| Agriculture |
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Serves as chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Agriculture,
Rural Development, and Related Agencies. |
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Following years of crop devastation in the state,
secured $7.6 million dollars, in FY 2004 to fight Mormon cricket and grasshopper
infestations in Utah. An additional $645,775 was also secured for FY 2003. |
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Following the Forest Service prescribed fire which
unintentionally burned thousands of acres of state and private land, including
two state parks and land along a critical watershed (Cascade Fire), passed
legislation to ensure that federal agencies shoulder the full cost of repairing
those lands. |
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Secured $600 million nationally for rural broadband
loans. |
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Secured $975 million nationally for the Environmental
Quality Incentives Program critical to farmers and ranchers. |
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Successfully secured legislation authorizing $175
million to control salinity levels along the Colorado River so that nearly
2 million acres of agricultural land in western states remains productive. |
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| Appropriations |
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Sees that Utah is fairly represented during the
appropriations process from seat on powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. |
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Chairs the Subcommittee on Agriculture,
Rural Development and Related Agencies. |
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Served more than 4 years as chairman of the Subcommittee
on the Legislative Branch. |
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Gained spot on the transportation subcommittee,
key to funding numerous Utah transportation projects. |
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Additional appropriations totals are listed under the various
topics in this document. |
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| Arts |
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Appointed in 2003 to be a member of the National
Council on the Arts. |
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Co-introduced the Artist-Museum Partnership Act
which allows artists to take a fair market tax deduction for donated items.
Passed in the Senate as part of C.A.R.E. Act. |
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Proposed restructuring of federal arts funding by
combining the NEA, NEH and Institute of Museum Services into one agency. |
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Supports federal funding for the arts. |
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Sponsored legislation authorizing $15 million for
construction of a new Utah Museum of Natural History and announced nearly
$500,000 grant as federal "down payment" for design and construction of
the new building at the University of Utah. |
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| Banking |
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Negotiated and guided passage of Check Clearing
for the 21st Century Act, facilitating check truncation and
improving the overall efficiency of the nation's payments system. |
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Named chairman of new subcommittee on financial
services and technology,and subsequently Chairman of subcommittee on financial
institutions. |
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Helped write Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions
Act in Senate Banking Committee and was influential in moving the legislation
through the conference committee. |
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Assisted in crafting Financial Modernization Act
of 1999, the most sweeping banking reforms in over 30 years. Bennett amendments
included in the final conference report provide regulatory relief to Industrial
Loan Corporations. |
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Hosts annual conference in Utah on new technology
in the financial services industry. |
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Passed the Unlisted Trading Privileges Act of 1994,
increasing competition in securities markets. |
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Sponsored bill to amend banking and securities laws
with respect to "netting" of financial contracts. Agreed to as an amendment
to the Bankruptcy Protection Act. |
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Authored bill to amend the Bank Protection Act of
1968 to facilitate the use of electronic authentication techniques(digital
signatures) by financial institutions. Eventually a similar bill became
law. |
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| China/Iran Arms Transfers |
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Repeatedly urged Clinton administration to sanction
Chinese for transfer of chemical weapons equipment and C-802 missiles to
Iran. Limited sanctions were later imposed. |
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| Congressional Reform |
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Called for and saw enacted congressional reforms
-- congressional accountability, curbing unfunded mandates, term limits
for committee chairs. |
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Headed a bipartisan Senate task force on congressional
reorganization. |
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| Defense |
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Canceled expansion of the Ground Wave Emergency
Network (GWEN) in Southern Utah. |
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Argued successfully in favor of Hill Air Force Base
during the 1995 BRAC round. |
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Fought 'privatization in place.' |
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Prohibited funding of study on transporting chemical
weapons to Tooele. |
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Introduced and passed Senate amendment to require
a Department of Defense study of the adequacy of the beryllium industrial
base. |
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| Disability |
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Secured federal funding for 2002 Paralympic Winter
Games to assist with venue operations, spectator services, broadcast support,
and ceremonies |
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Introduced legislation to provide for a more equitable
allotment of funds for states for centers for independent living. (Language
to be included in Vocational Rehabilitation Reauthorization bill.) |
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| Economy |
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Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee in 108th Congress. |
