[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 114 (Tuesday, July 17, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S9472]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. CLINTON (for herself, Mr. Obama, and Mr. Brown):
  S. 1793. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide 
a tax credit for property owners who remove lead-based paint hazards; 
to the Committee on Finance.
  Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, lead poisoning is a serious, persistent, 
and entirely preventable threat to a child's health. Childhood lead 
poisoning has been linked to impaired growth and function of vital 
organs and problems with intellectual and behavioral development. At 
very high levels, lead poisoning can cause seizures, comas, and even 
death; robbing a child of his or her future.
  Lead poisoning is the number one environmental health threat to 
children of color and low-income children in the U.S. African-American 
and Mexican-American children are 5 and 2 times more likely, 
respectively, to have toxic blood lead levels than white children, 
while low-income children are 8 times more likely to develop lead 
poisoning than more affluent children. Compounding the problem is the 
fact that 77 percent of children eligible for lead screening under 
Medicaid are not screened for exposure to lead.
  An estimated 500,000 American children under the age of 6 have enough 
lead in their blood to adversely affect their development. The most 
common source of lead exposure for children today is lead paint in 
older housing, particularly when it contaminates dust and soil in and 
around residences. Furthermore, despite a ban on lead paint in 1978, 
there are still over 24 million housing units in the U.S. that have 
lead paint hazards, with about 1.2 million units in New York State 
alone.
  The good news is childhood lead poisoning can be dramatically reduced 
by the abatement or reduction of lead-based hazards found in homes. 
Today, I am please to reintroduce legislation to provide a tax credit 
for safely removing lead-based paint hazards from homes and rental 
units. The Home Lead Safety Tax Credit Act of 2007 offers much needed 
incentives for property owners to ensure homes are free of 
environmental dangers that can harm our children and will put America 
closer to its goal of eliminating lead poisoning in children by the 
year 2010.
  This bill provides home owners and landlords with a 50 percent tax 
credit for lead abatement cost for up to $3,000 and up to $1,000 
interim control measures. These interim control measures, including 
replacement of windows, specialized maintenance, and safe repainting, 
are a cost-effective means of protecting the largest number of children 
from harmful lead exposure in the near term.
  This legislation targets a tax credit to homes with children younger 
than 6 years of age, women of childbearing age, low-income residents, 
and buildings constructed before 1960, as these include more than 96 
percent of all units where lead-based paint is prevalent. Targeting 
these tax credits has proven to be a successful way of eliminating 
childhood lead poisoning. For example, a similar tax credit offered by 
the State of Massachusetts helped reduce the number of new cases of 
childhood lead poisoning within the State by almost two-thirds in a 
decade.
  I am glad the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services considers 
eliminating lead poisoning to be a priority, and has established a 
national goal of ending childhood lead poisoning by 2010: However, 
current Federal lead abatement programs only have resources sufficient 
to make approximately 8,800 homes lead-safe each year. At this pace, we 
will not be able to end childhood lead poisoning by 3010, let alone 
2010. The Home Lead Safety Tax Credit Act of 2007 would help homeowners 
make over 80,000 homes safe from lead each year, nearly 10 times the 
capacity of current Federal programs.
  Every child deserves to grow up in a clean, healthy home environment. 
I am hopeful my colleagues will join me in supporting this legislation 
to safeguard homes against environmental hazards that detrimentally 
affect the health and safety of our children.
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