funded
assistive technology research and development programs and
the private sector entities responsible for translating
research and development into significant new products in the
marketplace for end-users.
(7) The Federal Government does not provide assistive
technology that is universally designed and targets older and
rural assistive technology end-users.
(8) The Federal Government does not coordinate all Federal
assistive technology research and development.
(9) Small businesses, which provide many innovative ideas
for assistive technology and provide the vast majority of
research and development efforts that lead to viable
commercial assistive technology products, are not utilized in
Federal assistive technology research and development efforts
to the extent that small businesses may play a key role in
assistive technology research and development. In addition,
small businesses lack access to the resources of the Federal
laboratories and would benefit from partnerships with the
Federal laboratories.
(10) Many more individuals with disabilities could secure
and maintain employment and move from income supports to
competitive work if given the ability to purchase assistive
technology. Tax incentives for businesses to purchase
assistive technology for

[[Page S6409]]

their employees, and micro loans for individuals to purchase
assistive technology, help individuals with disabilities
improve their quality of life. Such incentives and loans lead
to more productive lives, while lessening the financial
burdens on society.

SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

The purposes of this Act are--
(1) to improve the quality, functional capability,
distribution, and affordability of assistive technology and
universally designed technology, through federally supported
incentives for all the participants in need identification,
research and development, product evaluation, technology
transfer, and commercialization, for such technologies, to
enhance quality of life and ability to obtain employment for
all individuals with disabilities;
(2) to clarify the role of the National Institute on
Disability and Rehabilitation Research at the Department of
Education so as to provide for better peer reviews;
(3) to improve coordination of Federal assistive technology
research and development by strengthening the Interagency
Committee on Disability Research;
(4) to prioritize assistive technology research,
development, and dissemination efforts to match the needs of
the underserved assistive technology end-users such as older
and rural end-users;
(5) to increase the use of universal design in the
commercial development of standard products;
(6) to incorporate the principles of universal design in
the development of assistive technology;
(7) to increase usage of the Small Business Innovative
Research Program as defined in section 9(e) of the Small
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(e));
(8) to improve coordination between the Federal
laboratories and the members of the Interagency Committee on
Disability Research;
(9) to improve the transfer of technology from mission-
oriented applications in Federal laboratories to assistive
technology applications in research and development programs,
and to transfer prototype assistive technology products from
federally sponsored programs to the private sector;
(10) to increase the availability of assistive technology
products and universally designed technology products in the
marketplace for the end-users; and
(11) to create tax incentives and micro loans to assist
individuals with disabilities to obtain assistive technology
and universally designed technology in order to improve their
quality of life and to secure and maintain employment.

SEC. 4. PEER REVIEW PROCESS.

Title II of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 761a
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 206. PEER REVIEW PROCESS.

``(a) Peer Review Panels.--
``(1) Composition.--
``(A) In general.--The Director shall establish a peer
review process, involving peer review panels composed of
members appointed by the Director, for the review of
applications for grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements
under this title for research and development of assistive
technology and universally designed technology.
``(B) Duration.--The members of such a peer review panel
shall serve for terms of 3 years, except that the members
initially appointed may serve for shorter terms.
``(C) Member terms.--Members of a peer review panel shall
serve staggered terms so as to provide for institutional
memory and experience at all times.
``(D) Selection and appointment.--
``(i) In general.--Members of peer review panels shall be
selected and appointed based upon their training and
experience in relevant scientific or technical fields, taking
into account, among other factors--

``(I) the level of formal scientific or technical education
completed or experience acquired by an individual;
``(II) the extent to which the individual has engaged in
relevant research, the capacities (such as principal
investigator or assistant) in which the individual has so
engaged, and the quality of such research;
``(III) the recognition of the individual, as reflected by
awards and other honors received from scientific and
professional organizations outside the Department of
Education; and
``(IV) the need for a panel to include experts from various
areas or specializations within the fields of assistive
technology and universally designed technology.

``(ii) Special rules.--To the extent practicable, the peer
review panels shall have, collectively, a significant number
of members who are individuals with disabilities, and the
members of the panels shall reflect the population of the
United States as a whole in terms of gender, race, and
ethnicity.
``(E) Officers and employees of the federal government.--
Not more than \1/4\ of the members of any peer review panel
may be officers or employees of the Federal Government. For
purposes of the preceding sentence, an individual who is a
member of a peer review panel shall not, by virtue of such
service, be considered to be an officer or employee of the
Federal Government.
``(2) Conflict of interest.--
``(A) In general.--No member of a peer review panel may
participate in or be present during any review by the peer
review panel of an application for a grant, contract, or
cooperative agreement, in which, to the member's knowledge,
any of the following has a financial interest:
``(i) The member of the panel or the member's spouse,
parent, child, or business partner.
``(ii) Any organization with which the member or the
member's spouse, parent, child, or business partner is
negotiating or has any arrangement concerning employment or
any other similar association.
``(B) Disqualified panel.--In the event any member of a
peer review panel or the member's spouse, parent, child, or
business partner is currently, or is expected to be, the
principal investigator or a member of the staff responsible
for carrying out any research or development activities
described in an application for a grant, contract, or
cooperative agreement, the Secretary shall disqualify the
panel from reviewing the application and ensure that the
review will be conducted by another peer review panel with
the expertise to conduct the review. If there is no other
panel with the requisite expertise, the Secretary shall
ensure that the review will be conducted by an ad hoc panel
of members of the peer review panels, not more than 50
percent of whom may be from the disqualified panel.
``(C) Prohibition.--No member of a peer review panel may
participate in or be present during any review under this
title of a specific application for a grant, contract, or
cooperative agreement for an activity for which the member
has had or is expected to have any other responsibility or
involvement (either before or after the grant, contract, or
cooperative agreement was awarded for the activity) as an
officer or employee of the Federal Government.
``(3) Availability of information.--Transcripts, minutes,
and other documents made available to or prepared for or by a
peer review panel shall be available for public inspection
and copying to the extent provided in section 552 of title 5,
United States Code (commonly known as the `Freedom of
Information Act'), the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5
U.S.C. App.), and section 552a of title 5, United States Code
(commonly known as the `Privacy Act of 1974').
``(4) Evaluation of application.--A peer review panel
shall--
``(A) evaluate applications for grants, contracts, or
cooperative agreements under this title with respect to
research and development of assistive technology and
universally designed technology to assure duplication of such
research and development does not occur across Federal
departments and agencies; and
``(B) evaluate the applications with respect to meeting
immediate needs for research and development of assistive
technology and universally designed technology in the
disabled community (as identified in data collected by the
Interagency Committee on Disability Research), through
criteria that will ensure the effectiveness of the priorities
of the Interagency Committee for such research and
development.
``(5) Application review criteria.--In carrying out a
review of an application for a grant, contract, or
cooperative agreement with respect to research and
development of assistive technology or universally designed
technology under this section, the peer review panel, among
other factors, shall take into account--
``(A) the need for research and development of assistive
technology and universally designed technology that
facilitates individuals with disabilities obtaining
employment;
``(B) the need to allocate amounts of assistance through
grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements for research and
development of assistive technology and universally designed
technology in a manner proportionate to need for assistive
technology and universally designed technology, and
proportionate to the population of disability groups,
including individuals with physical disabilities, individuals
with cognitive disabilities, older individuals with
disabilities, and rural assistive technology and universally
designed technology end-users;
``(C) the significance and originality from a scientific or
technical standpoint of the goals of the proposed research
and development;
``(D) the adequacy of the methodology proposed to carry out
the research and development;
``(E) the qualifications and experience of the proposed
principal investigator and staff for the research and
development;
``(F) the reasonable availability of resources necessary to
the research and development;
``(G) the reasonableness of the proposed budget and the
duration in relation to the proposed research and
development;
``(H) if an application involves activities that may have
an adverse effect upon humans, animals, or the environment,
the adequacy of the proposed means for protecting against or
minimizing such effects;
``(I) the extent to which appropriate measures will be
taken to advance the cause of universal design through
proposed assistive technology research and development,
including the extent to which the applicant has reviewed a
variety of existing measures (as of the date of the review)
on the part of the designers and producers of assistive
technology and the providers of related services to produce
universally designed technology;
``(J) the extent to which efforts shall be made to include
small businesses in the proposed research and development of
assistive

[[Page S6410]]

technology or universally designed technology through
increased usage of the Small Business Innovative Research
Program as defined in section 9(e) of the Small Business Act
(15 U.S.C. 638(e));
``(K) the extent to which the proposed research and
development of assistive technology or universally designed
technology will result in the production of actual products
for the marketplace for assistive technology or universally
designed technology end-users;
``(L) the extent to which the applicant identifies
secondary benefits or applications of the assistive
technology or universally designed technology involved, or
agrees to make matching contributions (in cash or in kind,
fairly evaluated) toward the cost of the research and
development, in partnership with representatives of industry,
government, and educational institutions; and
``(M) the extent to which proposed research and development
of universally designed technology will result in a change in
design of standard products, so that the products are more
usable by a broad range of individuals with disabilities or
older individuals.
``(6) Compensation.--Each member of a peer review panel who
is not an officer or employee of the Federal Government shall
be compensated at a rate equal to the daily equivalent of the
annual rate of basic pay prescribed for level IV of the
Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5, United
States Code, for each day (including travel time) during
which such member is engaged in the performance of the duties
of the panel. All members of the panel who are officers or
employees of the Federal Government shall serve without
compensation in addition to compensation received for their
services as officers or employees of the Federal Government.
``(7) Travel expenses.--The members of the panel shall be
allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of
subsistence, at rates authorized for employees of agencies
under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United States
Code, while away from their homes or regular places of
business in the performance of services for the panel.
``(8) Termination.--Section 14 of the Federal Advisory
Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the peer
review panels.

``SEC. 207. DEFINITIONS.

``In this title:
``(1) Assistive technology.--The term `assistive
technology' means technology designed to be utilized in an
assistive technology device or assistive technology service.
``(2) Assistive technology and universally designed
technology end-user.--The term `assistive technology and
universally designed technology end-user' means any
individual with a disability who uses assistive technology or
universally designed technology to improve the quality of
life of the individual or to obtain employment, including an
individual with a physical disability, a cognitive
disability, or a sensory disability, or an older individual.
``(3) Technology transfer.--The term `technology transfer'
means the transmittal of developed ideas, products, and
techniques--
``(A) from a research environment to an environment of
practical application; or
``(B) from application in a prototype invention to mass
production in a commercial product.
``(4) Universal design.--The term `universal design' means
the design, development, fabrication, marketing, and
technical support of products, services, and environments
designed to be usable, to the greatest extent possible, by
the largest number of persons, including individuals with
disabilities and individuals without disabilities. No
product, service, or environment shall be considered to have
a universal design if use of the product, service, or
environment is substantially limited or prevented by reason
of--
``(A) a disability related to hearing, vision, learning,
strength, reach, or movement; or
``(B) the existence of any other limitation of a major life
function.''.

SEC. 5. TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER.

(a) Amendments to Provisions Relating to the Interagency
Committee on Disability Research.--Section 203 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 761b) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the following:
``(3) Each member of the Committee shall attend all
meetings of the Committee or delegate the responsibility for
attending the meetings to a designee with the authority to
commit the department or agency represented to participate in
a joint project, the authority to comment on issues on behalf
of the department or agency, and the expertise to participate
in Committee discussions.'';
(2) in subsection (b)--
(A) by inserting ``(1)'' before ``After receiving''; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
``(2) The Committee shall--
``(A) monitor the range of research and development of
assistive technology and universally designed technology
carried out by the Federal departments and agencies
represented on the Committee;
``(B) ensure that the highest quality research and
development of assistive technology and universally designed
technology (through methods such as peer review) is carried
out by the departments and agencies;
``(C) identify and establish clear research priorities for
research and development of assistive technology and
universally designed technology that will benefit individuals
with disabilities, and permit joint ventures concerning
research and development of assistive technology and
universally designed technology among the department needs
and agencies;
``(D) ensure interagency collaboration and joint research
activities and reduce unnecessary duplication of effort by
the departments and agencies;
``(E) develop effective technology transfer activities for
the departments and agencies, including activities resulting
from increased supply of assistive technology and universally
designed technology or increased demand of assistive
technology and universally designed technology end-users;
``(F) help establish and maintain the use of consistent
definitions and terminologies among the departments and
agencies, which definitions shall contribute to the
production of comparable research and to the development of
reliable statistical data across departments and agencies;
``(G) optimize the productivity of the departments and
agencies through resource sharing and other cost-saving
activities;
``(H) identify gaps in needed research and development and
make efforts to ensure that the gaps are filled by a Federal
department or agency represented on the Committee; and
``(I) collaborate with member agencies on specific projects
that need additional funding beyond the capacity of 1 Federal
department or agency represented on the Committee.'';
(3) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d);
(4) by inserting after subsection (b) the following:
``(c)(1) The Director shall establish special task forces
and subcommittees of the Committee for research and
development of assistive technology and universally designed
technology, including task forces and subcommittees related
to medical rehabilitation, technology (including universal
design), and the employment of individuals with disabilities.
``(2) The Director shall appoint 2 full-time staff members
to assist the Director in the operation of the Committee.'';
(5) in subsection (d) (as redesignated by paragraph (3))--
(A) by inserting ``(1)'' before ``The Committee''; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
``(2) The Director shall issue a biannual report announcing
the availability of the grants, contracts, or cooperative
agreements made available through Federal departments and
agencies represented on the Committee for research and
development of assistive technology and universally designed
technology.
``(3) The Director shall submit to the Commissioner for
inclusion in the annual report to Congress described in
section 13--
``(A) the results and an analysis of the activities
conducted under grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements
awarded by departments and agencies represented on the
Interagency Committee on Disability Research for research and
development of assistive technology and universally designed
technology;
``(B) a detailed summary of the activities and the
effectiveness of the Committee in expanding research
opportunities that lead to direct development of assistive
technology devices and assistive technology services; and
``(C) results of periodic surveys of manufacturers and
suppliers of assistive technology and universally designed
technology, and of assistive technology and universally
designed technology end-users.''.
(b) Amendments to the Stevenson-Wydler Technology
Innovation Act of 1980.--Section 11(e) of the Stevenson-
Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3710(e))
is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1)--
(A) in subparagraph (I), by striking ``and'' after the
semicolon;
(B) in subparagraph (J), by striking the period and
inserting ``; and''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(K) develop and disseminate, including through accessible
electronic formats, to all Federal, State, and local agencies
and instrumentalities involved in assistive technology and
universally designed technology, in order to maximize
research and development of assistive technology and
universally designed technology, information that indicates--
``(i) the extent of all activities undertaken by the
Federal laboratories in the previous year having an intended
or a recognized potential impact upon individuals with
disabilities;
``(ii) the degree to which ongoing or projected activities
of the Federal laboratories are expected to have an impact
upon the available range of, or applications for, assistive
technology and universally designed technology;
``(iii) the extent to which expert resources within the
Consortium are made available or can be accessed for the
purpose of meeting needs related to assistive technology and
universally designed technology in the communities where the
Federal laboratories operate; and
``(iv) the extent to which each Federal laboratory has
attempted to involve, and succeeded in involving, individuals
with disabilities in the development of priorities, plans,
and prototypes with respect to assistive

