1.
111th United States Congress
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The One Hundred Eleventh United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government from January 3,2009, until January 3,2011. It began during the last two weeks of the George W. Bush administration, with the remainder spanning the first two years of Barack Obamas presidency and it was composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The apportionment of seats in the House was based on the 2000 U. S. Census, a new delegate seat was created for the Northern Mariana Islands. This Congress has been considered one of the most productive Congresses in history in terms of legislation passed since the 89th Congress, roland Burris was appointed to the seat on December 31,2008 but his credentials were not accepted until January 12,2009. An election dispute over the Minnesota seat previously held by Norm Coleman, frankens admission gave the Senate Democratic caucus sixty votes, enough to defeat a filibuster in a party-line vote. January 8,2009, Joint session counted the Electoral College votes of the 2008 presidential election, January 20,2009, Inauguration of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. February 24,2009, Presidents speech to Joint Session April 28,2009, September 9,2009, President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress to promote health care reform, which Representative Joe Wilson interrupted by shouting at the President. January 25,2010,2010 State of the Union Address February 4,2010, April 20,2010, Deepwater Horizon oil spill November 2,2010,2010 general elections, in which Republicans regained control of the House while the Democrats remained in control of the Senate. January 29,2009, Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, 111–2 February 4,2009, Childrens Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, Pub. L. 111–3 February 17,2009, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, 111–5 March 11,2009, Omnibus Appropriations Act,2009, Pub. L. 111–8 March 30,2009, Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, 111–11 April 21,2009, Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, Pub. L. 111–13 May 20,2009, Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009, 111–21 May 20,2009, Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009, Pub. L. 111–22 May 22,2009, Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009, 111–23 May 22,2009, Credit CARD Act of 2009, Pub. L. 111–24 June 22,2009, Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, 111–31 June 24,2009, Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009 including the Car Allowance Rebate System, Pub. L. 111–32 October 28,2009, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, including the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, 111–84 November 6,2009, Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009, Pub. L. 111–92 December 16,2009, Consolidated Appropriations Act,2010, 111–117 February 12,2010, Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act, as Title I of Pub. L. 111–139 March 4,2010, Travel Promotion Act of 2009, 111–145 March 18,2010, Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act, Pub. L. 111–147 March 23,2010, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 111–148 March 30,2010, Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, including the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, Pub. L
2.
113th United States Congress
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The One Hundred Thirteenth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, from January 3,2013, to January 3,2015. It was composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives based on the results of the 2012 Senate elections, the seats in the House were apportioned based on the 2010 United States Census. It first met in Washington, D. C. on January 3,2013, senators elected to regular terms in 2008 were in the last two years of those terms during this Congress. Widespread public dissatisfaction with the institution increased over its second year, in October 2013, during the government shutdown, this decreased to 10% approval according to several polls. January 3,2013, Election of Speaker, incumbent Speaker John Boehner was re-elected despite the largest number of defections in the vote for speaker since at least 1991. January 4,2013, Joint session to count the Electoral College votes for the 2012 presidential election, January 20–21,2013, Second inauguration of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. The terms began January 20, but because that was a Sunday, February 12,2013, Joint session to hear the 2013 State of the Union Address. March 6–7,2013, Senator Rand Paul led a filibuster of the nomination of John O. Brennan for Director of the Central Intelligence Agency with a 12-hour, June 5,2013, The first media reports of Edward Snowdens surveillance disclosures surfaced in the media. July 16,2013, The Senate reached a deal to allow some presidential nominations to come to a vote, September 24–25,2013, Senator Ted Cruz delivered a 21-hour, 19-minute speech, one of the longest in Senate history, in opposition to the Affordable Care Act. Cruzs speech was not a filibuster, as it delayed no vote, the filibuster remained in place for Supreme Court nominees and for legislation. November 4,2014, United States elections,2014, including United States Senate elections,2014, March 7,2013, Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013, Pub. L. 113–4 March 13,2013, Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act of 2013, 113–5 March 26,2013,2013 United States federal budget, Pub. L. 113–6 June 3,2013, Stolen Valor Act of 2013, 113–12 August 9,2013, Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2013, Pub. L. 113–23 August 9,2013, Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act of 2013, 113–28 September 30,2013, Pay Our Military Act, Pub. L. 113–39 November 27,2013, Drug Quality and Security Act, 113–54 December 26,2013, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014, Pub. L. 113–66 January 17,2014, Consolidated Appropriations Act,2014, 113–76 February 7,2014, Agricultural Act of 2014, Pub. L. 113–79 March 21,2014, Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014, 113–89 April 3,2014, Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act, Pub. L. 113–94 April 3,2014, Support for the Sovereignty, Integrity, Democracy, 113–95 May 9,2014, Digital Accountability and Transparency Act, Pub. L
3.
United States Capitol
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The United States Capitol, often called the Capitol Building or Capitol Hill, is the home of the United States Congress, and the seat of the legislative branch of the U. S. federal government. It sits atop Capitol Hill at the end of the National Mall in Washington. Though not at the center of the Federal District, the Capitol forms the origin point for the Districts street-numbering system. The original building was completed in 1800 and was subsequently expanded, like the principal buildings of the executive and judicial branches, the Capitol is built in a distinctive neoclassical style and has a white exterior. Both its east and west elevations are referred to as fronts, though only the east front was intended for the reception of visitors. In 2014, scaffolding was erected around the dome for a project scheduled to be completed by early 2017. All exterior scaffolding was removed by the end of summer 2016, prior to establishing the nations capital in Washington, D. C. the United States Congress and its predecessors had met in Philadelphia, New York City, and a number of other locations. In September 1774, the First Continental Congress brought together delegates from the colonies in Philadelphia, followed by the Second Continental Congress, Congress requested that John Dickinson, the Governor of Pennsylvania, call up the militia to defend Congress from attacks by the protesters. In what became known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, Dickinson sympathized with the protesters and refused to remove them from Philadelphia. As a result, Congress was forced to flee to Princeton, New Jersey, on June 21,1783, and met in Annapolis, Maryland, the United States Congress was established upon ratification of the United States Constitution and formally began on March 4,1789. New York City remained home to Congress until July 1790, when the Residence Act was passed to pave the way for a permanent capital. As part of the legislation, Philadelphia was chosen as a capital for ten years, until the nations capital in Washington. Pierre Charles LEnfant was given the task of creating the city plan for the new capital city, in reviewing LEnfants plan, Thomas Jefferson insisted the legislative building be called the Capitol rather than Congress House. The word Capitol comes from Latin and is associated with the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on Capitoline Hill, the connection between the two is not, however, crystal clear. In spring 1792, United States Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson proposed a competition to solicit designs for the Capitol and the Presidents House. The prize for the competition was $500 and a lot in the Federal City, the most promising of the submissions was by Stephen Hallet, a trained French architect. However, Hallets designs were overly fancy, with too much French influence, a late entry by amateur architect William Thornton was submitted on January 31,1793, to much praise for its Grandeur, Simplicity, and Beauty by Washington, along with praise from Thomas Jefferson. Thornton was inspired by the east front of the Louvre, as well as the Paris Pantheon for the portion of the design
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Vice President of the United States
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The executive power of both the vice president and the president is granted under Article Two, Section One of the Constitution. The vice president is elected, together with the president. The Office of the Vice President of the United States assists, as the president of the United States Senate, the vice president votes only when it is necessary to break a tie. Additionally, pursuant to the Twelfth Amendment, the president presides over the joint session of Congress when it convenes to count the vote of the Electoral College. Currently, the president is usually seen as an integral part of a presidents administration. The Constitution does not expressly assign the office to any one branch, causing a dispute among scholars whether it belongs to the executive branch, the legislative branch, or both. The modern view of the president as a member of the executive branch is due in part to the assignment of executive duties to the vice president by either the president or Congress. Mike Pence of Indiana is the 48th and current vice president and he assumed office on January 20,2017. The formation of the office of vice president resulted directly from the compromise reached at the Philadelphia Convention which created the Electoral College, the delegates at Philadelphia agreed that each state would receive a number of presidential electors equal to the sum of that states allocation of Representatives and Senators. The delegates assumed that electors would typically choose to favor any candidate from their state over candidates from other states, under a plurality election process, this would tend to result in electing candidates solely from the largest states. Consequently, the delegates agreed that presidents must be elected by a majority of the number of electors. To guard against such stratagems, the Philadelphia delegates specified that the first runner-up presidential candidate would become vice president, the process for selecting the vice president was later modified in the Twelfth Amendment. Each elector still receives two votes, but now one of those votes is for president, while the other is for vice president. The requirement that one of those votes be cast for a candidate not from the electors own state remains in effect. S, other statutorily granted roles include membership of both the National Security Council and the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. As President of the Senate, the president has two primary duties, to cast a vote in the event of a Senate deadlock and to preside over. For example, in the first half of 2001, the Senators were divided 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats and Dick Cheneys tie-breaking vote gave the Republicans the Senate majority, as President of the Senate, the vice president oversees procedural matters and may cast a tie-breaking vote. As President of the Senate, John Adams cast 29 tie-breaking votes that was surpassed by John C. Calhoun with 31. Adamss votes protected the presidents sole authority over the removal of appointees, influenced the location of the national capital, on at least one occasion Adams persuaded senators to vote against legislation he opposed, and he frequently addressed the Senate on procedural and policy matters
5.
Joe Biden
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Joseph Robinette Joe Biden Jr. is an American politician who was the 47th Vice President of the United States from 2009 to 2017, having been jointly elected twice with President Barack Obama. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Delaware as a United States Senator from 1973 until becoming Vice President in 2009, Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1942, and lived there for ten years before moving to Delaware. He became an attorney in 1969, and was elected to the New Castle County council in 1970 and he was first elected to the Senate in 1972, and became the sixth-youngest senator in U. S. history. He was re-elected to the Senate six times, and was the fourth most senior senator at the time of his resignation to assume the Vice Presidency in 2009 and he was a long-time member and former chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. He opposed the Gulf War in 1991, but advocated U. S. and he voted in favor of the resolution authorizing the Iraq War in 2002, but opposed the surge of U. S. troops in 2007. He chaired the Judiciary Committee during the contentious U. S. Supreme Court nominations of Robert Bork, Biden unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 and in 2008, both times dropping out after lacklucster showings. In the 2008 U. S. presidential election, Barack Obama chose Biden to be his mate in the race. He became the first Roman Catholic, and the first Delawarean, in 2011, he opposed going ahead with the military mission that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. Obama and Biden were re-elected in 2012, in October 2015, after months of speculation, Biden chose not to run for President of the United States in 2016. On January 12,2017, Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, after leaving office, Biden was named the Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Biden was born on November 20,1942, at St. Marys Hospital in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Catherine Eugenia Jean Biden and Joseph Robinette Joe Biden Sr. He was the first of four siblings in a Catholic family, with a sister, Valerie and his mother was of either Irish or Northern Irish descent, with roots variously attributed to County Louth or County Londonderry. His paternal grandparents, Mary Elizabeth and Joseph H. Biden, an oil businessman from Baltimore, Maryland, were of English, French and his paternal great-great-great grandfather, William Biden, was born in Sussex, England, and immigrated to the United States. His maternal great-grandfather, Edward Francis Blewitt, was a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate, Bidens father had been very well-off earlier in his life, but suffered several business reversals by the time his son was born. For several years, the family had to live with Bidens maternal grandparents, when the Scranton area went into economic decline during the 1950s, Bidens father could not find enough work. In 1953, the Biden family moved to an apartment in Claymont, Delaware, Joe Biden Sr. was then more successful as a used car salesman, and the familys circumstances were middle class. He played on the team as well. During these years, he participated in an anti-segregation sit-in at a Wilmington theatre, academically, he was an above-average student, was considered a natural leader among the students, and was elected class president during his junior and senior years
6.
Democratic Party (United States)
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The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The Democrats dominant worldview was once socially conservative and fiscally classical liberalism, while, especially in the rural South, since Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal coalition in the 1930s, the Democratic Party has also promoted a social-liberal platform, supporting social justice. Today, the House Democratic caucus is composed mostly of progressives and centrists, the partys philosophy of modern liberalism advocates social and economic equality, along with the welfare state. It seeks to provide government intervention and regulation in the economy, the party has united with smaller left-wing regional parties throughout the country, such as the Farmer–Labor Party in Minnesota and the Nonpartisan League in North Dakota. Well into the 20th century, the party had conservative pro-business, the New Deal Coalition of 1932–1964 attracted strong support from voters of recent European extraction—many of whom were Catholics based in the cities. After Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal of the 1930s, the pro-business wing withered outside the South, after the racial turmoil of the 1960s, most southern whites and many northern Catholics moved into the Republican Party at the presidential level. The once-powerful labor union element became smaller and less supportive after the 1970s, white Evangelicals and Southerners became heavily Republican at the state and local level in the 1990s. However, African Americans became a major Democratic element after 1964, after 2000, Hispanic and Latino Americans, Asian Americans, the LGBT community, single women and professional women moved towards the party as well. The Northeast and the West Coast became Democratic strongholds by 1990 after the Republicans stopped appealing to socially liberal voters there, overall, the Democratic Party has retained a membership lead over its major rival the Republican Party. The most recent was the 44th president Barack Obama, who held the office from 2009 to 2017, in the 115th Congress, following the 2016 elections, Democrats are the opposition party, holding a minority of seats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The party also holds a minority of governorships, and state legislatures, though they do control the mayoralty of cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Washington, D. C. The Democratic Party traces its origins to the inspiration of the Democratic-Republican Party, founded by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and that party also inspired the Whigs and modern Republicans. Organizationally, the modern Democratic Party truly arose in the 1830s, since the nomination of William Jennings Bryan in 1896, the party has generally positioned itself to the left of the Republican Party on economic issues. They have been liberal on civil rights issues since 1948. On foreign policy both parties changed position several times and that party, the Democratic-Republican Party, came to power in the election of 1800. After the War of 1812 the Federalists virtually disappeared and the national political party left was the Democratic-Republicans. The Democratic-Republican party still had its own factions, however. As Norton explains the transformation in 1828, Jacksonians believed the peoples will had finally prevailed, through a lavishly financed coalition of state parties, political leaders, and newspaper editors, a popular movement had elected the president
7.