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Hosts two annual events in Utah, the Business & Economic
Summit and Rural Business Conference, to examine the economy and offer
advice to small businesses on how they can grow and become more profitable. |
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Amended the 2002 budget to call for quick stimulus
for the American economy, linked to a long term stimulus to guarantee economic
expansion and job creation. This amendment authorized tax cuts of an additional
$42 billion and protected the Bush tax cut, the repeal of which would have
amounted to a $439 billion tax increase. |
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| Education |
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Supported numerous Utah education initiatives
and projects with federal appropriations of over $12.5 million since 2000.. |
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While voting against "No Child Left
Behind" as amended by the Congress, Bennett has secured $1.5 million
to assist the state in developing computerized assessments to better determine
how Utah’s children were performing, as well as $1 million to assist
teachers increase their teaching qualifications in the coming year. |
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Obtained nearly $2 million for reading
and training materials for small rural schools around the state. |
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Worked to amend the ESEA reauthorization
bill to make technical corrections to the Rural Education Initiative. This
amendment alters the qualifications for grants under this program to include
an either/or provision in determining rurality to account for geographic
isolation. This amendment has serious impact on those school districts
that have a total population density of less than ten people per square
mile. |
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Continues to seek relief from the impact
of federal government land ownership on Utah’s ability to generate
much needed revenue from our state school trust lands. |
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| Energy and Natural Resources |
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Land Use |
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Successfully blocked efforts to stop
Utah's RS 2477 roads agreement with the Department of Interior. |
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Worked to block Clinton administration's Rangeland
Reform proposals. |
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Responding to the obstructionism that
has left many of Utah's national forests in a deteriorating condition,
most notably the
Dixie NF, Bennett cosponsored the bipartisan breakthrough amendment on
the Healthy Forests legislation to streamline the administrative appeals
and judicial review process. The Act is considered to be the most significant
reform in forest management policy in decades. |
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Advocated sound land use solutions such as Holistic
Range Management. |
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Worked to prevent the implementation of the Clinton
Roadless Initiative. |
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Parks |
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Secured
funding for new visitor centers in Arches NP, and Hovenweep NM. |
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Passed
legislation to authorize the construction of a new visitor center and administrative
office at Timpanogos Cave National Monument and Uinta National Forest. |
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Secured
funding for shuttle system in Zion National Park, reducing congestion and
pollution in the park. |
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Led
a bipartisan effort to reform National Park concessions policies. |
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Natural Resource Appropriations |
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Worked to significantly increase Utah's
PILT payments. Payments
to Utah's counties have nearly doubled since FY 99, escalating from $9.7
million to approximately $19 million in FY 04. |
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Secured the first dollars for Utah's
GIS wilderness mapping effort and approximately $3 million to date. This
data is being used by the state with the Department of the Interior in
demonstrating
the strength of its RS 2477 roads claims. |
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Secured funding for the Bear River Migratory
Bird Refuge's water management system and the Refuge's visitor education
center. Total
funding for the visitor center, water management system and roads funding
is approximately $10 million. |
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Gained funding for preservation and
maintenance of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, Utah's Millennium Trail. Total
funding secured by Bennett for the trail now exceeds $10 million. |
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Successfully authored legislation to
authorize $15 million for the construction of the University of Utah Museum
of Natural
History. The Museum will ensure that artifacts collected from
federal lands in Utah will have a repository for their storage and display
in Utah, rather than being transported to other museums where few Utahns
will have the chance to enjoy them. |
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Secured approximately $10 million since 2000 for
the clean up of the Moab Atlas tailings pile. |
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Secured funding necessary for the continuing completion
of the Central Utah Project which allows 10 Utah counties to develop their
portion of the Colorado River water. |
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Other |
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Authored language to prevent any federal funds from
being used to study the draining of Lake Powell. |
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Worked to gain approval of two major school trust
lands exchanges to benefit Utah's public schools (Lands in the Grand Staircase-Escalante
National Monument and the West Desert). |
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| Environment |
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Water |
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Cosponsored Safe Drinking Water Act, helping to safeguard
public drinking water supplies. |
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At the request of local leaders, Bennett secured $7
million for the construction of facilities at the Ashley Valley Water Treatment
Plant to reduce dangerous levels of selenium leaching into Ashley Creek
and threatening two species of endangered fish downstream in the Colorado
River. |
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Supported Ogden City's sewer and drinking water rehabilitation
with appropriation money enabling the city to repair its deteriorating
sewer and drinking water delivery systems. |