[[Page S6411]]

technology and universally designed technology.''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(8)(A) The Director of the National Institute on
Disability and Rehabilitation Research shall participate
annually in the national meeting and interagency meeting of
the Consortium.
``(B) The Director, in collaboration with other members of
the Interagency Committee on Disability Research, where
appropriate, shall coordinate the activities of the Federal
laboratories, with respect to research and development of
assistive technology and universally designed technology.
``(C) In conjunction with members of the Interagency
Committee on Disability Research, the Director shall utilize
the resources of the Consortium to identify potential public
and private sector partners for research and development
collaboration regarding assistive technology and universally
designed technology.
``(9) In this section:
``(A) The terms `individual with a disability' and
`individuals with disabilities' have the meanings given the
terms in section 3 of the Technology-Related Assistance for
Individuals With Disabilities Act of 1988 (29 U.S.C. 2202).
``(B) The terms `universal design' and `assistive
technology' have the meaning given the term in section 207 of
the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.''.

SEC. 6. MICRO LOANS.

(a) Territories.--Section 301 of the Technology-Related
Assistance for Individuals With Disabilities Act of 1988 (29
U.S.C. 2281) is amended--
(1) by redesignating subsection (b) as subsection (c); and
(2) by inserting after subsection (a) the following:
``(b) Award Basis.--The Secretary shall award grants to
States under this section on the basis of the population of
the States.''.
(b) Mechanisms.--Subsection (d) of section 301 of the
Technology-Related Assistance for Individuals With
Disabilities Act of 1988 (as redesignated by subsection
(a)(1)) is amended to read as follows:
``(c) Mechanisms.--
``(1) In general.--The alternative financing mechanisms
shall include--
``(A) an interest buy-down loan program;
``(B) a revolving loan fund program; or
``(C) a loan guarantee program.
``(2) Requirements.--Each program described in paragraph
(1) shall--
``(A) provide assistance for assistive technology devices,
assistive technology services, and universally designed
technology products and services; and
``(B) maximize consumer participation in all aspects of the
program.
``(3) Definitions.--
``(A) Interest buy-down loan program.--The term `interest
buy-down loan program' means a loan program that involves an
organization, using the organization's funds, to reduce the
interest rate of a loan made by a lending institution to a
borrower.
``(B) Loan guarantee program.--The term `loan guarantee
program' means a loan program that provides loans that are
backed by a promise or guarantee that, if there is a default
on a loan made under the program, the loan will be paid back.
``(C) Revolving loan fund program.--The term `revolving
loan fund program' means a loan program in which individuals
borrow money from a loan fund, loan repayments are dedicated
to the recapitalization of the loan fund, and the repayments
are used to make additional loans.''.
(c) Authorization of Appropriations.--Section 308(a) of the
Technology-Related Assistance for Individuals With
Disabilities Act of 1988 (29 U.S.C. 2288(a)) is amended by
striking ``this title'' and all that follows and inserting
``this title, such sums as may be necessary for each of
fiscal years 1999 through 2001.''.

SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

Section 201(a) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C.
761(a)) is amended to read as follows:
``(a) There are authorized to be appropriated--
``(1) such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal
years 1999 through 2001, for the purpose of providing for the
expenses of the National Institute on Disability and
Rehabilitation Research under section 202, which--
``(A) shall include the expenses of the Interagency
Committee on Disability Research under section 203, the
Rehabilitation Research Advisory Council under section 205,
and the peer review panels under section 206; and
``(B) shall not include the expenses of such Institute to
carry out section 204; and
``(2)(A) such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal
years 1999 through 2001 to carry out section 204, including
providing financial assistance for research and development
on assistive technology and universally designed technology
at the level of assistance provided for fiscal year 1998; and
``(B) $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 1999 through
2001, to provide, under section 204, such financial
assistance (in addition to the level of assistance provided
for fiscal year 1998).''.
____

Amendment No. 2708

At the end of the bill add the following:

SEC. 8. TAX INCENTIVES FOR ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY.

(a) Assistive Technology Development Business Tax Credit.--
(1) In general.--Subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of
chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to
business related credits) is amended by adding at the end the
following:

``SEC. 45D. CREDIT FOR ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY.

``(a) General Rule.--For purposes of section 38, the
assistive technology credit of any taxpayer for any taxable
year is an amount equal to so much of the qualified assistive
technology expenses paid or incurred by the taxpayer during
such year as does not exceed $100,000.
``(b) Qualified Assistive Technology Expenses.--For
purposes of this section--
``(1) In general.--The term `qualified assistive technology
expenses' means expenses for the design, development, and
fabrication of assistive technology devices.
``(2) Assistive technology device.--The term `assistive
technology device' means any item, piece of equipment, or
product system, including any item acquired commercially off
the shelf and modified or customized by the taxpayer, that is
used to increase, maintain, or improve functional
capabilities of individuals with disabilities.
``(3) Individuals with disabilities.--The term `individuals
with disabilities'' has the meaning given the term by section
3 of the Technology Related Assistance for Individuals with
Disabilities Act of 1988 (29 U.S.C. 2202).
``(c) No Double Benefit.--Any amount taken into account
under section 41 may not be taken into account under this
section.
``(d) Termination.--This section shall not apply to any
amount paid or incurred after December 31, 2003.''.
(2) Credit treated as business credit.--Section 38(b) of
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (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:
``(13) the assistive technology credit determined under
section 45D(a).''.
(3) Transitional rule.--Section 39(d) of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to transitional rules) is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``(9) No carryback of section 45D credit before effective
date.--No portion of the unused business credit for any
taxable year which is attributable to the assistive
technology credit determined under section 45D(a) may be
carried back to a taxable year ending before January 1,
1999.''.
(4) Clerical amendment.--The table of sections for subpart
D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the
following:

``Sec. 45D. Credit for assistive technology.''.
(5) Evaluation of effectiveness of credit.--The Secretary
of the Treasury shall evaluate the effectiveness of the
assistive technology credit under section 45D of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986, as added by this subsection, and report
to the Congress the results of such evaluation not later than
January 1, 2003.
(b) Expansion of Architectural and Transportation Barrier
Removal Deduction.--
(1) In general.--Section 190 of the Internal Revenue Code
of 1986 is amended--
(A) by inserting ``and qualified communications barrier
removal expenses'' after ``removal expenses'' in subsections
(a)(1),
(B) by adding at the end of subsection (b) the following:
``(4) Qualified communications barrier removal expenses.--
``(A) In general.--The term `qualified communications
barrier removal expense' means a communications barrier
removal expense with respect to which the taxpayer
establishes, to the satisfaction of the Secretary, that the
resulting removal of any such barrier meets the standards
promulgated by the Secretary and set forth in regulations
prescribed by the Secretary. Such term shall not include the
costs of general communications system upgrades or periodic
replacements that do not heighten accessibility as the
primary purpose and result of such replacements.
``(B) Communications barrier removal expenses.--The term
`communications barrier removal expense' means an expenditure
for the purpose of identifying and implementing alternative
technologies or strategies to remove those features of the
physical, information-processing, telecommunications
equipment or other technologies that limit the ability of
handicap individuals to obtain, process, retrieve, or
disseminate information that nonhandicapped individuals in
the same or similar setting would ordinarily be expected and
be able to obtain, retrieve, manipulate, or disseminate.'',
and
(C) by striking ``and transportation'' in the heading and
inserting ``, transportation, and communications''.
(2) Conforming amendment.--The item relating to section 190
in the table of sections for part VI of subchapter B of
chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by
striking ``and transportation'' and inserting ``,
transportation, and communications''.
(c) Expansion of Work Opportunity Credit.--Section 51(c) of
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (defining wages) is amended
by redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (5) and by
inserting after paragraph (3) the following:
``(4) Assistive technology expenses.--

[[Page S6412]]

``(A) In general.--The term `wages' includes expenses
incurred in the acquisition and use of technology--
``(i) to facilitate the employment of any individual,
including a vocational rehabilitation referral; or
``(ii) to provide a reasonable accommodation for any
employee who is a qualified individual with a disability, as
such terms are defined in section 101 of the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12111).
``(B) Regulations.--The Secretary shall by regulation
provide rules for allocating expenses described in
subparagraph (A) among individuals employed by the
employer.''.
(d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section
shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31,
1998.
____

Association of Tech Act Projects,

Springfield, IL, June 5, 1998.
Hon. Christopher S. Bond,
U.S. Senate, Russell Building, Washington, DC.
Dear Senator Bond: On behalf of the Association of
Technology Act Projects (ATAP), we are writing to express our
sincere appreciation for your interest in making new and
emerging technologies available to people with disabilities
throughout the nation.
``The Assistive and Universally Designed Technology
Improvement Act for Individuals with Disabilities'', the
legislation you are introducing today, would expand federal
support for much needed research and development in this
field. ATAP looks forward to working closely with you and
your staff as this legislation is considered by the Senate
Committee on Labor and Human Resources. We believe the
projects funded under the Tech Act that have enjoyed federal
support, provide a critical linkage among consumers and
service providers. ATAP members share your belief in the
power of technology to improve the functional capabilities of
individuals with disabilities.
ATAP congratulates you on the introduction of this
important legislation and offers our support to your effort
to expand the federal investment in assistive technology
research and development.
Sincerely,
Deborah V. Buck,
ATAP Co-Chair.
Lynne Cleveland,
ATAP Co-Chair.
____

United Cerebral

Palsy Associations,

Washington, DC, June 8, 1998.
Dear Senator Bond: On behalf of United Cerebral Palsy
Associations and our 151 affiliates, we strongly endorse the
Assistive and Universally Designed Technology Improvement Act
for Individuals with Disabilities (UCPA) with general
reservation around the legislative directive on peer review
which was expressed in our June 5 comments. In particular, we
applaud your interest in micro tax incentives for assistive
technology, and AT research, development, and dissemination.
UCPA has enjoyed working with your staff through this
process. Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the
legislation. UCPA believes that this bill will complement the
anticipated assistive technology bill expected out of the
Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee. UCPA looks
forward to working with you and your staff in this effort to
bring assistive technology to the forefront.
Sincerely,
Peter Keiser,
Chair, Community Services Committee.
____

National Easter Seal Society,

Office of Public Affairs,

Washington, DC, June 9, 1998.
Hon. Christopher S. Bond,
U.S. Senate, Russell Building,
Washington, DC
Dear Senator Bond: On behalf of National Easter Seals, I
would like to thank you for the opportunity to review the
``Assistive and Universally Designed Technology Improvement
Act for Individuals with Disabilities.'' Your leadership in
addressing the serious issue of access to assistive
technology for people with disabilities is greatly
appreciated and we look forward to working with you on
furthering the aims of the bill as it moves through the
Senate Labor and Human Resources committee.
Particularly notable are your efforts to develop a national
loan fund to assure that more people with disabilities have
access to the technologies they need to reach goals of
equality, dignity and independence. There is a growing
population of people with disabilities who may not qualify
for federal support, but nonetheless need some assistance in
purchasing, maintaining and upgrading their assistive
technology.
The proposals in your bill will serve to improve the
quality of life for people with disabilities. Your leadership
and enthusiasm are greatly appreciated, and Easter Seals
looks forward to working with you on this initiative and in
the future.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Dexter,
Government Relations Specialist.
______

