This would, of course, be the Congress that began Jan. 3, 2009, and is led by Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, and Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader. Just to refresh all people's memories, of course.
Norm Ornstein, a Congressional scholar at the DC-based think tank American Enterprise Institute recently called the 111th the best Congress Americans will ever hate. I have to agree with him. Depsite its low job approval ratings, Americans don't seem to know how good they have it.
1. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 was the first signed into law. It reversed a 2007 US Supreme Court decision which stated that pay discrimination lawsuits have strict statutes of limitations. Now thanks to the Act the statute of limitations for such laws are tied to each discrimitory paycheck received.
2. The Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act of 2009 was the second law, and it expanded the Childrens Health Insurance Program to include about 4 million uninsured poor children and pregnant women. This law is funded completely by increases in tabacco taxes, so it's also know in the States as "the reason cigarettes cost more than they used to".
3. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka the stimulus package) was the third law of this Congress. It's such a massive bill that covers so many policy proposals that it is a Congress's worth of legislation in one act. Very broadly speaking, it contains tax cuts; infrastructure spending and aid to states; and the expansion of a safety net/welfare. The tax cuts come in the form of tax credits offered for everything from energy conservation to home buying to college tuition. The infrastucture spending was mostly scheduled to begin at the start of FY 2010 (October 2009) and last several years thereafter. Also contained in the stimulus is funds for a new electrical grid; medical information technology; medial research; public school districts; and clean water programs. Even this paragraph is a simplification of the stimulus, and I am, after all, typing using just my own memory.
4. Not necessarily in order now, but another of my favorite acts of the 111th Congress is the Edward M. Kennedy Serving America Act, which expanded the AmeriCorps and created five new volunteer public service corps: Veterans Corps; Education Corps; Clean Energy Corps; Opportunity Corps; and one last one I'm forgetting. The idea of a volunteer service corps for veterans especially has been a proposal in Congress for years but never managed to get done.
5. Another one of my favorite acts is the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 which expanded federal hate crime laws to cover sexual oreintation, gender identity and disability.
There's a lot more that this Congress has passed that I'm forgetting. I'll probably post more when I think about it. Some other poster here made a thread about "US politics at is best", but all these great laws being passed is really US politics at its best. It's just that, for some reason, all the positive accomplishments don't get talked about that much.
Norm Ornstein, a Congressional scholar at the DC-based think tank American Enterprise Institute recently called the 111th the best Congress Americans will ever hate. I have to agree with him. Depsite its low job approval ratings, Americans don't seem to know how good they have it.
1. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 was the first signed into law. It reversed a 2007 US Supreme Court decision which stated that pay discrimination lawsuits have strict statutes of limitations. Now thanks to the Act the statute of limitations for such laws are tied to each discrimitory paycheck received.
2. The Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act of 2009 was the second law, and it expanded the Childrens Health Insurance Program to include about 4 million uninsured poor children and pregnant women. This law is funded completely by increases in tabacco taxes, so it's also know in the States as "the reason cigarettes cost more than they used to".
3. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka the stimulus package) was the third law of this Congress. It's such a massive bill that covers so many policy proposals that it is a Congress's worth of legislation in one act. Very broadly speaking, it contains tax cuts; infrastructure spending and aid to states; and the expansion of a safety net/welfare. The tax cuts come in the form of tax credits offered for everything from energy conservation to home buying to college tuition. The infrastucture spending was mostly scheduled to begin at the start of FY 2010 (October 2009) and last several years thereafter. Also contained in the stimulus is funds for a new electrical grid; medical information technology; medial research; public school districts; and clean water programs. Even this paragraph is a simplification of the stimulus, and I am, after all, typing using just my own memory.
4. Not necessarily in order now, but another of my favorite acts of the 111th Congress is the Edward M. Kennedy Serving America Act, which expanded the AmeriCorps and created five new volunteer public service corps: Veterans Corps; Education Corps; Clean Energy Corps; Opportunity Corps; and one last one I'm forgetting. The idea of a volunteer service corps for veterans especially has been a proposal in Congress for years but never managed to get done.
5. Another one of my favorite acts is the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 which expanded federal hate crime laws to cover sexual oreintation, gender identity and disability.
There's a lot more that this Congress has passed that I'm forgetting. I'll probably post more when I think about it. Some other poster here made a thread about "US politics at is best", but all these great laws being passed is really US politics at its best. It's just that, for some reason, all the positive accomplishments don't get talked about that much.
