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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Technology Retraining 
And Investment Now Act of 2004’’ or the ‘‘TRAIN Act 
of 2004’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress hereby finds:
(1) The value added by workers in the United 
States and in other countries is increasingly a func-
tion of the aggregate knowledge acquired by workers 
through the aggregate educational and training in-
vestments of both governments and businesses. 
(2) The aggregate investment by governments 
of many of the United States’s trading partners in 
the education and training of knowledge workers in 
those countries has exceeded the aggregate per-
worker investment by Federal, State, and local gov-
ernments in the United States. 
(3) The disparity is evidenced by the declining 
educational performance of students in the United 
States compared to their counterparts in other coun-
tries. 
(4) In an increasingly global and competitive 
marketplace it is becoming increasingly difficult for 
United States-based businesses to fund worker edu-
cation and training that is provided at no cost for 
similar workers in other countries by their govern-
ments. 
(5) The current global workforce environment 
creates increasing competitive pressures on domestic 
companies to utilize highly educated knowledge 
workers in other countries.
(6) It is in the interest of the United States 
government, national security, the preservation of a 
strong middle class, and the welfare of our Nation’s 
workers to reverse this trend in a fashion that is 
consistent with trade obligations and the ability of 
domestic companies to compete globally. 
(b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to en-
courage businesses and individuals to support the edu-
cational development of knowledge workers in the United 
States by providing incentives for information and commu-
nications technology education and training investments, 
for workers requiring the use of those skills in professions 
such as information or communications technology, engi-
neering, manufacturing and other fields, and for other 
purposes. 
SEC. 3. CREDIT FOR INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS 
TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION AND TRAINING 
PROGRAM EXPENSES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart B of part IV of sub-
chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986 is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 30B. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECH-
NOLOGY EDUCATION AND TRAINING PRO-
GRAM EXPENSES. 
‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There shall be allowed as a 
credit against the tax imposed by this chapter for 
the taxable year an amount equal to 50 percent of 
information and communications technology edu-
cation and training program expenses paid or in-
curred by the taxpayer for the benefit of—
‘‘(A) in the case of a taxpayer engaged in 
a trade or business, an employee of the tax-
payer, or 
‘‘(B) in the case of a taxpayer who is an 
individual not so engaged, such individual. 
‘‘(2) COORDINATION OF CREDITS.—Credit shall 
be allowable to the employer with respect to an em-
ployee only to the extent that the employee assigns 
some or all of the limitation applicable to such em-
ployee under subsection (b) to such employer. 
‘‘(b) LIMITATIONS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The amount of expenses 
with respect to any individual which may be taken 
into account under subsection (a) for the taxable 
year shall not exceed $8,000.
‘‘(2) INCREASE IN CREDIT AMOUNT FOR PAR-
TICIPATION IN CERTAIN PROGRAMS AND FOR CER-
TAIN INDIVIDUALS.—Paragraph (1) shall be applied
by substituting ‘$10,000’ for ‘$8,000’ in the case of 
expenses—
‘‘(A) with respect to a program operated—
‘‘(i) in an empowerment zone or en-
terprise community designated under part 
I of subchapter U or a renewal community 
designated under part I of subchapter X, 
‘‘(ii) in a school district in which at 
least 50 percent of the students attending 
schools in such district are eligible for free 
or reduced-cost lunches under the school 
lunch program established under the Na-
tional School Lunch Act, 
‘‘(iii) in an area designated as a dis-
aster area by the Secretary of Agriculture 
or by the President under the Disaster Re-
lief and Emergency Assistance Act in the 
taxable year or the 4 preceding taxable 
years, 
‘‘(iv) in a rural enterprise community 
designated under section 766 of the Agri-
culture, Rural Development, Food and 
Drug Administration, and Related Agen-
cies Appropriations Act, 1999,
‘‘(v) in an area designated by the Sec-
retary of Agriculture as a Rural Economic 
Area Partnership Zone, 
‘‘(vi) in an area over which an Indian 
tribal government (as defined in section 
7701(a)(40)) has jurisdiction, or 
‘‘(vii) by an employer who has 200 or 
fewer employees for each business day in 
each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the 
current or preceding calendar year, or 
‘‘(B) in the case of an individual with a 
disability. 
‘‘(c) INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION AND 
TRAINING PROGRAM EXPENSES.—For purposes of this 
section—
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘information 
technology education and training program expenses’ 
means expenses paid or incurred by reason of the 
participation of the taxpayer (or any employee of the 
taxpayer) in any information and communications 
technology education and training program. Such ex-
penses shall include expenses paid in connection 
with—
‘‘(A) course work, 
‘‘(B) certification testing,
‘‘(C) programs carried out under the Act 
of August 16, 1937 (50 Stat. 664, chapter 663; 
29 U.S.C. 50 et seq) which are registered by 
the Department of Labor, and 
‘‘(D) other expenses that are essential to 
assessing skill acquisition. 
‘‘(2) INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY
EDUCATION 
AND
TRAINING
PROGRAM.—The term ‘information 
technology education and training program’ means a 
training program in information and communica-
tions technology workplace disciplines or other skill 
sets which is provided in the United States by an ac-
credited college, university, private career school, 
postsecondary educational institution, a commercial 
information technology provider, or an employer-
owned information technology training organization. 
‘‘(3) COMMERCIAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 
TRAINING PROVIDER.—The term ‘commercial infor-
mation technology training provider’ means a private 
sector organization providing an information and 
communications technology education and training 
program. 
‘‘(4) EMPLOYER-OWNED
INFORMATION
TECH-
NOLOGY TRAINING ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘em-
ployer-owned information technology training organi-
zation’ means a private sector organization that pro-
vides information technology training to its employ-
ees using internal training development and delivery 
personnel. The training programs must use industry-
recognized training disciplines and evaluation meth-
ods, comparable to institutional and commercial 
training providers. 
‘‘(d) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—
‘‘(1) DISALLOWANCE OF OTHER CREDITS AND 
DEDUCTIONS.—No deduction or credit shall be al-
lowed under any other provision of this chapter for 
expenses taken into account in determining the cred-
it under this section. 
‘‘(2) REDUCTION
FOR
HOPE
AND
LIFETIME 
LEARNING
CREDITS.—The amount taken into ac-
count under subsection (a) shall be reduced by the 
information technology education and training pro-
gram expenses taken into account in determining the 
credits under section 25A. 
‘‘(e) CERTAIN RULES MADE APPLICABLE.—For pur-
poses of this section, rules similar to the rules of section 
45A(e)(2) and subsections (c), (d), and (e) of section 52 
shall apply.
‘‘(f) APPLICATION WITH OTHER CREDITS.—The 
credit allowed by subsection (a) for any taxable year shall 
not exceed the excess (if any) of—
(1) the regular tax for the taxable year reduced 
by the sum of the credits allowable under the sub-
part A and the previous sections of this subpart, 
over 
(2) the tentative minimum tax for the taxable 
year.’’
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
for subpart B of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by add-
ing at the end the following:
‘‘Sec. 30B. Information and communications technology education 
and training program expenses.’’
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to amounts paid or incurred in tax-
able years beginning after December 31, 2004. 
SEC. 4. ELIGIBLE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 25A(f)(2) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to eligible educational in-
stitution) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION.—
The term ‘eligible educational institution’ means—
‘‘(A) an institution—
‘‘(i) which is described in section 
101(b) or 102(a) of the Higher Education 
Act of 1965, and 
‘‘(ii) which is eligible to participate in 
a program under title IV of such Act, or 
‘‘(B) a commercial information and com-
munications technology training provider (as 
defined in section 30B(c)(3)).’’
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The second sen-
tence of section 221(e)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code 
of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘section 25A(f)(2)’’ and 
inserting ‘‘section 25A(f)(2)(A)’’. 
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 
December 31, 2003.
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