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Contract With America
The Contract with America was a legislative agenda advocated for by the Republican Party during the 1994 congressional election campaign. Written by Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey, and in part using text from former President Ronald Reagan's 1985 State of the Union Address, the Contract detailed the actions the Republicans promised to take if they became the majority party in the United States House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years. Many of the Contract's policy ideas originated at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. The Contract with America was introduced six weeks before the 1994 Congressional election, the first midterm election of President Bill Clinton's administration, and was signed by all but two of the Republican members of the House and all of the Party's non-incumbent Republican congressional candidates. The contract described the plan of the Congressional Representatives, seeking to nationalize the Congressional election. Its provi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP ("Grand Old Party"), is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. The GOP was founded in 1854 by anti-slavery activists who opposed the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which allowed for the potential expansion of chattel slavery into the western territories. Since Ronald Reagan's presidency in the 1980s, conservatism has been the dominant ideology of the GOP. It has been the main political rival of the Democratic Party since the mid-1850s. The Republican Party's intellectual predecessor is considered to be Northern members of the Whig Party, with Republican presidents Abraham Lincoln, Rutherford B. Hayes, Chester A. Arthur, and Benjamin Harrison all being Whigs before switching to the party, from which they were elected. The collapse of the Whigs, which had previously been one of the two major parties in the country, strengthened the party's electoral success. Upon its founding, it supported c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
School Prayer
School prayer, in the context of religious liberty, is state-sanctioned or mandatory prayer by students in public schools. Depending on the country and the type of school, state-sponsored prayer may be required, permitted, or prohibited. Countries which prohibit or limit school prayer often differ in their reasons for doing so. In the United States, school prayer cannot be required of students in accordance with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. This is generally rigorously applied in public schools; the Establishment Clause does not prevent prayer in private schools that have no public funding. In Canada, school-sponsored prayer is disallowed under the concept of freedom of conscience as outlined in the Canadian Charter on Rights & Fundamental Freedoms. School-sponsored prayer is disallowed in France as a byproduct of its status as a secular (religiously neutral) nation. Countries that allow or require school and other state-sponsore ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the national frame of government. Its first three articles embody the doctrine of the separation of powers, whereby the federal government of the United States, federal government is divided into three branches: the United States Congress, legislative, consisting of the bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress, Congress (Article One of the United States Constitution, Article I); the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive, consisting of the President of the United States, president and subordinate officers (Article Two of the United States Constitution, Article II); and the Federal judiciary of the United States, judicial, consisting of the Supreme Court of the United States, Supreme C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
104th United States Congress
The 104th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 1995, to January 3, 1997, during the third and fourth years of Bill Clinton's presidency. Apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1990 United States census. Both chambers had Republican majorities for the first time since the 83rd Congress in 1953. Major events included passage of elements of the Contract with America and a budget impasse between Congress and the Clinton administration that resulted in the federal government shutdown of 1995 and 1996. Major events * January 3, 1995: Republicans gained control of both houses for the first time since 1954. * January 31, 1995: President Clinton invoked emergency powers to extend a $20 billion loan to help Mexico avert financial collapse. * April 19, 1995: Okl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Social Security (United States)
In the United States, Social Security is the commonly used term for the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program and is administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA). The original Social Security Act was enacted in 1935,Social Security Act of 1935 and the current version of the Act, as amended, 2 USC 7 encompasses several social welfare and social insurance programs. The average monthly Social Security benefit for August 2022 was $1,547. The total cost of the Social Security program for the year 2021 was $1.145 trillion or about 5 percent of U.S. GDP. Social Security is funded primarily through payroll taxes called Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax (FICA) or Self Employed Contributions Act Tax (SECA). Wage and salary earnings in covered employment, up to an amount specifically determined by law (see tax rate table below), are subject to the Social Security payroll tax. Wage and salary earnings above this amount are not taxed. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Term Limits