President pro tempore of the United States Senate
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The president pro tempore of the United States Senate, also president pro tem, is the second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate. Unlike the vice president, the president pro tempore is a member of the Senate. Selected by the Senate at large, the president pro tempore has enjoyed many privileges, during the vice presidents absence, the president pro tempore is empowered to preside over Senate sessions. Since 1890, the most senior senator in the majority party has generally chosen to be president pro tempore. This tradition has been observed without interruption since 1949, the current President pro tempore of the Senate is Utah Republican Orrin Hatch. Elected on January 6,2015, he is the 90th person to serve in this office, although the position is in some ways analogous to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the powers of the president pro tempore are far more limited. The president pro tempore is third in the line of succession, following the vice president. Additional duties include appointment of various officers, certain commissions, advisory boards. The officeholder is an ex member of various boards and commissions. With the secretary and sergeant at arms, the president pro tempore maintains order in Senate portions of the Capitol, the office of president pro tempore was established by the Constitution of the United States in 1789. The first president pro tempore, John Langdon, was elected on April 6 the same year, originally, the president pro tempore was appointed on an intermittent basis when the vice president was not present to preside over the Senate. Until the 1960s, it was practice for the vice president to preside over daily Senate sessions. Until 1891, the president pro tempore only served until the return of the president to the chair or the adjournment of a session of Congress. Between 1792 and 1886, the president pro tempore was second in the line of succession following the vice president. When President Andrew Johnson, who had no president, was impeached and tried in 1868. Wades radicalism is thought by historians to be a major reason why the Senate. The President pro tempore and the Speaker of the House were removed from the line of succession in 1886. Both were restored to it in 1947, though this time with the president pro tempore following the speaker, William P. Frye served as President pro tempore from 1896 to 1911 (54th–62nd Congress, a tenure longer than anyone else
8.
Daniel Inouye
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Daniel Ken Dan Inouye was a United States Senator from Hawaii from 1963 to 2012. Inouye also served as chairman of the U. S. Senate Committee on Appropriations, Inouye fought in World War II as part of the 442nd Infantry Regiment. He lost his arm to a grenade wound and received several military decorations, including the nations highest military award. Returning to Hawaii, he earned a law degree and was elected to Hawaiis territorial House of Representatives in 1953, and to the territorial Senate in 1957. When Hawaii achieved statehood in 1959, Inouye was elected as its first member of the U. S. House of Representatives, Inouye was the most senior U. S. senator at the time of his death. He is one of the longest-serving U. S, senators in history, second only to Robert Byrd. Inouye was the first Japanese American to serve in the U. S. House of Representatives and he never lost an election in 58 years as an elected official, and exercised an exceptionally large influence on Hawaii politics. At the time of his death, Inouye was the second-oldest sitting U. S. senator, seven and one-half months younger than Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and he was a Medal of Honor recipient and a posthumous recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Daniel Inouye was born on September 7,1924, in Honolulu, Hawaii and he was a Nisei Japanese American, the son of a Japanese immigrant father and a mother whose parents had migrated from Japan. He grew up in the Bingham Tract, a Chinese-American enclave in the predominantly Japanese American community of Mōʻiliʻili in Honolulu, Inouye graduated from Honolulus President William McKinley High School. During the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Inouye served as a medical volunteer, in 1943, when the U. S. Army dropped its enlistment ban on Japanese Americans, Inouye curtailed his premedical studies at the University of Hawaii and enlisted in the Army. He volunteered to be part of the segregated all-Nisei 442nd Regimental Combat Team and this army formation was mostly made up of second-generation Japanese Americans from Hawaii and the mainland. Inouye was promoted to sergeant within his first year, and he was assigned as a platoon sergeant and he received a battlefield commission to second lieutenant for his actions there, becoming the youngest officer in his regiment. He continued to carry the coins throughout the war in his pocket as good luck charms. On April 21,1945, Inouye was grievously wounded while leading an assault on a heavily defended ridge near San Terenzo in Tuscany, Italy, called the Colle Musatello. The ridge served as a strongpoint of the German fortifications known as the Gothic Line, as he led his platoon in a flanking maneuver, three German machine guns opened fire from covered positions 40 yards away, pinning his men to the ground. Inouye stood up to attack and was shot in the stomach, ignoring his wound, he proceeded to attack and destroy the first machine gun nest with hand grenades and his Thompson submachine gun. As his squad distracted the third machine gunner, Inouye crawled toward the final bunker, Inouyes horrified soldiers moved to his aid, but he shouted for them to keep back out of fear his severed fist would involuntarily relax and drop the grenade
9.
Patrick Leahy
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Patrick Joseph Pat Leahy /ˈleɪˌhiː/ is an American politician and the senior United States Senator from Vermont. He has been in office since 1975, a member of the Democratic Party, Leahy served as the President pro tempore of the United States Senate from December 17,2012, to January 6,2015. As President pro tempore, he was third in the line of succession. He is the most senior senator and took office at a younger age than any other current senator, Leahy received the title of President pro tempore emeritus upon the commencement of the 114th Congress. He is the last remaining member of the Senate to have served during the presidency of Gerald Ford, Leahy is currently the longest-serving Democratic Senator as well as the longest-serving U. S. Senator in the history of Vermont, and the current dean of his states congressional delegation, having been there since 1975, he is also the longest serving incumbent Senator following the death of Hawaiis Daniel Inouye, who had served from 1962 until his death in 2012. He is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Senate Judiciary Committee worked extensively on prison reform with the introduction on a number of bills aimed at reforming the overcrowded prisons, the bills include, the Justice Safety Valve Act of 2013, The Smarter Sentencing Act of 2013, and the Public Safety Enhancement Act. Leahy was born in Montpelier, Vermont, the son of Alba and Howard Francis Leahy and his maternal grandparents were Italian, and his father was of Irish ancestry, some of his ancestors came to Vermont during the 19th century to work at quarries. He graduated from Saint Michaels College in 1961 with a bachelor of degree in political science. He was an associate at the firm headed by Philip H. Hoff, in May 1966 Hoff appointed him to fill a vacancy as States Attorney of Chittenden County. Leahy was elected to a term in 1966 and re-elected in 1970. Leahy married Marcelle Pomerleau in 1962, she is bilingual with French Canadian heritage from Quebec immigrants to Vermont and they reside in a farmhouse in Middlesex, Vermont, that they moved to from Burlington, and have three children. In 2012 the Leahys celebrated their anniversary, with Leahy saying ‘‘We hate it when we’re apart from one another. ’’ Leahy is legally blind in his left eye. He won a race against Vermonts lone congressman, Richard Mallary. At 34 years old, he was the youngest Senator in Vermont history, as of 2015, Leahy and Minnesota Congressman Rick Nolan are the only two remaining Watergate Babies in Congress, though Nolans service ended in 1981 and started again in 2013. Leahy was nearly defeated in 1980 by Republican Stewart Ledbetter, winning by only 2,700 votes amid Ronald Reagans landslide victory. In 1986, he faced what was on paper an even stronger challenger in former governor Richard Snelling, in 1992, Vermont Secretary of State Jim Douglas held him to 54 percent of the vote
10.
John Boehner
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John Andrew Boehner is an American politician who served as the 53rd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Boehner was the U. S, Representative from Ohios 8th congressional district, serving from 1991 to 2015. The district included several rural and suburban areas near Cincinnati and Dayton, Boehner previously served as the House Minority Leader from 2007 until 2011, and House Majority Leader from 2006 until 2007. Boehner resigned from the House of Representatives in October 2015 due to opposition from within the Republican caucus, in September 2016, Squire Patton Boggs, the third-largest lobbying firm in the U. S. announced that Boehner would join their firm. Also, Boehner will become a member of Reynolds American. Boehner was born in Reading, Ohio, the son of Mary Anne and Earl Henry Boehner and his father was of German descent and his mother had German and Irish ancestry. He grew up in modest circumstances, having shared one bathroom with his siblings in a two-bedroom house in Cincinnati. He started working at his familys bar at age 8, a business founded by their grandfather Andy Boehner in 1938 and he has lived in Southwest Ohio his entire life. Boehner attended Cincinnatis Moeller High School and was a linebacker on the football team. Shortly after his graduation in 1977, Boehner accepted a position with Nucite Sales and he was steadily promoted and eventually became president of the firm, resigning in 1990 when he was elected to Congress. From 1981 to 1984, Boehner served on the board of trustees of Union Township, Butler County and he then served as an Ohio state representative from 1985 to 1990. In 1990, Boehner ran against incumbent congressman Buz Lukens, who was under fire for having a relationship with a minor. He defeated Lukens in the primary, taking 49 percent of the vote and he was subsequently re-elected to Congress 12 times, each by a substantial margin. During his freshman year, Boehner was a member of the Gang of Seven which was involved in bringing attention to the House banking scandal. From 1995 to 1999, Boehner served as House Republican Conference Chairman which is the party caucus for Republicans in the United States House of Representatives, in this post, he was the fourth-ranking House Republican, behind Gingrich, Majority Leader Dick Armey and Majority Whip Tom DeLay. In the summer of 1997 several House Republicans, who saw Speaker Newt Gingrichs public image as a liability, the attempted coup began July 9 with a meeting between Republican conference chairman Boehner and Republican leadership chairman Bill Paxon of New York. According to their plan, House Majority Leader Dick Armey, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, Boehner and Paxon were to present Gingrich with an ultimatum, resign, or be voted out. However, Armey balked at the proposal to make Paxon the new Speaker, on July 11, Gingrich met with senior Republican leadership to assess the situation
11.
Republican Party (United States)
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The Republican Party, commonly referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, the other being its historic rival, the Democratic Party. The party is named after republicanism, the dominant value during the American Revolution and it was founded by anti-slavery activists, modernists, ex-Whigs, and ex-Free Soilers in 1854. The Republicans dominated politics nationally and in the majority of northern States for most of the period between 1860 and 1932, there have been 19 Republican presidents, the most from any one party. The Republican Partys current ideology is American conservatism, which contrasts with the Democrats more progressive platform, further, its platform involves support for free market capitalism, free enterprise, fiscal conservatism, a strong national defense, deregulation, and restrictions on labor unions. In addition to advocating for economic policies, the Republican Party is socially conservative. As of 2017, the GOP is documented as being at its strongest position politically since 1928, in addition to holding the Presidency, the Republicans control the 115th United States Congress, having majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The party also holds a majority of governorships and state legislatures, the main cause was opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise by which slavery was kept out of Kansas. The Northern Republicans saw the expansion of slavery as a great evil, the first public meeting of the general anti-Nebraska movement where the name Republican was suggested for a new anti-slavery party was held on March 20,1854, in a schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin. The name was chosen to pay homage to Thomas Jeffersons Republican Party. The first official party convention was held on July 6,1854, in Jackson and it oversaw the preserving of the union, the end of slavery, and the provision of equal rights to all men in the American Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861–1877. The Republicans initial base was in the Northeast and the upper Midwest, with the realignment of parties and voters in the Third Party System, the strong run of John C. Fremont in the 1856 United States presidential election demonstrated it dominated most northern states, early Republican ideology was reflected in the 1856 slogan free labor, free land, free men, which had been coined by Salmon P. Chase, a Senator from Ohio. Free labor referred to the Republican opposition to labor and belief in independent artisans. Free land referred to Republican opposition to the system whereby slaveowners could buy up all the good farm land. The Party strove to contain the expansion of slavery, which would cause the collapse of the slave power, Lincoln, representing the fast-growing western states, won the Republican nomination in 1860 and subsequently won the presidency. The party took on the mission of preserving the Union, and destroying slavery during the American Civil War, in the election of 1864, it united with War Democrats to nominate Lincoln on the National Union Party ticket. The partys success created factionalism within the party in the 1870s and those who felt that Reconstruction had been accomplished and was continued mostly to promote the large-scale corruption tolerated by President Ulysses S. Grant ran Horace Greeley for the presidency. The Stalwarts defended Grant and the system, the Half-Breeds led by Chester A. Arthur pushed for reform of the civil service in 1883
12.
