Political Science 404
MAJOR BILLS, 1947-1993
Professor Christina Wolbrecht


This page is intended as a resource for Notre Dame students in POLS 404, Interest Group Politics. The following is a list of major bills which became law from 1946 to 1993. Students may (but do not have to) choose an issue related to these pieces of legislation for their Issue Paper, but you are not limited to the specific issues encompassed by the legislation here. Not all laws are equally likely to have involved substantial interest group activity.

1947

  • Taft-Hartley Labor-Management Relations Act. Major anti-union rollback of Wagner Act. Enacted over Truman's veto.
  • Greece and Turkey aid (Truman Doctrine).
  • Portal to Portal Act. Warded off back-wages claims against employers for travel time, etc.
  • National Security Act. Military Services unified under one Defense Secretary. CIA established.
  • 22nd Amendment: Two-term limit for presidents
  • Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Basic pesticides statute.

    1948

  • Marshall Plan (European Recovery Program).
  • Income tax cut. GOP-inspired. Over Truman's veto.
  • Water Pollution Control Act. The ancestral law.
  • Hope-Aiken Agricultural Act. 90% of parity for basic crops for one more year, then shift to flexibles.

    1949

  • Housing Act. Basic post-New Deal charter for urban redevelopment, public housing.
  • NATO Treaty ratified.
  • Minimum wage increase. To 75 cents.
  • Mutual Defense Assistance Act. $1.3 billion in military aid to allies.
  • Agricultural Act. Replay of 1948 Hope-Aiken Act.

    1950

  • Point Four foreign aid program. Beginning of economic aid to underdeveloped countries.
  • Social Security expansion. Benefits up 70%; 10 million new beneficiaries.
  • National Science Foundation Act. NSF established.
  • McCarran Internal Security Act. Communist and front groups to register. Emergency detention powers. Deport or exclude subversive aliens. Over Truman's veto.
  • Defense Production Act. Wartime economic control powers to president.
  • Tax increase. To finance Korean War.
  • Excess Profits Tax. More war revenue.

    1951

  • Mutual Security Act. Coupled foreign economic and military aid in new agency.
  • Reciprocal trade act extension. For 2 years; tariff-cutting authority curbed.
  • Tax increase. For wartime defense buildup.

    1952

  • Social Security increase. Benefits up modestly.
  • McCarran-Walter Immigration and Nationality Act. National origins quotas reaffirmed. Provisions to exclude subversives. Enacted over Truman's veto.
  • Japanese Peace Treaty ratified.

    1953

  • Tidelands oil act. Turned submerged tidelands over to coastal states.

    1954

  • Tax schedule revision. Major overhaul.
  • Social Security expansion. Benefits raised; 10 million new people covered.
  • St. Lawrence Seaway approved. After 33-year effort.
  • Communist Control Act. Communist party outlawed. A Democratic party move.
  • Atomic Energy Act. Laid basis for private atomic energy industry, cooperation abroad.
  • Agricultural Act. Victory for flexible price supports between 82.5 and 90% of parity.
  • Housing Act. Urban renewal; city plans required.
  • Food for Peace program. To sell U.S. agricultural surpluses abroad.

    1955

  • Reciprocal trade act extended. For 3 years with reformulated presidential authority.
  • Minimum wage increase. To 90 cents.

    1956

  • Agricultural Act. New soil bank plan.
  • Disability insurance. Added to Social Security.
  • Federal-Aid Highway Act. $33 billion for 42,000 miles to be built over 13 years. The basic instrument.
  • Upper Colorado River Project authorized. Four-state, $760 million river-harnessing plan.

    1957

  • Civil Rights Act. First since 1870s. Federal injunctive powers on voting rights. Civil Rights Commission established.
  • Price-Anderson nuclear industry indemnity act. Insurance against damage claims for accidents.

    1958

  • Alaska statehood.
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration Act. NASA established.
  • National Defense Education Act (NDEA). After Sputnik. Loans to college students, grants to schools.
  • Reciprocal trade act extended. For 4 years.
  • Defense Department reorganized. Strengthened Defense Secretary vs. the services. Eisenhower's plan.
  • Agricultural Act. GOP victory. Corn, cotton, and rice supports might fall to 65% of parity.
  • Social Security increase. Benefits up 7%.
  • Transportation Act. Help for the railroads.
  • Food Additives Amendments. Flat ban on additives that cause cancer in laboratory rats. (Delaney clause.)

    1959

  • Landrum-Griffin Labor Reform Act. Curbs on union violence, corruption, power abuses.
  • Housing Act. Modest compromise measure after two Eisenhower vetoes.
  • Hawaii Statehood.

    1960

  • Civil Rights Act. Voting rights protection, criminal penalties for bombings.
  • Kerr-Mills aid for the medically needy aged. AMA-backed grant program to ward off looming Medicare.

    1961

  • Housing Act. Urban open spaces, middle-income housing, community facilities.
  • Minimum wage increase. To $1.25. Coverage for 3.6 million new workers.
  • Social Security increase. Benefits raised.
  • Area Redevelopment Act. Grants and loans for economically depressed areas.
  • Peace Corps established.
  • Agricultural Act. New acreage retirement programs for wheat and feed grains.
  • Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) created.
  • Alliance for Progress. Aid to Latin America.
  • Foreign Assistance Act. Emphasis shifted to loans for underdeveloped countries. Aid established.

    1962

  • Trade Expansion Act. Gave president unprecedented tariff-cutting powers, 5-year authorization.
  • Manpower Development and Training act. To retrain workers with obsolete or inadequate skills.
  • Communication Satellite Act. Authorized private corporation to develop and run system.
  • Drug regulation. Post-thalidomide. Tightened regulation of medical products for safety and effectiveness.
  • Revenue Act. Investment tax credits for business.
  • Public Welfare Amendments. Beefed up federal support for state assistance programs.

    1963

  • Nuclear Test Ban Treaty ratified.
  • Higher Education Facilities act. Funds to build college classrooms, libraries, etc.
  • Aid for mentally ill and retarded. For research and treatment centers.
  • Aid to medical schools. Student loans, buildings.
  • Clean Air Act. Expanded federal role.
  • Equal Pay Act. Outlawed gender discrimination.

    1964

  • Civil Rights Act. Banned discrimination in public accommodations, employment, publicly owned facilities, federally funded programs.
  • Economic Opportunity Act. Johnson's anti-poverty program. Job Corps. community action programs, VISTA.
  • Tax Cut. Kennedy's (delayed) Keynesian-inspired cut to promote economic growth.
  • Urban Mass Transportation Act. Federal grants.
  • Wilderness Act. Set up a national Wilderness System of lands free from intrusion.
  • Food Stamp Act. Program made permanent. Result of Johnson logroll with cotton and wheat interests.
  • Cotton-wheat commodity programs. Logroll result.

    1965

  • Medical Care for the Aged. Medicare for the aged via Social Security. Medicaid for the medically indigent.
  • Voting Rights Act. The major statute: federal registrars to police southern elections.
  • Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). For the first time, broad federal aid to schools.
  • Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) established.
  • Appalachian Regional Development Act. $1 billion for 12-state region.
  • Regional medical centers for heart disease, cancer, and stroke. Federal grants.
  • Highway Beautification Act. Lady Bird Johnson's project. Ban on billboards.
  • Immigration reform. Ended national origins quotas.
  • National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities established.
  • Higher Education Act. Scholarships and insured loans for college students.
  • Housing and Urban Development Act. Omnibus measure featuring rent supplements.
  • Excise Tax Reduction Act.
  • Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Control Act. HEW to set emissions standards for new cars.
  • Water Quality Act. States to impose standards.
  • Food and Agriculture Act. 4-year subsidy plan.

    1966

  • Department of Transportation established.
  • Clean Waters Restoration Act. Subsidies to locales to control water pollution.
  • Air pollution control. Aid to states and locales.
  • Fair Packaging and Labeling Act. Truth-in-packaging standards for labels.
  • Minimum wage increase. To $1.60, with 9.1 million new workers covered.
  • Demonstration cities program. For coordinated attack on blight in selected "model cities."

    1967

  • Social Security increase. 13% hike; new work-requirement (WIN) curb on welfare.
  • Public Broadcasting Act. Set up corporation to aid educational TV and radio.
  • Air Quality Act. Stepped-up pollution regulation.
  • Wholesome Meat Act. Improved meat inspection.
  • Outer space treaty ratified. To promote peaceful exploration, rule out nuclear weapons.
  • Age Discrimination Act. Banned in employment.

    1968

  • Open Housing Act. Ban on discrimination in sale or rent of housing. First such act in the 20th century.
  • Housing and Urban Development Act. To provide 1.7 million new or rehab units for low-income families.
  • Gun Control Act. Ban on mail sales of long guns.
  • Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act. Law-enforcement aid to states and locales.
  • Income tax surcharge. Johnson anti-inflation move.
  • Central Arizona Project authorized. $1.3 billion; largest reclamation project ever authorized in one bill.
  • National scenic trails system established.
  • National Gas Pipeline Safety Act. Set standards.
  • Wholesome Poultry Products Act. More inspection.
  • Truth-in-Lending Act. Required disclosure of information to consumers in credit transactions.

    1969

  • Coal mine safety act. New standards. Compensation for black lung disease.
  • Social Security increase. 15% hike.
  • Draft lottery system.
  • Tax Reform Act. Said to be most comprehensive revision of tax schedule in U.S. history.
  • Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty ratified.
  • National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The source of "environmental impact statements."

    1970

  • Organized Crime Control Act. Unprecedented federal authority (including RICO powers) vs. mobsters.
  • Postal Reorganization Act. Set up U.S. Postal Service as independent agency.
  • Voting Rights Act extension. For 5 years. Coverage beyond the South. Gave suffrage to 18 year-olds (upheld by courts only for federal elections).
  • Clean Air Act. Uniquely ambitious. Set specific deadlines for reduction of auto emissions.
  • Water Quality Improvement Act. Aimed at oil spills, sewage.
  • Ban on cigarette advertising on radio and TV. Also strengthened warning label on packages.
  • Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA). New on-the-job standards plus enforcement mechanism.
  • Rail Passenger Service Act. Set up Amtrak.
  • Omnibus Crime Control Act. $3.5 billion for LEAA to aid state and local programs.
  • Narcotics Control Act. Revised penalties, stiffened enforcement, expanded treatment.
  • Agricultural Act. Subsidy programs continued. "Set aside" plan to cut production.
  • Airport and Airway Development Act. Trust fund.
  • Urban Mass Transportation Assistance Act. Federal funding greatly expanded. $12 billion plan.
  • Economic Stabilization Act. Nixon given unwanted power to impose wage-price controls; he used it in 1971.
  • Food stamps program expanded. National standards. Multiplied funding.
  • Unemployment compensation expanded. Extended benefits, 4.8 million more potential beneficiaries.

    1971

  • Social Security increase. 10% hike.
  • Tax reduction. To spur the economy. Included $1 checkoff for campaign finance.
  • National Cancer Act. $1.6 billion.
  • Emergency Employment act of 1971. $2.25 billion for public-service jobs. First such plan since New Deal.
  • 18-year-old voting age as constitutional amendment. Soon ratified by the states.

    1972

  • Federal Election Campaign Act. Ceilings on radio and TV spending for ads; rigorous disclosure rules.
  • Water Pollution Control Act. Uniquely comprehensive and expensive. New standards; $25 billion to build sewage treatment plants, etc. Over Nixon's veto.
  • State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act. Nixon's general revenue sharing plan. $30 billion for 5 years.
  • Social Security increase. Major 20% hike, plus automatic tie of future hikes to cost-of-living index.
  • Equal rights amendment to the constitution (ERA). Against gender discrimination. Not ratified by states.
  • Pesticide Control Act. Comprehensive program.
  • ABM treaty ratified. Limit on U.S. and Soviet anti-ballistic missile systems.
  • Consumer Product Safety Act. New commission to set and enforce safety standards for consumer products.
  • Equal Employment Opportunity Act. Added enforcement powers to 1964 Civil Rights Act, extended coverage to state and local governments.
  • Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program approved. New income floor for the aged, blind, disabled.
  • Higher Education Act. $25 billion package; new Pell grants as aid floor for lower-income students.

    1973

  • War Powers Act. Limited president's authority to commit U.S. troops in combat. Enacted over Nixon's veto.
  • Federal Aid Highway Act. Opened up Highway Trust Fund to mass-transit projects.
  • Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act. Shift to "target price" formula to subsidize commodity growers.
  • Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA). Reorganized manpower programs via Nixonian block grants. Continued public-service employment as CETA jobs.
  • Social Security increase. Two-step 11% hike.
  • District of Columbia home rule. Mayor and council.
  • Trans-Alaskan pipeline authorized.
  • Foreign Assistance Act. Major shift in direction. Aid to go to poorest populations in poorest countries.
  • Regional Rail Reorganization Act. Bankrupt northeastern-quadrant railroads consolidated into Conrail.
  • Aid for development of Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs). Also defined their form and activities.
  • Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act. Called for a mandatory allocation program for oil and oil products.

    1974

  • Trade Act. Major rewrite. For 5 years. Free Jewish immigration to be a bargaining point with USSR.
  • Employment Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Landmark guarantee of pension rights in private systems.
  • Federal Election Campaign Act. The basic law; limits on contributions and spending, full disclosure, public funding of presidential elections, the FEC.
  • Minimum wage increase. To $2.30 in 3 stages, plus coverage of 7 million new workers.
  • Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act. New congressional budget system, curbs on impoundment.
  • Freedom of Information Act Amendments. Beefed up earlier act to insure public access to government recordsCe.g., FBI files. Enacted over Ford's veto.
  • Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and Energy Research & Development Administration (ERDA) created. AEC killed.
  • Magnuson-Moss product warranty act. Gave FTC power to set industry-wide rules vs. unfair business practices.
  • National Health Planning and Resources Development Act. New national network of local planning agencies.
  • National Mass Transportation Assistance Act. $11 billion. Funds for operating costs, for first time.
  • Housing and Community Development Act. Switch to block grants, direct rent subsidies.

    1975

  • Energy Policy and Conservation Act. Oil price control now, but phased decontrol later.
  • Voting Rights Act extension. For 7 years; language minorities added to coverage.
  • New York City bailout. $2.3 billion in federal loans to stave off default.
  • Repeal of fair-trade laws. That is, 40-year old state laws allowing manufacturer-dealer price fixing.
  • Tax reduction Act. Anti-recession move. Repealed the oil depletion allowance (for large firms).
  • Securities Act Amendments. Broad reform of securities regulation; some deregulation.

    1976

  • Unemployment compensation overhaul. Revised finances; coverage for 8.5 million new workers.
  • Copyright law revision. Major rewrite, to cover photo-copying, cable-TV royalties, etc.
  • Toxic substances control act. Required chemical firms to test risky products. Banned PCBs.
  • Tax Reform Act. Concerted rewrite of schedule.
  • Railroad Vitalization and Regulatory Reform Act. New subsidies and a move toward deregulation.
  • National Forest Management Act (NFMA). Commitment to strenuous planning. Rules about clear-cutting.
  • Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA). Gave Bureau of Land Management permanent authority to manage public lands. A cause of Sagebrush Rebellion.
  • Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Cradle-to-grave EPA regulation of hazardous wastes.

    1977

  • Social Security tax increase. To raise additional $227 billion over 10 years.
  • Tax cut. 3-year stimulus package.
  • Minimum wage hike. To $3.35 in 4 stages.
  • Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. New standards for strip mining.
  • Food and Agriculture Act. Higher commodity subsidies; revised and expanded food stamp program.
  • Clean Water Act. Standards relaxed. $24.5 billion more for sewage treatment construction.
  • Clean Air Act Amendments. Standards relaxed.

    1978

  • Tax revision. Cut corporate, capital-gains taxes.
  • Comprehensive energy package. Conservation provisions; phased decontrol of natural gas prices. A shadow of Carter's April 1977 omnibus plan.
  • Panama Canal treaties ratified. U.S. control to end.
  • Civil Service Reform Act. Extensive revamping. Carter plan to inject merit into pay system.
  • Airline deregulation. Decontrol of routes, fares.

    1979

  • Chrysler Corporation bailout. $3.5 billion aid package to ward off bankruptcy.
  • Foreign trade act extension. Approved Tokyo Round non-tariff barrier reductions.
  • Department of Education established.

    1980

  • Depository Institutions and Monetary Control Act. Banking deregulation. Removed most distinctions between commercial banks and savings-and-loans units.
  • Trucking deregulation. Greater pricing freedom, end of some antitrust immunities.
  • Staggers Rail Act. More deregulation.
  • Windfall profits tax on oil. Carter's plan; to bring in $227 billion over a decade.
  • Synthetic fuels program. Carter's $88 billion plan to spur development of a private industry.
  • Alaska lands preservation. Curbed future development of over 100 million acres of federal holdings.
  • Toxic wastes Superfund. $1.6 billion fund, largely from levies on industry, to clean up chemical dumps.

    1981

  • Economic Recovery Tax Act. Reagan's plan. Largest tax cut in U.S. history: $749 billion over 5 years. Individual income tax cuts of 5%, 10%, and 10% over three years; indexing of tax brackets to offset inflation; cuts in corporate taxes.
  • Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA; Gramm-Latta II). Stockman plan to slash domestic spending, permanently, by revising authorization blueprints. Cuts for fiscal 1982 to total $35.2 billion. To affect disability benefits, Medicare, Medicaid, AFDC payments, subsidized housing, health programs, food stamps, unemployment insurance, CETA jobs, student loans, Pell grants, impacted areas aid, school lunches, medical education, sewer grants, postal subsidies, trade adjustment assistance, small business loans, mass transit systems, highway funds, Conrail, Amtrak, and more.

    1982

  • Agriculture and Food Act. 4-year subsidy plan.
  • Transportation Assistance Act. $71 billion for highway construction, road repairs, mass transit. Raised the gasoline tax.
  • Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act. 3-year deficit-reducing plan to raise taxes by $98.3 billion, cut welfare and entitlements spending by $17.5 billion.
  • Voting Rights extension. For 25 years.
  • Nuclear waste repository act. Underground dumps.
  • Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act. Part deregulation, part support of savings and loans.
  • Job Training Partnership Act. Dan Quayle's bill.

    1983

  • Martin Luther King's birthday declared a legal holiday.
  • Social Security Act Amendments. $170 billion bipartisan package of tax increases and benefit cuts to stave off system insolvency.
  • Anti-recession job measure. $4.6 billion.

    1984

  • Anti-crime package. Criminal code revision addressing insanity defense, sentencing procedures, pretrial detention, computer tampering, credit card fraud, etc.
  • Deficit reduction measure. Spending cuts of $13 billion, new taxes worth $50 billion, through fiscal 1987.
  • Trade and Tariff Act. Extension of authority.
  • Cable Communications Policy Act. Rearrangement of cable-TV regulation.

    1985

  • Gramm-Rudman-Hollings anti-deficit act. Move to balance the budget by 1990 through automatic spending cuts.
  • Food Security Act. Record commodity subsidies-$52 billion over 3 years.

    1986

  • Tax Reform Act. Sweeping revision. 14 tax brackets collapsed into 2; many breaks eliminated; rates sharply cut; shift from individual to corporate taxes.
  • Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA). Hiring of illegal aliens outlawed. Amnesty offered to illegals in U.S. since 1982.
  • South Africa sanctions. Banned all new U.S. investment there, some key imports. Over Reagan's veto.
  • Anti-narcotics measure. $1.7 billion for enforcement, education, treatment. Stiffer penalties.
  • Cleanup of toxic waste dumps. Major expansion of Superfund. New standards, new taxes, $9.6 billion.
  • Omnibus water projects act. First such act since 1976. $16.3 billion, 262 projects, users to share costs.
  • Goldwater-Nichols Reorganization Act (Defense Department). Authority shifted from the services to coordinators, e.g., chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

    1987

  • Water Quality Act. $18 billion to sewage treatment plans, etc. Over Reagan's veto.
  • Surface Transportation Act. $88 billion for highways, mass transit. Over Reagan's veto.
  • Deficit reduction measure. 2 year $40 billion package of spending cuts, tax increases, sales of assets.
  • Housing and community development act. First housing authorization since 1980. $30 billion.
  • McKinney Homeless Assistance Act. $443 million for shelter, health, food, etc.

    1988

  • Catastrophic health insurance for the aged. Major costs to be paid for by insurance premiums.
  • Family Support Act. Welfare reform. Aimed to ease taking jobs, support families of those who do.
  • Omnibus foreign trade measure. 5-year authority.
  • Anti-drug-abuse act. Funds for policing and treatment; new drug czar; death penalty for drug kingpins.
  • