The House voted in June to repeal the 2002 Iraq War authorization. The measure repealing the authorization to use military force (AUMF) passed by a vote of 268-161 and received overwhelming support from Democrats and 49 Republicans. The 2002 AUMF allowed the George W. Bush administration to invade Iraq over suspicions that the country was developing weapons of mass destruction. The invasion toppled former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s government but also led to what some have called a “forever war,” with American troops still in the country nearly two decades later. The 2002 AUMF came a year after Congress passed…

A record number of unaccompanied children reached the U.S. border in March 2021, more than the last record set in March 2019. The surge left the Biden administration scrambling to find an immediate solution to house and care for the migrant children and families while balancing its long-term immigration agenda. On his first day in office, President Joe Biden introduced a legislative framework that demonstrated that he would be taking a different approach to immigration issues than his predecessor, former President Donald Trump. Specifically, the U.S. Citizen Act of 2021 would provide an eight-year pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants,…

President Joe Biden announced this spring that he plans to raise the corporate tax rate to help fund his more than $2 trillion infrastructure bill. Supporters of the plan argued that it would help support American workers and families because corporations would be putting money back into the U.S. economy. Detractors of the higher tax rate, however, said that a greater tax burden on corporations could lead to job losses and a weakened economy. Under the Trump administration, the corporate tax rate was cut from 35% to 21%. Biden has announced he would increase the rate to 28%. Biden touted…

President Joe Biden took steps toward making good on a campaign promise to tackle student loan debt this spring. The move, however, faced critics from the left, with some saying the president had not gone far enough to help debt-burdened graduates, and the right, which argued that the government should not waive student debt. In March, the Biden administration announced that it would cancel $1 billion in student loan debt for 72,000 borrowers who attended schools that closed abruptly or that used illegal or deceptive practices. The move streamlined the process for borrowers applying for assistance after a Trump-era policy…

The Biden administration moved to help middle-income families with an expanded child tax credit included in the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that passed Congress in March. The American Rescue Plan increased the child tax credit from $2,000 to $3,600 per child under age six and $3,000 per child between the ages of 6 and 17 for one year. The credit will also be 100% refundable for one year. Half of the credit would be paid directly to families starting in July 2021, rather than being solely a credit applied to a family’s annual tax bill. (Although the American Rescue…

As the world continued to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic in the early months of 2021, U.S. health officials released guidance designed to help students get back into classrooms for in-person instruction. However, many opponents still argue that schools should stay closed until there is less chance of community spread of the virus or until all teachers have been vaccinated. In the guidance, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that schools in all areas, regardless of the current risk of COVID-19 infection, should require the use of masks, physical distancing of at least 6 feet as…

The Biden administration took steps in February to rescind one of its predecessor’s most controversial health care policies — Medicaid work requirements. Under the Trump administration, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) allowed states to apply for waivers that would require Medicaid enrollees to work, apply for jobs or take classes, typically for about 80 hours a month. The requirements were touted as a way to encourage heathy people to work and, thus, increase their standard of living. The Trump administration also said the requirements would keep Medicaid financially viable. Opponents, however, said the work requirements were unlawful…

The issue of reforming presidential pardon power has been percolating for decades, but it came to a head at the end of Donald Trump’s presidency. In his final days in office, Trump granted pardons to nearly 150 individuals, many of whom had close ties to the former president. The power of the presidential pardon was written into the Constitution as a safeguard against judicial decisions later deemed too harsh. It allows the president to grant clemency to individuals charged with federal crimes without seeking approval from other branches of government. The pardons are not subject to override. However, they do…

In one of his first acts in office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order revoking the construction permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have routed approximately 830,000 barrels of crude oil a day from Canada to Nebraska on its way to Gulf Coast refineries. Biden’s move — the latest development for a project that has become a flashpoint for the climate change debate — was applauded by environmentalists and American Indian groups but sparked objections from the oil industry. The controversial project has spanned multiple presidential administrations. Former President George W. Bush approved the original Keystone pipeline,…

In November 2020, the Trump administration announced that it would reduce U.S. military troops in Iraq and Afghanistan during the president’s final days in office. Christopher Miller, then-acting secretary of defense, said that U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan would drop from 4,500 to 2,500 and troop levels in Iraq would reduce from 3,000 to 2,500 by Jan. 15, 2021. The move received a mixed response. Some lawmakers praised the plan as a key step in the larger push to unwind the U.S. military’s nearly 20-year involvement in the two countries, while others said it could be a security risk given…