[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 83 (Tuesday, May 20, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4444-S4471]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  MILITARY CONSTRUCTION AND VETERANS AFFAIRS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask the Chair to lay before the Senate a 
message from the House with respect to H.R. 2642, the supplemental 
appropriations bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the message.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 2642

       Resolved, That the House agree to the amendment of the 
     Senate to the bill (H.R. 2642) entitled ``An Act making 
     appropriations for military construction, the Department of 
     Veterans Affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year 
     ending September 30, 2008, and for other purposes'', with the 
     following House amendments to Senate amendment:

     (1)Page 60 of the Senate engrossed amendment, after line 3, 
     insert the following:

              TITLE X--POLICY REGARDING OPERATIONS IN IRAQ


      sense of congress regarding united states military personnel

       Sec. 10001.  It is the sense of the Congress that the 
     performance of United States military personnel should be 
     commended, their courage and

[[Page S4445]]

     sacrifice have been exceptional, and when they come home, 
     their service should be recognized appropriately.


         units deployed for combat to be fully mission capable

       Sec. 10002.  (a) The Congress finds that it is the policy 
     of the Department of Defense that units should not be 
     deployed for combat unless they are rated ``fully mission 
     capable''.
       (b) None of the funds made available in this or any other 
     Act may be used to deploy any unit of the Armed Forces to 
     Iraq unless the President has certified in writing to the 
     Committees on Appropriations and the Committees on Armed 
     Services of the House of Representatives and the Senate at 
     least 15 days in advance of the deployment that the unit is 
     fully mission capable in advance of entry into Iraq.
       (c) For purposes of subsection (b), the term ``fully 
     mission capable'' means capable of performing assigned 
     mission essential tasks to the prescribed standards under the 
     conditions expected in the theater of operation, consistent 
     with the guidelines set forth in the DoD Directive 7730.65, 
     Subject: Department of Defense Readiness Reporting System; 
     the Interim Force Allocation Guidance to the Global Force 
     Management Board, dated February 6, 2008; and Army Regulation 
     220-1, Subject: Unit Status Reporting, dated December 19, 
     2006.
       (d) The President, by certifying in writing to the 
     Committees on Appropriations and the Committees on Armed 
     Services of the House of Representatives and the Senate that 
     the deployment to Iraq of a unit that is not assessed mission 
     capable is required for reasons of national security and by 
     submitting along with the certification a report in 
     classified and unclassified form detailing the particular 
     reason or reasons why the unit's deployment is necessary 
     despite the unit commander's assessment that the unit is not 
     mission capable, may waive the limitations prescribed in 
     subsection (b) on a unit-by-unit basis.


                    time limit on combat deployments

       Sec. 10003.  (a) The Congress finds that it is the policy 
     of the Department of Defense that Army, Army Reserve, and 
     National Guard units should not be deployed for combat beyond 
     365 days and that Marine Corps and Marine Corps Reserve units 
     should not be deployed for combat beyond 210 days.
       (b) None of the funds made available in this or any other 
     Act may be obligated or expended to initiate the development 
     of, continue the development of, or execute any order that 
     has the effect of extending the deployment for Operation 
     Iraqi Freedom of--
       (1) any unit of the Army, Army Reserve, or Army National 
     Guard beyond 365 days; or
       (2) any unit of the Marine Corps or Marine Corps Reserve 
     beyond 210 days.
       (c) The limitation prescribed in subsection (b) shall not 
     be construed to require force levels in Iraq to be decreased 
     below the total United States force levels in Iraq as of 
     January 9, 2007.
       (d) The President may waive the limitations prescribed in 
     subsection (b) on a unit-by-unit basis if the President 
     certifies in writing to the Committees on Appropriations and 
     the Committees on Armed Services of the House of 
     Representatives and the Senate that the extension of a unit's 
     deployment in Iraq beyond the period applicable to the unit 
     under such subsection is required for reasons of national 
     security. The certification shall include a report, in 
     classified and unclassified form, detailing the particular 
     reason or reasons why the unit's extended deployment is 
     necessary.


                 dwell time between combat deployments

       Sec. 10004.  (a) The Congress finds that it is the policy 
     of the Department of Defense that an Army, Army Reserve, or 
     National Guard unit should not be redeployed for combat if 
     the unit has been deployed within the previous 365 
     consecutive days and that a Marine Corps or Marine Corps 
     Reserve unit should not be redeployed for combat if the unit 
     has been deployed within the previous 210 days.
       (b) None of the funds made available in this or any other 
     Act may be obligated or expended to initiate the development 
     of, continue the development of, or execute any order that 
     has the effect of deploying for Operation Iraqi Freedom of--
       (1) any unit of the Army, Army Reserve, or Army National 
     Guard if such unit has been deployed within the previous 365 
     consecutive days; or
       (2) any unit of the Marine Corps or Marine Corps Reserve if 
     such unit has been deployed within the previous 210 
     consecutive days.
       (c) The limitation prescribed in subsection (b) shall not 
     be construed to require force levels in Iraq to be decreased 
     below the total United States force levels in Iraq as of 
     January 9, 2007.
       (d) The President may waive the limitations prescribed in 
     subsection (b) on a unit-by-unit basis if the President 
     certifies in writing to the Committees on Appropriations and 
     the Committees on Armed Services of the House of 
     Representatives and the Senate that the redeployment of a 
     unit to Iraq in advance of the expiration of the period 
     applicable to the unit under such subsection is required for 
     reasons of national security. The certification shall include 
     a report, in classified and unclassified form, detailing the 
     particular reason or reasons why the unit's early 
     redeployment is necessary.


                 limitation on interrogation techniques

       Sec. 10005.  (a) No individual in the custody or under the 
     effective control of an element of the intelligence community 
     or instrumentality thereof, regardless of nationality or 
     physical location, shall be subject to any treatment or 
     technique of interrogation not authorized by the United 
     States Army Field Manual on Human Intelligence Collector 
     Operations.
       (b) In this section, the term ``instrumentality'', with 
     respect to an element of the intelligence community, means a 
     contractor or subcontractor at any tier of the element of the 
     intelligence community.


     registration with the international committee of the red cross

       Sec. 10006.  (a) None of the funds appropriated or 
     otherwise made available in this or any other Act may be used 
     to detain any individual who is in the custody or under the 
     effective control of an element of the intelligence community 
     or an instrumentality thereof unless the International 
     Committee of the Red Cross is provided notification of the 
     detention of and access to such person in a timely manner and 
     consistent with the practices of the Armed Forces of the 
     United States.
       (b) For purposes of this section, the term 
     ``instrumentality'', with respect to an element of the 
     intelligence community, means a contractor or subcontractor 
     at any tier of the element of the intelligence community.
       (c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to create or 
     otherwise imply the authority to detain, or to limit or 
     otherwise affect any other rights or obligations which may 
     arise under the Geneva Conventions or other laws, or to state 
     all of the situations under which notification to and access 
     for the International Committee of the Red Cross is required 
     or allowed.


                 prohibition of permanent bases in iraq

       Sec. 10007.  None of the funds appropriated or otherwise 
     made available in this or any other Act may be obligated or 
     expended by the United States Government for a purpose as 
     follows:
       (1) To establish any military installation or base for the 
     purpose of providing for the permanent stationing of United 
     States Armed Forces in Iraq.
       (2) To exercise United States control over any oil resource 
     of Iraq.


      limitation on defense agreements with the government of iraq

       Sec. 10008.  (a) None of the funds appropriated or 
     otherwise made available in this or any other Act may be used 
     to negotiate, enter into, or implement any agreement with the 
     Government of Iraq that includes security assurances for 
     mutual defense, unless the agreement--
       (1) is in the form of a treaty requiring the advice and 
     consent of the Senate (or is intended to take that form in 
     the case of an agreement under negotiation); or
       (2) is specifically authorized by a law enacted after the 
     date of enactment of this Act.
       (b) For purposes of this section, an agreement shall be 
     considered to include security assurances for mutual defense 
     if it includes provisions addressing any of the following:
       (1) A binding commitment to deploy United States Armed 
     Forces in defense of Iraq, or of any government or faction in 
     Iraq, against any foreign or domestic threat.
       (2) The number of United States Armed Forces personnel to 
     be deployed to, or stationed in, Iraq.
       (3) The mission of United States Armed Forces deployed to 
     Iraq.
       (4) The duration of the presence of United States Armed 
     Forces in Iraq.


  prohibition on agreements subjecting armed forces to iraqi criminal 
                              jurisdiction

       Sec. 10009.  None of the funds appropriated or otherwise 
     made available in this or any other Act may be used to 
     negotiate, enter into, or implement an agreement with the 
     Government of Iraq that would subject members of the Armed 
     Forces of the United States to the jurisdiction of Iraq 
     criminal courts or punishment under Iraq law.


         requirement for matching funds from government of iraq

       Sec. 10010.  (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of 
     law, funds appropriated or otherwise made available in this 
     or any other Act for assistance for Iraq, including training, 
     capacity building, and construction and repair of 
     infrastructure, shall be available only to the extent that 
     the Government of Iraq matches such assistance on a dollar-
     for-dollar basis.
       (b) subsection (a) shall not apply to--
       (1) grants and cooperative agreements for programs to 
     promote democracy and human rights;
       (2) the Community Action Program and other direct 
     assistance to non-governmental organizations;
       (3) humanitarian demining;
       (4) assistance for refugees, internally displaced persons, 
     and civilian victims of military operations;
       (5) intelligence or intelligence-related activities; or
       (6) projects with an estimated cost of less than $750,000 
     undertaken through the Commander's Emergency Response 
     Program.
       (c) The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense 
     shall certify to the Committees on Appropriations of the 
     House of Representatives and Senate, prior to the initial 
     obligation by their respective Departments of funds covered 
     by the limitation in subsection (a), that the Government of 
     Iraq has committed to obligate matching funds on a dollar-
     for-dollar basis. The Secretary of State shall submit a 
     report to the Committees on Appropriations not later than 
     September 30, 2009 detailing the amounts of funds obligated 
     and expended by the Government of Iraq to meet the 
     requirements of this section.
       (d) Not later than 45 days after enactment of this Act, the 
     Secretary of State shall submit a report to the Committees on 
     Appropriations detailing the amounts provided by the 
     Government of Iraq since June 30, 2004, to assist Iraqi 
     refugees in Syria, Jordan, and elsewhere, and the amount of 
     such assistance the Government of Iraq plans to provide in 
     fiscal year 2008. The Secretary shall work expeditiously with 
     the Government of Iraq to establish an account within its 
     annual budget sufficient to, at a minimum, match United 
     States contributions on a dollar-for-dollar basis to 
     organizations and programs for the purpose of assisting Iraqi 
     refugees.

[[Page S4446]]

       (e) As part of the report required by section 609 of 
     division L of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008 
     (Public Law 110-161), the Secretary of Defense shall submit 
     to Congress a report on the most recent annual budget for the 
     Government of Iraq, including--
       (1) a description of amounts budgeted for support of Iraqi 
     security and police forces and an assessment of how planned 
     funding will impact the training, equipping and overall 
     readiness of those forces;
       (2) an assessment of the capacity of the Government of Iraq 
     to implement the budget as planned, including reports on 
     year-to-year spend rates, if available; and
       (3) a description of any budget surplus or deficit, if 
     applicable.


             partial reimbursement from iraq for fuel costs

       Sec. 10011.  (a) None of the funds made available in this 
     Act under the heading ``Operation and Maintenance, Defense-
     Wide'' for the Office of the Secretary of Defense or 
     Washington Headquarters Services may be obligated or expended 
     until the agreement described in subsection (b)(1) is 
     complete and the report required by subsection (b)(2) has 
     been transmitted to Congress, except that the limitation in 
     this subsection may be waived if the President determines and 
     certifies to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of 
     Representatives and Senate that such waiver is in the 
     national security interests of the United States.
       (b) Not later than 90 days after enactment of this Act, the 
     President shall--
       (1) complete an agreement with the Government of Iraq to 
     subsidize fuel costs for United States Armed Forces operating 
     in Iraq so the price of fuel per gallon to those forces is 
     equal to the discounted price per gallon at which the 
     Government of Iraq is providing fuel for domestic Iraqi 
     consumption; and
       (2) transmit a report to the Committees on Appropriations 
     on the details and terms of that agreement.
       (c) Amounts received from the Government of Iraq under an 
     agreement described in subsection (b)(1) shall be credited to 
     the appropriations or funds that incurred obligations for the 
     fuel costs being subsidized, as determined by the Secretary 
     of Defense.


      timetable for redeployment of united states forces from iraq

       Sec. 10012.  (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of 
     law, funds appropriated or otherwise made available in this 
     Act may be used to plan and execute a safe and orderly 
     redeployment of United States Armed Forces from Iraq.
       (b) Within 30 days after enactment of this Act, the 
     President shall commence an immediate and orderly 
     redeployment of United States Armed Forces from Iraq, with a 
     goal of completing such redeployment within 18 months. The 
     President shall endeavor to begin such redeployment with 
     units of the Armed Forces that have been deployed in excess 
     of 365 days, except to the extent those units are needed to 
     provide for the safe withdrawal of other units of the Armed 
     Forces or to protect United States and Coalition personnel 
     and infrastructure.
       (c) After completion of the redeployment required by 
     subsection (b), members of the United States Armed Forces may 
     be deployed to, or maintained in, Iraq only to the extent 
     necessary to carry out the following missions:
       (1) Protecting the diplomatic facilities, Armed Forces, and 
     citizens of the United States in Iraq.
       (2) Conducting limited training of, equipping, and 
     providing logistical and intelligence support to, Iraqi 
     security forces.
       (3) Engaging in targeted counterterrorism operations 
     against al-Qaeda, groups affiliated with al-Qaeda, and other 
     terrorist organizations in Iraq.
       (d) Not later than July 1, 2008, and every 90 days 
     thereafter, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the 
     congressional defense committees a report setting forth the 
     following:
       (1) The current plan for and the status of the reduction of 
     United States Armed Forces in Iraq and the transition of the 
     Armed Forces in Iraq to a limited presence whose missions do 
     not exceed the missions specified in subsection (c), 
     including the associated force reductions and adjustments and 
     expectations with respect to timelines and the force levels 
     anticipated to perform those missions.
       (2) A comprehensive current description of efforts to 
     prepare for the reduction and transition of United States 
     Armed Forces in Iraq in accordance with this section and to 
     limit any destabilizing consequences of such reduction and 
     transition, including a description of efforts to work with 
     the United Nations and countries in the region toward that 
     objective.
       (e) Not later than 45 days after enactment of this Act, the 
     Secretary of State shall provide to the Committees on 
     Appropriations of the House of Representatives and Senate a 
     strategy for civilian-led post-conflict stabilization and 
     reconstruction assistance for Iraq. The strategy (which may 
     be provided in classified form if necessary) shall include--
       (1) the plans and timetable for transfer of all 
     responsibility for United States post-conflict stabilization 
     and reconstruction assistance from the Department of Defense 
     to the Department of State and the United States Agency for 
     International Development; and
       (2) the staff, security and resource requirements for 
     United States diplomatic efforts and assistance programs in 
     Iraq.

     TITLE XI--REFORMS RELATED TO WAR PROFITEERING AND CONTRACTORS

        CHAPTER 1--ADJUSTMENT OF WARTIME STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS


              adjustment of wartime statute of limitations

       Sec. 11101.  Section 3287 of title 18, United States Code, 
     is amended--
       (1) by inserting ``or Congress has enacted a specific 
     authorization for the use of the Armed Forces, as described 
     in section 5(b) of the War Powers Resolution (50 U.S.C. 
     1544(b)),'' after ``is at war'';
       (2) by inserting ``or directly connected with or related to 
     the authorized use of the Armed Forces'' after ``prosecution 
     of the war'';
       (3) by striking ``three years'' and inserting ``5 years'';
       (4) by striking ``proclaimed by the President'' and 
     inserting ``proclaimed by a Presidential proclamation, with 
     notice to Congress,''; and
       (5) by adding at the end the following: ``For purposes of 
     applying such definitions in this section, the term `war' 
     includes a specific authorization for the use of the Armed 
     Forces, as described in section 5(b) of the War Powers 
     Resolution (50 U.S.C. 1544(b)).''.

                 CHAPTER 2--WAR PROFITEERING AND FRAUD


                       war profiteering and fraud

       Sec. 11201.  (a) Prohibition on War Profiteering.--
       (1) In general.--Chapter 47 of title 18, United States 
     Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

     ``Sec. 1041. War profiteering and fraud

       ``(a) Prohibition.--Whoever, in any matter involving a 
     contract with, or the provision of goods or services to, the 
     United States or a provisional authority, in connection with 
     a mission of the United States Government overseas, 
     knowingly--
       ``(1)(A) executes or attempts to execute a scheme or 
     artifice to defraud the United States or that authority; or
       ``(B) materially overvalues any good or service with the 
     intent to defraud the United States or that authority;
     shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not 
     more than 20 years, or both; or
       ``(2) in connection with the contract or the provision of 
     those goods or services--
       ``(A) falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, 
     scheme, or device a material fact;
       ``(B) makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent 
     statements or representations; or
       ``(C) makes or uses any materially false writing or 
     document knowing the same to contain any materially false, 
     fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry;
     shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not 
     more than 10 years, or both.
       ``(b) Extraterritorial Jurisdiction.--There is 
     extraterritorial Federal jurisdiction over an offense under 
     this section.
       ``(c) Venue.--A prosecution for an offense under this 
     section may be brought--
       ``(1) as authorized by chapter 211 of this title;
       ``(2) in any district where any act in furtherance of the 
     offense took place; or
       ``(3) in any district where any party to the contract or 
     provider of goods or services is located.''.
       (2) Table of sections.--The table of sections for chapter 
     47 of such title is amended by adding at the end the 
     following:

``1041. War profiteering and fraud.''.
       (b) Criminal Forfeiture.--Section 982(a)(2)(B) of title 18, 
     United States Code, is amended by striking ``or 1030'' and 
     inserting ``1030, or 1041''.
       (c) Money Laundering.--Section 1956(c)(7)(D) of title 18, 
     United States Code, is amended by inserting ``section 1041 
     (relating to war profiteering and fraud),'' after 
     ``liquidating agent of financial institution),''.
       (d) RICO.--Section 1961(1) of title 18, United States Code, 
     is amended by inserting ``section 1041 (relating to war 
     profiteering and fraud),'' after ``in connection with access 
     devices),''.

           CHAPTER 3--MILITARY EXTRATERRITORIAL JURISDICTION


                              short title

       Sec. 11301.  This chapter may be cited as the ``MEJA 
     Expansion and Enforcement Act of 2008''.


                   legal status of contract personnel

       Sec. 11302.  (a) Clarification of Military Extraterritorial 
     Jurisdiction Act.--
       (1) Inclusion of federal employees and contractors.--
     Section 3261(a) of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
       (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``or'' at the end;
       (B) in paragraph (2), by striking the comma at the end and 
     inserting a semicolon; and
       (C) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following new 
     paragraphs:
       ``(3) while employed by any Department or agency of the 
     United States other than the Armed Forces in a foreign 
     country in which the Armed Forces are conducting a qualifying 
     military operation; or
       ``(4) while employed as a security officer or security 
     contractor by any Department or agency of the United States 
     other than the Armed Forces,''.
       (2) Definitions.--Section 3267 of title 18, United States 
     Code, is amended--
       (A) in paragraph (1), by striking subparagraph (A) and 
     inserting the following new subparagraph:
       ``(A) employed by or performing services under a contract 
     with or grant from the Department of Defense (including a 
     nonappropriated fund instrumentality of the Department) as--
       ``(i) a civilian employee (including an employee from any 
     other Executive agency on temporary assignment to the 
     Department of Defense);
       ``(ii) a contractor (including a subcontractor at any 
     tier); or
       ``(iii) an employee of a contractor (including a 
     subcontractor at any tier);''; and
       (B) by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:
       ``(5) The term `employed by any Department or agency of the 
     United States other than the Armed Forces' means--

[[Page S4447]]

       ``(A) employed by or performing services under a contract 
     with or grant from any Department or agency of the United 
     States, or any provisional authority funded in whole or 
     substantial part or created by the United States Government, 
     other than the Department of Defense as--
       ``(i) a civilian employee;
       ``(ii) a contractor (including a subcontractor at any 
     tier); or
       ``(iii) an employee of a contractor (including a 
     subcontractor at any tier);
       ``(B) present or residing outside the United States in 
     connection with such employment; and
       ``(C) not a national of or ordinarily a resident in the 
     host nation.
       ``(6) The term `employed as a security officer or security 
     contractor by any Department or agency of the United States 
     other than the Armed Forces' means--
       ``(A) employed by or performing services under a contract 
     with or grant from any Department or agency of the United 
     States, or any provisional authority funded in whole or 
     substantial part or created by the United States Government, 
     other than the Department of Defense as--
       ``(i) a civilian employee;
       ``(ii) a contractor (including a subcontractor at any 
     tier); or
       ``(iii) an employee of a contractor (including a 
     subcontractor at any tier);
       ``(B) authorized in the course of such employment--
       ``(i) to provide physical protection to or security for 
     persons, places, buildings, facilities, supplies, or means of 
     transportation;
       ``(ii) to carry or possess a firearm or dangerous weapon, 
     as defined by section 930(g)(2) of this chapter;
       ``(iii) to use force against another; or
       ``(iv) to supervise individuals performing the activities 
     described in clause (i), (ii) or (iii);
       ``(C) present or residing outside the United States in 
     connection with such employment; and
       ``(D) not a national of or ordinarily resident in the host 
     nation.
       ``(7) The term `qualifying military operation' means--
       ``(A) a military operation covered by a declaration of war 
     or an authorization of the use of military force by Congress;
       ``(B) a contingency operation (as defined in section 101 of 
     title 10); or
       ``(C) any other military operation outside of the United 
     States, including a humanitarian assistance or peace keeping 
     operation, provided such operation is conducted pursuant to 
     an order from or approved by the Secretary of Defense.''.
       (b) Department of Justice Inspector General Report.--
       (1) Report required.--Not later than 180 days after the 
     date of the enactment of this Act, the Inspector General of 
     the Department of Justice, in consultation with the 
     Inspectors General of the Department of Defense, the 
     Department of State, the United States Agency for 
     International Development, the Department of Agriculture, the 
     Department of Energy, and other appropriate Federal 
     departments and agencies, shall submit to Congress a report 
     in accordance with this subsection.
       (2) Content of report.--The report under paragraph (1) 
     shall include, for the period beginning on October 1, 2001, 
     and ending on the date of the report--
       (A) unless the description pertains to non-public 
     information that relates to an ongoing investigation or 
     criminal or civil proceeding under seal, a description of any 
     alleged violations of section 3261 of title 18, United States 
     Code, reported to the Inspector Generals identified in 
     paragraph (1) or the Department of Justice, including--
       (i) the date of the complaint and the type of offense 
     alleged;
       (ii) whether any investigation was opened or declined based 
     on the complaint;
       (iii) whether the investigation was closed, and if so, when 
     it was closed;
       (iv) whether a criminal or civil case was filed as a result 
     of the investigation, and if so, when it was filed; and
       (v) any charges or complaints filed in those cases; and
       (B) unless the description pertains to non-public 
     information that relates to an ongoing investigation or 
     criminal or civil proceeding under seal, and with appropriate 
     safeguards for the protection of national security 
     information, a description of any shooting or escalation of 
     force incidents in Iraq or Afghanistan involving alleged 
     misconduct by persons employed as a security officer or 
     security contractor by any Department or agency of the United 
     States, and any official action taken against such persons.
       (3) Form of report.--The report under paragraph (1) shall 
     be submitted in unclassified form, but may contain a 
     classified annex as appropriate.


              investigative units for contractor oversight

       Sec. 11303.  (a) Establishment of Investigative Units for 
     Contractor Oversight.--
       (1) In general.--The Attorney General, in consultation with 
     the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, the 
     Secretary of Homeland Security, and the heads of any other 
     Federal departments or agencies responsible for employing 
     private security contractors or contractors (or 
     subcontractors at any tier) in a foreign country where the 
     Armed Forces are conducting a qualifying military operation--
       (A) shall assign adequate personnel and resources through 
     the creation of Investigative Units for Contractor Oversight 
     to investigate allegations of criminal violations under 
     paragraphs (3) and (4) of section 3261(a) of title 18, United 
     States Code (as amended by section 11302(a) of this chapter); 
     and
       (B) may authorize the overseas deployment of law 
     enforcement agents and other Department of Justice personnel 
     for that purpose.
       (2) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this subsection shall 
     limit any existing authority of the Attorney General or any 
     Federal law enforcement agency to investigate violations of 
     Federal law or deploy personnel overseas.
       (b) Referral for Prosecution.--Upon conclusion of an 
     investigation of an alleged violation of sections 3261(a)(3) 
     and 3261(a)(4) of title 18, United States Code, an 
     Investigative Unit for Contractor Oversight may refer the 
     matter to the Attorney General for further action, as 
     appropriate in the discretion of the Attorney General.
       (c) Responsibilities of the Attorney General.--
       (1) Investigation.--The Attorney General shall have the 
     principal authority for the enforcement of sections 
     3261(a)(3) and 3261(a)(4) of title 18, United States Code, 
     and shall have the authority to initiate, conduct, and 
     supervise investigations of any alleged violations of such 
     sections 3261(a)(3) and 3261(a)(4).
       (2) Assistance on request of the attorney general.--
     Notwithstanding any statute, rule, or regulation to the 
     contrary, the Attorney General may request assistance from 
     the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, or the head 
     of any other Executive agency to enforce this chapter. This 
     requested assistance may include the assignment of additional 
     personnel and resources to an Investigative Unit for 
     Contractor Oversight established by the Attorney General 
     under subsection (a).
       (3) Annual report.--Not later than one year after the date 
     of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the 
     Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of 
     Defense and the Secretary of State, shall submit to Congress 
     a report containing--
       (A) the number of violations of sections 3261(a)(3) and 
     3261(a)(4) of title 18, United States Code, received, 
     investigated, and referred for prosecution by Federal law 
     enforcement authorities during the previous year;
       (B) the number and location of Investigative Units for 
     Contractor Oversight deployed to investigate violations of 
     such sections 3261(a)(3) and 3261(a)(4) during the previous 
     year; and
       (C) any recommended changes to Federal law that the 
     Attorney General considers necessary to enforce this chapter 
     and the amendments made by this chapter and chapter 212 of 
     title 18, United States Code.


    removal procedures for non-department of defense employees and 
                              contractors

       Sec. 11304.  (a) Attorney General Regulations.--Section 
     3266 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at 
     the end the following:
       ``(d) The Attorney General, after consultation with the 
     Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, and the 
     Director of National Intelligence, may prescribe regulations 
     governing the investigation, apprehension, detention, 
     delivery, and removal of persons described in sections 
     3261(a)(3) and 3261(a)(4) and describing the notice due, if 
     any, foreign nationals potentially subject to the criminal 
     jurisdiction of the United States under those sections.''.
       (b) Clarifying and Conforming Amendments.--
       (1) In general.--Chapter 212 of title 18, United States 
     Code, is amended--
       (A) in section 3261(a)--
       (i) by inserting ``against the United States'' after 
     ``offense'' the first time it appears; and
       (ii) by inserting ``within the United States or'' after 
     ``had been engaged in'';
       (B) in section 3262--
       (i) in subsection (a), by striking ``section 3261(a)'' the 
     first place it appears and inserting ``section 3261(a)(1) or 
     3261(a)(2)'';
       (ii) by redesignating subsection (b) as subsection (c); and
       (iii) by inserting after subsection (a) the following new 
     subsection (b):
       ``(b) The Attorney General may designate and authorize any 
     person serving in a law enforcement position in the 
     Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, the 
     Department State, or any other Executive agency to arrest, in 
     accordance with applicable international agreements, outside 
     the United States any person described in section 3261(a) if 
     there is probable cause to believe that such person violated 
     section 3261(a).'';
       (C) in section 3263(a), by striking ``section 3261(a)'' the 
     first place it appears and inserting ``section 3261(a)(1) or 
     3261(a)(2)'';
       (D) in section 3264(a), by inserting ``described in section 
     3261(a)(1) or 3261(a)(2)'' before ``arrested'';
       (E) section 3265(a)(1) by inserting ``described in section 
     3261(a)(1) or 3261(a)(2)'' before ``arrested''; and
       (F) in section 3266(a), by striking ``under this chapter'' 
     and inserting ``described in section 3261(a)(1) or 
     3261(a)(2)''.
       (2) Additional amendment.--Section 7(9) of title 18, United 
     States Code, is amended by striking ``section 3261(a)'' and 
     inserting ``section 3261(a)(1) or 3261(a)(2)''.


