hyperdemocracy/usc-billstatus huggingface dataset:
A bill to make available funds included in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 program for fiscal year 2006, and for other purposes.

Bill: 109-s-2273
Sponsor: Sen. Snowe, Olympia J. [R-ME]
Introduced: 2006-02-10 in the Senate
Policy area: Social Welfare
Subjects: Appropriations
Congress
Department of Health and Human Services
Economics and Public Finance
Energy
Energy assistance for the poor
Government Operations and Politics
Sunset legislation

Summary:
action_date: 2006-02-10
text: 
 Amends the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 to: (1) advance from FY2007 to FY2006 the fiscal year for which funds are appropriated for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP); and (2) repeal the limitation on such funds as a one-time only obligation and expenditure.
 
Accelerates the termination of such appropriation and related allocations and conditions from September 30, 2007, to September 30, 2006.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2006-02-13
text: Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 361.
action_date: 2006-02-10
text: Introduced in the Senate. Read the first time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under Read the First Time.
action_date: 2006-02-10
text: Introduced in Senate
Foreign Language Training Act of 2006

Bill: 109-s-2274
Sponsor: Sen. Domenici, Pete V. [R-NM]
Introduced: 2006-02-10 in the Senate
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement
Subjects: Building construction
Department of Homeland Security
Education
Educational facilities
Employee training
Federal employees
Federal law enforcement officers
Government Operations and Politics
Labor and Employment
Language and languages
Language arts
New Mexico
Police training
Terrorism

Summary:
action_date: 2006-02-10
text: 
Foreign Language Training Act of 2006 - Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to expand the language arts program at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Artesia, New Mexico, to provide foreign language education training for Department of Homeland Security and federal law enforcement personnel. Authorizes the Secretary to construct a language arts facility at such center.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2006-02-10
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. (text of measure as introduced: CR S1073)
action_date: 2006-02-10
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S1072-1073)
action_date: 2006-02-10
text: Introduced in Senate
Federal Judicial Fairness Act of 2006

Bill: 109-s-2276
Sponsor: Sen. Feinstein, Dianne [D-CA]
Introduced: 2006-02-10 in the Senate
Policy area: Law
Subjects: Cost of living adjustments
Judicial compensation

Summary:
action_date: 2006-02-10
text: 
Federal Judicial Fairness Act of 2006 - Repeals a requirement of federal law limiting salary increases for federal judges or Supreme Court Justices to those specifically authorized by Act of Congress.
 
Amends the federal judicial code to make the cost of living adjustments in judicial salaries effective in the first pay period beginning on or after January 1 each year. (Currently, such adjustments are triggered by General Schedule adjustments.) Prohibits the percentage adjustment taking effect in a calendar year, in any salary rate, from exceeding the adjustment taking effect in such year under General Schedule pay rate requirements.
 
Increases the rate of basic pay for: (1) the Chief Justice of the United States; (2) an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court; (3) a judge of a U.S. circuit court, a district court, and the U.S. Court of International Trade; (4) a bankruptcy judge; and (5) a full-time magistrate judge.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2006-02-10
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (text of measure as introduced: CR S1074)
action_date: 2006-02-10
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S1073-1074)
action_date: 2006-02-10
text: Introduced in Senate
Reconstruction Accountability and Fraud Prevention Act of 2006

Bill: 109-s-2277
Sponsor: Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL]
Introduced: 2006-02-13 in the Senate
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Alabama
Appropriations
Armed Forces and National Security
Congress
Congress and foreign policy
Congressional oversight
Disaster relief
Economics and Public Finance
Emergency Management
Floods
Fraud
Government contractors
Hurricane aftermath legislation
Hurricanes
International Affairs
Iraq
Iraq compilation
Louisiana
Middle East and North Africa
Mississippi
President and foreign policy
War relief
Waste in government spending

Summary:
action_date: 2006-02-13
text: 
Reconstruction Accountability and Fraud Prevention Act of 2005 - Prohibits, except as provided in this Act, any of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act to Meet Immediate Needs Arising From the Consequences of Hurricane Katrina, 2005, by the Second Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act to Meet Immediate Needs Arising From the Consequences of Hurricane Katrina, 2005, or through the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund from being obligated or spent in connection with a contract or covered task order entered into after enactment of this Act with a contractor that, during the previous five years: (1) has been found by an executive agency or any Inspector General to have overcharged or improperly billed the federal government by a total of at least $10 million through one or more overcharges; (2) has been found by such an agency or any Inspector General to have committed one or more fraudulent acts resulting in total costs or losses to the federal government of at least $10 million; or (3) has been suspended or debarred for at least a one-year period under the federal suspension and debarment regulations. Defines &quot;covered task order&quot; to mean a task order valued at more than $10 million entered into pursuant to a contract entered into before this Act's enactment. 
 
