X-Nico

27 unusual facts about United States Congress


Alaska Land Transfer Acceleration Act

The act required the Secretary of the Interior, to deliver to Congress a report within three years of the bill’s passage.

Andy Wyant

Wyant was the brother of Adam Martin Wyant, who became the first professional football player elected to the United States Congress.

Cheryl Schonhardt-Bailey

(a) political deliberation, particularly in monetary policy making settings (e.g., the United States Congress, the Federal Open Market Committee);

Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia

In the United States an organization with a similar name, the American Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia, was founded in the late 1940s, and became known for their CIA-run and later Congress-funded propaganda broadcaster Radio Liberty, which operated from Munich, in West Germany.

Dean McHenry

During his time at UCLA, he ran for several political campaigns, including mayor of Los Angeles and for the United States Congress; he also authored numerous books.

Director of National Intelligence

After considerable debate on the scope of the DNI's powers and authorities, the United States Congress passed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 by votes of 336–75 in the House of Representatives, and 89–2 in the Senate.

E. T. Kingsley

Born in the United States, he had previously been a member of DeLeon's Socialist Labor Party of America and had been a candidate for the United States Congress several times including in the Fourth Congressional District of California in 1896 and the Fifth Congressional District of California in 1898.

Farm Credit Council

The Farm Credit Council represents the Farm Credit System in legislative and regulatory lobbying before the United States Congress government and state legislatures.

General Education Board

The board was founded in New York City in February 1902 and chartered by the United States Congress on 12 January 1903, its object being the promotion of education throughout the United States, without distinction as to race, sex or creed.

Heat of the Moment

In a 2001 episode of South Park titled "Kenny Dies", Eric Cartman sings the song to the United States Congress to convince them to reverse a ban on stem cell research (telling them that he wanted to save his 8-year-old friend Kenny McCormick from muscular dystrophy), eventually leading members of Congress in a sing-along.

John Gochnaur

In 2005, Congressman Rob Bishop, (R-Utah) in speaking to the United States Congress about the Endangered Species Act, claimed that it was an inept act in the way that Gochnaur was an inept baseball player.

Mr. Dugan

Dugan is an American sitcom about a black Congressman that was scheduled to air in March 1979 on CBS, but was pulled at the last minute and never shown.

Museum of Government Waste

Museum of Government Waste is an upcoming documentary produced by American Film Renaissance that follows Florida resident Greg Knapp on his mission to obtain an earmark from Congress to construct a museum dedicated to careless government spending.

National Association of Personal Financial Advisors

NAPFA, the Financial Planning Association, and the CFP Board of Standards formed the Financial Planning Coalition to work with Congress and federal agencies to strengthen the rules on financial advisors' fiduciary conduct, fee disclosures, and conflicts of interest.

Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability

The federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) is the audit, evaluation, and investigative arm of the United States Congress.

Oslo-class frigate

Half of the project expenses were funded by the United States as a part of the Mutual Defense Assistance Program (MDAP) (a program that ran from when it was passed by the Congress in October 1949 until 1967–68).

Pavement life-cycle cost analysis

Since 1995, United States Congress has been expressing an interest in LCCA and it is now required for projects exceeding $25 million.

President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992

The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, or the JFK Records Act, is a public law passed by the United States Congress, effective October 26, 1992.

Randall Terry

Rather than pay the settlement, Terry promptly filed bankruptcy, prompting Senator Charles Schumer to propose an amendment to a bankruptcy bill in Congress which would "specifically ... prevent abortion opponents from using the bankruptcy code to escape paying court fines."

Renminbi currency value

New tariffs aimed at retaliating the undervalued yuan are possible in the new United States Congress, as the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that would impose economic sanctions on China.

Richard Kovacevich

Kovacevich believes that Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insurance should be privatized, and that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should have no government backing in the event of a failure (quite the opposite of the course actually pursued by the United States Congress and the White House when the two lenders became insolvent in September 2008).

Seduction of the Innocent

At the same time, a U.S. Congressional inquiry was launched into the comic book industry.

Special Purpose Individual Weapon

However, the program came under attack by the United States Congress as a waste of money, and was forced to scale back.

Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia

The Association was formally chartered by special Act of Congress, May 31, 1920,

United States Secretary of the Army

The Secretary presents and justifies Army policies, plans, programs, and budgets to the Secretary of Defense, other executive branch officials, and to the Congressional Defense Committees.

Wendover, Utah

Movements to unite Wendover with West Wendover, which is located across the border in Nevada and allows gambling operations, have taken place but require the approval of the U.S. Congress and the Nevada and Utah legislators.

Who Would Have Thought It?

At the beginning of the novel, Dr. Norval is a prominent figure in New England; his influence and financial support provide positions in Congress for his brother-in-law Isaac.


1987 Winston 500

Just 32 years prior to this racing event, the United States Congress almost banned all forms of automobile racing (including NASCAR) before the bill was defeated outside the jurisdiction of the United States Senate and then-American president Dwight Eisenhower.

A More Perfect Constitution

The twenty-three proposals run the gamut from changing the length of the U.S. President's term in office and the number and terms of Supreme Court justices to altering the structure of Congress, modifying the Electoral College, and introducing universal national service.

Abrogation doctrine

The Abrogation doctrine is a constitutional law doctrine expounding when and how the Congress may waive a state's sovereign immunity and subject it to lawsuits to which the state has not consented (i.e., to "abrogate" their immunity to such suits).

American Iron and Steel Institute

In 1933, at the depths of the Great Depression, United States Congress adopted the National Industrial Recovery Act, and AISI was called upon by the federal government to act for the steel industry in the establishment and administration of a Code of Fair Competition.

American Jobs

It also contains interviews with a number of members of Congress, including: Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut), Robin Hayes (R-North Carolina), Donald Manzullo (R-Illinois), and Hilda Solis (D-California), and includes an extended section of clips from the 1993 congressional debate on NAFTA.

Antarctica Service Medal

The Antarctica Service Medal (ASM) was established by the United States Congress on July 7, 1960 under Public Law 600 of the 86th Congress.

Bingham County, Idaho

Bingham County was created January 13, 1885, and named after Henry H. Bingham, a congressman from Pennsylvania and friend of William Bunn, Idaho's Territorial Governor.

Bolling Hall

He was elected as a Republican to the 12th, 13th and 14th United States Congresses serving from March 4, 1811, until March 3, 1817.

Bradhurst Schieffelin

With Charles O'Conor and Horace Greeley, he formulated a petition introduced into the United States Congress by Roscoe Conkling for the prevention of the appropriation for the use of religious corporations of public moneys or property.

Charles Follen McKim

McKim was a member of the Congressional commission for the improvement of the Washington park system, the New York Art Commission, the Accademia di San Lucca (Rome, 1899), the American Academy in Rome and the Architectural League.

Charles W. Cathcart

Cathcart was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1845 to March 3, 1849; he was appointed to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of James Whitcomb and served from December 6, 1852, to January 18, 1853.

Children of the American Revolution

After the idea for a children’s branch was proposed at the Daughters of the American Revolution Continental Congress, the organization was promptly chartered by the United States Congress.

Commercial Internet eXchange

The focus of this group was either military/government or research and education communications, especially support for the separately funded NSF supercomputing initiatives that started after Nobel laureate Ken Wilson's testimony to Congress in the 1980s.

Dave Crooks

In May 2011 Dave Crooks announced his candidacy to represent Indiana's 8th Congressional District in the United States Congress.

Disability in children's literature

Beginning in the 1970s, the United States Congress passed several Acts to legally protect the right of children and adults with disabilities to be included in schools and the workforce, first with the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and then the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975.

Disinvestment

The effort to disinvest in Northern Ireland met with little success, but the United States Congress did pass (and then-President Bill Clinton signed) a law requiring American companies with interests there to implement most of the MacBride Principles in 1998.

Edward Fenwick Tattnall

He was reelected to the 18th, 19th and 20th United States Congresses and served from March 4, 1821, until his resignation in 1827 before the start of the 20th Congress.

Fernand St. Germain

St. Germain was elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-seventh and to the thirteen succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1961 – January 3, 1989).

