Thanks to the devastation brought by Hurricane Harvey, we have been hearing a lot about so-called 500-year-floods. A 500-year-flood isn’t the worst flood an area has seen in 500 years; rather, a 500-year-flood is a term used to describe the likelihood that a flood of that severity will occur.
Category: Law and Politics
High School Graduation Rates
The 2014-15 school year is the last year for which we have data. The data comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, and is based on the Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate (ACGR).
Slavery and Secession
The Confederacy formally withdrew from the United States of America through the ordinances of secession. The ordinances of secession were short, formal documents that announced the intention of each of the 11 Confederate states to leave the union. Four states: Georgia; Mississippi; South Carolina; and Texas,, also published a declaration of causes document explaining their… Continue reading Slavery and Secession
Symbols of the Confederacy in America
The Southern Poverty Law Center released a report called: Whose Heritage? Public Symbols of the Confederacy.
Trump’s Immigration Plan Explained
The Reforming Immigration for a Strong Economy Act (Raise Act) seeks to reduce legal immigration to the United states by 41 percent in the first year and by 50 percent over 10 years.
Federal Grand Juries Explained
Rule Six of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure describes grand juries.
American Immigration
In the 1850s, Chinese workers migrated to America to work in gold mines, take agricultural jobs, work in factories, and build railroads in the American west. Since the Chinese laborers had to repay loans to the shippers who helped them reach America and because they wanted to send money home to China, they had to… Continue reading American Immigration
Cost Sharing Reduction Explained
Trump is once again threatening to destroy Obamacare by withholding payments the government is scheduled to make to insurance companies. The payments are called cost sharing reduction payments.
The Byrd Rule Explained
The Byrd Rule has been codified in 2 U.S. Code Section 644. The purpose of the Byrd Rule is to prevent “extraneous” material from legislation being considered under the budget reconciliation process.
Budget Reconciliation Explained
Budget reconciliation (reconciliation) was created in the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.Reconciliation can only be used for legislation that addresses mandatory spending, revenue, or the federal debt limit.