August 23, 1978
Page 27406
UP AMENDMENT NO. 1731
(Purpose: To treat employment of United States citizens by the Roosevelt Campobello International Park Commission as employment under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act)
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The amendment will be stated.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows :
The Senator from Maine (Mr. MUSKIE) proposes an unprinted amendment numbered 1731.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment is as follows:
On page 2, after line 3, insert the following:
SEC. 2. (a) For purposes of Chapter 23 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (the Federal Unemployment Tax Act), service performed by a citizen of the United States as an employee of the Roosevelt Campobello International Park Commission shall be considered to be employment within the meaning of section 3306(c) of such Code.
(b) This section shall apply with respect to remuneration paid after December 31, 1978, for service performed after such date.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, this amendment would provide unemployment insurance coverage for U.S. citizen employees of the Roosevelt Campobello International Park Commission. The Roosevelt Campobello International Park was created in 1964 by a Canadian-American Treaty to commemorate and preserve the summer home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt on Campobello Island in New Brunswick, Canada. In accordance with the spirit of that agreement and the statutes which established the park, the Commission has a policy of equal opportunity in employment, compensation, and fringe benefits for both Canadian and American employees.
The Commission currently employs 13 U.S. residents. These employees are subject to U.S. social security taxes and are eligible for old age, survivors, and disability insurance benefits, as well as workmen's compensation. In nearly all ways they are treated as though they were employed on U.S. soil.
However, these U.S. citizens have been unable to secure unemployment insurance coverage in the United States.
This amendment would treat employment of U.S. citizens by the Roosevelt Campobello International Park Commission as employment under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act. The amendment would in turn permit the State of Maine to provide unemployment insurance coverage for these employees pursuant to title 26, section 1043(11) (G) of the Maine revised statutes.
This amendment would insure that United States and Canadian employees of the Commission are employed on an equal basis. It is supported by the Commission and is in accord with the agreement reached between the United States and Canadian Governments on this issue.
I might add, Mr. President, that this matter has been the subject of lengthy discussions between the U.S. Treasury Department and the Canadian Government.
It was the Treasury Department that suggested this amendment as a solution.
Mr. President, in this regard, I ask unanimous consent to have printed at the conclusion of my remarks a letter from Secretary Blumenthal.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(See exhibit 1.)
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I would like to express my appreciation to the Canadian Government and the U.S. Treasury Department for their assistance in resolving this matter. I would hope the distinguished floor manager would accept this amendment in order that the problem may be finally resolved.
EXHIBIT
THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY,
Washington,
April 6,1978.
Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE,
Chairman
Roosevelt Campobello International Park Commission,
U.S. Senate,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR ED: On October 12, 1977, you wrote me concerning the unemployment insurance situation of the employees of the Roosevelt Campobello International Park Commission. On November 28, I wrote you concerning the results of our preliminary study of the problem, and stated that we would keep you informed of the progress of our further study. We have developed further ideas on ways to resolve this matter, and I thought it would be useful to communicate these to you before the Commission's upcoming meeting April 7-8.
As I Indicated in my letter of November 28, it is our understanding that the Canadian Department of National Revenue has taken the position that the employees will be subject to Canadian unemployment insurance premiums until and unless the employees can be brought under unemployment insurance coverage in the United States. The question in light of this position is whether the employees can be brought within the coverage of either the Maine Employment Security Law or the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA).
We understand from the staff of the Commission that the Maine Employment Security Commission has taken the position that the employees of the Commission cannot be covered under Maine law.
FUTA presently covers services performedby an employee within the United States, services upon an American vessel or aircraft under a contract executed in the United States, and any service "performed after 1971outside the United States (except in a contiguous country with which the United States has an agreement relating to unemployment compensation) by a citizen of the United States as an employee of an American employer ..." An "American employer" is defined to include individual residents of the United States; corporations organized under the laws of a state or of the United States; trusts all of the trustees of which are United States residents; and partnerships two-thirds of the partners of which are United States residents.
The Commission employees' situation arguably fails to meet the definition of "employment" because the services are not performed for an "American employer." And in any event, this situation clearly fails to meet the definition because the services are performed "in a contiguous country with which the United States has an agreement relating to unemployment compensation."
It appears therefore that it would be necessary to amend FUTA to cover the Commission specifically. Extension to those employees could be accomplished by adding a provision at the end of section 3306(c) stating that "Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection, service performed by a citizen of the United States as an employee of an international park commission established under Chapter 22 of Title 16 shall be deemed to be employment for purposes of this chapter." A copy of a draft bill that would accomplish this is enclosed.
I hope this answers the questions you raised in your October 12 letter. Please let us know if we may be of further assistance in this matter.
Sincerely,
W. MICHAEL BLUMENTHAL.
Enclosure.
Mr. LONG. Mr. President, I have not had the opportunity to discuss this amendment with the committee. However, I have discussed it with our committee staff, and I am of the opinion that the amendment is meritorious, and I have no objection to it. I will be happy to accept it, if the Senate will let me accept it.
Mr. MUSKIE. I thank my good friend, the distinguished floor manager, for his consideration.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the amendment.
The amendment was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill is open to further amendment. If there be no further amendment to be proposed, the question is on the engrossment of the amendments and the third reading of the bill.
The amendments were ordered to be engrossed and the bill to be read a third time.
The bill (H.R. 12380) was read a third time, and passed.
Mr. ROBERT C. BYRD. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the bill was passed.
Mr. LONG. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.