I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4110 
To require grants to State and local governments for infrastructure and 
social services needs in the same amount as the amount of relief and 
reconstruction funds provided to Iraq. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 20, 2005 
Mr. EMANUEL (for himself, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. BISHOP of 
New York, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. CLAY, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. 
ETHERIDGE, Mr. FRANK
of Massachusetts, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. 
HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. HOLT, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. LARSON of Con-
necticut, Ms. LEE, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. 
GEORGE MILLER of California, Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota, Mr. NAD-
LER, Mr. OWENS, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Ms. 
SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. STARK, Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi, 
Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, and Mr. WEXLER) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform 
A BILL 
To require grants to State and local governments for infra-
structure and social services needs in the same amount 
as the amount of relief and reconstruction funds provided 
to Iraq. 
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 ‘‘American Parity Act 
of 2005’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Administration has requested and re-
ceived funds for an ongoing multibillion dollar recon-
struction for the Republic of Iraq. 
(2) In fiscal year 2003 and fiscal year 2004, 
approximately $21 billion was appropriated to the 
Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund (‘‘IRRF’’), of 
which $16.6 billion had been obligated and $9.5 bil-
lion had been spent by late July 2005. 
(3) The total projected cost of reconstruction 
through 2007 as estimated by the World Bank, the 
United Nations Development Group, and the Coali-
tion Provisional Authority (‘‘CPA’’), is $55 billion. 
(4) The President has requested some funding 
for fiscal year 2006 to be appropriated to traditional 
foreign aid accounts rather than through the IRRF 
as in the past, making the total cost of reconstruc-
tion less predictable. 
(5) To date, the IRRF has allocated resources 
in Iraq— 
(A) with respect to education— 
(i) to rehabilitate 2,717 schools;
(ii) to train 32,700 secondary school 
teachers and administrators; 
(iii) to distribute hundreds of thou-
sands of desks, chairs, cabinets, chalk-
boards, and kits for primary and secondary 
schools; 
(iv) to install satellite internet access 
and computers at the Ministry of Edu-
cation and all 21 Directorates of Edu-
cation; and 
(v) to edit, print, and distribute more 
than 8.7 million math and science text 
books; 
(B) with respect to medical science— 
(i) to provide potable water for 
400,000 people each day in Basra city and 
170,000 in Kirkuk and Mosul; 
(ii) to vaccinate over 3,000,000 chil-
dren under the age of five and 700,000 
pregnant women; 
(iii) to provide supplementary doses of 
vitamin A for more than 600,000 children 
under two years old; 
(iv) to renovate 110 primary health 
care centers; and
(v) to train 2,000 health educators, 
teachers, religious leaders, and youth to 
mobilize communities on hygiene, diarrhea, 
breast-feeding, nutrition, and immuniza-
tion issues; and 
(C) with respect to technology and infra-
structure— 
(i) to complete 3 major bridges and 
36 detailed bridge assessments; 
(ii) to construct 72 kilometers of new 
railroad track and facilities between the 
Port of Umm Qasr and Shuaiba Junction; 
(iii) to rehabilitate parts of the Sweet 
Water Canal system, including repairing 
breaches and cleaning the main reservoir; 
(iv) to refurbish 14 water treatment 
plants around Basra serving 1.75 million 
people; and 
(v) to conduct marshland restoration 
activities. 
(6) The President’s budget has eliminated or 
reduced domestic spending in many areas where re-
sources have been allocated in Iraq, including— 
(A) eliminating 48 education programs to-
taling $4.3 billion;
(B) reducing spending on student loans by 
$10.7 billion over 10 years; 
(C) cutting Medicaid by $60 billion; 
(D) reducing health professions training 
from $300 million to $89 million; 
(E) cutting funding for Amtrak by $847 
million or 70.2 percent; 
(F) decreasing funding for the Clean 
Water State Revolving Fund by $361 million; 
(G) suspending or canceling 31 Army 
Corps of Engineers projects previously re-
quested by the President and funded by Con-
gress; 
(H) cutting funding for the Environmental 
Protection Agency by $452 million; 
(I) reducing the budget for First Respond-
ers by $1.6 billion; and 
(J) eliminating the Community Develop-
ment Block Grant program, a funding cut of 
$4.6 billion. 
(7) State and local governments in the United 
States have their own unmet infrastructure and so-
cial services needs.
(8) State and local Governments are experi-
encing financial difficulties at a time when a greater 
funding burden is being shifted to them. 
(9) State and local Governments deserve, at a 
minimum, the same level of Federal investment to 
address infrastructure and social services shortfalls 
as the amount of relief and reconstruction funds 
provided to Iraq. 
SEC. 3. FORMULA GRANTS TO STATES AND LOCAL GOVERN-
MENTS. 
(a) PURPOSE.—The Secretary of the Treasury (re-
ferred to in this section as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall in ac-
cordance with this section make grants to States and local 
governments for the purpose of assisting grantees in mak-
ing priority expenditures. 
(b) PRIORITY EXPENDITURES.—For purposes of this 
section, the term ‘‘priority expenditures’’ means only— 
(1) ordinary and necessary maintenance and 
operating expenses for— 
(A) primary, secondary, or higher edu-
cation, including school building renovation; 
(B) public safety; 
(C) public health, including hospitals and 
public health laboratories;
(D) social services for the disadvantaged or 
aged; 
(E) roads, transportation, and water infra-
structure; and 
(F) housing; and 
(2) ordinary and necessary capital expenditures 
authorized by state law. 
(c) ALLOCATION OF GRANTS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 
shall establish a formula for determining the alloca-
tion of grants under subsection (a). The formula 
shall give priority weight to the following factors: 
(A) The unemployment rate in relation to 
the national average unemployment rate. 
(B) The duration of the unemployment 
rate above such average. 
(C) The median income. 
(D) The population. 
(E) The poverty rate. 
(2) LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.—In making grants 
under subsection (a), the Secretary shall ensure that 
not less than one-third of the amount appropriated 
under subsection (f) is made available to local gov-
ernments under the applicable laws of a given State.