                         rules of construction

       Sec. 11305.  (a) In General.--Nothing in this chapter or 
     the amendments made by this chapter shall apply to authorized 
     and otherwise lawful intelligence activities carried out by 
     or at the direction of the United States.
       (b) Defenses.--Nothing in this section shall be construed 
     to limit or extinguish any defense or protection otherwise 
     available to any person or entity from suit, civil or 
     criminal liability, or damages, or to provide immunity from 
     prosecution for any criminal offense by the proper 
     authorities.
       (c) Existing Extraterritorial Jurisdiction.--Nothing in 
     this chapter or the amendments made by this chapter shall be 
     construed to limit or affect the extraterritorial 
     jurisdiction related to any Federal statute not amended by 
     this chapter.

[[Page S4448]]

                               definition

       Sec. 11306.  For purposes of this chapter and the 
     amendments made by this chapter, the term ``Executive 
     agency'' has the meaning given in section 105 of title 5, 
     United States Code.


                             effective date

       Sec. 11307.  (a) Immediate Effectiveness.--The provisions 
     of this chapter shall enter into effect immediately upon the 
     enactment of this Act.
       (b) Implementation.--The Attorney General and the head of 
     any other Federal department or agency to which this chapter 
     applies shall have 90 days after the date of the enactment of 
     this Act to ensure compliance with the provisions of this 
     chapter.

     (2)Page 1 of the Senate engrossed amendment, strike line 1 
     and all that follows through the end of line 21 on page 59, 
     and insert the following:

        That the following sums are appropriated, out of any money 
     in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the fiscal 
     year ending September 30, 2008, and for other purposes, 
     namely:

    TITLE I--MILITARY CONSTRUCTION, VETERANS AFFAIRS, INTERNATIONAL 
              AFFAIRS, AND OTHER SECURITY-RELATED MATTERS

                         CHAPTER 1--AGRICULTURE

                       DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

                      Foreign Agricultural Service

                     public law 480 title ii grants

       For an additional amount for ``Public Law 480 Title II 
     Grants'', $850,000,000, to remain available until expended.
       For an additional amount for ``Public Law 480 Title II 
     Grants'', $395,000,000, to become available on October 1, 
     2008, and to remain available until expended.

               CHAPTER 2--COMMERCE, JUSTICE, AND SCIENCE

                         DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

                      Office of Inspector General

       For an additional amount for ``Office of Inspector 
     General'', $4,000,000, to remain available until September 
     30, 2009.

                            Legal Activities

            salaries and expenses, general legal activities

       For an additional amount for ``Salaries and Expenses, 
     General Legal Activities'', $1,648,000, to remain available 
     until September 30, 2009.

             salaries and expenses, united states attorneys

       For an additional amount for ``Salaries and Expenses, 
     United States Attorneys'', $5,000,000, to remain available 
     until September 30, 2009.

                     United States Marshals Service

                         salaries and expenses

       For an additional amount for ``Salaries and Expenses'', 
     $18,621,000, to remain available until September 30, 2009.

                    Federal Bureau of Investigation

                         salaries and expenses

       For an additional amount for ``Salaries and Expenses'', 
     $92,169,000, to remain available until September 30, 2009.
       For an additional amount for ``Salaries and Expenses'', 
     $82,600,000, to become available on October 1, 2008, and to 
     remain available until September 30, 2009.

                    Drug Enforcement Administration

                         salaries and expenses

       For an additional amount for ``Salaries and Expenses'', 
     $12,166,000, to remain available until September 30, 2009.

          Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

                         salaries and expenses

       For an additional amount for ``Salaries and Expenses'', 
     $4,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2009.

                         Federal Prison System

                         salaries and expenses

       For an additional amount for ``Salaries and Expenses'', 
     $9,100,000, to remain available until September 30, 2009.

         CHAPTER 3--MILITARY CONSTRUCTION AND VETERANS AFFAIRS

                         DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

                      Military Construction, Army

       For an additional amount for ``Military Construction, 
     Army'', $1,432,700,000, to remain available until September 
     30, 2009: Provided, That notwithstanding any other provision 
     of law, such funds may be obligated and expended to carry out 
     planning and design and military construction projects not 
     otherwise authorized by law: Provided further, That of the 
     funds provided under this heading, not to exceed $73,400,000 
     shall be available for study, planning, design, and architect 
     and engineer services: Provided further, That of the funds 
     made available under this heading, $72,000,000 shall not be 
     obligated or expended until after that date on which the 
     Secretary of Defense submits a detailed spending plan, 
     including a 1391 form for each facilities replacement 
     project, to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of 
     Representatives and Senate: Provided further, That of the 
     funds provided under this heading, $533,700,000 shall not be 
     obligated or expended until the Secretary of Defense 
     certifies that none of the funds are to be used for the 
     purpose of providing facilities for the permanent basing of 
     United States military personnel in Iraq.

              Military Construction, Navy and Marine Corps

       For an additional amount for ``Military Construction, Navy 
     and Marine Corps'', $423,357,000, to remain available until 
     September 30, 2009: Provided, That notwithstanding any other 
     provision of law, such funds may be obligated and expended to 
     carry out planning and design and military construction 
     projects not otherwise authorized by law: Provided further, 
     That of the funds provided under this heading, not to exceed 
     $15,843,000 shall be available for study, planning, design, 
     and architect and engineer services.

                    Military Construction, Air Force

       For an additional amount for ``Military Construction, Air 
     Force'', $409,627,000, to remain available until September 
     30, 2009: Provided, That notwithstanding any other provision 
     of law, such funds may be obligated and expended to carry out 
     planning and design and military construction projects not 
     otherwise authorized by law: Provided further, That of the 
     funds provided under this heading, not to exceed $36,427,000 
     shall be available for study, planning, design, and architect 
     and engineer services: Provided further, That of the funds 
     provided under this heading, $58,300,000 shall not be 
     obligated or expended until the Secretary of Defense 
     certifies that none of the funds are to be used for the 
     purpose of providing facilities for the permanent basing of 
     United States military personnel in Iraq.

                  Military Construction, Defense-Wide

       For an additional amount for ``Military Construction, 
     Defense-Wide'', $1,009,600,000, to remain available until 
     September 30, 2009: Provided, That notwithstanding any other 
     provision of law, such funds may be obligated and expended to 
     carry out planning and design and military construction 
     projects not otherwise authorized by law: Provided further, 
     That of the funds provided, $982,000,000 shall be for medical 
     treatment facilities construction (including planning and 
     design) and shall remain available until September 30, 2012.

           Family Housing Construction, Navy and Marine Corps

       For an additional amount for ``Family Housing Construction, 
     Navy and Marine Corps,'' $11,766,000, to remain available 
     until September 30, 2009: Provided, That notwithstanding any 
     other provision of law, such funds may be obligated and 
     expended to carry out planning and design and military 
     construction projects not otherwise authorized by law.

            Department of Defense Base Closure Account 2005

       For deposit into the Department of Defense Base Closure 
     Account 2005, established by section 2906A(a)(1) of the 
     Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 (10 U.S.C. 
     2687 note), $1,354,634,000, to remain available until 
     expended: Provided, That notwithstanding any other provision 
     of law, such funds may be obligated and expended to carry out 
     planning and design and military construction projects not 
     otherwise authorized by law.

                     DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

                      Departmental Administration

                       general operating expenses

       For an additional amount for ``General Operating 
     Expenses'', $100,000,000, to remain available until September 
     30, 2009.

                     information technology systems

       For an additional amount for ``Information Technology 
     Systems'', $20,000,000, to remain available until September 
     30, 2009.

                    GENERAL PROVISION, THIS CHAPTER

       Sec. 1301.  None of the funds appropriated in this or any 
     other Act may be used to terminate, reorganize, or relocate 
     the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology until the President 
     has established, as required by section 722 of the National 
     Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (Public Law 
     110-181; 122 Stat. 199; 10 U.S.C. 176 note), a Joint 
     Pathology Center.

         CHAPTER 4--DEPARTMENT OF STATE AND FOREIGN OPERATIONS

     SUBCHAPTER A--SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008

                          DEPARTMENT OF STATE

                   Administration of Foreign Affairs

                    diplomatic and consular programs

        For an additional amount for ``Diplomatic and Consular 
     Programs'', $1,606,808,000, to remain available until 
     September 30, 2009, of which $210,508,000 for worldwide 
     security protection is available until expended: Provided, 
     That not more than $1,295,000,000 of the funds appropriated 
     under this heading shall be available for diplomatic 
     operations in Iraq: Provided further, That of the funds 
     appropriated under this heading, not more than $30,000,000 
     shall be available to establish and implement a coordinated 
     civilian response capacity at the United States Department of 
     State.

                      office of inspector general

                     (including transfer of funds)

        For an additional amount for ``Office of Inspector 
     General'', $7,500,000, to remain available until September 
     30, 2009: Provided, That $2,500,000 shall be transferred to 
     the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction for 
     reconstruction oversight.

            embassy security, construction, and maintenance

        For an additional amount for ``Embassy Security, 
     Construction, and Maintenance'', $76,700,000, to remain 
     available until expended, for facilities in Afghanistan.

                      International Organizations

              contributions to international organizations

        For an additional amount for ``Contributions to 
     International Organizations'', $53,000,000 to remain 
     available until September 30, 2009.

        contributions for international peacekeeping activities

        For an additional amount for ``Contributions for 
     International Peacekeeping Activities'',

[[Page S4449]]

     $333,600,000, to remain available until September 30, 2009, 
     for the United Nations-African Union Hybrid Mission in 
     Darfur.

                     BILATERAL ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE

                  Funds Appropriated to the President

                   international disaster assistance

        For an additional amount for ``International Disaster 
     Assistance'', $200,000,000, to remain available until 
     expended.

   operating expenses of the united states agency for international 
                              development

       For an additional amount for ``Operating Expenses of the 
     United States Agency for International Development'', 
     $142,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2009: 
     Provided, That of the funds appropriated under this heading, 
     not more than $20,000,000 shall be available to establish and 
     implement a coordinated civilian response capacity at the 
     United States Agency for International Development.

   operating expenses of the united states agency for international 
                development office of inspector general

       For an additional amount for ``Operating Expenses of the 
     United States Agency for International Development Office of 
     Inspector General'', $4,000,000, to remain available until 
     September 30, 2009.

                  Other Bilateral Economic Assistance

                         economic support fund

        For an additional amount for ``Economic Support Fund'', 
     $1,747,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2009, 
     of which not more than $440,000,000 may be made available for 
     assistance for Iraq, $150,000,000 shall be made available for 
     assistance for Jordan to meet the needs of Iraqi refugees, 
     and up to $53,000,000 may be available for energy-related 
     assistance for North Korea, notwithstanding any other 
     provision of law: Provided, That not more than $100,000,000 
     of the funds appropriated under this heading shall be made 
     available for assistance for the West Bank and none of such 
     funds shall be for cash transfer assistance: Provided 
     further, That of the funds appropriated under this heading, 
     $1,000,000 shall be made available for the Office of the 
     United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Mexico: 
     Provided further, That the funds made available under this 
     heading for energy-related assistance for North Korea may be 
     made available to support the goals of the Six Party Talks 
     Agreements after the Secretary of State determines and 
     reports to the Committees on Appropriations that North Korea 
     is continuing to fulfill its commitments under such 
     agreements.

                          Department of State

                             democracy fund

        For an additional amount for ``Democracy Fund'', 
     $75,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2009, 
     for democracy programs in Iraq.

          international narcotics control and law enforcement

        For an additional amount for ``International Narcotics 
     Control and Law Enforcement'', $419,300,000, to remain 
     available until September 30, 2009: Provided, That not more 
     than $25,000,000 of the funds appropriated by this subchapter 
     shall be made available for security assistance for the West 
     Bank.

                    migration and refugee assistance

        For an additional amount for ``Migration and Refugee 
     Assistance'', $300,000,000, to remain available until 
     expended.

     united states emergency refugee and migration assistance fund

        For an additional amount for ``United States Emergency 
     Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund'', $25,000,000, to 
     remain available until expended.

    nonproliferation, anti-terrorism, demining and related programs

        For an additional amount for ``Nonproliferation, Anti-
     Terrorism, Demining and Related Programs'', $11,200,000, to 
     remain available until September 30, 2009.

                          MILITARY ASSISTANCE

                  Funds Appropriated to the President

                   foreign military financing program

        For an additional amount for ``Foreign Military Financing 
     Program'', $72,500,000, to remain available until September 
     30, 2009, of which up to $66,500,000 shall be made available 
     for assistance for Mexico.

 SUBCHAPTER B--BRIDGE FUND SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 
                                  2009

                          DEPARTMENT OF STATE

                   Administration of Foreign Affairs

                    diplomatic and consular programs

        For an additional amount for ``Diplomatic and Consular 
     Programs'', $737,900,000, which shall become available on 
     October 1, 2008 and remain available through September 30, 
     2009: Provided, That of the funds appropriated under this 
     heading, $78,400,000 is for worldwide security protection and 
     shall remain available until expended: Provided further, That 
     not more than $581,500,000 of the funds appropriated under 
     this heading shall be available for diplomatic operations in 
     Iraq.

                      office of inspector general

                     (including transfers of funds)

        For an additional amount for ``Office of Inspector 
     General'', $57,000,000, which shall become available on 
     October 1, 2008 and remain available through September 30, 
     2009: Provided, That $46,500,000 shall be transferred to the 
     Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction for 
     reconstruction oversight and up to $5,000,000 shall be 
     transferred to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan 
     Reconstruction for reconstruction oversight.

            embassy security, construction, and maintenance

        For an additional amount for ``Embassy Security, 
     Construction, and Maintenance,'' $41,300,000, which shall 
     become available on October 1, 2008 and remain available 
     until expended, for facilities in Afghanistan.

                      International Organizations

              contributions to international organizations

        For an additional amount for ``Contributions to 
     International Organizations'', $75,000,000, which shall 
     become available on October 1, 2008 and remain available 
     through September 30, 2009.

        contributions for international peacekeeping activities

        For an additional amount for ``Contributions for 
     International Peacekeeping Activities'', $150,500,000, which 
     shall become available on October 1, 2008 and remain 
     available through September 30, 2009.

                             RELATED AGENCY

                    Broadcasting Board of Governors

                 international broadcasting operations

        For an additional amount for ``International Broadcasting 
     Operations'', $8,000,000, which shall become available on 
     October 1, 2008 and remain available through September 30, 
     2009.

                     BILATERAL ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE

                  Funds Appropriated to the President

                    global health and child survival

        For an additional amount for ``Global Health and Child 
     Survival'', $75,000,000, which shall become available on 
     October 1, 2008 and remain available through September 30, 
     2009, for programs to combat avian influenza.

                         development assistance

        For an additional amount for ``Development Assistance'', 
     $200,000,000, for assistance for developing countries to 
     address the international food crisis notwithstanding any 
     other provision of law, which shall become available on 
     October 1, 2008 and remain available through September 30, 
     2010: Provided, That such assistance should be carried out 
     consistent with the purposes of section 103(a)(1) of the 
     Foreign Assistance Act of 1961: Provided further, That not 
     more than $50,000,000 should be made available for local or 
     regional purchase and distribution of food: Provided further, 
     That the Secretary of State shall submit to the Committees on 
     Appropriations not later than 45 days after enactment of this 
     Act, and prior to the initial obligation of funds 
     appropriated under this heading, a report on the proposed 
     uses of such funds to alleviate hunger and malnutrition, 
     including a list of those countries facing significant food 
     shortages.

                   international disaster assistance

        For an additional amount for ``International Disaster 
     Assistance'', $200,000,000, which shall become available on 
     October 1, 2008 and remain available until expended.

   operating expenses of the united states agency for international 
                              development

        For an additional amount for ``Operating Expenses of the 
     United States Agency for International Development'', 
     $93,000,000, which shall become available on October 1, 2008 
     and remain available through September 30, 2009.

   operating expenses of the united states agency for international 
                development office of inspector general

        For an additional amount for ``Operating Expenses of the 
     United States Agency for International Development Office of 
     Inspector General'', $1,000,000, which shall become available 
     on October 1, 2008 and remain available through September 30, 
     2009.

                  Other Bilateral Economic Assistance

                         economic support fund

        For an additional amount for ``Economic Support Fund,'' 
     $1,147,300,000, which shall become available on October 1, 
     2008 and remain available through September 30, 2009, of 
     which not more than $100,000,000 may be made available for 
     assistance for Iraq, $100,000,000 shall be made available for 
     assistance for Jordan, and $15,000,000 may be made available 
     for energy-related assistance for North Korea, 
     notwithstanding any other provision of law: Provided, That 
     not more than $150,000,000 of the funds appropriated under 
     this heading in this subchapter shall be made available for 
     assistance for the West Bank.

                          Department of State

          international narcotics control and law enforcement

        For an additional amount for ``International Narcotics 
     Control and Law Enforcement'', $204,500,000, which shall 
     become available on October 1, 2008 and remain available 
     through September 30, 2009: Provided, That not more than 
     $50,000,000 of the funds made available by this subchapter 
     shall be made available for security assistance for the West 
     Bank and up to $53,500,000 shall be made available for 
     assistance for Mexico.

                    migration and refugee assistance

        For an additional amount for ``Migration and Refugee 
     Assistance'', $350,000,000, which shall become available on 
     October 1, 2008 and remain available until expended.

    nonproliferation, anti-terrorism, demining and related programs

        For an additional amount for ``Nonproliferation, Anti-
     Terrorism, Demining and Related Programs'', $4,500,000, for 
     humanitarian demining assistance for Iraq, which shall become 
     available on October 1, 2008 and remain available through 
     September 30, 2009.

[[Page S4450]]

                          MILITARY ASSISTANCE

                  Funds Appropriated to the President

                   foreign military financing program

        For an additional amount for ``Foreign Military Financing 
     Program'', $170,000,000, which shall become available on 
     October 1, 2008 and remain available through September 30, 
     2009, of which $100,000,000 shall be made available for 
     assistance for Jordan and up to $50,000,000 shall be made 
     available for assistance for Mexico: Provided, That section 
     3802(c) of title III, chapter 8 of Public Law 110-28 shall 
     apply to funds made available under this heading for 
     assistance for Lebanon.

                        peacekeeping operations

        For an additional amount for ``Peacekeeping Operations'', 
     $85,000,000, which shall become available on October 1, 2008 
     and remain available through September 30, 2009.

             SUBCHAPTER C--GENERAL PROVISIONS, THIS CHAPTER


                        extension of authorities

       Sec. 1401.  Funds appropriated by this chapter may be 
     obligated and expended notwithstanding section 10 of Public 
     Law 91-672 (22 U.S.C. 2412), section 15 of the State 
     Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2680), 
     section 313 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, 
     Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995 (22 U.S.C. 6212), and section 
     504(a)(1) of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 
     414(a)(1)).


                              afghanistan

       Sec. 1402  (a) Assistance for Women and Girls.--Funds 
     appropriated by this chapter under the heading ``Economic 
     Support Fund'' that are available for assistance for 
     Afghanistan shall be made available, to the maximum extent 
     practicable, through local Afghan provincial and municipal 
     governments and Afghan civil society organizations and in a 
     manner that emphasizes the participation of Afghan women and 
     directly improves the economic, social and political status 
     of Afghan women and girls.
       (b) Higher Education.--Of the funds appropriated by this 
     chapter under the heading ``Economic Support Fund'' that are 
     made available for education programs in Afghanistan, not 
     less than 50 percent shall be made available to support 
     higher education and vocational training programs in law, 
     accounting, engineering, public administration, and other 
     disciplines necessary to rebuild the country, in which the 
     participation of women is emphasized.
       (c) Civilian Assistance.--Of the funds appropriated by this 
     chapter under the heading ``Economic Support Fund'' that are 
     available for assistance for Afghanistan, not less than 
     $2,000,000 shall be made available for a United States 
     contribution to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization/
     International Security Assistance Force Post-Operations 
     Humanitarian Relief Fund.
       (d) Anticorruption.--Not later than 90 days after enactment 
     of this Act, the Secretary of State shall--
       (1) submit a report to the Committees on Appropriations on 
     actions being taken by the Government of Afghanistan to 
     combat corruption within the national and provincial 
     governments, including to remove and prosecute officials who 
     have committed corrupt acts;
       (2) submit a list to the Committees on Appropriations, in 
     classified form if necessary, of senior Afghan officials who 
     the Secretary has credible evidence to believe have committed 
     corrupt acts; and
       (3) certify and report to the Committees on Appropriations 
     that effective mechanisms are in place to ensure that 
     assistance to national government ministries and provincial 
     governments will be properly accounted for.


                               west bank

       Sec. 1403.  Not later than 90 days after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, and 180 days thereafter, the Secretary 
     of State shall submit to the Committees on Appropriations a 
     report on assistance provided by the United States for the 
     training of Palestinian security forces, including detailed 
     descriptions of the training, curriculum, and equipment 
     provided; an assessment of the training and the performance 
     of forces after training has been completed; and a 
     description of the assistance that has been pledged and 
     provided to Palestinian security forces by other donors: 
     Provided, That not later than 90 days after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall report to 
     the Committees on Appropriations, in classified form if 
     necessary, on the security strategy of the Palestinian 
     Authority.


                                 mexico

       Sec. 1404.  (a) Assistance for Mexico.--Of the funds 
     appropriated under the headings ``International Narcotics 
     Control and Law Enforcement'', ``Foreign Military Financing 
     Program'', and ``Economic Support Fund'' in this chapter, not 
     more than $296,500,000 of the funds appropriated in 
     subchapter A and $103,500,000 of the funds appropriated in 
     subchapter B shall be made available for assistance for 
     Mexico, only to combat drug trafficking and related violent 
     crime, and for judicial reform, institution building, and 
     rule of law activities, of which not less than $73,500,000 
     shall be used for judicial reform, institution building, and 
     rule of law activities: Provided, That none of the funds made 
     available under this section shall be made available for 
     budget support or as cash payments: Provided further, That 
     none of the funds made available under this section shall be 
     available for obligation until the Secretary of State 
     determines and reports to the Committees on Appropriations 
     that vetting procedures are in place to ensure that relevant 
     members and units of the Mexican armed forces and police 
     forces that may receive assistance pursuant to this section 
     have not been involved in human rights violations or corrupt 
     acts.
       (b) Allocation of Funds.--25 percent of the funds made 
     available by this chapter for assistance for Mexico under the 
     headings ``International Narcotics Control and Law 
     Enforcement'' and ``Foreign Military Financing Program'' 
     shall be withheld from obligation until the Secretary of 
     State reports to the Committees on Appropriations on the 
     requirements described in subsection (c).
       (c) Requirements.--The requirements referred to in 
     subsection (b) are the following:
       (1) The Government of Mexico is--
       (A) improving the transparency and accountability of 
     Federal police forces and engaging with state and municipal 
     authorities to improve the transparency and accountability of 
     state and municipal police forces through mechanisms such as 
     police complaints commissions;
       (B) ensuring meaningful engagement with civil society to 
     monitor efforts to combat drug trafficking and related 
     violent crime, judicial reform, institution building, and 
     rule of law activities to ensure due process and the 
     protection of freedom of expression, association, and 
     assembly in accordance with Mexican and international law; 
     and
       (C) ensuring that, in accordance with applicable Mexican 
     law, the Mexican armed forces and the Federal police forces 
     are cooperating with civilian prosecutors and judicial 
     authorities in investigating and prosecuting in the civilian 
     justice system those individuals, including military 
     personnel, who have been credibly alleged under Mexican law 
     to have committed violations of internationally recognized 
     human rights, and, consistent with Mexican and international 
     law, is vigorously enforcing the prohibition on the use of 
     testimony obtained through torture or other ill-treatment.
       (2) The Federal Public Security Secretary and the Minister 
     of Defense, respectively, in accordance with applicable 
     Mexican law, are suspending or placing on administrative 
     duty, those members of the Federal police and armed forces 
     who have been credibly alleged under Mexican law, to have 
     committed violations of internationally recognized human 
     rights or participated in corrupt acts and have established 
     policies that reward respect for human rights, in particular 
     regarding the use of force.
       (3) The Attorney General and other relevant authorities of 
     the Mexican Government are investigating and prosecuting 
     members of the Mexican armed forces and police forces who 
     have been credibly alleged under Mexican law to have 
     committed violations of internationally recognized human 
     rights.
       (d) Exception.--Notwithstanding subsections (b) and (c), of 
     the funds appropriated by subchapter A for assistance for 
     Mexico under the heading ``International Narcotics Control 
     and Law Enforcement'', $3,000,000 shall be made available for 
     technical and other assistance to enable the Government of 
     Mexico to implement a unified national registry encompassing 
     Federal, state, and municipal police officials, and 
     $5,000,000 may be made available to the Bureau of Alcohol, 
     Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to deploy special agents in 
     Mexico to support Mexican law enforcement agencies in tracing 
     seized firearms and investigating firearms trafficking cases: 
     Provided, That section 484(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act 
     of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2291c(a)) shall not apply with respect to 
     assistance for Mexico made available by this chapter.
       (e) Report.--The report required in subsection (b) shall 
     include a description of actions taken with respect to each 
     requirement specified in subsection (c) and the cases or 
     issues brought to the attention of the Secretary of State for 
     which the response or action taken has been inadequate.
       (f) Vetting.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to 
     the Committees on Appropriations a report, in classified form 
     if necessary, detailing the procedures used to vet Mexican 
     armed forces and police forces for eligibility to receive 
     assistance under this section.
       (g) Notification.--Funds made available for Mexico by this 
     chapter shall be subject to the regular notification 
     procedures of the Committees on Appropriations and section 
     634A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2394-
     1).
       (h) Spending Plan.--Not later than 45 days after the date 
     of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall 
     submit to the Committees on Appropriations a detailed 
     spending plan for funds appropriated or otherwise made 
     available for Mexico by this chapter, which shall include a 
     strategy for combating drug trafficking and related violent 
     crime, judicial reform, institution building, and rule of law 
     activities, with concrete goals, actions to be taken, budget 
     proposals, and anticipated results.
       (i) Consultation.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
     the enactment of this Act, and every 180 days thereafter 
     until September 30, 2010, the Secretary of State shall 
     consult with Mexican and internationally recognized human 
     rights organizations on progress in meeting the requirements 
     described in subsection (c).


