|
Women's Rights
What's New? - Archive
WomenMatter will continuously post updates on all this and other issues as we monitor the continuing philosophical and practical debates nationwide.
Please check back often for updates. Past updates are available for reference on the Women's Rights Archives page.
Since Women's Rights is in many ways an umbrella issue, WomenMatter will highlight related updates from other Life Issue areas here:
The Seven Bills of Christmas: New Laws for a New Year
President Bush has signed seven bills before the Holidays.
Although the capture of Sadaam Hussein has dominated the news, these seven pieces of legislation are worth our attention as well. At least one of these new laws is likely to affect your daily life more than the capture of the fallen Iraqi dictator.
Bill #1 - Just say no to spam.
On Tuesday, December 16, 2003, President Bush signed the first federal law created to reduce junk e-mail, a.k.a. spam. Although the law does not ban spam, it does require spammers to provide a return address. Spam recipients can then respond to junk messages and request to be taken off of the mailing list. Spammers must comply or face up to $6 million in fines and a five-year prison sentence.
Most legislators agree that this law is the first battle in the war against spam. Many would like to see a do-not-spam list modeled after the do-not-call registry, which was created to protect people from receiving unwanted sales calls. This bill encourages the Federal Trade Commission to establish such a list, which would greatly reduce the number of super-duper-mortgage and Viagra-for-ladies emails that most of us receive every day.
Bill #2 - Healthier Children?
The Pediatric Research Equity Act was signed December 3, 2003. The bill’s supporters claim that this legislation will improve the quality of health care for children. The Act allows the FDA to mandate studies on the effects of medicines in children. The FDA claims that pediatric tests are essential because "it is not good medicine to assume that children can be treated like little adults."
However, some question the ethics of these tests. An article in Ethical Human Sciences and Services reported that infants and children have experienced discomfort, pain, and serious side effects from participating in clinical trials; some have even died testing drugs. The risks and benefits of this legislation remain to be seen.
Bill #3 - Black History Museum
The legislation to support the Black History Museum was one of five bills that Bush signed Tuesday, December 16. To most people, the proposed Black History Museum is a wonderful thing. It will commemorate Black American History including slavery and the Civil Rights Movement. Representative John Lewis (D-GA), who has been fighting for the museum for fifteen years, says that the museum will move America “closer, much closer, to a truly interracial democracy, closer to what Martin Luther King Jr. called the beloved community."
The only voiced objections to the museum have been based on its cost, roughly $300 million. Half of that money will come from the Federal Treasury, and the other half from private donors.
In a time of deficit, some feel that the museum is an unnecessary cost. To others, there is nothing more necessary, because the museum fills a cultural deficit.
Bills #4 and #5 - Increased benefits.
Filipino Vets
December 16, 2003 also saw the signing of two bills that will extend benefits to those who have protected the United States.
One of these bills grants Filipino veterans of WWII full disability pensions and burial benefits. Although Filipino soldiers were promised these benefits in 1941, Congress withdrew them in 1946. Filipino veterans have been fighting for them ever since. Veterans have even chained themselves to the White House fence and to the statue of General Douglas MacArthur, who is their former chief officer, in protest.
Finally, Filipino vets living in the United States will receive the same benefits as their American-born counterparts. However, Filipino veterans still living in the Philippines will not. Bill supporters claim that securing benefits for those veterans is the next step.
Police, Fire, and EMS personnel
Bush has also signed the Hometown Heroes Survivor Benefits Act, which extends death benefits to police, fire, and EMS personnel who die of heart attacks or strokes while on duty.
Currently, if a police officer, firefighter, or emergency medical worker dies of stroke or heart attack on the job, the family has to prove that the death was caused by the job. Under the new legislation, stroke and heart attack are immediately eligible as line-of-duty deaths. The death benefits equal one-time financial compensation of $267,494.
Bill #6 - Aviation spending.
Bush has also signed Flight 100 - Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act. This four-year $60 billion spending bill addresses nearly every aspect of the aviation industry, including the funding and duties of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), runway safety, flight attendant certification, air quality in aircraft cabins, aircraft noise, and airport development. It also includes a controversial provision that allows cargo pilots to carry guns.
Most controversial, however, was the possible privatization of some air traffic control towers, a measure that the Bush administration and some Republicans supported. However, Democrats and some Republican legislators were sharply against this measure, and the Bush administration eventually agreed to leave it out in order to pass the bill, thereby banning all privatization for one year. For more on the possible privatization of air traffic control, click here.
Bill #7 - The American Dream
The American Dream Downpayment Act was also signed into law on December 16, 2003. This bill helps families with the initial costs of buying a house. Low-income families that qualify would receive an average of $5,000 through grants to state and local governments.
This bill is likely to help more people of color own their own homes, since less than half of minorities are homeowners.
A Motley Group of Bills
Each of these bills is quite different from the next, but what they all have in common is their broad support. The opposing voices to these pieces of legislation are fairly quiet, and are mostly concerned with spending at a time of scarcity.
Although Bush held photo sessions of the bill signings, many Americans are unaware of these new laws for the New Year. Since they touch on a wide range of issues, nearly every citizen will find a new law that affects her or him.
Article Posted on: 12/31/2003
click here to go to next section
return
to top
|