By Mr. CRAIG:
S. 2175. A bill to safeguard the privacy of certain identification
records and name checks, and for other purposes; to the Committee on
the Judiciary.

firearms owner privacy act of 1998

Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I rise to introduce the Firearms Owner
Privacy Act of 1998. This bill is aimed at safeguarding the privacy of
law-abiding citizens who choose to purchase firearms and therefore
undergo the instant background check mandated by the Brady Act.
As many of my colleagues know, the National Instant Criminal
Background Check System (NICS) is scheduled to go online on November
30, 1998. After that date, federally-licensed firearms dealers are
required to contact NICS before they sell any handgun or long gun, so
that a records check can be performed to determine whether the
purchaser is prohibited by law from receiving the firearm.
A unique identification number will be assigned by the NICS to each
search request in order to identify the transaction. That number is to
be kept by the dealer. However, if the sale is approved--that is, if
the purchaser is not disqualified from purchasing the firearm--all
other records pertaining to that sale are to be destroyed.
This only makes sense. The Brady Act was never aimed at generating
records concerning legal firearms sales. It was promoted as a law
enforcement tool--a tool to prevent illegal gun sales and prosecute
convicted felons or other disqualified persons who attempt to obtain
firearms illegally.
More important, Senators who participated in the debate on the Brady
bill will remember the concerns that were raised about the federal
government retaining records of approved, legal transactions. Simply
put, keeping those records is tantamount to registering firearms--
something that is far from acceptable to most Americans, not to mention
most members of Congress and certainly to this Senator. The federal
government has no legitimate reason for keeping track of which
Americans own guns. On the contrary, history teaches us that gun
registration schemes have been used to pave the way for gun
confiscation. It is not unreasonable for citizens to be skeptical of
the government's self-restraint--indeed, that is why our Founders built
checks and balances into our system of government in the first place.
In fashioning the Brady Act, Congress did not rely on government
promises not to compile information on law-abiding gun purchasers.
Instead, the law expressly prohibits the federal government from using
NICS to establish any system for registering firearms, firearm owners,
or transactions involving firearms. It also prevents a de facto
registration system by specifically prohibiting the federal government
from recording or keeping the records generated by the instant
background check.
Again and again during debate on this measure, members of the House
and Senate raised concerns about the privacy interests of law-abiding
citizens. Again and again, we were assured that these prohibitions
would prevent the Brady Act from establishing or promoting any kind of
gun registration for law-abiding citizens. Clearly, one of the keys to
passing the Brady bill was the absolute assurance that the privacy of
law-abiding citizens would be respected, and records of their firearms
transactions would be destroyed.
It is worth noting that since enactment of the Brady law, the concern
over its potential for promoting gun registration has continued to
boil. Like many of our colleagues, I continue to hear from people in my
state and around the nation who do not believe this Administration--no
friend to law-abiding gun owners--can resist the opportunity to mis-use
and abuse the records generated during these background checks.
Mr. President, the Administration just turned up the heat on those
boiling fears. Now that we are within months of putting NICS on line,
federal agencies are beginning to release the details of how the system
is expected to work. My telephones are beginning to ring as firearms
dealers, gun collectors, and sportspeople have an opportunity to read
the fine print. Among the proposals that concern them the most is that
the agency operating NICS intends to keep records of approved firearms
transactions for eighteen months.

[[Page S6413]]

That's right. The federal government proposes to keep records of
legal, approved transactions for a year and a half.
The agency has explained that it needs to keep the records for
auditing purposes, to make sure the system is working properly and not
being abused. Mr. President, why in the world do they need a year and a
half for that purpose? Furthermore, the longer these records sit
around, the more potential there is for abuse. How can the agency
justify allowing its own administrative convenience to outweigh the
serious privacy and civil liberties concerns raised against retaining
such records?
Let's not forget that under the current, interim system, records of
an approved transaction are destroyed within twenty days. The NICS
system is supposed to speed up the entire background check process so
that the average contact will take minutes. Even if additional time is
required because of problems with the check, the transaction is allowed
to go forward within a mere three days, if the dealer does not receive
a disapproval. The acceleration in every other part of the NICS system
makes this records retention proposal even more incredible.
I am wholly unconvinced that the agency has any legitimate purpose
for retaining the records of lawful purchases by qualified citizens as
it has proposed. The bill I am introducing today, the Firearms Owner
Privacy Act of 1998, simply reinforces the decision that this Congress
originally made on this critical issue. It would require information
generated by the system on approved, lawful purchases to be destroyed
within twenty-four hours. An individual who knowingly retained or
transferred that information after that time would face criminal
penalties of up to $250,000 or up to ten years' imprisonment.
My bill also deals with transactions that are disapproved because a
would-be purchaser is prohibited by federal or state law from receiving
a firearm. For those transactions, the bill would permit the agency to
retain the records for five years. If a criminal prosecution has been
commenced against the purchaser, there would be no restriction at all
on the agency's retention of the records. These provisions are aimed at
insuring that if our law enforcement agencies intend to pursue a
disapproved sale, they have ample opportunity to do so. However, the
usefulness of these records past five years is very questionable.
Mr. President, I believe my bill imposes reasonable, workable limits
that conform to Congressional intent. If someone knows a legitimate
reason why the federal government should keep these records longer than
my bill allows, I am certainly willing to listen to their arguments. To
date, however, the explanations from the Administration have been
unpersuasive at best.
Let me point out that a similar effort to limit the retention of
these records is underway in the other body, headed by Representative
Bob Barr. I hope my colleagues will join me in this effort to protect
the privacy and civil liberties of law-abiding citizens.
I ask unanimous consent that a copy of the Firearms Owner Privacy Act
of 1998 be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the
Record, as follows:

S. 2175

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 ``Firearms Owner Privacy Act
of 1998''.

SEC. 2. UNLAWFUL RETENTION OF FIREARMS TRANSFER INFORMATION.

(a) In General.--Chapter 93 of title 18, United States
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

``Sec. 1925. Unlawful retention of federal firearms transfer
information

(a) Definitions..--In this section--
``(1) the term `firearm' has the same meaning as in section
921(a);
``(2) the term `instant check information'--
``(A) means any information--
``(i) provided to the instant check system about an
individual seeking to obtain a firearm; or
``(ii) derived from any information provided as described
in clause (i); and
``(B) does not include any unique identification number
provided by the instant check system pursuant to section
922(t)(1)(B)(i), or the date on which that number is
provided; and
``(3) the term `instant check system' means the national
instant criminal background check system established under
section 103 of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (18
U.S.C. 922 note).
``(b) Prohibitions and Penalties.--
``(1) Information relating to individuals not prohibited
from receiving a firearm.--Whoever, being an officer,
employee, contractor, consultant, or agent of the United
States, including a State or local employee or officer acting
on behalf of the United States, in that capacity--
``(A) receives instant check information, in any form or
through any medium, about an individual who is determined,
through the use of the instant check system, not to be
prohibited by subsection (g) or (n) of section 922, or by
State law, from receiving a firearm; and
``(B) knowingly retains or transfers to another person that
information after the 24-hour period beginning with such
receipt;

shall be fined not more than $250,000, imprisoned not more
than 10 years, or both.
``(2) Information relating to individuals prohibited by law
from receiving a firearm.--
``(A) In general.--Except as provided in subparagraph (B),
whoever, being an officer, employee, contractor, consultant,
or agent of the United States, including a State or local
employee or officer acting on behalf of the United States, in
that capacity--
``(i) receives instant check information, in any form or
through any medium, about an individual who is prohibited by
Federal or State law from receiving a firearm; and
``(ii) knowingly retains or transfers to another person
that information after the 5-year period beginning with such
receipt;

shall be fined not more than $250,000, imprisoned not more
than 10 years, or both.
``(B) Inapplicability to information relating to certain
individuals.--Subparagraph (A) does not apply to any
information about an individual if a criminal prosecution has
been commenced against the individual on the basis of that
information.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The analysis for chapter 93 of
title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end
the following:
``1925. Unlawful retention of Federal firearms transfer information.''.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

The amendments made by this Act shall take effect on
November 30, 1998.
______

By Mr. THOMPSON (for himself, Mr. Byrd, Mr. Thurmond, Mr. Lott,
and Mr. Roth):
S. 2176. A bill to amend sections 3345 through 3349 of title 5,
United States Code (commonly referred to as the ``Vacancies Act'' to
clarify statutory requirements relating to vacancies in and
appointments to certain Federal offices, and for other purposes; to the
Committee on Governmental Affairs.

federal vacancies reform act of 1998

Mr. THOMPSON. Mr. President, on behalf of myself and a bipartisan
group of senators, I introduce today the Federal Vacancies Reform Act
of 1998. This legislation is needed to preserve one of the Senate's
most important powers: the duty to advise and consent on presidential
nominees.

The Framers of the Constitution established a procedure for the
appointment of all government officers: they were to be nominated by
the President and confirmed by the Senate, unless Congress decided that
the appointment of specified inferior officers was to be made by the
President alone, the courts, or by department heads. The First
Congress, however, recognized that vacancies would arise in executive
positions, and enacted legislation providing for officials to
temporarily exercise the powers of an office even without Senate
confirmation. The law was adopted essentially in its current form in
1868, and was last amended in 1988. As amended, the first assistant or
another Senate-confirmed individual can serve for 120 days after the
vacancy, and, in addition, may serve beyond those 120 days if the
President submits a nomination for that office to the Senate within
those 120 days.
Unfortunately, the Vacancies Act is honored more in the breach than
in the observance. For the past 25 years, administrations of both
parties have claimed that the Justice Department is exempt from the
Vacancies Act. And since the Reagan Administration, other departments,
at the behest of the Justice Department, make the same argument,
purportedly based on the authority of the heads of each of the
executive departments to delegate their authority to other department
personnel. Following this argument to its logical end, none of the
departments is bound by the Vacancies Act, so that the act is a dead
letter.
Certainly, this Administration has conducted itself as if the
Vacancies Act applies to none of the departments. Each department has
at least one temporary officer who has served more

[[Page S6414]]

than 120 days before any nomination was sent to the Senate. Of the 320
executive department advise and consent positions, 64 are held by
temporary officials. Of the 64, 43 have served longer than 120 days
before any nomination was submitted to the Congress. The Commerce
Department is the worst offender in number and in degree. For instance,
the acting head of the Census Bureau is neither the first assistant nor
a person who has been confirmed by the Senate, a mind-boggling
violation of the law. Nor has a nomination been made, although the
prior Census chief announced her departure more than five months ago.
The government's important functions should be carried out by
permanent officials. That means that the President must submit
nominations and the Senate needs to provide its advice and consent.
This administration seems not to want to subject its appointees to such
scrutiny. Acting on that desire is unconstitutional and a violation of
the Vacancies Act as well. The Appointments Clause is not a technical
nicety. As the Supreme Court has stated, the Appointments Clause is
designed to keep the Executive and Legislative Branches within their
appropriate spheres, so as to better preserve individual liberty.
The Governmental Affairs Committee recently held an oversight hearing
on the Vacancies Act. In that hearing, it became apparent that the
Administration was regularly acting in violation of the law, but faced
no consequence for its actions. The Committee also heard testimony from
Senators Byrd and Thurmond, who had each introduced bills designed to
ensure compliance with the Vacancies Act through clarifying the scope
of agencies covered and providing an enforcement mechanism. Our
colleagues owe a debt of gratitude to Senators Byrd and Thurmond for
raising these important issues and offering solutions to address them.
I have found the approaches in the Byrd and Thurmond bills to have
contributed importantly to the drafting of the legislation I introduce
today. It is extremely important to ensure that the Vacancy Act period
run from the date of the vacancy, to clarify that it covers all
departments, and to impose a sanction for noncompliance. Subsequent to
the introduction of the Byrd and Thurmond bills, the United States
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a decision
on the meaning of the Vacancies Act, approving the four year service of
an acting head of the Office of Thrift Supervision as appointed by the
departing head of the agency. Overruling several portions of that
decision have become a priority.
The legislation I introduce today provides that in the event of a
vacancy in a position in an executive agency requiring the advice and
consent of the Senate, the officer's first assistant is allowed to
perform the functions and duties of the office on an acting basis, for
up to 150 days. Under current law, the period is 120 days, but the
vicissitudes of the modern vetting process appear to require that the
time be lengthened, to my regret. Alternatively, the President may
direct another person who has already received Senate confirmation to
serve as the acting official for 150 days. To prevent these
restrictions from being gamed, the bill provides that the acting
officer must have been the first assistant for 180 of the 365 days
preceding the vacancy.
The length of temporary service can be extended beyond the 150 days
if the President submits a nomination to the Senate for the vacant
position. If the nomination is withdrawn, or if the Senate rejects or
returns it, the acting official can serve only for 150 days after that
event.
The bill makes clear that the Vacancies Act applies to all offices in
executive agencies for which appointment is required to be made by the
President by and with the advice and consent of the President.
Nonetheless, we do not write on a clean slate. There are a number of
laws already on the books that provide a process by which persons can
serve as acting officers when particular offices are vacant. In most
instances, these officials can serve until a successor is confirmed,
without regard to the Vacancies Act. The bill preserves those specific
statutes, but, to clearly reject the position of the Justice
Department, it expressly repudiates the contention that a law
authorizing the head of a department to delegate or reassign duties
among other officers is a statute that provides for the temporary
filling of a specific office. For the future, Congress will have to
expressly provide that it is superseding the Vacancies Act if it wishes
to override the Vacancies Act as to the temporary filling of advise and
consent provisions.