                            central america

       Sec. 1405.  (a) Assistance for the Countries of Central 
     America.--Of the funds appropriated in subchapter A under the 
     headings ``International Narcotics Control and Law 
     Enforcement'', ``Foreign Military Financing Program'', 
     ``Nonproliferation, Anti-Terrorism, Demining and Related 
     Programs'', and ``Economic Support Fund'', $61,500,000 shall 
     be made available for assistance for the countries of Central 
     America, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic only to combat 
     drug trafficking and related violent crime, and for judicial 
     reform, institution building, rule of law activities, and 
     maritime security: Provided, That of the funds appropriated 
     under the heading ``Economic Support Fund'', $15,000,000 
     shall be made available

[[Page S4451]]

     through the United States Agency for International 
     Development for an Economic and Social Development Fund for 
     the countries of Central America: Provided further, That of 
     the funds appropriated under the heading ``International 
     Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement'', $2,500,000 shall be 
     made available for assistance for Haiti and $2,500,000 shall 
     be made available for assistance for the Dominican Republic: 
     Provided further, That none of the funds shall be made 
     available for budget support or as cash payments: Provided 
     further, That none of the funds shall be available for 
     obligation until the Secretary of State determines and 
     reports to the Committees on Appropriations that vetting 
     procedures are in place to ensure that Federal and municipal 
     police forces and the armed forces of the countries of 
     Central America that may receive assistance pursuant to this 
     section have not been involved in human rights violations or 
     corrupt acts.
       (b) Allocation of Funds.--(1) Up to 75 percent of the funds 
     appropriated under the headings ``International Narcotics 
     Control and Law Enforcement'' and ``Foreign Military 
     Financing Program'' in subchapter A that are available for 
     assistance for the countries of Central America may be 
     obligated prior to the certification and report by the 
     Secretary of State required in paragraph (2).
       (2) The balance of the funds may be obligated not less than 
     120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act if, 
     before such obligation, the Secretary of State determines and 
     reports to the Committees on Appropriations that the 
     requirements in subsection (c) have been met.
       (c) Requirements.--The requirements referred to in 
     subsection (b)(2) are the following:
       (1) The International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in San 
     Salvador, El Salvador is establishing a vetting procedure for 
     police and other public security officials attending programs 
     at the ILEA.
       (2) The countries of Central America are--
       (A) vetting members and units of Federal and municipal 
     police forces and the armed forces that may receive 
     assistance to ensure such members and units have not been 
     involved in human rights violations or corrupt acts;
       (B) strengthening law enforcement capabilities, developing 
     effective systems information exchange, improving demand 
     reduction, and expanding public education, prevention, and 
     treatment programs;
       (C) improving controls on chemical precursors;
       (D) adopting and implementing reforms that improve the 
     capacity and protect the independence of the judiciary;
       (E) reforming criminal procedures to ensure due process and 
     training Federal and municipal police leadership in modern 
     policing to curb police abuses;
       (F) targeting organizational structures and financial and 
     other assets of drug cartels;
       (G) taking steps to curb corruption in law enforcement 
     agencies; and
       (H) suspending, prosecuting, and punishing members of the 
     police forces who have been credibly alleged to have 
     committed violations of human rights and corrupt acts, and 
     establishing policies for members of such forces that reward 
     respect for human rights, in particular regarding the use of 
     force.
       (d) Report.--The report required in subsection (b)(2) shall 
     include actions taken with respect to each requirement and 
     the cases or issues brought to the attention of the Secretary 
     for which the response or action taken has been inadequate.
       (e) Vetting.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit a 
     report to the Committees on Appropriations, in classified 
     form if necessary, detailing the procedures used by the 
     Government of the United States to vet the Federal and 
     municipal police and the armed forces of the countries of 
     Central America for eligibility to receive assistance under 
     this section.
       (f) Notification.--Funds made available for the countries 
     of Central America in subchapter A shall be subject to the 
     regular notification procedures of the Committees on 
     Appropriations and section 634A of the Foreign Assistance Act 
     of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2394-1).
       (g) Spending Plan.--Not later than 45 days after enactment 
     of this Act the Secretary of State shall submit to the 
     Committees on Appropriations a detailed spending plan for 
     funds appropriated or otherwise made available for the 
     countries of Central America, Haiti and the Dominican 
     Republic in subchapter A, which shall include a strategy for 
     combating drug trafficking and related violent crime, 
     judicial reform, institution building, and rule of law 
     activities, with concrete goals, actions to be taken, budget 
     proposals and anticipated results.
       (h) Consultation.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
     enactment of this Act and every 120 days thereafter until 
     September 30, 2010, the Secretary of State shall consult with 
     internationally recognized human rights organizations, and 
     human rights organizations in the countries of Central 
     America receiving assistance pursuant to this section, on 
     progress in meeting the requirements described in subsection 
     (c).
       (i) Definition.--For the purposes of this section, the term 
     ``countries of Central America'' means Belize, Costa Rica, El 
     Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.

                    buying power maintenance account

                     (including transfer of funds)

       Sec. 1406. (a) Of the funds appropriated under the heading 
     ``Diplomatic and Consular Programs'' and allocated by section 
     3810 of the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina 
     Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007 
     (Public Law 110-28), $26,000,000 shall be transferred to and 
     merged with funds in the ``Buying Power Maintenance 
     Account'': Provided, That of the funds made available by this 
     chapter up to an additional $74,000,000 may be transferred to 
     and merged with the ``Buying Power Maintenance Account'', 
     subject to the regular notification procedures of the 
     Committees on Appropriations and in accordance with the 
     procedures in section 34 of the State Department Basic 
     Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2706). Any funds 
     transferred pursuant to this section shall be available, 
     without fiscal year limitation, pursuant to section 24 of the 
     State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 
     2696).
       (b) Section 24(b)(7) of the State Department Basic 
     Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2696(b)(7)) is amended by 
     amending subparagraph (D) to read as follows:
       ``(D) The authorities contained in this paragraph may be 
     exercised only with respect to funds appropriated or 
     otherwise made available after fiscal year 2008.''.


                              rescissions

       Sec. 1407.  (a) World Food Program.--(1) For an additional 
     amount for a contribution to the World Food Program to assist 
     farmers in countries affected by food shortages to increase 
     crop yields, notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
     $20,000,000, to remain available until expended.
       (2) Of the funds appropriated under the heading ``Andean 
     Counterdrug Initiative'' in prior Acts making appropriations 
     for foreign operations, export financing, and related 
     programs, $20,000,000 are rescinded.
       (b) Sudan.--(1) For an additional amount for 
     ``International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement'', 
     $10,000,000, for assistance for Sudan to support formed 
     police units, to remain available until September 30, 2009, 
     and subject to prior consultation with the Committees on 
     Appropriations.
       (2) Of the funds appropriated under the heading 
     ``International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement'' in 
     prior Acts making appropriations for foreign operations, 
     export financing, and related programs, $10,000,000 are 
     rescinded.
       (c) Section 8002 of this Act shall not apply to this 
     section.


                              allocations

       Sec. 1408.  (a) Funds provided in this chapter for the 
     following accounts shall be made available for programs and 
     countries in the amounts contained in the respective tables 
     included in the explanatory statement printed in the 
     Congressional Record accompanying this Act:
       ``Diplomatic and Consular Programs''
       ``Economic Support Fund''.
       (b) Any proposed increases or decreases to the amounts 
     contained in such tables in the explanatory statement printed 
     in the Congressional Record accompanying this Act shall be 
     subject to the regular notification procedures of the 
     Committees on Appropriations and section 634A of the Foreign 
     Assistance Act of 1961.


                        reprogramming authority

       Sec. 1409.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, to 
     include minimum funding requirements or funding directives, 
     funds made available under the headings ``Development 
     Assistance'' and ``Economic Support Fund'' in prior Acts 
     making appropriations for foreign operations, export 
     financing, and related programs may be made available to 
     address critical food shortages, subject to prior 
     consultation with, and the regular notification procedures 
     of, the Committees on Appropriations.


               spending plan and notification procedures

       Sec. 1410.  (a) Subchapter A Spending Plan.--Not later than 
     45 days after the enactment of this Act the Secretary of 
     State shall submit to the Committees on Appropriations a 
     report detailing planned expenditures for funds appropriated 
     under the headings in subchapter A, except for funds 
     appropriated under the headings ``International Disaster 
     Assistance'', ``Migration and Refugee Assistance'', and 
     ``United States Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance 
     Fund''.
       (b) Subchapter B Spending Plan.--The Secretary of State 
     shall submit to the Committees on Appropriations not later 
     than November 1, 2008, and prior to the initial obligation of 
     funds, a detailed spending plan for funds appropriated or 
     otherwise made available in subchapter B, except for funds 
     appropriated under the headings ``International Disaster 
     Assistance'', ``Migration and Refugee Assistance'', and 
     ``United States Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance 
     Fund''.
       (c) Notification.--Funds made available in this chapter 
     shall be subject to the regular notification procedures of 
     the Committees on Appropriations and section 634A of the 
     Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.


                          terms and conditions

       Sec. 1411.  Unless otherwise provided for in this Act, 
     funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this 
     chapter shall be available under the authorities and 
     conditions provided in the Department of State, Foreign 
     Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2008 
     (division J of Public Law 110-161), except that section 699K 
     of such Act shall not apply to funds in this chapter.

                       TITLE II--DOMESTIC MATTERS

               CHAPTER 1--COMMERCE, JUSTICE, AND SCIENCE

                         DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

                          Bureau of the Census

                     periodic censuses and programs

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For an additional amount for ``Periodic Censuses and 
     Programs'', $210,000,000, to remain available until expended, 
     for necessary expenses related to the 2010 Decennial Census: 
     Provided, That not less than $3,000,000 shall be transferred 
     to the ``Office of Inspector General'' at the Department of 
     Commerce for necessary expenses associated with oversight 
     activities of the 2010 Decennial Census: Provided further, 
     That not less than $1,000,000 shall be used only for a

[[Page S4452]]

     reimbursable agreement with the Defense Contract Management 
     Agency to provide continuing contract management oversight of 
     the 2010 Decennial Census.

                         DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

                         Federal Prison System

                         salaries and expenses

       For an additional amount for ``Salaries and Expenses'', 
     $178,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2008.

                CHAPTER 2--ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT

                      DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE--CIVIL

                         DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY

                       Corps of Engineers--Civil

                              construction

       For an additional amount for ``Construction'', for 
     necessary expenses related to the consequences of Hurricane 
     Katrina and other hurricanes of the 2005 season, 
     $2,835,000,000, to remain available until expended: Provided, 
     That such sums shall not be available until October 1, 2008: 
     Provided further, That the Secretary of the Army is directed 
     to use $1,997,000,000 of the funds provided herein to modify 
     authorized projects in southeast Louisiana to provide 
     hurricane, storm and flood damage reduction in the greater 
     New Orleans and surrounding areas to the levels of protection 
     necessary to achieve the certification required for 
     participation in the National Flood Insurance Program under 
     the base flood elevations current at the time of enactment of 
     this Act, and shall use $1,077,000,000 of those funds for the 
     Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity project and $920,000,000 of 
     those funds for the West Bank and Vicinity project: Provided 
     further, That, in addition, $838,000,000 of the funds 
     provided herein shall be for elements of Southeast Louisiana 
     Urban Drainage project within the geographic perimeter of the 
     West Bank and Vicinity and Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity 
     projects, to provide for interior drainage of runoff from 
     rainfall with a ten percent annual exceedance probability: 
     Provided further, That the amounts provided herein shall be 
     subject to a 65 percent Federal / 35 percent non-Federal cost 
     share for the specified purposes: Provided further, That 
     beginning not later than 60 days after the date of enactment 
     of this Act, the Chief of Engineers, acting through the 
     Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, shall 
     provide monthly reports to the Committees on Appropriations 
     of the House of Representatives and the Senate detailing the 
     allocation and obligation of these funds.

                 flood control and coastal emergencies

       For an additional amount for ``Flood Control and Coastal 
     Emergencies'', as authorized by section 5 of the Act of 
     August 18, 1941 (33 U.S.C. 701n), for necessary expenses 
     relating to the consequences of Hurricane Katrina and other 
     hurricanes of the 2005 season, $2,926,000,000, to remain 
     available until expended: Provided, That such sums shall not 
     be available until October 1, 2008: Provided further, That 
     funds provided herein shall be used to reduce the risk of 
     hurricane and storm damages to the greater New Orleans 
     metropolitan area, at full Federal expense, for the 
     following: $704,000,000 shall be used to modify the 17th 
     Street, Orleans Avenue, and London Avenue drainage canals and 
     install pumps and closure structures at or near the 
     lakefront; $90,000,000 shall be used for storm-proofing 
     interior pump stations to ensure the operability of the 
     stations during hurricanes, storms, and high water events; 
     $459,000,000 shall be used for armoring critical elements of 
     the New Orleans hurricane and storm damage reduction system; 
     $53,000,000 shall be used to improve protection at the Inner 
     Harbor Navigation Canal; $456,000,000 shall be used to 
     replace or modify certain non-Federal levees in Plaquemines 
     Parish to incorporate the levees into the existing New 
     Orleans to Venice hurricane protection project; $412,000,000 
     shall be used for reinforcing or replacing flood walls, as 
     necessary, in the existing Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity 
     project and the existing West Bank and Vicinity project to 
     improve the performance of the systems; $393,000,000 shall be 
     used for repair and restoration of authorized protections and 
     floodwalls; and $359,000,000 shall be used to complete the 
     authorized protection for the Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity 
     Project and for the West Bank and Vicinity Project: Provided 
     further, That beginning not later than 60 days after the date 
     of enactment of this Act, the Chief of Engineers, acting 
     through the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, 
     shall provide monthly reports to the Committees on 
     Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate 
     detailing the allocation and obligation of these funds: 
     Provided further, That any project using funds appropriated 
     under this heading shall be initiated only after non-Federal 
     interests have entered into binding agreements with the 
     Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works requiring the 
     non-Federal interests to pay 100 percent of the operation, 
     maintenance, repair, replacement, and rehabilitation costs of 
     completed elements and to hold and save the United States 
     free from damages due to the construction, operation, and 
     maintenance of the project, except for damages due to the 
     fault or negligence of the United States or its contractors: 
     Provided further, That the expenditure of funds as provided 
     above may be made without regard to individual amounts or 
     purposes except that any reallocation of funds that is 
     necessary to accomplish the established goals is authorized, 
     subject to the approval of the House and Senate Committees on 
     Appropriations.

       CHAPTER 3--LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION

                          DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

                 Employment and Training Administration

     state unemployment insurance and employment service operations

        For an additional amount for ``State Unemployment 
     Insurance and Employment Service Operations'' for grants to 
     the States for the administration of State unemployment 
     insurance, $110,000,000, which may be expended from the 
     Employment Security Administration Account in the 
     Unemployment Trust Fund, to be used for unemployment 
     insurance workloads experienced by the States through 
     September 30, 2008, which shall be available for Federal 
     obligation through December 31, 2008.

                     CHAPTER 4--LEGISLATIVE BRANCH

                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

      Payment to Widows and Heirs of Deceased Members of Congress

        For payment to Annette Lantos, widow of Tom Lantos, late a 
     Representative from the State of California, $169,300: 
     Provided, That section 8002 shall not apply to this 
     appropriation.

               TITLE III--VETERANS EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE


                              short title

       Sec. 3001.  This title may be cited as the ``Post-9/11 
     Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008''.


                                findings

       Sec. 3002.  Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) On September 11, 2001, terrorists attacked the United 
     States, and the brave members of the Armed Forces of the 
     United States were called to the defense of the Nation.
       (2) Service on active duty in the Armed Forces has been 
     especially arduous for the members of the Armed Forces since 
     September 11, 2001.
       (3) The United States has a proud history of offering 
     educational assistance to millions of veterans, as 
     demonstrated by the many ``G.I. Bills'' enacted since World 
     War II. Educational assistance for veterans helps reduce the 
     costs of war, assist veterans in readjusting to civilian life 
     after wartime service, and boost the United States economy, 
     and has a positive effect on recruitment for the Armed 
     Forces.
       (4) The current educational assistance program for veterans 
     is outmoded and designed for peacetime service in the Armed 
     Forces.
       (5) The people of the United States greatly value military 
     service and recognize the difficult challenges involved in 
     readjusting to civilian life after wartime service in the 
     Armed Forces.
       (6) It is in the national interest for the United States to 
     provide veterans who serve on active duty in the Armed Forces 
     after September 11, 2001, with enhanced educational 
     assistance benefits that are worthy of such service and are 
     commensurate with the educational assistance benefits 
     provided by a grateful Nation to veterans of World War II.


educational assistance for members of the armed forces who serve after 
                           september 11, 2001

       Sec. 3003.  (a) Educational Assistance Authorized.--
       (1) In general.--Part III of title 38, United States Code, 
     is amended by inserting after chapter 32 the following new 
     chapter:

             ``CHAPTER 33--POST-9/11 EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE

                       ``subchapter i--definitions

``Sec.
``3301. Definitions.

                 ``subchapter ii--educational assistance

``3311. Educational assistance for service in the Armed Forces 
              commencing on or after September 11, 2001: entitlement.
``3312. Educational assistance: duration.
``3313. Educational assistance: amount; payment.
``3314. Tutorial assistance.
``3315. Licensure and certification tests.
``3316. Supplemental educational assistance: members with critical 
              skills or specialty; members serving additional service.
``3317. Public-private contributions for additional educational 
              assistance.

               ``subchapter iii--administrative provisions

``3321. Time limitation for use of and eligibility for entitlement.
``3322. Bar to duplication of educational assistance benefits.
``3323. Administration.
``3324. Allocation of administration and costs.

                      ``SUBCHAPTER I--DEFINITIONS

     ``Sec. 3301. Definitions

       ``In this chapter:
       ``(1) The term `active duty' has the meanings as follows 
     (subject to the limitations specified in sections 3002(6) and 
     3311(b) of this title):
       ``(A) In the case of members of the regular components of 
     the Armed Forces, the meaning given such term in section 
     101(21)(A) of this title.
       ``(B) In the case of members of the reserve components of 
     the Armed Forces, service on active duty under a call or 
     order to active duty under section 688, 12301(a), 12301(d), 
     12301(g), 12302, or 12304 of title 10.
       ``(2) The term `entry level and skill training' means the 
     following:
       ``(A) In the case of members of the Army, Basic Combat 
     Training and Advanced Individual Training.
       ``(B) In the case of members of the Navy, Recruit Training 
     (or Boot Camp) and Skill Training (or so-called `A' School).
       ``(C) In the case of members of the Air Force, Basic 
     Military Training and Technical Training.
       ``(D) In the case of members of the Marine Corps, Recruit 
     Training and Marine Corps Training (or School of Infantry 
     Training).
       ``(E) In the case of members of the Coast Guard, Basic 
     Training.
       ``(3) The term `program of education' has the meaning the 
     meaning given such term in section

[[Page S4453]]

     3002 of this title, except to the extent otherwise provided 
     in section 3313 of this title.
       ``(4) The term `Secretary of Defense' has the meaning given 
     such term in section 3002 of this title.

                ``SUBCHAPTER II--EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE

     ``Sec. 3311. Educational assistance for service in the Armed 
       Forces commencing on or after September 11, 2001: 
       entitlement

       ``(a) Entitlement.--Subject to subsections (d) and (e), 
     each individual described in subsection (b) is entitled to 
     educational assistance under this chapter.
       ``(b) Covered Individuals.--An individual described in this 
     subsection is any individual as follows:
       ``(1) An individual who--
       ``(A) commencing on or after September 11, 2001, serves an 
     aggregate of at least 36 months on active duty in the Armed 
     Forces (including service on active duty in entry level and 
     skill training); and
       ``(B) after completion of service described in subparagraph 
     (A)--
       ``(i) continues on active duty; or
       ``(ii) is discharged or released from active duty as 
     described in subsection (c).
       ``(2) An individual who--
       ``(A) commencing on or after September 11, 2001, serves at 
     least 30 continuous days on active duty in the Armed Forces; 
     and
       ``(B) after completion of service described in subparagraph 
     (A), is discharged or released from active duty in the Armed 
     Forces for a service-connected disability.
       ``(3) An individual who--
       ``(A) commencing on or after September 11, 2001, serves an 
     aggregate of at least 30 months, but less than 36 months, on 
     active duty in the Armed Forces (including service on active 
     duty in entry level and skill training); and
       ``(B) after completion of service described in subparagraph 
     (A)--
       ``(i) continues on active duty for an aggregate of less 
     than 36 months; or
       ``(ii) before completion of service on active duty of an 
     aggregate of 36 months, is discharged or released from active 
     duty as described in subsection (c).
       ``(4) An individual who--
       ``(A) commencing on or after September 11, 2001, serves an 
     aggregate of at least 24 months, but less than 30 months, on 
     active duty in the Armed Forces (including service on active 
     duty in entry level and skill training); and
       ``(B) after completion of service described in subparagraph 
     (A)--
       ``(i) continues on active duty for an aggregate of less 
     than 30 months; or
       ``(ii) before completion of service on active duty of an 
     aggregate of 30 months, is discharged or released from active 
     duty as described in subsection (c).
       ``(5) An individual who--
       ``(A) commencing on or after September 11, 2001, serves an 
     aggregate of at least 18 months, but less than 24 months, on 
     active duty in the Armed Forces (excluding service on active 
     duty in entry level and skill training); and
       ``(B) after completion of service described in subparagraph 
     (A)--
       ``(i) continues on active duty for an aggregate of less 
     than 24 months; or
       ``(ii) before completion of service on active duty of an 
     aggregate of 24 months, is discharged or released from active 
     duty as described in subsection (c).
       ``(6) An individual who--
       ``(A) commencing on or after September 11, 2001, serves an 
     aggregate of at least 12 months, but less than 18 months, on 
     active duty in the Armed Forces (excluding service on active 
     duty in entry level and skill training); and
       ``(B) after completion of service described in subparagraph 
     (A)--
       ``(i) continues on active duty for an aggregate of less 
     than 18 months; or
       ``(ii) before completion of service on active duty of an 
     aggregate of 18 months, is discharged or released from active 
     duty as described in subsection (c).
       ``(7) An individual who--
       ``(A) commencing on or after September 11, 2001, serves an 
     aggregate of at least 6 months, but less than 12 months, on 
     active duty in the Armed Forces (excluding service on active 
     duty in entry level and skill training); and
       ``(B) after completion of service described in subparagraph 
     (A)--
       ``(i) continues on active duty for an aggregate of less 
     than 12 months; or
       ``(ii) before completion of service on active duty of an 
     aggregate of 12 months, is discharged or released from active 
     duty as described in subsection (c).
       ``(8) An individual who--
       ``(A) commencing on or after September 11, 2001, serves an 
     aggregate of at least 90 days, but less than 6 months, on 
     active duty in the Armed Forces (excluding service on active 
     duty in entry level and skill training); and
       ``(B) after completion of service described in subparagraph 
     (A)--
       ``(i) continues on active duty for an aggregate of less 
     than 6 months; or
       ``(ii) before completion of service on active duty of an 
     aggregate of 6 months, is discharged or released from active 
     duty as described in subsection (c).
       ``(c) Covered Discharges and Releases.--A discharge or 
     release from active duty of an individual described in this 
     subsection is a discharge or release as follows:
       ``(1) A discharge from active duty in the Armed Forces with 
     an honorable discharge.
       ``(2) A release after service on active duty in the Armed 
     Forces characterized by the Secretary concerned as honorable 
     service and placement on the retired list, transfer to the 
     Fleet Reserve or Fleet Marine Corps Reserve, or placement on 
     the temporary disability retired list.
       ``(3) A release from active duty in the Armed Forces for 
     further service in a reserve component of the Armed Forces 
     after service on active duty characterized by the Secretary 
     concerned as honorable service.
       ``(4) A discharge or release from active duty in the Armed 
     Forces for--
       ``(A) a medical condition which preexisted the service of 
     the individual as described in the applicable paragraph of 
     subsection (b) and which the Secretary determines is not 
     service-connected;
       ``(B) hardship; or
       ``(C) a physical or mental condition that was not 
     characterized as a disability and did not result from the 
     individual's own willful misconduct but did interfere with 
     the individual's performance of duty, as determined by the 
     Secretary concerned in accordance with regulations prescribed 
     by the Secretary of Defense.
       ``(d) Prohibition on Treatment of Certain Service as Period 
     of Active Duty.--The following periods of service shall not 
     be considered a part of the period of active duty on which an 
     individual's entitlement to educational assistance under this 
     chapter is based:
       ``(1) A period of service on active duty of an officer 
     pursuant to an agreement under section 2107(b) of title 10.
       ``(2) A period of service on active duty of an officer 
     pursuant to an agreement under section 4348, 6959, or 9348 of 
     title 10.
       ``(3) A period of service that is terminated because of a 
     defective enlistment and induction based on--
       ``(A) the individual's being a minor for purposes of 
     service in the Armed Forces;
       ``(B) an erroneous enlistment or induction; or
       ``(C) a defective enlistment agreement.
       ``(e) Treatment of Individuals Entitled Under Multiple 
     Provisions.--In the event an individual entitled to 
     educational assistance under this chapter is entitled by 
     reason of both paragraphs (4) and (5) of subsection (b), the 
     individual shall be treated as being entitled to educational 
     assistance under this chapter by reason of paragraph (5) of 
     such subsection.

     ``Sec. 3312. Educational assistance: duration

       ``(a) In General.--Subject to section 3695 of this title 
     and except as provided in subsections (b) and (c), an 
     individual entitled to educational assistance under this 
     chapter is entitled to a number of months of educational 
     assistance under section 3313 of this title equal to 36 
     months.
       ``(b) Continuing Receipt.--The receipt of educational 
     assistance under section 3313 of this title by an individual 
     entitled to educational assistance under this chapter is 
     subject to the provisions of section 3321(b)(2) of this 
     title.
       ``(c) Discontinuation of Education for Active Duty.--(1) 
     Any payment of educational assistance described in paragraph 
     (2) shall not--
       ``(A) be charged against any entitlement to educational 
     assistance of the individual concerned under this chapter; or
       ``(B) be counted against the aggregate period for which 
     section 3695 of this title limits the individual's receipt of 
     educational assistance under this chapter.
       ``(2) Subject to paragraph (3), the payment of educational 
     assistance described in this paragraph is the payment of such 
     assistance to an individual for pursuit of a course or 
     courses under this chapter if the Secretary finds that the 
     individual--
       ``(A)(i) in the case of an individual not serving on active 
     duty, had to discontinue such course pursuit as a result of 
     being called or ordered to serve on active duty under section 
     688, 12301(a), 12301(d), 12301(g), 12302, or 12304 of title 
     10; or
       ``(ii) in the case of an individual serving on active duty, 
     had to discontinue such course pursuit as a result of being 
     ordered to a new duty location or assignment or to perform an 
     increased amount of work; and
       ``(B) failed to receive credit or lost training time toward 
     completion of the individual's approved education, 
     professional, or vocational objective as a result of having 
     to discontinue, as described in subparagraph (A), the 
     individual's course pursuit.
       ``(3) The period for which, by reason of this subsection, 
     educational assistance is not charged against entitlement or 
     counted toward the applicable aggregate period under section 
     3695 of this title shall not exceed the portion of the period 
     of enrollment in the course or courses from which the 
     individual failed to receive credit or with respect to which 
     the individual lost training time, as determined under 
     paragraph (2)(B).

