http://www.congress.org/news/2009/12/28/five_notable_bills_from_09?all=1Five notable bills from '09
Before the health care debate, Congress got a few things done
By Byron Tau
Although health care has gotten all the headlines, Congress has passed other notable bills this year.
The biggest piece of legislation to become law in 2009 is one that nobody had expected. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as the stimulus bill, was passed in the wake of an economic meltdown that began in late 2008.
Most of the legislation was smaller scale. Longstanding Democratic proposals on issues such as fair pay and hate crimes were signed into law by President Obama.Below, the list of notable bills from the first session of the 11th Congress.
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009
(Public Law 111-2 )
Stemming from a 1979 labor dispute over equal wages that was finally settled by the Supreme Court in 2007, the law amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to give victims of pay discrimination extra time to use the legal system as a remedy.
Before the Lilly Ledbetter modifications, the Supreme Court decided that victims of unequal pay have a 180-period from the beginning of their wage discrimination to file suit (e.g., their first paycheck at the discriminatory rate).
Congress clarified the act to mean that they have 180 days to file a lawsuit from any discriminatory paycheck.
The act fulfilled one of Obama's campaign promises, though he drew some criticism for not waiting five days to sign the bill into law — another campaign promise.
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
(Public Law 111-5 )
Commonly known as the stimulus bill, this piggybacked on the Bush administration's Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 in an attempt to calm domestic markets and stabilize the fragile economy.
Containing almost $800 billion in grants, loans, tax cuts and social welfare provisions, the bill was designed to flood the economy with money to loosen up credit markets that had closed in response to the collapse of several major financial institutions and to provide government funding for construction projects in an attempt to create jobs. The bill drew fire from the GOP for its massive price tag.
According to the pitch, most of the funds were aimed at "shovel-ready" projects that had progressed beyond the early planning stages.
Not a single Republican member of the House voted for it, although three Republicans did in the Senate. Democrats claim the spending was necessary to control unemployment and pump money back into the economy.
Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act
A Democratic priority since 2001, the bill languished through several sessions of Congress before being attached to a defense bill this fall.
Named after two famous hate crimes victims, the law amends the 1969 Hate Crimes Act by adding gender, sexual orientation, and disability as categories.
It also frees up more federal resources for law enforcement, and drops the old requirement that hate crimes could only be prosecuted if the victim was engaging in a federally protected activity like voting or attending school.
Opponents said the bill would target religious people and prevent them from expressing their beliefs, even though it contained a clause upholding First Amendment rights.
Other legal scholars worried that more defendants could be tried — first by the state courts, and then by the federal government. Supporters said the bill was important to protecting gay, lesbian and transgender individuals.
Cash for Clunkers
(Title XIII of the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009)
Cash for Clunkers was an enormously popular government program designed to induce consumers to replace older, high fuel-consuming vehicles with more energy efficient, modern cars.
At its core, the program offered a voucher of up to $4,500 dollars to be used when replacing many older cars with a new one. Initially approved in late June, the $1 billion fund was almost depleted by midsummer.
In August, Congress appropriated $2 billion more to keep the program running. It officially ended in late August, but was supposed to continue through November.
For supporters, the popularity of the program showed its success. Republican detractors argued that the rush on funds was evidence of poor planning.
Helping Families Save their Homes Act of 2009
(Public Law 111-22 )
Another piece of legislation that emerged from the crux of the housing market collapse, the Helping Families Save their Home Act of 2009 was originally pitched as a bill that would let judges modify mortgages.
However, the final bill never contained this provision.
Instead, what passed Congress was a package of mortgage rule changes and small bankruptcy law modifications to help families teetering on the brink of foreclosure keep their homes.
The judge-based mortgage modification provisions were stripped from the bill because of concerns about borrowers being able to get out of their contractual obligations.
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