The bill also establishes a second enforcement mechanism. If a
nominee is not submitted to the Senate within 150 days of the vacancy,
then the office is vacant until a nominee is submitted. While the
routine functions of the office would be allowed to continue, those
functions and duties that are specified to be performed by that
official could only be performed by the head of the department. In
fact, no specified duty of the officeholder that existed by regulation
for the 180 days preceding the vacancy could be diminished in an effort
to avoid the bill's vacant office provisions. However, if the President
submits a nomination at any point after the 150 days, the acting
officer would again be allowed to serve while the nomination was
pending in the Senate, until confirmation, or until 150 days after the
rejection, withdrawal, or return of the nomination. Actions taken by
any acting official in violation of these provisions would be of no
effect, and no one would be permitted to ratify the actions of the
acting official that were taken in violation of the vacant office
provisions.
Enforcement is further enhanced by requiring each executive agency to
report to the Comptroller General the existence of vacancies, the names
of persons serving as acting officers and when such service began, the
name of any nominee and when such nomination was submitted to the
Senate, and the final disposition of the nomination. The Comptroller
General will then notify the Congress, the President, and the Office of
Personnel Management when the 150 day limitations have been reached.
Mr. President, the Framers established a system for appointing
important officials in which the President and the Senate would each
play a role. Not only did the Framers wish to ensure that more than one
person's wisdom was brought to the appointment process, but that the
President, in selecting nominees, would be aware that they would face
scrutiny. When a vacancy occurs in such an office, it is important to
establish a process that permits the routine operation of the
government to continue, but that will not allow the evasion of the
Senate's constitutional authority to advise and consent to nominations.
I am pleased that a number of my colleagues are joining with me to
formulate a structure that will achieve these ends. I look forward to
the Senate's passage of this legislation in the near future.
I ask unanimous consent that the bill be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the
Record, as follows:

S. 2176

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 ``Federal Vacancies Reform Act
of 1998''.

SEC. 2. FEDERAL VACANCIES AND APPOINTMENTS.

(a) In General.--Chapter 33 of title 5, United States Code,
is amended by striking sections 3345 through 3349 and
inserting the following:

``Sec. 3345. Acting officer

``(a) If an officer of an Executive agency (including the
Executive Office of the President, and other than the General
Accounting Office) whose appointment to office is required to
be made by the President, by and with the advice and consent
of the Senate, dies, resigns, or is otherwise unable to
perform the functions and duties of the office--
``(1) the first assistant of such officer shall perform the
functions and duties of the office temporarily in an acting
capacity, subject to the time limitations of section 3346; or
``(2) notwithstanding paragraph (1), the President (and
only the President) may direct a person who serves in an
office for which appointment is required to be made by the
President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate,
to perform the functions and duties of the office temporarily
in an acting capacity, subject to the time limitations of
section 3346.
``(b) Notwithstanding section 3346(a)(2), a person may not
serve as an acting officer for an office under this section,
if--
``(1) on the date of the death, resignation, or beginning
of inability to serve of the applicable officer, such person
serves in the position of first assistant to such officer;

[[Page S6415]]

``(2) during the 365-day period preceding such date, such
person served in the position of first assistant to such
officer for less than 180 days; and
``(3) the President submits a nomination of such person to
the Senate for appointment to such office.
``(c) With respect to the office of the Attorney General of
the United States, the provisions of section 508 of title 28
shall be applicable.

``Sec. 3346. Time limitation

``(a) The person serving as an acting officer as described
under section 3345 may serve in the office--
``(1) for no longer than 150 days beginning on the date the
vacancy occurs; or
``(2) subject to subsection (b), once a first or second
nomination for the office is submitted to the Senate, for the
period that the nomination is pending in the Senate.
``(b)(1) If the first nomination for the office is rejected
by the Senate, withdrawn, or returned to the President by the
Senate, the person may continue to serve as the acting
officer for no more than 150 days after the date of such
rejection, withdrawal, or return.
``(2) If a second nomination for the office (of a different
person than first nominated in the case of a rejection or
withdrawal) is submitted to the Senate during the 150-day
period after the rejection, withdrawal, or return of the
first nomination, the person serving as the acting officer
may continue to serve--
``(A) until the second nomination is confirmed; or
``(B) for no more than 150 days after the second nomination
is rejected, withdrawn, or returned.
``(c) If a person begins serving as an acting officer
during an adjournment of the Congress sine die, the 150-day
period under subsection (a) shall begin on the date that the
Senate first reconvenes.

``Sec. 3347. Application

``(a) Sections 3345 and 3346 are applicable to any office
of an Executive agency (including the Executive Office of the
President, and other than the General Accounting Office) for
which appointment is required to be made by the President, by
and with the advice and consent of the Senate, unless--
``(1) another statutory provision expressly provides that
such provision supersedes sections 3345 and 3346;
``(2) a statutory provision in effect on the date of
enactment of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998
expressly authorizes the President, or the head of an
Executive department, to designate an officer to perform the
functions and duties of a specified office temporarily in an
acting capacity; or
``(3) the President makes an appointment to fill a vacancy
in such office during the recess of the Senate pursuant to
clause 3 of section 2 of article II of the United States
Constitution.
``(b) Any statutory provision providing general authority
to the head of an Executive agency (including the Executive
Office of the President, and other than the General
Accounting Office) to delegate duties to, or to reassign
duties among, officers or employees of such Executive agency,
is not a statutory provision to which subsection (a)(2)
applies.

``Sec. 3348. Vacant office

``(a) In this section--
``(1) the term `action' includes any agency action as
defined under section 551(13); and
``(2) the term `function or duty' means any function or
duty of the applicable office that--
``(A)(i) is established by statute; and
``(ii) is required by statute to be performed by the
applicable officer (and only that officer); or
``(B)(i)(I) is established by regulation; and
``(II) is required by such regulation to be performed by
the applicable officer (and only that officer); and
``(ii) includes a function or duty to which clause (i) (I)
and (II) applies, and the applicable regulation is in effect
at any time during the 180-day period preceding the date on
which the vacancy occurs, notwithstanding any regulation
that--
``(I) is issued on or after the date occurring 180 days
before the date on which the vacancy occurs; and
``(II) limits any function or duty required to be performed
by the applicable officer (and only that officer).
``(b) Subject to section 3347 and subsection (c)--
``(1) if the President does not submit a first nomination
to the Senate to fill a vacant office within 150 days after
the date on which a vacancy occurs--
``(A) the office shall remain vacant until the President
submits a first nomination to the Senate; and
``(B) in the case of an office other than the office of the
head of an Executive agency (including the Executive Office
of the President, and other than the General Accounting
Office), only the head of such Executive agency may perform
any function or duty of such office, until a nomination is
made in accordance with subparagraph (A);
``(2) if the President does not submit a second nomination
to the Senate within 150 days after the date of the
rejection, withdrawal, or return of the first nomination--
``(A) the office shall remain vacant until the President
submits a second nomination to the Senate; and
``(B) in the case of an office other than the office of the
head of an Executive agency (including the Executive Office
of the President, and other than the General Accounting
Office), only the head of such Executive agency may perform
any function or duty of such office, until a nomination is
made in accordance with subparagraph (A); and
``(3) if an office is vacant after 150 days after the
rejection, withdrawal, or return of the second nomination--
``(A) the office shall remain vacant until a person is
appointed by the President, by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate; and
``(B) in the case of an office other than the office of the
head of an Executive agency (including the Executive Office
of the President, and other than the General Accounting
Office), only the head of such Executive agency may perform
any function or duty of such office, until an appointment is
made in accordance with subparagraph (A).
``(c) If the last day of any 150-day period under
subsection (b) is a day on which the Senate is not in
session, the first day the Senate is next in session and
receiving nominations shall be deemed to be the last day of
such period.
``(d)(1) Except as provided under paragraphs (1)(B),
(2)(B), and (3)(B) of subsection (b), an action shall have no
force or effect if such action--
``(A)(i) is taken by any person who fills a vacancy in
violation of subsection (b); and
``(ii) is the performance of a function or duty of such
vacant office; or
``(B)(i) is taken by a person who is not filling a vacant
office; and
``(ii) is the performance of a function or duty of such
vacant office.
``(2) An action that has no force or effect under paragraph
(1) may not be ratified.
``(d) This section shall not apply to--
``(1) the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations
Board;
``(2) the General Counsel of the Federal Labor Relations
Authority; or
``(3) any Inspector General appointed by the President, by
and with the advice and consent of the Senate.

``Sec. 3349. Reporting of vacancies

``(a) The head of each Executive agency (including the
Executive Office of the President, and other than the General
Accounting Office) shall submit to the Comptroller General of
the United States and to each House of Congress--
``(1) notification of a vacancy and the date such vacancy
occurred immediately upon the occurrence of the vacancy;
``(2) the name of any person serving in an acting capacity
and the date such service began immediately upon the
designation;
``(3) the name of any person nominated to the Senate to
fill the vacancy and the date such nomination is submitted
immediately upon the submission of the nomination; and
``(4) the date of a rejection, withdrawal, or return of any
nomination immediately upon such rejection, withdrawal, or
return.
``(b) If the Comptroller General of the United States makes
a determination that an officer is serving longer than the
150-day period including the applicable exceptions to such
period under section 3346, the Comptroller General shall
report such determination to--
``(1) the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate;
``(2) the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight of
the House of Representatives;
``(3) the Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and
House of Representatives;
``(4) the appropriate committees of jurisdiction of the
Senate and House of Representatives;
``(5) the President; and
``(6) the Office of Personnel Management.

``Sec. 3349a. Presidential inaugural transitions

``(a) In this section, the term `transitional inauguration
day' means the date on which any person swears or affirms the
oath of office as President, if such person is not the
President on the date preceding the date of swearing or
affirming such oath of office.
``(b) With respect to any vacancy that exists during the
60-day period beginning on a transitional inauguration day,
the 150-day period under section 3346 or 3348 shall be deemed
to--
``(1) begin on the later of--
``(A) the date following such transitional inauguration
day; or
``(B) the date the vacancy occurs; and
``(2) be a period of 180 days.

``Sec. 3349b. Holdover provisions relating to certain
independent establishments

``With respect to any independent establishment for which a
single officer is the head of the establishment, sections
3345 through 3349a shall not be construed to affect any
statute that authorizes a person to continue to serve in any
office--
``(1) after the expiration of the term for which such
person is appointed; and
``(2) until a successor is appointed or a specified period
of time has expired.

``Sec. 3349c. Exclusion of certain officers

``Sections 3345 through 3349b shall not apply to--
``(1) any member who is appointed by the President, by and
with the advice and consent of the Senate to any board,
commission, or similar entity that--
``(A) is composed of multiple members; and
``(B) governs an independent establishment or Government
corporation; or
``(2) any commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission.''.
(b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--
(1) Table of sections.--The table of sections for chapter
33 of title 5, United States

[[Page S6416]]

Code, is amended by striking the matter relating to
subchapter III and inserting the following:

``SUBCHAPTER III--DETAILS, VACANCIES, AND APPOINTMENTS

``3341. Details; within Executive or military departments.
``[3342. Repealed.]
``3343. Details; to international organizations.
``3344. Details; administrative law judges.
``3345. Acting officer.
``3346. Time limitation.
``3347. Application.
``3348. Vacant office.
``3349. Reporting of vacancies.
``3349a. Presidential inaugural transitions.
``3349b. Holdover provisions relating to certain independent
establishments.
``3349c. Exclusion of certain officers.''.
(2) Subchapter heading.--The subchapter heading for
subchapter III of chapter 33 of title 5, United States Code,
is amended to read as follows:

``SUBCHAPTER III--DETAILS, VACANCIES, AND APPOINTMENTS''.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE AND APPLICATION.