     ``Sec. 3313. Educational assistance: amount; payment

       ``(a) Payment.--The Secretary shall pay to each individual 
     entitled to educational assistance under this chapter who is 
     pursuing an approved program of education (other than a 
     program covered by subsections (e) and (f)) the amounts 
     specified in subsection (c) to meet the expenses of such 
     individual's subsistence, tuition, fees, and other 
     educational costs for pursuit of such program of education.
       ``(b) Approved Programs of Education.--A program of 
     education is an approved program of education for purposes of 
     this chapter if the program of education is offered by an 
     institution of higher learning (as that term is defined in 
     section 3452(f) of this title) and is approved for purposes 
     of chapter 30 of this title (including approval by the State 
     approving agency concerned).
       ``(c) Amount of Educational Assistance.--The amounts 
     payable under this subsection for pursuit of an approved 
     program of education are amounts as follows:
       ``(1) In the case of an individual entitled to educational 
     assistance under this chapter by reason of section 3311(b)(1) 
     or 3311(b)(2) of this title, amounts as follows:

[[Page S4454]]

       ``(A) An amount equal to the established charges for the 
     program of education, except that the amount payable under 
     this subparagraph may not exceed the maximum amount of 
     established charges regularly charged in-State students for 
     full-time pursuit of approved programs of education for 
     undergraduates by the public institution of higher education 
     offering approved programs of education for undergraduates in 
     the State in which the individual is enrolled that has the 
     highest rate of regularly-charged established charges for 
     such programs of education among all public institutions of 
     higher education in such State offering such programs of 
     education.
       ``(B) A monthly stipend in an amount as follows:
       ``(i) For each month the individual pursues the program of 
     education, other than a program of education offered through 
     distance learning, a monthly housing stipend amount equal to 
     the monthly amount of the basic allowance for housing payable 
     under section 403 of title 37 for a member with dependents in 
     pay grade E-5 residing in the military housing area that 
     encompasses all or the majority portion of the ZIP code area 
     in which is located the institution of higher education at 
     which the individual is enrolled.
       ``(ii) For the first month of each quarter, semester, or 
     term, as applicable, of the program of education pursued by 
     the individual, a lump sum amount for books, supplies, 
     equipment, and other educational costs with respect to such 
     quarter, semester, or term in the amount equal to--

       ``(I) $1,000, multiplied by
       ``(II) the fraction which is the portion of a complete 
     academic year under the program of education that such 
     quarter, semester, or term constitutes.

       ``(2) In the case of an individual entitled to educational 
     assistance under this chapter by reason of section 3311(b)(3) 
     of this title, amounts equal to 90 percent of the amounts 
     that would be payable to the individual under paragraph (1) 
     for the program of education if the individual were entitled 
     to amounts for the program of education under paragraph (1) 
     rather than this paragraph.
       ``(3) In the case of an individual entitled to educational 
     assistance under this chapter by reason of section 3311(b)(4) 
     of this title, amounts equal to 80 percent of the amounts 
     that would be payable to the individual under paragraph (1) 
     for the program of education if the individual were entitled 
     to amounts for the program of education under paragraph (1) 
     rather than this paragraph.
       ``(4) In the case of an individual entitled to educational 
     assistance under this chapter by reason of section 3311(b)(5) 
     of this title, amounts equal to 70 percent of the amounts 
     that would be payable to the individual under paragraph (1) 
     for the program of education if the individual were entitled 
     to amounts for the program of education under paragraph (1) 
     rather than this paragraph.
       ``(5) In the case of an individual entitled to educational 
     assistance under this chapter by reason of section 3311(b)(6) 
     of this title, amounts equal to 60 percent of the amounts 
     that would be payable to the individual under paragraph (1) 
     for the program of education if the individual were entitled 
     to amounts for the program of education under paragraph (1) 
     rather than this paragraph.
       ``(6) In the case of an individual entitled to educational 
     assistance under this chapter by reason of section 3311(b)(7) 
     of this title, amounts equal to 50 percent of the amounts 
     that would be payable to the individual under paragraph (1) 
     for the program of education if the individual were entitled 
     to amounts for the program of education under paragraph (1) 
     rather than this paragraph.
       ``(7) In the case of an individual entitled to educational 
     assistance under this chapter by reason of section 3311(b)(8) 
     of this title, amounts equal to 40 percent of the amounts 
     that would be payable to the individual under paragraph (1) 
     for the program of education if the individual were entitled 
     to amounts for the program of education under paragraph (1) 
     rather than this paragraph.
       ``(d) Frequency of Payment.--(1) Payment of the amounts 
     payable under subsection (c)(1)(A), and of similar amounts 
     payable under paragraphs (2) through (7) of subsection (c), 
     for pursuit of a program of education shall be made for the 
     entire quarter, semester, or term, as applicable, of the 
     program of education.
       ``(2) Payment of the amount payable under subsection 
     (c)(1)(B), and of similar amounts payable under paragraphs 
     (2) through (7) of subsection (c), for pursuit of a program 
     of education shall be made on a monthly basis.
       ``(3) The Secretary shall prescribe in regulations methods 
     for determining the number of months (including fractions 
     thereof) of entitlement of an individual to educational 
     assistance this chapter that are chargeable under this 
     chapter for an advance payment of amounts under paragraphs 
     (1) and (2) for pursuit of a program of education on a 
     quarter, semester, term, or other basis.
       ``(e) Programs of Education Pursued on Active Duty.--(1) 
     Educational assistance is payable under this chapter for 
     pursuit of an approved program of education while on active 
     duty.
       ``(2) The amount of educational assistance payable under 
     this chapter to an individual pursuing a program of education 
     while on active duty is the lesser of--
       ``(A) the established charges which similarly circumstanced 
     nonveterans enrolled in the program of education involved 
     would be required to pay; or
       ``(B) the amount of the charges of the educational 
     institution as elected by the individual in the manner 
     specified in section 3014(b)(1) of this title.
       ``(3) Payment of the amount payable under paragraph (2) for 
     pursuit of a program of education shall be made for the 
     entire quarter, semester, or term, as applicable, of the 
     program of education.
       ``(4) For each month (as determined pursuant to the methods 
     prescribed under subsection (d)(3)) for which amounts are 
     paid an individual under this subsection, the entitlement of 
     the individual to educational assistance under this chapter 
     shall be charged at the rate of one month for each such 
     month.
       ``(f) Programs of Education Pursued on Half-Time Basis or 
     Less.--(1) Educational assistance is payable under this 
     chapter for pursuit of an approved program of education on 
     half-time basis or less.
       ``(2) The educational assistance payable under this chapter 
     to an individual pursuing a program of education on half-time 
     basis or less is the amounts as follows:
       ``(A) The amount equal to the lesser of--
       ``(i) the established charges which similarly circumstanced 
     nonveterans enrolled in the program of education involved 
     would be required to pay; or
       ``(ii) the maximum amount that would be payable to the 
     individual for the program of education under paragraph 
     (1)(A) of subsection (c), or under the provisions of 
     paragraphs (2) through (7) of subsection (c) applicable to 
     the individual, for the program of education if the 
     individual were entitled to amounts for the program of 
     education under subsection (c) rather than this subsection.
       ``(B) A stipend in an amount equal to the amount of the 
     appropriately reduced amount of the lump sum amount for 
     books, supplies, equipment, and other educational costs 
     otherwise payable to the individual under subsection (c).
       ``(3) Payment of the amounts payable to an individual under 
     paragraph (2) for pursuit of a program of education on half-
     time basis or less shall be made for the entire quarter, 
     semester, or term, as applicable, of the program of 
     education.
       ``(4) For each month (as determined pursuant to the methods 
     prescribed under subsection (d)(3)) for which amounts are 
     paid an individual under this subsection, the entitlement of 
     the individual to educational assistance under this chapter 
     shall be charged at a percentage of a month equal to--
       ``(A) the number of course hours borne by the individual in 
     pursuit of the program of education involved, divided by
       ``(B) the number of course hours for full-time pursuit of 
     such program of education.
       ``(g) Payment of Established Charges to Educational 
     Institutions.--Amounts payable under subsections (c)(1)(A) 
     (and of similar amounts payable under paragraphs (2) through 
     (7) of subsection (c)), (e)(2) and (f)(2)(A) shall be paid 
     directly to the educational institution concerned.
       ``(h) Established Charges Defined.--(1) In this section, 
     the term `established charges', in the case of a program of 
     education, means the actual charges (as determined pursuant 
     to regulations prescribed by the Secretary) for tuition and 
     fees which similarly circumstanced nonveterans enrolled in 
     the program of education would be required to pay.
       ``(2) Established charges shall be determined for purposes 
     of this subsection on the following basis:
       ``(A) In the case of an individual enrolled in a program of 
     education offered on a term, quarter, or semester basis, the 
     tuition and fees charged the individual for the term, 
     quarter, or semester.
       ``(B) In the case of an individual enrolled in a program of 
     education not offered on a term, quarter, or semester basis, 
     the tuition and fees charged the individual for the entire 
     program of education.

     ``Sec. 3314. Tutorial assistance

       ``(a) In General.--Subject to subsection (b), an individual 
     entitled to educational assistance under this chapter shall 
     also be entitled to benefits provided an eligible veteran 
     under section 3492 of this title.
       ``(b) Conditions.--(1) The provision of benefits under 
     subsection (a) shall be subject to the conditions applicable 
     to an eligible veteran under section 3492 of this title.
       ``(2) In addition to the conditions specified in paragraph 
     (1), benefits may not be provided to an individual under 
     subsection (a) unless the professor or other individual 
     teaching, leading, or giving the course for which such 
     benefits are provided certifies that--
       ``(A) such benefits are essential to correct a deficiency 
     of the individual in such course; and
       ``(B) such course is required as a part of, or is 
     prerequisite or indispensable to the satisfactory pursuit of, 
     an approved program of education.
       ``(c) Amount.--(1) The amount of benefits described in 
     subsection (a) that are payable under this section may not 
     exceed $100 per month, for a maximum of 12 months, or until a 
     maximum of $1,200 is utilized.
       ``(2) The amount provided an individual under this 
     subsection is in addition to the amounts of educational 
     assistance paid the individual under section 3313 of this 
     title.
       ``(d) No Charge Against Entitlement.--Any benefits provided 
     an individual under subsection (a) are in addition to any 
     other educational assistance benefits provided the individual 
     under this chapter.

     ``Sec. 3315. Licensure and certification tests

       ``(a) In General.--An individual entitled to educational 
     assistance under this chapter shall also be entitled to 
     payment for one licensing or certification test described in 
     section 3452(b) of this title.
       ``(b) Limitation on Amount.--The amount payable under 
     subsection (a) for a licensing or certification test may not 
     exceed the lesser of--
       ``(1) $2,000; or

[[Page S4455]]

       ``(2) the fee charged for the test.
       ``(c) No Charge Against Entitlement.--Any amount paid an 
     individual under subsection (a) is in addition to any other 
     educational assistance benefits provided the individual under 
     this chapter.

     ``Sec. 3316. Supplemental educational assistance: members 
       with critical skills or specialty; members serving 
       additional service

       ``(a) Increased Assistance for Members With Critical Skills 
     or Specialty.--(1) In the case of an individual who has a 
     skill or specialty designated by the Secretary concerned as a 
     skill or specialty in which there is a critical shortage of 
     personnel or for which it is difficult to recruit or, in the 
     case of critical units, retain personnel, the Secretary 
     concerned may increase the monthly amount of educational 
     assistance otherwise payable to the individual under 
     paragraph (1)(B) of section 3313(c) of this title, or under 
     paragraphs (2) through (7) of such section (as applicable).
       ``(2) The amount of the increase in educational assistance 
     authorized by paragraph (1) may not exceed the amount equal 
     to the monthly amount of increased basic educational 
     assistance providable under section 3015(d)(1) of this title 
     at the time of the increase under paragraph (1).
       ``(b) Supplemental Assistance for Additional Service.--(1) 
     The Secretary concerned may provide for the payment to an 
     individual entitled to educational assistance under this 
     chapter of supplemental educational assistance for additional 
     service authorized by subchapter III of chapter 30 of this 
     title. The amount so payable shall be payable as an increase 
     in the monthly amount of educational assistance otherwise 
     payable to the individual under paragraph (1)(B) of section 
     3313(c) of this title, or under paragraphs (2) through (7) of 
     such section (as applicable).
       ``(2) Eligibility for supplement educational assistance 
     under this subsection shall be determined in accordance with 
     the provisions of subchapter III of chapter 30 of this title, 
     except that any reference in such provisions to eligibility 
     for basic educational assistance under a provision of 
     subchapter II of chapter 30 of this title shall be treated as 
     a reference to eligibility for educational assistance under 
     the appropriate provision of this chapter.
       ``(3) The amount of supplemental educational assistance 
     payable under this subsection shall be the amount equal to 
     the monthly amount of supplemental educational payable under 
     section 3022 of this title.
       ``(c) Regulations.--The Secretaries concerned shall 
     administer this section in accordance with such regulations 
     as the Secretary of Defense shall prescribe.

     ``Sec. 3317. Public-private contributions for additional 
       educational assistance

       ``(a) Establishment of Program.--In instances where the 
     educational assistance provided pursuant to section 
     3313(c)(1)(A) does not cover the full cost of established 
     charges (as specified in section 3313 of this title), the 
     Secretary shall carry out a program under which colleges and 
     universities can, voluntarily, enter into an agreement with 
     the Secretary to cover a portion of those established charges 
     not otherwise covered under section 3313(c)(1)(A), which 
     contributions shall be matched by equivalent contributions 
     toward such costs by the Secretary. The program shall only 
     apply to covered individuals described in paragraphs (1) and 
     (2) of section 3311(b).
       ``(b) Designation of Program.--The program under this 
     section shall be known as the `Yellow Ribbon G.I. Education 
     Enhancement Program'.
       ``(c) Agreements.--The Secretary shall enter into an 
     agreement with each college or university seeking to 
     participate in the program under this section. Each agreement 
     shall specify the following:
       ``(1) The manner (whether by direct grant, scholarship, or 
     otherwise) of the contributions to be made by the college or 
     university concerned.
       ``(2) The maximum amount of the contribution to be made by 
     the college or university concerned with respect to any 
     particular individual in any given academic year.
       ``(3) The maximum number of individuals for whom the 
     college or university concerned will make contributions in 
     any given academic year.
       ``(4) Such other matters as the Secretary and the college 
     or university concerned jointly consider appropriate.
       ``(d) Matching Contributions.--(1) In instances where the 
     educational assistance provided an individual under section 
     3313(c)(1)(A) of this title does not cover the full cost of 
     tuition and mandatory fees at a college or university, the 
     Secretary shall provide up to 50 percent of the remaining 
     costs for tuition and mandatory fees if the college or 
     university voluntarily enters into an agreement with the 
     Secretary to match an equal percentage of any of the 
     remaining costs for such tuition and fees.
       ``(2) Amounts available to the Secretary under section 
     3324(b) of this title for payment of the costs of this 
     chapter shall be available to the Secretary for purposes of 
     paragraph (1).
       ``(e) Outreach.--The Secretary shall make available on the 
     Internet website of the Department available to the public a 
     current list of the colleges and universities participating 
     in the program under this section. The list shall specify, 
     for each college or university so listed, appropriate 
     information on the agreement between the Secretary and such 
     college or university under subsection (c).

              ``SUBCHAPTER III--ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS

     ``Sec. 3321. Time limitation for use of and eligibility for 
       entitlement

       ``(a) In General.--Except as provided in this section, the 
     period during which an individual entitled to educational 
     assistance under this chapter may use such individual's 
     entitlement expires at the end of the 15-year period 
     beginning on the date of such individual's last discharge or 
     release from active duty.
       ``(b) Exceptions.--(1) Subsections (b), (c), and (d) of 
     section 3031 of this title shall apply with respect to the 
     running of the 15-year period described in subsection (a) of 
     this section in the same manner as such subsections apply 
     under section 3031 of this title with respect to the running 
     of the 10-year period described in section 3031(a) of this 
     title.
       ``(2) Section 3031(f) of this title shall apply with 
     respect to the termination of an individual's entitlement to 
     educational assistance under this chapter in the same manner 
     as such section applies to the termination of an individual's 
     entitlement to educational assistance under chapter 30 of 
     this title, except that, in the administration of such 
     section for purposes of this chapter, the reference to 
     section 3013 of this title shall be deemed to be a reference 
     to 3312 of this title.
       ``(3) For purposes of subsection (a), an individual's last 
     discharge or release from active duty shall not include any 
     discharge or release from a period of active duty of less 
     than 90 days of continuous service, unless the individual is 
     discharged or released as described in section 3311(b)(2) of 
     this title.

     ``Sec. 3322. Bar to duplication of educational assistance 
       benefits

       ``(a) In General.--An individual entitled to educational 
     assistance under this chapter who is also eligible for 
     educational assistance under chapter 30, 31, 32, or 35 of 
     this title, chapter 107, 1606, or 1607 of title 10, or the 
     provisions of the Hostage Relief Act of 1980 (Public Law 96-
     449; 5 U.S.C. 5561 note) may not receive assistance under two 
     or more such programs concurrently, but shall elect (in such 
     form and manner as the Secretary may prescribe) under which 
     chapter or provisions to receive educational assistance.
       ``(b) Inapplicability of Service Treated Under Educational 
     Loan Repayment Programs.--A period of service counted for 
     purposes of repayment of an education loan under chapter 109 
     of title 10 may not be counted as a period of service for 
     entitlement to educational assistance under this chapter.
       ``(c) Service in Selected Reserve.--An individual who 
     serves in the Selected Reserve may receive credit for such 
     service under only one of this chapter, chapter 30 of this 
     title, and chapters 1606 and 1607 of title 10, and shall 
     elect (in such form and manner as the Secretary may 
     prescribe) under which chapter such service is to be 
     credited.
       ``(d) Additional Coordination Matters.--In the case of an 
     individual entitled to educational assistance under chapter 
     30, 31, 32, or 35 of this title, chapter 107, 1606, or 1607 
     of title 10, or the provisions of the Hostage Relief Act of 
     1980, or making contributions toward entitlement to 
     educational assistance under chapter 30 of this title, as of 
     August 1, 2009, coordination of entitlement to educational 
     assistance under this chapter, on the one hand, and such 
     chapters or provisions, on the other, shall be governed by 
     the provisions of section 3003(c) of the Post-9/11 Veterans 
     Educational Assistance Act of 2008.

     ``Sec. 3323. Administration

       ``(a) In General.--(1) Except as otherwise provided in this 
     chapter, the provisions specified in section 3034(a)(1) of 
     this title shall apply to the provision of educational 
     assistance under this chapter.
       ``(2) In applying the provisions referred to in paragraph 
     (1) to an individual entitled to educational assistance under 
     this chapter for purposes of this section, the reference in 
     such provisions to the term `eligible veteran' shall be 
     deemed to refer to an individual entitled to educational 
     assistance under this chapter.
       ``(3) In applying section 3474 of this title to an 
     individual entitled to educational assistance under this 
     chapter for purposes of this section, the reference in such 
     section 3474 to the term `educational assistance allowance' 
     shall be deemed to refer to educational assistance payable 
     under section 3313 of this title.
       ``(4) In applying section 3482(g) of this title to an 
     individual entitled to educational assistance under this 
     chapter for purposes of this section--
       ``(A) the first reference to the term `educational 
     assistance allowance' in such section 3482(g) shall be deemed 
     to refer to educational assistance payable under section 3313 
     of this title; and
       ``(B) the first sentence of paragraph (1) of such section 
     3482(g) shall be applied as if such sentence ended with 
     `equipment'.
       ``(b) Information on Benefits.--(1) The Secretary of 
     Veterans Affairs shall provide the information described in 
     paragraph (2) to each member of the Armed Forces at such 
     times as the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the Secretary 
     of Defense shall jointly prescribe in regulations.
       ``(2) The information described in this paragraph is 
     information on benefits, limitations, procedures, eligibility 
     requirements (including time-in-service requirements), and 
     other important aspects of educational assistance under this 
     chapter, including application forms for such assistance 
     under section 5102 of this title.
       ``(3) The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall furnish the 
     information and forms described in paragraph (2), and other 
     educational materials on educational assistance under this 
     chapter, to educational institutions, training 
     establishments, military education personnel, and such other 
     persons and entities as the Secretary considers appropriate.
       ``(c) Regulations.--(1) The Secretary shall prescribe 
     regulations for the administration of this chapter.
       ``(2) Any regulations prescribed by the Secretary of 
     Defense for purposes of this chapter shall apply uniformly 
     across the Armed Forces.

[[Page S4456]]

     ``Sec. 3324. Allocation of administration and costs

       ``(a) Administration.--Except as otherwise provided in this 
     chapter, the Secretary shall administer the provision of 
     educational assistance under this chapter.
       ``(b) Costs.--Payments for entitlement to educational 
     assistance earned under this chapter shall be made from funds 
     appropriated to, or otherwise made available to, the 
     Department of Veterans Affairs for the payment of 
     readjustment benefits.''.
       (2) Clerical amendments.--The tables of chapters at the 
     beginning of title 38, United States Code, and at the 
     beginning of part III of such title, are each amended by 
     inserting after the item relating to chapter 32 the following 
     new item:

``33. Post-9/11 Educational Assistance......................3301''.....

       (b) Conforming Amendments.--
       (1) Amendments relating to duplication of benefits.--
       (A) Section 3033 of title 38, United States Code, is 
     amended--
       (i) in subsection (a)(1), by inserting ``33,'' after 
     ``32,''; and
       (ii) in subsection (c), by striking ``both the program 
     established by this chapter and the program established by 
     chapter 106 of title 10'' and inserting ``two or more of the 
     programs established by this chapter, chapter 33 of this 
     title, and chapters 1606 and 1607 of title 10''.
       (B) Paragraph (4) of section 3695(a) of such title is 
     amended to read as follows:
       ``(4) Chapters 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, and 36 of this title.''.
       (C) Section 16163(e) of title 10, United States Code, is 
     amended by inserting ``33,'' after ``32,''.
       (2) Additional conforming amendments.--
       (A) Title 38, United States Code, is further amended by 
     inserting ``33,'' after ``32,'' each place it appears in the 
     following provisions:
       (i) In subsections (b) and (e)(1) of section 3485.
       (ii) In section 3688(b).
       (iii) In subsections (a)(1), (c)(1), (c)(1)(G), (d), and 
     (e)(2) of section 3689.
       (iv) In section 3690( b)(3)(A).
       (v) In subsections (a) and (b) of section 3692.
       (vi) In section 3697(a).
       (B) Section 3697A(b)(1) of such title is amended by 
     striking ``or 32'' and inserting ``32, or 33''.
       (c) Applicability to Individuals Under Montgomery GI Bill 
     Program.--
       (1) Individuals eligible to elect participation in post-9/
     11 educational assistance.--An individual may elect to 
     receive educational assistance under chapter 33 of title 38, 
     United States Code (as added by subsection (a)), if such 
     individual--
       (A) as of August 1, 2009--
       (i) is entitled to basic educational assistance under 
     chapter 30 of title 38, United States Code, and has used, but 
     retains unused, entitlement under that chapter;
       (ii) is entitled to educational assistance under chapter 
     107, 1606, or 1607 of title 10, United States Code, and has 
     used, but retains unused, entitlement under the applicable 
     chapter;
       (iii) is entitled to basic educational assistance under 
     chapter 30 of title 38, United States Code, but has not used 
     any entitlement under that chapter;
       (iv) is entitled to educational assistance under chapter 
     107, 1606, or 1607 of title 10, United States Code, but has 
     not used any entitlement under such chapter;
       (v) is a member of the Armed Forces who is eligible for 
     receipt of basic educational assistance under chapter 30 of 
     title 38, United States Code, and is making contributions 
     toward such assistance under section 3011(b) or 3012(c) of 
     such title; or
       (vi) is a member of the Armed Forces who is not entitled to 
     basic educational assistance under chapter 30 of title 38, 
     United States Code, by reason of an election under section 
     3011(c)(1) or 3012(d)(1) of such title; and
       (B) as of the date of the individual's election under this 
     paragraph, meets the requirements for entitlement to 
     educational assistance under chapter 33 of title 38, United 
     States Code (as so added).
       (2) Cessation of contributions toward gi bill.--Effective 
     as of the first month beginning on or after the date of an 
     election under paragraph (1) of an individual described by 
     subparagraph (A)(v) of that paragraph, the obligation of the 
     individual to make contributions under section 3011(b) or 
     3012(c) of title 38, United States Code, as applicable, shall 
     cease, and the requirements of such section shall be deemed 
     to be no longer applicable to the individual.
       (3) Revocation of remaining transferred entitlement.--
       (A) Election to revoke.--If, on the date an individual 
     described in subparagraph (A)(i) or (A)(iii) of paragraph (1) 
     makes an election under that paragraph, a transfer of the 
     entitlement of the individual to basic educational assistance 
     under section 3020 of title 38, United States Code, is in 
     effect and a number of months of the entitlement so 
     transferred remain unutilized, the individual may elect to 
     revoke all or a portion of the entitlement so transferred 
     that remains unutilized.
       (B) Availability of revoked entitlement.--Any entitlement 
     revoked by an individual under this paragraph shall no longer 
     be available to the dependent to whom transferred, but shall 
     be available to the individual instead for educational 
     assistance under chapter 33 of title 38, United States Code 
     (as so added), in accordance with the provisions of this 
     subsection.
       (C) Availability of unrevoked entitlement.--Any entitlement 
     described in subparagraph (A) that is not revoked by an 
     individual in accordance with that subparagraph shall remain 
     available to the dependent or dependents concerned in 
     accordance with the current transfer of such entitlement 
     under section 3020 of title 38, United States Code.
       (4) Post-9/11 educational assistance.--
       (A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B) and except as 
     provided in paragraph (5), an individual making an election 
     under paragraph (1) shall be entitled to educational 
     assistance under chapter 33 of title 38, United States Code 
     (as so added), in accordance with the provisions of such 
     chapter, instead of basic educational assistance under 
     chapter 30 of title 38, United States Code, or educational 
     assistance under chapter 107, 1606, or 1607 of title 10, 
     United States Code, as applicable.
       (B) Limitation on entitlement for certain individuals.--In 
     the case of an individual making an election under paragraph 
     (1) who is described by subparagraph (A)(i) of that 
     paragraph, the number of months of entitlement of the 
     individual to educational assistance under chapter 33 of 
     title 38, United States Code (as so added), shall be the 
     number of months equal to--
       (i) the number of months of unused entitlement of the 
     individual under chapter 30 of title 38, United States Code, 
     as of the date of the election, plus
       (ii) the number of months, if any, of entitlement revoked 
     by the individual under paragraph (3)(A).
       (5) Continuing entitlement to educational assistance not 
     available under 9/11 assistance program.--
       (A) In general.--In the event educational assistance to 
     which an individual making an election under paragraph (1) 
     would be entitled under chapter 30 of title 38, United States 
     Code, or chapter 107, 1606, or 1607 of title 10, United 
     States Code, as applicable, is not authorized to be available 
     to the individual under the provisions of chapter 33 of title 
     38, United States Code (as so added), the individual shall 
     remain entitled to such educational assistance in accordance 
     with the provisions of the applicable chapter.
       (B) Charge for use of entitlement.--The utilization by an 
     individual of entitlement under subparagraph (A) shall be 
     chargeable against the entitlement of the individual to 
     educational assistance under chapter 33 of title 38, United 
     States Code (as so added), at the rate of one month of 
     entitlement under such chapter 33 for each month of 
     entitlement utilized by the individual under subparagraph (A) 
     (as determined as if such entitlement were utilized under the 
     provisions of chapter 30 of title 38, United States Code, or 
     chapter 107, 1606, or 1607 of title 10, United States Code, 
     as applicable).
       (6) Additional post-9/11 assistance for members having made 
     contributions toward gi bill.--
       (A) Additional assistance.--In the case of an individual 
     making an election under paragraph (1) who is described by 
     clause (i), (iii), or (v) of subparagraph (A) of that 
     paragraph, the amount of educational assistance payable to 
     the individual under chapter 33 of title 38, United States 
     Code (as so added), as a monthly stipend payable under 
     paragraph (1)(B) of section 3313(c) of such title (as so 
     added), or under paragraphs (2) through (7) of that section 
     (as applicable), shall be the amount otherwise payable as a 
     monthly stipend under the applicable paragraph increased by 
     the amount equal to--
       (i) the total amount of contributions toward basic 
     educational assistance made by the individual under section 
     3011(b) or 3012(c) of title 38, United States Code, as of the 
     date of the election, multiplied by
       (ii) the fraction--

       (I) the numerator of which is--

       (aa) the number of months of entitlement to basic 
     educational assistance under chapter 30 of title 38, United 
     States Code, remaining to the individual at the time of the 
     election; plus
       (bb) the number of months, if any, of entitlement under 
     such chapter 30 revoked by the individual under paragraph 
     (3)(A); and

       (II) the denominator of which is 36 months.

