hyperdemocracy/usc-billstatus huggingface dataset:
Comprehensive Peace for Sudan Act

Bill: 108-s-2705
Sponsor: Sen. Biden, Joseph R., Jr. [D-DE]
Introduced: 2004-07-21 in the Senate
Policy area: International Affairs
Subjects: Africa
Africa (Sub-Saharan)
Africans
Agriculture and Food
Air routes
Aircraft
Alien property
Arabs
Armed Forces and National Security
Armed forces abroad
Armistices
Arms control
Arms sales
Chad
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Civil War
Civil-military relations
Congress
Congress and foreign policy
Congressional reporting requirements
Crime and Law Enforcement
Crimes against humanity
Criminal investigation
Diplomats
Energy
Ethnic relations
Executive orders
Export controls
Food relief
Foreign Trade and International Finance
Foreign leaders
Genocide
Government Operations and Politics
Government officials
Health
Human rights
Immigration
Import restrictions
International agencies
International relief
Mental health services
Middle East and North Africa
Military transportation
Minorities
Peace negotiations
Peace treaties
Petroleum
Political violence
President and foreign policy
Rape
Refugees
Right to travel
Sanctions (International law)
Sudan
Terrorism
Torture
Transportation and Public Works
United Nations
Victims of crimes
Visas
War crimes
War relief
Women

Summary:
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: 
Comprehensive Peace for Sudan Act - Authorizes the President to provide: (1) humanitarian assistance for Chad and Darfur; and (2) assistance to support a North-South peace agreement in Sudan, contingent upon a continuing certification to the appropriate congressional committees that the Government of Sudan is acting to demobilize the Janjaweed militia, protect civilians, and cooperate with aid workers and the African Union monitoring team.
 
Directs the President to take specified sanctions against Sudan and its officials if Sudan has not taken actions necessary for such certification.
 
Directs the Secretary of State to require the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations to pursue a Security Council Resolution condemning Sudan for its actions in Darfur and calling for: (1) accountability for those responsible for the atrocities in Darfur; and (2) member states of the United Nations to freeze the assets of senior members of the Government of Sudan, cease importing Sudanese oil, restrict the entry or transit of senior members of the Government of Sudan, and cease selling arms to the Government of Sudan.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. (text of measure as introduced: CR S8556-8557)
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Introduced in Senate
Kinship Caregiver Support Act

Bill: 108-s-2706
Sponsor: Sen. Clinton, Hillary Rodham [D-NY]
Introduced: 2004-07-21 in the Senate
Policy area: Families
Subjects: AIDS (Disease)
Adoption
Agriculture and Food
Aid to dependent children
Caregivers
Cash welfare block grants
Child health
Child support
Child welfare
Church and social problems
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Crime and Law Enforcement
Custody of children
Day care
Department of Health and Human Services
Disabled
Drug abuse
Drug abuse prevention
Drug abuse treatment
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Electronic government information
Elementary and secondary education
Family services
Family violence
Federal aid to child health services
Food stamps
Foster home care
Government Operations and Politics
Government paperwork
Government publicity
Grandparents
Grants-in-aid
Guardian and ward
Health
Health insurance
Higher education
Housing and Community Development
Housing subsidies
Human immunodeficiency viruses
Indian children
Information services
Interstate compacts
Labor and Employment
Legal aid
Legal fees
Legal services
Medicaid
Medically uninsured
Mental health services
Metropolitan areas
Minorities
Native Americans
Nonprofit organizations
Old age, survivors and disability insurance
Ombudsman
Parent and child
Parents
Poor children
Prisoners
Public-private partnerships
Religion
Respite care
Science, Technology, Communications
Secondary education
Siblings
Social Welfare
Special education
Students
Supplemental security income program
Telephone
Urban affairs
Vocational and technical education
Web sites
Welfare eligibility

Summary:
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: 
Kinship Caregiver Support Act - Authorizes the Assistant Secretary for Children and Families of the Department of Health and Human Services to make grants for kinship navigator programs to State agencies, metropolitan agencies, or tribal organizations with experience in addressing needs of kinship caregivers or children and connecting them with services and assistance.
 
Amends part E (Federal Payments for Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) of title IV of the Social Security Act to authorize all States to opt to enter agreements to provide kinship guardianship assistance payments on behalf of children to grandparents and other relatives who have assumed legal guardianship of children for whom they have cared as foster parents and have committed to care for on a permanent basis. Allows States to use part E funds to make such payments under specified conditions. 
 