Party leaders of the United States Senate
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The Senate Majority and Minority Leaders are two United States Senators and members of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They are elected to their positions in the Senate by their party caucuses, the Senate Democratic Caucus. By rule, the Presiding Officer gives the Majority Leader priority in obtaining recognition to speak on the floor of the Senate, the Assistant Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate are the second-ranking members of each partys leadership. The main function of the Majority and Minority Whips is to gather votes on major issues, because they are the second ranking member of the Senate, if there is no floor leader present, the whip may become acting floor leader. Before 1969, the titles were Majority Whip and Minority Whip. The Senate is currently composed of 52 Republicans,46 Democrats, the current leaders are Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. The current Assistant Majority Leader is Republican John Cornyn of Texas, the current Assistant Minority Leader/Whip is Democrat Dick Durbin of Illinois. The Democrats began the practice of electing floor leaders in 1920 while they were in the minority, John W. Kern was a Democratic Senator from Indiana. While the title was not official, he is considered to be the first Senate party leader from 1913 through 1917, the Constitution designates the Vice President of the United States as President of the United States Senate. The Constitution also calls for a President pro tempore to serve as the leader of the body when the President of the Senate is absent, for these reasons, it is the Majority Leader who, in practice, manages the Senate. This is in contrast to the House of Representatives where the elected Speaker of the House has a deal of discretionary power. The Democratic Party first selected a leader in 1920, the Republican Party first formally designated a leader in 1925. gov Republican Majority Democratic Minority
13.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
14.
Washington, D.C.
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Washington, D. C. formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D. C. is the capital of the United States. The signing of the Residence Act on July 16,1790, Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress and the District is therefore not a part of any state. The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, named in honor of President George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital. In 1846, Congress returned the land ceded by Virginia, in 1871. Washington had an population of 681,170 as of July 2016. Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the population to more than one million during the workweek. The Washington metropolitan area, of which the District is a part, has a population of over 6 million, the centers of all three branches of the federal government of the United States are in the District, including the Congress, President, and Supreme Court. Washington is home to national monuments and museums, which are primarily situated on or around the National Mall. The city hosts 176 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of international organizations, trade unions, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups. A locally elected mayor and a 13‑member council have governed the District since 1973, However, the Congress maintains supreme authority over the city and may overturn local laws. D. C. residents elect a non-voting, at-large congressional delegate to the House of Representatives, the District receives three electoral votes in presidential elections as permitted by the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1961. Various tribes of the Algonquian-speaking Piscataway people inhabited the lands around the Potomac River when Europeans first visited the area in the early 17th century, One group known as the Nacotchtank maintained settlements around the Anacostia River within the present-day District of Columbia. Conflicts with European colonists and neighboring tribes forced the relocation of the Piscataway people, some of whom established a new settlement in 1699 near Point of Rocks, Maryland. 43, published January 23,1788, James Madison argued that the new government would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance. Five years earlier, a band of unpaid soldiers besieged Congress while its members were meeting in Philadelphia, known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, the event emphasized the need for the national government not to rely on any state for its own security. However, the Constitution does not specify a location for the capital, on July 9,1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River. The exact location was to be selected by President George Washington, formed from land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring 10 miles on each side, totaling 100 square miles. Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory, the port of Georgetown, Maryland, founded in 1751, many of the stones are still standing
15.
Presidency of Barack Obama
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The presidency of Barack Obama began at noon EST on January 20,2009, when Barack Obama was inaugurated as President of the United States, and ended on January 20,2017. Obama, a Democrat, took office as the 44th United States president following a victory over Republican John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. Four years later, in the 2012 election, he defeated Mitt Romney to win re-election and he was the first African American president, the first multiracial president, the first non-white president, and the first president to have been born in Hawaii. Obama was succeeded by Republican Donald Trump, who won the 2016 presidential election, Obama also appointed Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, the latter of whom became the first Hispanic American on the Supreme Court. Democrats controlled both houses of Congress until Republicans won a majority in the House of Representatives in the 2010 elections, following the elections, Obama and Congressional Republicans engaged in a protracted stand-off over government spending levels and the debt ceiling. In his second term, Obama took steps to combat climate change, signing an international climate agreement. Obama also presided over the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and other legislation passed in his first term, the number of American soldiers in Afghanistan fell dramatically during Obamas second term, though U. S. soldiers remained in Afghanistan throughout Obamas presidency. The presidential transition period began following Obamas election to the presidency in November 2008, John Podesta, Valerie Jarrett, and Pete Rouse co-chaired the Obama-Biden Transition Project. During the transition period, Obama announced nominations for his Cabinet, in November 2008, Congressman Rahm Emanuel accepted Obamas offer to serve as White House Chief of Staff. Obama was inaugurated on January 20,2009, succeeding George W. Bush, Obama officially assumed the presidency at 12,00 pm, EST, and completed the oath of office at 12,05 pm, EST. He delivered his inaugural address immediately following his oath, following his inauguration, Obama and the Senate worked to confirm his nominees to the United States Cabinet. Obama nominated several former Clinton administration officials to the Cabinet and to other positions, on April 28,2009, the Senate confirmed former Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services, completing Obamas initial Cabinet. In March 2016, Obama nominated Chief Judge Merrick Garland of the D. C. Circuit to fill Scalias seat, garlands nomination remained before the Senate for longer than any other Supreme Court nomination in history, and the nomination expired with the end of the 114th Congress. President Donald Trump is widely expected to appoint a successor to Scalia, Obamas presidency saw the continuation of battles between both parties over the confirmation of judicial nominees. Democrats continually accused Republicans of stalling nominees throughout Obamas tenure, after several nomination battles, Senate Democrats in 2013 reformed the use of the filibuster so that it could no longer be used on executive or judicial nominations. Obamas judicial nominees were significantly more diverse than those of previous administrations, with more appointments going to women, some of the first actions of Obamas presidency focused on reversing measures taken by the Bush administration following the September 11 attacks. Another order, Executive Order 13491, banned torture and other coercive techniques, on January 29, Obama signed a bill for the first time in his presidency, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 revised the statute of limitations for filing pay discrimination lawsuits. On February 3, he signed the Childrens Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, on March 9,2009, Obama lifted restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research
16.
Barack Obama
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Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician who served as the 44th President of the United States from 2009 to 2017. He is the first African American to have served as president and he previously served in the U. S. Senate representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008, and in the Illinois State Senate from 1997 to 2004. Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, two years after the territory was admitted to the Union as the 50th state and he grew up mostly in Hawaii, but also spent one year of his childhood in Washington State and four years in Indonesia. After graduating from Columbia University in 1983, he worked as a community organizer in Chicago, in 1988 Obama enrolled in Harvard Law School, where he was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. After graduation, he became a civil rights attorney and professor, Obama represented the 13th District for three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004, when he ran for the U. S. Senate. In 2008, Obama was nominated for president, a year after his campaign began and he was elected over Republican John McCain, and was inaugurated on January 20,2009. Nine months later, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, during his first two years in office, Obama signed more landmark legislation than any Democratic president since LBJs Great Society. Main reforms were the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, after a lengthy debate over the national debt limit, Obama signed the Budget Control and the American Taxpayer Relief Acts. In foreign policy, Obama increased U. S. troop levels in Afghanistan, reduced nuclear weapons with the U. S. -Russian New START treaty, and ended military involvement in the Iraq War. He ordered military involvement in Libya in opposition to Muammar Gaddafi, after winning re-election over Mitt Romney, Obama was sworn in for a second term in 2013. Obama also advocated gun control in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and issued wide-ranging executive actions concerning climate change and immigration. In foreign policy, Obama ordered military intervention in Iraq in response to gains made by ISIL after the 2011 withdrawal from Iraq, Obama left office in January 2017 with a 60% approval rating. He currently resides in Washington, D. C and his presidential library will be built in Chicago. Obama was born on August 4,1961, at Kapiʻolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu and he is the only President to have been born in Hawaii. He was born to a mother and a black father. His mother, Ann Dunham, was born in Wichita, Kansas, of mostly English descent, with some German, Irish, Scottish, Swiss and his father, Barack Obama Sr. was a married Luo Kenyan man from Nyangoma Kogelo. Obamas parents met in 1960 in a Russian language class at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the couple married in Wailuku, Hawaii on February 2,1961, six months before Obama was born. In late August 1961, Obamas mother moved him to the University of Washington in Seattle for a year
17.
2000 United States Census
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This was the twenty-second federal census and was at the time the largest civilly administered peacetime effort in the United States. Approximately 16 percent of households received a form of the 2000 census. Full documentation on the 2000 census, including forms and a procedural history, is available from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Microdata from the 2000 census is available through the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Aggregate data for small areas, together with electronic boundary files, personally identifiable information will be available in 2072. The U. S. resident population includes the number of people in the 50 states. The Bureau also enumerated the residents of the U. S. territory of Puerto Rico, its population was 3,808,610, the 2000 Census was the first time survey options for multiracial Americans were provided. S. Households had access to computers, 42% have Internet access, regionally, the South and West experienced the bulk of the nations population increase,14,790,890 and 10,411,850, respectively. This meant that the center of U. S. population moved to Phelps County. The Northeast grew by 2,785,149, the Midwest by 4,724,144, the results of the census are used to determine how many congressional districts each state is apportioned. Congress defines the formula, in accordance with Title 2 of the U. S. Code, each member of the House represents a population of about 647,000. The populations of the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are excluded from the apportionment population because they do not have voting seats in the U. S, since the first census in 1790, the decennial count has been the basis for the United States representative form of government. Article I, Section II specifies that The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, in 1790, each member of the House represented about 34,000 residents. Since then, the House more than quadrupled in size, today, each member represents about 20 times as many constituents. This recommendation was followed by the Secretary of Commerce, after the census was tabulated, Utah challenged the results in two different ways. Utah was extremely close to gaining a fourth seat, falling 857 people short. The margin was later shortened to 80 people, after the government discovered that it overcounted the population of North Carolina by 2,673 residents. Utah claimed that individuals traveling abroad as religious missionaries should be counted as residents, almost half of all Mormon missionaries, more than 11,000 individuals, were from Utah, only 102 came from North Carolina
18.
United States elections, 2010
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The 2010 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 2,2010, in the middle of Democratic President Barack Obamas first term. The Democratic Party suffered massive defeats in many national and state level elections and this left Republicans in control of 26 state legislatures, compared to the 15 still controlled by Democrats. After the election, Republicans took control of 29 of the 50 State Governorships, the 2010 midterm election is also the third consecutive midterm election held in a presidents first term where Republicans picked up seats across both houses of Congress. It was also the second consecutive election where party control in the House of Representatives changed hands. S. Midterm elections without any significant shift in voters political identification, the swaying views of self-declared independent voters, however, were largely responsible for the shift from Democratic to Republican gains. Candidates and voters in 2010 focused on economic conditions and the economic policies of the Obama Administration. Attention was paid to public anger over the Wall Street bailout signed into law by President George W. Bush in late 2008. Voters were also motivated for and against the reforms of the health care system enacted by Democrats in 2010, as well as concerns over tax rates. At the time of the election, unemployment was over 9%, the fiscally-focused and quasi-libertarian Tea Party movement was a vocal force in mobilizing voters for Republican candidates nationwide. Their widespread exposure in the media contributed to the focus on economic, rather than social. The Tea Party has made the Republican Party safe for libertarians, the Act greatly enhanced the power of Arizonas law enforcement agencies to investigate the immigration status of suspected illegal immigrants and to enforce state and national immigration laws. The Act also required immigrants to carry their immigration documentation on their person at all times, the passage of the controversial Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act also contributed to the low approval ratings of Congress, particularly Democrats, in the months leading up to the election. Many Republicans ran on a promise to repeal the law, and beat incumbent Democratic opponents who had voted in favor of the Patient Protection, the 34 seats in the United States Senate Class III were up for election. S. Secretary of State and their subsequent resignations from the Senate, as well as incumbent Senator Robert Byrds death, a special election was also held for the Class I seat in Massachusetts, as a result of the death of incumbent Senator Ted Kennedy. The election was held on January 19,2010, resulting in Republican state senator Scott Brown winning the seat, all 435 voting seats in the United States House of Representatives were up for election. Additionally, elections were held to select the delegates for the District of Columbia, the only seat in the House not up for election was that of the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, who serves a four-year term and faced election in 2012. 37 state and two territory United States governors were up for election, Elections were also held for the governorships of two U. S. territories. One state, Louisiana, had no campaign for governor but did feature a special election for lieutenant governor, Jerry Brown, a longtime California politician who had been a prominent national political figure since the 1960s, was elected to a third, nonconsecutive term as Governor of California
19.
