Changes

Enjoying big Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, Clinton aggressively pushed a liberal agenda.  He raised taxes on both individuals and businesses.  In 1994, he signed a federal gun control bill into law known as the "Brady Bill," which imposed a national five-day waiting period for handgun purchasers and required a criminal background check.  He signed into law the "Violence Against Women Act," which authorized women to sue institutions like colleges in federal court over alleged incidents that were never charged or proven as crimes (this provision was later held unconstitutional), and authorized the spending of billions of dollars in taxpayer money to encourage women to charge men with crimes.  He signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993, which created a "free-trade zone" encompassing Mexico, Canada, and the United States and submitted the United States to control by an international tribunal to decide disputes in trade.  This resulted in a big increase of importation of illegal drugs (like cocaine and marijuana) from Mexico, and was later used to order the United States to allow mostly never-inspected trucks to enter from Mexico to flood the American highways.  NAFTA was unable to obtain the 2/3rd vote required in the Senate to be ratified as a treaty, and instead it was (perhaps improperly) passed as an ordinary federal law with mere majority votes.

Enjoying big Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, Clinton aggressively pushed a liberal agenda.  He raised taxes on both individuals and businesses.  In 1994, he signed a federal gun control bill into law known as the "Brady Bill," which imposed a national five-day waiting period for handgun purchasers and required a criminal background check.  He signed into law the "Violence Against Women Act," which authorized women to sue institutions like colleges in federal court over alleged incidents that were never charged or proven as crimes (this provision was later held unconstitutional), and authorized the spending of billions of dollars in taxpayer money to encourage women to charge men with crimes.  He signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993, which created a "free-trade zone" encompassing Mexico, Canada, and the United States and submitted the United States to control by an international tribunal to decide disputes in trade.  This resulted in a big increase of importation of illegal drugs (like cocaine and marijuana) from Mexico, and was later used to order the United States to allow mostly never-inspected trucks to enter from Mexico to flood the American highways.  NAFTA was unable to obtain the 2/3rd vote required in the Senate to be ratified as a treaty, and instead it was (perhaps improperly) passed as an ordinary federal law with mere majority votes.

In the "midterm elections" in 1994 (called "midterm" because it is halfway between the presidential elections), there was a voter backlash against the liberal policies of President Bill Clinton.  Republicans swept to victory in a landslide, and captured large majorities in both the House and Senate.  Then, in a "lame duck" session of the Democratic House and Senate in December 1994, they passed a law requiring the United States to join the World Trade Organization.  Like NAFTA but on a world-wide scale, the WTO aims to promote world trade by lowering by lowering trade barriers.  In practice, it forces the United States to submit to the authority of an international tribunal comprised mostly of nations hostile to America, and that court has ruled against the United States in nearly every trade dispute.  Also like NAFTA, the WTO was passed as a regular federal law rather than obtaining the 2/3rd vote required to pass treaties.

In the "midterm elections" in 1994 (called "midterm" because it is halfway between the presidential elections), there was a voter backlash against the liberal policies of President Bill Clinton.  Republicans swept to victory in a landslide, and captured large majorities in both the House and Senate.  Then, in a "lame duck" session of the Democratic House and Senate in December 1994, they passed a law requiring the United States to join the World Trade Organization.  Like NAFTA but on a world-wide scale, the WTO aims to promote world trade by lowering trade barriers.  In practice, it forces the United States to submit to the authority of an international tribunal comprised mostly of nations hostile to America, and that court has ruled against the United States in nearly every trade dispute.  Also like NAFTA, the WTO was passed as a regular federal law rather than obtaining the 2/3rd vote required to pass treaties.

'''Debate:  Do you think Congress should pass treaties as ordinary laws when unable to obtain the 2/3rd vote necessary under the Constitution to ratify a treaty?'''

'''Debate:  Do you think Congress should pass treaties as ordinary laws when unable to obtain the 2/3rd vote necessary under the Constitution to ratify a treaty?'''