I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1050

To establish a living wage, jobs for all policy by instituting overall planning

to develop those living wage job opportunities essential to fulfillment

of basic rights and responsibilities in a healthy democratic society; by

facilitating conversion from unneeded military programs to civilian activities that meet important human needs; by producing a Federal capital

budget through appropriate distinctions between operating and investment outlays; and by reducing poverty, violence, and the undue concentration of income, wealth, and power, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 10, 1999

Ms. LEE (for herself, Mr. BONIOR, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. BROWN

of California, Ms. CARSON, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. CONYERS, Mr.

DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr.

HINOJOSA, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr.

LANTOS, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. MARTINEZ, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Mr. NADLER, Ms. NORTON, Mr. OWENS, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. SANDERS, Ms.

SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. STARK, Mr. TOWNS, Mrs. JONES of

Ohio, Mr. OLVER, and Mr. FILNER) introduced the following bill; which

was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in

addition to the Committees on the Budget, Armed Services, and Rules,

for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case

for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the

committee concerned

A BILL

To establish a living wage, jobs for all policy by instituting

overall planning to develop those living wage job opportunities essential to fulfillment of basic rights and responsibilities in a healthy democratic society; by facilitating
2

•HR 1050 IH

conversion from unneeded military programs to civilian

activities that meet important human needs; by producing a Federal capital budget through appropriate distinctions between operating and investment outlays; and by

reducing poverty, violence, and the undue concentration

of income, wealth, and power, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘A

5 Living Wage, Jobs For All Act’’.

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents is

7 as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

Sec. 2. Findings and declaration of policy.

Sec. 3. Basic rights and responsibilities.

Sec. 4. Overall planning for full employment.

Sec. 5. Joint Economic Committee.

Sec. 6. Authorization of appropriations.

8 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND DECLARATION OF POLICY.

9 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:

10 (1) UNEVEN PROGRESS.—(A) In recent years

11 the income and wealth gaps among individuals in the

12 United States have expanded.

13 (B) Many individuals have become rich or rich14 er, poor individuals have become more numerous,

15 and many individuals depend on two incomes.

16 (C) Localized mass depression appears in the

17 midst of elite opulence, unmet basic needs exist in
3

•HR 1050 IH

1 the midst of unused labor, and there is massive inse2 curity in the United States despite large-scale mili3 tary spending.

4 (D) Although unused labor exists in the United

5 States, unmet basic needs exist in repairing and im6 proving the infrastructure of the Nation, including

7 private industry, public facilities, and human serv8 ices, with special emphasis on the availability of

9 good and affordable education, quality child care,

10 health promotion services, housing, artistic cultural

11 activities, and basic as well as applied research and

12 development.

13 (E) While some individuals enjoy the best

14 health services in the world, many other individuals

15 are without health care or have inadequate or overly

16 expensive health services.

17 (F) While many individuals enjoy higher life

18 and activity expectancy, poor individuals suffer lower

19 levels of life expectancy and higher levels of infant

20 mortality and infectious disease, factors that are ag21 gravated by race.

22 (G) Some individuals live in safe neighborhoods

23 with good housing and public facilities while many

24 others live in bad or over-crowded housing in dan25 gerous neighborhoods without adequate recreational,
4

•HR 1050 IH

1 educational, library, or public transportation facili2 ties.

3 (H) Uncounted individuals, including children,

4 are homeless.

5 (I) The entire country benefits from the edu6 cation provided by many of the best universities in

7 the world, while suffering from some of the worst

8 high school education in the industrial world.

9 (J) Despite the existence of efficient tech10 nologies for improving the environment, all individ11 uals suffer directly or indirectly from dangerous lev12 els of air, water, and soil pollution.

13 (K) Despite discrimination against immigrants

14 and their children, the United States is still the pre15 ferred haven of refuge for victims of oppression in

16 other countries.

17 (2) INSECURE PEOPLE.—(A) Although about

18 10,000,000 new jobs have been created in the

19 United States economy between 1993 and 1996,

20 there are nearly 17,000,000 individuals who want

21 jobs and do not have them or are forced to work

22 part-time because they cannot find full-time employ23 ment.
5

•HR 1050 IH

1 (B) Millions of individuals face the threat of

2 downsizing as the result of mergers, plant closings,

3 or higher labor productivity.