Requires States to: (1) notify all adult grandparents and other adult relatives (with exceptions due to family or domestic violence) when a child is removed from custody of a parent or parents; and (2) explain the options the relative has to participate in the child's care and placement.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S8557-8558)
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to recognize the services of respiratory therapists under the plan of care for home health services.

Bill: 108-s-2707
Sponsor: Sen. Lott, Trent [R-MS]
Introduced: 2004-07-21 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Home care services
Medical fees
Medical personnel
Medicare
Respiratory diseases
Social Welfare

Summary:
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: 
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide for Medicare recognition of the services of respiratory therapists that are furnished as part-time or intermittent nursing care or physical therapy services under a plan of care for home health services. 
 
Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to study and report to Congress on the impact of paying for the services of respiratory therapists as a separate benefit under part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of Medicare, and as an explicit component of the several benefits under part A (Hospital Insurance) of Medicare.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Introduced in Senate
National Strategy for Homeland Security Act of 2004

Bill: 108-s-2708
Sponsor: Sen. Lieberman, Joseph I. [D-CT]
Introduced: 2004-07-21 in the Senate
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement
Subjects: Agriculture and Food
Armed Forces and National Security
Aviation safety
Biological warfare
Boundaries
Chemical warfare
Classified defense information
Computer security measures
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Criminal justice information
Customs administration
EBB Terrorism
Economics and Public Finance
Emergency medicine
Explosives
Federal advisory bodies
Federal-local relations
Federal-state relations
Food safety
Food supply
Foreign Trade and International Finance
Government Operations and Politics
Health
Immigration
Infrastructure
Infrastructure (Economics)
International Affairs
International cooperation
Nuclear terrorism
Performance measurement
Planning-programming-budgeting
Preventive medicine
Research and development
Risk
Science, Technology, Communications
Strategic planning
Terrorism
Transportation and Public Works
Transportation safety
Weapons of mass destruction

Summary:
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: 
National Strategy for Homeland Security Act of 2004 - Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security, under the direction of the President, to develop a National Strategy for Homeland Security for detection, prevention, protection, response, and recovery with regard to terrorist threats to the United States.
 
Requires the Secretary to: (1) submit the Strategy to Congress by December 1st of each year in which a President is inaugurated and to submit an updated version two years thereafter; and (2) provide, in conjunction with the President's budget request, an annual assessment of progress on implementing the Strategy.
 
Sets forth contents of the Strategy, including: (1) threat, vulnerability, and risk assessment and analysis; (2) a statement of desired end-states; (3) an assessment of necessary resources and investments; (4) a delineation of organizational roles and responsibilities across the many entities involved; and (5) an explanation of the relationship between the Strategy and other Federal strategies addressing terrorist threats.
 
Directs the Secretary to establish a nonpartisan, independent Homeland Security Commission to conduct an alternative assessment of the optimal policies and programs to improve homeland security against terrorist threats, including an estimate of the funding required.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs. (text of measure as introduced: CR S8559-8560)
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S8558-8559)
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Introduced in Senate
National Reforestation Act of 2004

Bill: 108-s-2709
Sponsor: Sen. Smith, Gordon H. [R-OR]
Introduced: 2004-07-21 in the Senate
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Agricultural colleges
Agricultural research
Agriculture and Food
Animals
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Emergency Management
Federal aid to education
Federal aid to research
Flood control
Forest fires
Government trust funds
Higher education
Logging
National forests
Pests
Reforestation
Research grants
Science, Technology, Communications
Storms
Tree diseases
Water Resources Development

Summary:
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: 
National Reforestation Act of 2004 - Increases, from $30 to $90 million, the amount that can be transferred to the Reforestation Trust Fund by the Secretary of the Treasury in any fiscal year.
 
Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to obligate sums in the Trust Fund for reforestation treatment to restore appropriate forest cover on forest land derived from the public domain that is capable of growing trees and that is a moderate fire intensity area or high fire intensity area or that has been severely affected by a nonfire natural disturbance event if the need for the treatment is identified in a specified report on herbicides and pesticides and the treatment occurs within five years of: (1) if there is no harvest activity following the wildfire or the nonfire natural disturbance event, a wildfire or a nonfire natural disturbance event; (2) if a regeneration harvest is the final cut in a stand in a disturbed area, the regeneration harvest; or (3) if a salvage harvest is the final cut in a stand in a disturbed area, the salvage harvest.
 
