Bill Summary & Status for the 106th Congress

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H.R.5656
Sponsor: Rep Porter, John Edward (introduced 12/14/2000)
Latest Major Action: 12/14/2000 Referred to the House Committee on Appropriations. (Incorporated by reference and text printed in the H.R. 4577 conference report: H. Rept. 106-1033 [text of conference report: CR 12/15/2000 H12100-12439]. H.R. 4577 is the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2001.)
Title: Making appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2001, and for other purposes.
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TITLE(S):  (italics indicate a title for a portion of a bill)
STATUS: (color indicates Senate actions)
12/14/2000:
Referred to the House Committee on Appropriations. (Incorporated by reference and text printed in the H.R. 4577 conference report: H. Rept. 106-1033 [text of conference report: CR 12/15/2000 H12100-12439]. H.R. 4577 is the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2001.)

COMMITTEE(S):
RELATED BILL DETAILS:

***NONE***


AMENDMENT(S):

***NONE***


COSPONSOR(S):

***NONE***


SUMMARY AS OF:
12/14/2000--Introduced.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 - Makes appropriations for FY 2001 for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and related agencies.

Title I: Department of Labor - Department of Labor Appropriations Act, 2001 - Makes appropriations for FY 2001 to the Department of Labor for: (1) training and employment services; (2) community service employment for older Americans; (3) Federal unemployment benefits and allowances; (4) State unemployment insurance and employment service operations; (5) advances to the Unemployment Trust Fund and other trust funds; (6) employment and training program administration; (7) the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation; (8) the Employment Standards Administration; (9) certain special benefits; (10) the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund; (11) the Occupational Safety and Health Administration; (12) the Mine Safety and Health Administration; (13) the Bureau of Labor Statistics; (14) departmental management; (15) veterans employment and training; and (16) the Office of Inspector General.

Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, funds appropriated under this title.

(Sec. 103) Amends part A (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) (TANF) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to: (1) require entities receiving welfare-to-work grant funds to remit to the Secretary of Labor any funds not expended within five (currently, three) years after the date such funds are provided; and (2) eliminate set-aside welfare-to-work grants for successful performance States.

(Sec. 104) Prohibits the use of funds provided in any Act making appropriations for FY 2001 to implement regulations regarding temporary alien labor certification applications and petitions for admission of nonimmigrant workers or any similar or successor rule with an effective date prior to October 1, 2001.

(Sec. 106) Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to make funds available from the H-1B Nonimmigrant Petitioner Account for decreasing processing time for permanent labor certification applications.

Title II: Department of Health and Human Services - Department of Health and Human Services Appropriations Act, 2001 - Makes appropriations for FY 2001 to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for: (1) the Health Resources and Services Administration; (2) health education assistance loans; (3) the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Trust Fund; (4) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; (5) the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including amounts for the John E. Fogarty International Center, the National Library of Medicine, the Office of the Director, and buildings and facilities; (6) the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; (7) the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; (8) the Health Care Financing Administration for grants to States for Medicaid, payments to health care trust funds, and program management; (9) the Health Maintenance Organization Loan and Loan Guarantee Fund; (10) the Administration for Children and Families for child support enforcement and family support programs; (11) low income home energy assistance; (12) refugee and entrant assistance; (13) the child care and development block grant; (14) the social services block grant; (15) children and families services programs; (16) promoting safe and stable families pursuant to a specified provision of the Social Security Act; (17) payments to States for foster care and adoption assistance; (18) the Administration on Aging; (19) the Office of the Secretary for general departmental management; (20) the Office of Inspector General; (21) the Office for Civil Rights; (22) policy research; (23) retirement pay and medical benefits for Public Health Service commissioned officers; and (24) the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund.

Rescinds FY 2001 funds for a sample study of child welfare.

Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, funds appropriated under this title.

(Sec. 209) Prohibits funds appropriated in this Act from being made available under title X (population research and voluntary family planning) of the Public Health Service Act unless the award applicant certifies to the Secretary of HHS that it encourages family participation in the decision of minors to seek family planning services and provides counseling to minors on resisting attempts to coerce them into engaging in sexual activities.

(Sec. 210) Prohibits the use of funds appropriated by this Act to carry out the Medicare+Choice program if the Secretary of HHS denies participation in such program to an otherwise eligible entity (including a Provider Sponsored Organization) because the entity informs the Secretary that it will not provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or provide referrals for abortions.

