The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“AMENDMENTS SUBMITTED” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the Senate section on pages S2138-S2139 on March 17, 1998.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
AMENDMENTS SUBMITTED
______
THE PARENT AND STUDENT SAVINGS ACCOUNT PLUS ACT
______
CONRAD AMENDMENT NO. 2016
(Ordered to lie on the table.)
Mr. CONRAD submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill (S. 1133) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow tax-free expenditures from education individual retirement accounts for elementary and secondary school expenses and to increase the maximum annual amount of contributions to such accounts; as follows:
On page 11, strike lines 5 through 10, and insert the following:
(d) Modification of Adjusted Gross Income Limitation.--Section 530(c)(1) (relating to reduction in permitted contributions based on adjusted gross income) is amended to read as follows:
``(1) In general.--In the case of a contributor who is an individual, the maximum amount the contributor could otherwise make to an account under this section shall be reduced by an amount which bears the same ratio to such maximum amount as--
``(A) the excess of--
``(i) the contributor's modified adjusted gross income for such taxable year, over
``(ii) $60,000 ($80,000 in the case of a joint return and
$40,000 in the case of a married individual filing separately), bears to
``(B) $15,000 ($10,000 in the case of a joint return and
$5,000 in the case of a married individual filing separately).''
On page 19, between lines 5 and 6, insert the following:
SEC. 106. CREDIT FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PROGRAM
EXPENSES.
(a) In General.--Subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 (relating to business-related credits) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``SEC. 45D. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PROGRAM EXPENSES.
``(a) General Rule.--For purposes of section 38, in the case of an employer, the information technology training program credit determined under this section is an amount equal to 20 percent of information technology training program expenses paid or incurred by the taxpayer during the taxable year.
``(b) Additional Credit Percentage for Certain Programs.--The percentage under subsection (a) shall be increased by 5 percentage points for information technology training program expenses paid or incurred by the taxpayer with respect to a program operated in--
``(1) an empowerment zone or enterprise community designated under part I of subchapter U,
``(2) a school district in which at least 50 percent of the students attending schools in such district are eligible for free or reduced-cost lunches under the school lunch program established under the National School Lunch Act, or
``(3) an area designated as a disaster area by the Secretary of Agriculture or by the President under the Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act in the taxable year or the 4 preceding taxable years.
``(c) Limitation.--The amount of information technology training program expenses with respect to an employee which may be taken into account under subsection (a) for the taxable year shall not exceed $6,000.
``(d) Information Technology Training Program Expenses.--For purposes of this section--
``(1) In general.--The term `information technology training program expenses' means expenses incurred by reason of the participation of the employer in any information technology training program in partnership with State training programs, school districts, and university systems.
``(2) Information technology.--The term `information technology' means the study, design, development, implementation, support, or management of computer-based information systems, including software applications and computer hardware.''
(b) Credit To Be Part of General Business Credit.--Section 38(b) (relating to current year business credit) is amended by striking ``plus'' at the end of paragraph (11), by striking the period at the end of paragraph (12) and inserting ``, plus'', and by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(13) the information technology training program credit determined under section 45D.''
(c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 is amended by adding at the end the following new item:
``Sec. 45D. Information technology training program expenses.''
(d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall apply to amounts paid or incurred after the date of the enactment of this Act in taxable years ending after such date.
Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I submit an amendment to S. 1133, the Parent and Student Savings Account Plus Act.
The amendment that I am offering today would extend tax credits to businesses that train workers in information technology skills. The credit would be equal to twenty percent of the information training expenses provided by a company; however, these expenses could not exceed $6,000 in a taxable year. The percentage of the credit would increase by five percent to twenty five percent for a business that operates a training program in an empowerment zone or enterprise community, a school district where fifty percent of students are eligible for the school lunch program, or in an area designated by the President or Secretary of Agriculture as a disaster zone. This amendment would be paid for by reducing the top of the phase-out range of the education IRA to $90,000 for joint filers and $75,000 for individuals.
The intent of my amendment is to encourage businesses to retrain current employees who may be about to be discharged, to retrain unemployed workers, and to encourage businesses to enter into partnerships with schools, job training programs or universities to train students and workers in computer and information technology skills. As I noted earlier, a higher tax credit would be extended to a business that establishes a training program or partnership in an area where unemployment or poverty is high.
Mr. President, several months ago--January 12, 1998--Vice President Gore, while meeting with information technology executives in California, announced a series of Administration actions to meet the growing demand for information technology workers. The Vice President cited reports by several federal agencies including the Department of Commerce, that the demand for computer scientists, engineers, and systems analysts will double over the next decade. Industry spokesmen representing the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) confirm that the current shortage of information technology workers is approximately 346,000. This shortage includes programmers, systems analysts and computer engineers.
For the information technology industry this shortage is threatening the competitiveness of U.S. companies. As ITAA President Harris Miller commented in January, ``Technical talent is the rocket fuel of the information age. As an information-intensive society, we cannot afford to stand by as the next wave in our economic future departs for foreign shores. Empty classroom seats, a poor professional image, and other factors are conspiring to rewrite an American success story. We must solve this problem''.
Mr. President, this matter is critical for the IT industry as further evidenced by a hearing held last month in response to industry concerns over this critical shortage of workers. The hearing focused on the need to amend current immigration law to raise the annual cap--currently set at 65,000--for temporary visas for highly skilled workers. This may be a short term solution to the IT worker shortage; however, it is not the long term answer to this problem. American workers and students must have opportunities to learn these new skills whether through partnerships, education or retaining programs.
Mr. President. That is the purpose of my amendment--to encourage more opportunities for American students and workers in the IT field. I hope that my colleagues will support this critical amendment. We can no longer rely on merely adjusting immigration quotas to meet the skilled IT worker shortage.
____________________