(a) Effective Date.--This Act and the amendments made by
this Act shall take effect on the date of enactment of this
Act.
(b) Application.--This Act shall apply to any office that--
(1) becomes vacant after the date of enactment of this Act;
or
(2) is vacant on such date, except sections 3345 through
3349 of title 5, United States Code (as amended by this Act),
shall apply as though such office first became vacant on such
date.
____

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I rise today as an original cosponsor of
the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. This legislation is essential to help
preserve and strengthen the advice and consent role of the Senate as
mandated in the Constitution.
One of the greatest fears of the Founders was the accumulation of too
much power in one source, and the separation of powers among the three
branches of Government is one of the keys to the success of our great
democratic government. An excellent example of the separation of powers
is the requirement in Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution that
the President receive the advice and consent of the Senate for the
appointment of officers of the United States. As Chief Justice
Rehnquist wrote for the Supreme Court a few years ago, ``The Clause is
a bulwark against one branch aggrandizing its power at the expense of
another branch.''
The Vacancies Act is central to the Appointments Clause because it
places limits on the amount of time that the President can appoint
someone to an advice and consent position in an acting capacity without
sending a nomination to the Senate. However, for many years, the
executive branch has failed to comply with the letter of the law. The
Vacancies Act has no method of enforcement, so the executive branch
just ignores it. When confronted with the act, the Attorney General
makes very weak legal arrangements about its inapplicability. This is
what the Attorney General did over one year ago when I raised the
Vacancies Act at an oversight hearing. At the time, almost all of the
top positions at the Justice Department were being filled in an acting
capacity. I exchanged letters with her about the Vacancies Act, and
detailed the fallacy in her argument. It was to no avail.
I became convinced that legislation to rewrite the vacancies law and
provide some remedy for violating it was the only way to get the
executive branch to properly respect the advice and consent role of the
Senate. Senator Lott and I introduced legislation earlier this year,
and I testified about it before the Governmental Affairs Committee.
I detailed for the Committee some prominent examples of how the Act
was being ignored. President Clinton allowed the Criminal Division of
the Justice Department to languish for over two and one half years
before making an appointment. The Government had an Acting Solicitor
General for an entire term of the Supreme Court. Most recently, the
President installed an Acting Chief of the Civil Rights Division in
blatant disregard of the Judiciary Committee's decision not to support
his controversial choice.
However, let me be clear. This bill is not about any one President or
any one nominee. It is about preserving the institutional role of the
Senate. A Republican President has no more right to ignore the
appointments process than a Democrat President.
Today, Senator Thompson, Senator Byrd, Senator Lot, and I are
introducing a bipartisan bill to address the problem. It gives the
President 150 days to send a nomination rather than the current 120
days. If he does not comply, the office must remain vacant and the
actions of any person acting in that office after that time are null
and void, until a nominee is forwarded to the Senate. The bill also
clarifies the application of the Vacancies Act to reject the Attorney
General's flawed interpretation.
Mr. President, we must act to preserve the advice and consent role of
the Senate. As the Supreme Court has stated, ``The structural interests
protected by the Appointments Clause are not those of any one branch of
Government but of the entire Republic.'' Reforming the vacancies law is
essential in this regard. Let us reaffirm the separation of powers for
the sake of the Senate and the entire Republic.
______

By Mr. INOUYE:
S. 2177. A bill to express the sense of the Congress that the
President should award a Presidential unit citation to the final crew
of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, which was sunk on July 30, 1945; to the
Committee on Armed Services.

presidential unit citation to the uss indianapolis

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, today I am introducing a Sense of
the Congress bill which calls upon the President to award a
Presidential Unit Citation to the final crew of the U.S.S. Indianapolis
(CA-35) that recognizes the courage, fortitude, and heroism displayed
by the crew in the face of tremendous hardship and adversity after
their ship was torpedoed and sunk on July 30, 1945.
______

By Mr. KOHL (for himself and D'Amato):
S. 2178. A bill to amend the National Housing Act to authorize the
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to insure mortgages for the
acquisition, construction, or substantial rehabilitation of child care
and development facilities and to establish the Children's Development
Commission to certify such facilities for such insurance, and for other
purposes; to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

Children's Development Commission Act

Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, today I introduce the Children's
Development Commission Act. I am pleased to be joined in this by my
friend, Senator D'Amato. He brings to this endeavor a deep
understanding of the nation's capital markets and a deep concern for
the well being of this country's children. In the House of
Representatives, Representatives Maloney and Baker have already
introduced a companion measure, H.R. 3637.
Our legislation is designed to address the credit market's failure to
provide sufficient long term financing for the building and renovation
of child care centers, after-school care programs, infant care, and
family child care homes. Because the profit margin in such centers is
very low, and the perceived risk is great, lenders are often unwilling
to lend to child care operations. This is true despite the fact that an
overwhelming number of studies show a shortage in the supply of quality
child care--especially in urban areas, in low income areas, and for
certain types of care (infant care, school age care, off-hour care).
The Children's Development Commission Act creates a loan guarantee
program through HUD to provide insurance to lenders willing to put up
money for child care center mortgages, leases, or renovations. The
program is modeled closely on the successful Section 232 HUD program
that provides mortgage insurance for elder-care facilities.
The bill also creates a ``Children's Development Commission'' or
``Kiddie Mac'' which: (1) certifies child care development facilities
eligible for guaranteed financing; (2) establishes the standards
necessary to make such certification; (3) makes small purpose loans to
child care facilities for reconstruction and renovation; (4) develops a
plan to offer low cost liability and fire insurance to child care
providers; and (5) creates a research foundation to support research
into child care supply issues, fund pilot programs for improving child
care, and publishes material for those interested in getting mortgage
insurance through HUD.

[[Page S6417]]

Congress will make one $10 million appropriation to fund the Kiddie
Mac's incorporation and its micro-loan program; after that, a stock
offering will fund Kiddie Mac until its financial activities and fee
collection make it self-financing.
The need, and the will, to take this sort of step to increase the
supply of quality child care is evident. When I ran for Congress in
1988, I talked about the importance of child care. At best, I received
a polite smile of interest, and then the discussion would move on to
the pressing issues of the day--the environment, the budget deficit,
health care.
Today, child care is being discussed earnestly at dinner tables
across the nation and in Committee rooms all over the Capitol. Almost
everyone has a personal story about trying to secure good child care,
about trying to help an employee find good child care, about the
terrible shortage of quality child care in their town or city.
We have always talked about the necessities of life as being food,
clothing and shelter. I think it is time we add a fourth--quality child
care. It is necessary to give our children the strong start they need.
It is necessary if we are going to take advantage of the tremendous
ability to learn in the first three years of life.
And quality child care is necessary in order for the growing number
of families in which both parents work, for the growing number of
single parent families to be able to earn a living, and for businesses
that want to attract and retain productive, happy employees.
Unfortunately, by every measure and in every state, quality child
care is in short supply. And in most areas of the country, the sweeping
welfare reform we passed last year has exacerbated existing shortages.
In my State of Wisconsin, the State's welfare reform plan will generate
the need for 8000 new child care slots in Milwaukee Country alone. And
in New York City, by the year 2001, there will be 30,000 more children
who need child care than there are child care spaces for them.
The shortage is not just one of child care slots, but of quality
child care slots. One major study showed that seven out of ten child
care centers provide mediocre care, while one in eight is so inadequate
that the health and safety of the children are threatened. Another
survey found that more than half of parents with children in child care
worry weekly about whether their children are well-served in their
current arrangements.
Kiddie Mac will help address these shortfalls in several ways. It
will lower the costs of those setting up child care facilities, home
child care, or pre-schools. By guaranteeing child care facility
mortgages and leases, Kiddie Mac lowers the start-up costs to
facilities allowing them to pass the savings on to teachers in the form
of higher salaries and parents in the form of lower fees. Kiddie Mac
will also provide loan guarantees to facilities that want to upgrade
and providing micro-loans for small repairs related to licensing. This
will allow existing centers and homes, even very small ones, to bring
their facilities up to--and beyond--code.
Kiddie Mac is a market-based, small-government approach to moving
capital toward a very wise investment in quality child care. Kiddie
Mac's services will be available to any organization who can show they
will provide quality child care: businesses, non-profits, churches or
synagogues, family home providers, or after-school programs. Decisions
as to how much and how the care will be provided are left where they
belong: with the local providers, with local communities, and with the
parents.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the
Children's Development Act be included in the Record.
There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the
Record, as follows:

S. 2178

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 ``Children's Development
Commission Act''.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:
(1) The need for quality nursery schools, both full-time
and part-time child care centers and after-school programs,
after school programs, neighborhood-run mothers-day-out
programs, and family child care providers has grown among
working parents, and parents who stay at home, who want their
children to have access to early childhood education.
(2) All parents should have access to safe, stimulating,
and educational early childhood education programs for their
children, whether such programs are carried out in a child
care center, a part-time nursery school (including a nursery
school operated by a religious organization), or a certified
child care provider's home.
(3) The number of available enrollment opportunities for
children to receive quality child care services is not
meeting the demand for such services.
(4) In 1995 there were about 21,000,000 children less than
6 years of age, of whom 31 percent were participating in
center-based child care services and 14 percent were
receiving child care in homes. Between 1992 and 2005 the
participation of women 24 to 54 years of age in the labor
force is projected to increase from 75 percent to 83 percent.
(5) In States that have set up a mechanism to provide
capital improvements for child care facilities, the demand
for services of such facilities still has not been met.
(6) The United States is behind other western,
industrialized countries when it comes to providing child
care services. In France, almost 100 percent of all children
3 to 5 years of age attend nursery school. In Germany this
number is 65 to 70 percent. In Japan 90 percent of such
children attend some form of preschool care. In all of these
countries early childhood care has proven to increase
children's development and performance.

SEC. 3. INSURANCE FOR MORTGAGES ON NEW AND REHABILITATED
CHILD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT FACILITIES.

Title II of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1707 et
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``mortgage insurance for child care and development facilities

``Sec. 257. (a) Purpose.--The purpose of this section is to
facilitate and assist in the provision and development of
licensed child care and development facilities.
``(b) General Insurance Authority.--The Secretary may
insure mortgages (including advances on such mortgages during
construction) in accordance with the provisions of this
section and upon such terms and conditions as the Secretary
may prescribe and may make commitments for insurance of such
mortgages before the date of their execution or disbursement
thereon.
``(c) Eligible Mortgages.--To carry out the purpose of this
section, the Secretary may insure any mortgage that covers a
new child care and development facility, including a new
addition to an existing child care and development facility
(regardless of whether the existing facility is being
rehabilitated), or a substantially rehabilitated child care
and development facility, including equipment to be used in
the operation of the facility, subject to the following
conditions:
``(1) Approved mortgagor.--The mortgage shall be executed
by a mortgagor approved by the Secretary. The Secretary may,
in the discretion of the Secretary, require any such
mortgagor to be regulated or restricted as to charges and
methods of financing and, if the mortgagor is a corporate
entity, as to capital structure and rate of return. As an aid
to the regulation or restriction of any mortgagor with
respect to any of the foregoing matters, the Secretary may
make such contracts with and acquire for not more than $100
such stock or interest in such mortgagor as the Secretary may
consider necessary. Any stock or interest so purchased shall
be paid for out of the General Insurance Fund, and shall be
redeemed by the mortgagor at par upon the termination of all
obligations of the Secretary under the insurance.
``(2) Principal obligation.--The mortgage shall involve a
principal obligation in an amount not to exceed 90 percent of
the estimated value of the property or project, or 95 percent
of the estimated value of the property or project in the case
of a mortgagor that is a private nonprofit corporation or
association (as such term is defined pursuant to section
221(d)(3)), including--
``(A) equipment to be used in the operation of the facility
when the proposed improvements are completed and the
equipment is installed; or
``(B) a solar energy system (as defined in subparagraph (3)
of the last paragraph of section 2(a)) or residential energy
conservation measures (as defined in subparagraphs (A)
through (G) and (I) of section 210(11) of the National Energy
Conservation Policy Act), in cases in which the Secretary
determines that such measures are in addition to those
required under the minimum property standards and will be
cost-effective over the life of the measure.
``(3) Amortization and interest.--The mortgage shall--
``(A) provide for complete amortization by periodic
payments under such terms as the Secretary shall prescribe;
``(B) have a maturity satisfactory to the Secretary, but in
no event longer than 25 years; and
``(C) bear interest at such rate as may be agreed upon by
the mortgagor and the mortgagee, and the Secretary shall not
issue any

[[Page S6418]]

regulations or establish any terms or conditions that
interfere with the ability of the mortgagor and mortgagee to
determine the interest rate.
``(d) Certification by Children's Development Commission.--
The Secretary may not insure a mortgage under this section
unless the Children's Development Commission established
under section 258 certifies that the facility is in
compliance, or will be in compliance not later than 12 months
after such certification, with--
``(1) any laws, standards, and requirements applicable to
such facilities under the laws of the State, municipality, or
other unit of general local government in which the facility
is or is to be located; and
``(2) after the effective date of the standards and
requirements established under section 258(c)(2), such
standards and requirements.
``(e) Release.--The Secretary may consent to the release of
a part or parts of the mortgaged property or project from the
lien of any mortgage insured under this section upon such
terms and conditions as the Secretary may prescribe.
``(f) Mortgage Insurance Terms.--The provisions of
subsections (d), (e), (g), (h), (i), (j), (k), (l), and (n)
of section 207 shall apply to mortgages insured under this
section, except that all references in such subsections to
section 207 shall be considered, for purposes of mortgage
insurance under this section, to refer to this section.
``(g) Mortgage Insurance for Fire Safety Equipment Loans.--
``(1) Authority.--The Secretary may, upon such terms and
condition as the Secretary may prescribe, make commitments to
insure and insure loans made by financial institutions or
other approved mortgagees to child care and development
facilities to provide for the purchase and installation of
fire safety equipment necessary for compliance with the 1967
edition of the Life Safety Code of the National Fire
Protection Association (or any subsequent edition specified
by the Secretary of Health and Human Services).
``(2) Loan requirements.--To be eligible for insurance
under this subsection a loan shall--
``(A) not exceed the Secretary's estimate of the reasonable
cost of the equipment fully installed;
``(B) bear interest at such rate as may be agreed upon by
the mortgagor and the mortgagee;
``(C) have a maturity satisfactory to the Secretary;
``(D) be made by a financial institution or other mortgagee
approved by the Secretary as eligible for insurance under
section 2 or a mortgagee approved under section 203(b)(1);
``(E) comply with other such terms, conditions, and
restrictions as the Secretary may prescribe; and
``(F) be made with respect to a child care and development
facility that complies with the requirement under subsection
(d).
``(3) Insurance requirements.--The provisions of paragraphs
(5), (6), (7), (9), and (10) of section 220(h) shall apply to
loans insured under this subsection, except that all
references in such paragraphs to home improvement loans shall
be considered, for purposes of this subsection, to refer to
loans under this subsection. The provisions of subsections
(c), (d), and (h) of section 2 shall apply to loans insured
under this subsection, except that all references in such
subsections to `this section' or `this title' shall be
considered, for purposes of this subsection, to refer to this
subsection.
``(h) Schedules and Deadlines.--The Secretary shall
establish schedules and deadlines for the processing and
approval (or provision of notice of disapproval) of
applications for mortgage insurance under this section.
``(i) Definitions.--For the purposes of this section, the
following definitions shall apply:
``(1) Child care and development facility.--The term `child
care and development facility' means a public facility,
proprietary facility, or facility of a private nonprofit
corporation or association that--
``(A) has as its purpose the care and development of
children less than 12 years of age; and
``(B) is licensed or regulated by the State in which it is
located (or, if there is no State law providing for such
licensing and regulation by the State, by the municipality or
other political subdivision in which the facility is
located).

