Word: bille
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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With his left arm, Ted Kennedy leaned on a metal cane; with his right, he was braced by his old pal Orrin Hatch. The two Senators, the President and First Lady, and former President Bill Clinton had come to the SEED School in Southeast Washington, a working-class neighborhood that rarely gets a glimpse of a President, let alone two. The occasion: the signing of landmark national-service legislation that had been sponsored by the Republican Hatch, from Utah, and the ailing Democratic lion from Massachusetts...
National service often feels like motherhood and apple pie--who's not for it? Indeed, the bill had overwhelming bipartisan support. But at a time of economic distress and dislocation, service has come to seem like a silver bullet that can help address some of our most intractable problems. Applications for AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps and Teach for America are pouring in--there are many more applicants than spots. Is that due to the economy? Perhaps. The bill authorizes $5.7 billion for national service over the next five years, which can jump-start a range of programs to help schools...
...unearth the most lucrative "revolvers," those who often carry high balances but are unlikely to default. Critics say contracts today, with their ever shifting terms and complex legalese, have helped customers get into more debt than they bargained for. Though Congress shelved earlier proposals for a credit-card holders' bill of rights, a new version was introduced in January, and this time, economic hardship coupled with populist outrage could translate into legislative change...
...sure, everyone involved would be better off if Congress could instead muster the political will to pass a climate and energy bill now (rather than in a year), for no one stands to benefit concretely from EPA regulation. Industry groups, Republicans, and coal-state Democrats would much rather have regulation of carbon emissions come as the result of congressional legislation, a process over which they can exert some influence. Environmentalists would also prefer to have federal legislation that puts in place permanent rules governing the emission of carbon rather than leaving that decision up to whoever is in the White...
...while the specter of EPA regulation of greenhouse gases may not be the solution to global warming, it nevertheless constitutes an important victory for the White House. Until the interests can be aligned to pass a climate bill (and there is good reason to believe that won’t happen until 2010), the White House can use EPA regulation as an implicit threat: If Congress can’t get its own act together, the EPA will simply move forward on regulating emissions. It also buys time to build popular support and a political coalition to pass the imperfect...