Enacting Forward-Looking Policy in a Democracy: Seven lessons from the United States Congress

The purpose of this exploratory study was to develop ideas about the conditions under which the United States Congress can enact forward-looking legislation to address critical issues. The framework for the study is the multiple streams paradigm developed by John Kingdon and modified with insights of subsequent scholars. Conclusions are based on four case studies of significant enactment efforts. Seven propositions about conditions for enactment of forward-looking policies were developed from the cases. Further research is planned to validate the propositions with a larger number of cases.

Who is Right, Who is Wrong? Interpreting 14 Points of Wilson – A Case Study of Deontic Modals and their Meanings

The document titled “14 points of Wilson” was announced by the President of the United States Woodrow Wilson in his speech addressed to the United States Congress on 8th January 1918. The speech is one of the most well known documents of the First World War as it touched upon several world issues. The text has been interpreted ever since in respect to the importance and real meaning of points formulated by Wilson. One of the points referred to Poland. The aim of the paper is to focus on the exponents of deontic modality used in that text of historical value and to find the answer to the question concerning the deontic value of each point. The analysis will encompass the principles of deontic logic as well as the meaning of deontic modals in legal discourse at the time of speech delivery as those 14 points should be classified as a text belonging to legal genres. The aim of the paper is to present the historical background and the linguistic analysis in order to find out whether historical facts, interpretations and language used correspond with one another.

US infrastructure bill passes with Republican votes

Headline UNITED STATES: Congress passes infrastructure bill

United States

This chapter analyzes the trends in speaking behavior in the United States Congress from 1921 to 2010 in the House and Senate. We find that key determinants of political behavior from the existing American and comparative literature (seniority, committee leader, party leadership, ideological extremism, and majority party membership) correspond to more floor speeches by members. Senators deliver more speeches per member than their counterparts in the House, although the determinants of activity are broadly similar. Splitting the results by historical period and examining the relationship by the polarization of the chamber show that the effects of certain variables have changed considerably over time. In the House, in particular, the effects of committee leader, extremism, and majority party status have increased over time while the effect of seniority has noticeably decreased in the post-Gingrich period.

When We In/visibilize Our Nobility . . .

In October 2011, an international faith-based women’s rights non-governmental organization (NGO) convened a press briefing for invited members of the United States Congress and their staff in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The briefing was an advocacy initiative to address the Violence Against Women Act...

Biden addresses Congress on infrastructure tonight

Headline UNITED STATES: Congress address targets infrastructure

Vaccines Immunize People; Legislation Immunizes Vaccine Manufacturers. Legislation in the United States Regulating Liability for the Manufacture, Distribution and Administration of Vaccines

Infectious diseases have caused widespread misery, and have wreaked havoc physically, mentally, economically, politically, and socially. Fortunately, in more recent years, scientists have developed vaccines. Vaccines are generally very safe, but cause side effects in a small percentage of cases. The United States Congress has passed two major pieces of legislation that provide sweeping tort immunity to vaccine manufacturers and others. In 1986 Congress passed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA) and in 2005 it passed the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP ACT). Both Acts were passed to encourage manufacturers to develop vaccines, particularly in times of public emergencies, in exchange for expansive liability protection. Both Acts established no-fault type compensation schemes to compensate those suffering injury or death from vaccines without having to resort to typical litigation. The author discusses both Acts in detail, in the context of the current Covid-19 crisis.

Permanently Repealing the Global Gag Rule Will Internationally Advance Reproductive and Sexual Health

The Global Gag Rule bans foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that receive U.S. global health assistance funding from providing abortion services and referrals, advocating for abortion rights, or funding other organizations that provide abortion-related services. The rule presents a double bind: if NGOs elect to continue providing abortion-related care, they must forgo U.S. funding, requiring them to roll back services across the board. This reduces access to contraceptives, family planning resources, and maternal and child healthcare. The alternate option is to shut down abortion-related care to retain U.S. funding. Thus, the rule is ineffective in its purpose as it creates barriers to comprehensive sexual and reproductive healthcare, leading to increases in unintended pregnancies, abortions, and newborn and maternal death rates. In addition, restricted funding has negative implications for HIV/AIDS and reproductive cancer screening and treatment. The rule is currently implemented and repealed by each incoming president using executive orders. The United States Congress should pass the Global Health, Empowerment, and Rights Act and repeal the Helms Amendment. This will permanently revoke the Global Gag Rule and reduce unintended pregnancies, abortions, and child and maternal mortality rates across the world.