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Successfully amended existing law to establish a program
for assisting municipalities in rural Utah to meet their local water and
wastewater treatment needs and authorizing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
tousle up to $25 million to help develop local water systems in small communities. |
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Other |
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After it was determined that the Council on Environmental
Quality (CEQ) was involved in the creation of the Grand-Staircase Escalante
National Monument without consulting Congress, Bennett introduced an oversight
provision to reign in the federal agency to its original mission of coordinating
environmental policy rather than promoting politically generated environmental
agenda. |
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| Firearms Licensing |
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Crafted compromise legislation allowing state law
enforcement agencies to better track the activities of federal firearms
license holders while also enabling legitimate federal firearms dealers
to continue their law abiding businesses and pursuits. |
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| Governmental Affairs |
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Worked closely with Senate leadership and a handful
of lawmakers in legislative effort to create new federal Department of
Homeland Security. This department consolidates a number of previously
disparate government agencies and is responsible for focusing the full
compliment of federal assets on defending our nation from the threat of
terrorism. |
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| Health Care |
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Chaired the Senate Republican Health Care Task Force
in the 104th Congress. |
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Led opposition to President Clinton's plan for government-run
healthcare. |
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Worked to restore deductibility of health insurance
for the self-employed, portability of health insurance, and confidentiality
of medical records. |
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In 1998, as member of the Senate Appropriations
Committee, committed to doubling NIH funding over next five years. |
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Sponsored a bill to amend the Public Health Service
Act to provide for research and services with respect to lupus. |
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Introduced a bill to ensure confidentiality of medical
records and health care-related information. While the bill was not enacted
as law, Bennett's hearings made an important contribution to the body of
information on the subject and many of his proposals were founding the
administrative ruling by the Secretary of Health and Human Services that
forms current health privacy standards. |
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Worked in 2003 to include a healthcare infrastructure
provision in the Medicare package for cancer hospitals and research. |
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| High-Tech |
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Named chairman of the Senate Special Committee on the Year
2000 (Y2K) Technology Problem. |
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Recognized by the Information Technology Industry
Council (ITI) as ‘Legislator of the Year’ in 2000 for his support
and leadership on key information technology issues. |
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Named chairman of the new Senate Republican High-Tech Task
Force, focuses on facilitating high-tech growth – 106th Congress. |
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Inducted into High-Tech Legislator Hall of Fame by the
American Electronics Association. |
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Named chairman of the new Critical Infrastructure Protection
(CIP) Working Group, the Senate's central clearing house for cyber safety
information and CIP issues. |
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Sponsored and passed legislation to bolster the nation's
critical infrastructure and establish a safe conduit through which vital
information from the private sector can be shared with the government. |
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| Intellectual Property Rights |
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Recognized as the Intellectual Property Legislator
of the Year in 2001 by the Intellectual Property Owners Association for
his work to enhance the effectiveness of the U.S. Patent Office. (2001) |
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| Mexican Economic Crisis |
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Asked to be Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole's liaison
between the Clinton administration and the Federal Reserve in finding a
solution to the 1994 crisis. |
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| Olympics |
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Authored legislative language to permit security
and non-security support from the Department of Defense for the Olympic
Games. |
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Secured millions of dollars for Olympic preparations. |
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Requested and received federal funding for drug
doping control program for the 2002 Winter Games. |
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Successfully sponsored legislation to authorize
the minting of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games commemorative coin. |
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Guided Senate passage of Snowbasin land swap, exchanging
1,300 acres of federal land needed for a prime Olympic venue for 4,100
acres of private land. |
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| Russian Religious Freedoms |
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Urged a review of U.S. aid following comments by
Alexander Lebed that Russia should ban all religions other that Russian
Orthodox, Islam and Buddhism. |
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Authored letter calling on President Clinton to
urge Russian President Boris Yeltsin to veto religiously restrictive legislation. |
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Met in Moscow with Russian officials and received
verbal assurances that the law would not be used in a manner that would
be punitive to the LDS faith or other western religions. |
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Used contacts established in Russia to closely monitor
and to obtain vital information on the investigation into the kidnapping
of two Mormon missionaries. |
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| Space |
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Arranged 1995 visit to Salt Lake City of the space
shuttle Discovery. |
