Advancing America's Priorities Act

Bill: 110-s-3297
Sponsor: Sen. Reid, Harry [D-NV]
Introduced: 2008-07-22 in the Senate
Policy area: Economics and Public Finance
Subjects: Air pollution control
Alternative energy sources
American investments
Animals
Anniversaries
Appalachia
Appalachian Regional Commission
Archives
Armenia
Arts, Culture, Religion
Authorization
Azerbaijan
Beaches
Broadband
Carbon dioxide
Central Asia
Chesapeake Bay
Child abuse
Child pornography
Child safety
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Civil War
Civil rights enforcement
Climate change and greenhouse gases
Closed caption television
Coastal zone
Commerce
Compensation (Law)
Congress
Congressional oversight
Congressional reporting requirements
Coral reefs
Court reporting
Courts of special jurisdiction
Crime and Law Enforcement
Criminal investigation
Data banks
Debt agreements
Debt relief
Department of Justice
Developing countries
Disabled
Disaster relief
District of Columbia
Down's syndrome
Drug abuse
Economic assistance
Economic stabilization
Education
Educational exchanges
Emergency Management
Employee rights
Employee training
Energy
Environmental Protection
Environmental assessment
Environmental monitoring
Environmental research
Environmental technology
Europe
Eye care
Families
Federal aid to child health services
Federal aid to education
Federal aid to health facilities
Federal aid to law enforcement
Federal aid to transportation
Federal aid to water pollution control
Finance and Financial Sector
Flood control
Flowers
Foreign Trade and International Finance
Forest conservation
Foundations
Government Operations and Politics
Government corporations
Government publicity
Great Lakes
Health
Health information systems
Higher education
History
Homeless
Horticulture
Housing and Community Development
Human rights
International Affairs
International environmental cooperation
International monetary system
Internet
Investment guaranty insurance
Iraq
Iraq compilation
Jews
Labor and Employment
Law
Low-income housing
Maintenance and repair
Maps
Marine and coastal resources, fisheries
Marine ecology
Marine pollution
Marine resources conservation
Maryland
Mass rapid transit
Medical research
Medical statistics
Mental depression
Mental health services
Middle East and North Africa
Money laundering
Museums
Music
National Sea Grant Program
Nervous system diseases
Ocean currents
Oceanography
Overseas Private Investment Corporation
Paralysis
Poland
Pregnancy
Preventive medicine
Primates
Prosecution
Quality of life
Railroad engineering
Railroad finance
Regional economic development
Religion
Runaway children
Scholarships
School security
Science, Technology, Communications
Slavery
Small business
Smithsonian Institution
Social Welfare
Sports and Recreation
State-sponsored terrorism
Strategic planning
Stroke
Students
Taxation
Telemedicine
Terrorism
Torture
Trails
Transportation and Public Works
Tropical forests
Turkey
United Nations finances
Victims of crimes
Virginia
Vocational rehabilitation
War relief
Water Resources Development
Wild animal trade
Women
Women's health

Summary:
action_date: 2008-07-22
text: 
Advancing America's Priorities Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to: (1) establish a system to collect data on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and establish a registry for such data; (2) provide for an education and information campaign to promote stroke prevention; and (3) award grants for a pilot project to improve stroke patient outcomes by coordinating health care delivery through telehealth networks.

Establishes programs for research, rehabilitation, and quality of life for people with paralysis.

Provides for support services to women suffering from postpartum depression and who receive a positive diagnosis of Down syndrome or other prenatally or postnatally diagnosed conditions. 

Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to states to provide vision care for children. 

Amends the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act to expand services for homeless youth and to reauthorize funding for programs under such Act. Requires the Secretary to conduct a national homeless youth awareness campaign.

Provides additional funding to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate and prosecute violations of criminal civil rights statutes that occurred not later than December 31, 1969, and resulted in death. 

Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to reauthorize through FY2014 the grant programs for: (1) adult and juvenile collaboration for access to adequate mental health treatment; and (2) mental health courts. Authorizes the Attorney General to make grants to train law enforcement and campus security personnel to respond appropriately to incidents involving mentally ill individuals.

Expands DOJ's authority to investigate and prosecute child pornography crimes. Extends the program to protect drug-endangered children.

Establishes the Star-Spangled Banner and War of 1812 Commemoration Commission for the national observance of the bicentennial of the War of 1812.

Directs the Attorney General to implement a national strategy for child exploitation prevention and interdiction. Establishes a National Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program to assist law efforcement efforts to protect children against online enticement by sexual predators. Amends the federal criminal code to enhance prohibitions against Internet child pornography.

Amends the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 to add nonhuman primates to the definition of &quot;prohibited wildlife species&quot; for purposes of the prohibition against the sale or purchase of animals in interstate or foreign commerce.