4 (C) New jobs increasingly come at lower wage

5 levels or with few, eroding, or no benefits.

6 (D) So-called welfare reform is increasing the

7 number of job-seekers but not the number of living

8 wage job opportunities.

9 (3) JOB-BASED MILITARY SPENDING.—(A) Bil10 lions of dollars are being spent annually on military

11 programs that have been and are justified less by

12 strategic and tactical military needs than by—

13 (i) the jobs they create; and

14 (ii) the economic health of communities

15 that have become dependent upon the mainte16 nance or expansion of such programs.

17 (B) Careful termination of such contracts, with

18 appropriate protection for workers, contractors, sub19 contractors, and communities could release resources

20 for activities to meet unmet human needs while ad21 vancing the civilian economy.

22 (4) ENTITLEMENT CONFUSIONS.—(A)(i)

23 Among the recipients of corporate welfare, some in24 dividuals have been enlarging their collective entitle25 ments.
6

•HR 1050 IH

1 (ii) This has been done through tax deductions,

2 government guaranteed loans, price supports, mili3 tary contracts and other forms of direct or indirect

4 subsidy.

5 (B)(i) Other individuals have swelled personal

6 entitlements at the expense of taxpayers, sharehold7 ers, employees and local communities.

8 (ii) This has been done through unprecedented

9 increases in salaries, stock options, deferred com10 pensation, and other luxurious benefits.

11 (C) Some beneficiaries of elite entitlements have

12 been supporting attacks on the rights and entitle13 ments of working people, the elderly, racial or ethnic

14 minorities, the jobless, the homeless, poor people,

15 welfare parents, and immigrants.

16 (D) Others have been undermining collective

17 bargaining rights through anti-union propaganda,

18 subcontracting to non-unionized companies, and

19 plant closings.

20 (E) Funds now deposited into the Social Secu21 rity Trust Fund are enormously attractive to those

22 who would like to divert the people’s savings from

23 secure government bonds into the risk-laden stock

24 and bond markets.
7

•HR 1050 IH

1 (5) DEFECTIVE GROWTH.—(A) Recent eco2 nomic growth has been below the levels needed to

3 provide decent employment for a larger and more

4 productive population.

5 (B) As a result, many individuals have been

6 forced into jobs that are underpaid, part-time, tem7 porary, irregular, or lacking in health insurance or

8 other social benefits.

9 (C) Many face the disappearance of career lad10 ders and an ever-present specter of lay-offs.

11 (D) Consumer debt and business bankruptcy

12 have been reaching historic levels.

13 (E) These trends have created deeper and

14 longer term poverty or insecurity, with the con15 sequent loss of personal dignity and self-respect.

16 (F) Among the more obvious symptoms are the

17 fostering of mental depression, family breakdown,

18 child or spousal abuse, and illegal forms of income.

19 (G) Lesser known symptoms have been the in20 crease in the prison population, the exploitation of

21 prison labor, the spread of new hate groups, church

22 bombings, homophobia, and unregulated armed mili23 tias.

24 (H) As a result, an insecurity plague unravels

25 the social fabric of United States society.
8

•HR 1050 IH

1 (6) MISLEADING INFORMATION.—(A) While

2 most individuals are flooded by information over3 loads, much of the information they receive consists

4 of oversimplifications, misinformation or

5 disinformation.

6 (B) By themselves, aggregate measures of na7 tional output or income neglect their disaggregated

8 components, overemphasize monetary data, and ig9 nore the entire world of unpaid volunteer and house10 hold services.

11 (C) Their use tends to nurture the misleading

12 idea that human progress or regress can be rep13 resented by a single overall measurement.

14 (D) Statistical data on employment, unemploy15 ment, prices, education, crime, and health are often

16 based on outmoded concepts that have not been

17 adapted to changing conditions or new capabilities

18 for information collection, processing, and distribu19 tion.

20 (E) Many people misuse averages and other

21 measures of central tendency without attention to

22 frequency distributions and other measures of dis23 persion. The use of a single measure of consumer

24 prices and inflation ignores the long-established fact

25 that poor individuals pay more.
9

•HR 1050 IH

1 (7) LOST LEGACIES.—(A) Few people now re2 member, and many young people never learned, how

3 President Franklin D. Roosevelt started planning for

4 conversion from war to peace by proclaiming a ‘‘sec5 ond Bill of Rights’’.

6 (B) The first principle in this long-forgotten

7 document was ‘‘the right to a useful and remunera8 tive job in the industries or shops or farms or mines

9 of the Nation’’.

10 (C) This right was backed up with seven other

11 human rights: adequate income, adequate medical

12 care, family farming, freedom from monopolies, de13 cent housing, social security, and a good education.

14 (D) These ideals led to law-based entitlements

15 that nurtured high wages, a successful social secu16 rity system, unemployment insurance, other social

17 benefits, collective bargaining, higher productivity

18 and the rising purchasing power needed for private

19 enterprises to earn profits without government sub20 sidy.

21 (8) LIMITATIONS IN MAINSTREAM DIS22 COURSE.—(A) During World War II and the subse23 quent conversion from war to peace, the idea of full

24 employment was widely held.
10

•HR 1050 IH

1 (B) More recently, the full employment ideal

2 has been mistakenly defined as a high level of un3 used labor or regarded as impossible without exces4 sive deficits, inflation or regulations.

5 (C) Discussion of full employment has thus be6 come taboo in mainstream discourse.

7 (D) Something similar has happened with the

8 ideal of decent job opportunities as a human right.

9 (E) In earlier decades this ideal was supported

10 by most religious leaders and articulated, under

11 United States leadership, in many United Nations

12 declarations.

13 (F) More recently, the idea of full employment

14 has also become taboo in mainstream economic dis15 course.

16 (9) GLOBALIZATION.—(A) Transnational cor17 porations have evolved into giant global institutions

18 that control much of the world’s information, assets

19 and money, while often undermining, if not entirely

20 escaping, national and international defenses against

21 the violation of basic human rights and responsibil22 ities.

23 (B) One-third of world trade is transactions

24 among the various units or sub-units of the same or25 ganization.
11

•HR 1050 IH

1 (C) An excessive amount of global financial

2 transactions consists of speculative operations that

3 create no new wealth and thereby divert resources

4 from productive use.

5 (b) DECLARATION OF POLICY.—To help promote the

6 general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to our7 selves and our posterity, the Congress hereby declares the

8 following to be the policy of the Federal government:

9 (1) REAFFIRMING BASIC RIGHTS.—To reaffirm

10 to public discourse the human rights proclaimed by

11 President Roosevelt more than half a century earlier,

12 express them in terms that have been developed in

13 more recent years and, as part of the bridges to the

14 twenty-first century, affirm basic rights regarding

15 personal security, collective bargaining, the environ16 ment, information, and voting.

17 (2) MORE EMPHASIS ON BASIC RESPONSIBIL18 ITIES.—(A) To help root these ideals of living wage

19 jobs for all individuals in explicit recognition of per20 sonal, corporate, and federal responsibilities.

21 (B) These include the continuing responsibility

22 of government of the following:

23 (i) To protect the rights of individuals.

24 (ii) To nurture healthy partnerships among

25 Federal, State, county, and local government
12

•HR 1050 IH

1 agencies, and between government agencies and

2 such private sectors as nonprofit enterprises,

3 labor unions, trade or fraternal associations, re4 ligious groups, and cooperatives.

5 (iii) To update and continuously improve

6 such fundamental laws and procedures as are

7 required for the protection of private property,

8 the functioning of competitive markets, and

9 such limitations on market activities as are nec10 essary to promote the common good by protect11 ing employees, consumers, and the environment.

12 (3) OVERALL DEMOCRATIC PLANNING.—To

13 mandate under law an overall planning process of

14 legislative and executive action to help provide the

15 essential remedies and resources needed to attain

16 and maintain conditions under which all Americans

17 may freely fulfill basic human rights and responsibil18 ities and to help reduce poverty, inequality, and the

19 concentrations of economic and political power.

20 (4) CONGRESSIONAL MONITORING AND INITIA21 TIVES.—To strengthen the constitutional checks and

22 balances by providing continual congressional mon23 itoring of the overall planning process through the

24 activities of the Joint Economic Committee and the
13

•HR 1050 IH

1 requirement of open debate and voting on the An2 nual Economic Policy Resolution.

3 (5) COOPERATIVE INTERNATIONAL LEADER4 SHIP.—To work with individuals and governments of

5 other nations in providing leadership for supporting

6 basic human rights and responsibilities through the

7 provision of sufficient remedies and resources.

