Bills Passed in Congress: January 2012

BILLS PASSED IN CONGRESS

 The following are the bills the House and Senate passed last month. The bills were passed by voice vote except where indicated. Roll call votes for the House are found here, and for the Senate here. The descriptions of bills are essentially taken verbatim from the Congressional Record Daily Digest ((Index).

Page numbers of bills are based on the pdf display of the latest version from the Government Printing Office.

SENATE: 6 bills, 30 pages

SOAR Technical Corrections Act: Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions was discharged from further consideration of H.R. 3237, to amend the SOAR Act by clarifying the scope of coverage of the Act, and the bill was then passed. 2 pages

St. Croix River Crossing Project Authorization Act: Senate passed S. 1134, to authorize the St. Croix River Crossing Project with appropriate mitigation measures to promote river values, after agreeing to the committee amendment, 4 pages

Airport and Airway Extension Act: Senate passed H.R. 3800, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend the funding and expenditure authority of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, to amend title 49, United States Code, to extend authorizations for the airport improvement program. 4 pages

Ultralight Aircraft Smuggling Prevention Act: Senate passed H.R. 3801, to amend the Tariff Act of 1930 to clarify the definition of aircraft and the offenses penalized under the aviation smuggling provisions under that Act. 6 pages

State or Local Government Levee Construction: Senate passed S. 2039, to allow a State or local government to construct levees on certain properties otherwise designated as open space lands, 6 pages

Border Tunnel Prevention Act: Senate passed S. 1236, to reduce the trafficking of drugs and to prevent human smuggling across the Southwest Border by deterring the construction and use of border tunnels. 8 pages

HOUSE: 7 bills, 44 pages

Permanent Electronic Duck Stamp Act of 2011: H.R. 3117, amended, to grant the Secretary of the Interior permanent authority to authorize States to issue electronic duck stamps, by a \2/3\ yea-and-nay vote of 373 yeas to 1 nay, Roll No. 5; 10 pages

Rota Cultural and Natural Resources Study Act: H.R. 1141, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of designating prehistoric, historic, and limestone forest sites on Rota, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, as a unit of the National Park System, by a \2/3\ yea-and-nay vote of 278 yeas to 100 nays, Roll No. 6. 6 pages

World War II Memorial Prayer Act of 2011: H.R. 2070, amended, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to install in the area of the World War II Memorial in the District of Columbia a suitable plaque or an inscription with the words that President Franklin D. Roosevelt prayed with the nation on June 6, 1944, the morning of D-Day, by a \2/3\ yea-and-nay vote of 386 yeas to 26 nays, Roll No. 8; 4 pages

War Memorial Protection Act: H.R. 290, to amend title 36, United States Code, to ensure that memorials commemorating the service of the United States Armed Forces may contain religious symbols; 4 pages

Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2012: H.R. 3800, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend the funding and expenditure authority of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund and to amend title 49, United States Code, to extend authorizations for the airport improvement program; 8 pages

Ultralight Aircraft Smuggling Prevention Act of 2012: H.R. 3801, to amend the Tariff Act of 1930 to clarify the definition of aircraft and the offenses penalized under the aviation smuggling provisions under that Act, by a \2/3\ yea-and-nay vote of 408 yeas with none voting “nay”, Roll No. 11. 6 pages

Buffalo Soldiers in the National Parks Study Act: H.R. 1022, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study of alternatives for commemorating and interpreting the role of the Buffalo Soldiers in the early years of the National Parks, by a \2/3\ yea-and-nay vote of 338 yeas to 70 nays, Roll No. 10. 6 pages

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