
Annons
Annons
HR 325, a.k.a. the No Budget, No Pay Act was passed in February and temporarily raised the debt ceiling until May. It also suspended the salaries of members of Congress until they worked out a budget for 2014. The idea was to force legislators to come to an agreement over what the government should pay for, but of course that hasn’t happened yet and we’re now facing exactly the same problem we were when HR 325 went into effect.One Law Was a Routine Spending Bill
HR 933 allocated funds to the Department of Defense, the Department of Agriculture, and some other agencies. There were also some provisions in there that were extremely beneficial to infamous agribusiness giant Monsanto. The good news is that all those pro-Monsanto bits will expire, along with the rest of HR 933, in September, at which point Congress will have to get its act together enough to pass more spending bills. Which is bad news.Two Laws Were Devoted to Renaming Stuff
Thanks to HR 2289 and HR 2383, respectively, a section of the tax code is now called the Kay Bailey Hutchison Spousal IRA and a bridge in St. Louis is named after baseball star Stan Musial. Woooo.

Congress took time off from naming things to give Congressional Gold Medals to the First Special Service Force (a group of American and Canadian volunteers) for their service during World War II and to the little girls who were murdered in a 1963 anti-Civil Rights bombing of a church. Good stuff, no doubt, but laws that renamed things or awarded medals made up a whopping 18 percent of all the laws passed so far by the 113th.
Annons
It took more than a year, but Congress finally renewed the Violence Against Women Act. It was pretty much a no-brainer, but even passing a reauthorization of an existing piece of legislation was a fucking adventure—House Republicans had a problem with how non-Native Americans would get treated on reservations, or something.One Law Concerned the Response of the Federal Government to Health Crises
Thanks to HR 307, the Secretary of Health and Human Services will have to “submit the National Health Security Strategy to the relevant congressional committees in 2014.” Also, the strategy’s “preparedness goals” have been revised. Fuck yes.Two Laws Involved Hydropower in Utah
HR 251 and HR 254 “give Utahns more of a say over the resources and entities affecting our state,” according to Orrin Hatch, who sponsored the bills in the Senate. Apparently some stuff that was operated by the federal government will now be run by the South Utah Valley Electric Service District.

Congress overcame the normal state of total gridlock to increase National Flood Insurance funds and allow agencies to spend more on disaster assistance, which is sort of the minimum response from a government a few months after a devastating storm hits the country’s most densely populated area.
Annons
Last year, the Supreme Court took a look at the Stolen Valor Act of 2005, which made it illegal to lie about having a military medal. This was fantastically unconstitutional—lying is covered by the First Amendment in most situations—and it got struck down. So Congress went back to its drawing board and reworded the law, making it illegal to profit from lying about military medals. As we all know, this was a pressing problem in the US.The Remaining Nine Laws Were Even Less Important than Those Above:- HR 588 allows the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund to acknowledge donor contributions, which will make fundraising easier.- HR 1151 is devoted to telling the Secretary of State to please try and let Taiwan attend the next International Civil Aviation Organization Assembly as an observer.- HR 1071 modifies the specs for gold and silver coins made to commemorate the Baseball Hall of Fame.- S 716 is a minor tweak to rules about financial disclosure for members of Congress.- HR 1246 specifies what happens in case the Washington DC CFO dies or resigns (the deputy CFO takes over).- HR 475 adds seasonal flu vaccines to the list of taxable vaccines.- S 622 reauthorizes the FDA to collect fees related to reviewing and approving drugs for animals.- HR 1765 allows the FAA to move some money around so they can keep paying workers, including air traffic controllers.
Annons