8 SEC. 3. BASIC RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES.

9 (a) UPDATING THE 1944 ECONOMIC BILL OF

10 RIGHTS.—The Congress reaffirms the responsibility of the

11 Federal government to implement and, in accordance with

12 current and foreseeable trends, update the statement by

13 President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the State of the Union

14 message of January 11, 1944. The Congress therefore

15 proclaims the following rights as continuing goals of

16 United States public policy:

17 (1) DECENT JOBS.—(A) The right of every

18 adult American to earn decent real wages, to a free

19 choice among opportunities for useful and productive

20 paid employment, or for self-employment.

21 (B) With more full employment at living wages,

22 the economy will be more productive, attain higher

23 levels of responsible and sustainable growth and pro24 vide more Federal revenues even without desirable

25 changes in existing tax laws.
14

•HR 1050 IH

1 (2) INCOME SECURITY FOR INDIVIDUALS UN2 ABLE TO WORK FOR PAY.—(A) Notwithstanding any

3 other provision of law, the right of every adult

4 American truly unable to work for pay to an ade5 quate standard of living that rises with increases in

6 the wealth and productivity of the society.

7 (B) With more full employment at living wages,

8 more individuals will be able to earn a decent living

9 without the help of welfare benefits or other transfer

10 payments.

11 (3) FAMILY FARMING.—(A) The right of every

12 farm family to raise and sell its products at a return

13 which will give it a decent living through the produc14 tion of useful food, with staged incentives for conver15 sion from unhealthy to healthier food or other prod16 ucts, with special attention to production processes

17 that conserve soil and water and reduce pollution.

18 (B) With more full employment at living wages,

19 the market for farm output will be enlarged, with

20 less need for controls over output, or Federal, state,

21 or local support prices or subsidies.

22 (4) FREEDOM FROM MONOPOLIES.—(A) The

23 right of every business enterprise, large and small,

24 to operate in freedom from domination by domestic

25 and foreign monopolies and cartels, and from
15

•HR 1050 IH

1 threats of undesirable mergers or leveraged buy2 outs, and the right of consumers to obtain goods and

3 services at prices that are not determined by monop4 olies, cartels, and price leadership.

5 (B) With more full employment at living wages,

6 more business enterprises will be able to earn profits

7 without monopolistic controls or government welfare

8 and consumers will be able to enjoy lower prices.

9 (5) DECENT HOUSING.—(A) The right of every

10 American to decent, safe, and sanitary housing and

11 community facilities, with adequate maintenance and

12 weatherization, including large-scale rehabilitation of

13 millions of existing buildings, thereby helping to re14 duce overcrowding and the need to build new roads,

15 storm sewers, sewage, and refuse disposal.

16 (B) With more full employment at living wages

17 more people will be able afford adequate housing

18 with less government subsidy.

19 (6) ADEQUATE HEALTH SERVICES.—(A) The

20 right of every American to such widely available

21 health services as may be necessary to promote

22 wellness, extend both life expectancy and activity ex23 pectancy, and reduce mortality and disability

24 through such non-contagious afflictions as cancer,

25 heart disease, stroke, infant mortality, high blood
16

•HR 1050 IH

1 pressure and obesity, and reduce the incidence of

2 contagious diseases.

3 (B) With more full employment at living wages,

4 more tax revenues will be available to help finance

5 expanded health services for a larger and older pop6 ulation.

7 (7) SOCIAL SECURITY.—(A) The right to ade8 quate protection from the economic fears of old age,

9 sickness, accident, and unemployment.

10 (B) With more full employment at living wages

11 and higher levels of responsible growth, more tax

12 revenues will be available to help finance social secu13 rity, medicare, medicaid, unemployment compensa14 tion, and welfare payments.

15 (8) EDUCATION AND WORK TRAINING.—(A)

16 Every individual has a right to opportunities for con17 tinuous learning through free public education, from

18 pre-kindergarten and kindergarten through post19 secondary levels.

20 (B) With more full employment at living wages,

21 more local, state and Federal revenues will be avail22 able to help support education and continuous learn23 ing.

24 (b) EXTENDING THE 1944 ECONOMIC BILL OF

25 RIGHTS.—The Congress proclaims the following addi-
17

•HR 1050 IH

1 tional rights as continuing goals of United States public

2 policy:

3 (1) PERSONAL SECURITY.—The right of every

4 American to personal security against any form of

5 violence, whether in the home, in the workplace, on

6 the streets and highways, in the community or the

7 nation.