(Sec. 212) Amends the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1990 to extend through FY 2001 the authorization of admission into the United States of a specified number of refugees from the independent states of the former Soviet Union, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania based on religious persecution owing to participation in the Ukrainian Catholic or Orthodox churches.

Makes September 30, 2001, the latest allowable entry date for specified aliens from the former Soviet Union, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia for purposes of qualifying for adjustment of status.

(Sec. 213) Prohibits the use of funds provided in any Act making FY 2001 appropriations for the implementation in Arizona or in Kansas City, Missouri or Kansas, of the Medicare Competitive Pricing Demonstration Project operated by the Secretary of HHS.

(Sec. 214) Prohibits funds appropriated by this Act from being used to withhold substance abuse funding from a State pursuant to Public Health Service Act provisions for withholding funds from States that are not in compliance with specified requirements prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to minors if a State certifies to the Secretary of HHS by March 1, 2001, that it will commit additional State funds to ensure compliance with State laws prohibiting such sales. Requires States to maintain expenditures in FY 2001 for tobacco prevention programs and compliance activities at a level not less than that maintained for FY 2000 and adding to that level the additional funds for such compliance activities required by this section. Bars the use of funds appropriated by this Act to withhold such substance abuse funding from a territory that receives less than $1 million.

(Sec. 216) Prohibits funds appropriated under this Act from being expended by NIH on a contract for the care of the 288 chimpanzees acquired by NIH from the Coulston Foundation unless the contractor is accredited by the Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International or has a Public Health Service assurance and has not been charged multiple times with egregious violations of the Animal Welfare Act.

(Sec. 218) Extends the authority for Federal agencies to offer physicians comparability allowances until September 30, 2005 (currently, September 30, 2000).

(Sec. 219) Amends the Public Health Service Act to add to the list of requirements to be met by qualified organ procurement organizations that an organization has been certified or recertified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services within the previous four-year period as meeting performance standards. Requires certification or recertification to be made through a process that either granted certification or recertification with such certification or recertification in effect as of January 1, 2000, and remaining in effect through the earlier of January 1, 2002, or the completion of recertification under regulations promulgated by the Secretary, or that is defined through regulations promulgated by January 1, 2002, that: (1) require recertifications of such organizations no more frequently than once every four years; (2) rely on outcome and process performance measures that are based on empirical evidence of organ donor potential and other related factors in each service area of such organizations; (3) use multiple outcome measures as part of the certification process; and (4) provide for a qualified organization to appeal a decertification to the Secretary on substantive and procedural grounds.

(Sec. 220) Authorizes the Secretary of HHS to use certain authorities under the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 and enter into reimbursable agreements with the Department of State in order for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to carry out international HIV/AIDS, other infectious, chronic, and environmental disease, and other health activities abroad during FY 2001.

(Sec. 225) Names the National Neuroscience Research Center to be constructed on the NIH Bethesda campus the John Edward Porter Neuroscience Research Center.

Title III: Department of Education - Department of Education Appropriations Act, 2001 - Makes appropriations for FY 2001 to the Department of Education for: (1) education reform; (2) education for the disadvantaged; (3) impact aid; (4) school improvement activities; (5) reading excellence; (6) Indian education; (7) bilingual and immigrant education; (8) special education; (9) rehabilitation services and disability research; (10) special institutions for persons with disabilities, including the American Printing House for the Blind, the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, the Kendall Demonstration Elementary School, the Model Secondary School for the Deaf, and Gallaudet University; (11) vocational and adult education; (12) student financial assistance; (13) the Federal Family Education Loan program account; (14) higher education; (15) Howard University; (16) the college housing and academic facilities loans program; (17) the historically Black college and university capital financing program account; (18) education research, statistics, and improvement; (19) departmental management; (20) the Office for Civil Rights; and (21) the Office of the Inspector General.

Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, funds appropriated under this title.

(Sec. 301) Sets forth general provisions, including prohibitions on use of funds for: (1) transportation to carry out racial desegregation plans, (2) requiring transporting of students for grade restructuring, school pairing, or school clustering, except for special education students and magnet schools; (3) preventing implementation of programs of voluntary prayer and meditation in public schools; and (4) transfers of funds beyond specified limits.

(Sec. 305) Directs the Comptroller General to evaluate specified aspects of the allocation of funds for programs to help disadvantaged schoolchildren, under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) title I part A.

(Sec. 306) Requires that specified funds for ESEA title VI programs for promoting equity be allocated through States to local educational agencies (LEAs) for programs to reduce class size with fully qualified teachers.

