II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1273 

To establish the Strengthening America’s Bridges Fund, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 11, 2015 

Ms. AYOTTE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To establish the Strengthening America’s Bridges Fund, 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. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening Amer5 ica’s Bridges Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. STRENGTHENING AMERICA’S BRIDGES FUND. 

7 (a) STRENGTHENING AMERICA’S BRIDGES FUND.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is established in the 

9 Treasury of the United States a fund to be known 

10 as the ‘‘Strengthening America’s Bridges Fund’’, 


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1 consisting of such amounts as may be appropriated 

2 to such fund as provided in paragraph (2). 

3 (2) TRANSFERS TO FUND.—There is hereby ap4 propriated to the Strengthening America’s Bridges 

5 Fund an amount equivalent to the increase in rev6 enue received in the Treasury by reason of the 

7 amendments made by subsection (b), as determined 

8 by the Secretary of the Treasury (or the Secretary’s 

9 delegate). 

10 (3) EXPENDITURES FROM FUND.—Amounts in 

11 the Strengthening America’s Bridges Fund shall be 

12 made available by the Secretary of Transportation 

13 (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) for the 

14 purpose of making grants, in accordance with the re15 quirements of this subsection, to States for the re16 pair or maintenance of any bridges classified as defi17 cient in the National Bridge Inventory, as author18 ized under section 144(b) of title 23, United States 

19 Code. 

20 (4) SELECTION PROCESS.— 

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall se22 lect the recipients of grants awarded under this 

23 subsection in accordance with the criteria pub24 lished under subparagraph (B) and described in 

25 paragraph (5). 


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1 (B) PUBLICATION OF CRITERIA.—The Sec2 retary shall publish selection criteria for any 

3 grants awarded under this subsection not ear4 lier than 60 days after the date of enactment 

5 of this Act. 

6 (C) TIMELINE FOR SUBMISSION.—Applica7 tions for funding made available under this Act 

8 shall be submitted not earlier than 120 days 

9 after the date on which the criteria are pub10 lished under subparagraph (B). 

11 (D) DEADLINE FOR SELECTION.—The 

12 Secretary shall select and announce all projects 

13 selected under this paragraph not earlier than 

14 60 days after the last day of the submission pe15 riod described in subparagraph (C). 

16 (5) CRITERIA.—In making grants under this 

17 subsection, the Secretary shall ensure— 

18 (A) an equitable geographic distribution of 

19 funds, including an appropriate balance in ad20 dressing the needs of urban and rural areas; 

21 (B) that not more than 25 percent of the 

22 funds made available under this Act are award23 ed to projects in a single State; 


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1 (C) that not less than 20 percent of the 

2 funds provided under this Act shall be for 

3 projects located in rural areas; 

4 (D) that for projects located in rural areas, 

5 the Secretary may increase the Federal share of 

6 costs to more than 80 percent; and 

7 (E) that priority is given to projects that 

8 require a contribution of Federal funds in order 

9 to complete an overall financing package. 

10 (6) RETENTION OF FUNDS.—The Secretary 

11 may retain up to 10 percent of the funds made 

12 available to the Secretary under paragraph (3), and 

13 may transfer portions of those funds to the Adminis14 trators of the Federal Highway Administration, to 

15 fund the award and oversight of grants made under 

16 this subsection. 

17 (7) FEDERAL SHARE.—Except as provided in 

18 paragraph (5)(D), the Federal share of the costs for 

19 which an expenditure is made under this subsection 

20 shall be, at the option of the recipient, not more 

21 than 80 percent. 

22 (b) SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER REQUIRED TO CLAIM

23 THE REFUNDABLE PORTION OF THE CHILD TAX CRED24 IT.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (e) of section 24 

2 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to 

3 read as follows: 

4 ‘‘(e) IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENT WITH RESPECT

5 TO QUALIFYING CHILDREN.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

7 no credit shall be allowed under this section to a tax8 payer with respect to any qualifying child unless the 

9 taxpayer includes the name and taxpayer identifica10 tion number of such qualifying child on the return 

11 of tax for the taxable year. 

12 ‘‘(2) REFUNDABLE PORTION.—Subsection 

13 (d)(1) shall not apply to any taxpayer with respect 

14 to any qualifying child unless the taxpayer includes 

15 the name and social security number of such quali16 fying child on the return of tax for the taxable 

17 year.’’. 

18 (2) OMISSION TREATED AS MATHEMATICAL OR

19 CLERICAL ERROR.—Subparagraph (I) of section 

20 6213(g)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 

21 amended to read as follows: 

22 ‘‘(I) an omission of a correct TIN under 

23 section 24(e)(1) (relating to child tax credit) or 

24 a correct Social Security number required 

25 under section 24(e)(2) (relating to refundable 


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1 portion of child tax credit), to be included on a 

2 return,’’. 

3 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

4 this subsection shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

5 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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