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Sponsored annual Space Talk exhibit at Utah State
Fair. |
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Sponsored semi-annual conference on space policy. |
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Argued successfully that recent modifications to
the RSRM made the ASRM program unnecessary and wasteful. |
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| Tax Policy |
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Honored campaign pledge to simplify and restructure
the tax code by working on a bipartisan effort to develop a new national
tax system based on a flat tax/consumption based tax. |
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Sponsored successful amendment calling on the Senate
Finance Committee and the Joint Economic Committee to undertake a comprehensive
analysis of tax simplification proposals, including flat tax proposals,
and to conduct appropriate hearings and consider appropriate legislation. |
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Instrumental in the formation of the tax and economic
policy of 1996 Republican Presidential Nominee Bob Dole. |
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Sponsored bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code
of 1986 to allow the carryover of unused nontaxable benefits under cafeteria
plans, flexible spending arrangements, and health flexible spending accounts. |
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| Transportation |
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Roads |
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Authored language in Transportation Equity Act for
the 21st Century (TEA-21) authorizing the use of discretionary
funding to assist Olympic venue cities, expediting I-15 reconstruction
in Salt Lake Valley. |
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Facilitated an agreement between the
U.S. Forest Service and private property holders for the construction of
a new access
road to the Olympic Downhill Skiing venue at Snowbasin ski resort. The
existing road was too narrow and winding, posing a safety hazard for the
transportation of visitors to one of the Olympic Games' major venues. Senator
Bennett worked with his appropriations committee colleagues to pay for
the construction of this road. |
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Light Rail |
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Obtained federal commitment for 80 percent of cost of north-south
light rail transit. This full-funding grant agreement amounted to $240
million toward light rail construction. |
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Secured federal full-funding grant agreement
toward construction of Main Street to Rice-Eccles Stadium light rail transit. This
line proved helpful in moving Olympic visitors and provides daily access
to the University of Utah for thousands of students. |
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Facilitated federal full-funding grant agreement for
University Medical Center light rail transit line, providing a convenient
way for more people to get to school, work and the medical center quickly
and efficiently,with no parking worries. |
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Bus Transit |
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Successfully increased bus fleet in many communities
in the state. |
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Commuter Rail |
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Actively pursued federal financing for
development of a Wasatch Front commuter rail system. These funds have
been used to conduct preliminary environmental work and design of the rail
line. |
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Airports |
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As a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee
on Transportation, assisted Salt Lake City International Airport in meeting
demands of growth by seeking federal funding for ongoing and future improvements. |
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Funded a number of safety and security improvements
at Ogden-Hinckley Airport including main runway reconstruction, terminal
security equipment, de-icing facilities, helicopter pad, taxiway and perimeter
fencing improvements. |
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Appropriated more than $1.6 million in federal funds
for construction of a control tower at the Provo Airport, one of the state’s
busiest general aviation airports. |
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Helped in gaining approval for installation of an instrument
landing system for the Logan-Cache Airport, boosting the local economy
by enabling charter, business and cargo aircraft to continue operations
during periods of inclement weather. |
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| Veterans |
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Introduced and passed legislation to designate the
Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah as
the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, honoring
a Utah Congressional Medal of Honor recipient. |
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| Welfare |
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Joined with other republicans in successfully overhauling
the nation's welfare system, establishing greater flexibility for states
and increased individual accountability. |
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| Year 2000 Computer Problem |
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Chairman of the Senate Special Committee on the
Year 2000 Technology Problem. |
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Held 34 public hearings and solicited testimony
from more than 150 witnesses to assess the scope and impact of the Y2K
problem on both the private and public sectors. |
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Became known as the leading congressional voice
in alerting U.S. government and business to the looming crisis. |
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Successfully urged President Clinton to appoint
a "Year 2000 Czar" to ensure the United States' successful Y2K
rollover. |
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Sponsored legislation to require disclosure by publicly
traded companies of their Year 2000 readiness. SEC quickly enacted
similar requirements. |
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Identified additional high-tech industry concerns
and issues as a result of close associations with members of high tech
industry leaders. |
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Sponsored bill that became law to encourage sharing
of information about Y2K related computer processing problems, solutions,
test practices and results. |
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Helped assure Y2K crisis was averted in making Y2K
issues high profile for government and private sector organizations. |
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