Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 110 Part 6.djvu/644

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110 STAT. 4466 CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS-JUNE 13, 1996 but his budget transfers $55,000,000,000 of home health spending from Medicare Part A to Medicare Part B; (3) the transfer of home health spending threatens the delivery of home health services to 3.5 million Medicare beneficiaries; (4) such a transfer increases the burden on general revenues, including income taxes paid by working Americans, by $55,000,000,000; (5) such a transfer artificially inflates the solvency of the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, misleading Congress, Medicare beneficiaries, and working taxpayers; (6) the Director of the Congressional Budget Office has certified that, without such a transfer, the President's budget extends the solvency of the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund for only one additional year; and (7) without misleading transfers, the President's budget therefore fails to achieve his own stated goal for the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund. (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—I t is the sense of Congress that, in achieving the spending levels specified in this resolution. Congress assumes that Congress would— (1) keep the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund solvent for more than a decade, as recommended by the President; and (2) accept the President's proposed level of Medicare Part B savings over the period 1997 through 2002; but would (3) reject the President's proposal to transfer home health spending from one part of Medicare to another, which threatens the delivery of home health care services to 3.5 million Medicare beneficiaries, artificially inflates the solvency of the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, and increases the burden on general revenues, including income taxes paid by working Americans, by $55,000,000,000. SEC. 411. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING REVENUE ASSUMPTIONS. (a) FINDINGS. —Congress finds the following: (1) Corporations and individuals have clear responsibility to adhere to environmental laws. When they do not, and environmental damage results, the Federal and State governments may impose fines and penalties, and assess polluters for the cost of remediation. (2) Assessment of these costs is important in the enforcement process. They appropriately pen^ize wrongdoing. They discourage future environmental damage. They ensure that taxpayers do not bear the finemcial brunt of cleaning up after damages done by polluters. (3) In the case of the Exxon Valdez oil spill disaster in Prince William Sound, Alaska, for example, the corporate settlement with the Federal Government totaled $900,000,000. (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS. —I t is the sense of Congress that assumptions in this resolution assume an appropriate amount of revenues per year through legislation that will not allow deductions for fines and penalties arising from a failure to comply with Federal or State environmental or health protection laws. SEC. 412. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE. The assumptions underlying functional totals in this budget resolution include: