Busy "lame-duck" session expected.Congress left a cluttered legislative docket when it adjourned for summer vacation Summer vacation (also called summer holidays or summer break) is a vacation in the summertime between school years in which students are off for 3 months, depending on the country and district. in late July. When they return for a brief pre-election session in September, congressmen will face more than a dozen appropriations bills, tax measures, and pressure to reorganize our nation's "Homeland Security" system. Thus it's hardly a surprise that "lawmakers are already bracing for the prospect of a post-election lame-duck session, given the amount of unfinished business," commented the July 24 New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times. Lame-duck sessions have been used to ram through measures that do lasting damage--such as creation of the World Trade Organization (1994). A 2004 lame-duck session could be used to enact any or all of the following radical measures: * The Central American Free Trade Agreement. CAFTA cafta see catha edulis. would be a major steppingstone step·ping·stone n. 1. A stone that provides a place to step, as in crossing a stream. 2. An advantageous position for advancement toward a goal. toward a Free Trade Area of the Americas The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) (Spanish: Área de Libre Comercio de las Américas (ALCA), French: Zone de libre-échange des Amériques (ZLÉA), Portuguese: Área de Livre Comércio das Américas agreement. The FTAA FTAA Free Trade Area of the Americas FTAA Free Trade Agreement of the Americas FTAA Florida Turkish American Association FTAA Federated Tanners Association of Australia FTAA Fixed Threshold Adaptation Algorithm would be the framework for a European Union-style hemispheric socialist government. Both the White House and congressional leaders have openly admitted that CAFTA would be on the agenda of a lame-duck session. * The Bush illegal alien amnesty. Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho) and Congressman Chris Cannon (R-Utah) are sponsors of the "AgJobs" bill, which would enact much of President Bush's proposed amnesty for illegal aliens. The Senate version of the bill--which Craig has threatened to attach as an amendment to every bill considered in the Senate--already boasts 62 cosponsors, making it filibuster-proof. There's no enthusiasm for enacting an amnesty prior to the election, but it could sail through very quickly in a lame-duck session. * UN Convention on the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). Eagerly favored by the supposedly anti-UN Bush administration, LOST would facilitate the largest global "land-grab" in history by making the UN steward of the world's oceans, including mineral-and energy-rich regions on the ocean floor. * Reauthorization of the "assault weapons" ban. The ban will expire on September 13. Last March, the Senate passed a 10-year renewal of the ban, and President Bush has promised to sign the measure. Neither the White House nor Congress relishes going into the election homestretch home·stretch n. 1. The portion of a racetrack from the last turn to the finish line. 2. Informal The final stages of an undertaking. Noun 1. facing outraged opposition from gun owners. |
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