[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 12 (Monday, January 26, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S467-S468]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. REED (for himself, Mr. Grassley, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Markey, 
        and Ms. Warren):
  S. 251. A bill to aid and support pediatric involvement in reading 
and education; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions.
  Mr. REED. Mr. President, today I introduce with my colleague, Senator 
Grassley, the Prescribe a Book Act I thank Senators Markey, Stabenow, 
and Warren for joining us as original cosponsors of this bipartisan 
bill.
  Literacy skills are the foundation for success in school and in life. 
Developing and building these skills begins at home, with parents as 
the first teachers. Children who are read to frequently at home are 
more likely to become frequent readers themselves in later years. 
Indeed, according to Scholastic's Kids and Families Reading Report, 
among children ages 6-11, 60 percent of frequent readers, those who 
read 57 days per week for fun, were read to aloud by a parent 5-7 times 
per week before they entered kindergarten. This highlights the 
important role that parents play in building their children's literacy 
skills.
  To help support the parental role in literacy, the Prescribe a Book 
Act would create a federal pediatric early literacy grant initiative 
based on the long-standing, successful Reach Out and Read program. The 
program would award grants on a competitive basis to high-quality 
nonprofit entities to train doctors and nurses to discuss with parents 
the importance of reading aloud to their children and to give books to 
children at pediatric check-ups from 6 months to 5 years of age, with a 
priority for children from low-income families. It builds on the 
relationship between parents and medical providers and helps families 
and communities encourage early literacy skills so children enter 
school prepared for success in reading.
  I was pleased to see last year that the American Academy of 
Pediatrics, AAP, recognized the important role that pediatric providers 
play in enhancing children's literacy skills In a policy statement, AAP 
recommended that pediatric providers promote early literacy development 
for children from birth to at least kindergarten entry, including by 
counseling parents on the importance of reading to their children and 
through providing age-appropriate books to high-risk, low-income young 
children.
  Evidence shows that that the pediatric literacy model works. Research 
published in peer-reviewed, scientific journals has found that parents 
who have participated in the Reach out and Read program are 
significantly more likely to read to their children and include more 
children's books in their home, and that children served by the program 
show an increase of 4-8 points on vocabulary tests. I have seen up 
close the positive impact of this program on children and their 
families when visiting a number of Rhode Island's Reach Out and Read 
sites. Building on existing efforts, which in the past have been 
supported by Federal funding included in the appropriations process and 
distributed by the Department of Education, and matched by tens of 
millions of dollars from the private sector and State governments, the 
Prescribe a Book Act would establish a formal authorization modeled on 
this type of successful public-private partnership. By so doing, it 
would leverage Federal dollars to expand pediatric literacy initiatives 
so that more young children reap the developmental benefits of having 
books at home and being read to by their parents.
  I urge our colleagues to join us in cosponsoring the Prescribe a Book 
Act, and to work to include its provisions in the upcoming 
reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. CORNYN:
  S. 252. A bill to prohibit the consideration of any bill by Congress 
unless a statement on tax transparency is provided in the bill; to the 
Committee on Rules and Administration.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of 
the bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 252

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

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Tax Transparency Act of 
     2015''.

     SEC. 2. TAX EFFECT TRANSPARENCY.

       (a) In General.--Chapter 2 of title 1, United States Code, 
     is amended by inserting after section 102 the following:

     ``Sec. 102a. Tax effect transparency

       ``(a) In General.--Each Act of Congress, bill, resolution, 
     conference report thereon, or amendment there to, that 
     modifies Federal tax law shall contain a statement describing 
     the general effect of the modification on Federal tax law.
       ``(b) Failure to Comply.--
       ``(1) In general.--A failure to comply with subsection (a) 
     shall give rise to a point of order in either House of 
     Congress, which may be raised by any Senator during 
     consideration in the Senate or any Member of the House of 
     Representatives during consideration in the House of 
     Representatives.
       ``(2) Nonexclusivity.--The availability of a point of order 
     under this section shall not affect the availability of any 
     other point of order.
       ``(c) Disposition of Point of Order in the Senate.--
       ``(1) In general.--Any Senator may raise a point of order 
     that any matter is not in order under subsection (a).
       ``(2) Waiver.--
       ``(A) In general.--Any Senator may move to waive a point of 
     order raised under paragraph (1) by an affirmative vote of 
     three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn.
       ``(B) Procedures.--For a motion to waive a point of order 
     under subparagraph (A) as to a matter--
       ``(i) a motion to table the point of order shall not be in 
     order;
       ``(ii) all motions to waive one or more points of order 
     under this section as to the matter shall be debatable for a 
     total of not more than 1 hour, equally divided between the 
     Senator raising the point of order and the Senator moving to 
     waive the point of order or their designees; and
       ``(iii) a motion to waive the point of order shall not be 
     amendable.
       ``(d) Disposition of Point of Order in the House of 
     Representatives.--
       ``(1) In general.--If a Member of the House of 
     Representatives makes a point of order

[[Page S468]]

     under this section, the Chair shall put the question of 
     consideration with respect to the proposition of whether any 
     statement made under subsection (a) was adequate or, in the 
     absence of such a statement, whether a statement is required 
     under subsection (a).
       ``(2) Consideration.--For a point of order under this 
     section made in the House of Representatives--
       ``(A) the question of consideration shall be debatable for 
     10 minutes, equally divided and controlled by the Member 
     making the point of order and by an opponent, but shall 
     otherwise be decided without intervening motion except one 
     that the House of Representatives adjourn or that the 
     Committee of the Whole rise, as the case may be;
       ``(B) in selecting the opponent, the Speaker of the House 
     of Representatives should first recognize an opponent from 
     the opposing party; and
       ``(C) the disposition of the question of consideration with 
     respect to a measure shall be considered also to determine 
     the question of consideration under this section with respect 
     to an amendment made in order as original text.
       ``(e) Rulemaking Authority.--The provisions of this section 
     are enacted by the Congress--
       ``(1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the House 
     of Representatives and the Senate, respectively, and as such 
     they shall be considered as part of the rules of each House, 
     respectively, or of that House to which they specifically 
     apply, and such rules shall supersede other rules only to the 
     extent that they are inconsistent therewith; and
       ``(2) with full recognition of the constitutional right of 
     either House to change such rules (so far as relating to such 
     House) at any time, in the same manner, and to the same 
     extent as in the case of any other rule of such House.''.
       (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the 
     beginning of chapter 2 of title 1, United States Code, is 
     amended by inserting after the item relating to section 102 
     the following new item:

``102a. Tax effect transparency.''.

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