Allows the Secretary of Agriculture, in addition to amounts authorized from the Trust Fund, to obligate up to ten percent of the sums the Secretary expends annually from the Trust Fund to supplement expenditures of the Forest Service to enter into cooperative agreements with colleges and universities to conduct research to promote or enhance reforestation. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2004-09-14
text: Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests. Hearings held. With printed Hearing: S.Hrg. 108-737.
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to revise the amount of minimum allotments under the Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness program.

Bill: 108-s-2713
Sponsor: Sen. Domenici, Pete V. [R-NM]
Introduced: 2004-07-21 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Case management
Community health services
Drug abuse
Drug abuse treatment
Economics and Public Finance
Government Operations and Politics
Grants-in-aid
Homeless
Housing and Community Development
Intergovernmental fiscal relations
Labor and Employment
Mental health services
Mental illness
Social Welfare

Summary:
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: 
Amends the Public Health Service Act to adjust the minimum State allotments for Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness programs to be the greater of the amount otherwise received by the State for FY 2004 or $600,000. (Current law sets forth a minimum allotment of $300,000 per State.) Provides that if the funds appropriated are insufficient for all States to receive the minimum allotment, then States shall receive no less than the amount they received in FY 2004 with additional money spent to give States the minimum of $600,000.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (text of measure as introduced: CR S8560-8561)
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S8560)
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Introduced in Senate
Medicare Prescription Drug Price Reduction Act of 2004

Bill: 108-s-2714
Sponsor: Sen. Daschle, Thomas A. [D-SD]
Introduced: 2004-07-21 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Commerce
Cost control
Drug industry
Finance and Financial Sector
Government Operations and Politics
Health insurance
Health maintenance organizations
Medical economics
Medicare
Prescription pricing
Quality of care
Social Welfare

Summary:
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: 
Medicare Prescription Drug Price Reduction Act of 2004 - Amends part D (Voluntary Prescription Drug Benefit Program) of title IV of the Social Security Act to give the Secretary of Health and Human Services authority to negotiate prices in contracts with manufacturers of covered Medicare part D drugs.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2004-07-23
text: Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 669.
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Introduced in the Senate. Read the first time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under Read the First Time. (text of measure as introduced: CR S8561)
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S8561)
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Introduced in Senate
International Student and Scholar Access Act of 2004

Bill: 108-s-2715
Sponsor: Sen. Coleman, Norm [R-MN]
Introduced: 2004-07-21 in the Senate
Policy area: Immigration
Subjects: Administrative fees
Administrative procedure
Administrative remedies
Admission of nonimmigrants
Aliens
Armed Forces and National Security
Automation
Collection of accounts
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Crime and Law Enforcement
Criminal justice information
Data banks
Department of Homeland Security
Department of State
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Educational exchanges
Electronic data interchange
Electronic government information
Elementary and secondary education
Embassies
Exchange of persons programs
Foreign Trade and International Finance
Foreign students
Foreign trade promotion
Government Operations and Politics
Government paperwork
Government publicity
Graduate education
Higher education
Identification devices
International Affairs
Internet
Law
Science, Technology, Communications
Scientists
Security clearances
Standards
Strategic planning
Visas

Summary:
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: 
International Student and Scholar Access Act of 2004 - Directs the President to submit to specified congressional committees a strategic plan for enhancing international student access to the United States for study and exchange activities.
 
Amends the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to provide for reduced fees in cases of short-term study, under the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). Directs the Secretaries of State and of Homeland Security to report on improving SEVIS fee collection.
 
Expresses the sense of Congress on improving the visa process. Directs the Secretary of State to issue certain guidance on visa processing. 
 
Requires the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to ensure that: (1) FBI databases and systems used in the National Name Check Program are interoperable with the requisite databases and systems at the Department of State; (2) FBI files are automated and a common database is set up between FBI field offices and headquarters; and (3) the FBI has full connectivity to the Consular Consolidated Database through the Open Source Information System.
 
 
 
Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to revise standards for visa evaluations for those having the intention, capability, and financial resources to complete a course of study in the United States.
 