8 (2) EMPLOYEE ORGANIZING AND COLLECTIVE

9 BARGAINING.—Notwithstanding any other provision

10 of law, the right of all employees to organize and

11 bargain collectively, to withhold from any form of

12 work or purchasing when necessary to protect such

13 rights, and to receive full diplomatic, economic, and

14 other support from the Federal government in help15 ing make this right effective in other countries and

16 eliminating policies or activities that undermine such

17 rights.

18 (3) SAFE ENVIRONMENTS.—The right of every

19 American to unpolluted breathable air, to potable

20 water available through a reliable and safe water

21 supply, to safety from hazardous materials, and to

22 such international protections as may be needed to

23 facilitate living and working in a safe and sustain24 able physical environment.
18

•HR 1050 IH

1 (4) INFORMATION.—The right of every Amer2 ican to currently available and fully explained infor3 mation on recent and foreseeable trends with respect

4 to sources of pollution and on products and proc5 esses that threaten the health or life of individuals

6 and on employment, unemployment, underemploy7 ment, economic insecurity, poverty, and the distribu8 tion of wealth and income, with detailed attention

9 to various groups in the population and broader pan10 oramic attention to such matters in each region of

11 the world.

12 (5) VOTING.—The right of every American to

13 vote and to seek nomination or election without hav14 ing that right debased by the domination of electoral

15 campaigns by large-scale private financing of cam16 paign operations or by the scheduling of elections

17 during weekdays or in other manners that may

18 interfere with regular working hours.

19 (c) PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.—The Congress

20 hereby recognizes that every person benefiting from the

21 rights set forth in subsections (a) and (b) has a personal

22 responsibility to promote her or his health and wellbeing,

23 rather than relying exclusively on health services by oth24 ers, to provide for appropriate care to the best of their

25 abilities of children and elderly parents, to protect the en-
19

•HR 1050 IH

1 vironment, to work productively, to vote, to involve herself

2 or himself in public concerns and in ongoing education and

3 training, to speak out against corruption or injustice, and

4 to cooperate with others in promoting the nonviolent han5 dling of inevitable conflicts in the household, the work6 place, the community and elsewhere.

7 (d) CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY.—

8 (1) REPORTS TO THE SECURITIES AND EX9 CHANGE COMMISSION.—To help implement the rec10 ognition of the most responsible corporations and

11 encourage more responsible behavior by other cor12 porations, each corporation registered with the Secu13 rities and Exchange Commission shall include in the

14 annual reports filed with the Commission a full and

15 fair disclosure of information regarding the impact

16 of their activities in the United States and other

17 countries on environmental quality and on the rights

18 of other stakeholders, including employees, consum19 ers, and communities.

20 (2) REPORTS BY STATE-CHARTERED CORPORA21 TIONS.—To help implement the recognition of the

22 most responsible corporations and encourage move23 ment in this direction by other corporations, a State

24 shall not be entitled to receive any Federal grants or

25 enter into any Federal contracts unless the State
20

•HR 1050 IH

1 has initiated a time-phased program to require that

2 all State-chartered corporations submit annual re3 ports that include full and fair disclosure of informa4 tion regarding the impact of their activities in this

5 or other countries on environmental quality and on

6 the rights of other stakeholders, including employ7 ees, consumers, and communities.

8 (3) RECOGNITION OF MOST RESPONSIBLE COR9 PORATIONS.—Because some profit-seeking corpora10 tions have managed their enterprises with recogni11 tion not only of the rights of stockholders and chief

12 executives, but also with responsible action toward

13 environmental quality and the rights of other stake14 holders, including employees, consumers, and com15 munities, the Secretary of Labor, in cooperation

16 with the Director of the Environmental Protection

17 Agency, shall identify those corporations that have

18 gone the furthest in exercising such responsibilities

19 and recommend to the President a special annual

20 award to those chief executives and boards of direc21 tors that have made the greatest progress in this di22 rection.

23 (4) COMPUTER REGISTRATION OF CORPORATE

24 CRIMES.—
21

•HR 1050 IH

1 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General,

2 with the assistance of business leaders and or3 ganizations, shall establish an ongoing comput4 erized registration program of all corporations

5 that are found guilty of violating a Federal or

6 State law. The register shall set forth—

7 (i) the nature of each violation;

8 (ii) the names of the members of the

9 board and principal officers of the corpora10 tion at the time of the violation;

11 (iii) the penalties imposed; and

12 (iv) the extent to which penalties were

13 reduced or avoided by consent decrees, plea

14 bargains, and no contest pleas or tax de15 ductions.

