American Parity Act of 2005 - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to make grants to states and local governments for assistance in making priority expenditures. Defines priority expenditures as ordinary and necessary maintenance and operating expenses for: (1) primary, secondary, or higher education; (2) public safety; (3) public health; (4) social services for the disadvantaged or aged; (5) roads, transportation, and water infrastructure; and (6) housing, as well as ordinary and necessary capital expenditures authorized by state law. Requires at least one third of grant amounts to be made available to local governments.
[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4110 Introduced in House (IH)]
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4110
To require grants to State and local governments for infrastructure and
social services needs in the same amount as the amount of relief and
reconstruction funds provided to Iraq.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 20, 2005
Mr. Emanuel (for himself, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Delahunt, Mr. Bishop of New
York, Mr. Allen, Mr. Boucher, Mr. Clay, Mr. Costello, Mr. Etheridge,
Mr. Frank of Massachusetts, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr.
Holt, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Ms. Lee, Mr. McGovern,
Mrs. Maloney, Mr. Meehan, Mr. George Miller of California, Ms. McCollum
of Minnesota, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Owens, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Payne, Mr. Ryan
of Ohio, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Slaughter, Mr. Stark, Mr. Taylor of
Mississippi, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, and Mr. Wexler) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government
Reform
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require grants to State and local governments for infrastructure and
social services needs in the same amount as the amount of relief and
reconstruction funds provided to Iraq.
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 ``American Parity Act of 2005''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) The Administration has requested and received funds for
an ongoing multibillion dollar reconstruction for the Republic
of Iraq.
(2) In fiscal year 2003 and fiscal year 2004, approximately
$21 billion was appropriated to the Iraq Relief and
Reconstruction Fund (``IRRF''), of which $16.6 billion had been
obligated and $9.5 billion had been spent by late July 2005.
(3) The total projected cost of reconstruction through 2007
as estimated by the World Bank, the United Nations Development
Group, and the Coalition Provisional Authority (``CPA''), is
$55 billion.
(4) The President has requested some funding for fiscal
year 2006 to be appropriated to traditional foreign aid
accounts rather than through the IRRF as in the past, making
the total cost of reconstruction less predictable.
(5) To date, the IRRF has allocated resources in Iraq--
(A) with respect to education--
(i) to rehabilitate 2,717 schools;
(ii) to train 32,700 secondary school
teachers and administrators;
(iii) to distribute hundreds of thousands
of desks, chairs, cabinets, chalkboards, and
kits for primary and secondary schools;
(iv) to install satellite internet access
and computers at the Ministry of Education and
all 21 Directorates of Education; and
(v) to edit, print, and distribute more
than 8.7 million math and science text books;
(B) with respect to medical science--
(i) to provide potable water for 400,000
people each day in Basra city and 170,000 in
Kirkuk and Mosul;
(ii) to vaccinate over 3,000,000 children
under the age of five and 700,000 pregnant
women;
(iii) to provide supplementary doses of
vitamin A for more than 600,000 children under
two years old;
(iv) to renovate 110 primary health care
centers; and
(v) to train 2,000 health educators,
teachers, religious leaders, and youth to
mobilize communities on hygiene, diarrhea,
breast-feeding, nutrition, and immunization
issues; and
(C) with respect to technology and infrastructure--
(i) to complete 3 major bridges and 36
detailed bridge assessments;
(ii) to construct 72 kilometers of new
railroad track and facilities between the Port
of Umm Qasr and Shuaiba Junction;
(iii) to rehabilitate parts of the Sweet
Water Canal system, including repairing
breaches and cleaning the main reservoir;
(iv) to refurbish 14 water treatment plants
around Basra serving 1.75 million people; and
(v) to conduct marshland restoration
activities.
(6) The President's budget has eliminated or reduced
domestic spending in many areas where resources have been
allocated in Iraq, including--
(A) eliminating 48 education programs totaling $4.3
billion;
(B) reducing spending on student loans by $10.7
billion over 10 years;
(C) cutting Medicaid by $60 billion;
(D) reducing health professions training from $300
million to $89 million;
(E) cutting funding for Amtrak by $847 million or
70.2 percent;
(F) decreasing funding for the Clean Water State
Revolving Fund by $361 million;
(G) suspending or canceling 31 Army Corps of
Engineers projects previously requested by the
President and funded by Congress;
(H) cutting funding for the Environmental
Protection Agency by $452 million;
(I) reducing the budget for First Responders by
$1.6 billion; and
(J) eliminating the Community Development Block
Grant program, a funding cut of $4.6 billion.
(7) State and local governments in the United States have
their own unmet infrastructure and social services needs.
(8) State and local Governments are experiencing financial
difficulties at a time when a greater funding burden is being
shifted to them.
(9) State and local Governments deserve, at a minimum, the
same level of Federal investment to address infrastructure and
social services shortfalls as the amount of relief and
reconstruction funds provided to Iraq.
SEC. 3. FORMULA GRANTS TO STATES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.
(a) Purpose.--The Secretary of the Treasury (referred to in this
section as the ``Secretary'') shall in accordance with this section
make grants to States and local governments for the purpose of
assisting grantees in making priority expenditures.
(b) Priority Expenditures.--For purposes of this section, the term
``priority expenditures'' means only--
(1) ordinary and necessary maintenance and operating
expenses for--
(A) primary, secondary, or higher education,
including school building renovation;
(B) public safety;
(C) public health, including hospitals and public
health laboratories;
(D) social services for the disadvantaged or aged;
(E) roads, transportation, and water
infrastructure; and
(F) housing; and
(2) ordinary and necessary capital expenditures authorized
by state law.
(c) Allocation of Grants.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 30 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish a
formula for determining the allocation of grants under
subsection (a). The formula shall give priority weight to the
following factors:
(A) The unemployment rate in relation to the
national average unemployment rate.
(B) The duration of the unemployment rate above
such average.
(C) The median income.
(D) The population.
(E) The poverty rate.
(2) Local governments.--In making grants under subsection
(a), the Secretary shall ensure that not less than one-third of
the amount appropriated under subsection (f) is made available
to local governments under the applicable laws of a given
State.
(d) Application for Grant.--A grant may be made under subsection
(a) only if an applicant for the grant is submitted to the Secretary
and the application is in such form, is made in such manner, and
contains such agreements, assurances, and information as the Secretary
determines to be necessary to carry out this section.
(e) Authorization of Appropriation.--For the purpose of making
grants under subsection (a), there is authorized to be appropriated to
the Secretary for fiscal year 2007 an amount equal to at least the
total amount appropriated for fiscal year 2006 in supplemental
appropriation Acts, and other appropriation Acts, for the
reconstruction of Iraq. Amounts appropriated under the preceding
sentence shall be in addition to, and not in lieu of, other amounts
appropriated for payments to States and local governments.
<all>
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H8517)
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Government Reform.
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