The term does not include facilities for school-age children
primarily for use during normal school hours. The term
includes facilities for training individuals to provide child
care and development services.
``(2) Equipment.--The term `equipment' includes machinery,
utilities, and built-in equipment and any necessary
enclosures or structures to house them, and any other items
necessary for the functioning of a particular facility as a
child care and development facility, including necessary
furniture. Such term includes books, curricular, and program
materials.
``(3) Mortgage; first mortgage; mortgagee.--The term
`mortgage' means a first mortgage on real estate in fee
simple, or on the interest of either the lessor or lessee
thereof under a lease having a period of not less than 7
years to run beyond the maturity date of the mortgage. The
term `first mortgage' means such classes of first liens as
are commonly given to secure advances (including advances
during construction) on, or the unpaid purchase price of,
real estate under the laws of the State in which the real
estate is located, together with the credit instrument or
instruments (if any) secured thereby, and any mortgage may be
in the form of one or more trust mortgages or mortgage
indentures or deeds of trust, securing notes, bonds, or other
credit instruments, and, by the same instrument or by a
separate instrument, may create a security interest in
initial equipment, whether or not attached to the realty. The
term `mortgagor' has the meaning given the term in section
207(a).
``(j) Limitation on Insurance Authority.--
``(1) Termination.--No mortgage may be insured under this
section or section 223(h) after September 30, 2005, except
pursuant to a commitment to insure issued on or before such
date.
``(2) Aggregate principal amount limitation.--The aggregate
principal amount of mortgages for which the Secretary enters
into commitments to insure under this section or section
223(h) on or before the date under paragraph (1) may not
exceed $2,000,000,000. If, upon the date under paragraph (1),
the aggregate insurance authority provided under this
paragraph has not been fully used, the Secretary of the
Treasury shall submit a report to Congress evaluating the
need for continued mortgage insurance under this section.''.
``(k) Regulations.--The Secretary shall issue any
regulations necessary to carry out this section. In issuing
such regulations, the Secretary shall consult with the
Secretary of Health and Human Services with respect to any
aspects of the regulations regarding child care and
development facilities.''.

SEC. 4. INSURANCE FOR MORTGAGES FOR ACQUISITION OR
REFINANCING DEBT OF EXISTING CHILD CARE AND
DEVELOPMENT FACILITIES.

Section 223 of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1715n)
is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(h) Mortgage Insurance for Purchase or Refinancing of
Existing Child Care and Development Facilities.--
``(1) Authority.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
this Act, the Secretary may insure under any section of this
title a mortgage executed in connection with the purchase or
refinancing of an existing child care and development
facility, the purchase of a structure to serve as a child
care and development facility, or the refinancing of existing
debt of an existing child care and development facility.
``(2) Purchase of existing facilities and structures.--In
the case of the purchase under this subsection of an existing
child care and development facility or purchase of an
existing structure to serve as such a facility, the Secretary
shall prescribe any terms and conditions that the Secretary
considers necessary to ensure that--
``(A) the facility or structure purchased continues to be
used as a child care and development facility; and
``(B) the facility complies with the same requirements
applicable under subsections (d) and (e) of section 257 to
facilities having mortgages insured under such section.
``(3) Refinancing of existing facilities.--In the case of
refinancing of an existing child care and development
facility, the Secretary shall prescribe any terms and
conditions that the Secretary considers necessary to ensure
that--
``(A) the refinancing is used to lower the monthly debt
service costs (taking into account any fees or charges
connected with such refinancing) of the existing facility;
``(B) the proceeds of any refinancing will be employed only
to retire the existing indebtedness and pay the necessary
cost of refinancing on the existing facility;
``(C) the existing facility is economically viable; and
``(D) the facility complies with the same requirements
applicable under section 257(d) to facilities having
mortgages insured under such section.
``(4) Definitions.--For purposes of this subsection, the
terms defined in section 257(i) shall have the same meanings
as provided under such section.
``(5) Limitation on insurance authority.--The authority of
the Secretary to enter into commitments to insure mortgages
under this subsection is subject to the limitations under
section 257(j).''.

SEC. 5. CHILDREN'S DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION.

Title II of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1707 et
seq.) is amended by adding at the end (after section 257, as
added by section 3 of this Act) the following:

``children's development commission

``Sec. 258. (a) Establishment.--There is hereby established
a commission to be known as the Children's Development
Commission.
``(b) Membership.--
``(1) Appointment.--The Commission shall be composed of 7
members appointed by the President, not later than the
expiration of the 3-month period beginning upon the enactment
of this section, by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, as follows:
``(A) 1 member shall be appointed from among 3 individuals
recommended by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
or the Secretary's designee.
``(B) 1 member shall be appointed from among 3 individuals
recommended by the Secretary of Health and Human Services or
the Secretary's designee.
``(C) 1 member shall be appointed from among 3 individuals
recommended by the Secretary of the Treasury or the
Secretary's designee.

[[Page S6419]]

``(D) 4 members shall be appointed from among 12
individuals recommended jointly by the Speaker of the House
of Representatives, the Majority Leader of the Senate,
Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, the Minority
Leader of the Senate.
``(2) Qualifications of congressionally recommended
members.--Of the members appointed under paragraph (1)(D)--
``(A) each shall be an individual who actively participates
or is employed in the field of child care and has academic,
licensing, or other credentials relating to such
participation or employment; and
``(B) not more than 2 may be of the same political party.
``(3) Terms.--Each appointed member of the Commission shall
serve for a term of 3 years.
``(4) Vacancies.--Any member appointed to fill a vacancy
occurring before the expiration of the term for which the
member's predecessor was appointed shall be appointed only
for the remainder of that term. A member may serve after the
expiration of that member's term until a successor has taken
office. A vacancy in the Commission shall be filled in the
manner in which the original appointment was made.
``(5) Chairperson.--The chairperson of the Commission shall
be designated by the President at the time of appointment.
``(6) Quorum.--A majority of the members of the Commission
shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.
``(7) Voting.--Each member of the Commission shall be
entitled to 1 vote, which shall be equal to the vote of every
other member of the Commission.
``(8) Prohibition on additional pay.--Members of the
Commission shall serve without compensation, but shall be
reimbursed for travel, subsistence, and other necessary
expenses incurred in the performance of their duties as
members of the Commission.
``(c) Functions.--The Commission shall carry out the
following functions:
``(1) Certification of compliance.--The Commission shall
collect such information and make such determinations as may
be necessary to determine, for purposes of section 257(d),
whether child care and development facilities comply, or will
be in compliance within 12 months, with--
``(A) any laws, standards, and requirements applicable to
such facilities under the laws of the State, municipality, or
other unit of general local government in which the facility
is or is to be located, and
``(B) after the effective date of the standards and
requirements established under paragraph (2), such standards
and requirements,

and shall issue certifications of such compliance.
``(2) Establishment of standards.--
``(A) Study.--Not later than 12 months after the date on
which appointment of initial membership of the Commission is
completed, the Commission, in consultation with the Secretary
of Housing and Urban Development and the Secretary of Health
and Human Services, shall conduct a study to determine the
laws, standards, and requirements referred to in paragraph
(1)(A) that are applicable in each State. Taking into
consideration the findings of the study, the Secretary shall
establish standards and requirements regarding child care and
development facilities that are designed to ensure that
mortgage insurance is provided under section 257 and section
223(h) only for safe, clean, and healthy facilities that
provide appropriate care and development services for
children.
``(B) Publication.--The Commission shall issue regulations
providing for the standards and requirements established
under subparagraph (A) to take effect, for purposes of
sections 257(d)(2) and 223(h)(2)(B) and paragraph (1)(B) of
this section, not later than 18 months after the date of
enactment of this section.
``(3) Small purpose loans.--The Commission shall, to the
extent amounts are made available for such purpose pursuant
to subsection (i) and qualified requests are received, make
loans, directly or indirectly to providers of child care and
development facilities for reconstruction or renovation of
such facilities, subject to the following requirements:
``(A) Loans under this paragraph shall be made only for
such facilities that are financially and operationally
viable, as determined under standards and guidelines to be
established by the Commission.
``(B) The aggregate amount of loans made under this
paragraph to a single borrower may not exceed $50,000.
``(C) A loan made under this paragraph may not have a term
to maturity exceeding 7 years.
``(D) Loans under this paragraph shall bear interest at
rates and be made under such other conditions and terms as
the Commission shall provide.
``(4) Notification.--The Commission shall take such actions
as may be necessary to publicize the availability of the
programs for mortgage insurance under sections 257 and 223(h)
and loans under paragraph (3) of this subsection in a manner
that ensures that information concerning such programs will
be available to child care providers throughout the United
States.
``(5) Liability insurance.--Not later than 12 months after
the date on which appointment of initial membership of the
Commission is completed, the Commission shall establish
standards and guidelines, applicable to mortgage insurance
under sections 257 and 223(h) and loans under paragraph (3)
of this subsection, requiring child care providers operating
child care and development facilities assisted under such
provisions to obtain and maintain liability insurance in such
amounts and subject to such requirements as the Commission
considers appropriate.
``(6) Research foundation.--Not later than 12 months after
the date of enactment of this section, the Commission shall
submit a report to Congress recommending a plan for
establishing and funding a foundation that is an entity
independent of the Commission (but which maintains
association with the Commission), the purpose of which shall
be--
``(A) to support research relating to child care and
development facilities;
``(B) to fund pilot programs to test innovative methods for
improving child care; and
``(C) to engage in activities and publish materials to
assist persons interested in mortgage insurance under
sections 257 and 223(h) and other assistance provided by the
Commission.
``(d) Nondiscrimination Requirement.--
``(1) In general.--The Commission may not certify under
subsection (c)(1) or carry out any activities of the
Commission with respect to any child care and development
facility if the provider of the facility discriminates on
account of race, color, religion (subject to paragraph (2)),
national origin, sex (to the extent provided in title IX of
the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.)),
or handicapping condition.
``(2) Facilities of religious organizations.--The
prohibition with respect to religion shall not apply to a
child care and development facility which is controlled by or
which is closely identified with the tenets of a particular
religious organization if the application of this subsection
would not be consistent with the religious tenets of such
organization.
``(3) Certification.--As a condition of certification under
subsection (c)(1) and eligibility for a loan under subsection
(c)(3), the provider of a child care and development facility
shall certify to the Commission that the provider does not
discriminate, as required by the provisions of paragraph (1)
of this subsection.
``(e) Powers.--
``(1) Assistance from federal agencies.--The Commission may
secure directly from any department or agency of the Federal
Government such information as the Commission may require for
carrying out its functions. Upon request of the Commission,
any such department or agency shall furnish such information.
``(2) Assistance from general services administration.--The
Administrator of General Services shall provide to the
Commission, on a reimbursable basis, such administrative
support services as the Commission may request.
``(3) Assistance from department of housing and urban
development.--Upon the request of the Commission, the
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall, to the
extent possible and subject to the discretion of the
Secretary, detail any of the personnel of the Department of
Housing and Urban Development, on a nonreimbursable basis, to
assist the Commission in carrying out its functions under
this section.
``(4) Mails.--The Commission may use the United States
mails in the same manner and under the same conditions as
other Federal agencies.
``(f) Staff.--
``(1) Executive director.--The Commission shall appoint an
executive director of the Board, who shall be compensated at
a rate fixed by the Commission, but which shall not exceed
the rate established for level I of the Executive Schedule
under title 5, United States Code.
``(2) Other personnel.--In addition to the executive
director, the Commission may appoint and fix the compensation
of such personnel as the Commission considers necessary, in
accordance with the provisions of title 5, United States
Code, governing appointments to the competitive service, and
the provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53
of such title, relating to classification and General
Schedule pay rates.
``(g) Reports.--Not later than March 31 of each year, the
Commission shall submit a report to the President and
Congress regarding the operations and activities of the
Commission during the preceding calendar year. Each annual
report shall include a copy of the Commission's financial
statements and such information and other evidence as is
necessary to demonstrate that the activities of the
Commission during the year for which the report is made. The
Commission may also submit reports to Congress and the
President at such other times as the Commission deems
desirable.
``(h) Definitions.--For purposes of this section, the terms
defined in section 257(i) shall have the same meanings as
provided under such section.
``(i) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are
authorized to be appropriated to the Commission to carry out
this section $10,000,000 for fiscal year 1999, to remain
available until expended, of which not more than $2,500,000
shall be available for administrative costs of the Commission
and the remainder of which shall be available only for loans
under subsection (c)(3).''.