16 (B) REGISTRATION NONCOMPLIANCE.—In

17 the absence of clear and convincing evidence of

18 rehabilitation, the President may deny Federal

19 contracts, loans, or loan guarantees to corpora20 tions that fail to comply with this section.

21 (e) RESPONSIBILITY OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.—

22 (1) POSITIVE RESPONSIBILITIES.—Each Fed23 eral agency and commission, including the Board of

24 Governors of the Federal Reserve System, has the

25 responsibility to plan and carry out its policies, pro-
22

•HR 1050 IH

1 grams, projects, and budgets in a manner designed

2 to help establish and maintain conditions under

3 which all Americans may freely exercise the respon4 sibilities and rights recognized in this Act.

5 (2) PROHIBITION.—Each such Federal agency

6 or commission shall not directly or indirectly pro7 mote economic recession, stagnation, or unemploy8 ment as a means of reducing wages, salaries, or in9 flation.

10 SEC. 4. OVERALL PLANNING FOR FULL EMPLOYMENT.

11 (a) GOALS.—As a part of the annual submission of

12 the budget of the United States Government for the fol13 lowing fiscal year pursuant to section 1105 of title 31,

14 United States Code, the President shall establish a frame15 work for such budget that meets the following goals:

16 (1) QUALITY OF LIFE AND ENVIRONMENT.—

17 The goal of improving the quality of life and envi18 ronmental conditions in the United States by the

19 year 2000 and the first decade of the 21st century,

20 including establishing and maintaining conditions

21 under which the rights and responsibilities recog22 nized in section 3 may be fully exercised.

23 (2) GOALS FOR RESPONSIBLE AND SUSTAIN24 ABLE GROWTH.—The goal of responsible and sus25 tainable annual growth of at least 3 percent, after
23

•HR 1050 IH

1 correction for price changes, in gross domestic out2 put.

3 (3) REDUCING OFFICIALLY MEASURED UNEM4 PLOYMENT.—The goal of reducing officially meas5 ured unemployment to the interim goal of at least

6 3 percent for individuals who have attained the age

7 of 20 and at least 4 percent for individuals who have

8 attained the age of 16 but have not attained the age

9 of 20, as set forth in the Full Employment and Bal10 anced Growth Act of 1978.

11 (4) SUPPORTING INTERNATIONAL HUMAN

12 RIGHTS DECLARATIONS.—The goal of implementa13 tion of the ideals set forth in the Employment Act

14 of 1946, the Full Employment and Balanced Growth

15 Act of 1978, the Charter of the United Nations, the

16 Charter of the Organization of American States, the

17 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Inter18 national Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the

19 International Covenant on Economic, Social and

20 Cultural Rights, the International Convention

21 Against All Forms of Racism, the International Con22 vention Against Discrimination of Women, and the

23 International Convention on the Rights of the Child.

24 (b) A FULL EMPLOYMENT MINIMUM.—The frame25 work for the annual budget established under subsection
24

•HR 1050 IH

1 (a) shall also include, as a basic minimum of activities

2 needed to achieve conditions under which Americans may

3 better fulfill basic human rights and responsibilities, spe4 cific legislative proposals, budgets, and executive policies

5 and initiatives such as the following:

6 (1) CONVERSION FROM MILITARY TO CIVILIAN

7 ECONOMY.—The establishment of the following:

8 (A) The establishment of a conversion

9 planning fund, to be administered under the

10 guidance of the Secretary of Defense and the

11 Secretary of Labor, to include not less than 1

12 percent of the amount appropriated for military

13 purposes during each subsequent year for the

14 purpose of promoting and activating short- and

15 long-term plans for coping with declines in mili16 tary activities by developing specific policies,

17 programs and projects (including feasibility

18 studies, education, training and inducements

19 for whatever increased labor mobility may be

20 necessary) for the expansion of economic acti21 vates in non-military sectors.

22 (B) The recognition of the right of all

23 businesses with terminated military contracts to

24 fair reimbursement for the work already com25 pleted by such businesses, including quick ad-
25

•HR 1050 IH

1 vance payments on initial claims, adequate ter2 mination payments for released employees, and

3 conversion assistance for communities pre4 viously dependent on such contracts.