       (B) Months of remaining entitlement for certain 
     individuals.--In the case of an individual covered by 
     subparagraph (A) who is described by paragraph (1)(A)(v), the 
     number of months of entitlement to basic educational 
     assistance remaining to the individual for purposes of 
     subparagraph (A)(ii)(I)(aa) shall be 36 months.
       (C) Timing of payment.--The amount payable with respect to 
     an individual under subparagraph (A) shall be paid to the 
     individual together with the last payment of the monthly 
     stipend payable to the individual under paragraph (1)(B) of 
     section 3313(c) of title 38, United States Code (as so 
     added), or under paragraphs (2) through (7) of that section 
     (as applicable), before the exhaustion of the individual's 
     entitlement to educational assistance under chapter 33 of 
     such title (as so added).
       (7) Continuing entitlement to additional assistance for 
     critical skills or speciality and additional service.--An 
     individual making an election under paragraph (1)(A) who, at 
     the time of the election, is entitled to increased 
     educational assistance under section 3015(d) of title 38, 
     United States Code, or section 16131(i) of title 10, United 
     States Code, or supplemental educational assistance under 
     subchapter III of chapter 30 of title 38, United States Code, 
     shall remain entitled to such increased educational 
     assistance or supplemental educational assistance in the 
     utilization of entitlement to educational assistance under 
     chapter 33 of title 38, United States Code (as so added), in 
     an amount equal to the quarter, semester, or term, as 
     applicable, equivalent of the monthly amount of such 
     increased educational assistance or supplemental educational 
     assistance payable with respect to the individual at the time 
     of the election.
       (8) Irrevocability of elections.--An election under 
     paragraph (1) or (3)(A) is irrevocable.
       (d) Effective Date.--This section and the amendments made 
     by this section shall take effect on August 1, 2009.

[[Page S4457]]

     increase in amounts of basic educational assistance under the 
                           montgomery gi bill

       Sec. 3004.  (a) Educational Assistance Based on Three-Year 
     Period of Obligated Service.--Subsection (a)(1) of section 
     3015 of title 38, United States Code, is amended--
       (1) by striking subparagraphs (A) through (C) and inserting 
     the following new subparagraph:
       ``(A) for months occurring during the period beginning on 
     August 1, 2008, and ending on the last day of fiscal year 
     2009, $1,321; and''; and
       (2) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as subparagraph (B).
       (b) Educational Assistance Based on Two-Year Period of 
     Obligated Service.--Subsection (b)(1) of such section is 
     amended--
       (1) by striking subparagraphs (A) through (C) and inserting 
     the following new subparagraph:
       ``(A) for months occurring during the period beginning on 
     August 1, 2008, and ending on the last day of fiscal year 
     2009, $1,073; and''; and
       (2) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as subparagraph (B).
       (c) Modification of Mechanism for Cost-of-Living 
     Adjustments.--Subsection (h)(1) of such section is amended by 
     striking subparagraphs (A) and (B) and inserting the 
     following new subparagraphs:
       ``(A) the average cost of undergraduate tuition in the 
     United States, as determined by the National Center for 
     Education Statistics, for the last academic year preceding 
     the beginning of the fiscal year for which the increase is 
     made, exceeds
       ``(B) the average cost of undergraduate tuition in the 
     United States, as so determined, for the academic year 
     preceding the academic year described in subparagraph (A).''.
       (d) Effective Date.--
       (1) In general.--The amendments made by this section shall 
     take effect on August 1, 2008.
       (2) No cost-of-living adjustment for fiscal year 2009.--The 
     adjustment required by subsection (h) of section 3015 of 
     title 38, United States Code (as amended by this section), in 
     rates of basic educational assistance payable under 
     subsections (a) and (b) of such section (as so amended) shall 
     not be made for fiscal year 2009.


 modification of amount available for reimbursement of state and local 
           agencies administering veterans education benefits

       Sec. 3005.  Section 3674(a)(4) of title 38, United States 
     Code, is amended by striking ``may not exceed'' and all that 
     follows through the end and inserting ``shall be 
     $19,000,000.''.

             TITLE IV--EMERGENCY UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION


                        federal-state agreements

       Sec. 4001.  (a) In General.--Any State which desires to do 
     so may enter into and participate in an agreement under this 
     title with the Secretary of Labor (in this title referred to 
     as the ``Secretary''). Any State which is a party to an 
     agreement under this title may, upon providing 30 days' 
     written notice to the Secretary, terminate such agreement.
       (b) Provisions of Agreement.--Any agreement under 
     subsection (a) shall provide that the State agency of the 
     State will make payments of emergency unemployment 
     compensation to individuals who--
       (1) have exhausted all rights to regular compensation under 
     the State law or under Federal law with respect to a benefit 
     year (excluding any benefit year that ended before May 1, 
     2007);
       (2) have no rights to regular compensation or extended 
     compensation with respect to a week under such law or any 
     other State unemployment compensation law or to compensation 
     under any other Federal law (except as provided under 
     subsection (e)); and
       (3) are not receiving compensation with respect to such 
     week under the unemployment compensation law of Canada.
       (c) Exhaustion of Benefits.--For purposes of subsection 
     (b)(1), an individual shall be deemed to have exhausted such 
     individual's rights to regular compensation under a State law 
     when--
       (1) no payments of regular compensation can be made under 
     such law because such individual has received all regular 
     compensation available to such individual based on employment 
     or wages during such individual's base period; or
       (2) such individual's rights to such compensation have been 
     terminated by reason of the expiration of the benefit year 
     with respect to which such rights existed.
       (d) Weekly Benefit Amount, Etc.--For purposes of any 
     agreement under this title--
       (1) the amount of emergency unemployment compensation which 
     shall be payable to any individual for any week of total 
     unemployment shall be equal to the amount of the regular 
     compensation (including dependents' allowances) payable to 
     such individual during such individual's benefit year under 
     the State law for a week of total unemployment;
       (2) the terms and conditions of the State law which apply 
     to claims for regular compensation and to the payment thereof 
     shall apply to claims for emergency unemployment compensation 
     and the payment thereof, except where otherwise inconsistent 
     with the provisions of this title or with the regulations or 
     operating instructions of the Secretary promulgated to carry 
     out this title; and
       (3) the maximum amount of emergency unemployment 
     compensation payable to any individual for whom an emergency 
     unemployment compensation account is established under 
     section 4002 shall not exceed the amount established in such 
     account for such individual.
       (e) Election by States.--Notwithstanding any other 
     provision of Federal law (and if State law permits), the 
     Governor of a State that is in an extended benefit period may 
     provide for the payment of emergency unemployment 
     compensation prior to extended compensation to individuals 
     who otherwise meet the requirements of this section.


              emergency unemployment compensation account

       Sec. 4002.  (a) In General.--Any agreement under this title 
     shall provide that the State will establish, for each 
     eligible individual who files an application for emergency 
     unemployment compensation, an emergency unemployment 
     compensation account with respect to such individual's 
     benefit year.
       (b) Amount in Account.--
       (1) In general.--The amount established in an account under 
     subsection (a) shall be equal to the lesser of--
       (A) 50 percent of the total amount of regular compensation 
     (including dependents' allowances) payable to the individual 
     during the individual's benefit year under such law, or
       (B) 13 times the individual's average weekly benefit amount 
     for the benefit year.
       (2) Weekly benefit amount.--For purposes of this 
     subsection, an individual's weekly benefit amount for any 
     week is the amount of regular compensation (including 
     dependents' allowances) under the State law payable to such 
     individual for such week for total unemployment.
       (c) Special Rule.--
       (1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
     this section, if, at the time that the individual's account 
     is exhausted or at any time thereafter, such individual's 
     State is in an extended benefit period (as determined under 
     paragraph (2)), then, such account shall be augmented by an 
     amount equal to the amount originally established in such 
     account (as determined under subsection (b)(1)).
       (2) Extended benefit period.--For purposes of paragraph 
     (1), a State shall be considered to be in an extended benefit 
     period, as of any given time, if--
       (A) such a period is then in effect for such State under 
     the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 
     1970;
       (B) such a period would then be in effect for such State 
     under such Act if section 203(d) of such Act--
       (i) were applied by substituting ``4'' for ``5'' each place 
     it appears; and
       (ii) did not include the requirement under paragraph 
     (1)(A); or
       (C) such a period would then be in effect for such State 
     under such Act if--
       (i) section 203(f) of such Act were applied to such State 
     (regardless of whether the State by law had provided for such 
     application); and
       (ii) such section 203(f)--

       (I) were applied by substituting `6.0' for `6.5' in 
     paragraph (1)(A)(i); and
       (II) did not include the requirement under paragraph 
     (1)(A)(ii).


   payments to states having agreements for the payment of emergency 
                       unemployment compensation

       Sec. 4003.  (a) General Rule.--There shall be paid to each 
     State that has entered into an agreement under this title an 
     amount equal to 100 percent of the emergency unemployment 
     compensation paid to individuals by the State pursuant to 
     such agreement.
       (b) Treatment of Reimbursable Compensation.--No payment 
     shall be made to any State under this section in respect of 
     any compensation to the extent the State is entitled to 
     reimbursement in respect of such compensation under the 
     provisions of any Federal law other than this title or 
     chapter 85 of title 5, United States Code. A State shall not 
     be entitled to any reimbursement under such chapter 85 in 
     respect of any compensation to the extent the State is 
     entitled to reimbursement under this title in respect of such 
     compensation.
       (c) Determination of Amount.--Sums payable to any State by 
     reason of such State having an agreement under this title 
     shall be payable, either in advance or by way of 
     reimbursement (as may be determined by the Secretary), in 
     such amounts as the Secretary estimates the State will be 
     entitled to receive under this title for each calendar month, 
     reduced or increased, as the case may be, by any amount by 
     which the Secretary finds that the Secretary's estimates for 
     any prior calendar month were greater or less than the 
     amounts which should have been paid to the State. Such 
     estimates may be made on the basis of such statistical, 
     sampling, or other method as may be agreed upon by the 
     Secretary and the State agency of the State involved.


                          financing provisions

       Sec. 4004.  (a) In General.--Funds in the extended 
     unemployment compensation account (as established by section 
     905(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1105(a)) of the 
     Unemployment Trust Fund (as established by section 904(a) of 
     such Act (42 U.S.C. 1104(a)) shall be used for the making of 
     payments to States having agreements entered into under this 
     title.
       (b) Certification.--The Secretary shall from time to time 
     certify to the Secretary of the Treasury for payment to each 
     State the sums payable to such State under this title. The 
     Secretary of the Treasury, prior to audit or settlement by 
     the Government Accountability Office, shall make payments to 
     the State in accordance with such certification, by transfers 
     from the extended unemployment compensation account (as so 
     established) to the account of such State in the Unemployment 
     Trust Fund (as so established).
       (c) Assistance to States.--There are appropriated out of 
     the employment security administration account (as 
     established by section 901(a) of the Social Security Act (42 
     U.S.C. 1101(a)) of the Unemployment Trust Fund, without 
     fiscal year limitation, such funds as may be necessary for 
     purposes of assisting States (as provided in title III of the 
     Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 501 et seq.)) in meeting the 
     costs of administration of agreements under this title.
       (d) Appropriations for Certain Payments.--There are 
     appropriated from the general fund of the Treasury, without 
     fiscal year

[[Page S4458]]

     limitation, to the extended unemployment compensation account 
     (as so established) of the Unemployment Trust Fund (as so 
     established) such sums as the Secretary estimates to be 
     necessary to make the payments under this section in respect 
     of--
       (1) compensation payable under chapter 85 of title 5, 
     United States Code; and
       (2) compensation payable on the basis of services to which 
     section 3309(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
     applies.

     Amounts appropriated pursuant to the preceding sentence shall 
     not be required to be repaid.


                         fraud and overpayments

       Sec. 4005.  (a) In General.--If an individual knowingly has 
     made, or caused to be made by another, a false statement or 
     representation of a material fact, or knowingly has failed, 
     or caused another to fail, to disclose a material fact, and 
     as a result of such false statement or representation or of 
     such nondisclosure such individual has received an amount of 
     emergency unemployment compensation under this title to which 
     such individual was not entitled, such individual--
       (1) shall be ineligible for further emergency unemployment 
     compensation under this title in accordance with the 
     provisions of the applicable State unemployment compensation 
     law relating to fraud in connection with a claim for 
     unemployment compensation; and
       (2) shall be subject to prosecution under section 1001 of 
     title 18, United States Code.
       (b) Repayment.--In the case of individuals who have 
     received amounts of emergency unemployment compensation under 
     this title to which they were not entitled, the State shall 
     require such individuals to repay the amounts of such 
     emergency unemployment compensation to the State agency, 
     except that the State agency may waive such repayment if it 
     determines that--
       (1) the payment of such emergency unemployment compensation 
     was without fault on the part of any such individual; and
       (2) such repayment would be contrary to equity and good 
     conscience.
       (c) Recovery by State Agency.--
       (1) In general.--The State agency may recover the amount to 
     be repaid, or any part thereof, by deductions from any 
     emergency unemployment compensation payable to such 
     individual under this title or from any unemployment 
     compensation payable to such individual under any State or 
     Federal unemployment compensation law administered by the 
     State agency or under any other State or Federal law 
     administered by the State agency which provides for the 
     payment of any assistance or allowance with respect to any 
     week of unemployment, during the 3-year period after the date 
     such individuals received the payment of the emergency 
     unemployment compensation to which they were not entitled, 
     except that no single deduction may exceed 50 percent of the 
     weekly benefit amount from which such deduction is made.
       (2) Opportunity for hearing.--No repayment shall be 
     required, and no deduction shall be made, until a 
     determination has been made, notice thereof and an 
     opportunity for a fair hearing has been given to the 
     individual, and the determination has become final.
       (d) Review.--Any determination by a State agency under this 
     section shall be subject to review in the same manner and to 
     the same extent as determinations under the State 
     unemployment compensation law, and only in that manner and to 
     that extent.


                              definitions

       Sec. 4006.  In this title, the terms ``compensation'', 
     ``regular compensation'', ``extended compensation'', 
     ``benefit year'', ``base period'', ``State'', ``State 
     agency'', ``State law'', and ``week'' have the respective 
     meanings given such terms under section 205 of the Federal-
     State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 (26 
     U.S.C. 3304 note).


                             applicability

       Sec. 4007.  (a) In General.--Except as provided in 
     subsection (b), an agreement entered into under this title 
     shall apply to weeks of unemployment--
       (1) beginning after the date on which such agreement is 
     entered into; and
       (2) ending on or before March 31, 2009.
       (b) Transition for Amount Remaining in Account.--
       (1) In general.--Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), in the 
     case of an individual who has amounts remaining in an account 
     established under section 4002 as of the last day of the last 
     week (as determined in accordance with the applicable State 
     law) ending on or before March 31, 2009, emergency 
     unemployment compensation shall continue to be payable to 
     such individual from such amounts for any week beginning 
     after such last day for which the individual meets the 
     eligibility requirements of this title.
       (2) Limit on augmentation.--If the account of an individual 
     is exhausted after the last day of such last week (as so 
     determined), then section 4002(c) shall not apply and such 
     account shall not be augmented under such section, regardless 
     of whether such individual's State is in an extended benefit 
     period (as determined under paragraph (2) of such section).
       (3) Limit on compensation.--No compensation shall be 
     payable by reason of paragraph (1) for any week beginning 
     after June 30, 2009.

                      TITLE V--MEDICAID PROVISIONS

       Sec. 5001. (a) Moratoria on Certain Medicaid Regulations.--
       (1) Extension of certain moratoria in public law 110-28.--
     Section 7002(a)(1) of the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' 
     Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability 
     Appropriations Act, 2007 (Public Law 110-28) is amended--
       (A) by striking ``prior to the date that is 1 year after 
     the date of enactment of this Act'' and inserting ``prior to 
     April 1, 2009'';
       (B) in subparagraph (A), by inserting after ``Federal 
     Regulations)'' the following: ``or in the final regulation, 
     relating to such parts, published on May 29, 2007 (72 Federal 
     Register 29748)''; and
       (C) in subparagraph (C), by inserting before the period at 
     the end the following: ``, including the proposed regulation 
     published on May 23, 2007 (72 Federal Register 28930)''.
       (2) Extension of certain moratoria in public law 110-173.--
     Section 206 of the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension 
     Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-173) is amended--
       (A) by striking ``June 30, 2008'' and inserting ``April 1, 
     2009'';
       (B) by inserting ``, including the proposed regulation 
     published on August 13, 2007 (72 Federal Register 45201),'' 
     after ``rehabilitation services''; and
       (C) by inserting ``, including the final regulation 
     published on December 28, 2007 (72 Federal Register 73635),'' 
     after ``school-based transportation''.
       (3) Additional moratoria.--
       (A) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
     law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall not, 
     prior to April 1, 2009, take any action (through promulgation 
     of regulation, issuance of regulatory guidance, use of 
     Federal payment audit procedures, or other administrative 
     action, policy, or practice, including a Medical Assistance 
     Manual transmittal or letter to State Medicaid directors) to 
     impose any restrictions relating to a provision described in 
     subparagraph (B), (C), or (D) if such restrictions are more 
     restrictive in any aspect than those applied to the 
     respective provision as of the date specified in subparagraph 
     (E) for such provision.
       (B) Portion of interim final regulation relating to 
     medicaid treatment of optional case management services.--
       (i) In general.--Subject to clause (ii), the provision 
     described in this subparagraph is the interim final 
     regulation relating to optional State plan case management 
     services under the Medicaid program published on December 4, 
     2007 (72 Federal Register 68077) in its entirety.
       (ii) Exception.--The provision described in this 
     subparagraph does not include the portion of such regulation 
     as relates directly to implementing section 1915(g)(2)(A)(ii) 
     of the Social Security Act, as amended by section 6052 of the 
     Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-171), through 
     the definition of case management services and targeted case 
     management services contained in proposed section 440.169 of 
     title 42, Code of Federal Regulations, but only to the extent 
     that such portion is not more restrictive than the policies 
     set forth in the Dear State Medicaid Director letter on case 
     management issued on January 19, 2001 (SMDL #01-013), and 
     with respect to community transition case management, the 
     Dear State Medicaid Director letter issued on July 25, 2000 
     (Olmstead Update 3).
       (C) Proposed regulation relating to redefinition of 
     medicaid outpatient hospital services.--The provision 
     described in this subparagraph is the proposed regulation 
     relating to clarification of outpatient clinic and hospital 
     facility services definition and upper payment limit under 
     the Medicaid program published on September 28, 2007 (72 
     Federal Register 55158) in its entirety.
       (D) Portion of proposed regulation relating to medicaid 
     allowable provider taxes.--
       (i) In general.--Subject to clause (ii), the provision 
     described in this subparagraph is the final regulation 
     relating to health-care-related taxes under the Medicaid 
     program published on February 22, 2008 (73 Federal Register 
     9685) in its entirety.
       (ii) Exception.--The provision described in this 
     subparagraph does not include the portions of such regulation 
     as relate to the following:

       (I) Reduction in threshold.--The reduction from 6 percent 
     to 5.5 percent in the threshold applied under section 
     433.68(f)(3)(i) of title 42, Code of Federal Regulations, for 
     determining whether or not there is an indirect guarantee to 
     hold a taxpayer harmless, as required to carry out section 
     1903(w)(4)(C)(ii) of the Social Security Act, as added by 
     section 403 of the Medicare Improvement and Extension Act of 
     2006 (division B of Public Law 109-432).
       (II) Change in definition of managed care.--The change in 
     the definition of managed care as proposed in the revision of 
     section 433.56(a)(8) of title 42, Code of Federal 
     Regulations, as required to carry out section 
     1903(w)(7)(A)(viii) of the Social Security Act, as amended by 
     section 6051 of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (Public Law 
     109-171).

       (E) Date specified.--The date specified in this 
     subparagraph for the provision described in--
       (i) subparagraph (B) is December 3, 2007;
       (ii) subparagraph (C) is September 27, 2007; or
       (iii) subparagraph (D) is February 21, 2008.
       (b) Funds to Reduce Medicaid Fraud and Abuse.--
       (1) In general.--For purposes of reducing fraud and abuse 
     in the Medicaid program under title XIX of the Social 
     Security Act--
       (A) there is appropriated to the Secretary of Health and 
     Human Services, out of any money in the Treasury not 
     otherwise appropriated, $25,000,000, for fiscal year 2009; 
     and
       (B) there is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary 
     $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2010 and each subsequent fiscal 
     year.

     Amounts appropriated under this section shall remain 
     available for expenditure until expended and shall be in 
     addition to any other amounts appropriated or made available 
     to the Secretary for such purposes with respect to the 
     Medicaid program.
       (2) Annual report.--Not later than September 30 of 2009 and 
     of each subsequent year, the Secretary of Health and Human 
     Services shall submit to the Committee on Energy and

[[Page S4459]]

     Commerce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
     Finance of the Senate a report on the activities (and the 
     results of such activities) funded under paragraph (1) to 
     reduce waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicaid program under 
     title XIX of the Social Security Act during the previous 12 
     month period, including the amount of funds appropriated 
     under such paragraph for each such activity and an estimate 
     of the savings to the Medicaid program resulting from each 
     such activity.
       (c) Study and Reports to Congress.--
       (1) Secretarial report identifying problems.--Not later 
     than July 1, 2008, the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
     shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 
     House of Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the 
     Senate a report that--
       (A) outlines the specific problems the Medicaid regulations 
     referred to in the amendments made by paragraphs (1) and (2) 
     of subsection (a) and in the provisions described in 
     subparagraph (B) through (D) of paragraph (3) of such 
     subsection were intended to address;
       (B) detailing how these regulations were designed to 
     address these specific problems; and
       (C) cites the legal authority for such regulations.
       (2) Independent comprehensive study and report.--
       (A) In general.--Not later than July 1, 2008, the Secretary 
     of Health and Human Services shall enter into a contract with 
     an independent organization for the purpose of--
       (i) producing a comprehensive report on the prevalence of 
     the problems outlined in the report submitted under paragraph 
     (1);
       (ii) identifying strategies in existence to address these 
     problems; and
       (iii) assessing the impact of each regulation referred to 
     in such paragraph on each State and the District of Columbia.
       (B) Additional matter.--The report under subparagraph (A) 
     shall also include--
       (i) an identification of which claims for items and 
     services (including administrative activities) under title 
     XIX of the Social Security Act are not processed through 
     systems described in section 1903(r) of such Act;
       (ii) an examination of the reasons why these claims for 
     such items and services are not processed through such 
     systems; and
       (iii) recommendations on actions by the Federal government 
     and the States that can make claims for such items and 
     services more accurate and complete consistent with such 
     title.
       (C) Deadline.--The report under subparagraph (A) shall be 
     submitted to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 
     House of Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the 
     Senate not later than March 1, 2009.
       (D) Cooperation of states.--If the Secretary of Health and 
     Human Services determines that a State or the District of 
     Columbia has not cooperated with the independent organization 
     for purposes of the report under this paragraph, the 
     Secretary shall reduce the amount paid to the State or 
     District under section 1903(a) of the Social Security Act (42 
     U.S.C. 1396b(a)) by $25,000 for each day on which the 
     Secretary determines such State or District has not so 
     cooperated. Such reduction shall be made through a process 
     that permits the State or District to challenge the 
     Secretary's determination.
       (3) Funding.--
       (A) In general.--Out of any money in the Treasury of the 
     United States not otherwise appropriated, there are 
     appropriated to the Secretary without further appropriation, 
     $5,000,000 to carry out this subsection.
       (B) Availability; amounts in addition to other amounts 
     appropriated for such activities.--Amounts appropriated 
     pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall--
       (i) remain available until expended; and
       (ii) be in addition to any other amounts appropriated or 
     made available to the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
     with respect to the Medicaid program.
       (d) Asset Verification Through Access to Information Held 
     by Financial Institutions.--
       (1) Addition of authority.--Title XIX of the Social 
     Security Act is amended by inserting after section 1939 the 
     following new section:


 ``asset verification through access to information held by financial 
                              institutions

       ``Sec. 1940.  (a) Implementation.--
       ``(1) In general.--Subject to the provisions of this 
     section, each State shall implement an asset verification 
     program described in subsection (b), for purposes of 
     determining or redetermining the eligibility of an individual 
     for medical assistance under the State plan under this title.
       ``(2) Plan submittal.--In order to meet the requirement of 
     paragraph (1), each State shall--
       ``(A) submit not later than a deadline specified by the 
     Secretary consistent with paragraph (3), a State plan 
     amendment under this title that describes how the State 
     intends to implement the asset verification program; and
       ``(B) provide for implementation of such program for 
     eligibility determinations and redeterminations made on or 
     after 6 months after the deadline established for submittal 
     of such plan amendment.
       ``(3) Phase-in.--
       ``(A) In general.--
       ``(i) Implementation in current asset verification demo 
     states.--The Secretary shall require those States specified 
     in subparagraph (C) (to which an asset verification program 
     has been applied before the date of the enactment of this 
     section) to implement an asset verification program under 
     this subsection by the end of fiscal year 2009.
       ``(ii) Implementation in other states.--The Secretary shall 
     require other States to submit and implement an asset 
     verification program under this subsection in such manner as 
     is designed to result in the application of such programs, in 
     the aggregate for all such other States, to enrollment of 
     approximately, but not less than, the following percentage of 
     enrollees, in the aggregate for all such other States, by the 
     end of the fiscal year involved:

       ``(I) 12.5 percent by the end of fiscal year 2009.
       ``(II) 25 percent by the end of fiscal year 2010.
       ``(III) 50 percent by the end of fiscal year 2011.
       ``(IV) 75 percent by the end of fiscal year 2012.
       ``(V) 100 percent by the end of fiscal year 2013.