107th United States Congress
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It met in Washington, D. C. from January 3,2001 to January 3,2003, during the final weeks of the Clinton presidency and the first two years of the George W. Bush presidency. The apportionment of seats in this House of Representatives was based on the Twenty-first Census of the United States in 1990, the House of Representatives had a Republican majority, and the Senate switched majorities from Democratic to Republican and back to Democratic. By the end of term, Republicans had regained the majority in the Senate, a rare even split in the United States Senate and the defection of a single Senator led to three changes in majorities. The September 11 attacks were highly disruptive, some Senators were targeted by anthrax attacks. The Congress voted to allow the President to invade Iraq, January 3,2001, Senate was evenly split between the two parties. Hillary Clinton, wife of President Bill Clinton, became the first presidential spouse to serve in Congress, trent Lott becomes Senate Majority Leader. June 6,2001, Senator Jim Jeffords, previously a Republican, declared himself an independent and announced he would join the Democratic caucus, democrat Tom Daschle became Senate Majority Leader. The address was scheduled for September 12,2001, but was interrupted by the September 11 attacks. Already in Washington at the time, he sat in on Congressional sessions on September 12 instead, November 25,2002, Jim Talent wins special election for Senate in Missouri, effectively giving Republicans a majority. Reorganization delayed till Senate returned to session in the next term, November 30 - December 2,2002, Outgoing Sen. Phil Gramm resigns weeks before his final term expires, Sen. -elect John Cornyn appointed to finish Gramms term. June 7,2001, Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act, 107–16,115 Stat.38 October 26,2001, Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act, Pub. L. 107–56,115 Stat.272 January 8,2002, No Child Left Behind Act, 107–110,115 Stat.1425 January 11,2002, Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act, Pub. L. 107–118,115 Stat.2356 March 9,2002, Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act, 107–147,116 Stat.21 March 27,2002, Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, Pub. L. 107–155,116 Stat.81 May 13,2002, Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, 107–171,116 Stat.134 July 30,2002, Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Pub. L. 107–204,116 Stat.745 August 6,2002, Trade Act of 2002, 107–210,116 Stat.933 October 16,2002, Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq, Pub. L. 107–243,116 Stat.1497 October 21,2002, Sudan Peace Act, 107–245,116 Stat.1504 October 29,2002, Help America Vote Act, Pub. L. 107–252,116 Stat.1666 November 25,2002, Homeland Security Act, 107–296,116 Stat.2135 December 17,2002, E-Government Act of 2002, Pub. L. Many of the district numbers are linked to articles describing the district itself
20.
99th United States Congress
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It met in Washington, D. C. from January 3,1985 to January 3,1987, during the fifth and sixth years of Ronald Reagans presidency. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the Twentieth Census of the United States in 1980, the Republicans maintained control of the Senate, while the Democrats maintained control of the House of Representatives. January 20,1985, Ronald Reagan was privately sworn in for a term as U. S. President. January 28,1986, Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, Destruction of the shuttle, April 15,1986, Operation El Dorado Canyon, At least 15 people die after United States planes bomb targets in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and the Benghazi region. October 21,1986, The Marshall Islands achieved independence from U. S. -administered UN Trusteeship, November 3,1986, The Federated States of Micronesia achieved independence from U. S. -administered UN Trusteeship and became an associated state under the Compact of Free Association. November 4,1986, United States general elections,1986, Congressional Democrats regained their Senate majority, December 12,1985, Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 Pub. L. 99–177 December 17,1985, Gold Bullion Coin Act of 1985, 99–185 April 7,1986, Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 Pub. L. 99–272 May 19,1986, Firearm Owners Protection Act, Pub. L, 99–308 October 1,1986, Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986, Pub. L. 99–433 October 2,1986, Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act, Pub. L, 99–440 October 17,1986, Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, Pub. L. 99–499 October 21,1986, Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, 99–508 October 22,1986, Tax Reform Act of 1986, Pub. L. 99–514 October 27,1986, Anti-Drug Abuse Act, Pub. L, 99–570 October 31,1986, Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Pub. L. 99–592 November 6,1986, Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, 99–603, S.1200 November 17,1986, Water Resources Development Act of 1986, Pub. L. The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, the Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. Biographical Directory of the U. S. Congress U. S. House of Representatives, Congressional History U. S. Senate, Statistics, Congressional Pictorial Directory for the 99th Congress. Congressional Pictorial Directory for the 99th Congress, official Congressional Directory for the 99th Congress
21.
80th United States Congress
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It met in Washington, DC from January 3,1947 to January 3,1949, during the third and fourth years of Harry S. Trumans presidency. The apportionment of seats in this House of Representatives was based on the Sixteenth Census of the United States in 1940, republicans gained a majority in both chambers for this Congress having gained thirteen Senate seats and fifty-seven House seats. The 80th Congress passed several significant pro-business bills, most famously the Taft–Hartley Act, January 3,1947, Proceedings of Congress were televised for the first time. March 12,1947, In a Joint Session of Congress, July 18,1947, The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands entered into a trusteeship with the United Nations and administered by the United States. July 20,1947, President Truman issued the second peacetime draft in the United States amid increasing tensions with the Soviet Union. November 24,1947, The House of Representatives approved citations of contempt of Congress against the so-called Hollywood 10, July 26,1948, President Truman signed Executive Order 9981, ending racial segregation in the United States Armed Forces. August 25,1948, House Un-American Activities Committee held the first-ever televised congressional hearing, 80–75,61 Stat.103 June 23,1947, Taft–Hartley Act, Sess. 80–101,61 Stat.136 July 18,1947, Presidential Succession Act, 80–199,61 Stat.380 July 26,1947, National Security Act of 1947, Sess. 80–253,61 Stat.495 August 7,1947, Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands, 80–382,61 Stat.913 January 27,1948, United States Information and Educational Exchange Act, Sess. 80–402,62 Stat.6 April 3,1948, Foreign Assistance Act,169,62 Stat.137 April 3,1948, Greek-Turkish Assistance Act of 1948, Sess. 80–472, Title III,62 Stat.157 May 26,1948, Civil Air Patrol Act, 80–557,62 Stat.274 June 12,1948, Womens Armed Services Integration Act, Sess. 80–625,62 Stat.356 June 17,1948, Reed-Bulwinkle Act, 80–662,62 Stat.472 June 25,1948, Title 3 of the United States Code, Sess. 80–771,62 Stat.672 June 28,1948, Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act of 1948, 80–806,62 Stat.1070 June 30,1948, Federal Water Pollution Control Act, Sess. 80–845,62 Stat.1155 July 3,1948, War Claims Act of 1948, 80–896,62 Stat.1240 July 3,1948, Agricultural Act of 1948, Sess. The Democrats lost one seat, which remained vacant until the next Congress, the congressional district numbers are linked to articles describing the district itself. Since the boundaries of the districts have changed often and substantially, the article may only describe the district as it exists today. The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress There were 3 deaths,2 resignations, There were 9 deaths and 7 resignations. Official Congressional Directory for the 80th Congress, 1st Session, official Congressional Directory for the 80th Congress, 1st Session
22.
Kennedy family
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The Kennedy family is an American family that has been prominent in American politics, public service, and business during the 20th century. Three of the four sons of Joseph, Sr. and Rose Kennedy served as senator, the first Kennedys to reside in the United States were Patrick Kennedy and Bridget Murphy, who sailed from Ireland to East Boston in 1849. Their son Patrick Joseph went into Massachusetts politics and business, P. J. s brother-in-law, Charles M. Hickey, served as mayor of Brockton, Massachusetts in 1913. Under President Franklin D. Josephs wife was Rose Fitzgerald, whose father, John F. Fitzgerald, served as a senator, member of the U. S. House of Representatives. Joseph and Rose had nine children, Joseph Jr. John, Rosemary, Kathleen, Eunice, Patricia, Robert, Jean, John served as the President of the United States, while Robert and Ted both became prominent senators. Every Kennedy to hold elective office has served as a Democrat while other members of the family have worked for the Democratic Party or held Cabinet posts under Democratic administrations. Many have attended Harvard University, and the family has contributed greatly to that universitys John F. Kennedy School of Government, Joseph originally hoped for his eldest son, Joseph Jr. to become a politician and ultimately to be elected President. After Joseph Jr. was killed in World War II, Joseph Sr. s hopes transferred to his second son, during his presidency, John appointed Robert as Attorney General. Meanwhile, Ted was elected to the Senate in 1962, the family received intense publicity during Johns term as President, often emphasizing their relative youth, allure, education, and future in politics. The family suffered many tragedies, which contributed to the idea of the Kennedy curse, Kathleen, and John Jr. all died in airplane crashes. Italics denote members who married into the family, only members who held political office are shown below. P. J. Kennedy, Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives 1884–89, member of the Massachusetts Senate, John F. Caroline Kennedy, United States Ambassador to Japan, 2013–17. Bobby Shriver, Member of the Santa Monica, California City Council, 2004–12, maria Shriver, First Lady of California, 2003–11, married Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chairman of the Presidents Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition, 1990–93, and governor of California, 2003–11. Mark Shriver, Member of the Maryland House of Delegates, 1995–2003, Robert F. Kennedy, United States Attorney General 1961–64, United States senator from New York, 1965–68. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Lieutenant governor of Maryland, 1995–2003, Joseph P. Kennedy II, Member of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts, 1987–99. Joseph P. Kennedy III, Member of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts, Jean Kennedy Smith, United States Ambassador to Ireland, 1993–98. Ted Kennedy, United States senator from Massachusetts, 1962–2009, edward M. Kennedy Jr. Member of the Connecticut Senate, 2015–present. Patrick J. Kennedy, Member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, 1989–93, member of the United States House of Representatives from Rhode Island, the Kennedys, A Family Tree, St
23.
Polarization (politics)
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In the world of politics, polarization can refer to the divergence of political attitudes to ideological extremes. Polarization can refer to such divergence like public opinion or even to such divergence within certain groups, almost all discussions of polarization in political science consider polarization in the context of political parties and democratic systems of government. When polarization occurs in a two-party system, like the United States, moderate voices often lose power, Polarization is both a state and a process. Polarization as a state refers to the extent to which opinions on an issue are opposed in relation to some theoretical maximum, Polarization as a process refers to the increase in such opposition over time. Some political scientists argue that polarization requires divergence on a range of issues based on a consistent set of beliefs. Others argue polarization occurs when there are stark partisan or ideological divides, Political scientists typically distinguish between two types of political polarization, elite polarization and popular polarization. Elite polarization refers to the polarization of political elites, like party organizers and elected officials, while popular polarization refers to polarization in the electorate, in either context, opinions and policy positions are characterized by strict adherence to party lines. Elite polarization and popular polarization can occur at the time or independently of each other. A central issue in the study of political polarization is investigating the relationship between elite polarization and popular polarization, particularly any causal relationships between the two, elite polarization refers to polarization in the party-in-government and party-as-organization. It occurs when party members grow more internally homogenous on policy positions, Polarized political parties are internally cohesive and unified, programmatic, and ideologically distinct, and are typically found in a parliamentary system of democratic governance. In a two-party system like the U. S and this leads to the conflation of political parties and ideologies and the collapse of the ideological center. The vast majority of studies on elite polarization focus on legislative and deliberative bodies, there is much more research on polarization in Congress than on polarization in the other branches of government or in state governments. Popular polarization occurs when the electorates attitudes towards political issues, policies, members of the electorate and general public typically become less moderate in cases of popular polarization. Many political scientists consider political polarization a top-down process, in which elite polarization leads to - or at least precedes - popular polarization, yet polarization amongst elites does not necessarily produce polarization within the electorate, and polarized electoral choices can often reflect elite polarization rather than voters preferences. Political scientists studying popular polarization typically rely on data from opinion polls, Political scientists typically limit their inquiry to issues and questions that have been constant over time, in order to compare the present day to what the political climate has historically been. Political scientists have identified a variety of causes of political polarization, including parties, redistricting, the publics political ideology. Some scholars argue that diverging parties have one of the major driving forces of polarization as policy platforms have become more distant. This theory is based on recent trends in the United States Congress, the adoption of more ideologically distinct positions by political parties can cause polarization amongst both elites and the electorate
24.
Reconstruction Era
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Johnson followed a lenient policy toward ex-Confederates. Lincolns last speeches show that he was leaning toward supporting the enfranchisement of all freedmen, whereas Johnson was opposed to this. A Republican coalition came to power in all the southern states and set out to transform the society by setting up a free labor economy, using the U. S. Army. The Bureau protected the rights of freedmen, negotiated labor contracts. Thousands of Northerners came South as missionaries, teachers, businessmen, rebuilding the rundown railroad system was a major strategy, but it collapsed when a nationwide depression struck the economy. The Radicals in the House of Representatives, frustrated by Johnsons opposition to Congressional Reconstruction, filed impeachment charges, in early 1866, Congress passed the Freedmens Bureau and Civil Rights Bills and sent them to Johnson for his signature. Meanwhile, self-styled Conservatives strongly opposed reconstruction and they alleged widespread corruption by the Carpetbaggers, excessive state spending and ruinous taxes. Southern democrats and conservatives violently counterattacked and had regained power in each redeemed Southern state by 1877, meanwhile, public support for Reconstruction policies, requiring continued supervision of the South, faded in the North, as voters decided that the Civil War and years of conflict should stop. Reconstruction was a significant chapter in the history of civil rights in the United States, in the different states Reconstruction began and ended at different times, federal Reconstruction ended with the Compromise of 1877. In recent decades most historians follow Foner in dating the Reconstruction of the south as starting in 1863 rather than 1865, Reconstruction policies were debated in the North when the war began, and commenced in earnest after Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1,1863. As Confederate states came back under control of the US Army, President Abraham Lincoln set up reconstructed governments in Tennessee, Arkansas and he experimented by giving land to blacks in South Carolina. By fall 1865, the new President Andrew Johnson declared the war goals of national unity, Republicans in Congress, refusing to accept Johnsons lenient terms, rejected new members of Congress, some of whom had been high-ranking Confederate officials a few months before. Johnson broke with the Republicans after vetoing two key bills that supported the Freedmens Bureau and provided federal civil rights to the freedmen and that same year, Congress removed civilian governments in the South, and placed the former Confederacy under the rule of the U. S. Army. In ten states, coalitions of freedmen, recent black and white arrivals from the North, Conservative opponents called the Republican regimes corrupt and instigated violence toward freedmen and whites who supported Reconstruction. Most of the violence was carried out by members of the Ku Klux Klan, Klan members attacked and intimidated blacks seeking to exercise their new civil rights, as well as Republican politicians in the south favoring those civil rights. One such politician murdered by the Klan on the eve of the 1868 presidential election was Republican Congressman James M. Hinds of Arkansas, widespread violence in the south led to federal intervention by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1871, which suppressed the Klan. Nevertheless, white Democrats, calling themselves Redeemers, regained control of the state by state, sometimes using fraud. The end of Reconstruction was a process, and the period of Republican control ended at different times in different states
25.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
26.
