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Congressman Young introduced H.R. 5709, the No Child Left Behind Improvements Act of 2006.  This legislation will improve accountability for the academic performance of children enrolled in the nation’s public schools.  It contains more than 40 provisions that focus on 5 areas: Assessments, Measuring Adequate Yearly Progress, Sanctions, State Flexibility by the U.S. Department of Education and Non-Public Schools. While this legislation did not go to the floor for a vote, Congressman Young will reintroduce his bill during the 110th Congress and continue working towards its passage. 

Congressman Young supported continuing a commitment to federal education resources. Congress again has committed unprecedented levels of federal education dollars. This year, states and local school districts will receive $23.3 billion in federal funds to help implement the No Child Left behind Act (NCLB) – a one-third increase in funding since President Bush signed NCLB into law. Title I aid for disadvantaged students, the cornerstone of NCLB, has increased 45 percent since NCLB was signed into law. For higher education, the commitment is just as strong, with some $90 billion in federal resources provided to students this year – nearly triple what it was just a decade ago. Included is an annual $13 billion congressional commitment for low- and middle-income students receiving Pell Grants.

Congressman Young supported permanently expanding student loan relief for high demand teachers. Building on efforts in recent years to help schools recruit and retain highly qualified teachers in key subjects, Congress more than tripled – from $5,000 to $17,500 – the maximum amount of loan relief for highly qualified math, science, and special education teachers who commit to teaching in high-need K-12 schools for five years.

Congressman Young supported strengthening career and technical education programs. Congress reauthorized the highly-popular Perkins Career and Technical Education program. The renewal of the Perkins Act, which serves secondary and postsecondary students, will help states better utilize federal funds for secondary and postsecondary vocational education programs; increase accountability and emphasizing student achievement; and strengthen opportunities for coordination between secondary and postsecondary career and technical education.

Congressman Young supported establishing new grant aid for low- and middle-income college students. Congress established Academic Competitiveness Grants to reward low-income, high achieving high school students heading into college. Congress also established SMART Grants to reward low-income, high achieving students pursuing degrees in math, science, and critical foreign languages in their third and fourth years in college.

Congressman Young supported protecting Medicare services for our seniors. The 109th Congress enacted legislation that prevents Medicare physician payments from being cut in 2007. The current payment system is flawed and Alaskans who are on Medicare are already suffering. Doctors lose money with each Medicare patient they see, so they are already reluctantly turning away seniors. Had the proposed cut gone through, more Medicare patients would have been dropped by their doctors. The only source of health care for these seniors is emergency room visits, which are clogging Alaska’s hospitals and are more costly than routine doctor’s visits. During the 110th Congress, a long-term solution needs to be developed.

Congressman Young supported enhancing health services for our nation’s seniors. The Older Americans Act has become the first stop for seniors to identify home- and community-based long term care options, as well as other supportive services that can help prevent or delay expensive institutional care and generate significant savings in federal entitlement programs. Congress is poised to reauthorize the Older Americans Act and build on that progress by promoting measures that reduce seniors’ risk of injury, disease, or disability; improving access to health care by supporting resource centers in every community where older Americans and their families can go for reliable information about long-term care options, community support services, and important health benefits such as Medicare prescription drug coverage; and encouraging states and communities to plan for an increasing number of older Americans.

Congressman Young supported requiring that employers fully fund worker pension plans. This Congress enacted the most significant reforms to worker pension laws in a generation. Yesterday’s outdated pension rules no longer served the interests of today’s workers who count on their retirement savings being there for them when they need it. Included in the reform law are requirements that employers make more cash contributions to their worker pension funds and measures to close loopholes that allow under funded plans to skip pension payments.

Congressman Young supported encouraging more savings in 401(k) retirement plans. Studies show many employees who have access to employer-provided pension plans never enroll, and their retirement savings suffer as a result. Congress took steps to encourage employers to automatically enroll workers in defined contribution pension plans, such as the highly-popular 401(k) retirement plans.

Congressman Young voted to pass ANWR, H.R. 5429 American-Made Jobs and Good Energy Act. This bill directs the Secretary of the Interior to establish, implement, and administer a competitive oil and gas leasing program for the exploration, development, and production of the oil and gas resources on the Coastal Plain of Alaska. The Senate was unable to pass this legislation despite the efforts of our Congressional Delegation.

What happened was that we passed the Polar Bear treaty and attached the Marine Mammal Protection Act as an amendment. Thus we passed both.

Congressman Young voted to pass the Magnuson- Stevens Act, HR 5946 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006. We await the President’s signature to make these acts the law.

Congressman Young is a cosponsor of HR 4200, the Forest Emergency Recovery and Research Act. This would give land managers the tools they need to promptly restore and reforest public lands.  It also dedicates funding to post-catastrophic event research.  Despite the hard work and efforts of our Senate Congressional Delegation, the Senate was unable to pass this legislation.

Congressman Young supported H.R. 8 – Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act of 2005 - This bill will make the repeal of the death tax permanent. The repeal is currently set to expire in 2011. Congressman Young cosponsored and voted for this bill, which passed the House on April 13, 2005 by a vote of 272-162 and was sent to the Senate. Despite the hard work and efforts of our Senate Congressional Delegation, the Senate was unable to pass this legislation.

Congressman Young supported (Payments in Lieu of Taxes) PILT Program – Congressman Young also co-sponsored a letter to Chairman Taylor of the Subcommittee on Interior requesting full funding for the program and co-sponsored a Western Caucus letter to the Interior Appropriations Conferees encouraging them to maintain the $242 million PILT funding. Alaska received over $15.7 million in PILT funding.

Congressman Young fought off attacks on the Alaskan Native Corporations 8(a) sole sourcing government procurement programs. Congressman Young stood up for Alaska in front of the Small Business and Government Reform Committee to defend the importance of this program. We expect additional attention to this program during the 110th Congress.

Congressman Young successfully fought to include a $200 million dollar increase in Ground Based Missile Defense funding which affects funding at Ft. Greely, Alaska for a total of $3.25 billion. Congressman Young secured total funding for the Missile Defense Program at $9.3 billion in the FY07 Defense Appropriations bill.

Congressman Young supported the children of Fallen Soldiers Pell Grant – he is the lead Republican on this legislation, which would endure Pell grant eligibility for any student whose parent or guardian died as a result of performing military service in Iraq or Afghanistan after September 11, 2001.

Congressman Young voted to fully reject the administration’s request to increase TRICARE costs for the military and their families. No increase can be allowed between April 2, 2006 and Sept. 30, 2007. In fact, the Defense Authorization included measures which expanded coverage to some eligible reservists.