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America's Economic Status Post-Recession
America's economy recovered from the recession but took a decline in the 1990s. In the U.S. many jobs lacked union protections and did not provide employee benefits. Workers received low wages and temporary jobs that were working longer hours. " Indeed stark levels of economic inequality only continued to worsen over the course of the 1990s" (Kruse and Zelizer, 203). If you were a middle-class citizen, you would have to have 2-3 jobs to support your family. -
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U.S. from 1990s to 2010
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Clinton's Health Insurance Plan
The reform that Clinton wanted to tackle and succeed was health care insurance. The plan required employers to pay for 80% of their employees' health benefits. For those who were unemployed, the government stepped in and provided coverage that ensured universal coverage. Smaller insurance businesses were worried that other big insurance companies would beat them out of business. There were health insurance ad campaigns on TV and by August of 1994, Clinton lost the majority of support in the U.S. -
Communications Decency Act
An act that was passed by the government due to the issue and concern of pornography and other sexual material on the internet that targeted minors. -
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) 1996
An act from Congress that passed the issue of same-sex marriage in 1996. It was considered an assault on marriage to have same-sex marriages in the U.S. " At heart, DOMA did two things. First, it allowed states the right to not recognize same-sex marriages from other states. Second, it established a legal definition of marriage as purely heterosexual, as a 'union between one man and one woman.' (Kruse and Zelizer 218).This act was passed by Congress by a wide margin of 342 to 67. -
Children's Health Insurance Program
In 1997 during Clinton's Presidency, the creation of a children's health insurance program offered states the funds to provide low-cost health insurance to families who have children, who don't qualify for Medicaid (because of they earn too much money). But, this health insurance program was not a national health insurance. -
Ellen DeGeneres' Coming Out Shook the World
Ellen DeGeneres is the star of the popular talk show on ABC "Ellen" from 1994-1998. "She came out publicly as a lesbian-first in real life, and then again as the character on her show" (Kruse and Zelizer 229). Her publicity of coming out as a lesbian came with the backlash of Religious Rights. -
Y2K
The Y2K represents potential computer problems that might have resulted when the dates used in computer systems moved from the year 1999 to 2000. A lot of people in the U.S. feared that once it hit midnight on January 1st, 2000 from the new year transition. The computers would reverse to 1900 (fear that the first two digits would not change). -
New Executive Branch Agency
On Monday, January 29th, 2001, Bush made an executive order creating a new executive agency, the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. They are charged with setting priorities, monitoring faith-based initiatives with the federal government, and coordinating public education programs. Despite, Bush's efforts, the House of Republicans was not happy and wanted to propose more socially conservative proposals which had little to no government oversight. -
Attack on World Trade Center in NYC- 9/11
An Islamic terrorist group called "al-Qaeda" on commercial American airplanes. According to Fault Lines, "Armed with box cutters they had snuck through airport security, the attackers killed the pilots and took control of the planes. They then proceeded to fly three of them into major buildings: two into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and a third into the Pentagon outside Washington, DC" (Kruse and Zelizer, 249). -
USA Patriot Law
This law gave the government and law enforcement officials more ability to trace multiple phones without subpoenas to listen in on phone calls, monitor emails, and business records, as well as have access to undocumented immigrants who come into the country. This was created to prevent terrorist attacks. This act was passed by the House of Representatives with a vote of 357 to 66 on 10/24/2001, and the Senate passed it the day after with a vote of 98 to 1. -
Hurricane Katrina 2005
Hurricane Katrina took place in August of 2005 and was the largest and most powerful hurricane since 1992. It was a category 5 hurricane that caused severe destruction from Texas to Central Florida. In the end, Hurricane Katrina proved to be the most expensive natural disaster in American history, with property damage estimated at $108 billion. It was one of the deadliest hurricanes in American history as well, with 1,833 deaths attributed to the storms and subsequent floods" (Kruse Zelizer 280) -
Barack Obama's Presidency
Barack Obama is a Democrat who was the first African American President and the 44th U.S. President who defeated Senator John McCain in November of 2008. Obama was elected for two terms from 2009 (January 20, 2009 was his Inauguration date) to 2017. He created "Obama Care" which is national health insurance for America.