2011 State of the Union Address
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The 2011 State of the Union Address was a speech given by former President Barack Obama at 9 p. m. EST on January 25,2011, in the chamber of the United States House of Representatives. ”As always, the presiding officers of the Senate and the House of Representatives, Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker John Boehner sat behind the president. This is the first time a Republican has sat behind President Obama during a joint session of Congress, senator Mark Udall of Colorado picked up Third Ways proposal and sent a letter to Congressional members urging them to sit together regardless of party, breaking with tradition. Sixty members of the House and Senate signaled their support for the plan, groups included Arizonas House delegation of five Republicans and two Democrats, past presidential candidates John Kerry and John McCain, and campaign leaders John Cornyn and Patty Murray. Legislators wore black-and-white ribbons in honor of the victims of the shooting, secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar served as the designated survivor and did not attend the speech. In order to achieve this Obama outlined a plan to help the United States win the future by out-innovating, out-educating, a five-year freeze in domestic spending projected to save $400 billion over the next decade. Elimination of billions in tax breaks for oil companies, the president has previously sought to bring in more than $36 billion over the next decade through tax increases on oil and gas companies, but so far has been unable to win congressional support. Reductions in health costs, including Medicare and Medicaid. Obama said hes willing to consider medical malpractice reform to rein in frivolous lawsuits, ending the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans once the latest extension expires in two years. Before the rate was extended, the Obama administration estimated it would cost $700 billion over the next decade, a proposal to merge, consolidate and reorganize the federal government. Obama said he will submit that proposal to Congress in the coming months, a proposal to lower the corporate tax rate. Pledge to have 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015, pledge to have 80 percent of the countrys electricity come from clean-energy sources by 2035. New investment in research, information technology and clean-energy technology. A continuation of the $4.35 billion Race to the Top incentive program offering competitive federal grants to school systems. Bruce Randolph School was mentioned as a success, a call to redouble efforts to repair Americas aging roads and bridges. A call to make a $10,000 tuition tax credit permanent, a challenge to pursue innovation in our generations Sputnik moment. Replace No Child Left Behind with another form of education reform, a good amount of time was directed towards education during the address. The President announced that he will be taking a trip to Brazil, Chile and El Salvador in the spring, to trade deals. Remain committed to the War in Afghanistan, the War on Terror, and on pressuring regimes like Iran, which is pursuing nuclear weapons, and North Korea, continue alliance with the United Kingdom, Israel, and Japan
27.
2012 State of the Union Address
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In his speech, he focused on education reform, repairing Americas infrastructure with money not used on the Iraq War, and creating new energy sources in America. President Obama hugged Giffords when he got to her walking up to the stage. Dave Delie, President of Welspun Tubular LLC, a subsidiary of Welspun Corp, ltd, located in Little Rock, Arkansas Sen. The designated survivor for the 2012 State of the Union Address was United States Secretary of Agriculture and we will stand against violence and intimidation. We will stand for the rights and dignity of all human beings – men and women, Christians, Muslims and we will support policies that lead to strong and stable democracies and open markets, because tyranny is no match for liberty. Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a shot, everyone does their fair share. The President called upon Congress to deny tax breaks to companies that outsource, the unit will be headed by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. With respect to the Buffet Rule The New York Times reported and he singled out the rapid growth of domestic natural gas production through the technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. While the Washington Post wrote that Obama would open up new land to develop wind farms. Mitch Daniels, Governor of Indiana, gave the Republican response after the State of the Union Address, other group or party responses were presented by former candidate for the Republican presidential nomination Herman Cain on behalf of the Tea Party Express and collective members of Occupy D. C. There was also an online response from the Green Party by presidential candidates Jill Stein
28.
Gabrielle Giffords
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Gabrielle Dee Gabby Giffords is an American politician from the U. S. state of Arizona. She is the woman in Arizonas history to be elected to the U. S. Congress. Giffords is a native of Tucson, Arizona, and a graduate of Scripps College and she also worked as an associate for regional economic development for Price Waterhouse in New York City, and as CEO of El Campo Tire Warehouses, a local automotive chain owned by her grandfather. She is married to former astronaut and Space Shuttle Commander Mark E. Kelly, on January 8,2011, just a week into her third term, Giffords was a victim of an assassination attempt near Tucson, at a Safeway supermarket where she was meeting publicly with constituents. Giffords was later brought to a facility in Houston, Texas. On May 16,2011, Giffords traveled to Kennedy Space Center to watch the launch of STS-134, the flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour. On August 1,2011, Giffords returned to the House floor to vote and was greeted with a standing ovation. On January 22,2012, Giffords announced her resignation from her seat in order to concentrate on recovering from her wounds. Gabrielle Dee Giffords was born and grew up Tucson, Arizona, to Gloria Kay and she was raised in a mixed religious environment by her Jewish father and Christian Science-practicing mother. Her grandfather, Akiba Hornstein, was a Jewish immigrant from Lithuania who changed his name to Giffords to avoid anti-Semitism, through her father, Giffords is a second cousin of actress Gwyneth Paltrow. Giffords has identified herself solely with Judaism since 2001, belonging to Congregation Chaverim and she was Arizonas first Jewish congresswoman. Giffords graduated from Tucsons University High School and she is a former Girl Scout. Giffords worked as an associate for regional economic development at Price Waterhouse in New York City, in 1996, she became president and CEO of El Campo Tire Warehouses, a local chain of auto service centers founded by her grandfather. The business was sold to Goodyear Tire in 2000, at the time of the sale, she commented on the difficulties local businesses face when competing against large national firms. Giffords was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives and served from 2001 to 2003 and she was elected to the Arizona Senate in the fall of 2002, and at the time was the youngest woman elected to that body. She took office in January 2003 and was re-elected in 2004 and she resigned from the Arizona Senate on December 1,2005, in preparation for her congressional campaign. Sarn, repayments due under Ladewig v. Arizona, the No Child Left Behind mandate, low achievement, health care costs. She noted that Arizona was not alone in facing such challenges, expanding health care access was an issue of interest for Giffords when she served in the legislature
29.
2011 Tucson shooting
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Representative Gabrielle Giffords and eighteen others were shot during a constituent meeting held in a supermarket parking lot in Casas Adobes, Arizona, in the Tucson metropolitan area. Six people died, including federal District Court Chief Judge John Roll, Gabe Zimmerman, one of Rep. Giffords staffers, one additional person was injured in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. News reports identified the target of the attack as Giffords, a Democrat representing Arizonas 8th congressional district and she was shot through the head at point-blank range, and her medical condition was initially described as critical. Loughner, a 22-year-old Tucson man who was fixated on Giffords, was arrested at the scene, Federal prosecutors filed five charges against him, including the attempted assassination of a member of Congress and the assassination of a federal judge. Loughner previously had been arrested once on a drug charge and had been suspended by his college for disruptive behavior. Court filings include notes handwritten by Loughner indicating he planned to assassinate Giffords, the motive for the shooting remains unclear, Loughner did not cooperate with authorities, invoking his right to remain silent. He was held without bail and indicted on 49 counts, in January 2012, Loughner was found by a federal judge to be incompetent to stand trial based on two medical evaluations, which diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia. Judged still incompetent to stand trial on May 25, finally on August 7 and he pleaded guilty to 19 counts, and in November 2012 was sentenced to life in prison. Following the shooting, American and international politicians expressed grief and condemnations, gun control advocates pushed for increased restrictions on the sale of firearms and ammunition, specifically high-capacity ammunition magazines. Palin rejected claims that she bore responsibility for the shooting, President Barack Obama led a nationally televised memorial service on January 12, and other memorials took place. The shooting took place on January 8,2011, at 10,10 a. m, Giffords had set up a table outside the store and about 20 to 30 people were gathered around her when Jared Lee Loughner drew a pistol and shot Giffords in the head. The shooting was caught on video by a security camera but has not yet been released to the public. Loughner proceeded to fire apparently randomly at other members of the crowd and he reportedly used a 9×19mm Glock 19 semi-automatic pistol with a 33-round magazine. A nearby store employee said he heard 15 to 20 gunshots, Loughner stopped to reload, but dropped the loaded magazine from his pocket to the sidewalk, from where bystander Patricia Maisch grabbed it. Another bystander clubbed the back of the head with a folding chair, injuring his elbow in the process. Loughner was tackled to the ground by Bill Badger, a 74-year-old retired United States Army Colonel who had also shot himself. Loughner was further subdued by Maisch and bystanders Roger Sulzgeber and Joseph Zamudio, Zamudio, a concealed weapon permit holder, had a weapon on his person, but arrived after the shooting had stopped and did not draw his firearm. Thirty-one shell casings were found at the scene by investigators, the first call from the scene to emergency services was received at 10,11 a. m
30.
2011 in the United States
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Events in the year 2011 in the United States. Daniel Haber, chief of Massachusetts General Hospitals cancer center, virtually unlimited metastatic cancer detection becomes possible using a method that can find cancer in the periphery. Further, the method appears to be a process for monitoring the progress of intervention. Lawmakers in 14 states announce plans to curtail application of parts of the 14th Amendment in their respective states, Wisconsin becomes the 22nd state to sue the federal government over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. January 6 – The US Constitution is read aloud on the floor of the US House of Representatives for the first time in history, January 7 – Oklahoma and Wyoming join the other 22 states suing the federal government over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The primary suspect, Jared Lee Loughner, is in custody, January 10 – Former Republican United States House of Representatives Majority Leader Tom DeLay is sentenced to three years in prison for money laundering. January 11 – Ohio becomes the 25th state to sue the government over the Patient Protection. January 12 – Kansas and Maine join the other 25 states suing the government over the Patient Protection. January 18 – President Barack Obama begins a four-day meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao, January 19 – The US House votes to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act with a vote of 245–189. January 20 – In a landmark study that will see the cure for AIDS. January 25 – President Barack Obama delivers his 2011 State of the Union Address, January 31 – Florida federal judge Roger Vinson rules that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional because of the individual mandate it contains. January 31 – February 2 – A blizzard dumps as much as 2 feet of snow across the Midwestern United States, February 2 – The US Senate blocks a repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act with a vote of 51–47. February 6 NASAs STEREO satellites obtain the first simultaneous images of the surface of the Sun. Super Bowl XLV between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers became the most watched program in US history at 111 million viewers. The Packers defeated the Steelers 31–25, February 7 – AOL purchases online publisher The Huffington Post in a $315 million deal. February 14 President Obama proposes a budget for fiscal year 2012. Overall the proposal reduces expenses but also increases funding for some programs, the House approves the extension of some parts of the controversial Patriot Act until December. February 14 – February 16 – The quiz show Jeopardy, airs the victory of IBMs artificial intelligence program Watson over two of the shows most successful contestants
31.
