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more serious for minority households; for example,
60 percent of African-American households have no
or negative financial assets.
(3) Nearly 50 percent of all children in America
live in households that have no assets available for
investment, including 40 percent of Caucasian chil-
dren and 73 percent of African-American children.
(4) Up to 20 percent of all United States
households do not deposit their savings in financial
institutions and, thus, do not have access to the
basic financial tools that make asset accumulation
possible.
(5) Public policy can have either a positive or
a negative impact on asset accumulation. Traditional
public assistance programs based on income and
consumption have rarely been successful in sup-
porting the transition to economic self-sufficiency.
Tax policy, through $288,000,000,000 in annual tax
incentives, has helped lay the foundation for the
great middle class.
(6) Lacking an income tax liability, low-income
working families cannot take advantage of asset de-
velopment incentives available through the Federal
tax code.
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(7) Individual Development Accounts have prov-
en to be successful in helping low-income working
families save and accumulate assets. Individual De-
velopment Accounts have been used to purchase
long-term, high-return assets, including homes, post-
secondary education and training, and small busi-
ness.
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that the Federal tax code should support a signifi-
cant expansion of Individual Development Accounts so
that millions of low-income, working families can save,
build assets, and move their lives forward; thus, making
positive contributions to the economic and social well-
being of the United States, as well as to its future.
SEC. 16. FEDERAL FIRE PREVENTION ASSISTANCE.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:
(1) Increased demands on firefighting and
emergency medical personnel have made it difficult
for local governments to adequately fund necessary
fire safety precautions.
(2) The Government has an obligation to pro-
tect the health and safety of the firefighting per-
sonnel of the United States and to ensure that they
have the financial resources to protect the public.
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(3) The high rates in the United States of
death, injury, and property damage caused by fires
demonstrates a critical need for Federal investment
in support of firefighting personnel.
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that the Government should support the core oper-
ations of the Federal Emergency Management Agency by
providing needed fire grant programs to assist our fire-
fighters and rescue personnel as they respond to more
than 17,000,000 emergency calls annually. To accomplish
this task, Congress supports preservation of the Assist-
ance to Firefighters grant program. Continued support of
the Assistance to Firefighters grant program will enable
local firefighters to adequately protect the lives of count-
less Americans put at risk by insufficient fire protection.
SEC. 17. SALES TAX DEDUCTION.
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds that—
(1) in 1986 the ability to deduct State sales
taxes was eliminated from the Federal tax code;
(2) the States of Tennessee, Texas, Wyoming,
Washington, Florida, Nevada, and South Dakota
have no State income tax;
(3) the citizens of those seven States continue
to be treated unfairly by paying significantly more in
taxes to the Government than taxpayers with an
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identical profile in different State because they are
prohibited from deducting their State sales taxes
from their Federal income taxes in lieu of a State
income tax;
(4) the design of the Federal tax code is pref-
erential in its treatment of States with State income
taxes over those without State income taxes;
(5) the current Federal tax code infringes upon
States’ rights to tax their citizens as they see fit in
that the Federal tax code exerts unjust influence on
States without State income taxes to impose one
their citizens;
(6) the current surpluses that our Government
holds provide an appropriate time and opportunity
to allow taxpayers to deduct either their State sales
taxes or their State income taxes from their Federal
income tax returns; and
(7) over 50 Members of the House have cospon-
sored legislation to restore the sales tax deduction
option to the Federal tax code.
(b) SENSE OF HOUSE.—It is the sense of the House
of Representatives that the Committee on Ways and
Means should consider legislation that makes State sales
tax deductible against Federal income taxes.
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SEC. 18. FUNDING FOR GRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION
AT CHILDREN’S TEACHING HOSPITALS
It is the sense of Congress that:
(1) Function 550 of the President’s budget
should include an appropriate level of funding for
graduate medical education conducted at inde-
pendent children’s teaching hospitals in order to en-
sure access to care by millions of children nation-
wide.
(2) An emphasis should be placed on the role
played by community health centers in underserved
rural and urban communities. An increase in fund-
ing for community health centers should not come at
the expense of the Community Access Program.
Both programs should be funded adequately, with
the intention of doubling funding for increased ca-
pacity for community health centers, in addition to
keeping the Community Access Program operational.
(3) The medicare program should emphasize
such preventive medical services as those provided by
vision rehabilitation professionals in saving Govern-
ment funds and preserving the independence of a
growing number of seniors in the coming years.
(4) Funding under function 550 should also re-
flect the importance of the Ryan White CARE Act
to persons afflicted with HIV/AIDS. Funds allocated
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from the CARE Act serve as the safety net for thou-
sands of low-income people living with HIV/AIDS
who reside in metropolitan areas but are ineligible
for entitlement programs. Moreover, the CARE Act
provides critically needed grants directly to existing
community-based clinics and public health providers
to develop and deliver both early and ongoing com-
prehensive services to persons with HIV/AIDS.
SEC. 19. CONCURRENT RETIREMENT AND DISABILITY BEN-
EFITS TO RETIRED MEMBERS OF THE ARMED
FORCES.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that the Secretary of
Defense is the appropriate official for evaluating the exist-
ing standards for the provision of concurrent retirement
and disability benefits to retired members of the Armed
Forces and the need to change these standards.
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that—
(1) the Secretary of Defense should report to
the congressional committees of jurisdiction on the
provision of concurrent retirement and disability
benefits to retired members of the Armed Forces;
(2) the report should address the number of in-
dividuals retired from the Armed Forces who would
otherwise be eligible for disability compensation, the
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comparability of the policy to Office of Personnel
Management guidelines for civilian Federal retirees,
the applicability of this policy to prevailing private
sector standards, the number of individuals poten-
tially eligible for concurrent benefits who receive
other forms of Federal assistance and the cost of
that assistance, and alternative initiatives that would
accomplish the same end as concurrent receipt of
military retired pay and disability compensation;
(3) the Secretary of Defense should submit leg-
islation that he considers appropriate; and
(4) upon receiving such report, the committees
of jurisdiction, working with the Committees on the
Budget of the House and Senate, should consider
appropriate legislation.
Union Calendar No. 17
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. CON. RES. 83
[Report No. 107–26]
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Establishing the congressional budget for the
United States Government for fiscal year 2002,
revising the congressional budget for the United
States Government for fiscal year 2001, and set-
ting forth appropriate budgetary levels for each
of fiscal years 2003 through 2011.
MARCH 23, 2001
Referred to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed