(2) the future growth of the United States 
economy requires this pro-growth strategy. 
SEC. 102. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING CHINA’S INTEL-
LECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS VIOLATIONS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) United States copyright industries suffer se-
vere losses due to piracy in China. 
(2) Counterfeiting remains pervasive in many 
retail and wholesale markets in China. 
(3) China also maintains market access bar-
riers, which delay entry into China for legitimate 
products and, thus, create commercial opportunities 
for infringing products. 
(4) According to a report by the United States 
International Trade Commission, Chinese piracy and 
counterfeiting of United States software and a wide 
range of other intellectual property cost American 
businesses an estimated $48 billion in 2009. 
(5) The report also concluded that 2.1 million 
jobs could be created in the United States if China 
complied with its current international obligations to 
protect and enforce intellectual property rights. 
(6) The most direct jobs impact would come in 
high-tech and other innovative industries. 
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(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that China’s intellectual property rights violations 
are a problem for our economy. 
TITLE II—TAX REFORM 
SEC. 201. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING TAX REFORM. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Federal tax code is long, complex, anti-
quated, and stifling growth in our economy. 
(2) Comprehensive reform of the Federal tax 
code is needed to get Americans working again and 
our economy back on track. 
(3) Independent economists estimate that, when 
coupled with reduced Federal spending, comprehen-
sive tax reform could lead to the creation of 1 mil-
lion jobs in the first year alone. 
(4) The Internal Revenue Service reports that 
the average person spends more than 13 hours to fill 
out the tax forms. 
(5) A USA Today editorial lampooned the com-
plexity by noting that the instruction booklet for Ap-
ple’s Ipad is one page, while the instruction booklet 
for this year’s IRS 1040 long form is 172 pages. 
(6) The Federal tax system needs to be re-
formed in order for the United States to once again 
be competitive in the international market. 
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(7) The United States has the highest corporate 
tax rate in the industrialized world. 
(8) In 1960, 17 companies headquartered in 
the United States comprised 17 of the world’s larg-
est 20 companies—that’s 85 percent. By 2010, just 
6 companies headquartered in the United States— 
or a mere 30 percent—were ranked among the top 
20. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that reforming the Federal tax code will benefit 
American taxpayers and our economy. 
TITLE III—BALANCED BUDGET 
AMENDMENT 
SEC. 301. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING A BALANCED 
BUDGET AMENDMENT. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that a balanced 
budget amendment would put the United States on a path 
to solvency and help bring stability to the economy. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that Congress needs to pass a balanced budget 
amendment to the United States Constitution and send 
it to the States for ratification. 
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TITLE IV—ENERGY 
SEC. 401. SHORT TITLE. 
This title may be cited as the ‘‘American Energy 
Independence and Price Reduction Act’’. 
SEC. 402. DEFINITIONS. 
In this title: 
(1) COASTAL
PLAIN.—The term ‘‘Coastal 
Plain’’ means that area described in appendix I to 
part 37 of title 50, Code of Federal Regulations. 
(2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’, except 
as otherwise provided, means the Secretary of the 
Interior or the Secretary’s designee. 
SEC. 403. LEASING PROGRAM FOR LANDS WITHIN THE 
COASTAL PLAIN. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall take such ac-
tions as are necessary— 
(1) to establish and implement, in accordance 
with this title and acting through the Director of the 
Bureau of Land Management in consultation with 
the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife 
Service, a competitive oil and gas leasing program 
that will result in an environmentally sound program 
for the exploration, development, and production of 
the oil and gas resources of the Coastal Plain; and 
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(2) to administer the provisions of this title 
through regulations, lease terms, conditions, restric-
tions, prohibitions, stipulations, and other provisions 
that ensure the oil and gas exploration, development, 
and production activities on the Coastal Plain will 
result in no significant adverse effect on fish and 
wildlife, their habitat, subsistence resources, and the 
environment, including, in furtherance of this goal, 
by requiring the application of the best commercially 
available technology for oil and gas exploration, de-
velopment, and production to all exploration, devel-
opment, and production operations under this Act in 
a manner that ensures the receipt of fair market 
value by the public for the mineral resources to be 
leased. 
(b) REPEAL.— 
(1) REPEAL.—Section 1003 of the Alaska Na-
tional Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 (16 
U.S.C. 3143) is repealed. 
(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of 
contents in section 1 of such Act is amended by 
striking the item relating to section 1003. 
(c) COMPLIANCE WITH REQUIREMENTS UNDER CER-
TAIN OTHER LAWS.— 
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(1) COMPATIBILITY.—For purposes of the Na-
tional Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 
1966 (16 U.S.C. 668dd et seq.), the oil and gas 
leasing program and activities authorized by this 
section in the Coastal Plain are deemed to be com-
patible with the purposes for which the Arctic Na-
tional Wildlife Refuge was established, and no fur-
ther findings or decisions are required to implement 
this determination. 
(2) ADEQUACY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE 
INTERIOR’S LEGISLATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT 
STATEMENT.—The 
‘‘Final 
Legislative 
Environ-
mental Impact Statement’’ (April 1987) on the 
Coastal Plain prepared pursuant to section 1002 of 
the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation 
Act of 1980 (16 U.S.C. 3142) and section 102(2)(C) 
of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 
(42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)) is deemed to satisfy the re-
quirements under the National Environmental Policy 
Act of 1969 that apply with respect to prelease ac-
tivities, including actions authorized to be taken by 
the Secretary to develop and promulgate the regula-
tions for the establishment of a leasing program au-
thorized by this title before the conduct of the first 
lease sale. 
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(3) COMPLIANCE WITH NEPA FOR OTHER AC-
TIONS.—Before conducting the first lease sale under 
this title, the Secretary shall prepare an environ-
mental impact statement under the National Envi-
ronmental Policy Act of 1969 with respect to the ac-
tions authorized by this title that are not referred to 
in paragraph (2). Notwithstanding any other law, 
the Secretary is not required to identify nonleasing 
alternative courses of action or to analyze the envi-
ronmental effects of such courses of action. The Sec-
retary shall only identify a preferred action for such 
leasing and a single leasing alternative, and analyze 
the environmental effects and potential mitigation 
measures for those two alternatives. The identifica-
tion of the preferred action and related analysis for 
the first lease sale under this title shall be completed 
within 18 months after the date of enactment of this 
Act. The Secretary shall only consider public com-
ments that specifically address the Secretary’s pre-
ferred action and that are filed within 20 days after 
publication of an environmental analysis. Notwith-
standing any other law, compliance with this para-
graph is deemed to satisfy all requirements for the 
analysis and consideration of the environmental ef-
fects of proposed leasing under this title. 
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(d) RELATIONSHIP TO STATE AND LOCAL AUTHOR-
ITY.—Nothing in this title shall be considered to expand 
or limit State and local regulatory authority. 
(e) SPECIAL AREAS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary, after con-
sultation with the State of Alaska, the city of 
Kaktovik, and the North Slope Borough, may des-
ignate up to a total of 45,000 acres of the Coastal 
Plain as a Special Area if the Secretary determines 
that the Special Area is of such unique character 
and interest so as to require special management 
and regulatory protection. The Secretary shall des-
ignate as such a Special Area the Sadlerochit Spring 
area, comprising approximately 4,000 acres. 
(2) MANAGEMENT.—Each such Special Area 
shall be managed so as to protect and preserve the 
area’s unique and diverse character including its 
fish, wildlife, and subsistence resource values. 
(3) EXCLUSION
FROM
LEASING
OR
SURFACE 
OCCUPANCY.—The Secretary may exclude any Spe-
cial Area from leasing. If the Secretary leases a Spe-
cial Area, or any part thereof, for purposes of oil 
and gas exploration, development, production, and 
related activities, there shall be no surface occu-
pancy of the lands comprising the Special Area. 
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(4) DIRECTIONAL DRILLING.—Notwithstanding 
the other provisions of this subsection, the Secretary 
may lease all or a portion of a Special Area under 
terms that permit the use of horizontal drilling tech-
nology from sites on leases located outside the Spe-
cial Area. 
(f) LIMITATION
ON
CLOSED
AREAS.—The Sec-
retary’s sole authority to close lands within the Coastal 
Plain to oil and gas leasing and to exploration, develop-
ment, and production is that set forth in this title. 
(g) REGULATIONS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary shall pre-
scribe such regulations as may be necessary to carry 
out this title, including rules and regulations relating 
to protection of the fish and wildlife, their habitat, 
subsistence resources, and environment of the Coast-
al Plain, by no later than 15 months after the date 
of enactment of this Act. 
(2) REVISION
OF
REGULATIONS.—The Sec-
retary shall periodically review and, if appropriate, 
revise the rules and regulations issued under sub-
section (a) to reflect any significant biological, envi-
ronmental, or engineering data that come to the Sec-
retary’s attention. 
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SEC. 404. LEASE SALES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Lands may be leased pursuant to 
this title to any person qualified to obtain a lease for de-
posits of oil and gas under the Mineral Leasing Act (30 
U.S.C. 181 et seq.). 
(b) PROCEDURES.—The Secretary shall, by regula-
tion, establish procedures for— 
(1) receipt and consideration of sealed nomina-
tions for any area in the Coastal Plain for inclusion 
in, or exclusion (as provided in subsection (c)) from, 
a lease sale; 
(2) the holding of lease sales after such nomina-
tion process; and 
(3) public notice of and comment on designa-
tion of areas to be included in, or excluded from, a 
lease sale. 
(c) LEASE SALE BIDS.—Bidding for leases under 
this title shall be by sealed competitive cash bonus bids. 
(d) ACREAGE MINIMUM IN FIRST SALE.—In the first 
lease sale under this title, the Secretary shall offer for 
lease those tracts the Secretary considers to have the 
greatest potential for the discovery of hydrocarbons, tak-
ing into consideration nominations received pursuant to 
subsection (b)(1), but in no case less than 200,000 acres. 
(e) TIMING
OF
LEASE
SALES.—The Secretary 
shall— 
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(c) SECRET BALLOT ELECTION REQUIRED.—Section 
9(a) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 
159(a)), is amended— 
(1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(a)’’; 
(2) by inserting after ‘‘designated or selected’’ 
the following: ‘‘by a secret ballot election conducted 
by the National Labor Relations Board in accord-
ance with this section’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(2) The secret ballot election requirement of 
paragraph (1) shall not apply to collective bar-
gaining relationships that were recognized before the 
date of enactment of the Secret Ballot Protection 
Act.’’. 
(d) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 9(c)(1) of 
such Act (29 U.S.C. 159(c)(1)) is amended— 
(1) in subparagraph (A)— 
(A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and that 
their employer declines to recognize their rep-
resentative as the representative defined in sec-
tion 9(a)’’ and inserting ‘‘by a representative’’; 
and 
(B) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘section 
9(a);’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (a),’’; and 
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