Top Legislation - View All

Latest Action: 07/30/2008 - Signed by President.

Bill Text
A bill to provide needed housing reform and for other purposes. 5/8/2008--House agreed to Senate amendment with amendment.    (There are 3 other summaries) American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008 - Title I: FHA Housing Stabilization and Homeownership Retention - FHA Housing Stabilization and Homeownership Retention Act of 2008 - Subtitle A: Homeownership Retention - (Sec. 112) Amends the National Housing Act (NHA) to create the Refinance Program Oversight Board, which shall establish and oversee a program for insuring homeownership retention mortgages. Instructs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to insure any homeownership retention mortgage covering a one- to four-family residence made to pay or prepay outstanding obligations under an existing mortgage on the residence. Sets forth mortgagor eligibility criteria, including mortgagor certification that: (1) the residence is the only residence [...]

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Latest Action: 06/18/2008 - Vetoed by President. (text of veto message: CR H5535)

Bill Text
To provide for the continuation of agricultural and other programs of the Department of Agriculture through fiscal year 2012, and for other purposes. 5/22/2008--Introduced. Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 - Provides for the continuation of agricultural and other programs of the Department of Agriculture through FY2012.Revises agricultural and related programs, including provisions respecting: (1) commodity programs; (2) conservation; (3) trade; (4) nutrition; (5) credit; (6) rural development; (7) research and related matters; (8) forestry; (9) energy; (10) horticulture and organic agriculture; (11) livestock; (12) crop insurance and disaster assistance; (13) socially disadvantaged and limited resource producers; and (14) miscellaneous programs.Directs the President to establish and maintain an importer declaration program with respect to the importation of softwood lumber and softwood lumber products.Establishes the Bill Emerson National Hunger [...]

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Latest Action: 07/16/2008 - Message on House action received in Senate and at desk: House amendment to Senate bill.

Bill Text
A bill to reauthorize and improve the program authorized by the Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965. 8/3/2007--Passed Senate amended.    (There are 2 other summaries) (This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the Senate on May 7, 2007. The summary of that version is repeated here.)Appalachian Regional Development Act Amendments of 2007 - (Sec. 2) Limits the amount of Appalachian regional development grants and loans for projects in at-risk counties to 70% of project costs. Directs the Appalachian Regional Commission to designate as "at-risk" those counties in the Appalachian region that are most at risk of becoming economically distressed.(Sec. 3) Authorizes the Commission to provide technical assistance, provide grants, enter into contracts, or otherwise provide amounts to entities in the region for projects and activities to: (1) promote energy efficiency; and (2) increase the use of renewable [...]

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Latest Action: 07/22/2008 - Committee on Appropriations. Original measure reported to Senate by Senator Johnson. With written report No. 110-428.

Bill Text
An original bill making appropriations for military construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, and for other purposes.
Latest Action: 07/09/2008 - Motion to Discharge Committee filed by Mr. Roskam. Petition No: 110-12. (Discharge petition text with signatures.)

Bill Text
To provide for a standby loan program for certain coal-to-liquid projects.

5/8/2007--Introduced.

Coal Liquid Fuel Act - Amends the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to authorize the Secretary of Energy to enter into: (1) standby loan agreements with up to six qualifying CTL projects, at least one of which shall be owned by two or more small coal producers; and (2) a profit-sharing agreement with the project at the time the standby loan agreement is executed.

Defines "qualifying CTL project" as: (1) a commercial-scale project that converts coal to liquid or gaseous transportation fuels; or (2) not more than one project at a facility that converts petroleum refinery waste products, including petroleum coke, into liquids or gaseous transportation fuels, and demonstrates the capture, sequestration, or disposition of carbon dioxide produced in the conversion process.

Latest Action: 06/26/2008 - Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.

Bill Text
To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide for reimbursement to members of the Armed Forces of tuition for programs of education delayed by military service, for deferment of students loans and reduced interest rates for members of the Armed Forces during periods of military service, and for other purposes. 6/28/2007--Introduced. Veterans Education Tuition Support Act of 2007 or VETS Act of 2007 - Amends the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to require an institution of higher education, whenever a servicemember is called, activated, or ordered to military service and therefore withdraws or takes a leave of absence from such institution, to: (1) refund to the servicemember tuition and other fees paid for the portion of the program of education for which the servicemember did not receive academic credit after such withdrawal or leave; and (2) provide the servicemember an opportunity to reenroll at the institution with the same educational and academic status that [...]

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Latest Action: 07/15/2008 - Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Date of scheduled hearing. SD-366. 10:00 a.m.

Bill Text
A bill to facilitate the participation of private capital and skills in the strategic, economic, and environmental development of a diverse portfolio of clean energy and energy efficiency technologies within the United States, to facilitate the commercialization and market penetration of the technologies, and for other purposes. 3/6/2008--Introduced. Clean Energy Investment Bank Act of 2008 - Establishes the Clean Energy Investment Bank of the United States, which shall be a U.S. agency and a government corporation.Requires the bank to assist in the financing, and facilitate the commercial use, of clean energy and energy efficient technologies within the United States. Authorizes the Bank to make investments: (1) in projects in the United States related to the production or use of energy that use a commercial technology that avoids, reduces, or sequesters one or more air pollutants or anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases more effectively than other technology [...]

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Latest Action: 06/11/2008 - Indefinitely postponed by Senate by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S5530)

Bill Text
To allow for the renegotiation of the payment schedule of contracts between the Secretary of the Interior and the Redwood Valley County Water District, and for other purposes. 6/28/2007--Reported to Senate without amendment.    (There are 2 other summaries) (This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.) Authorizes the Redwood Valley County Water District, California, to enter into additional non-federal obligations necessary to finance procurement of dedicated water rights and improvements needed, if the Secretary of the Interior and the District, as of January 1, 2006, have not renegotiated the schedule of payments for loans made by the United States to the District. Requires: (1) the renegotiated schedule of payments to commence when such additional obligations have been financially satisfied by the District; and (2) the date of the initial payment by the District to the [...]

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Latest Action: 06/12/2008 - Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Hearings held.

Bill Text
A bill to establish the National Infrastructure Bank to provide funding for qualified infrastructure projects, and for other purposes.

8/1/2007--Introduced.

National Infrastructure Bank Act of 2007 - Establishes an independent National Infrastructure Bank to: (1) designate qualified transit, public housing, water, highway, bridge, or road infrastructure projects for loans, loan guarantees, and other financial assistance; and (2) issue general purpose and project-based infrastructure bonds exempt from state and local taxation.

Latest Action: 08/01/2008 - Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Bill Text
To direct the Secretary of Education to make grants to State educational agencies for the modernization, renovation, or repair of public school facilities, and for other purposes. 6/4/2008--Passed House amended.    (There are 2 other summaries) 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act - Title I: Grants for Modernization, Renovation, or Repair of School Facilities - (Sec. 102) Requires the Secretary of Education to make grants to states for the modernization, renovation, or repair of public schools, including public charter schools, to make them safe, healthy, high-performing, and technologically up-to-date. Allocates grant funds among states on the basis of the relative portion of school improvement funds provided to local educational agencies (LEAs) in each state under part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Reserves 1% of the grant funds for assistance to outlying areas and Indian [...]

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Latest Legislation - View All

Latest Action: 07/31/2008 - Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor.

Bill Text
To provide for nondiscrimination by eligible lenders in the Robert T. Stafford Federal Student Loan Program.
Latest Action: 07/22/2008 - Committee on Appropriations. Original measure reported to Senate by Senator Johnson. With written report No. 110-428.

Bill Text
An original bill making appropriations for military construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, and for other purposes.
Latest Action: 06/17/2008 - Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Bill Text
A bill to provide for nondiscrimination by eligible lenders in the Federal Family Education Loan Program.

6/17/2008--Introduced.

Preventing Student Loan Discrimination Act - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to prohibit lenders under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program from receiving special allowance payments (made to such lenders to compensate them for the difference between FFEL interest rates and market rates) if they deny FFELs to eligible borrowers because of their race, sex, color, religion, national origin, age, disability status, income, attendance at a particular school participating in the FFEL program, education program length, or academic year in school.

Latest Action: 05/22/2008 - Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor.

Bill Text
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to expand teacher loan forgiveness. 5/22/2008--Introduced. Teacher Education Assistance Creating Hope for Our Future Act of 2008 or the TEACH for Our Future Act of 2008 - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to expand the loan forgiveness available to public elementary and secondary school teachers under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) and Direct Loan (DL) programs. Makes inapplicable to public school teachers the requirements limiting loan forgiveness to: (1) new borrowers on or after October 1, 1998; and (2) highly qualified teachers in certain schools that serve a high proportion of disadvantaged students. Maintains the requirement that such teachers teach full-time for five consecutive complete school years before becoming eligible for loan forgiveness. Raises to $25,000 the amount of the FFEL or DL outstanding that may be forgiven after a public school teacher's fifth complete school year of teaching.[...]

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