       ``(B) Consideration.--In selecting States under 
     subparagraph (A)(ii), the Secretary shall consult with the 
     States involved and take into account the feasibility of 
     implementing asset verification programs in each such State.
       ``(C) States specified.--The States specified in this 
     subparagraph are California, New York, and New Jersey.
       ``(D) Construction.--Nothing in subparagraph (A)(ii) shall 
     be construed as preventing a State from requesting, and the 
     Secretary approving, the implementation of an asset 
     verification program in advance of the deadline otherwise 
     established under such subparagraph.
       ``(4) Exemption of territories.--This section shall only 
     apply to the 50 States and the District of Columbia.
       ``(b) Asset Verification Program.--
       ``(1) In general.--For purposes of this section, an asset 
     verification program means a program described in paragraph 
     (2) under which a State--
       ``(A) requires each applicant for, or recipient of, medical 
     assistance under the State plan under this title on the basis 
     of being aged, blind, or disabled to provide authorization by 
     such applicant or recipient (and any other person whose 
     resources are material to the determination of the 
     eligibility of the applicant or recipient for such 
     assistance) for the State to obtain (subject to the cost 
     reimbursement requirements of section 1115(a) of the Right to 
     Financial Privacy Act but at no cost to the applicant or 
     recipient) from any financial institution (within the meaning 
     of section 1101(1) of such Act) any financial record (within 
     the meaning of section 1101(2) of such Act) held by the 
     institution with respect to the applicant or recipient (and 
     such other person, as applicable), whenever the State 
     determines the record is needed in connection with a 
     determination with respect to such eligibility for (or the 
     amount or extent of) such medical assistance; and
       ``(B) uses the authorization provided under subparagraph 
     (A) to verify the financial resources of such applicant or 
     recipient (and such other person, as applicable), in order to 
     determine or redetermine the eligibility of such applicant or 
     recipient for medical assistance under the State plan.
       ``(2) Program described.--A program described in this 
     paragraph is a program for verifying individual assets in a 
     manner consistent with the approach used by the Commissioner 
     of Social Security under section 1631(e)(1)(B)(ii).
       ``(c) Duration of Authorization.--Notwithstanding section 
     1104(a)(1) of the Right to Financial Privacy Act, an 
     authorization provided to a State under subsection (b)(1) 
     shall remain effective until the earliest of--
       ``(1) the rendering of a final adverse decision on the 
     applicant's application for medical assistance under the 
     State's plan under this title;
       ``(2) the cessation of the recipient's eligibility for such 
     medical assistance; or
       ``(3) the express revocation by the applicant or recipient 
     (or such other person described in subsection (b)(1), as 
     applicable) of the authorization, in a written notification 
     to the State.
       ``(d) Treatment of Right to Financial Privacy Act 
     Requirements.--
       ``(1) An authorization obtained by the State under 
     subsection (b)(1) shall be considered to meet the 
     requirements of the Right to Financial Privacy Act for 
     purposes of section 1103(a) of such Act, and need not be 
     furnished to the financial institution, notwithstanding 
     section 1104(a) of such Act.
       ``(2) The certification requirements of section 1103(b) of 
     the Right to Financial Privacy Act shall not apply to 
     requests by the State pursuant to an authorization provided 
     under subsection (b)(1).
       ``(3) A request by the State pursuant to an authorization 
     provided under subsection (b)(1) is deemed to meet the 
     requirements of section 1104(a)(3) of the Right to Financial 
     Privacy Act and of section 1102 of such Act, relating to a 
     reasonable description of financial records.
       ``(e) Required Disclosure.--The State shall inform any 
     person who provides authorization pursuant to subsection 
     (b)(1)(A) of the duration and scope of the authorization.
       ``(f) Refusal or Revocation of Authorization.--If an 
     applicant for, or recipient of, medical assistance under the 
     State plan under this title (or such other person described 
     in subsection (b)(1), as applicable) refuses to provide, or 
     revokes, any authorization made by the applicant or recipient 
     (or such other person, as applicable) under subsection 
     (b)(1)(A) for the State to obtain from any financial 
     institution any financial record, the State may, on that 
     basis, determine that the applicant or recipient is 
     ineligible for medical assistance.
       ``(g) Use of Contractor.--For purposes of implementing an 
     asset verification program under this section, a State may 
     select and enter into a contract with a public or private 
     entity meeting such criteria and qualifications as the State 
     determines appropriate, consistent with requirements in 
     regulations relating to general contracting provisions and 
     with section 1903(i)(2). In carrying out activities under 
     such contract, such an entity shall be subject to the same 
     requirements and limitations on use and disclosure of 
     information as would apply if the State were to carry out 
     such activities directly.
       ``(h) Technical Assistance.--The Secretary shall provide 
     States with technical assistance to aid in implementation of 
     an asset verification program under this section.

[[Page S4460]]

       ``(i) Reports.--A State implementing an asset verification 
     program under this section shall furnish to the Secretary 
     such reports concerning the program, at such times, in such 
     format, and containing such information as the Secretary 
     determines appropriate.
       ``(j) Treatment of Program Expenses.--Notwithstanding any 
     other provision of law, reasonable expenses of States in 
     carrying out the program under this section shall be treated, 
     for purposes of section 1903(a), in the same manner as State 
     expenditures specified in paragraph (7) of such section.''.
       (2) State plan requirements.--Section 1902(a) of such Act 
     (42 U.S.C. 1396a(a)) is amended--
       (A) in paragraph (69) by striking ``and'' at the end;
       (B) in paragraph (70) by striking the period at the end and 
     inserting ``; and''; and
       (C) by inserting after paragraph (70), as so amended, the 
     following new paragraph:
       ``(71) provide that the State will implement an asset 
     verification program as required under section 1940.''.
       (3) Withholding of federal matching payments for 
     noncompliant states.--Section 1903(i) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
     1396b(i)) is amended--
       (A) in paragraph (22) by striking ``or'' at the end;
       (B) in paragraph (23) by striking the period at the end and 
     inserting ``; or''; and
       (C) by adding after paragraph (23) the following new 
     paragraph:
       ``(24) if a State is required to implement an asset 
     verification program under section 1940 and fails to 
     implement such program in accordance with such section, with 
     respect to amounts expended by such State for medical 
     assistance for individuals subject to asset verification 
     under such section, unless--
       ``(A) the State demonstrates to the Secretary's 
     satisfaction that the State made a good faith effort to 
     comply;
       ``(B) not later than 60 days after the date of a finding 
     that the State is in noncompliance, the State submits to the 
     Secretary (and the Secretary approves) a corrective action 
     plan to remedy such noncompliance; and
       ``(C) not later than 12 months after the date of such 
     submission (and approval), the State fulfills the terms of 
     such corrective action plan.''.
       (4) Repeal.--Section 4 of Public Law 110-90 is repealed.
       (e) Adjustment to PAQI Fund.--Section 1848(l)(2) of the 
     Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w-4(l)(2)), as amended by 
     section 101(a)(2) of the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP 
     Extension Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-173), is amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (A)(i)--
       (A) in subclause (III), by striking ``$4,960,000,000'' and 
     inserting ``$3,940,000,000''; and
       (B) by adding at the end the following new subclause:

       ``(IV) For expenditures during 2014, an amount equal to 
     $3,750,000,000.'';

       (2) in subparagraph (A)(ii), by adding at the end the 
     following new subclause:

       ``(IV) 2014.--The amount available for expenditures during 
     2014 shall only be available for an adjustment to the update 
     of the conversion factor under subsection (d) for that 
     year.''; and

       (3) in subparagraph (B)--
       (A) in clause (ii), by striking ``and'' at the end;
       (B) in clause (iii), by striking the period at the end and 
     inserting ``; and''; and
       (C) by adding at the end the following new clause:
       ``(iv) 2014 for payment with respect to physicians' 
     services furnished during 2014.''.

  TITLE VI--ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING

             CHAPTER 1--CLOSE THE CONTRACTOR FRAUD LOOPHOLE


                              short title

       Sec. 6101.  This chapter may be cited as the ``Close the 
     Contractor Fraud Loophole Act''.


             revision of the federal acquisition regulation

       Sec. 6102.  The Federal Acquisition Regulation shall be 
     amended within 180 days after the date of the enactment of 
     this Act pursuant to FAR Case 2007-006 (as published at 72 
     Fed Reg. 64019, November 14, 2007) or any follow-on FAR case 
     to include provisions that require timely notification by 
     Federal contractors of violations of Federal criminal law or 
     overpayments in connection with the award or performance of 
     covered contracts or subcontracts, including those performed 
     outside the United States and those for commercial items.


                               definition

       Sec. 6103.  In this chapter, the term ``covered contract'' 
     means any contract in an amount greater than $5,000,000 and 
     more than 120 days in duration.

               CHAPTER 2--GOVERNMENT FUNDING TRANSPARENCY


                              short title

       Sec. 6201.  This chapter may be cited as the ``Government 
     Funding Transparency Act of 2008''.


  financial disclosure requirements for certain recipients of federal 
                                 awards

       Sec. 6202.  (a) Disclosure Requirements.--Section 2(b)(1) 
     of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act 
     (Public Law 109-282; 31 U.S.C. 6101 note) is amended--
       (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of subparagraph (E);
       (2) by redesignating subparagraph (F) as subparagraph (G); 
     and
       (3) by inserting after subparagraph (E) the following new 
     subparagraph:
       ``(F) the names and total compensation of the five most 
     highly compensated officers of the entity if--
       ``(i) the entity in the preceding fiscal year received--

       ``(I) 80 percent or more of its annual gross revenues in 
     Federal awards; and
       ``(II) $25,000,000 or more in annual gross revenues from 
     Federal awards; and

       ``(ii) the public does not have access to information about 
     the compensation of the senior executives of the entity 
     through periodic reports filed under section 13(a) or 15(d) 
     of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78m(a), 
     78o(d)) or section 6104 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
     1986.''.
       (b) Regulations Required.--The Director of the Office of 
     Management and Budget shall promulgate regulations to 
     implement the amendment made by this chapter. Such 
     regulations shall include a definition of ``total 
     compensation'' that is consistent with regulations of the 
     Securities and Exchange Commission at section 402 of part 229 
     of title 17 of the Code of Federal Regulations (or any 
     subsequent regulation).

                 TITLE VII--GI BILL FINANCING PROVISION


                      gi bill financing provision

       Sec. 7001.  (a) In General.--Part I of subchapter A of 
     chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by 
     inserting after section 1 the following new section:

     ``SEC. 1A. INCREASE IN TAX ON HIGH INCOME INDIVIDUALS TO 
                   FINANCE THE GI BILL.

       ``(a) General Rule.--In the case of a taxpayer other than a 
     corporation, there is hereby imposed (in addition to any 
     other tax imposed by this subtitle) a tax equal to 0.47 
     percent of so much of modified adjusted gross income as 
     exceeds $500,000 ($1,000,000 in the case of a joint return or 
     a surviving spouse (as defined in section 2(a)).
       ``(b) Modified Adjusted Gross Income.--For purposes of this 
     section, the term `modified adjusted gross income' means 
     adjusted gross income reduced by any deduction allowed for 
     investment interest (as defined in section 163(d)). In the 
     case of an estate or trust, a rule similar to the rule of 
     section 67(e) shall apply for purposes of determining 
     adjusted gross income for purposes of this section.
       ``(c) Nonresident Alien.--In the case of a nonresident 
     alien individual, only amounts taken into account in 
     connection with the tax imposed by section 871(b) shall be 
     taken into account under this section.
       ``(d) Marital Status.--For purposes of this section, 
     marital status shall be determined under section 7703.
       ``(e) Not Treated as Tax Imposed by This Chapter for 
     Certain Purposes.--The tax imposed under this section shall 
     not be treated as tax imposed by this chapter for purposes of 
     determining the amount of any credit under this chapter or 
     for purposes of section 55.''.
       (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for part I 
     of subchapter A of chapter 1 of such Code is amended by 
     inserting after the item relating to section 1 the following 
     new item:

``Sec. 1A. Increase in tax on high income individuals to finance the GI 
              bill.''.

       (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section 
     shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 
     2008.
       (d) Section 15 Not to Apply.--The amendment made by 
     subsection (a) shall not be treated as a change in a rate of 
     tax for purposes of section 15 of the Internal Revenue Code 
     of 1986.

                     TITLE VIII--GENERAL PROVISIONS


                         availability of funds

       Sec. 8001.  No part of any appropriation contained in this 
     Act shall remain available for obligation beyond the current 
     fiscal year unless expressly so provided herein.


                         emergency designation

       Sec. 8002.  Each amount in each title of this Act is 
     designated as an emergency requirement and necessary to meet 
     emergency needs pursuant to subsections (a) and (b) of 
     section 204 of S. Con. Res. 21 (110th Congress), the 
     concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2008.


                              short title

       Sec. 8003.  This Act may be cited as the ``Supplemental 
     Appropriations Act, 2008''.


                           Amendment No. 4789

                (Purpose: In the nature of a substitute)

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move to concur in the House amendment--
that is amendment No. 2--with an amendment that is at the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Nevada [Mr. Reid] moves to concur in the 
     House amendment No. 2 with an amendment numbered 4789.

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the 
amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (The amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text of 
Amendments.'')
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.


                Amendment No. 4790 to Amendment No. 4789

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment at the 
desk, and I ask for its consideration.

[[Page S4461]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Nevada [Mr. Reid] proposes an amendment 
     numbered 4790 to amendment No. 4789.

  (The amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text of 
Amendments.'')
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia is recognized.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I thank the Chair.
  I ask unanimous consent to speak from my desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BYRD. I thank the Chair, Mr. President.


                          Senator Ted Kennedy

  Mr. President, before we begin consideration of this important 
spending bill, I wish to take a moment to say how distraught and 
terribly shaken I am over the news of my dear friend, my dear, dear 
friend, Ted Kennedy. My thoughts and my humble prayers are with Senator 
Kennedy, my dear friend, Ted; with his wife Vicki; and with the members 
of the Kennedy family.

  I hope and pray that an all-caring, unlimited God will watch over Ted 
and keep Ted here for us and for America. Ted, Ted, my dear friend, I 
love you and I miss you. And Erma, Erma, my darling wife Erma, would 
say: Thank God for you, Ted. Thank God for you.


 =========================== NOTE =========================== 

  
  On page S4461, May 20, 2008, the Record reads: And Irma, Irma, 
my darling wife Irma
  
  The online Record has been corrected to read: And Erma, Erma, my 
darling wife Erma


 ========================= END NOTE ========================= 

  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, this afternoon we take up legislation making 
emergency supplemental appropriations for the wars in Iraq and 
Afghanistan and to help Americans cope with a sagging economy. One year 
ago, Congress sent the President a war funding supplemental that 
included clear direction to bring our troops home, home, home, sweet 
home, from Iraq by December of 2007. The President chose to do what? 
Shame. He chose to veto that bill. If he had signed that bill, most of 
our troops would be home, home, home, sweet home today. Instead of 
bringing our troops home, the President demanded an increase in our 
commitment of U.S. troops--shame--and treasure to this terrible, awful 
war that has now entered its sixth year--sixth year. How long? How 
long, O Lord, how long?
  Mr. President, 4,081 American soldiers have died--died. One can only 
die once. Over 30,000 U.S. soldiers have been wounded. By the end of 
2008, the war in Iraq will have cost over $608 billion--over $608 
billion. That is more than $608 for every minute since Jesus Christ was 
born.
  Today we are considering the President's request for another $178 
billion--another $178--billion for the wars at a time when the U.S. 
economy is in trouble. Well, one thing is clear. Yes, I am sorry to say 
one thing is clear in this request: American fighting men and women--
your brothers and sisters and mine--will continue to be in Iraq when 
the Presidency of George W. Bush ends on January 20, 2009. Shame. I was 
against that terrible, horrible war from the beginning and so stated on 
this floor time after time after time.
  Long after our military fulfilled its mission in Iraq, the White 
House failed to advance a viable strategy for establishing long-term 
stability in Iraq. In response, we in the Congress will support our 
troops--your troops, my troops, our troops--but we will also continue 
our efforts to get our troops out--O-U-T--of Iraq with honor and take 
care of our troops after they come home.
  In the third committee amendment, we set a goal for reducing the 
scope of the mission in Iraq by June of 2009. We ensure our troop 
readiness levels are maintained. We limit the time our troops will 
serve in Iraq. We require Iraq to use more of its surplus oil revenues 
for reconstruction costs, and we require that any long-term commitments 
this lameduck President may make with the Government of Iraq be 
considered as treaties, subject to approval by this Senate.
  While the war continues in its sixth year--shame--our economy at home 
is in trouble. Because of President Bush's failed fiscal leadership, in 
the last 7 years the U.S. Government has amassed the five largest 
deficits in the history of this great Republic. President Bush has more 
than doubled the U.S. debt held by China, Japan, and other countries. 
Economic growth almost came to a halt at the end of last year, with the 
gross domestic product falling from 4.9 percent in the third quarter to 
0.6 percent--0.6 percent--in the fourth quarter.
  Growth remains at a paltry 0.6 percent this year. Since March 2007, 
the number of unemployed has increased by 1.1 million workers up to 7.8 
million workers. In April, the number of Americans who were out of work 
for at least 27 weeks rose to 1.35 million.
  Yet the President--your President, my President, our President--is 
satisfied to allow unemployment benefits to expire after just 26 weeks. 
Did you hear that? Shame. I have reviewed the President's request 
carefully, and there is no evidence--none--of the President asking for 
funding to invest in America or to help struggling Americans deal with 
the faltering economy.
  Yet the President--your President, this President, our President--has 
already thrown down the gauntlet by threatening to veto the 
supplemental bill if the Congress has the temerity--did you hear that--
to add one thin dime above his request in order to help our citizens at 
home.
  Thirty-two months after Hurricane Katrina, the President continues to 
resist efforts to help the victims of that terrible storm. The homeless 
population in New Orleans has doubled to nearly 12,000 since Hurricane 
Katrina. Only 48 percent of the pre-Katrina hospital beds in the region 
were staffed as of November of 2006. Violent crime in Louisiana grew 53 
percent last year.
  In the last 18 months, the President has designated 61 disasters for 
floods in 32 States. Yet the President has not--n-o-t, not--you know, 
there was a duel between John Shot and John Not. In this case, it was 
better to be Shot than Not. The President has not requested funds to 
repair levees or other flood prevention efforts, leaving our citizens 
in Arkansas--did you hear that--Missouri, Louisiana, and other States, 
vulnerable to more flooding. But when it comes to Iraq, the President 
wants the dollars to flow, flow, flow.
  Congress has already approved $45 billion requested by the President 
for reconstruction projects in Iraq. Despite the fact that the Iraqi 
Government is running a huge surplus due to excess oil revenues, our 
President--your President, my President, the American President--is 
asking this Congress--the buck stops here--asking you and me and the 
people in this Congress to approve another $5.6 billion of American 
taxpayer dollars for reconstruction in Iraq.
  The President claims that by adding funding for America to this bill 
we are holding hostage money for the troops. Oh, my heavens, what 
hogwash. What hogwash. Last year, we sent the President a war 
supplemental that increased funding to provide better health care for 
our soldiers, better health care for our veterans, more funding to 
equip and train the National Guard and Reserve, more funding for mine 
resistant vehicles, and clear direction to bring our troops home--home 
sweet home. This year, we once again take care of our troops, but we 
also invest in America.
  Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee met and approved 
amendments that meet these objectives. Based on the committee action, 
the Senate will consider amendments that fully fund the President's 
request for the war. In fact, the legislation increases funding above 
the President's $168 billion request for the Department of Defense. We 
include increases for the health care of our troops, for Guard and 
Reserve equipment, for repairing and constructing barracks, for the 
mission in Afghanistan, for military childcare facilities, for 
improving contract management, and for helping--yes, Senator Webb--
wounded troops returning home--home sweet home.
  We honor those who have served America by increasing educational 
benefits for our veterans. We extend unemployment benefits by another 
13 weeks. We honor promises made to the victims of Hurricane Katrina by 
funding a 100-year levee in Louisiana, restoring barrier islands in 
Mississippi, and by rebuilding hospitals, helping

[[Page S4462]]

the homeless, and fighting crime. We roll back Medicaid regulations 
that our Nation's Governors believe disrupt health coverage for 
vulnerable citizens. We respond to dramatic increases in food prices by 
increasing funding for the global food aid program.
  We are also generous in providing humanitarian relief to disaster 
victims in China, Bangladesh, and Burma. We reduce funding for 
reconstruction in Iraq. We limit the size of taxpayer-financed 
reconstruction projects. And we require Iraq to match our tax dollars 
with their surplus oil revenues.
  This legislation includes provisions that have broad bipartisan 
support. The veterans legislation has 58 cosponsors. The Medicaid 
legislation passed the House by a vote of 349 to 62. I have a letter 
from 56 Senators seeking additional Byrne crimefighting funding. We 
fund the Rural Schools Program, which runs out of money on June 30, 
2008.
  In total, the amendments include $194 billion for programs under the 
jurisdiction of the Appropriations Committee, $10 billion above the 
President's request. This increase is less than what we spend in Iraq 
in 1 month.

  So I say to my fellow Senators, Mr. President, this is responsible 
legislation that supports our troops, responsible legislation that 
honors our veterans, responsible legislation that helps our citizens 
cope with a troubled economy.
  I urge the adoption of the amendment.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi, Mr. Cochran.
  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, we are still wrestling with the challenge 
of what to do about the supplemental appropriations that have been 
requested by the administration.
  This morning, in our Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, chaired 
by the distinguished Chair's State colleague, Mr. Inouye, and also led 
on the Republican side by the distinguished Senator from Alaska, Mr. 
Stevens, we heard testimony from the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Gates, 
and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mullen. They 
drew a very frightening picture of what is happening to the military 
forces, not just in Iraq and Afghanistan and deployed elsewhere in the 
world, but also in our training accounts, many other support activities 
for our military, pay and allowances--all the accounts that fund the 
Department of Defense that have been included in the supplemental 
budget request are suffering and many are running dry. The accounts are 
running dry.
  We are at a point that is past serious. I am not going to say it is 
desperate, but it certainly concerns this Senator that we continue to 
wait and wait and wait on Congress to act on the President's request 
for supplemental appropriations for our military forces at a time when 
they are engaged in military action overseas and protecting our 
security interests here at home. So I am pleased the Senate is taking 
up this request to fund activities in Afghanistan and Iraq and to 
respond to domestic natural disasters.
  It is important that we act expeditiously to consider this 
legislation so we can reconcile our differences with the other body and 
with the President. The President submitted the bulk of his 
supplemental request in February 2007 in conjunction with his regular 
fiscal year 2008 budget submission. He did so because Congress clearly 
expressed its desire for a full-year estimate of war costs. But 
Congress did not appropriate a full year's funding. Instead, Congress 
approved a $70 billion bridge fund to support our operations in Iraq 
and Afghanistan. Enacting even that amount required a protracted 
struggle among the House, the Senate, and the President. As a result, 
the Department of Defense had to issue furlough notices, make a series 
of inefficient transfers and reprogrammings, and generally function in 
ways that detracted from its primary duties.
  We find ourselves today facing a very similar situation. It has been 
more than 15 months since the President submitted this request. We have 
not approved or otherwise acted upon some $108 billion of that request.
  The personnel and operations and maintenance accounts that support 
our activities in Iraq and Afghanistan are running low. This morning, 
Secretary Gates was asked about the consequences of this situation, and 
I am going to read into the Record, with the permission of my 
colleagues, some comments directly from that hearing this morning. This 
is Secretary Gates:

       There is, however, a more immediate concern. Congress has 
     yet to pass the pending $102.5 billion global war on terror 
     request for fiscal year 2008. And as a result, the Defense 
     Department is currently using fourth quarter funds from the 
     base budget to cover current war costs. Shortly, two critical 
     accounts will run dry. First, Army military personnel after 
     June 15. We will run out of funds in this account to pay 
     soldiers, including those in Iraq and Afghanistan. Second, 
     operations and maintenance accounts. Around July 5, O&M funds 
     across the services will run out, starting with the Army. 
     This may result in civilian furloughs, limits on training, 
     and curbing family support activities.
       If war funds are not available, the Defense Department can 
     transfer funds from Navy and Air Force military personnel 
     accounts to pay soldiers, but that would get us only to late 
     July. Using the limited transfer authority granted by 
     Congress would also help get us to late July. Doing so, 
     however, is a shell game which will disrupt existing programs 
     and push the services O&M accounts to the edge of fiscal 
     viability.

  I could go on. He went on into some more detail about other accounts. 
I think we get the picture. I got the picture.
  Our full subcommittee membership was in attendance for most of the 
hearing. I was disappointed that I was sitting there listening to the 
consequences of deliberate actions by the Congress to delay the 
availability of funding for our national defense, not just war funding 
for Iraq and Afghanistan; it has implications across the Department of 
Defense and into other accounts in other departments that are likewise 
affected by this denial of funding for our forces at a time when we 
need them to be fully prepared, fully trained, and fully engaged to 
help win the war against terror.
  According to an earlier letter, so you won't get the impression that 
we have not been forewarned, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, Gordon 
England, wrote us a letter on May 15 advising us that the Army would 
run out of military personnel funds by mid-June. He said if the 
supplemental legislation is not enacted by Memorial Day, the Department 
of Defense will be compelled to borrow funds from other services to 
finance Army operations into July and the Army would be out of options 
to pay its soldiers. He said the Department would be compelled to 
constrain expenditures from the Army operations and maintenance 
accounts. He said it will have to issue notices of potential furloughs 
of civilians funded from this account.
  So we have been on notice from the Deputy Secretary and now this 
morning from the Secretary himself, as well as the Chairman of the 
Joint Chiefs of Staff.
  We have been advised that the operations and maintenance accounts 
also fund the Commander's Emergency Response Program, a program that is 
critical to the success of our military commanders in Iraq and 
Afghanistan. He said those funds will run out in June.
  I ask unanimous consent, Mr. President, to have printed in the Record 
the letter from Secretary England.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:


                                         Department of Defense

                                     Washington, DC, May 15, 2008.
     Hon. Thad Cochran
     Ranking Member, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Senate, 
         Washington, DC.
       Dear Senator Cochran: I am writing you to follow up on the 
     Secretary's letter of May 5 regarding the Department's 
     financial posture and the urgent need for Congress to pass 
     supplemental funding legislation for the Global War on Terror 
     (GWOT).
       As briefed to senior Congressional staff last week, absent 
     additional Congressional action, the Army will run out of 
     Military Personnel funds by mid-June and Operation and 
     Maintenance (O&M) funds by early July. Funding for civilian 
     personnel is included in the O&M account. Also included 
     within the O&M account is the authority to continue the 
     Commander's Emergency Response Program (CERP) activities in 
     Central Command. CERP funding is a critical enabler that our 
     ground force commanders are using on a daily basis in Iraq 
     and Afghanistan to shape the strategic environment. This 
     authority will be fully expended in June, and reprogramming 
     actions cannot extend this particular authority.
       If GWOT supplemental legislation is not enacted by Memorial 
     Day, then the Department will submit to the Congress two 
     reprogramming actions on May 27. These reprogramming actions 
     for personnel and for

[[Page S4463]]

     O&M accounts will finance Army operations until late July by 
     borrowing money from other Services. By that point in late 
     July, the entire Department will be in extremis, having 
     exhausted all avenues of funding and will be unable to make 
     payroll for both military and civilian personnel throughout 
     the Department. Service members, including those engaged in 
     Iraq and Afghanistan, would continue to serve but without pay 
     since military personnel accounts would be exhausted.
       Further, at that time, O&M funding would also be depleted, 
     and DoD activities around the globe would be reduced to 
     essential activities. Additionally, other measures would need 
     to be taken, such as civilian furloughs and limits on non-
     essential operations. These highly disruptive steps would 
     have to begin well before late July.
       While the Department has the reprogramming recourse on May 
     27th as discussed, if legislation is not passed by Memorial 
     Day, the Department will still be operating with less than 
     the desired effectiveness and efficiency. Therefore, I urge 
     you to provide the essential GWOT funding before the Memorial 
     Day recess.
           Sincerely,
                                                   Gordon England,
                                      Deputy Secretary of Defense.