Legislative actions:
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (text of measure as introduced: CR S8563-8565)
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S8561-8563)
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Introduced in Senate
Death Valley National Park Administrative and Visitor Facilities Act of 2004

Bill: 108-s-2716
Sponsor: Sen. Reid, Harry [D-NV]
Introduced: 2004-07-22 in the Senate
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Boundaries
Environmental Protection
Environmental assessment
Federal office buildings
Government Operations and Politics
Land transfers
National parks
Nevada
Oil pollution
Tourism

Summary:
action_date: 2004-07-22
text: Death Valley National Park Administrative and Visitor Facilities Act of 2004 - Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to acquire by donation a specified parcel of land (including improvements to such land) in Nye County, Nevada, for inclusion in Death Valley National Park for use for the development, operation, and maintenance of administrative and visitor facilities for Death Valley National Park.

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2004-07-22
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. (text of measure as introduced: CR S8691-8692)
action_date: 2004-07-22
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S8691)
action_date: 2004-07-22
text: Introduced in Senate
Rural Community Arsenic Relief Act

Bill: 108-s-2717
Sponsor: Sen. Nelson, Ben [D-NE]
Introduced: 2004-07-22 in the Senate
Policy area: Environmental Protection
Subjects: Administrative remedies
Arsenic
Cancer
Cardiovascular diseases
China
Colleges
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Depressed areas
Diabetes
District of Columbia
East Asia
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Environmental Protection Agency
Environmental health
Environmental technology
Federal aid to education
Federal aid to research
Government Operations and Politics
Health
Higher education
Law
Maryland
Medical research
Nebraska
New Mexico
Nonprofit organizations
Potable water
Public health
Public utilities
Radon
Research grants
Science, Technology, Communications
Social Welfare
Standards
Taiwan
Technological innovations
Texas
Toxicology
Uranium
Utah
Water Resources Development
Water pollution control
Water quality

Summary:
action_date: 2004-07-22
text: 
Rural Community Arsenic Relief Act - Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act to require States exercising primary enforcement responsibility for public water systems to exempt any nonprofit small public water system (serving 10,000 or fewer persons) that so requests in accordance with this Act from the requirements of any national primary drinking water regulation for naturally occurring contaminants, including arsenic, radon, radium, and uranium.
 
Requires exemption requests to demonstrate that the system's compliance with applicable national primary drinking water regulations: (1) is not economically feasible; (2) has a disproportionate and adverse impact on low-income families; (3) is substantially impeded by limited access to innovative and affordable technology; or (4) is not necessary because the drinking water provided by the system does not pose an unreasonable health risk. 
 
Sets forth alternative arsenic standards for those systems receiving arsenic exemptions.
 
Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a university-based arsenic research consortium comprised of specified institutions of higher education. Authorizes the Administrator to provide grants to the consortium to carry out its duties.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2004-07-22
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2004-07-22
text: Introduced in Senate
Comprehensive Peace in Sudan Act

Bill: 108-s-2720
Sponsor: Sen. Lugar, Richard G. [R-IN]
Introduced: 2004-07-22 in the Senate
Policy area: International Affairs
Subjects: Africa
Africa (Sub-Saharan)
Africans
Agriculture and Food
Alien property
Arabs
Armed Forces and National Security
Armistices
Arms control
Chad
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Civil War
Civil-military relations
Congress
Congress and foreign policy
Congressional reporting requirements
Crime and Law Enforcement
Crimes against humanity
Criminal investigation
Diplomats
Ethnic relations
Evidence (Law)
Food relief
Foreign Trade and International Finance
Genocide
Government Operations and Politics
Government officials
Health
Human rights
Immigration
International agencies
International relief
Law
Middle East and North Africa
Minorities
Peace negotiations
Peace treaties
Peacekeeping forces
Political violence
President and foreign policy
Prosecution
Rape
Refugees
Repatriation
Sanctions (International law)
Sudan
United Nations
War crimes
War relief
Women

Summary:
action_date: 2004-07-22
text: 
Comprehensive Peace in Sudan Act - Expresses the sense of Congress respecting the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan.
 
Amends the Sudan Peace Act to authorize the President to assist Sudan to support the implementation of a comprehensive peace agreement that applies to all regions of Sudan, including the Darfur region, and to address the humanitarian and human rights crisis in the Darfur region and its impact on eastern Chad, contingent upon a continuing certification to the appropriate congressional committees that the Government of Sudan is acting to: (1) ensure that the armed forces and militias are not committing atrocities or blocking assistance; (2) demobilize militias; (3) protect civilians, and (4) cooperate with aid workers and the African Union monitoring team. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2004-07-22
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. (text of measure as introduced: CR S8701-8703)
action_date: 2004-07-22
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S8701)
action_date: 2004-07-22
text: Introduced in Senate