I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4392

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a credit against 

income for certain education and training expenses, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 19, 2004

Mr. WELLER (for himself, Mrs. BIGGERT, Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. 

HONDA, Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut, and Mr. MANZULLO) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and 

Means 

A BILL

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a 

credit against income for certain education and training 

expenses, 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 ‘‘Technology Retraining 

5 And Investment Now Act of 2004’’ or the ‘‘TRAIN Act 

6 of 2004’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

8 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress hereby finds: 
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1 (1) The value added by workers in the United 

2 States and in other countries is increasingly a func3 tion of the aggregate knowledge acquired by workers 

4 through the aggregate educational and training in5 vestments of both governments and businesses. 

6 (2) The aggregate investment by governments 

7 of many of the United States’s trading partners in 

8 the education and training of knowledge workers in 

9 those countries has exceeded the aggregate per10 worker investment by Federal, State, and local gov11 ernments in the United States. 

12 (3) The disparity is evidenced by the declining 

13 educational performance of students in the United 

14 States compared to their counterparts in other coun15 tries. 

16 (4) In an increasingly global and competitive 

17 marketplace it is becoming increasingly difficult for 

18 United States-based businesses to fund worker edu19 cation and training that is provided at no cost for 

20 similar workers in other countries by their govern21 ments. 

22 (5) The current global workforce environment 

23 creates increasing competitive pressures on domestic 

24 companies to utilize highly educated knowledge 

25 workers in other countries. 
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1 (6) It is in the interest of the United States 

2 government, national security, the preservation of a 

3 strong middle class, and the welfare of our Nation’s 

4 workers to reverse this trend in a fashion that is 

5 consistent with trade obligations and the ability of 

6 domestic companies to compete globally. 

7 (b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to en8 courage businesses and individuals to support the edu9 cational development of knowledge workers in the United 

10 States by providing incentives for information and commu11 nications technology education and training investments, 

12 for workers requiring the use of those skills in professions 

13 such as information or communications technology, engi14 neering, manufacturing and other fields, and for other 

15 purposes. 

16 SEC. 3. CREDIT FOR INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS 

17 TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION AND TRAINING 

18 PROGRAM EXPENSES. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart B of part IV of sub20 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

21 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

22 ‘‘SEC. 30B. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECH23 NOLOGY EDUCATION AND TRAINING PRO24 GRAM EXPENSES. 

25 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There shall be allowed as a 

2 credit against the tax imposed by this chapter for 

3 the taxable year an amount equal to 50 percent of 

4 information and communications technology edu5 cation and training program expenses paid or in6 curred by the taxpayer for the benefit of—

7 ‘‘(A) in the case of a taxpayer engaged in 

8 a trade or business, an employee of the tax9 payer, or 

10 ‘‘(B) in the case of a taxpayer who is an 

11 individual not so engaged, such individual. 

12 ‘‘(2) COORDINATION OF CREDITS.—Credit shall 

13 be allowable to the employer with respect to an em14 ployee only to the extent that the employee assigns 

15 some or all of the limitation applicable to such em16 ployee under subsection (b) to such employer. 

17 ‘‘(b) LIMITATIONS.—

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The amount of expenses 

19 with respect to any individual which may be taken 

20 into account under subsection (a) for the taxable 

21 year shall not exceed $8,000.

22 ‘‘(2) INCREASE IN CREDIT AMOUNT FOR PAR23 TICIPATION IN CERTAIN PROGRAMS AND FOR CER24 TAIN INDIVIDUALS.—Paragraph (1) shall be applied 
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1 by substituting ‘$10,000’ for ‘$8,000’ in the case of 

2 expenses—

3 ‘‘(A) with respect to a program operated—

4 ‘‘(i) in an empowerment zone or en5 terprise community designated under part 

6 I of subchapter U or a renewal community 

7 designated under part I of subchapter X, 

8 ‘‘(ii) in a school district in which at 

9 least 50 percent of the students attending 

10 schools in such district are eligible for free 

11 or reduced-cost lunches under the school 

12 lunch program established under the Na13 tional School Lunch Act, 

14 ‘‘(iii) in an area designated as a dis15 aster area by the Secretary of Agriculture 

16 or by the President under the Disaster Re17 lief and Emergency Assistance Act in the 

18 taxable year or the 4 preceding taxable 

19 years, 

20 ‘‘(iv) in a rural enterprise community 

21 designated under section 766 of the Agri22 culture, Rural Development, Food and 

23 Drug Administration, and Related Agen24 cies Appropriations Act, 1999, 
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1 ‘‘(v) in an area designated by the Sec2 retary of Agriculture as a Rural Economic 

3 Area Partnership Zone, 

4 ‘‘(vi) in an area over which an Indian 

5 tribal government (as defined in section 

6 7701(a)(40)) has jurisdiction, or 

7 ‘‘(vii) by an employer who has 200 or 

8 fewer employees for each business day in 

9 each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the 

10 current or preceding calendar year, or 

11 ‘‘(B) in the case of an individual with a 

12 disability. 