2012 in the United States
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Events in the year 2012 in the United States. Hawaii and Delawares civil union laws go into effect. Illinois allows motorcyclists the right to yield at red lights since magnetic streetlight sensors will not recognize motorcycles, utah bans discounts or specials on alcoholic drinks, essentially banning happy hour. Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Colorado, Ohio, Vermont, San Francisco raises the minimum wage within its jurisdiction to over $10 per hour, making it the highest minimum wage in the country. California adds the historical contributions of sexual minorities and the disabled to its school curriculum, Kansas, Texas, Rhode Island, and Tennessee will now require photo identification for voters as a measure to combat voter fraud. January 3 – Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum wins the Republican Iowa Caucus by a low margin of 34 votes over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. January 4 – Michele Bachmann, a Republican presidential candidate, drops out of the race, January 5 – Classified documents are leaked detailing a range of advanced non-lethal weapons proposed or in development by the U. S. January 9 – White House Chief of Staff William M. Daley steps down, the Office of Management and Budget Director Jack Lew takes his place. January 10 Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour pardons 200 prisoners, on January 12, a Mississippi judge blocks the release of 21 of those inmates. The U. S. Supreme Court makes an 8–1 decision that abused inmates cannot sue in court a privately. Writing for the majority, Associate Justice Stephen Breyer said that, the existence of an Eighth Amendment-based damages action. State tort law authorizes adequate alternative damages actions, actions that provide both significant deterrence and compensation. We cannot imply a Bivens remedy in such a case, the judgment of the Ninth Circuit is reversed. January 14 – Miss Wisconsin, Laura Kaeppeler, wins Miss America pageant, January 16 Zappos. com computer system is hacked, compromising the personal information of 24 million customers. Jon Huntsman, a Republican presidential candidate, drops out of the race, January 18 The U. S. Supreme Court makes a unanimous 9–0 decision that telephone consumers can gain standing in federal courts to sue abusive telephone marketers. The ruling went against Arrow Financial Services, a debt-collection agency, the act was passed so that out-of-state telemarketers, by operating interstate, could not escape state-law prohibitions on intrusive nuisance calls. Petitioner Marcus D. S. district courts’ exercise of the general federal-question jurisdiction and we hold, therefore, that federal and state courts have concurrent jurisdiction over private suits arising under the TCPA. The Eleventh Circuit erred in dismissing Mims’s case for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. The U. S. Supreme Court makes a 6–2 decision that restores copyright status to foreign works previously in the public domain
32.
2013 in the United States
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Events in the year 2013 in the United States. Marylands voter-approved same-sex marriage law goes into effect, performing a wheelie on a motorcycle is banned in Illinois. Illinois bans the sale of shark fins, the Senate approves a deal to avert general tax hikes and spending cuts known as the fiscal cliff. January 2 – President Barack Obama signs the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, january 3 – Subaru issues a recall for nearly 634,000 vehicles in the U. S. due to a lighting problem. January 4 – Congress officially declares President Obama the winner of the 2012 presidential election, january 7 For $8.5 billion, ten banks settle to stop mortgage foreclosure process audits. The United States government regulators had been engaged in a review of home loan practices during The Great Recession. Further, Bank of America agrees to pay $11.6 billion to government mortgage finance company Fannie Mae,2013 BCS National Championship Game, Number one ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish plays number two ranked Alabama Crimson Tide at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Alabama defeats Notre Dame,42 –14, january 9 In baseball, no living candidates are elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame for the first time since 1996. Some candidates, such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, receive few votes due to allegations of steroid use, retired British businessman Christopher Tappin is sentenced to 33 months in prison by a U. S. court after pleading guilty to selling weapon parts to Iran. January 10 – 85th Academy Awards, Nominations are announced at Samuel Goldwyn Theater, the Best Picture nominees are Amour, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Les Misérables, Silver Linings Playbook, and Zero Dark Thirty. January 12 – Mallory Hagan, Miss New York 2012, wins the 86th Miss America pageant, january 15 New York becomes the first state to pass a law relating to guns since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The new law bans possession of high-capacity magazines, requires a state-registry for assault-class weapons, the Associated Press reports that the cyclist Lance Armstrong has admitted to doping in his career during his interview with Oprah Winfrey, yet to be aired. January 16 – Boeing 787 aircraft are grounded worldwide over concerns about the safety of their lithium-ion batteries, january 20 – The second inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States takes place in the Blue Room of the White House. January 21 – Second Inaugural Address, The public portion of President Obamas second inaugural takes place in Washington, january 23 – Previously-valued $2 billion video game company THQ sells most of its assets for $72 million after last month filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. January 24 Defense Secretary Leon Panetta lifts the ban upon women serving in combat, Congress will have a month to review the decision before it goes into effect, and could block lifting the rule. David Headley is sentenced to 35 years in prison for his role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, january 24 – August 14 – The North Korea crisis begins. There is extreme escalation of rhetoric by the new North Korean Kim Jong-un regime, and actions strongly implying imminent warfare against South Korea and the United States with nuclear weapons. January 31 – A judge sentences Russell Wasendorf, a founder of Peregrine Financial Group, February 1 – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton submits her resignation
33.
United States Constitution
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The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America. The Constitution, originally comprising seven articles, delineates the national frame of government, Articles Four, Five and Six entrench concepts of federalism, describing the rights and responsibilities of state governments and of the states in relationship to the federal government. Article Seven establishes the procedure used by the thirteen States to ratify it. In general, the first ten amendments, known collectively as the Bill of Rights, offer specific protections of individual liberty, the majority of the seventeen later amendments expand individual civil rights protections. Others address issues related to federal authority or modify government processes and procedures, Amendments to the United States Constitution, unlike ones made to many constitutions worldwide, are appended to the document. All four pages of the original U. S, according to the United States Senate, The Constitutions first three words—We the People—affirm that the government of the United States exists to serve its citizens. From September 5,1774 to March 1,1781, the Continental Congress functioned as the government of the United States. The process of selecting the delegates for the First and Second Continental Congresses underscores the revolutionary role of the people of the colonies in establishing a governing body. The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was the first constitution of the United States and it was drafted by the Second Continental Congress from mid-1776 through late-1777, and ratification by all 13 states was completed by early 1781. Under the Articles of Confederation, the governments power was quite limited. The Confederation Congress could make decisions, but lacked enforcement powers, implementation of most decisions, including modifications to the Articles, required unanimous approval of all thirteen state legislatures. The Continental Congress could print money but the currency was worthless, Congress could borrow money, but couldnt pay it back. No state paid all their U. S. taxes, some paid nothing, some few paid an amount equal to interest on the national debt owed to their citizens, but no more. No interest was paid on debt owed foreign governments, by 1786, the United States would default on outstanding debts as their dates came due. Internationally, the Articles of Confederation did little to enhance the United States ability to defend its sovereignty, most of the troops in the 625-man United States Army were deployed facing – but not threatening – British forts on American soil. They had not been paid, some were deserting and others threatening mutiny, spain closed New Orleans to American commerce, U. S. officials protested, but to no effect. Barbary pirates began seizing American ships of commerce, the Treasury had no funds to pay their ransom, if any military crisis required action, the Congress had no credit or taxing power to finance a response. Domestically, the Articles of Confederation was failing to bring unity to the sentiments and interests of the various states
34.
Tucson, Arizona
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Tucson is a city and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States, and home to the University of Arizona. The 2010 United States Census put the population at 520,116, the Tucson MSA forms part of the larger Tucson-Nogales combined statistical area, with a total population of 1,010,025 as of the 2010 Census. Tucson is the second-largest populated city in Arizona behind Phoenix, both of which anchor the Arizona Sun Corridor, the city is located 108 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 mi north of the U. S. –Mexico border. Tucson is the 33rd largest city and the 53rd largest metropolitan area in the United States, Major incorporated suburbs of Tucson include Oro Valley and Marana northwest of the city, Sahuarita south of the city, and South Tucson in an enclave south of downtown. Communities in the vicinity of Tucson include Casas Adobes, Catalina Foothills, Flowing Wells, Midvale Park, Tanque Verde, Tortolita, towns outside the Tucson metro area include Benson to the southeast, Catalina and Oracle to the north, and Green Valley to the south. The Spanish name of the city, Tucsón, is derived from the Oodham Cuk Ṣon, meaning base of the black, Tucson is sometimes referred to as The Old Pueblo. Tucson was probably first visited by Paleo-Indians, known to have been in southern Arizona about 12,000 years ago, recent archaeological excavations near the Santa Cruz River have located a village site dating from 2100 BC. The floodplain of the Santa Cruz River was extensively farmed during the Early Agricultural Period and these people constructed irrigation canals and grew corn, beans, and other crops while gathering wild plants and hunting. The Early Ceramic period occupation of Tucson saw the first extensive use of vessels for cooking. The groups designated as the Hohokam lived in the area from AD600 to 1450 and are known for their vast irrigation canal systems and their red-on-brown pottery. Jesuit missionary Eusebio Francisco Kino visited the Santa Cruz River valley in 1692, a separate Convento settlement was founded downstream along the Santa Cruz River, near the base of what is now A mountain. Hugo OConor, the father of the city of Tucson, Arizona authorized the construction of a military fort in that location, Presidio San Agustín del Tucsón. During the Spanish period of the presidio, attacks such as the Second Battle of Tucson were repeatedly mounted by Apaches, eventually the town came to be called Tucson and became a part of Sonora after Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821. Tucson was not included in the Mexican Cession and Cookes road through Tucson became one of the important routes into California during the California Gold Rush, Arizona, south of the Gila River, was obtained via treaty from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase on June 8,1854. Tucson became a part of the United States of America, although the American military did not formally take control until March 1856. In 1857, Tucson became a station on the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line. The Overland Mail Corporation attempted to continue running, however, following the Bascom Affair, devastating Apache attacks on the stations, from August 1861 to mid-1862, Tucson was the western capital of the Confederate Arizona Territory, the eastern capital being Mesilla. In 1862, the California Column drove the Confederate forces out of Arizona, Tucson and all of what is now Arizona were part of New Mexico Territory until 1863, when they became part of the new Arizona Territory
35.
United States House of Representatives
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The United States House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the United States Congress which, along with the Senate, composes the legislature of the United States. The composition and powers of the House are established by Article One of the United States Constitution, since its inception in 1789, all representatives are elected popularly. The total number of voting representatives is fixed by law at 435, the House is charged with the passage of federal legislation, known as bills, which, after concurrence by the Senate, are sent to the President for consideration. The presiding officer is the Speaker of the House, who is elected by the members thereof and is traditionally the leader of the controlling party. He or she and other leaders are chosen by the Democratic Caucus or the Republican Conferences. The House meets in the wing of the United States Capitol. Under the Articles of Confederation, the Congress of the Confederation was a body in which each state was equally represented. All states except Rhode Island agreed to send delegates, the issue of how to structure Congress was one of the most divisive among the founders during the Convention. The House is referred to as the house, with the Senate being the upper house. Both houses approval is necessary for the passage of legislation, the Virginia Plan drew the support of delegates from large states such as Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, as it called for representation based on population. The smaller states, however, favored the New Jersey Plan, the Constitution was ratified by the requisite number of states in 1788, but its implementation was set for March 4,1789. The House began work on April 1,1789, when it achieved a quorum for the first time, during the first half of the 19th century, the House was frequently in conflict with the Senate over regionally divisive issues, including slavery. The North was much more populous than the South, and therefore dominated the House of Representatives, However, the North held no such advantage in the Senate, where the equal representation of states prevailed. Regional conflict was most pronounced over the issue of slavery, One example of a provision repeatedly supported by the House but blocked by the Senate was the Wilmot Proviso, which sought to ban slavery in the land gained during the Mexican–American War. Conflict over slavery and other issues persisted until the Civil War, the war culminated in the Souths defeat and in the abolition of slavery. Because all southern senators except Andrew Johnson resigned their seats at the beginning of the war, the years of Reconstruction that followed witnessed large majorities for the Republican Party, which many Americans associated with the Unions victory in the Civil War and the ending of slavery. The Reconstruction period ended in about 1877, the ensuing era, the Democratic and the Republican Party held majorities in the House at various times. The late 19th and early 20th centuries also saw an increase in the power of the Speaker of the House
36.
Operation Odyssey Dawn
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Operation Odyssey Dawn was the U. S. On 19 March 2011, several countries prepared to take military action at a summit in Paris. The goal of coalition forces was to impose a zone for Libyan government forces. The U. S. but passed complete military command of the operation to NATO, however, NATOs objectives did not include aiding the rebel forces efforts to take control of territory held by the government. The British name for its support of Resolution 1973 is Operation Ellamy, the Canadian participation is Operation Mobile. Sixth Fleet, assumed responsibilities as the Joint Forces Maritime Component Commander, major General Margaret H. Woodward was commander of US Air Force aircraft involved in the operation. On 21 March 2011, President Obama stated the U. S. military action would be scaled back soon and was considering handing over command of the operation to either France, the UK or NATO. On 24 March 2011, NATO took command of enforcing the zone in Libya and was considering taking control of the rest of the mission. Kaiser-class oiler USNS Lewis and Clark, a Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship USNS Robert E. C, deployed as the Air Contingency Battalion, on 1 March 2011 to serve as the new Battalion Landing Team for the 26th MEU. The ACB was attached to the 26th MEU on 5 March 2011 at NAS Souda Bay and this was the first time ACB has been used in almost a decade. Two MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft from the 26th MEU participated in the pilot rescue, two CH-53E Super Stallions from the 26th MEU participated in the pilot rescue. One KC-130J Hercules from the 26th MEU participated in the pilot rescue. S. the U. S. Department of Defense reports that the dismantling of Libyas ability to hinder the enforcement of the UN no-fly zone was only the first of multiple stages in the operation. USMC Harriers participated in an air strike against a military convoy outside Benghazi. Day 2,20 March 2011 Sustained anti-aircraft fire erupted in Tripoli at around 02,33 EET, Three B-2 Spirit bombers targeted 45 hardened aircraft shelters at a Libyan airfield near Sirte. At the same time, U. S. Air Force fighter jets conducted missions searching for Libyan ground forces to attack, U. S. Navy EA-18G Growlers jammed Libyan radar and communications. No U. S. aircraft were lost during the missions, the warplanes included Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier IIs, Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, and F-15E Strike Eagle and F-16C Fighting Falcon fighter jets. Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, states that there would be continuous allied air cover over Benghazi, and that the no-fly zone is effectively in place. An EC-130J was recorded warning Libyan shipping If you attempt to port, you will be attacked and destroyed immediately in Arabic, French
37.
2011 military intervention in Libya
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On 19 March 2011, a multi-state NATO-led coalition began a military intervention in Libya, ostensibly to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973. The United Nations Intent and Voting was to have a ceasefire in Libya, including an end to the current attacks against civilians. Imposing a ban on all flights in the countrys airspace – a no-fly zone – and tightened sanctions on the Qadhafi regime, French jets launched air strikes against Libyan Army tanks and vehicles. The effort was largely led by France and the United Kingdom. NATO took control of the embargo on 23 March, named Operation Unified Protector. An attempt to unify the command of the air campaign, first failed over objections by the French, German. On 24 March, NATO agreed to control of the no-fly zone. The handover occurred on 31 March 2011 at 06,00 UTC, NATO flew 26,500 sorties since it took charge of the Libya mission on 31 March 2011. Fighting in Libya ended in late October following the death of Muammar Gaddafi, Libyas new government requested that its mission be extended to the end of the year, but on 27 October, the Security Council voted to end NATOs mandate for military action on 31 October. 23 February 2011, French President Nicolas Sarkozy pushed for the European Union to pass sanctions against Gaddafi,25 February 2011, Sarkozy said Gaddafi must go. 26 February 2011, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1970 was passed unanimously and it imposed an arms embargo on the country and a travel ban and assets freeze on the family of Muammar Al-Qadhafi and certain Government officials. 1 March 2011, The US Senate unanimously passed non-binding Senate resolution S. RES.85 urging the United Nations Security Council to impose a Libyan no-fly zone and encouraging Gaddafi to step down. The US had naval forces positioned off the coast of Libya, as well as already in the region. Canadian National Defence Minister Peter MacKay stated that e are there for all inevitabilities, and NATO is looking at this as well. This is taken as a precautionary and staged measure,7 March 2011, US Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder announced that NATO decided to step up surveillance missions of E-3 AWACS aircraft to twenty-four hours a day. The Gulf Cooperation Council also on that day called upon the UN Security Council to take all measures to protect civilians. Three days later, he stated that if pro-Gaddafi forces reached Benghazi and he stated, If there is no no-fly zone imposed on Gaddafis regime, and his ships are not checked, we will have a catastrophe in Libya. 10 March 2011, France recognized the Libyan NTC as the government of Libya soon after Sarkozy met with them in Paris
38.
Libyan Civil War (2011)
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The protests escalated into a rebellion that spread across the country, with the forces opposing Gaddafi establishing an interim governing body, the National Transitional Council. In early March, Gaddafis forces rallied, pushed eastwards and re-took several coastal cities before reaching Benghazi, a further UN resolution authorised member states to establish and enforce a no-fly zone over Libya, and to use all necessary measures to prevent attacks on civilians. The Gaddafi government then announced a ceasefire, but fighting continued, throughout the conflict, rebels rejected government offers of a ceasefire and efforts by the African Union to end the fighting because the plans set forth did not include the removal of Gaddafi. On 16 September 2011, the National Transitional Council was recognised by the United Nations as the representative of Libya. Muammar Gaddafi remained at large until 20 October 2011, when he was captured and killed in Sirte, the National Transitional Council declared the liberation of Libya and the official end of the war on 23 October 2011. In the aftermath of the war, a low-level insurgency by former Gaddafi loyalists continued. A much greater issue has been the role of militias which fought in the civil war and these unresolved issues led directly to a second civil war in Libya. Muammar Gaddafi was the head of the Free Officers, a group of Arab nationalists that deposed King Idris I in 1969 in a bloodless coup and he abolished the Libyan Constitution of 1951, considering it a neocolonial document. From 1969 until 1975 standards of living, life expectancy and literacy grew rapidly, in 1975 he published his manifesto The Green Book. He officially stepped down from power in 1977, and subsequently claimed to be merely a figurehead until 2011. Under Gaddafi, Libya was theoretically a decentralized, direct democracy state run according to the philosophy of Gaddafis The Green Book, according to Freedom House, however, these structures were often manipulated to ensure the dominance of Gaddafi, who reportedly continued to dominate all aspects of government. WikiLeaks disclosure of confidential US diplomatic cables revealed US diplomats there speaking of Gaddafis mastery of tactical maneuvering and this extended even to his own sons, as he repeatedly changed affections to avoid the rise of a clear successor and rival. Both Gaddafi and the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, however, officially denied that he held any power, while he was popularly seen as a demagogue in the West, Gaddafi always portrayed himself as a statesman-philosopher. According to several Western media sources, Gaddafi feared a coup against his government. The Libyan Army consisted of about 50,000 personnel and its most powerful units were four crack brigades of highly equipped and trained soldiers, composed of members of Gaddafis tribe or members of other tribes loyal to him. One, the Khamis Brigade, was led by his son Khamis, local militias and Revolutionary Committees across the country were also kept well-armed. By contrast, regular units were poorly armed and trained. By the end of Gaddafis 42 years rule, Libyas population had a per capita income of $14,000, a broadly secular society was imposed
39.
NATO
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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party, three NATO members are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and are officially nuclear-weapon states. NATOs headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons. NATO is an Alliance that consists of 28 independent member countries across North America and Europe, an additional 22 countries participate in NATOs Partnership for Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programmes. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the global total, Members defence spending is supposed to amount to 2% of GDP. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact, politically, the organization sought better relations with former Warsaw Pact countries, several of which joined the alliance in 1999 and 2004. N. The Treaty of Brussels, signed on 17 March 1948 by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, the treaty and the Soviet Berlin Blockade led to the creation of the Western European Unions Defence Organization in September 1948. However, participation of the United States was thought necessary both to counter the power of the USSR and to prevent the revival of nationalist militarism. He got a hearing, especially considering American anxiety over Italy. In 1948 European leaders met with U. S. defense, military and diplomatic officials at the Pentagon, marshalls orders, exploring a framework for a new and unprecedented association. Talks for a new military alliance resulted in the North Atlantic Treaty and it included the five Treaty of Brussels states plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the goal was to keep the Russians out, the Americans in. Popular support for the Treaty was not unanimous, and some Icelanders participated in a pro-neutrality, the creation of NATO can be seen as the primary institutional consequence of a school of thought called Atlanticism which stressed the importance of trans-Atlantic cooperation. The members agreed that an attack against any one of them in Europe or North America would be considered an attack against them all. The treaty does not require members to respond with military action against an aggressor, although obliged to respond, they maintain the freedom to choose the method by which they do so. This differs from Article IV of the Treaty of Brussels, which states that the response will be military in nature. It is nonetheless assumed that NATO members will aid the attacked member militarily, the treaty was later clarified to include both the members territory and their vessels, forces or aircraft above the Tropic of Cancer, including some Overseas departments of France. The creation of NATO brought about some standardization of allied military terminology, procedures, and technology, the roughly 1300 Standardization Agreements codified many of the common practices that NATO has achieved
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Operation Unified Protector
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As of 31 March 2011 it encompassed all international operations in Libya. NATO support was vital to the victory over the forces loyal to Gaddafi. They were to monitor, report and, if needed, interdict vessels suspected of carrying arms or mercenaries. The no-fly zone was enforced by aircraft transferred to Unified Protector from the coalition, with additional aircraft from NATO. The air strikes, although under central NATO command, were conducted by aircraft of the nations agreeing to enforce this part of the UN resolution. With Operation Unified Protector, NATO is involved in an internal Libyan conflict, the International Criminal Court warned Gaddafi that he and members of his government may have committed crimes against humanity. The United Nations Security Council passed an initial resolution 1970, freezing the assets of Gaddafi and ten members of his inner circle, the resolution also referred the actions of the government to the International Criminal Court for investigation. In early March, Gaddafis forces rallied, pushed eastwards and re-took several coastal cities, two days earlier a second U. N. In response to the resolution, the Gaddafi government announced a ceasefire, but failed to uphold it and continued to advance on the rebels and the Second Battle of Benghazi began. In response to the U. N. resolution, voted on 17 March 2011, two days later, on 19 March, France intervened in the imminent Second Battle of Benghazi with air strikes on Gaddafi armor and troops and eventually forced them back. On the same day 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched from UK and US ships, further air strikes against ground targets were executed and a naval blockade was established. The initial coalition consisted of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Norway, Qatar, Spain, the United Kingdom, after the initial intervention, the U. S. wanted to scale down their involvement significantly to a supporting role. Due to lack of consensus within NATO, the other body capable of commanding a multinational operation of this size, however. As consensus grew during the days, NATO took more and more parts of the operation under its command until taking command of all military operations on 31 March. Political direction is provided by the North Atlantic Council to the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, jodice II for air operations.8 from the Royal Navy 4 AgustaWestland Apache attached from the Army Air Corps 3 Sentry AEW. USA, from 1 April to 22 August, the US flew 5,316 sorties over Libya, including 1,210 strike sorties, by 31 July, the US had spent US$896 million in the conflict. UK, By 12 July, the UK had spent about €136 million on operations in Libya
41.
United States Navy SEALs
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The United States Navys Sea, Air, and Land Teams, commonly abbreviated as the Navy SEALs, are the U. S. Navys primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs main functions are conducting small-unit maritime military operations that originate from, and return to, the SEALs are trained to operate in all environments for which they are named. As of 2016, all active SEALs are currently male and members of the U. S. Navy, the CIAs highly secretive and elite Special Operations Group recruits operators from SEAL Teams, with joint operations going back to the MACV-SOG during the Vietnam War. This cooperation still exists today, as evidenced by military operations in Iraq, the modern day U. S. Navy SEALs can trace their roots to World War II. The United States Navy recognized the need for the reconnaissance of landing beaches. As a result, the Amphibious Scout and Raider School was established in 1942 at Fort Pierce, Florida. The Scouts and Raiders were formed in September of that year, just nine months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, from the Observer Group, a joint U. S. Army-Marine-Navy unit. The Scouts and Raiders mission was to identify and reconnoiter the objective beach, maintain a position on the designated beach prior to a landing, and guide the assault waves to the landing beach. The first group included Phil H. Bucklew, the Father of Naval Special Warfare, commissioned in October 1942, this group saw combat in November 1942 during Operation Torch on the North African coast. Scouts and Raiders also supported landings in Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, Normandy, a second group of Scouts and Raiders, code-named Special Service Unit No. 1, was established on 7 July 1943, as a joint, the first mission, in September 1943, was at Finschhafen in Papua New Guinea. Later operations were at Gasmata, Arawe, Cape Gloucester, conflicts arose over operational matters, and all non-Navy personnel were reassigned. The 7th Amphibious Scouts conducted operations in the Pacific for the duration of the conflict, the third and final Scouts and Raiders organization operated in China. Scouts and Raiders were deployed to fight with the Sino-American Cooperative Organization, to help bolster the work of SACO, Admiral Ernest J. King ordered that 120 officers and 900 men be trained for Amphibious Raider at the Scout and Raider school at Fort Pierce, Florida. They formed the core of what was envisioned as a guerrilla organization of Americans and Chinese operating from coastal waters, lakes and rivers employing small steamboats. While most Amphibious Raider forces remained at Camp Knox in Calcutta, in September 1942,17 Navy salvage personnel arrived at ATB Little Creek, VA for a week long course in demolitions, explosive cable cutting and commando raiding techniques. On November 10,1942, the first combat demolition unit successfully cut cable and this enabled the USS Dallas to traverse the water and insert U. S. Rangers who captured the Port Lyautey airdrome, on 6 June 1943, LCDR Kauffman established Naval Combat Demolition Unit training at Fort Pierce
42.
Al-Qaeda
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It operates as a network made up of Islamic extremist, Salafist jihadists. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countries, including the 1998 U. S. embassy bombings, the September 11 attacks, the U. S. government responded to the September 11 attacks by launching the War on Terror. Characteristic techniques employed by al-Qaeda include suicide attacks and the bombing of different targets. Al-Qaeda ideologues envision a complete break from all foreign influences in Muslim countries, among the beliefs ascribed to al-Qaeda members is the conviction that a Christian–Jewish alliance is conspiring to destroy Islam. Al-Qaeda also opposes what it regards as man-made laws, and wants to replace them with a form of sharia law. Al-Qaeda has carried out attacks on targets it considers kafir. Al-Qaeda is also responsible for instigating violence among Muslims. Al-Qaeda leaders regard liberal Muslims, Shias, Sufis and other sects as heretics and have attacked their mosques, examples of sectarian attacks include the Yazidi community bombings, the Sadr City bombings, the Ashoura massacre and the April 2007 Baghdad bombings. Since the death of bin Laden in 2011, the group has been led by the Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaedas management philosophy has been described as centralization of decision and decentralization of execution. Many terrorism experts do not believe that the global jihadist movement is driven at every level by al-Qaedas leadership, marc Sageman, a psychiatrist and former Central Intelligence Agency officer, said that al-Qaeda is now just a loose label for a movement that seems to target the west. We like to create an entity called in our minds. This view mirrors the account given by Osama bin Laden in his October 2001 interview with Tayseer Allouni and this matter isnt about any specific person and. is not about the al-Qaidah Organization. We are the children of an Islamic Nation, with Prophet Muhammad as its leader, and all the true believers are brothers. So the situation isnt like the West portrays it, that there is an organization with a specific name and that particular name is very old. It was born without any intention from us, created a military base to train the young men to fight against the vicious, arrogant, brutal, terrorizing Soviet empire. So this place was called The Base, as in a base, so this name grew. We arent separated from this nation, and so we discuss the conscience of this nation. Bruce Hoffman, however, sees al-Qaeda as a network that is strongly led from the Pakistani tribal areas
43.