(Sec. 307) Amends the National Educational Statistics Act of 1994 with respect to membership of the National Assessment Governing Board.

(Sec. 308) Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to revise student loan program provisions with respect to: (1) restoration of institutional eligibility to participate; and (2) compensation of auditors and examiners.

(Sec. 310) Amends the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998 to authorize appropriations in necessary amounts through FY 2003 for tribally controlled postsecondary vocational and technical institutions.

(Sec. 311) Provides for perfection of security interests in specified student loans under HEA.

(Sec. 312) Revises deadlines for institutions to lower student loan default rates.

(Sec. 313) Directs the Secretary of Education to transfer a specified amount from the Fund for the Improvement of Education to the Secretary of the Interior for an award to the National Constitution Center for certain construction activities.

(Sec. 314) Revises ESEA with respect to certain character education and programs.

(Sec. 315) Directs the Secretary of Education to review the nursing program operated by Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa, with discretion to waive certain HEA requirements.

(Sec. 316) Revises authorized activities for which States may use incentive grants under the special leveraging educational assistance partnership program under HEA. Prohibits use of such grant funds for administrative costs.

(Sec. 317) Allows grant recipients for student support services projects under HEA to use such funds to provide grant aid to students.

(Sec. 318) Revises HEA provisions relating to the availability of variable rates of interest under student loan programs.

(Sec. 319) Amends the Higher Education Amendments of 1992 to designate certain scholarships for Olympic trainees as B.J. Stupak Olympic Scholarships.

(Sec. 320) Directs the Secretary of Education to release without consideration the reversionary interests retained by the United States as part of the conveyance of certain real property in Marin County, California.

(Sec. 321) Directs the Secretary of Education to allocate specified funds for school repair and renovation and technology activities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to certain entities for specified purposes with certain criteria and conditions.

(Sec. 322) Establishes and authorizes appropriations for a new ESEA program under which the Secretary of Education is to make at least three demonstration grants for innovative methods of assisting charter school facility acquisition, construction, and renovation by enhancing the availability of loans or bond financing.

(Sec. 323) Revises certain formulas under ESEA impact aid programs with respect to: (1) numbers of eligible federally connected children for whom LEAs may receive payments; and (2) determination of average tax rates for general fund purposes for LEAs.

Title IV: Related Agencies - Makes appropriations for FY 2001 to the: (1) Armed Forces Retirement Home; (2) Corporation for National and Community Service; (3) Corporation for Public Broadcasting; (4) Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service; (5) Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission; (6) Office of Library Services; (7) Medicare Payment Advisory Commission; (8) National Commission on Libraries and Information Science; (9) National Council on Disability; (10) National Education Goals Panel; (11) National Labor Relations Board; (12) National Mediation Board; (13) Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission; (14) Railroad Retirement Board for the dual benefits payments account, Federal payments to the railroad retirement accounts, administration, and the Office of Inspector General; (15) Social Security Administration for payments to the social security trust funds, special benefits for disabled coal miners, the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Program, administrative expenses, and the Office of Inspector General; and (16) U.S. Institute of Peace.

Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, funds appropriated under this title.

Title V: General Provisions - Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, funds appropriated under this Act.

(Sec. 505) Prohibits the use of funds appropriated under this Act for programs to distribute sterile needles or syringes for the injection of illegal drugs.

(Sec. 506) Sets forth Buy American requirements.

(Sec. 508) Prohibits funds appropriated under this Act from being expended for abortions or for health benefits coverage that includes coverage of abortion, except in cases where the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest or where a woman suffers from a physical condition that would, as certified by a physician, place her in danger of death unless an abortion is performed.

(Sec. 510) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act for: (1) the creation of a human embryo for research purposes; or (2) research in which a human embryo is destroyed or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death greater than that allowed for research on fetuses in utero under Federal regulations and the Public Health Service Act.

(Sec. 511) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act for activities to promote the legalization of a controlled substance unless there is significant medical evidence of a therapeutic advantage to the use of such substance or that federally-sponsored trials are being conducted to determine such advantage.

(Sec. 515) Amends the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act to apply a certain schedule for the delivery of SSI supplementation payments to months after September 2001 (currently, 2009).

(Sec. 516) Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), acting through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to: (1) enter into cooperative agreements with States and other entities to conduct sentinel surveillance or other special studies to determine the prevalence in various age groups and populations of specific types of human papillomavirus (HPV) in different sites in various U.S. regions through collection of special specimens for HPV using a variety of laboratory-based testing and diagnostic tools; and (2) develop and analyze data from the HPV sentinel surveillance system.

