See How Your Politicians Voted
Title: Budget Reconciliation Bill
Vote Smart's Synopsis:
Vote to pass a bill that aims to reduce the federal deficit by making changes to tax measures, reducing taxes, and reducing spending in Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, and other programs.
Highlights:
- Allows a tax deduction equal to the total amount paid in cash during the taxable year to an individual's medical savings account.
- Replaces Medicare with the newly-created MediGrant program that gives States block grants to provide medical assistance to needy families and appropriates $95.67 billion for the fiscal year 1996.
- Establishes a uniform retirement age equivalent to the social security retirement age, starting January 1, 1996.
- Directs the Secretary of the Interior to start a program to lease the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and to transport oil and gas from the area.
- Transfers Federal land in California to the State for use as a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility.
- Requires the President to dispose over $1.01 billion worth of cobalt, aluminum, and other materials contained in the National Defense Stockpile over a 7 year period.
- Allows the Secretary of Energy to lease unused space in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve facilities to foreign governments for petroleum storage.
- Repeals price support programs and farmer owned reserve programs for wheat and feed grains.
- Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to enter into 7 year payment contracts with milk producers if the producers comply with animal waste management regulations and wetland protection requirements.
- Sets the price support rate for peanuts at $610 per ton for each of the 1996 through 2002 crops.
- Terminates Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) which are housing programs.
- Repeals the Home Owners' Loan Act as of January 1, 1998.
- Requires each appropriate Federal financial supervisory agency to make an official notice available that lists the type of credit and services they provide to help meet the needs of local communities, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.
- Increases the public debt level to $5.5 trillion.
- Ends funding for governmental direct loans for higher education students.
- Repeals earned income credit for individuals without qualifying children.
- Urges the President to enforce economic sanctions against countries providing assistance to Cuba and to seek a mandatory international embargo against the Cuban government.
- Abolishes the Department of Commerce.
- Prohibits funds appropriated to a State from being used to pay for any abortion or to assist in the purchase of health benefit coverage that includes abortion coverage, unless the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, or if the woman's life is endangered.