  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, what are we going to do? Are we going to 
let our men and women in the field stop their activities? Is that what 
Congress is urging be done, just sit down, stop what you are doing in 
Iraq and Afghanistan? I don't believe that. That is not the message 
this Senate wants to send or intends to send. But we should not put the 
men and women of our Armed Forces and their families here at home 
through such an ordeal and a period of such unnecessary uncertainty. We 
should not cause the Department of Defense to operate at less than peak 
efficiency or take actions that are demoralizing for Department 
personnel simply because Congress fails to act in a timely manner.
  I don't know why it has taken Congress so long to act. I do know the 
request has been before the Congress for more than 15 months. Think 
about it: an emergency supplemental request for funds for national 
security languishing in Congress for 15 months. Most people don't know 
that.
  We have held hearings, we have had meetings with administration 
officials, we have heard testimony from General Petraeus, our commander 
in Iraq. Our Ambassador in Iraq has testified about the consequences on 
accounts for the Department of State which are also included in the 
legislation. But instead of marking up a supplemental bill to respond 
to the request a month ago, as had originally been planned, the 
majority chose to spend weeks talking with the majority in the other 
body, trying to decide what to do, when to do it, negotiating with 
themselves.
  I would have hoped that the legislation could have been brought up 
under a better parliamentary scheme designed to get the job done, not 
to just create political advantage, not just to put off the inevitable 
day of reckoning. That is an unfortunate choice to make. The fact is, 
had we followed the regular order, we could have had a bill to the 
President by now. Had he chosen to veto the bill, we might well be 
working this week to resolve differences with the administration and 
produce a bill that could be signed or whatever the Congress decided to 
do to work its will, but to act. Instead, we are facing the approach of 
a Memorial Day recess with no clear path, no clear plan to enactment of 
legislation and little prospect for meaningful input by Members of the 
Senate.
  I applaud the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, my good 
friend from West Virginia, for calling our committee to a markup of the 
supplemental. When it became apparent that the leadership plan was to 
bypass the Appropriations Committee in both Houses, our side wrote a 
letter to the chairman expressing our preference for a committee 
markup. I suspected that was consistent with his views, too, and that 
was correct.
  We know about the prerogatives of the Appropriations Committee and 
how the chairman safeguards those and how he respects all members of 
our committee. So he honored that request. But the other body has not 
acted in this way. There still has been no markup in the other body.
  So we are in this dilemma. We are asked by our respective Houses--the 
Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense--to make recommendations, to 
produce legislation to take care of our country, to defend our 
interests, but we have not found a pathway to enacting a bill or 
responding in a professional way to the wishes of our Members.
  As it stands now, the Senate amendments contain a number of 
legislative provisions and appropriations that were not included in the 
President's request. The President has said very clearly he will veto 
this bill if it includes language that unduly constrains our military 
commanders in the field in Iraq and Afghanistan or which imposes 
artificial timelines for withdrawal. He has also said he will veto a 
bill that is too costly.
  I am not one who thinks an appropriations request submitted by this 
President or any other President is written in holy tablets, somehow 
immutable and not subject to improvement or change during the 
legislative process. The Senate and the House have a right to work 
their will. Since the President saw fit to recommend certain measures 
to protect the State of Louisiana from future hurricanes in response to 
Members' requests for those funds, I thought it appropriate to 
recommend certain projects that would similarly be helpful to my State, 
which was also a victim of Katrina, to deal with the continuing 
challenges to the security and the well-being of the citizens of that 
region if other hurricanes strike in the future.
  The President has every right to look at those requests and make his 
decision. But I do not think he is going to veto this bill because of 
those requests that are included in the bill. I think he is sympathetic 
to the needs of the Mississippi and Louisiana gulf coasts and elsewhere 
in the country, so accounts that were depleted because of the 
destruction of the hurricane can be renewed and resupplied in this 
supplemental. The committee has approved including those funds.
  We need to find common ground. This is what I am saying. We have had 
differences of opinion with the administration--Members on my side 
have; some on the other side have--for various reasons. But let's get 
to a point where we can work out our differences. If he wants to veto 
the bill, he will veto the bill, and we will see whether we have the 
votes to override it. If we do not, we can try again. Eventually these 
funds have to be made available. These requests are too important to be 
ignored any longer. We need to find common ground. That is what I am 
saying. And we need to do it now.
  We do not need to prolong this activity--describe it however you want 
to--any longer. We need to get down to brass tacks. We cannot allow 
political maneuvering on either side to obscure our core duty in this 
matter. We need to provide our men and women in the field with the 
resources necessary to conduct successfully the mission assigned to 
them by our Government, and to do it without undue delay.
  I do not think the exchange of messages--strategy, or whatever you 
want to call it--is appropriate or necessary as a substitute for 
legislation. I do not think it will result in an enacted bill any 
sooner than had we simply acted in the regular order. But that choice 
has been made, and we must deal with it. I will do my best. I commit 
myself to work with the Senate leadership, with our colleagues in the 
other body, and with the President to find a way to get the job done in 
a timely manner.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. BYRD. Hear, hear.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Salazar). The Senator from West Virginia 
is recognized.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I thank Senator Cochran for his views and 
his many courtesies. Last week the Senate Appropriations Committee had 
a 3\1/2\-hour markup of the important legislation that is now before 
the Senate. I hope the Senate can approve this legislation to support 
the troops and to help Americans cope with the sagging economy--this 
week.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
  Mr. WEBB. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent I be allowed to 
engage in a colloquy with the senior Senator from Nebraska and the 
senior Senator from Virginia.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. WEBB. Mr. President, I would like to join two of my three 
principal cosponsors on S. 22 in speaking about how important this 
piece of legislation

[[Page S4464]]

is, and how appropriate it is to have it be placed on the supplemental 
appropriations measure. The senior Senator from Virginia has an 
amendment we are going to offer. Hopefully, in the spirit of what the 
Senator from Mississippi just said, we will try to lay some of these 
arguments by the wayside and get a bill that will truly provide the 
right kind of readjustment benefits to those who have been performing 
such exemplary service since 9/11.
  S. 22 was introduced on the first day of this Congress. From that 
point we have had strong bipartisan and bicameral support. We now have 
58 cosponsors in the Senate, including 11 Republicans. Among those 
Republicans is the senior Senator from Virginia, the former chairman of 
the Armed Services Committee, and the senior Senator from Nebraska, the 
only Member of this body to have served in a high-ranking position in 
the Department of Veterans Affairs.
  Just last week in the House, in spite of some of the debates that 
went into pay-for provisions and tax provisions, we saw a strong vote. 
We had 300 sponsors of this provision in the House, including more than 
90 Republicans. Even on what was largely viewed as a partisan vote in 
other areas, we had 33 Republicans vote for this bill.
  This bill is supported by the current chairman of the Armed Services 
Committee; as I mentioned, Senator Warner, the former chairman of the 
Armed Services Committee and the former Secretary of the Navy; the 
serving chairman of the Veterans' Committee, Senator Akaka, who was 
just in the chair; the former chairman of the Veterans' Committee, 
Senator Specter. It has the strong support of all of our leading 
veterans organizations, including the American Legion, the Veterans of 
Foreign Wars, the Iraq-Afghanistan Veterans. The Disabled American 
Veterans have taken a firm position, as have many more.
  We have, I would say, at least 15 of the top veterans organizations 
having participated in the modification of this bill and strongly 
supporting it. Many major higher educational institutions and 
associations have endorsed this bill, including the American Council on 
Education, the National Association of Independent Colleges and 
Universities, and the National Association of State and Land Grant 
Colleges.
  This bill is carefully crafted. It has been substantially improved by 
the participation of all of the groups that I just mentioned plus many 
of our Members. It is appropriate on this legislation as a cost of war.
  There are people who discuss this in terms of cost. This is a bill 
that closely resembles the benefits that we gave to our returning 
veterans in World War II--a series of educational benefits which 
leveled the playing field in America and allowed those who served a 
first-class opportunity to move into the future. We owe these young 
men and women who have been serving since 9/11 no less. We owe them no 
less. This is emphatically a cost of war.

  When we can spend $600 billion and, by some estimates, $3 trillion in 
a life cycle as a result of this war, the least we can do is spend the 
money in this bill to allow these people the best opportunity they have 
to succeed in their lives.
  There has been some resistance from some of the Members of this 
body--some of the Republican Members of this body--and also from the 
administration to this bill. Some have said it is too generous. I just 
discussed that. We worked very hard to make it fair and relevant to the 
priorities we should be having. Some have said it would be difficult to 
administer. We have worked with the Department of Veterans Affairs and 
with the Department of Defense on areas where they had concerns, and we 
addressed those concerns. It is interesting to point out, for those who 
talk about the potential difficulty of administering a bill such as 
this, that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs was able to 
administer a very similar bill after World War II in a day where we 
didn't have computers, and they were able to do it for 8 million 
people. We are not talking anywhere near that number, so I believe we 
have addressed all of those concerns.
  The last issue that has been discussed, and it has come up again and 
again, is the concern that provisions such as are contained in this 
bill would affect retention in the Active-Duty military. As someone who 
has spent 5 years in the Pentagon, 1 as a marine and 4 as a defense 
executive working on manpower issues--and I am sure Senator Warner who 
spent more time in the Pentagon than I have would share this 
commentary--I believe the provisions of this bill actually will 
dramatically increase recruitment and that the manpower model would 
benefit from it.
  With respect to retention itself, the discussion has been made that a 
bill like this should have, as a part of it, a concept called 
transferability, which would allow Active-Duty military people to 
transfer this educational benefit to family members.
  I want to make a clarification as to where the main target of this 
bill is, then I want to speak very briefly about transferability, and 
then I would like to recognize my colleague from Nebraska.
  I believe there is a misperception in this country that because we 
have an all-volunteer system, we actually have an all-career military. 
We do not. A lot of people come to the military in the United States 
because they love their country, because they have a family tradition, 
because they want to soldier for a while and then move on to other 
things. Frankly, these are the people who have not been properly taken 
care of in the years since 9/11, and they are the principal target of 
our legislation.
  The U.S. military has done a very good job taking care of its career 
force. When you hear arguments about entitlement to transferability, 
again, they are talking about managing the career force. But these are 
the actual numbers that have been given to us by the manpower chiefs in 
the Department of Defense.
  In the U.S. Army, by the time a cohort group has finished its first 
enlistment, 75.5 percent of them have left or will leave the U.S. Army 
at the end of a first enlistment. In the Marine Corps, 70 percent of 
the people who enlist will leave by the end of their first enlistment, 
either through attrition or deciding not to reenlist. For approximately 
50 percent of the Air Force and the Navy it is the same.
  If you look at the Active-Duty military on the enlisted side, an 
overwhelming majority of them leave the military by the end of their 
first enlistment. These are the people who have had readjustment 
difficulties that we have talked about. These are the people who 
deserve to have a first-class education in order to move them into the 
future.
  This group over here, about a quarter of the Army, about 30 percent 
of the Marine Corps, and about half of the Air Force and the Navy, are 
the people who reenlist at least for one term. This is the group that 
has received so much of the argument of this administration on issues 
of retention. We need to take care of this group. We are prepared today 
to discuss a way to address this transferability issue with this 
smaller but very important group.
  I point out with the issue of transferability that Senator Warner had 
introduced a provision that was enacted into law about 6 years ago that 
allowed the Service Secretaries to provide transferability to military 
people at the discretion of the Service Secretaries as a retention 
device. This has been in the law for 6 years with respect to the 
Montgomery GI bill, the bill we are going to replace. It has almost 
never been used.
  On the one hand, we hear all this talk from the Department of Defense 
about how important this is and how they hear about it every day when 
they go out to their meetings and their townhall meetings, but the 
Service Secretaries have almost never used this benefit that has 
already been on the books. So I am concerned about how widely this 
benefit would actually be used.
  At the same time, I believe it is important, and our principal 
sponsors believe it is important, that we continue the existing law 
with some modification to give the U.S. Department of Defense the 
opportunity to test it again, to put it in this bill, continue it as 
law with some tweaks on it. As the Senator from Mississippi had said 
earlier, I hope with this gesture that we can get full support for this 
legislation and get it into law. The clock ticks for young people after 
they leave the military in terms of how they are going to readjust to 
the rest of their lives. The clock has

[[Page S4465]]

been ticking for a lot of people since 9/11, and it is our duty to do 
something about it this year.
  With that, Mr. President, I yield to my colleague from Nebraska, my 
longtime friend, Vietnam combat veteran, and former official in the 
Department of Veterans Affairs.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska is recognized.
  Mr. HAGEL. Mr. President, I am grateful to my colleague, the junior 
Senator from Virginia, for his continued leadership and years of 
contributions to our country, especially on behalf of our veterans. I 
would like to make some remarks focused on the general scope of what 
this effort is about.
  The Senator from Virginia has laid out very concisely, cogently, some 
of the realities of the force structure we have today and why it is 
important and in the opinion of almost 60 Senators and over 300 House 
Members that we take the so-called GI educational benefits this country 
committed to beginning in 1944 when President Truman signed the first 
bill and roll those forward into the 21st century, because what has 
happened is that we are now caught in a different kind of a world, 
different kinds of wars, different kinds of requirements. But what has 
not changed is the absolute necessity that we rely on quality 
individuals to man our force structure. In a world that is far more 
complicated, combustible, and dangerous than ever before, it has 
required new sets of skills, obviously technologies, to defend our 
country, our interests in the world. It is that reality that we must 
adjust to within the framework of all of our policies.
  What we are doing here is not adding a new benefit, we are not adding 
a welfare program; what we are doing is we are bringing up to date the 
benefits earned by men and women who have committed a good part of 
their lives to our country. We had that debate a long time ago, whether 
America wants to do that. Now, unless there are some individuals in the 
Congress or in America who want to go back and reengage that issue, we 
can do that, but I do not think that is the case. I think we recognize 
those who serve. I think we also, in recognizing their service, 
understand they have earned certain benefits.
  So we are rotating a GI educational benefit system forward into the 
21st century, a system that has not been changed for 25 years. And as 
reflected in Senator Webb's charts--these, by the way, I remind our 
colleagues, as was noted by the junior Senator from Virginia, these are 
not his numbers, these are numbers from the Defense Department. So if 
we are to take care of our people, because we rely on our people to 
take care of us, if we rely on that rifleman, that person at the bottom 
who has always been the one whom we have asked to fight the war--fight 
the war, die in the war, sacrifices by their families, those who do not 
come back, many who come back are seriously scarred, wounded, will 
never recover. That is the reality of the world in which we are living. 
So we are talking about a relevant system, relevant to today's costs 
for an education.
  I benefited from the GI bill when I came back from Vietnam, as did 
the junior Senator from Virginia, as did the senior Senator from 
Virginia when he came back from World War II, the Korean war, as did 
almost every veteran in this body who has fought in a war benefitted 
from this program. So it is important that we get something very clear; 
that is, this is not a new program.
  Now, as the Senator from Virginia noted, this then fits into the 
larger framework of a cost of war. Unless we are going to just discard 
the people whom we count on, that rifleman at the bottom who does not 
have much say in all of this, by the way--he is told to take the hill; 
he takes the hill. He doesn't set policy. Our military doesn't set our 
war policy. They have input and influence into the strategy, into the 
tactics, but we, the elected officials of America, starting with the 
President, his team, and the Congress, we are the ones who set policy, 
we are the ones who engage our Nation in war.
  By the way, just as an aside, I think we should go back to a day in 
this country when we wanted and did, in fact, commit our Nation to war, 
we should declare that in the Congress of the United States, we should 
declare war rather than these skirmishes that we kind of on the side 
fund and we on the side deal with. We on the side never really come 
clean with the reality.
  Here is an opportunity for us to do what is right and what is wise--
what is right and wise; that is, to bring this educational benefit 
program forward.
  The Senator from Virginia noted something that is very important--the 
administration of this program. That is always important, who 
administers the program, how will it work, can it work?
  We have worked very diligently--our staffs, with many Members 
involved--with the Veterans' Administration, the Department of Defense, 
to make this work. We have ample testimony, recent testimony before the 
Veterans' Committee in the Senate from senior Veterans Administration' 
officials saying: This can work. We can now do this. We can implement 
this.
  The cost. The cost is an interesting debate, in my opinion, because 
if, in fact, we are a nation that can afford the cost of war, we can 
afford $12 billion a month waging the war in Iraq, we can afford all 
the requirements it takes for a nation to go to war, but somehow we are 
disconnected from the obligation and responsibility of taking care of 
those who fight the wars? We somehow can't find the money for that? We 
somehow want to look the other way? I don't think so. I don't think the 
American people--and they never have been--are in agreement with that.
  As to the retention issue, the Senator from Virginia again addressed 
this. Even taking the Senator's arguments, as clearly as the Senator 
from Virginia did, and making those arguments--and I can make them 
again, and others will--I am not sure that is even necessary because 
this is not a retention bill. There is a consequence to this bill, of 
course. We should frame within the text and the context of this bill a 
dynamic of retention: How can we make it attractive for our young 
people to serve aside from the fact that they love their country, they 
want to be part of something larger than their own self-interest, they 
want to make a noble contribution to freedom, to the world, to peace, 
to their families, to their future? And you can't substitute that. That 
is bigger than any benefit. Of course it is.
  But the reality is, just as Harry Truman and just as our leaders back 
during World War II understood, just as every leader has understood 
since then, as we have continued to commit to our veterans, those who 
fight the wars and their families, it is wise to reinvest in our 
society.
  How do you reinvest in our society? Well, one way, certainly an 
important way, is education. It is assuring these men and women who 
give of themselves--in a very selfless way that very few people do, by 
the way, especially today, when you look at less than 1 percent of the 
society, the American society, our population, less than 1 percent is 
bearing all of the burden. They are carrying it all for the rest of us. 
What do I mean by that? Because they are the few who are serving in two 
wars, rotation after rotation in Afghanistan and Iraq and on duty all 
over the world and in this country. So when they are finished, just as 
the Senator from Virginia has noted, in the Army and Marine Corps, it 
is more than 50 percent, after the first enlistment, that leave. Would 
it not be smarter, would it not be wise to reinvest in these people, to 
help them get an education so they can continue to contribute to 
America and strengthen America in every way?

  National security is not only about the military. In fact, I think we 
can make a pretty strong argument that the military is obviously an 
essential component, but just as important is the economic vitality, 
this culture, the society, the commitment, the education of a society. 
That all has an awful lot to do with the national security of a nation.
  This makes sense. This bill makes sense. It makes sense on this 
supplemental. This isn't divorced from that. This isn't an add-on to 
that. This isn't something we just invented. This is part of a larger 
context of service and earned benefits for those who serve.
  I am very pleased that we are finding more and more ways to enlist 
more individuals in this effort. I think with what the Senator from 
Virginia noted as to an add-on on transferability, it

[[Page S4466]]

makes it more attractive. The senior Senator from Virginia, I assume, 
is going to speak to that when he takes the floor in a moment. I think 
when we frame up all of this, as the Senator from Virginia noted, this 
is the product of a composite of contributions from many individuals, 
from almost every veterans group I am aware of, from people who care 
about their country, who care about the veterans who serve this 
country, and care about our future.
  I appreciate the leadership of the junior Senator from Virginia.
  I understand in our series of colloquies that the senior Senator from 
Virginia is prepared to make some comments.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The senior Senator from Virginia.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I thank my colleague, Senator Hagel, and I 
thank my distinguished partner in the Senate, Mr. Webb. We have known 
each other for a very long time, over 30 years. When I was in the 
Pentagon, we were associated together at that time. He had a long and 
distinguished career in the U.S. Marine Corps and following that in the 
Department of Defense in two very senior--including Secretary of the 
Navy--positions of civilian leadership. He has shown that same 
leadership from the day he crossed the threshold of the Senate, that 
this is his No. 1 priority. And how pleased and, indeed, humbled I am 
to join him and my good friend, Senator Hagel, in making this possible.
  What we are trying to do, very simply, is to enable this generation 
of young men and women to have, as nearly as possible, the same 
benefits as former generations--most specifically, the generation from 
World War II and the Korean War generation of which I was a part.
  Both of these gentlemen are highly decorated combat veterans. I have 
a less significant career in the service. But all three of us bring our 
own experience to bear on thinking this is essential for this 
generation who is going out and fighting as courageously as any 
servicemember in the history of this country and, in fact, perhaps with 
an added measure of courage because they are fighting an enemy that is 
so difficult to define, an enemy that does not have any state-sponsored 
nation attached to it, which is the form of the terrorism today.
  I wish to thank the distinguished chairman of the Appropriations 
Committee, who has graced us on this floor for the purpose of listening 
in on this debate, for guiding it through the current supplemental bill 
in the Senate, and including Senator Webb's bill in it. Indeed, I saw 
Senator Murray here and Senator Inouye, who both helped us get that 
done.
  Now, much has been said by my colleagues about how we are trying to 
bring up the level of funding for the GI bill from the current existing 
Montgomery GI bill.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record 
this document which traces the history of what is known as the Pell 
Grant Program.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:


                                                              PELL GRANT FUNDING, FY2000-09
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                          Fiscal year                             Academic year     Maximum award      Recipients       Average award     Appropriation
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2000..........................................................           2001-01            $3,300         3,899,433            $2,040    $7,639,717,000
2001..........................................................           2001-01             3,750         4,812,000             2,411     8,756,000,000
2002..........................................................           2002-03             4,000         4,778,507             2,434    11,314,000,000
2003..........................................................           2003-04             4,050         5,139,638             2,469    11,364,647,000
2004..........................................................           2004-05             4,050         5,308,433             2,473    12,006,738,000
2005..........................................................           2005-06             4,050         5,164,000             2,455    12,364,997,000
2006..........................................................           2006-07             4,050         5,159,139             2,480  * 17,345,230,000
2007..........................................................           2007-08             4,310         5,427,611             2,650    13,660,711,000
2008 Discretionary............................................                               4,241                                       14,215,000,0000
2008 Mandatory................................................                                 490                                         2,030,000,000
2008 Total....................................................           2008-09             4,731         5,577,937             2,945    16,245,000,000
2009 Request..................................................                               4,310                                        13,851,059,000
2009 Mandatory................................................                                 490                                         2,090,000,000
2009 Total Request............................................         2009-2010            $4,800         5,764,108            $3,154   $18,941,059,000
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Compiled by CRS from Department of Education tables, based on December 2007 assumptions.
Note: Appropriations may include funds to retire previous year shortfalls. This amount inlcudes $4.3 billion in mandatory funding to eliminate the
  program's accumulated funding shortfall.

  Mr. WARNER. That is a very fine program enabling individuals who are 
qualified to go to colleges and universities all across America--all 
across America--to any college or university that accepts them, to 
obtain a grant from the United States of America to help him or her 
with their tuition and other expenses.
  This is the interesting thing. The program was initiated in 2000, but 
I use as a benchmark the year 2001. There were 4.8 million individuals 
who accessed this program. The Congress appropriated $8.7 billion to 
defer their expenses. Fast forwarding from 2001 until 2009, the total 
request is as follows: roughly, a 20-percent increase in the number of 
individuals going. It goes from 4.8 million to 5.7 million, a little 
under 1 million. Now here is the astonishing thing. The amount of money 
Congress appropriates for the 2009 class of 5.7 million is $18.9 
million.
  Mr. WEBB. Will the Senator yield?
  Mr. WARNER. Yes.
  Mr. WEBB. My understanding of the program is that would be $18 
billion.
  Mr. WARNER. I thank the Senator for correcting me. In the year 2009, 
it is $18.9 billion. That is over a 100-percent increase, keeping up 
with inflation, keeping up with added expenses. But that is not the 
case with the existing GI bill. Although there has been a CPI 
adjustment, it doesn't compare to how Congress has treated the 
category, a well-deserving category, of the Pell grants. So this is 
essentially what we are trying to do.
  My colleagues, the three of us, have worked together on the question 
of transferability. I wish to go back and acquaint the Senate with some 
history. I was chairman in 2001 of the Armed Services Committee, and I 
worked with a distinguished former colleague, Senator Max Cleland. He 
introduced, along with myself, on May 23, 2001, an amendment on the 
ability of a service person, after stipulating periods of time, to have 
some transferability to his family. The cosponsors, at that time, of 
the original amendment were Senators Bingaman, Dayton, Kennedy, Levin, 
and myself. I was the only Republican. There were several other 
Senators, four more. I was the only Republican who stepped up at that 
time. Later it became a bipartisan effort. In the evolution of events 
that year, we marked it up. But here is the interesting thing. On June 
28, 2001, in the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, at a full 
committee hearing, there was no markup or no action taken on the bill. 
So then we decided, on the Armed Services Committee, we would act. In 
September of 2001, our bill was accepted by the full Senate and became 
law on December 28, 2001.
  I pay my respect to those who formulated the concept of 
transferability originally in the Senate. It is the law today. I will 
send to the desk later today an amendment, which Senator Webb, Senator 
Hagel, and I worked on. We are joined by two other original cosponsors, 
Senator Levin, current chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and 
Senator Akaka, current chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee. 
This amendment will be filed at the desk this afternoon. We are going 
to make a technical adjustment to it. The purpose of this amendment is 
to provide a 2-year pilot program of transferability. We track as 
closely as possible the original law I recited that was enacted on 
December 28, 2001. The details will be provided to the full Senate when 
we file the amendment.
  Essentially, we are asking an individual to complete his or her first 
4-year term of enlistment and then, if they enlist for another 6 years, 
there is a vesting over a period of time of the

[[Page S4467]]

full transferability of their benefits, as a sequence of time, to their 
family.
  In the letter from the Secretary of Defense to the Senate, which 
talked about the need for transferability--and I am not sure at that 
time whether he was referring to the existing law or a new law--he 
said: ``Transferability supports military families, thereby enhancing 
retention.''
  There it is. We are meeting the Secretary of Defense's letter to the 
Senate expressing the need for this transferability.
  In my career, winding up 30 years in the Senate, I can't think of a 
piece of legislation in which I have had a greater emotional 
involvement. I am so pleased to share it with my good friend, the 
junior Senator from Virginia, and my friend from Nebraska. As I said 
when we first began to debate this bill, with a deep sense of humility, 
it is highly unlikely I would have ever achieved the opportunity to 
come to the Senate had it not been for the GI bill given to me by the 
United States in return for modest service in the last year of World 
War II and then a second period of active duty service during the 
Korean War, this time in the Marine Corps. I feel it so strongly in my 
heart. I don't know of any time I have felt more strongly the need to 
do something than this today.
  Through the years, I have been to Iraq many times, Afghanistan. 
Throughout the intervening period, I visited military bases and spent 
as much time as I could with the men and women of the Armed Forces 
today. Each of us does the same thing, works with our military. On 
Monday, I was privileged to go into the State that Senator Webb and I 
are privileged to represent. We worked together to get funding in years 
past--and he is supporting it today--to build a new armory for the 
National Guard in Virginia, a famous regiment that fought in World War 
I and World War II. Members of that regiment were the first to go in on 
D-Day. They fought subsequently. I felt at that time that we are doing 
the right thing with this bill, taking care of those future guardsmen 
and reservists and active-duty individuals. This is the right thing for 
the Senate to do.
  I understand there are honest differences of viewpoints and 
approaches. That is true with all legislation. Other colleagues have 
put in a different bill. It had a section on transferability. In some 
ways, it tracked what is existing law but not in the way we are doing 
this. This amendment, this bill, if amended, will bring forward 
existing law, incorporate it into the underlying amendment sponsored by 
Senator Webb and ourselves, and that will become, hopefully, at some 
point in time the new law that will govern future benefits of our GIs 
and sailors, airmen and marines. We file it today because I do not know 
exactly how this supplemental will go through. I don't know if there 
will be a window of opportunity put on it. If there is, we will 
exercise that opportunity. But if it is not, we are going to, as a 
team, bring it to the attention of the Armed Services Committee in the 
context of the annual authorization bill, which I presume will be done 
just before the Fourth of July recess.
  We will affix to it that bill so it will eventually be amending the 
underlying bill, which I hope becomes law very soon as a component of 
the supplemental process now being undertaken by the Senate and the 
House.
  Again, I salute my colleague from Virginia and my colleague from 
Nebraska. We have been here together. We have shared many opportunities 
to do something such as this together but none as important as this 
one.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I thank Senator Webb, Senator Warner, and 
Senator Hagel for their leadership on this extremely critical issue of 
providing education benefits to our veterans. I am a cosponsor of their 
legislation and was happy to include it in the emergency supplemental 
legislation, approved by the committee last week and now pending before 
the Senate.
  On another subject, for purposes of compliance with Senate rule XLIV, 
I certify that the information required by Senate rule XLIV related to 
congressionally directed spending has been identified in the committee 
explanatory statement filed on May 19, 2008, and that the required 
information has been available on a publicly accessible congressional 
Web site in a searchable format at least 48 hours before a vote on the 
pending bill.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I thank my longtime friend and Member of 
this institution, Senator Byrd, for endorsing this bill and becoming a 
cosponsor. I also thank the Senator from Washington, Mrs. Murray, who 
worked on this legislation and seeing that it was put into the 
supplemental.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                          Senator Ted Kennedy

  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I do not wish to use much of the 
Senate's time--just a few moments--but I came to the floor to say some 
words to my good friend, Senator Kennedy, and his family.
  We heard the early news, and then we heard the late news, in which 
you have been described as being a little bit more ill than we thought. 
I wish to say to you and your family, as a fellow Senator from the 
other side of the aisle: I wish for you the best and hope the Good Lord 
intends for you to get well so you can come back and accomplish some 
more things and so you and I can have some more arguments and so you 
and I can have red faces when you argue and I argue and my wife calls 
up and says: You both are arguing so much that your faces are so red 
nobody will listen to you.
  That happened once, and I did communicate to Senator Kennedy that my 
wife had told me I was getting too red in the face because I was 
yelling. I asked her: What about Senator Kennedy? And she said: Well, 
that is not your business, but he is yelling too much too. So I told 
him that, and he had a big laugh.
  I wish to say to him that this great big bill we are working on--
parity for the mentally ill by the insurance companies of America; 
about a 6-year project of his and mine--the House sent us back the bill 
today, Senator Kennedy, believe it or not. After all these days we have 
been wishing we could get something, they sent us that bill today. They 
did not send us exactly our bill, so who knows how much longer we will 
have to work at it. But this one, big bipartisan bill you started 
helping me with when I was in the majority, we have not got it there 
yet, but we will. It has been a pleasure working with you on that and 
many other things.
  But most of all, I came to the floor knowing it is not easy to get a 
hold of you, and I do not intend to try to bother anybody, but at least 
in the Senate, we are free to speak, so I am speaking how I feel: that 
I hope you get well, and I hope the Dear Lord blesses you and your 
wonderful wife, whom I have known, not as well as I know you, but what 
a nice lady she is. On behalf of Nancy and myself, we say to her, we 
hope everything goes the very best it can. You are in the best of 
care--and that is what you should have--and we hope you get well.
  Thank you. I thank the Senate for the few moments yielded to me.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. McCaskill). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, midday today during our Democratic 
Caucus, when we learned our colleague Senator Kennedy is now facing 
some very serious health problems, it is an understatement to say we 
were all shocked by that news and saddened by it.
  Senator Kennedy has for decades been a major presence in this Senate 
Chamber. He is a friend, a colleague, and all of us have said prayers 
today for his recovery.