Requires the Secretary, acting through the Centers, to conduct prevention research on HPV.

Directs the Secretary to prepare and distribute educational materials that include information on HPV.

Requires the Secretary to reexamine existing condom labels authorized pursuant to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to determine whether the labels are medically accurate regarding their effectiveness in preventing sexually transmitted diseases.

(Sec. 517) Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to remove the warning label requirement for foods containing saccharin.

Amends the Saccharin Study and Labeling Act to repeal requirements for statements on vending machines regarding saccharin health risks and for the distribution of information on saccharin.

(Sec. 518) Amends title VIII (Special Benefits for Certain World War II Veterans) of the Social Security Act to authorize the Commissioner of Social Security to enter into an agreement with any State that provides cash payments on a regular basis to individuals entitled to benefits under such title under which the Commissioner makes such payments on behalf of the State.

(Sec. 520) Reduces amounts made available under this Act for departmental management for the Departments of Labor, HHS, and Education on a pro rata basis.

Title VI: Assets for Independence - Assets for Independence Act Amendments of 2000 - Amends the Assets for Independence Act (AIA) (which is title IV of the Community Opportunities, Accountability, and Training and Educational Services Act of 1998) to revise various provisions relating to program administration and flexibility in the AIA demonstration program (which is to determine the effects that certain savings accounts called individual development accounts (IDAs) can have on low-income individuals and their families).

Excludes funds attributable to matching contributions by qualified entities from IDA emergency withdrawals.

Includes among eligible grantees low-income credit unions and community development financial institutions.

Revises requirements for withdrawals from IDA accounts for the purchase of a home.

Increases the amount of funds set aside for economic literacy training and administrative costs.

Includes a Federal poverty measure among alternative eligibility criteria.

Declares that funds in an IDA shall be disregarded entirely for purposes of determining eligibility for Federal programs based on need.

Title VII: Physical Education for Progress Act - Physical Education for Progress Act - Amends title X (Programs of National Significance) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants to, and enter into contracts with, local educational agencies (LEAs) to initiate, expand, and improve physical education programs for all kindergarten through 12th grade students.

(Sec. 701) Requires such grants and contracts to be used for providing: (1) equipment and support to enable students to actively participate in physical education activities; and (2) funds for staff and teacher training and education. Requires LEA assistance applications for such assistance to contain plans for helping school physical education programs make progress toward meeting State standards for physical education. Prohibits extracurricular activities such as team sports and Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program activities from consideration as part of the curriculum of a physical education program assisted under this title. Authorizes appropriations.

Title VIII: Early Learning Opportunities - Early Learning Opportunities Act - Provides funds for increasing: (1) availability of early learning programs; and (2) compensation for child care providers.

(Sec. 804) Declares that: (1) no person, including a parent, shall be required to participate in any program of early childhood education, early learning, parent education, or developmental screening under this title; (2) nothing in this title shall be construed to affect the rights of parents otherwise established in Federal, State, or local law; and (3) no entity receiving funds under this title shall be required to provide services under this title through a particular instructional method or in a particular instructional setting.

(Sec. 805) Authorizes appropriations to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

(Sec. 806) Directs the Secretary of HHS and the Secretary of Education to develop mechanisms to resolve administrative and programmatic conflicts between Federal programs that would be a barrier to parents, caregivers, service providers, or children related to the coordination of services and funding for early learning programs.

Requires nonrestrictive use of equipment and supplies for collaborative activities funded under this title and other law providing for Federal child care or early learning programs.

(Sec. 807) Directs the Secretary of HHS to award grants to States to award subgrants to Local Councils to pay the Federal share of the cost of carrying out early learning programs in the locality served by the Local Council.

Sets forth requirements for: (1) uses of funds; (2) duties of Lead State Agencies and of Local Councils; (3) reservations of funds for Indian tribes, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians; (4) State allotments based on numbers of children age four and younger and of such children in families below the poverty line; (5) Federal and State grant administration; (6) State eligibility and preferences for Local Councils, and Local Council preferences for projects; (7) performance goals; and (8) local allocations, applications, and administration.

Title IX: Rural Education Achievement Program - Rural Education Achievement Program - Revises ESEA title X part J subpart 2 to set forth the Rural Education Initiative.

(Sec. 901) Authorizes appropriations for formula grants and competitive grants programs for rural LEAs with small enrollments (less than 600).

Sets forth program requirements for academic achievement assessments and accountability.