Allows the President to waive such restrictions if the President determines that it is in the national security interest of the United States and submits to the appropriate congressional authorities a report describing the reasons for such determination. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2006-02-13
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. (text of measure as introduced: CR S1131)
action_date: 2006-02-13
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S1130-1131)
action_date: 2006-02-13
text: Introduced in Senate
Iran and Syria Nonproliferation Enforcement Act of 2006

Bill: 109-s-2279
Sponsor: Sen. Feingold, Russell D. [D-WI]
Introduced: 2006-02-14 in the Senate
Policy area: International Affairs
Subjects: American investments
Armed Forces and National Security
Congress
Congress and foreign policy
Congressional oversight
Congressional reporting requirements
Economics and Public Finance
Executive orders
Foreign Trade and International Finance
Government Operations and Politics
Government contractors
Government procurement
Government publicity
Grants-in-aid
Iran
Middle East and North Africa
Nuclear nonproliferation
President and foreign policy
Sanctions (International law)
Syria
Weapons of mass destruction

Summary:
action_date: 2006-02-14
text: 
Iran and Syria Nonproliferation Enforcement Act of 2006 - Amends the Iran and Syria Nonproliferation Act respecting the imposition of sanctions under such Act to: (1) apply sanctions for a minimum two-year period; (2) apply sanctions to an identified foreign person, a successor or subsidiary, and an entity controlling more than 50% of such foreign person, successor, or subsidiary (currently, such provision applies only to a foreign person); (3) include among applicable sanctions under Executive Order 12938 certain exemptions for military, medical, or humanitarian purposes; (4) establish investment, financing, and financial assistance prohibitions; and (5) require publication of sanctions applicable to such expanded entities in the Federal Register.
 
Authorizes the President to waive, with congressional notification, the imposition of any sanction for national security purposes.
 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2006-02-14
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
action_date: 2006-02-14
text: Introduced in Senate
STOP FRAUD Act

Bill: 109-s-2280
Sponsor: Sen. Obama, Barack [D-IL]
Introduced: 2006-02-14 in the Senate
Policy area: Housing and Community Development
Subjects: Administrative procedure
Civil actions and liability
Commerce
Consumer credit
Consumer education
Counseling
Crime and Law Enforcement
Criminal investigation
Criminal justice information
Data banks
Department of the Treasury
Economics and Public Finance
Federal aid to housing
Federal aid to law enforcement
Finance and Financial Sector
Fines (Penalties)
Fraud
Government Operations and Politics
Law
Mortgage banks
Mortgages
Real estate appraisal
Science, Technology, Communications
Social Welfare

Summary:
action_date: 2006-02-14
text: 
Stopping Transactions which Operate to Promote Fraud, Risk, and Underdevelopment Act or the STOP FRAUD Act - Amends federal criminal law to make it unlawful for any mortgage professional (as defined by this Act) to execute, or attempt to execute, a scheme or artifice to: (1) defraud any natural person or financial institution in connection with the offer of consumer credit secured by an interest in real property, or in personal property used or expected to be used as a principal dwelling; or (2) falsely obtain any money or property from a natural person in connection with an extension of consumer credit secured by an interest in real property, or in personal property used or expected to be used as the principal dwelling of such natural person.
 
Provides for: (1) fines and/or imprisonment for violations of such provisions; and (2) a private right of action.
 
Includes within the definition of &quot;financial institution&quot; for specified federal monetary transaction provisions the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), mortgage appraisers, real estate accountants, real estate attorneys, real estate brokers, mortgage underwriters, mortgage processors, mortgage settlement and title companies, mortgage brokers, mortgage loan originators, and any other mortgage professional engaged in the mortgage industry.
 