Osama bin Laden
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He was a Saudi Arabian, a member of the wealthy bin Laden family, and an ethnic Yemeni Kindite. Bin Laden was born to the family of billionaire Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden in Saudi Arabia and he studied at university in the country until 1979, when he joined Mujahideen forces in Pakistan fighting against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. He helped to fund the Mujahideen by funneling arms, money and fighters from the Arab world into Afghanistan and he was banished from Saudi Arabia in 1992, and shifted his base to Sudan, until U. S. pressure forced him to leave Sudan in 1996. After establishing a new base in Afghanistan, he declared a war against the United States, initiating a series of bombings and related attacks. Bin Laden was on the American Federal Bureau of Investigations lists of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, from 2001 to 2011, bin Laden was a major target of the War on Terror, as the FBI placed a $25 million bounty on him in their search for him. S. There is no accepted standard for transliterating Arabic words and Arabic names into English, however. The FBI and Central Intelligence Agency, as well as other U. S. governmental agencies, have used either Usama bin Laden or Usama bin Ladin, less common renderings include Ussamah bin Ladin and, in the French-language media, Oussama ben Laden. Other spellings include Binladen or, as used by his family in the West, the decapitalization of bin is based on the convention of leaving short prepositions, articles, and patronymics uncapitalized in surnames, the nasab bin means son of. The spellings with o and e come from a Persian-influenced pronunciation also used in Afghanistan, Osama bin Ladens full name, Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, means Osama, son of Mohammed, son of Awad, son of Laden. The Arabic linguistic convention would be to refer to him as Osama or Osama bin Laden, not bin Laden alone, as bin Laden is a patronymic, not a surname in the Western manner. According to bin Ladens son Omar bin Laden, the familys surname is al-Qahtani. Osama bin Laden had also assumed the kunyah Abū Abdāllāh and his admirers have referred to him by several nicknames, including the Prince or Emir, the Sheik, the Jihadist Sheik or Sheik al-Mujahid, Hajj, and the Director. The word usāmah means lion, earning him the nicknames Lion and Lion Sheik, in a 1998 interview, bin Laden gave his birth date as March 10,1957. Mohammed bin Laden divorced Hamida soon after Osama bin Laden was born, Mohammed recommended Hamida to Mohammed al-Attas, an associate. Al-Attas married Hamida in the late 1950s or early 1960s, the couple had four children, and bin Laden lived in the new household with three half-brothers and one half-sister. The bin Laden family made $5 billion in the construction industry, Bin Laden was raised as a devout Sunni Muslim. From 1968 to 1976, he attended the élite secular Al-Thager Model School and he studied economics and business administration at King Abdulaziz University. Some reports suggest he earned a degree in engineering in 1979
44.
Death of Osama bin Laden
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The raid on bin Ladens compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, was launched from Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda confirmed the death on May 6 with posts made on militant websites, other Pakistani militant groups, including the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, also vowed retaliation against the U. S. and against Pakistan for not preventing the operation. Legal and ethical aspects of the killing, such as his not being taken alive despite being unarmed, were questioned by others, also controversial was the decision not to release any photographic or DNA evidence of bin Ladens death to the public. In the aftermath of the killing, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani formed a commission under Senior Justice Javed Iqbal to investigate the circumstances surrounding the attack, the resulting Abbottabad Commission Report was leaked to Al Jazeera on July 8,2013. Accounts of how bin Laden was located by U. S. intelligence differ, the White House and CIA director John Brennan stated that the process began with a fragment of information unearthed in 2002, resulting in years of investigation. This account states that by September 2010, these followed a courier to the Abbottabad compound. This story was corroborated by two U. S. intelligence officials speaking to NBC News, and had previously reported by intelligence analyst Raelynn Hillhouse. The Pakistani official informed U. S. intelligence that bin Laden had been located by Pakistani ISI in 2006, the official passed polygraph tests, after which the U. S. began local and satellite surveillance of bin Ladens Abbottabad residence. According to the retired senior U. S, according to the official, retired CIA officials emphasized the importance of bin Ladens courier to the press, because they were nervous over torture scrutiny and possible prosecution. In May 2015 the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag reported that Germanys Federal Intelligence Service was aware that bin Laden was in Pakistan with the knowledge of Pakistani intelligence services. The BND informed the CIA that bin Laden was in Pakistan, der Spiegel questioned the veracity of the report, produced in the midst of a scandal over BND and NSA collaboration. According to the official version of his identification from a U. S. Bin Laden was known not to use phones after 1998, when the U. S. had launched missile strikes against his bases in Afghanistan in August by tracking an associates satellite phone. The U. S. official had stated that by 2002, One of those claims came from Mohammed al-Qahtani, a detainee interrogated for 48 days more or less continuously between November 23,2002, and January 11,2003. At some point during this period, al-Qahtani told interrogators about a man known as Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti who was part of the circle of al-Qaeda. According to a U. S. official, in 2004 a prisoner named Hassan Ghul revealed that bin Laden relied on a trusted courier known as al-Kuwaiti, Ghul stated that al-Kuwaiti was close to bin Laden as well as Khalid Sheik Mohammed and Mohammeds successor Abu Faraj al-Libbi. Ghul revealed that al-Kuwaiti had not been seen in some time, when confronted with Ghuls account, Mohammed maintained his original story. Abu Faraj al-Libbi was captured in 2005 and transferred to Guantánamo in September 2006 and he told CIA interrogators that bin Ladens courier was a man named Maulawi Abd al-Khaliq Jan and denied knowing al-Kuwaiti
45.
Government shutdown in the United States
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If the funding gap lasts long enough that shutdown plans must be enacted, the law requires the furlough of non-essential personnel and curtailment of agency activities and services. Programs that are funded by other than annual appropriations acts also may be affected by a funding gap. Although the term government shutdown usually refers to what occurs at the federal level, during Gerald Fords presidency, one funding gap occurred, lasting 10 days. Under the Carter administrations, funding gaps caused 5 partial shutdowns that affected only the departments of Labor and Health, Education and these lasted from 8 to 18 days and the primary issue of dispute was federal funding for abortion. A funding gap during the George H. W. Bush administration also caused a weekend shutdown, during the Clinton administration, there were two full government shutdowns during 1995 and 1996 lasting 5 and 21 days respectively, both the longest and most severe to that date. These shutdowns led to massive furloughs and significant disruption, the primary issue was the United States budget deficit. During Barack Obamas presidency, the United States federal government shutdown of 2013 ran from October 1 to 16,2013. A bill to end the shutdown and fund federal agencies through January 15,2014, passed the Senate, under the separation of powers created by the United States Constitution, the United States Congress has the sole power of the purse and responsibility for appropriating government funds. If the President signs or ignores the bills, they become law, if the President vetoes the bills, they go back to Congress, where the veto can be overridden by a two-thirds vote. Government shutdowns tend to occur when the President and one or both of the chambers of Congress are unable to resolve disagreements over budget allocations before the existing budget cycle ends. In 1980 and 1981, however, Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti issued two opinions that more strictly interpreted the Antideficiency Act in the context of a funding gap, along with its exceptions. The opinions stated that, with exceptions, the head of an agency could avoid violating the Act only by suspending the agency’s operations until the enactment of an appropriation. Shutdowns of the experienced by the United States are nearly impossible in other democracies. In many other democracies, a strong executive branch typically has the authority to keep the government functioning even without an approved budget. While most government shutdowns prior to the 1995–1996 shutdowns had very mild effects, active duty military personnel and employees excepted by the Antideficiency Act are not furloughed, but may not be paid as scheduled for the period of the furlough. During a government shutdown, furloughed government employees are prohibited from even checking their e-mail from home, to enforce this prohibition, many agencies require employees to return their government-issued electronic devices for the duration of the shutdown. Economic data shows that despite the inconvenience arising from a government shutdown. However, the effects of a shutdown are often clouded by missing data that cannot be collected while specific government offices are closed
46.
United States debt-ceiling crisis of 2011
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The debate centered around the raising of the debt ceiling, which is normally raised without debate. The crisis led to the passage of the Budget Control Act of 2011, the debt ceiling had routinely been raised in the past without partisan debate and without any additional terms or conditions. This reflects the fact that the ceiling does not prescribe the amount of spending. Some use the analogy of an individual paying their bills, Both situations would likely have led to a significant international financial crisis. The crisis did not permanently resolve the potential of future use of the ceiling in budgetary disputes. The crisis sparked the most volatile week for financial markets since the 2008 crisis, the Bipartisan Policy Center extended the GAOs estimates and found that delays in raising the debt ceiling would raise borrowing costs by $18.9 billion. Under US law, an administration can spend only if it has sufficient funds to pay for it and these funds can come either from tax receipts or from borrowing by the United States Department of the Treasury. Congress has set a ceiling, beyond which the Treasury cannot borrow. Congress also usually votes on increasing the limit after fiscal policy decisions affecting federal borrowing have begun to take effect. At that point, the government must cancel or delay some spending, in addition, the Obama administration stated that, without this increase, the US would enter sovereign default thereby creating an international crisis in the financial markets. Alternatively, default could be averted if the government were to reduce its other spending by about half. An increase in the debt ceiling requires the approval of both houses of Congress, Republicans and some Democrats insisted that an increase in the debt ceiling be coupled with a plan to reduce the growth in debt. There were differences as to how to reduce the increase in the debt. Initially, nearly all Republican legislators opposed any increase in taxes, a large majority of Democratic legislators favored tax increases along with smaller spending cuts. In the United States, the government can pay for expenditures only if Congress has approved the expenditure in an appropriation bill. Under federal law, the amount that the government can borrow is limited by the debt ceiling, prior to 1917, Congress directly authorized the amount of each borrowing. In 1917, in order to more flexibility to finance the US involvement in World War I. Since then, the Treasury may borrow any amount needed as long as it keeps the total at or below the authorized ceiling, some small special classes of debt are not included in this total
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Budget Control Act of 2011
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The Budget Control Act of 2011 is a federal statute in the United States that was signed into law by President Barack Obama on August 2,2011. The Act brought conclusion to the United States debt-ceiling crisis of 2011, debt ceiling, The debt ceiling was increased by $400 billion immediately. This has been called the McConnell mechanism after the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the President could request a final increase of $1. 2–1.5 trillion, subject to the same disapproval procedure. The exact amount depends on the amount of cuts in the super committee plan if it passes Congress, deficit reduction, Spending was reduced more than the increase in the debt limit. No tax increases or other forms of increases in revenue above current law were included in the bill, the bill directly specified $917 billion of cuts over 10 years in exchange for the initial debt limit increase of $900 billion. This is the first installment of cuts, $21 billion of this will be applied in the FY2012 budget. The goal of the legislation was to cut at least $1.5 trillion over the coming 10 years, projected revenue from the committees legislation could not exceed the revenue budgeting baseline produced by current law. The committee would have 12 members,6 from each party, the agreement also specified an incentive for Congress to act. There would be some exemptions, reductions would apply to Medicare providers, Medicare benefits would be limited to a 2% reduction. As originally envisioned, these caps would equally affect security and non-security programs, however, because the Joint Select Committee did not report any legislation to Congress, the act reset these caps to defense and non-defense categories. This became one of the important elements of the fiscal cliff, other provisions, Pell Grant funding was increased, but other financial aid was cut. Graduate and professional students were no longer eligible for interest subsidized loans, repayment incentives will also be done away with after July 1,2012. Section 106 of the Budget Control Act amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to provide a two-year Senate budget, Senate Budget Committee Chairman explains in this video. Earlier ideas included the Obama-Boehner $4 trillion Grand Bargain, the House Republican Cut, Cap and Balance Act, President Obama agreed to the plan. House Speaker John Boehner expressed reservations, but also agreed, on July 26,2011, White House Budget Director Jack Lew and White House Legislative Affairs Director Rob Nabors met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to discuss the plan. On the evening of July 31,2011, Obama announced that the leaders of parties in both chambers had reached an agreement that would reduce the deficit and avoid default. The same day, Speaker of the House John Boehners office outlined the agreement for House Republicans, one key element in the deal being reached and the logjam being broken earlier that afternoon was U. S. Vice President Joe Bidens ability to negotiate with his 25-year Senate colleague, biden had spent the most time bargaining with Congress on the debt question of anyone in the administration, and McConnell had viewed him as the one most trustworthy