[[Page S6420]]

SEC. 6. STUDY OF AVAILABILITY OF SECONDARY MARKETS FOR
MORTGAGES ON CHILD CARE FACILITIES.

(a) Study.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall conduct a
study of the secondary mortgage markets to determine--
(1) whether such a market exists for purchase of mortgages
eligible for insurance under sections 223(h) and 257 of the
National Housing Act (as added by this Act);
(2) whether such a market would affect the availability of
credit available for development of child care and
development facilities or would lower development costs of
such facilities; and
(3) the extent to which such a market or other activities
to provide credit enhancement for child care and development
facilities loans is needed to meet the demand for such
facilities.
(b) Report.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall submit to
Congress a report regarding the results of the study
conducted under this section not later than the expiration of
the 2-year period beginning on the date of enactment of this
Act.

Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, today I cosponsor the Children's
Development Commission Act of 1998. I commend my friend and respected
colleague, Senator Herb Kohl for introducing this critical piece of
legislation which addresses a serious problem facing American families
today--the shortage of affordable, quality child care.
America is facing a shortage of quality child care which is
approaching crisis levels. This shortage bears most heavily on working
families, including young working single mothers. Every day more than 5
million children under age 13 are left unattended after school. The
parents of these children deserve meaningful, affordable child care
options.
The high cost of child care impacts directly on families, affecting
their ability to pay the rent or mortgage, to put food on the table or
to save for their children's education. The lack of decent, high
quality child care also impedes the development of critical learning
skills these children will need in order to succeed later in life.
Social and medical research continues to stress the importance of the
first three years of development on a child's well-being and ability to
learn.
In New York, the average cost of day care is over $6,000 per year--
and many families end up paying nearly $10,000 per year. Many families
are unable to locate quality child care at all, as evidenced by the
long waiting lists at existing centers. In New York City, approximately
28,000 families are on waiting lists for assistance under the Child
Care Development Block Grant Program.
Mr. President, as more families make the difficult transition from
welfare to work, waiting lists for affordable care and assistance will
likely increase significantly. As a result of welfare reform, by the
year 2002, there may be as many as 135,000 additional infants and
toddlers in New York who will need affordable quality child care.
These high costs and the overall shortage of quality care are found
in all areas of my home State--cutting across urban and rural
boundaries. The New York Human Services Administration estimates that
more than two-thirds of children in the Morrisania section of the Bronx
and more than seventy percent of children in the Brownsville section of
Brooklyn are in need of child care.
This shortage extends to rural areas of New York as well--for
example, in Allegany, Hamilton, Washington and Yates counties there are
no registered programs for school age children. Twenty of my State's
sixty two counties have three or fewer registered school-age programs.
The Child Care Development Commission Act will employ a number of
cost-effective strategies to increase the availability and
affordability of child care throughout the nation.
First, the legislation would reduce lender risk by creating a new
insurance authority within the Department of Housing and Urban
Development's Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Using this new
authority, FHA will provide loan guarantees for child care facilities.
This will in turn spur the provision of private capital for the
construction of new child care centers, the improvement of existing
facilities and the cost of purchasing and installing fire safety
equipment.
Second, the Act will create a new streamlined Commission--known
informally as ``Kiddie Mac.'' The Commission will provide reasonable
low-cost ``micro-loans'' for the renovation and improvement of existing
facilities. In addition, the Commission will certify that facilities
receiving FHA insurance meet state and local standards, such as
licensing and child safety requirements.
Mr. President, The Children's Development Commission Act is an
important step in ensuring that child care facilities can gain access
to private market credit. Representatives Carolyn Maloney and Richard
Baker have introduced companion legislation (H.R. 3637) in the House of
Representatives. They deserve our praise for their diligence in
addressing this issue.
The Children's Development Commission Act makes an investment in our
children, an investment in our families and an investment in our
future. I look forward to working with my Senate and House colleagues
for its enactment.
______

By Ms. MOSELEY-BRAUN:
S. 2179. A bill to amend the International Emergency Economic Powers
Act to clarify the conditions under which export controls may be
imposed on agricultural products; to the Committee on Banking, Housing,
and Urban Affairs.

SELECTIVE AGRICULTURE EMBARGO PROHIBITION ACT OF 1998

Ms. MOSELEY-BRAUN. Mr. President, in January 1980, President Jimmy
Carter terminated U.S. shipments of wheat and corn to the Soviet Union
in retaliation against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The effect
of this embargo on the USSR was limited, but the impact on American
farmers was severe, cutting off the market for 17 million tons of U.S.
grain and prompting the Soviets to reduce long term reliance on U.S.
farm exports.
This action unfairly singled out the agriculture community to
shoulder the burden of U.S. foreign policy. Congress quickly responded
by limiting the President's power to impose restrictions on agriculture
exports. The Export Administration Act, the principal export control
statute of the era, was amended to include provisions to prohibit the
President from imposing export controls on farm commodities for more
than sixty days without Congressional approval.
The Export Administration Act expired August 20, 1994, however, and
consequently, the legal protections that prevent the singling out of
agriculture exports are no longer in place.
The current statutory vehicle that allows the President to impose
economic sanctions is the International Emergency Economic Powers Act,
also known by its acronym, IEEPA. The IEEPA allows the President to
employ a wide range of sanctions against countries determined to be a
threat to U.S. national security, foreign policy, or economy. If the
President chooses to act under IEEPA, he can then declare a national
emergency, and then is required to report to Congress explaining his
actions. Sanctions authorized under IEEPA can continue until the
President decides to terminate the emergency, or unless Congress acts
to terminate it by joint resolution.
The President enjoys almost unlimited authority under IEEPA. The
statute requires the President to consult with Congress on his actions,
but this consultation is discretionary, not mandatory. Most
importantly, nothing in IEEPA prevents a President from targeting
American agriculture as a tool for sanctions or embargos against a
foreign nation.
My bill, the Selective Agriculture Embargo Prohibition Act, simply
restores the protection against selective embargos that farmers enjoyed
before the EAA was allowed to lapse. Under the provisions of my bill, a
President who imposes an embargo on agriculture commodities, using the
authority provided by IEEPA, must report this action immediately to
Congress. The President also must set forth the reasons, in detail, for
this action, and specify the period of time, which may not exceed one
year, that the agriculture export controls are proposed to be in
effect.
My bill allows Congress 60 days after receiving the report to adopt a
joint resolution approving the agriculture exports controls. If
Congress fails to adopt that resolution within 60 days, then the
controls shall cease to be effective upon the expiration of the 60
days.

[[Page S6421]]

Entering and expanding into foreign markets is not a simple task. It
requires years of extensive work to nurture business relationships,
foster consumer confidence and trust, and establish the procedures for
effective sales. Destroying foreign markets, by comparison, can occur
swiftly and easily, wreaking long-lasting and largely irreparable
damage on American industries that have invested the time and money to
build a strong consumer base overseas. Those foreign purchasers who
cannot rely on American imports will then turn to other sources--our
foreign competitors--and shut out American products for good.
That kind of damage was precisely the effect of the 1980 embargo on
U.S. agriculture. And given the almost logarithmic increases in U.S.
farm exports over the past decade, any sanction or embargo that targets
agriculture today would have even greater devastating and permanent
effects on the U.S. farm economy. We must ensure that this sort of
mistake is never repeated.
There will be critics who argue that my legislation ties the hands of
the President. This is not the case. My bill simply ensures that we do
not embargo agriculture commodities unless both the President and the
Congress are in full agreement. My bill ensures that adequate
safeguards are in place so that farm families do not unfairly shoulder
the burden of American foreign policy.
This legislation is very similar to the restrictions enacted three
times by Congress during consideration of the Export Enhancement Act
and later signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. This is a
bipartisan bill is also good trade policy, good farm policy, and good
economic policy. I urge my colleagues to support the swift passage of
this bill in the Senate.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be
printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the
Record, as follows:

S. 2179

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 ``Selective Agriculture
Embargo Prohibition Act''.

SEC. 2. AGRICULTURAL EXPORT CONTROLS.

The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C.
1701 et seq.) is amended--
(1) by redesignating section 208 as section 209; and
(2) by inserting after section 207 the following new
section:

``SEC. 208. AGRICULTURAL CONTROLS.

``(a) In General.--
``(1) Report to congress.--If the President imposes export
controls on any agricultural commodity in order to carry out
the provisions of this Act, the President shall immediately
transmit a report on such action to Congress, setting forth
the reasons for the controls in detail and specifying the
period of time, which may not exceed 1 year, that the
controls are proposed to be in effect. If Congress, within 60
days after the date of its receipt of the report, adopts a
joint resolution pursuant to subsection (b), approving the
imposition of the export controls, then such controls shall
remain in effect for the period specified in the report, or
until terminated by the President, whichever occurs first. If
Congress, within 60 days after the date of its receipt of
such report, fails to adopt a joint resolution approving such
controls, then such controls shall cease to be effective upon
the expiration of that 60-day period.
``(2) Application of paragraph (1).--The provisions of
paragraph (1) and subsection (b) shall not apply to export
controls--
``(A) which are extended under this Act if the controls,
when imposed, were approved by Congress under paragraph (1)
and subsection (b); or
``(B) which are imposed with respect to a country as part
of the prohibition or curtailment of all exports to that
country.
``(b) Joint Resolution.--
``(1) In general.--For purposes of this subsection, the
term `joint resolution' means only a joint resolution the
matter after the resolving clause of which is as follows:
`That, pursuant to section 208 of the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act, the President may impose export controls
as specified in the report submitted to Congress on
_________.', with the blank space being filled with the
appropriate date.
``(2) Introduction.--On the day on which a report is
submitted to the House of Representatives and the Senate
under subsection (a), a joint resolution with respect to the
export controls specified in such report shall be introduced
(by request) in the House of Representatives by the chairman
of the Committee on International Relations, for himself and
the ranking minority member of the Committee, or by Members
of the House designated by the chairman and ranking minority
member; and shall be introduced (by request) in the Senate by
the Majority Leader of the Senate, for himself and the
Minority Leader of the Senate, or by Members of the Senate
designated by the Majority Leader and Minority Leader of the
Senate. If either House is not in session on the day on which
such a report is submitted, the joint resolution shall be
introduced in that House, as provided in the preceding
sentence, on the first day thereafter on which that House is
in session.
``(3) Referral.--All joint resolutions introduced in the
House of Representatives and in the Senate shall be referred
to the appropriate committee.
``(4) Discharge of committee.--If the committee of either
House to which a joint resolution has been referred has not
reported the joint resolution at the end of 30 days after its
referral, the committee shall be discharged from further
consideration of the joint resolution or of any other joint
resolution introduced with respect to the same matter.
``(5) Consideration in senate and house of
representatives.--A joint resolution under this subsection
shall be considered in the Senate in accordance with the
provisions of section 601(b)(4) of the International Security
Assistance and Arms Export Control Act of 1976. For the
purpose of expediting the consideration and passage of joint
resolutions reported or discharged pursuant to the provisions
of this subsection, it shall be in order for the Committee on
Rules of the House of Representatives to present for
consideration a resolution of the House of Representatives
providing procedures for the immediate consideration of a
joint resolution under this subsection which may be similar,
if applicable, to the procedures set forth in section
601(b)(4) of the International Security Assistance and Arms
Export Control Act of 1976.
``(6) Passage by 1 house.--In the case of a joint
resolution described in paragraph (1), if, before the passage
by 1 House of a joint resolution of that House, that House
receives a resolution with respect to the same matter from
the other House, then--
``(A) the procedure in that House shall be the same as if
no joint resolution had been received from the other House;
but
``(B) the vote on final passage shall be on the joint
resolution of the other House.
``(c) Computation of Time.--In the computation of the
period of 60 days referred to in subsection (a) and the
period of 30 days referred to in paragraph (4) of subsection
(b), there shall be excluded the days on which either House
of Congress is not in session because of an adjournment of
more than 3 days to a day certain or because of an
adjournment of Congress sine die.''.
______

By Mr. LOTT (for himself and Mr. Daschle):
S. 2180. A bill to amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to clarify liability under that
Act for certain recycling transactions; to the Committee on Environment
and Public Works.

the superfund recycling equity act of 1998

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, today, I am pleased to join my colleague,
Senate Minority Leader Daschle, in introducing legislation which
removes an unintended yet troublesome legal obstacle to recycling.
It is not a widely known fact that Superfund is biased against
recycling. I am confident that the authors of the statute did not
intend to favor new materials over those that have been recycled, but
we now live with this unintended consequence.
Mr. President, our bill corrects current law and encourages
recycling. It simply recognizes that recycling is not disposal and that
recyclables are not wastes. Common sense tells us that recycling
something is not the same as disposing of it.
Nonetheless, Mr. President, those who sell materials for recycling
are being pulled into Superfund cleanups because, under the law,
selling recyclable materials is equivalent to ``arranging for
disposal.'' Our bill waives Superfund liability for those who are
legitimately recycling these goods. Clearly, recycling is not
disposal--it is the opposite.
The Superfund Recycling Equity Act is necessary to correct
Superfund's fundamental bias against recycled materials. Under current
law, recyclable materials, such as paper, glass, plastic, metals and
textiles cannot be competitive with new materials. This bill will help
level the playing field between the use of recycled goods and
competitive virgin raw materials. Currently, suppliers of virgin raw
materials face no Superfund liability for contamination caused by their
customer. This bill would provide the same waiver to those who sell
recyclable materials.

