President Biden signed 50 bills on Christmas Eve, as the year and his term come to an end.
Bills signed by Mr Biden include socialites and models Paris Hilton’s bill to protect adolescents living in residential treatment centers, a bill setting anti-hazing standards on college campuses, and a bill barring members of Congress from receiving pensions if convicted of certain crimes.
Hilton is the force behind the Law against institutional child abusewhich passed the House and Senate last week. The legislation creates a federal Youth Residential Programs Task Force to oversee the health, safety, care, treatment and placement of juveniles in rehabilitation centers and other facilities. The new law is personal for Hilton, who testified before Congress that she was abused in such establishments as a teenager.
Another measure signed by the president, Article 932prohibits members of Congress convicted of crimes related to public corruption from receiving their retirement benefits. Previous law allowed members to continue receiving checks only after all appeals had been exhausted. The new bipartisan law comes after Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey was guilty this year he used his political influence to benefit foreign businessmen and governments in exchange for bribes.
THE Law against hazing on campus requires institutions of higher education to disclose reported incidents of hazing to campus authorities or local police in their annual security reports. The new law also requires schools to educate students about, among other things, the dangers of hazing.
Yet another new law, Item 4610makes the bald eagle the official bird of the United States. The federal government had never designated an official bird.
On Monday, the president granted clemency to 37 of the 40 federal inmates facing death threats, commuting their sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The move was met with both consternation and praise. Mr. Biden too vetoed a bill Monday said it would have created 66 new federal judge positions, saying the House rushed it through without resolving important questions about how it would be implemented.
