| Legislative Watch's purpose is to report on pending U.S. legislation relevant to human rights and humanitarian law. This list is not meant to be comprehensive. |
A bill to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide for the deportation of aliens who associate with known terrorists, H.R. 4698
Major Sponsor: Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ)
Status: Referred to the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims on October 9, 1998. No subsequent activity; expected to be reintroduced during the 106th Congress.
Substance: The bill amends the Immigration and Nationality Act, section 237(a)(4)(B), to include: "Any alien who at any time after admission associates with any individual the alien knows or has reason to believe is designated as a terrorist in the Department of State publication 'Patterns of Global Terrorism' is deportable."
A bill to establish an initiative for food and other assistance for individuals in Indonesia and Southeast Asia who are affected by the Asian financial crisis, H.R. 4336
Major Sponsor: Rep. Douglas Bereuter (R-NE)
Status: Referred to the House Committee on International Relations on July 27, 1998; no subsequent activity. Not expected to be reintroduced during the 106th Congress.
Substance: The bill promotes establishing agricultural commodity distribution, technical assistance, agricultural research, extension, and food assistance programs to address the human element of the Asian financial crisis. It makes U.S. $100 million available to non-governmental organizations, private organizations and/or cooperatives for individuals in Indonesia and Southeast Asia in 1999.
A concurrent resolution expressing the sense of the Congress with respect to United States assistance or support for the investigation on capital punishment in the United States by the United Nations Human Rights Commission, H. Con. Res. 199
Major Sponsor: Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX)
Status: Referred to the House Subcommittee on Crime on December 19, 1997. No subsequent activity; undecided about reintroduction during the 106th Congress.
Substance: UN Special Rapporteur Bacre Waly Ndiaye of Senegal visited the United States in fall 1997. The bill urges the U.S. administration to state its position regarding the Special Rapporteur's report for the Commission on Human Rights finding that "extrajudicial" and "arbitrary" executions occur in the U.S. criminal justice system through the application of the death penalty. The bill also expresses Congress' opposition to "any global standard on capital punishment imposed on the United States."
Communist China Subsidy Reduction Act of 1997, H.R. 2605
Major Sponsor: Rep. Gerald Solomon (R-NY)
Status: Passed in the House on November 6, 1997. Received in the Senate on November 7, 1997, and referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. No subsequent activity since hearing held on June 18, 1998 by the Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs.
Substance: The bill calls for U.S. nationals conducting business projects in China to follow certain principles, including: suspending the use of products believed to have been made by forced labor, refusing to use forced labor in the production of their products, ensuring that production procedures do not pose "unnecessary" dangers to workers or surrounding neighborhoods, and prohibiting forced population control activities on the property of the project.
Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 1999, Pub. L. 105-262
Major Sponsor: Rep. C.W. Young (R-FL)
Status: Passed in the House on June 24, 1998; the Senate agreed to the conference report on September 29, 1998. Signed into law by the president on October 17, 1998.
Substance: In the conference report attached to the bill, Congress condemns the global use of child soldiers and supports their demobilization. The bill "encourages" the U.S. delegation to participate in the drafting of an optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child that would establish 18 as the minimum age for participation in armed conflict.
Holocaust Victim Insurance Relief Act of 1998, H.R. 4826
Major Sponsor: Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA)
Status: Referred to the House Subcommittee on Finance and Hazardous Materials on October 20, 1998. No subsequent activity; expected to be reintroduced during the 106th Congress.
Substance: The bill seeks to redress the non-payment of insurance claims that rightfully belong to Holocaust victims and their families. This bill establishes a Holocaust Insurance Registry, accessible to the public, containing records and information relating to the insurance policies of victims, living and deceased.
International Child Labor Relief Act of 1998, H.R. 4506
Major Sponsor: Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ)
Status: Passed in House on October 8, 1998, and received in Senate on October 9, 1998. No subsequent activity; expected to be reintroduced during the 106th Congress.
Substance: The bill authorizes appropriations to the U.S. Department of State for the U.S. contribution to the International Labor Organization for the activities of the International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor. For each fiscal year from 1999 through 2001, it authorizes U.S. $30 million.
Survivors of Torture Support Act, S. 1603
Major Sponsor: Sen. Rod Grams (R-MN)
Status: Referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 4, 1998. No subsequent activity; expected to be reintroduced during 106th Congress.
Substance: The bill declares that it shall be U.S. policy not to "expel, extradite, or otherwise affect the involuntary return of any person to a country in which" it is believed the person would be "in danger" of being subjected to torture.
Violence Against Women Act II, S. 2110
Major Sponsor: Sen. Joseph Biden, Jr. (D-DE)
Status: Referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 21, 1998. No subsequent activity; expected to be reintroduced during the 106th Congress.
Substance: The bill authorizes federal programs to prevent violence against women. It strengthens law enforcement efforts to reduce violence against women, increases services available to victims of violence, limits the effects of violence on children, strengthens education and training initiatives that combat violence against women, and expands the Violent Crime Reduction Trust Fund. It also includes provisions that assist battered immigrant women.