Wednesday, September 17, 2003

Bills help church schools, buying American and 10 Commandments

Mac Collins
Congressman

Church Schools

This past week, I had the opportunity to meet with a representative from the Georgia Association of Christian Schools. During our meeting, the representative expressed support for the Equity in Education Act of 2003 (H.R. 872). H.R. 872 would ensure that employees of a church, which sponsors a religious school, can continue to use the qualified tuition reduction on their federal tax return.

While Christian schools have historically been allowed to offer free or reduced tuition rates for church and school employees, an IRS ruling could now restrict that tax-free tuition benefit to school employees only.

H.R. 872 would exempt qualified tuition reduction benefits of church employees from taxation and allow Christian schools to continue to offer free or reduced tuition rates for church and school employees.

Upon hearing these concerns, I was pleased to offer my support and agreed to cosponsor this important legislation. I will continue to support federal legislative efforts that ensure Christian schools and churches are able to provide important educational benefits to families and children.

10 Commandments

This past week, I was proud to reiterate my strong support for protecting the foundation of our nation's legal system, the Ten Commandments. I became a cosponsor of the Ten Commandments Defense Act of 2003 (H.R. 2045). H.R. 2045 would give states the power to decide whether or not to display the Ten Commandments on or within publicly-owned buildings. While this bill would neither mandate nor seek to compel states to display the Ten Commandments, it would protect the right of states that desire to recognize the basis for our nation's laws by displaying the Ten Commandments. H.R. 2045 has been referred to the Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution for consideration.

Buy American

This past week, I and 26 other House members sent a letter to U.S. Senator John Warner (VA), Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, requesting a meeting to discuss a long-term vision and plan to guarantee our ability to develop and produce weapons systems here in the United States.

With growing concerns of a shrinking industrial base here at home, and as the House and Senate meet to reconcile differences in the Fiscal Year 2004 Defense Authorization Bill, House members want to include dedicated "Buy American" provisions in the final conference report of the FY 2004 Defense Authorization Bill.

Such a provision would require the purchase of U.S. manufactured goods for use by our military. The expansion of existing "Buy American" provisions will help to rebuild the U.S. defense industrial base and maintain our military superiority and global leadership.

Additionally, on Wednesday, I voted in support of legislative language to the Fiscal Year 2004 Defense Authorization Bill (H.R. 1588) that would make permanent the increases in the allowance provided for military families separated from their loved ones while the armed services member is serving in a hostile zone.

In previously passed legislation, the family separation allowance was increased from $100 to $250 per month and the imminent danger allowance was increased from $150 to $225 per month. These increases were set to expire and revert back to the original allowances at the end of the fiscal year. The legislative language would support our dedicated troops and families who are sacrificing a great deal for the security of our nation.

Accurate Credit Reporting

On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (H.R. 2622) with my strong support. This legislation improves upon and renews several measures set to expire on the Fair Credit Reporting Act. H.R. 2622 will equip consumers with the tools they need to fight identity theft and to ensure the accuracy of their credit reports while establishing permanent national credit reporting standards.

H.R. 2622 empowers consumers to guard against identity theft by increasing the effectiveness of consumer initiated fraud alerts and enabling consumers to block fraudulent information in their personal credit records.

H.R. 2622 also improves the accuracy of consumer records and the method of resolving consumer disputes, while expanding consumer access to their credit information by giving all the right to review their credit scores and request a free credit report one time a year.

Furthermore, the act simplifies consumers' ability to limit unsolicited offers of credit, and requires credit card issuers to disclose pricing practices when making unsolicited offers to consumers. H.R. 2622 has been referred to the Senate Banking Committee for further consideration.

Congressional Pay

This past week, the House of Representatives passed the Transportation and Treasury Appropriations Bill (HR 2989) by a vote of 381-39 with my support. This bill provides funding for the Department of Transportation and the Department of the Treasury. This was the 13th of 13 total appropriation bills that must be passed by the House each year, prior to the end of the fiscal year in October. Of course, the House-passed bills need to be reconciled with the Senate-passed appropriation bills. Overall, the House continues to move appropriation legislation at a steady pace this year as compared to some past years.

H.R. 2989 will provide funding for highway improvements, critical aviation and transit programs, national anti-drug efforts, as well as important resources for the Office of Terrorist Financing which has played a critical role in our war on terror.

Traditionally, congressional pay is determined through this appropriations bill. I have consistently voted against congressional pay raises in the past and continue to do so today. I voted against the pay raise during a procedural motion prior to debate of the Department of Treasury Appropriations bill.

Unfortunately, the Department of Treasury Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2004 did not include a prohibition on the automatic member pay COLA increase. Furthermore, I have co-sponsored H.R. 31 which would rescind the congressional pay raise and reduce congressional salaries to 2002 salary levels. I have always felt that compensation should not be the motivating force behind serving in Congress.

Additionally, during the debate on H.R. 2989, I voted in favor of an amendment that would protect certain government functions from unnecessary privatization under A-76 provisions. The amendment was passed by a vote of 220 to 198 and was included as part of the final House-passed bill. I have always supported efforts to limit the growth of the federal government and use the best that our private sector has to offer. However, there are some functions that should remain inherently governmental, including certain critical functions of the Department of Defense and Federal Aviation Administration.

China Act

Earlier in the week, I became an original cosponsor of the CHINA Act of 2003 (Currency Harmonization Initiative through Neutralizing Action). Since 1994, China has maintained what it calls a "managed float" exchange rate system pegged to the U.S. dollar. Members of Congress, along with hundreds of manufacturers in districts throughout the country, believe that this practice is illegal and unfair.

Because the Chinese currency has been fixed at about 8.3 yuan to the dollar, China's currency is now significantly undervalued against the dollar. This makes Chinese exports to the U.S. much cheaper and U.S. exports to China much more expensive.

The China Act of 2003 requires the Secretary of the Treasury to analyze whether China is manipulating its currency to achieve an advantage in trade. If manipulation is found, the secretary is directed to levy tariffs in a percent equal to the degree of manipulation in addition to the tariff which already applies.