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[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1273 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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.

    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 ``Strengthening America's Bridges 
Act''.

SEC. 2. STRENGTHENING AMERICA'S BRIDGES FUND.

    (a) Strengthening America's Bridges Fund.--
            (1) In general.--There is established in the Treasury of 
        the United States a fund to be known as the ``Strengthening 
        America's Bridges Fund'', consisting of such amounts as may be 
        appropriated to such fund as provided in paragraph (2).
            (2) Transfers to fund.--There is hereby appropriated to the 
        Strengthening America's Bridges Fund an amount equivalent to 
        the increase in revenue received in the Treasury by reason of 
        the amendments made by subsection (b), as determined by the 
        Secretary of the Treasury (or the Secretary's delegate).
            (3) Expenditures from fund.--Amounts in the Strengthening 
        America's Bridges Fund shall be made available by the Secretary 
        of Transportation (referred to in this Act as the 
        ``Secretary'') for the purpose of making grants, in accordance 
        with the requirements of this subsection, to States for the 
        repair or maintenance of any bridges classified as deficient in 
        the National Bridge Inventory, as authorized under section 
        144(b) of title 23, United States Code.
            (4) Selection process.--
                    (A) In general.--The Secretary shall select the 
                recipients of grants awarded under this subsection in 
                accordance with the criteria published under 
                subparagraph (B) and described in paragraph (5).
                    (B) Publication of criteria.--The Secretary shall 
                publish selection criteria for any grants awarded under 
                this subsection not earlier than 60 days after the date 
                of enactment of this Act.
                    (C) Timeline for submission.--Applications for 
                funding made available under this Act shall be 
                submitted not earlier than 120 days after the date on 
                which the criteria are published under subparagraph 
                (B).
                    (D) Deadline for selection.--The Secretary shall 
                select and announce all projects selected under this 
                paragraph not earlier than 60 days after the last day 
                of the submission period described in subparagraph (C).
            (5) Criteria.--In making grants under this subsection, the 
        Secretary shall ensure--
                    (A) an equitable geographic distribution of funds, 
                including an appropriate balance in addressing the 
                needs of urban and rural areas;
                    (B) that not more than 25 percent of the funds made 
                available under this Act are awarded to projects in a 
                single State;
                    (C) that not less than 20 percent of the funds 
                provided under this Act shall be for projects located 
                in rural areas;
                    (D) that for projects located in rural areas, the 
                Secretary may increase the Federal share of costs to 
                more than 80 percent; and
                    (E) that priority is given to projects that require 
                a contribution of Federal funds in order to complete an 
                overall financing package.
            (6) Retention of funds.--The Secretary may retain up to 10 
        percent of the funds made available to the Secretary under 
        paragraph (3), and may transfer portions of those funds to the 
        Administrators of the Federal Highway Administration, to fund 
        the award and oversight of grants made under this subsection.
            (7) Federal share.--Except as provided in paragraph (5)(D), 
        the Federal share of the costs for which an expenditure is made 
        under this subsection shall be, at the option of the recipient, 
        not more than 80 percent.
    (b) Social Security Number Required To Claim the Refundable Portion 
of the Child Tax Credit.--
            (1) In general.--Subsection (e) of section 24 of the 
        Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows:
    ``(e) Identification Requirement With Respect to Qualifying 
Children.--
            ``(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), no credit 
        shall be allowed under this section to a taxpayer with respect 
        to any qualifying child unless the taxpayer includes the name 
        and taxpayer identification number of such qualifying child on 
        the return of tax for the taxable year.
            ``(2) Refundable portion.--Subsection (d)(1) shall not 
        apply to any taxpayer with respect to any qualifying child 
        unless the taxpayer includes the name and social security 
        number of such qualifying child on the return of tax for the 
        taxable year.''.
            (2) Omission treated as mathematical or clerical error.--
        Subparagraph (I) of section 6213(g)(2) of the Internal Revenue 
        Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows:
                    ``(I) an omission of a correct TIN under section 
                24(e)(1) (relating to child tax credit) or a correct 
                Social Security number required under section 24(e)(2) 
                (relating to refundable portion of child tax credit), 
                to be included on a return,''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this subsection shall 
apply to taxable years beginning after the date of the enactment of 
this Act.
                                 <all>
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