[[Page S6422]]

Mr. President, this bill also contains protections to ensure that
sham recyclers are unable to benefit from this exemption. In order for
recyclers to be relieved of Superfund liability, they must act in an
environmentally sound manner and sell their product to manufacturers
with environmentally responsible business practices. Considering that
most recyclers are currently operating in a reasonable and conscience
manner, this should be an easy test.
Mr. President, the Superfund Recycling Equity Act is the product of
lengthy negotiations between the federal and state governments, the
environmental community and the scrap recycling industry. These
negotiations have resulted in a bill that I believe to be both
environmentally and fiscally sound.
Americans nationwide have embraced the benefits of recycling. We know
that increased recycling means the more efficient use of our natural
resources. By removing the threat of Superfund liability for recyclers,
we will encourage more recycling.
I hope that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will lend their
support to this targeted and much-needed reform bill.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be
printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the
Record, as follows:

S. 2180

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 ``Superfund Recycling Equity
Act of 1998''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

The purposes of this Act are--
(1) to promote the reuse and recycling of scrap material in
furtherance of the goals of waste minimization and natural
resource conservation while protecting human health and the
environment;
(2) to create greater equity in the statutory treatment of
recycled versus virgin materials; and
(3) to remove the disincentives and impediments to
recycling created as an unintended consequence of the 1980
Superfund liability provisions.

SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF LIABILITY UNDER CERCLA FOR RECYCLING
TRANSACTIONS.

(a) Clarification.--Title I of the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of
1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end
the following new section:

``SEC. 127. RECYCLING TRANSACTIONS.

``(a) Liability Clarification.--As provided in subsections
(b), (c), (d), and (e), a person who arranged for recycling
of recyclable material shall not be liable under section
107(a)(3) or 107(a)(4) with respect to the material.
``(b) Recyclable Material Defined.--For purposes of this
section, the term `recyclable material' means scrap paper,
scrap plastic, scrap glass, scrap textiles, scrap rubber
(other than whole tires), scrap metal, or spent lead-acid,
spent nickel-cadmium, and other spent batteries, as well as
minor amounts of material incident to or adhering to the
scrap material as a result of its normal and customary use
prior to becoming scrap; except that such term shall not
include shipping containers of a capacity from 30 liters to
3,000 liters, whether intact or not, having any hazardous
substance (but not metal bits and pieces or hazardous
substance that form an integral part of the container)
contained in or adhering thereto.
``(c) Transactions Involving Scrap Paper, Plastic, Glass,
Textiles, or Rubber.--Transactions involving scrap paper,
scrap plastic, scrap glass, scrap textiles, or scrap rubber
(other than whole tires) shall be deemed to be arranging for
recycling if the person who arranged for the transaction (by
selling recyclable material or otherwise arranging for the
recycling of recyclable material) can demonstrate by a
preponderance of the evidence that all of the following
criteria were met at the time of the transaction:
``(1) The recyclable material met a commercial
specification grade.
``(2) A market existed for the recyclable material.
``(3) A substantial portion of the recyclable material was
made available for use as feedstock for the manufacture of a
new saleable product.
``(4) The recyclable material could have been a replacement
or substitute for a virgin raw material, or the product to be
made from the recyclable material could have been a
replacement or substitute for a product made, in whole or in
part, from a virgin raw material.
``(5) For transactions occurring 90 days or more after the
date of enactment of this section, the person exercised
reasonable care to determine that the facility where the
recyclable material was handled, processed, reclaimed, or
otherwise managed by another person (hereinafter in this
section referred to as a `consuming facility') was in
compliance with substantive (not procedural or
administrative) provisions of any Federal, State, or local
environmental law or regulation, or compliance order or
decree issued pursuant thereto, applicable to the handling,
processing, reclamation, storage, or other management
activities associated with recyclable material.
``(6) For purposes of this subsection, `reasonable care'
shall be determined using criteria that include (but are not
limited to)--
``(A) the price paid in the recycling transaction;
``(B) the ability of the person to detect the nature of the
consuming facility's operations concerning its handling,
processing, reclamation, or other management activities
associated with recyclable material; and
``(C) the result of inquiries made to the appropriate
Federal, State, or local environmental agency (or agencies)
regarding the consuming facility's past and current
compliance with substantive (not procedural or
administrative) provisions of any Federal, State, or local
environmental law or regulation, or compliance order or
decree issued pursuant thereto, applicable to the handling,
processing, reclamation, storage, or other management
activities associated with the recyclable material. For the
purposes of this paragraph, a requirement to obtain a permit
applicable to the handling, processing, reclamation, or other
management activity associated with the recyclable materials
shall be deemed to be a substantive provision.
``(d) Transactions Involving Scrap Metal.--
``(1) Transactions involving scrap metal shall be deemed to
be arranging for recycling if the person who arranged for the
transaction (by selling recyclable material or otherwise
arranging for the recycling of recyclable material) can
demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that at the
time of the transaction--
``(A) the person met the criteria set forth in subsection
(c) with respect to the scrap metal;
``(B) the person was in compliance with any applicable
regulations or standards regarding the storage, transport,
management, or other activities associated with the recycling
of scrap metal that the Administrator promulgates under the
Solid Waste Disposal Act subsequent to the enactment of this
section and with regard to transactions occurring after the
effective date of such regulations or standards; and
``(C) the person did not melt the scrap metal prior to the
transaction.
``(2) For purposes of paragraph (1)(C), melting of scrap
metal does not include the thermal separation of 2 or more
materials due to differences in their melting points
(referred to as `sweating').
``(3) For purposes of this subsection, the term `scrap
metal' means bits and pieces of metal parts (e.g., bars,
turnings, rods, sheets, wire) or metal pieces that may be
combined together with bolts or soldering (e.g., radiators,
scrap automobiles, railroad box cars), which when worn or
superfluous can be recycled, except for scrap metals that the
Administrator excludes from this definition by regulation.
``(e) Transactions Involving Batteries.--Transactions
involving spent lead-acid batteries, spent nickel-cadmium
batteries, or other spent batteries shall be deemed to be
arranging for recycling if the person who arranged for the
transaction (by selling recyclable material or otherwise
arranging for the recycling of recyclable material) can
demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that at the
time of the transaction--
``(1) the person met the criteria set forth in subsection
(c) with respect to the spent lead-acid batteries, spent
nickel-cadmium batteries, or other spent batteries, but the
person did not recover the valuable components of such
batteries; and
``(2)(A) with respect to transactions involving lead-acid
batteries, the person was in compliance with applicable
Federal environmental regulations or standards, and any
amendments thereto, regarding the storage, transport,
management, or other activities associated with the recycling
of spent lead-acid batteries;
``(B) with respect to transactions involving nickel-cadmium
batteries, Federal environmental regulations or standards are
in effect regarding the storage, transport, management, or
other activities associated with the recycling of spent
nickel-cadmium batteries, and the person was in compliance
with applicable regulations or standards or any amendments
thereto; or
``(C) with respect to transactions involving other spent
batteries, Federal environmental regulations or standards are
in effect regarding the storage, transport, management, or
other activities associated with the recycling of such
batteries, and the person was in compliance with applicable
regulations or standards or any amendments thereto.
``(f) Exclusions.--
``(1) The exemptions set forth in subsections (c), (d), and
(e) shall not apply if--
``(A) the person had an objectively reasonable basis to
believe at the time of the recycling transaction--
``(i) that the recyclable material would not be recycled;
``(ii) that the recyclable material would be burned as
fuel, or for energy recovery or incineration; or
``(iii) for transactions occurring before 90 days after the
date of the enactment of this section, that the consuming
facility was not

[[Page S6423]]

in compliance with a substantive (not procedural or
administrative) provision of any Federal, State, or local
environmental law or regulation, or compliance order or
decree issued pursuant thereto, applicable to the handling,
processing, reclamation, or other management activities
associated with the recyclable material;
``(B) the person had reason to believe that hazardous
substances had been added to the recyclable material for
purposes other than processing for recycling;
``(C) the person failed to exercise reasonable care with
respect to the management and handling of the recyclable
material (including adhering to customary industry practices
current at the time of the recycling transaction designed to
minimize, through source control, contamination of the
recyclable material by hazardous substances); or
``(D) with respect to any item of a recyclable material,
the item--
``(i) contained polychlorinated biphenyls at a
concentration in excess of 50 parts per million or any new
standard promulgated pursuant to applicable Federal laws; or
``(ii) is an item of scrap paper containing at the time of
the recycling transaction a concentration of a hazardous
substance that has been determined by the Administrator,
after notice and comment, to present a significant risk to
human health or the environment, or contained that hazardous
substance at a concentration at or higher than that
determined by the Administrator to present such a significant
risk.
``(2) For purposes of this subsection, an objectively
reasonable basis for belief shall be determined using
criteria that include (but are not limited to) the size of
the person's business, customary industry practices
(including customary industry practices current at the time
of the recycling transaction designed to minimize, through
source control, contamination of the recyclable material by
hazardous substances), the price paid in the recycling
transaction, and the ability of the person to detect the
nature of the consuming facility's operations concerning its
handling, processing, reclamation, or other management
activities associated with the recyclable material.
``(3) For purposes of this subsection, a requirement to
obtain a permit applicable to the handling, processing,
reclamation, or other management activities associated with
recyclable material shall be deemed to be a substantive
provision.
``(g) Effect on Other Liability.--Nothing in this section
shall be deemed to affect the liability of a person under
paragraph (1) or (2) of section 107(a). Nothing in this
section shall be deemed to affect the liability of a person
under paragraph (3) or (4) of section 107(a) with respect to
materials that are not recyclable materials as defined in
subsection (b) of this section.
``(h) Regulations.--The Administrator has the authority,
under section 115, to promulgate additional regulations
concerning this section.
``(i) Effect on Pending or Concluded Actions.--The
exemptions provided in this section shall not affect any
concluded judicial or administrative action or any pending
judicial action initiated by the United States prior to
enactment of this section.
``(j) Liability for Attorney's Fees for Certain Actions.--
Any person who commences an action in contribution against a
person who is not liable by operation of this section shall
be liable to that person for all reasonable costs of
defending that action, including all reasonable attorney's
and expert witness fees.
``(k) Relationship to Liability Under Other Laws.--Nothing
in this section shall affect--
``(1) liability under any other Federal, State, or local
statute or regulation promulgated pursuant to any such
statute, including any requirements promulgated by the
Administrator under the Solid Waste Disposal Act; or
``(2) the ability of the Administrator to promulgate
regulations under any other statute, including the Solid
Waste Disposal Act.''.
(b) Technical Amendment.--The table of contents for title I
of such Act is amended by adding at the end the following
item:

``Sec. 127. Recycling transactions.''.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I am pleased to join the distinguished
majority leader in introducing this bill to promote the reuse and
recycling of scrap materials. There is broad agreement that more should
be done to establish a climate in which businesses are encouraged to
recycle scrap materials in an environmentally sound manner. We should
make every effort to expand the responsible and beneficial use and
reuse of this waste as soon as possible.
While I remain hopeful that bipartisan negotiators will be able to
work out differences on broad-based Superfund reform, it appears
unlikely that Congress will achieve that goal this year. That is
particularly unfortunate, because there are many elements of Superfund
reform for which there is agreement and for which we should move
forward as expeditiously as possible, including establishing greater
incentives for brownfields redevelopment, and providing liability
relief to deserving municipalities and small businesses.
There are a number of important Superfund issues on which there
continues to be significant disagreement. Despite the fact that
resolution of these issues is unlikely in the near-term, we should not
allow ourselves to adjourn this year without making a strong effort to
enact those reforms on which there is broad agreement.
Therefore, I am very pleased that Senator Lott has taken the
initiative to move forward with this important element of Superfund
reform. With enactment of this legislation, we will foster additional
scrap recycling in America, thereby reducing the stream of waste
materials now sent to landfills and other solid waste management
facilities. By doing so, we will help to eliminate the fears of many
businesses of potential Superfund liabilities even if they pursue
legitimate means to recycle scrap materials. By clarifying the
liability rules for recycling transactions under Superfund, this
legislation will place recyclers on a more even playing field compared
with those who produce goods using virgin materials.
In conclusion, Mr. President, I am pleased to cosponsor this timely
legislation with Senator Lott. This is an important step in providing
meaningful reform and clarification to the Superfund law and I
encourage all my colleagues to support this effort to promote scrap
recycling as soon as possible.

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