Amends the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 to authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to provide tenants, homeowners, and other consumers with mortgage fraud counseling.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2006-02-14
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
action_date: 2006-02-14
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S1177-1178)
action_date: 2006-02-14
text: Introduced in Senate
Aging with Respect and Dignity Act of 2005

Bill: 109-s-2281
Sponsor: Sen. Santorum, Rick [R-PA]
Introduced: 2006-02-14 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Annuities
Bank accounts
Economics and Public Finance
Employee health benefits
Finance and Financial Sector
Flexible benefit plans
Gift tax
Health
Income tax
Indexing (Economic policy)
Insurance premiums
Labor and Employment
Life insurance
Long-term care
Long-term care insurance
Medical economics
Tax deductions
Tax exclusion
Tax exemption

Summary:
action_date: 2006-02-14
text: 
Aging with Respect and Dignity Act of 2005 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow: (1) cafeteria pension plans and flexible spending arrangements to offer long-term care insurance benefits; (2) a tax deduction, up to $5,000, for contributions to a tax-exempt long-term care account; (3) an exclusion from gross income for distributions from a long-term care account to pay family long-term care expenses; and (4) an exclusion from gross income for the cash surrender value of annuity or life insurance contracts used to purchase long-term care insurance. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2006-02-14
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2006-02-14
text: Introduced in Senate
Medicare Home Health Telehealth Access Act of 2006

Bill: 109-s-2282
Sponsor: Sen. Santorum, Rick [R-PA]
Introduced: 2006-02-14 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Cost control
Home care services
Medical economics
Medical fees
Medicare
Physicians
Science, Technology, Communications
Social Welfare
Telemedicine

Summary:
action_date: 2006-02-14
text: 
Medicare Home Health Telehealth Access Act of 2006 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to revise the current requirements for Medicare coverage of telehealth services under the prospective payment system.
 
Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to treat as a home health visit any telehealth services furnished by a home health agency via a telecommunication system to an individual receiving home health services, if the telehealth services: (1) are ordered as part of a plan of care certified by a physician; (2) (as under current law) do not substitute for in-person home health services ordered as part of a plan of care certified by a physician; and (3) are considered the equivalent of a visit under criteria developed by the Secretary.
 
Directs the Secretary to initiate and carry out projects in a variety of geographic locations that provide incentives to home health agencies to utilize home monitoring and communications technologies that will: (1) enhance health outcomes for individuals enrolled under Medicare parts A and B; and (2) reduce part A and B program expenditures for institutional and other providers, practitioners, and suppliers of health care items and services.
 
Authorizes the Secretary to pay incentive payments to each home health agency participating in a pilot project.
 
Provides that, if the Secretary determines that any of the pilot projects results in decreased federal Medicare expenditures, and maintains or enhances health outcomes for the participating beneficiaries, the Secretary may initiate or extend comparable projects in additional areas.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2006-02-14
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2006-02-14
text: Introduced in Senate
Gift of Life Congressional Medal Act of 2006

Bill: 109-s-2283
Sponsor: Sen. Frist, William H. [R-TN]
Introduced: 2006-02-14 in the Senate
Policy area: Commemorations
Subjects: Awards, medals, prizes
Coins and coinage
Congress
Congressional tributes
Donation of organs, tissues, etc.
Economics and Public Finance
Families
Finance and Financial Sector
Gifts
Government trust funds
Health
Health information systems
Sunset legislation
Transplantation of organs, tissues, etc.

Summary:
action_date: 2006-02-14
text: 
Gift of Life Congressional Medal Act of 2006 - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to design and strike a bronze medal to commemorate organ donors and their families. 
 
Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to direct the entity holding the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network to contract to establish an application procedure and determine eligibility. 
Allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services or the Network contractor to provide duplicates of the medal to any recipient. 
Allows the Secretary of the Treasury to enter into an agreement with the Network contractor to collect funds to offset expenditures relating to the issuance of medals, which the Secretary shall deposit in the Numismatic Public Enterprise Fund.
 



Legislative actions:
action_date: 2006-02-14
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. (text of measure as introduced: CR S1178-1179)
action_date: 2006-02-14
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S1178)
action_date: 2006-02-14
text: Introduced in Senate
Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2006

Bill: 109-s-2284
Sponsor: Sen. Mikulski, Barbara A. [D-MD]
Introduced: 2006-02-14 in the Senate
Policy area: Immigration
Subjects: Admission of nonimmigrants
Alien labor
Aliens
Labor and Employment
Temporary employment
Visas

Summary:
action_date: 2006-02-14
text: 
Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2006 - Amends the Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2005 to extend for three years the annual cap exemption for returning H-2B aliens (temporary nonagricultural worker). 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2006-02-14
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
action_date: 2006-02-14
text: Introduced in Senate
Equality for Two-Parent Families Act of 2006

Bill: 109-s-2286
Sponsor: Sen. Obama, Barack [D-IL]
Introduced: 2006-02-14 in the Senate
Policy area: Social Welfare
Subjects: Aid to dependent children
Cash welfare block grants
Disabled
Economics and Public Finance
Families
Government Operations and Politics
Labor and Employment
Parents
Welfare work participation

Summary:
action_date: 2006-02-14
text: 
Equality for Two-Parent Families Act of 2006 - Amends part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of title IV of the Social Security Act to eliminate the separate work participation rate for two-parent families (thus subjecting all families on TANF to the same rate).
 
