Review #2 Timeline StyleTop 13 Acts (Laws) of Congress

Debatable… naturally

1. Social Security Act 1935

• Basics: Retirement insurance. Tax taken out of your paycheck

• Specs: 1. Tax taken out and held until you are 65 years old.

2. Aid to families with Dependent Children 3. Unemployment/Disability insurance

2. National Security Act 1947

• Basics: Created Department of Defense, CIA and NSC

• Specs: 1. NATO and the Nuclear Age• Before the C.I.A….there was??• O.S.S.2. President Truman

3. Civil Rights Act 1964• The Basics: Racial Discrimination Outlawed

• The Specs:a. Enforced the 14th amendment

b. Ended Jim Crow segregation in hotels, motels, restaurants, and other places of public accommodationc. Prohibited discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color national origin, religion, or gender

d. Created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to monitor and enforce protections against job discrimination

GHW Bush welcomes the Obamas to Houston April 9 2014. GHW Bush, GW Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter all in Texas to attend Civil Rights Act passage anniversary events at LBJ library.

4.The Voting Rights Act 1965

• Basics: Voting discrimination outlawed• Specs:• A. Literacy tests had been responsible for

disenfranchising African American voters• B. Provided for federal oversight of voter

registration in areas with a history of discriminatory voting practices

2006 Reauthorization of Voting Rights Act Signed by GW Bush

Constitutionality of Voting Rights Act 2013

• Roberts Court hears Shelby County vs. Holder• Section 4 of the voting rights act is

unconstitutional (5-4). Congress needs to come up with a new formula

5. Clean Air Act 1970

• Basics: Beginning of Antismog efforts in 1963

• Specs: Clean Air Act becomes federally enforceable in 1970

Whoa. Fact. Nixon was the President who used an executive order to create the EPA. Also was the president when OSHA is created in 1971.

6. War Powers Act 1973• Basics: Requires the president to involve Congress in military

interventions.• Specifics:• A. Enacted to give Congress additional input into presidential decisions

to deploy military troops over seas.• B. President must inform Congress of deployment of troops within 48

hours• C. President must bring home troop from hostilities within 60-90 days

unless Congress extends the time

7. Endangered Species Act 1973

• Basics: Protects endangered species• Specifics:• Petition and listing 5 criteria

– 1. There is the present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of its habitat or range.

– 2. An over utilization for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes.

– 3. The species is declining due to disease or predation.

– 4. There is an inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms.

– 5. There are other natural or manmade factors affecting its continued existence.

Whooping Crane

The Endangered Species act has been called the Magna Carta of the Environmental Movement:

It is administered by two Federal Agencies:

1. US fish and Wildlife service2. NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

Sea Otter

Northern spotted owl

Success?

As of September 2012 Fifty-six species have been delisted; twenty-eight due to recovery, ten due to extinction (seven of which are believed to have been extinct prior to being listed), ten due to changes in taxonomic classification practices, six due to discovery of new populations, one due to an error in the listing rule, and one due to an amendment to the Endangered Species Act specifically requiring the species delisting.[60] Twenty-five others have been down listed from "endangered" to "threatened" status.

8.Americans with disabilities act (1991)

• Basics: Equal Access for those with disabilities• Specifics– Requires employers and public facilities to make

“reasonable accommodations” for people with disabilities

– Prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment

– Extends the protections of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to people with physical or mental disabilities

9.Family and Medical Leave Act 1993

• Basics: Maternity and sick leave protection

First Bill signed into law by Bill Clinton

Basics and Specifics

• The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons.

• 1. 12 Work week unpaid leave for:• 2. Birth of son or daughter, adoption, foster

care placement/care of spouse, parent, child with serious health condition

10. Welfare Reform Act 1996

Basics: replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program with block grants to the states

Specifics:a. increases power of states relative to the federal government

b. Illustrated the process of devolution by giving states greater discretion to determine how to implement the federal goal of transferring people from welfare to work

11. PATRIOT Act 2001

• Basics: Department of Homeland security created

U.S.A.P.A.T.R.I.O.T.A.C.T

• Expands the definition of terrorism to include domestic terrorism

• Authorized searches of a home or business without the owner’s or the occupant’s permission or knowledge

• Increases the ability of law enforcement agencies to search telephone, e-mail communications, medical, financial and other records.

The “short title”

• (a) SHORT TITLE- This Act may be cited as the `Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001'.

• Controversy? Or Protection?

12. No Child Left Behind Act 2001

• Basics: Federal standards and rules and money in education

• Specifics:• NCLB is written so that it requires 100% of

students (including special education students and those from disadvantaged background) within a school to reach the same set of state standards in math and reading by the year 2014.

13. Affordable Health Care Initiative(2010)

• Basics: All Americans will have affordable health care

• Specifics:• A. New Patients Bill of Rights• B. Pre-existing conditions to be considered for

children or new policies• C. “Improve Quality and lower costs”

ObamacareAffordable Health Care upheld by the Supreme court on On June 28, 2012.

On April 11th, 2014 HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius resigns. New Confirmation hearings in Senate for Obama appointee Sylvia Burwell coming up!