A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potential for monopoly, where a leader effectively becomes " president for life". This is intended to protect a republic from becoming a ''de facto'' dictatorship. Term limits may be applied as a lifetime limit on the number of terms an officeholder may serve, or the restrictions may be applied as a limit on the number of consecutive terms they may serve. History Europe Term limits date back to Ancient Greece and the Roman Republic, as well as the Republic of Venice. In ancient Athenian democracy, many officeholders were limited to a single term. Council members were allowed a maximum of two terms. The position of Strategos could be held for an indefinite number of terms. In the Roman Republic, a law was passed imposing a limit of a single ter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Balanced Budget
A balanced budget (particularly that of a government) is a budget in which revenues are equal to expenditures. Thus, neither a budget deficit nor a budget surplus exists (the accounts "balance"). More generally, it is a budget that has no budget deficit, but could possibly have a budget surplus. A ''cyclically'' balanced budget is a budget that is not necessarily balanced year-to-year, but is balanced over the economic cycle, running a surplus in boom years and running a deficit in lean years, with these offsetting over time. Balanced budgets and the associated topic of budget deficits are a contentious point within academic economics and within politics. Some economists argue that moving from a budget deficit to a balanced budget decreases interest rates, increases investment, shrinks trade deficits and helps the economy grow faster in the longer term. Other economists, especially those associated with Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), downplay the need for balanced budgets among c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zero-based Budgeting
Zero-based budgeting (ZBB) is a budgeting method that requires all expenses to be justified and approved in each new budget period. It was developed by Peter Pyhrr in the 1970s. This budgeting method analyzes an organization's needs and costs by starting from a "zero base" (meaning no funding allocation) at the beginning of every period. The intended outcome is a more efficient use of resources by determining if services can be provided at a lower cost. However, the saving comes at the expense of a complete restructure every budget cycle. Although used at least partially in both government and the private sector, there is some doubt whether ZBB has ever been utilized to its fullest extent in any organization. History As an accounting manager for Texas Instruments, Peter Pyhrr created zero-based budgeting to help incorporate top-level strategic objectives into the budgeting process by tying them to the organization's specific functional areas. Under his system, costs are grouped ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Budget Process
The United States budget process is the framework used by Congress and the President of the United States to formulate and create the United States federal budget. The process was established by the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, and additional budget legislation. Prior to 1974, Congress had no formal process for establishing a federal budget. When President Richard Nixon began to refuse to spend funds that Congress had allocated, they adopted a more formal means by which to challenge him. The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 created the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which gained more control of the budget, limiting the power of the President's Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The Act passed easily while the administration was embroiled in the Watergate scandal and was unwilling to provoke Congress. Discretionary spending Discretionary spending requires an annual appropriation bill, which is a piece ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proxy Voting
Proxy voting is a form of voting whereby a member of a decision-making body may delegate their voting power to a representative, to enable a vote in absence. The representative may be another member of the same body, or external. A person so designated is called a "proxy" and the person designating them is called a "principal". Proxy appointments can be used to form a voting bloc that can exercise greater influence in deliberations or negotiations. Proxy voting is a particularly important practice with respect to corporations; in the United States, investment advisers often vote proxies on behalf of their client accounts. A related topic is liquid democracy, a family of electoral systems where votes are transferable and grouped by voters, candidates or combination of both to create proportional representation, and delegated democracy. Another related topic is the so-called Proxy Plan, or interactive representation electoral system whereby elected representatives would wield ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Audit
An audit is an "independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, irrespective of its size or legal form when such an examination is conducted with a view to express an opinion thereon.” Auditing also attempts to ensure that the books of accounts are properly maintained by the concern as required by law. Auditors consider the propositions before them, obtain evidence, and evaluate the propositions in their auditing report. Audits provide third-party assurance to various stakeholder (corporate), stakeholders that the subject matter is free from Materiality (auditing) , material misstatement. The term is most frequently applied to audits of the financial information relating to a legal person. Other commonly audited areas include: secretarial and compliance, internal controls, quality management, project management, water management, and energy conservation. As a result of an audit, stakeholders may evaluate and improve the effecti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
