H.Con.Res. 85 (ih) Expressing the sense of Congress that the Small Business Administration should appoint a commission to examine the credit needs of small business concerns. ...

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SEC. 403. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON COMMISSION ON LONG-TERM BUDGETARY 
              PROBLEMS.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
            (1) achieving a balanced budget by fiscal year 2002 is only 
        the first step necessary to restore our Nation's economic 
        prosperity;
            (2) the imminent retirement of the baby-boom generation 
        will greatly increase the demand for government services;
            (3) this burden will be borne by a relatively smaller work 
        force resulting in an unprecedented intergenerational transfer 
        of financial resources;
            (4) the rising demand for retirement and medical benefits 
        will quickly jeopardize the solvency of the medicare, social 
security, and Federal retirement trust funds; and
            (5) the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that 
        marginal tax rates would have to increase by 50 percent over 
        the next 5 years to cover the long-term projected costs of 
        retirement and health benefits.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that 
legislation should be enacted to create a commission to assess long-
term budgetary problems, their implications for both the baby-boom 
generation and tomorrow's workforce, and make such recommendations as 
it deems appropriate to ensure our Nation's future prosperity.

SEC. 404. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON CORPORATE WELFARE.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds that the functional levels and 
aggregates in this budget resolution assume that--
            (1) the Federal Government supports profit-making 
        enterprises and industries through billions of dollars in 
        payments, benefits, and programs;
            (2) many of these subsidies do not serve a clear and 
        compelling public interest;
            (3) corporate subsidies frequently provide unfair 
        competitive advantages to certain industries and industry 
        segments; and
            (4) at a time when millions of Americans are being asked to 
        sacrifice in order to balance the budget, the corporate sector 
        should bear its share of the burden.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that 
legislation should be enacted to--
            (1) eliminate the most egregious corporate subsidies; and
            (2) create a commission to recommend the elimination of 
        Federal payments, benefits, and programs which predominantly 
        benefit a particular industry or segment of an industry, rather 
        than provide a clear and compelling public benefit, and include 
        a fast-track process for the consideration of those 
        recommendations.

SEC. 405. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON FAMILY VIOLENCE OPTION CLARIFYING 
              AMENDMENT.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds that:
            (1) Domestic violence is the leading cause of physical 
        injury to women. The Department of Justice estimates that over 
        1,000,000 violent crimes against women are committed by 
intimate partners annually.
            (2) Domestic violence dramatically affects the victim's 
        ability to participate in the workforce. A University of 
        Minnesota survey reported that one quarter of battered women 
        surveyed had lost a job partly because of being abused and that 
        over half of these women had been harassed by their abuser at 
        work.
            (3) Domestic violence is often intensified as women seek to 
        gain economic independence through attending school or training 
        programs. Batterers have been reported to prevent women from 
        attending these programs or sabotage their efforts at self-
        improvement.
            (4) Nationwide surveys of service providers prepared by the 
        Taylor Institute of Chicago, Illinois, document, for the first 
        time, the interrelationship between domestic violence and 
        welfare by showing that from 34 percent to 65 percent of AFDC 
        recipients are current or past victims of domestic violence.
            (5) Over half of the women surveyed stayed with their 
        batterers because they lacked the resources to support 
        themselves and their children. The surveys also found that the 
        availability of economic support is a critical factor in poor 
        women's ability to leave abusive situations that threaten them 
        and their children.
            (6) The restructuring of the welfare programs may impact 
        the availability of the economic support and the safety net 
        necessary to enable poor women to flee abuse without risking 
        homelessness and starvation for their families.
            (7) In recognition of this finding, the House Committee on 
        the Budget unanimously passed a sense of Congress amendment on 
        domestic violence and Federal assistance to the fiscal year 
        1997 budget resolution. Subsequently, Congress passed the 
        family violence option amendment to last year's welfare reform 
        reconciliation bill.
            (8) The family violence option gives States the flexibility 
        to grant temporary waivers from time limits and work 
        requirements for domestic violence victims who would suffer 
        extreme hardship from the application of these provisions. 
        These waivers were not intended to be included as part of the 
        permanent 20 percent hardship exemption.
            (9) The Department of Health and Human Services has been 
        slow to issue regulations regarding this provision. As a 
        result, States are hesitant to fully implement the family 
        violence option fearing it will interfere with the 20 percent 
        hardship exemption.
            (10) Currently 15 States have opted to include the family 
        violence option in their welfare plans, and 13 other States 
        have included some type of domestic violence provisions in 
        their plans.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) States should not be subject to any numerical limits in 
        granting domestic violence good cause waivers to individuals 
        receiving assistance for all requirements where compliance with 
        such requirements would make it more difficult for individuals 
        receiving assistance to escape domestic violence; and
            (2) any individuals granted a domestic violence good cause 
        waiver by States should not be included in the States' 20 
        percent hardship exemption.

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