13 ‘‘(c) INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION AND

14 TRAINING PROGRAM EXPENSES.—For purposes of this 

15 section—

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘information 

17 technology education and training program expenses’ 

18 means expenses paid or incurred by reason of the 

19 participation of the taxpayer (or any employee of the 

20 taxpayer) in any information and communications 

21 technology education and training program. Such ex22 penses shall include expenses paid in connection 

23 with—

24 ‘‘(A) course work, 

25 ‘‘(B) certification testing, 
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1 ‘‘(C) programs carried out under the Act 

2 of August 16, 1937 (50 Stat. 664, chapter 663; 

3 29 U.S.C. 50 et seq) which are registered by 

4 the Department of Labor, and 

5 ‘‘(D) other expenses that are essential to 

6 assessing skill acquisition. 

7 ‘‘(2) INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION

8 AND TRAINING PROGRAM.—The term ‘information 

9 technology education and training program’ means a 

10 training program in information and communica11 tions technology workplace disciplines or other skill 

12 sets which is provided in the United States by an ac13 credited college, university, private career school, 

14 postsecondary educational institution, a commercial 

15 information technology provider, or an employer16 owned information technology training organization. 

17 ‘‘(3) COMMERCIAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

18 TRAINING PROVIDER.—The term ‘commercial infor19 mation technology training provider’ means a private 

20 sector organization providing an information and 

21 communications technology education and training 

22 program. 

23 ‘‘(4) EMPLOYER-OWNED INFORMATION TECH24 NOLOGY TRAINING ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘em25 ployer-owned information technology training organi-
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1 zation’ means a private sector organization that pro2 vides information technology training to its employ3 ees using internal training development and delivery 

4 personnel. The training programs must use industry5 recognized training disciplines and evaluation meth6 ods, comparable to institutional and commercial 

7 training providers. 

8 ‘‘(d) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—

9 ‘‘(1) DISALLOWANCE OF OTHER CREDITS AND

10 DEDUCTIONS.—No deduction or credit shall be al11 lowed under any other provision of this chapter for 

12 expenses taken into account in determining the cred13 it under this section. 

14 ‘‘(2) REDUCTION FOR HOPE AND LIFETIME

15 LEARNING CREDITS.—The amount taken into ac16 count under subsection (a) shall be reduced by the 

17 information technology education and training pro18 gram expenses taken into account in determining the 

19 credits under section 25A. 

20 ‘‘(e) CERTAIN RULES MADE APPLICABLE.—For pur21 poses of this section, rules similar to the rules of section 

22 45A(e)(2) and subsections (c), (d), and (e) of section 52 

23 shall apply. 
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1 ‘‘(f) APPLICATION WITH OTHER CREDITS.—The 

2 credit allowed by subsection (a) for any taxable year shall 

3 not exceed the excess (if any) of—

4 (1) the regular tax for the taxable year reduced 

5 by the sum of the credits allowable under the sub6 part A and the previous sections of this subpart, 

7 over 

8 (2) the tentative minimum tax for the taxable 

9 year.’’

10 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

11 for subpart B of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 

12 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by add13 ing at the end the following:

‘‘Sec. 30B. Information and communications technology education 

and training program expenses.’’

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

15 this section shall apply to amounts paid or incurred in tax16 able years beginning after December 31, 2004. 

17 SEC. 4. ELIGIBLE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 25A(f)(2) of the Internal 

19 Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to eligible educational in20 stitution) is amended to read as follows: 

21 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION.—

22 The term ‘eligible educational institution’ means—

23 ‘‘(A) an institution—
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1 ‘‘(i) which is described in section 

2 101(b) or 102(a) of the Higher Education 

3 Act of 1965, and 

4 ‘‘(ii) which is eligible to participate in 

5 a program under title IV of such Act, or 

6 ‘‘(B) a commercial information and com7 munications technology training provider (as 

8 defined in section 30B(c)(3)).’’

9 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The second sen10 tence of section 221(e)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code 

11 of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘section 25A(f)(2)’’ and 

12 inserting ‘‘section 25A(f)(2)(A)’’. 

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

14 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

15 December 31, 2003.

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