Amends the Chesapeake Bay Initiative Act of 1998 to make permanent the authorization of appropriations for the Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network.

Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to include among eligible grant activities the development and implementation of programs for source tracking, sanitary surveys, and prevention efforts to address the identified sources of beach water pollution.

Extends funding for programs for Appalachian regional development. Reauthorizes the Appalachian Regional Commission through FY2012.

Establishes the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation to promote and support study abroad programs for U.S. students. 

Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to authorize the President to provide assistance for reconstructing and stabilizing a country or region that is in, or is in transition from, conflict or civil strife. Reauthorizes the Overseas Private Investment Corporation through FY 2011. 

Amends the Tropical Forest Conservation Act of 1998 to make forests, coral reefs, and associated coastal marine ecosystem activities eligible for U.S. debt reduction benefits for developing countries. (Currently, such provision applies to tropical forests.).

Amends the Torture Victims Relief Act of 1998 to provide additional assistance to victims of torture. 

Authorizes the Secretary of State to provide assistance to the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. 

Amends the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to revise Federal Communications Commission (FCC) policies for the collection of data on broadband. Authorizes grants to promote the training and placement of closed caption writers. 

Amends the Hydrographic Services Improvement Act of 1998 to authorize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to acquire hydrographic data and provide services to support the conservation and management of coastal and ocean resources.

Establishes a national ocean exploration and underseas research program within NOAA.

Directs the President to establish: (1) a program to develop a federal ocean and coastal mapping plan for the Great Lakes and other coastal areas of the United States; and (2) a national integrated coastal and ocean observation system. 

Directs the Joint Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology of the National Science and Technology Council to: (1) coordinate federal activities on ocean acidification and establish an interagency working group; and (2) develop a strategic plan for federal research and monitoring on ocean acidification. Provides for ocean acidification programs in NOAA and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Authorizes funding over a 10-year period for capital and preventive maintenance projects for the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

Directs the Archivist of the United States to preserve relevant records and establish an electronically searchable national database containing historic records of servitude, emancipation, and post-Civil War reconstruction.

Amends the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to: (1) increase the amount guaranteed to each state under the pre-disaster mitigation program; (2) require other financial assistance under the program to be awarded on a competitive basis; and (3) authorize appropriations for the program through FY2011.

Authorizes the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution to construct a greenhouse facility at its museum support facility in Suitland, Maryland, to maintain its horticultural operations and preserve the orchid collection it holds in trust.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-12-10
text: Motion to proceed to consideration of measure withdrawn in Senate. (consideration: CR S10859)
action_date: 2008-12-10
text: Motion to proceed to consideration of measure resumed in Senate by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S10859)
action_date: 2008-11-20
text: Motion to proceed to consideration of measure made in Senate. (consideration: CR S10702)
action_date: 2008-11-19
text: Motion to proceed to consideration of measure withdrawn in Senate. (consideration: CR S10627)
action_date: 2008-11-19
text: Motion to proceed to measure considered in Senate. (consideration: CR S10627)
action_date: 2008-09-26
text: Motion to proceed to measure considered in Senate by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S9577-9583)
action_date: 2008-09-22
text: Motion to proceed to consideration of measure in Senate. (consideration: CR S9220)
action_date: 2008-09-18
text: Second cloture motion on the motion to proceed to the measure withdrawn by unanimous consent in Senate.
action_date: 2008-09-17
text: Motion to proceed to consideration of measure withdrawn in Senate. (consideration: CR S8934)
action_date: 2008-09-17
text: Second cloture motion on the motion to proceed to the measure presented in Senate. (consideration: CR S8934; text: CR S8934)
action_date: 2008-09-17
text: Motion to proceed to consideration of measure made in Senate. (consideration: CR S8934)
action_date: 2008-07-28
text: Motion to proceed to consideration of measure withdrawn in Senate. (consideration: CR S7554)
action_date: 2008-07-28
text: Cloture on the motion to proceed to the measure not invoked in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 52 - 40. Record Vote Number: 189. (consideration: CR S7551-7552; text: CR S7551-7552)
action_date: 2008-07-28
text: Motion to proceed to measure considered in Senate. (consideration: CR S7545-7554)
action_date: 2008-07-26
text: Cloture motion on the motion to proceed to the measure presented in Senate. (consideration: CR S7509; text: CR S7509)
action_date: 2008-07-26
text: Motion to proceed to consideration of measure made in Senate. (consideration: CR S7509-7511)
action_date: 2008-07-23
text: Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 894.
action_date: 2008-07-22
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 S7032-7075)
action_date: 2008-07-22
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S7032)
action_date: 2008-07-22
text: Introduced in Senate