Floride Calhoun

Soon after their marriage, her husband was elected to Congress, leaving his wife in charge of his plantation, "Fort Hill," in present-day Clemson, South Carolina.

George A. Hirsch

George Aaron Hirsch (born June 21, 1934), is a magazine publisher, a founder of the New York City Marathon, a candidate for United States Congress and a television commentator.

George G. Sadowski

He was elected as a Democrat from Michigan's first congressional district to the 73rd, 74th, and 75th Congresses, serving from March 4, 1933 to January 3, 1939.

Gerry Whiting Hazelton

He was elected to the House of Representatives in the Forty-second and Forty-third United States Congresses representing Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district (March 4, 1871 - March 3, 1875).

House Select Committee on Current Pornographic Materials

The House Select Committee on Current Pornographic Materials, commonly known as the Gathings Committee, was a select committee of the United States House of Representatives which was active in 1952 and 1953.

J. Richardson Dilworth

In 1974 he came into public prominence when he appeared before the United States Congress during the confirmation hearings for Nelson Rockefeller's nomination by Gerald Ford for the vice-presidency; during his presentation to Congressmen he outlined the overall wealth of Nelson's family.

Joseph Bryan

Bryan was elected as a Republican to the 8th and 9th United States Congresses and served from March 4, 1803, until his resignation in 1806.

KSUA

Due to the efforts in Congress by then-Senator Ted Stevens, this had changed by 1987, and radio stations began appearing on that portion of the dial.

Leonardo Mascheroni

Since then, he has been critical of Los Alamos and has attempted to lobby the United States Congress to fund his idea.

Lori Andrews

She has been an adviser on genetic and reproductive technology to the United States Congress, the World Health Organization, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, and several foreign nations including the Emirate of Dubai and the French National Assembly.

Miriam Sharpe

In the weeks following the Stamford disaster she managed to create a support base that would gather hundreds to march on the White House, influence super-humans and eventually convince congress and the president to pass the superhuman registration act.

National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius

On January 31, 2011, Judge Roger Vinson ruled that the mandatory health insurance "individual mandate"—the provision of Internal Revenue Code section 5000A imposing a "shared responsibility penalty" on nearly all Americans who fail to purchase health insurance—was outside the power of Congress.

Peng-Peng Gong

He was invited twice, on personal request, by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to perform for the United States Congress.

Raker Act

The Raker Act was an act of the United States Congress that permitted building of the O'Shaughnessy Dam and flooding of Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park, California.

Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum

In January 2004, the United States Congress passed legislation that provided for the establishment of a federally operated Nixon Presidential Library.

Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building

In 1998, the United States Congress passed a bill naming the building for former mayor and Congressman Ronald V. Dellums.

Samuel Rea

His paternal grandfather General John Rea was in the United States Congress from Bedford and Franklin, Pennsylvania, during the terms of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

Six-year itch

During this time, there is a midterm election and the party in power usually loses a significant number of seats in Congress.

Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance

The primary campaign of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance is to build public support for America's Red Rock Wilderness Act, which was first introduced in Congress in 1989 by Utah Congressman Wayne Owens.

Stanley A. Prokop

Following the war, he served on the North Pococno Joint Board of Education for 10 years, and following this was elected to the United States Congress in 1958, defeating incumbent Republican Congressman Joseph L. Carrigg.

The American Ireland Fund

In 2008, the chair of the gala dinner was former United States Congress Member Jack Quinn.

United States Capitol Historical Society

The United States Capitol Historical Society is an organization chartered by the United States Congress, beginning in 1962, to educate the public on the heritage and history of the United States Capitol, as well as its institutions and those individuals who have served them over time.

USA International Ballet Competition

In 1982, the United States Congress passed a Joint resolution designating Jackson, Mississippi, as the official home of the USA International Ballet Competition.

Walt Horan

Walter Franklin "Walt" Horan (October 15, 1898 – December 19, 1966) was an American politician, a congressman from eastern Washington for 22 years.

Wonkette

The blog gained further national media attention after Cox publicized the story of Jessica Cutler aka "Washingtonienne", a former Hill staffer who blogged about her affair with a member of former Senator Mike DeWine's staff.