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                    NAGPS President's Legislative Update
                     1:00 pm PDT, Friday, July 25, 1997

CALL TO ACTION ON TAX BILL!

   * Call members of Conference Committee and thank them for supporting a
     Conference Bill that preserves Section 117(d), establishes a Student
     Loan Interest Deduction, provides for a modest education tax credit for
     graduate education, and allows tax-free IRA and savings account
     withdrawals for education.
   * Call the White House and ask President Clinton to push for permanent
     extension of Section 127, the tax exemption for the first $5250 in
     employer-provided educational assistance, in any "tax bill" that comes
     to his desk for signature.

HOUSE AND SENATE REPUBLICANS AGREE ON COMPROMISE TAX BILL; SECTION 127
NOT INCLUDED

Late Tuesday, House and Senate Republicans came to agreement over the major
revenue provisions of H.R. 2014, the Budget Reconciliation "Tax Cut" bill.
This represents the first draft of a Conference Committee report which would
be sent to both houses for passage, and to the President for signature.

Thanks to your hard efforts, graduate and professional students benefit
significantly from the Republican Conference bill. The tax exemption of
TA/RA tuition waivers ("Section 117(d)") is NOT eliminated in the
Conference Agreement, as was proposed by the House. For the first time
since 1986, the Conference bill would recreate an "above the line" Student
Loan Interest Deduction (SLID) for up to $2500 for students during the
first 5 years of loan repayment. Most surprisingly, the Conference
Agreement includes a 5% HOPE-like tax credit for up to $5000 in expenses
for education after the second year of college. We interpret this to
possibly be applicable to graduate and professional students, such that up
to $250 in taxes could be chopped off your tax bill each year as a result
of your expenses for tuition, room and board, books, and the like. The
Conference Agreement also allows penalty-free withdrawals from Individual
Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and "education savings accounts" for graduate
education. 

Clearly, there is a lot to like about the Conference Agreement. However, the
Agreement does not include an extension of Section 127, the tax exemption on
the first $5250 of employer-provided educational assistance, for graduate
students. Instead, the Agreement extends Section 127 temporarily for
undergraduates through June 30, 2000. While this is an improvement over the
House provision, it does not assist graduate or professional students who
take advantage of graduate school to improve their job skills or re-train
for a new career.

While the Conference Bill represents a huge step forward in the legislative
process, both houses must still approve the Conference Report, and the
President must still sign the bill. Changes can be made, both for and
against graduate education, so it's very important that we continue to
convey our support for tax cuts that help our students. Early indications
of sentiments between Congressional Republicans and the White House show
that the President's signature of this Conference Bill is not guaranteed.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

First, call/fax/email members of the Conference Committee (listed below) and
thank them for proposing and supporting a Conference Bill that supports
graduate and professional education in the ways outlined above (preserving
117(d), establishing an Interest Deduction, etc.). Encourage them to
consider adding a permanent extension of Section 127 for graduate students.
The Conference Committee can be contacted using the following information:

         NAME                          PHONE         FAX            EMAIL ADDRESS

Rep. John R. Kasich (R-OH-12)       202-225-5355     N/A       john.kasich@mail.house.gov
Rep. Bill Archer (R-TX-07)          202-225-2571 202-225-4381           N/A
Rep. Philip M. Crane (R-IL-08)      202-225-3711 202-225-7830           N/A
Rep. William M. Thomas (R-CA-21)    202-225-2915 202-225-8798           N/A
Rep. Richard K. Armey (R-TX-26)     202-225-7772     N/A       dick@armey.house.gov
Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX-22)            202-225-5951 202-225-5241  thewhip@mail.house.gov
Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-NY-15)    202-225-4365 202-225-0816  rangel@hr.house.gov
Rep. Fortney Pete Stark (D-CA-13)   202-225-5065 202-226-3805  petemail@hr.house.gov
Rep. Robert T. Matsui (D-CA-05)     202-225-7163 202-225-0566  ca05@hr.house.gov
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA-07)        202-225-3106 202-225-6197  jim@mcdermott.house.gov

         NAME                          PHONE         FAX            EMAIL ADDRESS

Sen. William Roth, Jr. (R-DE)       202-224-2441 202-228-0354  comments@roth.senate.gov
Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS)              202-224-6253 202-224-4639  senatorlott@lott.senate.gov
Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) 202-224-4451 202-228-0406  senator@dpm.senate.gov
Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM)           202-224-6621 202-224-7371  senator_domenici@domenici.senate.gov
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA)        202-224-3744 202-224-6020  chuck_grassley@grassley.senate.gov
Sen. Don Nickles (R-OK)             202-224-5754 202-224-6008  senator@nickles.senate.gov
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)        202-224-4744 202-224-9707  Frank_Lautenberg@Lautenberg.senate.gov
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND)             202-224-2043 202-224-7776  senator@conrad.senate.gov

Second, call/fax/email President Clinton and ask him to state his support
of a permanent extension of Section 127, and require that it be in any tax
bill sent to his desk for signature. Call the White House comment line at
202-456-1414 or send email to president@whitehouse.gov. 

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Send comments on these legislative updates to Bryan Hannegan, NAGPS
President at president@nagps.org. Find the latest hyperlinked version of
these updates at http://www.nagps.org/NAGPS/bod/Prez/legis_update.htm
complete with links to fact sheets, talking points, and electronic mail
addresses!

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