5 (2) TRUTH IN BUDGETS.—The establishment of

6 policies and initiatives that—

7 (A) make distinctions between operating

8 and investment outlays as such outlays regu9 larly appear in the budgets of business organi10 zations and state and local governments;

11 (B) present outlays of the military in

12 terms not only of Department of Defense out13 lays but also of all other forms of military relat14 ed spending;

15 (C) provide for the development of a tax

16 expenditure budget, as defined in the Congres17 sional Budget Act of 1974, that is presented

18 not only in a separately published special analy19 sis but also incorporated into the general reve20 nue provisions of the budget and accompanied

21 by estimates of the benefits sought and thus far

22 obtained by such planned losses of tax revenue;

23 and
26

•HR 1050 IH

1 (D) express any debt and deficit data in

2 constant as well as current United States dol3 lars.

4 (3) IMPROVED INDICATORS OF PROGRESS AND

5 REGRESS.—(A) The establishment of procedures for

6 the collecting, processing, and making publicly avail7 able improved indicators of recent, current and fore8 seeable trends with respect to—

9 (i) health, life expectancy, activity expect10 ancy, morbidity and disability in the United

11 States;

12 (ii) employment, unemployment, under13 employment, and economic insecurity data;

14 (iii) indices of job security, family security,

15 and the ratio of job applicants to job openings

16 in the United States;

17 (iv) poverty in the sense of both absolute

18 deprivation and relative deprivation;

19 (v) the distribution of wealth and income

20 in the United States;

21 (vi) the sources of pollution, products and

22 processes that threaten the health or life of peo23 ple in the United States; and
27

•HR 1050 IH

1 (vii) the kinds, quantity, and quality of un2 paid services in homes, households, and neigh3 borhoods, including volunteer activities.

4 (B) In establishing the procedures under sub5 paragraph (A), emphasis shall be placed on distin6 guishing among the various groups in the population

7 of the United States and on trends with respect to

8 such matters in other countries.

9 (4) ANTI-INFLATION POLICIES.—The establish10 ment of policies and initiatives for preventing or con11 trolling inflationary tendencies through a full battery

12 of standby policies, including public controls over

13 price fixing through monopolistic practices or re14 straint of trade, the promotion of competition and

15 productivity, and wage-price policies arrived at

16 through tripartite business-labor-government co17 operation.

18 (5) LOWER REAL INTEREST RATES.—The es19 tablishment of policies and initiatives to enlarge em20 ployment opportunities through reductions in real

21 interest rates.

22 (6) PUBLIC WORKS AND SERVICES.—The estab23 lishment of policies and initiatives for including pro24 visions in Federal grant programs and other assist25 ance programs to encourage the planning and fulfill-
28

•HR 1050 IH

1 ment of public works and public services planning by

2 town, city, county and State governments projects—

3 (A) to improve the quality of life for all

4 people in the area;

5 (B) to renovate, and to the extent desir6 able, enlarge the decaying infrastructure of

7 public facilities and services required for pro8 ductive, efficient, and profitable enterprise;

9 (C) to utilize the wasted labor power, and

10 nurture the creative energies of, those suffering

11 from joblessness and poverty; and

12 (D) to have contracts awarded competi13 tively to smaller as well as larger business en14 terprises or such other private sector units as

15 non-profit enterprises, labor unions, coopera16 tives, neighborhood corporations or other vol17 untary associations.

18 (7) INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC POLICY.—The

19 establishment of policies and initiatives to make any

20 future financial support for the International Mone21 tary Fund and the International Bank for Recon22 struction and Development to be conditioned on de23 velopment and implementation of certain policies

24 and procedures by such institutions, including the

25 protection of employees’ right to organize as will
29

•HR 1050 IH

1 help raise the living standards of those people with

2 the lowest levels of income and wealth, thereby pro3 moting such higher levels of wages and salaries in

4 such countries as will provide larger markets for

5 their own industries and for imports of goods and

6 services from the United States.

7 (8) INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES ON UNEM8 PLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT.—The estab9 lishment of policies and initiatives—

10 (A) to begin working toward the prompt

11 initiation of a series of international and re12 gional conferences through the United Nations

13 on alternative methods of reducing involuntary

14 unemployment, underemployment, and poverty;

15 and

16 (B) to organize, through the Department

17 of Labor, planning seminars and other sessions

18 in preparation for a worldwide conference and

19 convention of independent labor unions.

20 (9) REDUCTIONS IN HOURS.—The establish21 ment of policies and initiatives to provide for

22 phased-in actions for reductions in the length of the

23 work year through longer paid vacations, the elimi24 nation of compulsory overtime, curbing excessive

25 overtime through an increase in the premium to tri-
30

•HR 1050 IH

1 ple time on all hours in excess of 40 hours in any

2 week, exempting administrative, executive, and pro3 fessional employees from the overtime premium only

4 if their salary levels are three times the annual value

5 of the minimum wage, reducing the average work

6 week in manufacturing and mining to no more than

7 35 hours without any corresponding loss in weekly

8 wages, and voluntary work-sharing arrangements.

9 (10) PART-TIME EMPLOYMENT WITH SOCIAL

10 BENEFITS.—The establishment of policies and initia11 tives to increase the opportunities for freely-chosen

12 part-time employment, with social security and

13 health benefits, to meet the needs of older people,

14 students, individuals with disabilities, and individ15 uals with housekeeping and child care responsibil16 ities.

17 (11) INSURANCE PROTECTION FOR PENSION

18 FUND INVESTMENTS.—The establishment of policies

19 and initiatives to encourage more private and public

20 investment in those areas of localized depression in

21 which people suffer from massive joblessness, over22 crowded schools, overcrowded housing, inadequate li23 brary and transportation facilities, violence and so24 cial breakdown by—
31

•HR 1050 IH

1 (A) promoting comprehensive plans for

2 raising the quality of life through expanded

3 small business activity, middle income housing

4 (including rehabilitation) and improvements in

5 private and public infrastructure;

6 (B) encouraging private, Federal, state

7 and local pension funds to invest a substantial

8 portion of their resources in projects approved

9 in accordance with such plans; and

10 (C) protecting the beneficiaries of such

11 funds by whatever insurance guarantees may be

12 needed to eliminate the risks involved by enter13 ing areas not normally regarded as profitable

14 by banks and other investors.

15 (12) OTHER MATTERS.—The establishment of

16 policies and initiatives to present and continuously

17 adjust proposals, budgets and executive policies and

18 initiatives on taxation, social security, health care,

19 child care, public education, training and retraining,

20 the arts and humanities, basic and applied science,

21 housing, public transportation, military conversion,

22 environmental protection, agriculture, enforcement

23 of anti-monopoly laws, public financing of election

24 campaigns, crime prevention, punishment and reha-
32

•HR 1050 IH

1 bilitation, and such other matters as may be nec2 essary to fulfill the objectives of this Act.

3 SEC. 5. JOINT ECONOMIC COMMITTEE.

4 (a) MONITORING OF ACTIONS UNDER THIS ACT.—

5 In addition to its responsibilities under the Employment

6 Act of 1946, the Joint Economic Committee shall monitor

7 all actions taken or proposed to be taken to carry out the

8 purposes under this Act.

9 (b) REPORT.—The Joint Economic Committee shall

10 prepare and submit to the Congress, and publish in the

11 Federal Register, an annual report containing a summary

12 of the findings of the Committee with respect to the ac13 tions monitored under subsection (a) for the preceding

14 year, with special attention to the extent to which the

15 President and Federal agencies have faithfully executed

16 or may have failed to faithfully execute the provisions of

17 this Act and fulfill their obligations under international

18 covenants and conventions.

19 (c) CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON ECONOMIC POL20 ICY.—Not later than July 1 of each year the Joint Eco21 nomic Committee shall submit to the Senate and the

22 House of Representatives a Concurrent Resolution on

23 Economic Policy setting forth both in aggregate terms and

24 in detail its proposed goals for employment by type of em25 ployment, with special attention to hours, wages, and so-
33

•HR 1050 IH

1 cial benefits, and for reducing unemployment, under2 employment, and poverty in urban, suburban and rural

3 areas. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, these

4 goals shall serve as the framework for any concurrent res5 olutions on the Federal budget.

6 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

7 There are hereby authorized to be appropriated such

8 sums as may be necessary for operating and investment

9 expenses to implement the policies, programs and projects

10 set forth in accordance with this Act.

Æ