Declares that a family that includes a disabled parents shall not be treated as a two-parent family.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2006-02-14
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2006-02-14
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S1179)
action_date: 2006-02-14
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase and permanently extend the expensing of certain depreciable business assets for small businesses.

Bill: 109-s-2287
Sponsor: Sen. Snowe, Olympia J. [R-ME]
Introduced: 2006-02-15 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Commerce
Computer software
Depreciation and amortization
Economics and Public Finance
Income tax
Indexing (Economic policy)
Science, Technology, Communications
Small business
Tax deductions

Summary:
action_date: 2006-02-15
text: 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) increase the expensing allowance for depreciable business property from $100,000 to $200,000; (2) make such allowance permanent; (3) increase to $800,000 the asset cost threshold for calculating reductions in such allowance; (4) allow an annual inflation adjustment to the expensing allowance and the threshold amount after 2007; and (5) allow a taxpayer to revoke an election to expense such business property without the prior consent of the Secretary of the Treasury.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2006-02-15
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (text of measure as introduced: CR S1354)
action_date: 2006-02-15
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S1354)
action_date: 2006-02-15
text: Introduced in Senate
A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to increase the per resident payment floor for direct graduate medical education payments under the Medicare program.

Bill: 109-s-2289
Sponsor: Sen. Bunning, Jim [R-KY]
Introduced: 2006-02-15 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Education
Higher education
Hospital rates
Medical education
Medical residents
Medicare
Social Welfare

Summary:
action_date: 2006-02-15
text: 
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to increase from 85% to100% of the locality adjusted national average per resident amount the payment floor for direct graduate medical education payments under the Medicare program for cost reporting periods begining during or after FY2006.

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2006-02-15
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2006-02-15
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S1359)
action_date: 2006-02-15
text: Introduced in Senate
Reliable and Affordable Natural Gas Energy Reform Act of 2006

Bill: 109-s-2290
Sponsor: Sen. Pryor, Mark L. [D-AR]
Introduced: 2006-02-15 in the Senate
Policy area: Energy
Subjects: Administrative procedure
Administrative remedies
Alabama
Alaska
Animals
Atlantic Ocean
California
Continental shelf
Department of the Interior
Economics and Public Finance
Energy supplies
Environmental Protection
Environmental assessment
Federal-state relations
Florida
Gas in submerged lands
Government Operations and Politics
Government trust funds
Great Lakes
Gulf of Mexico
Law
Marine and coastal resources, fisheries
Marine parks and reserves
Natural gas
Oil and gas leases
Oil and gas royalties
Pacific Ocean
Prospecting
Public Lands and Natural Resources
Revenue sharing
Water Resources Development
Water conservation
Wildlife conservation
Wildlife refuges

Summary:
action_date: 2006-02-15
text: 
Reliable and Affordable Natural Gas Energy Reform Act of 2006 - Amends the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Lands Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to issue a lease for development and production of gas and associated condensate and other hydrocarbon liquids in a moratorium area beginning with the five-year outer Continental Shelf oil and gas leasing program for 2007 through 2012.
 
Revises projected state lines for the subsoil and seabed of the OCS, including artificial islands and fixed structures.
 
Establishes leasing moratoria, until June 30, 2012, for designated areas of the OCS.
 
Authorizes a state governor to request the Secretary to: (1) extend the withdrawal from leasing of any area within the state's Adjacent Zone within 125 miles of its coastline; (2) provide a current estimate of proven and potential natural gas resources that may result in state revenues in any moratorium area adjacent to, or lying seaward of, the state coastline; and (3) make available for leasing any portion of a moratorium area in the Adjacent Zone.
 
Requires the Secretary to notify a neighboring state for its concurrence with or objection to any proposed natural gas lease located within 20 miles of the nearest point on the coastline of such state.
 
Prescribes guidelines for state participation in revenue sharing from moratorium and nonmoratorium areas.
 
Amends the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to repeal the requirement to conduct comprehensive inventory of OCS natural gas resources.
 
Grants the lessee of a natural gas lease within specified areas of the California or Florida Adjacent Zones the option, without compensation, of exchanging the lease for a new natural gas lease having a primary term of five years.
 
Cites circumstances under which the Secretary shall repurchase and cancel any federal natural gas lease in the OCS.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2006-02-15
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2006-02-15
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S1359-1360)
action_date: 2006-02-15
text: Introduced in Senate