[[Page S4468]]

  Senator Kennedy has faced much adversity in his life, but he has also 
contributed so much to this country. I know he will meet this challenge 
with the same strength and the same grace he has met other challenges. 
It is my purpose today to say it is my prayerful hope, and I know the 
prayerful hope of all Members of this Chamber, that in the row behind 
me and four desks to my left we will once again at some point in the 
future see Senator Kennedy among us to continue his service to his 
country.
  My thoughts and prayers are with our colleague for a full recovery.
  Madam President, I wish to visit for a few moments on the piece of 
legislation in front of us which includes the GI bill. We have had a GI 
bill in this country for many decades. There is a new GI bill in the 
underlying legislation that is brought to the floor of the Senate. I am 
so proud to be a cosponsor of it and to be a part of what so many in 
this Chamber have put together. The GI bill is such an important part 
of what this country does and says to those who serve this country.
  This weekend I traveled, and at an airport in Minneapolis there was a 
family--a man, a woman, and three children; three very young children--
getting on the same plane I was boarding. They were from North Dakota 
but they lived on a military base in Georgia. The wife came up to me 
and said hello. She said: My husband has done three deployments in 
Iraq. I hope--I so hope--that you can find a way to end this war.
  This is a woman who has watched her husband leave for Iraq three 
times; a woman who is taking care of her three young children while her 
husband is deployed three times to the country of Iraq. I visited with 
her husband and her children, and I know that family is proud to serve 
their country. I know the entire family is proud of that soldier's 
service. But I also know the costs of that service, because you could 
see it in the eyes of that soldier's spouse.
  Also on Saturday morning I went to an event in one of our cities. It 
was a homecoming event for 35 soldiers who had just come back from 
deployment in Afghanistan. These were National Guard soldiers. They too 
were so proud to have served their country, and some of them had been 
deployed twice; two deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan. One or two had 
been on their third deployment. Their families were there and all of 
them were enormously relieved and pleased to have their loved ones 
home.
  I was thinking about those events: meeting a family at an airport, a 
soldier who is stationed in Georgia but who is a North Dakota native, 
and visiting with the family members at the National Guard event and 
saying thank you to them from a grateful nation.
  I was thinking about a day much earlier when I was asked to present 
medals earned by an American Indian who served in the Second World War 
but had never received his medals. His name was Edmund Young Eagle. He 
was a Standing Rock Sioux Indian. He was someone who enlisted in the 
Army in the Second World War and went to war. He served in northern 
Africa, Normandy, and across Europe. He served with great distinction 
as an American soldier in some very difficult fighting.
  He then came back to the Indian reservation and lived kind of a tough 
life. He never had very much. He never married. He never had very much 
in his life, but he lived a good life nonetheless. At the end of his 
life, he was in the veterans home and then got sick and was put in the 
veterans hospital in Fargo, ND. His sister contacted my office and 
asked if her brother could receive the medals he had earned during the 
Second World War but had never received. We said of course. On a Sunday 
morning in Fargo, ND, I went to the veterans hospital with the medals 
for Edmund Young Eagle. The doctors and the nurses and others from the 
hospital crowded into his hospital room that Sunday morning. Edmund was 
sick with lung cancer. I didn't know it at the time, but he didn't have 
many days left. He died about a week later of lung cancer. But on that 
morning he was fully aware of what was happening, and I was there 
granting the wish of his sister to get the medals from the Department 
of Defense that Edmund Young Eagle had earned in the Second World War. 
We cranked his hospital bed up to a seated position and then I pinned a 
row of medals on Edmund Young Eagle's pajama top there at the veterans 
hospital and told him: Thank you from a grateful nation for serving 
this country in the Second World War. This very sick man looked up at 
me and said: This is one of the proudest days of my life. He died about 
a week later. But he served his country and was enormously proud of it.

  There are so many circumstances around this country where one by one 
or in groups we honor our soldiers because they put on America's 
uniform. This morning, soldiers halfway around the world not only put 
on a uniform, but put on body armor and went out in harm's way, some to 
be shot at. They didn't ask why; they just did what their country asked 
them to do.
  Now the question is: When it is all over, when they come home and 
their service is done, what will their country say then? What will 
their country say to them, other than thank you?
  What we said in the Second World War with a GI bill was when those 
soldiers came home, we offered them an opportunity to go to college, to 
help them to be able to purchase a home. So a substantial number of 
returning soldiers went to college and got a college degree. They went 
back home and married their sweetheart. They built a home. They built a 
community. They built their churches. They expanded the middle class. 
They created an economic boom in this country. Later, it was estimated 
that for every dollar we spent on the GI bill, $7 was returned because 
it was an unbelievably good investment for our country.
  Senator Webb, Senator Warner, Senator Hagel, Senator Murray, and so 
many others--myself included--as cosponsors of this bill have said it 
is time again to write a GI bill that is appropriate for wartime and 
for returning veterans. When soldiers return and become veterans, the 
question is: What will the GI bill offer for them? How will we invest 
in their lives, and thereby invest in this country?
  The previous GI bill was the Montgomery bill written during 
peacetime. Frankly, it does not do what we have historically been able 
to do and willing to do for those who serve our country, in addition to 
saying thank you. The Montgomery bill existed--and we are pleased it 
did--but this new GI bill is something very different. It tries to say 
to soldiers, as we did some 60 years ago, not only thank you, but we 
want to invest in your lives and invest thereby in this country. It is 
a new GI bill. It allows an opportunity to go to college and to be able 
to pay the in-State cost of college with a stipend for living during 
that period of time that you get your college degree. It invests in the 
lives of those who have invested their lives in this country. This is a 
very important piece of legislation.
  I am told there are some who now come to the floor of the Senate, 
nearing three-quarters of a trillion dollars having been spent on 
emergency supplemental appropriations bills requested by President Bush 
to prosecute the war in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and say: Well, we can 
afford that and we have to do that on an emergency basis, but we don't 
have the money to try to help veterans when they come home. A veterans 
program is the cost of war.
  It is the cost of war. How does anyone say that somehow the three-
quarters of a trillion dollars for so many hundreds and thousands of 
different accounts and contractors and replenishment of various 
accounts is more important than the single account of the GI bill, 
which says we want to invest in our soldiers? How does anybody say 
those myriad other accounts are more important than investing in our 
soldiers when they become veterans? I don't understand that. It makes 
no sense.
  It is a significant claim and priority for this country to understand 
that part of the cost of war is to provide health care that is promised 
to veterans and a GI bill this country can be proud of, which invests 
in those veterans and our country. That is what this bill is about. 
This new GI bill is every bit as important--perhaps more important--
than any other provision that exists in this large emergency 
supplemental requested by this President.
  The Congress undoubtedly, at some point, in some way, will enact this 
legislation providing for some supplemental appropriations. When it 
does, in

[[Page S4469]]

my judgment, it must do more than just say thank you to veterans, as we 
do, but it must invest in veterans, which this new GI bill will do. 
This makes a lot of sense for our country.
  I commend especially those I have mentioned previously, including 
Senators Webb, Warner, Hagel, Murray, and so many others. I am proud to 
be one among them to say that this too is a priority for this country. 
I hope when the sun sets at the end of this week, if we have passed 
this legislation called the emergency supplemental appropriations bill, 
it will include something that ought to give all of us a reason to be 
proud and that it will include a new GI bill to say to veterans in this 
country: You matter. It matters to us what you did for our country. I 
hope we manifest that by passing a new GI bill in the name of their 
service.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                                 Energy

  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, I know we are on the emergency 
supplemental bill. However, I want to talk a bit about the energy 
issue, so I will begin on that. I want to make a couple of points.
  First, we sent a bill that the President signed, I believe, this 
morning, which I offered here along with my colleague Senator Reid in 
the Senate last week. We passed it on Thursday. It said stop putting 
oil underground when oil prices are bouncing around at $128 a barrel or 
so. We told the Department of Energy stop putting 70,000 barrels a day 
underground. We have a Strategic Petroleum Reserve--which makes sense 
to me because if you run into trouble, you will have oil you have put 
away. But we have put that oil away, and it is now 97 percent full. Yet 
the DOE and the Bush administration are topping it off by putting 
70,000 barrels a day every day underground.
  Our legislation says stop that. When oil is going through the roof 
and the price of gasoline is so high, stop putting it underground. It 
makes no sense. You are putting upward pressure on prices, which is the 
last thing we should do.
  I am pleased the President signed the bill today. Some have said it 
won't make any difference, that there are factors other than the 70,000 
barrels going underground that are at play here, and I will talk about 
them. But it certainly doesn't hurt to put additional oil, and 
therefore gasoline, into the supply pipeline. That ought to bring 
prices down. It is common sense.
  I used to teach a little economics and the supply/demand curve hasn't 
changed. If demand remains unchanged and supply is increased, prices 
are going to be lower. So I never understood why they decided when the 
Strategic Petroleum Reserve is 97 percent full, why they are taking 
sweet light crude from the Gulf of Mexico and sticking it underground 
for a rainy day. It is raining at the gas pumps these days. Stop that 
and put it into the supply chain and put downward pressure on oil and 
gas prices.
  I am pleased that we finally did it last week. The House passed the 
bill. We got it to the President and he signed it. That is one step in 
the right direction. A big step, giant step? Probably not, but it is a 
step in the right direction in dealing with the question of the price 
of gasoline.
  Now, there is something curious going on in this country. It is not 
explainable, frankly. This chart says oil prices nearly doubled in 1 
year--up, up, up, and up. They doubled in 1 year. What would cause 
that? Well, here is speculators' activity in the oil futures market. It 
looks like oil prices, doesn't it? It also goes up, up, and up. There 
is more and more speculation in the oil futures market. These are not 
people who want to buy oil--oh, no. They want to buy a contract. They 
don't ever want to take delivery or get their hands dirty with oil; 
they want to speculate and gamble in the oil futures market. They want 
to buy what they will never get from people who never had it, and walk 
away grinning and deposit their money in the bank--big profits, by the 
way. It doesn't matter what the consequences are. The wreckage can lie 
in the gas pump lines, on the family farms, and elsewhere, because they 
push up prices with this speculation. As you can see on the chart, the 
speculation looks exactly like the runup in the prices.
  The senior vice president of ExxonMobil Oil, on April 1, last month, 
said:
       The price of oil should be about $50 or $55 per barrel.

  But it is not. It is $128 a barrel, $129 a barrel today, and is 
headed north. So an oil company senior vice president said it ought to 
be $50 or $55 a barrel.
  Clarence Cazalot, CEO, Marathon Oil, said:

       $100 oil isn't justified by the physical demand in the 
     market.

  He is president of an oil company.
  In January, the Newark Star Ledger said:

       Experts, including the former head of ExxonMobil, say 
     financial speculation in the energy markets has grown so much 
     over the last 30 years that it now adds 20 to 30 percent, or 
     more, to the price of a barrel of oil.

  Fadel Gheit, 30 years with Oppenheimer Company, senior energy trader, 
said this:

       There is absolutely no shortage of oil. I am absolutely 
     convinced that oil prices shouldn't be a dime above $55 a 
     barrel. I call it the world's largest gambling hall. It's 
     open 24/7. Unfortunately, it is totally unregulated. This is 
     like a highway with no cops and no speed limits, and 
     everybody is going 120 miles an hour.

  Andrew Hall--I don't know him. I have said I would not know him from 
a cord of wood. All I know is that the Wall Street Journal reports this 
trader hit the jackpot on oil as the commodity boom roars on. When they 
say commodity boom, they are not talking about oil wells, or drilling 
rigs, or oil tanks; they are talking about the commodities market. 
Again, it is a market in which speculators abound--an orgy of 
speculation, with people buying things they will never get from people 
who never had it, nobody wanting the oil, but wanting to speculate in 
this class called speculators. Mr. Hall earned a quarter of a billion 
dollars--$250 million--in 5 years. That is a pretty big payout, 
actually.
  All of these folks who are neck deep in futures markets include hedge 
funds, investment banks, unbelievable speculation in the futures 
market, which is driving up the price of gasoline and the price of oil.
  Now, it is interesting to me, and I think important for us to 
understand, that as the price is going up, and it is going up again 
today, that more pressure will push prices higher. In this country, 
people will drive to the pumps tonight and try to figure out, how do I 
pay for this tank of gas? I need it and I have to drive to work. Or as 
the farmer tries to figure out, how do I fill that farm gas tank and 
pay for that? Or a small family trucking company tries to figure out 
how do I make ends meet, or will I have to close the doors, perhaps, 
like one of the CEOs of the five airlines that have filed bankruptcy at 
this point because of fuel prices?
  As all of this is happening, let me make a couple of points. One, we 
have more oil in our inventory and more fuel in our inventory right now 
than we did in January of this year. We are somewhere over 30 million 
to 40 million barrels of oil in inventory above where we were in 
January. So go figure. Inventory is up. Shouldn't prices come down a 
bit? You would think so. Not only is inventory up but demand is also 
down because our economy slowed down some, and because the price of 
gasoline and fuel is very high, people are driving a bit less. Some 
estimate that demand has dipped around 4 or 5 percent. So our 
inventories are up, demand is down, and what is happening to oil 
prices? They are continuing to go up.
  Refiners are actually refining less at the moment, by their own 
design, because they believe there is an excess of inventory, so they 
want to catch up a bit, or allow the inventory to catch up with demand. 
So they are refining less than they previously refined. You would 
think, then, if supply is up, with millions more barrels of oil in 
inventory, the supply of gasoline having increased sufficiently so that 
refiners are cutting back refining capability, that the price of 
gasoline and oil would begin to come down. But it is not true. What is 
happening today is it is reaching record highs. So what does that tell

[[Page S4470]]

us? It tells us there is this unbelievable amount of speculation in 
which speculators have taken over the commodity markets and driven oil 
prices to levels that are doing great damage to this economy, great 
damage to this country, great damage to America's families, and great 
damage to businesses in this country. They don't care much about that. 
All they care about is going to the bank with a pile of money. All they 
care about is making all this money.
  I am telling you, at the top, take a look at the compensation of the 
top hedge fund managers in this country. It is unbelievable. It almost 
makes you ill. They are all making a lot of money, and they are doing 
it by speculating in a market that is driving up prices beyond where 
the fundamentals of oil and gas supply and demand would justify. There 
is no justification for this at all.
  American families have a right to ask the question of this Congress: 
What on Earth are you going to do about it? Does anybody care? Or are 
the consumers just pawns in this big game while the speculators run off 
with all the money?
  It seems to me, when markets don't work we have a responsibility to 
do something about it. If you have a computer handy, you can find a 
search engine and find excesses of speculation. In fact, over the last 
decade and a half, we have seen two bubbles already, and now a third. 
We saw the tech bubble, and it burst. We saw the housing bubble, and it 
burst. Now we see a bubble on the commodities exchanges, and it will 
burst at some point. The question is when and what damage will be done 
between now and then.
  These exchanges are supposed to be regulating certain kinds of 
activities. I have a little experience in this--not a lot, but a 
little. I chaired the hearings in the Senate on Enron. We did it in a 
Commerce subcommittee. I had Ken Lay come in front of me in my 
committee. He raised his hand and swore an oath to tell the truth, sat 
down, and took the fifth amendment. We had Jeffrey Skilling come. He is 
now in prison. He wouldn't stop talking, by the way. Through it all, 
the suggestion was, there is nothing going on here.
  There was this unbelievable runup of wholesale electricity prices on 
the west coast during that period. We now know it was criminal 
activity, a criminal enterprise. We now know they were fixing things. 
They were shutting down plants. They were manipulating supply. They 
were speculating.
  I am not suggesting speculation is necessarily, or even in most 
cases, criminal behavior. It is not. But the combination, going back to 
Enron, of not being able to see the dark money, the money that moves in 
the shadows behind the regulatory opportunities that some agencies 
have, means consumers can be manipulated and injured dramatically.
  There is a lesson, it seems to me, as we take a look at what is 
happening in energy. I remember when President Bush came to town. He 
appointed a new Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. I 
believe his name was Harvey Pitt. He said when he took office there is 
going to be a new attitude around here. This was the Securities and 
Exchange Commission, a regulatory body.
  He said: There is going to be a new attitude around here, a business-
friendly attitude. And sure enough, it sure was business friendly, and 
not just there but virtually every agency. We don't want to regulate. 
Yes, we are a regulatory body, but we don't want to regulate. Yes, 
regulators are supposed to be the referees, wear the striped shirts, 
call the fouls; we don't want to do that. We don't even like Government 
very much. We just come here and say it is business friendly, so do 
what you want.
  Over the past 7 years we have seen an unbelievable amount of avarice 
and greed and speculation. Is it any wonder that we saw the bubble 
burst with respect to housing? Who wasn't minding the store? We know 
what happened then.
  We had ads on television from these mortgage companies. Anybody who 
watched one of them would have known this doesn't work.
  The ads said: Hey, you have been bankrupt, you can't pay your bills? 
Are you missing your house payments? Come over here. We will give you a 
new mortgage. You don't have to worry about all that. You have bad 
credit? Come to us. We will give you credit. In fact, we will give you 
a mortgage where you don't even have to pay all the interest. In fact, 
we will give you a mortgage loan where you don't have to pay any 
interest the first year; we will pay the interest for you, and the 
principal. We will say to you: You don't even have to document your 
income to us. You have to pay a slightly higher interest rate, but you 
get a mortgage with us, and you don't even have to document your 
income. It is called a no doc loan.
  So, no documents, no interest payment for the first year and no 
principal payment for a long while. And by the way, when we set your 
interest rate, you pay an incredibly low interest rate.
  I saw an advertisement that said pay one-fourth of 1 percent interest 
rate--not telling them, of course, it is going to reset at 10 percent 
in 3 years. They don't have a ghost of a chance of making those 
payments, and they are going to lose their house. We are sorry. They 
never tell them that.
  Where were the regulators? Were they watching? No, they weren't 
watching. They didn't care.
  So you have this buildup of speculation, mortgages, housing, and now 
the entire economy pays a price for that.
  On top of that, we have this unbelievable buildup of speculation in 
the commodities market and oil, which is an essential commodity for 
every part of this economy, and the cost is going through the roof. 
Today it is setting a record.
  Think of this economy and the national result. Does it matter that 
oil is different? Sure does. We suck 85 million barrels of oil out of 
this world every single day. We take 85 million barrels and suck it out 
of this planet. We need to use one-fourth of it in this country. We use 
25 percent of all oil pulled out of this planet every day, and we only 
produce 10 percent. We use 25 percent of the world's oil, and we 
produce only 10 percent. That means we have to get a lot of it from 
elsewhere, and we do. Mr. President, 60 percent plus comes from 
offshore, much of it from troubled parts of the world.
  We have a major issue with respect to oil. We have to deal with it. 
In the short term, though, we have to deal with this. John Maynard 
Keynes said in the long run, we are all dead. In the short run, we 
drive to the gas pumps and say: How can we possibly afford this? How 
can we pay this price? Then we understand this price isn't even 
justified. There is nothing in supply and demand that justifies this 
price. The supply is up, demand is down, and the price of oil is going 
through the roof. That is not about market system. Those are arteries 
clogged in the free market system, and this Congress has a 
responsibility to do something about it.
  What do we do? There are a number of approaches a group of us are 
working on. It includes trying to find ways to make certain we know 
what is happening on all of these exchanges. The folks who run the 
exchanges in this country say: The problem is, if you increase the 
margin requirement, all this stuff is going to go to the 
Intercontinental Exchange, called ICE, over in London. You can't do 
that; it goes offshore and you never see it.
  That is another part of the dark money strategy in this country where 
they all make money and injure this economy. We are looking for ways, 
and I believe we will find a way in a couple of days, to get our arms 
around this issue called regulatory need with respect to excess 
speculation on all markets. This is damaging this country's economy, 
and we cannot and should not stand for it. Speculators have had their 
day. They have made their money. They have injured this country. Now it 
is time for us to wring that speculation out of those commodity 
markets.
  We need commodity exchanges. We need futures markets. We need them 
for liquidity. We need them for hedging. But when we have speculators 
grab these markets by the neck and pervert them, this Congress has a 
responsibility to act.
  I conclude by saying the price of oil is setting new records today 
despite the fact that we in this country have an increased supply of 
oil since January, month after month after month, and demand is going 
down by the consumer because of price. So supply is up,

[[Page S4471]]

demand is down, and this perversion in the marketplace is producing the 
highest price for oil we have seen. That is an unbelievable perversion 
of what the free market ought to be.
  We hear people say free market. There is no free market here. You 
have an OPEC cartel sitting behind closed doors. It would be illegal in 
this country. That does not contribute to a free market. That is a 
fixed market. And we have oil companies bigger and stronger. They 
almost all have two names now--ExxonMobile, ConocoPhillips--because 
they all merged and everybody thought that was fine, at least in this 
administration. So they are bigger and stronger and have more muscle in 
the marketplace. Then we have this perversion in the futures market.
  That combination is a combination that I say damages this economy. We 
mean to address it. In the coming days, I intend to talk about 
legislation that will tie into this speculation, wring it out of the 
markets and say: You can't continue to damage the economy of this 
country; you can't continue to injure the consumers in this country 
because we are not going to stand for it.
  Mr. AKAKA. Madam President, I am delighted to be an original 
cosponsor of the amendment offered by the distinguished senior Senator 
from Virginia which would clarify that the provisions in current law 
regarding the transferability of educational assistance benefits to 
family members would apply to the new GI bill for the 21st century.
  This amendment would further give the Department of Defense the 
ability to conduct a 2-year test of somewhat expanded transferability 
options to individuals who have completed 4 years of active duty 
service, who agree to complete an additional 6r years of service, and 
who meet such additional criteria as the Secretary of Defense 
establishes.
  I have consistently stated that I believe that transferability can be 
an important retention tool for the military and that the provisions of 
current law would apply to the provisions in S. 22 as revised. However, 
I have also noted that there is no data that demonstrate the retention 
value of the transferability option.
  The Army implemented a pilot program in July 2006 which allows 
soldiers who reenlist in critical skills to transfer their Montgomery 
GI bill benefits to their spouses. Mr. President, I will ask unanimous 
consent that the Department of Defense annual report on entitlement 
transfers, dated March 20, 2008, be printed in the Record at the 
conclusion of my remarks so that Members can see that less than two 
percent of those who were offered the opportunity to transfer benefits 
took advantage of that option.
  It is on this basis that I believe that this authority needs to be 
continued and expanded slightly in the context of this new GI bill for 
the 21st century. But to rely on transferability solely or in lieu of 
the legislation that has been carefully developed by Senator Webb and 
others would be a mistake.
  I urge the Senate to approve the amendment offered by Senator Warner.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the letter be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                     Office of the


                                   Under Secretary of Defense,

                                   Washington, DC, March 20, 2008.
     Hon. Daniel K. Akaka,
     Chairman, Committee on Veterans Affairs, U.S. Senate, 
         Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. Chairman: This letter serves as the annual report 
     on entitlement transfers of basic educational assistance to 
     eligible dependents under the Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) as 
     required by Section 3020(1) of title 38, United States Code.
       The Army implemented a pilot program in July 2006, allowing 
     Soldiers, who reenlist in critical skills, the ability to 
     transfer MGIB benefits to their spouse. The Army defined 
     critical skills as any Soldier who qualified for a Selective 
     Reenlistment Bonus (SRB) incentive and was entitled to a Zone 
     B or Zone C bonus under current messages at the time of their 
     reenlistment. This SRB is reduced by an amount equal to the 
     actuarial per capita cost. These payments were then deposited 
     into the DoD Education Benefit Fund for transfer to the 
     Department of Veterans Affairs.
       In Fiscal Year 2007, 296 Soldiers chose this option, or 
     less than 2 percent of the over 17K Soldiers eligible upon 
     reenlistment. Of the 296 Soldiers, the majority were mid-
     career Soldiers (SGT/SSG) assigned to U.S. Forces Command and 
     U.S. Special Operations Command. Initial feedback from the 
     field indicates that Soldiers want to be able to transfer 
     benefits to all their dependents, including children. The 
     Army extended the program to allow eligibility for both 
     spouses and children in November 2007.
       None of the other Services exercised their MGIB 
     transferability authority and, instead, relied on traditional 
     reenlistment/retention incentives. In spite of the fact that 
     this program was not offered by those Services, each 
     experienced a successful retention year in Fiscal Year 2007. 
     However, all the Services are closely watching the results of 
     the Army pilot and continue to retain the authority to 
     include MGIB transferability in their retention programs 
     should circumstances warrant.
       The Department plans to include the expansion of MGIB 
     transferability in its Fiscal Year 2009 legislative proposal. 
     This expansion will support the President's State of the 
     Union address, where he called for Congress to join him in 
     ``allowing our troops to transfer their unused education 
     benefits to their spouses or children.''
       I trust that this report will prove useful in your 
     consideration of Defense personnel programs. Similar letters 
     have been sent to the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee 
     on Veterans Affairs, the Chairman and Ranking Member of the 
     House Committee on Armed Services, and the Chairmen and 
     Ranking Members of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.
           Sincerely,
                                             Michael L. Dominguez,
                                                 Principal Deputy.

  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.

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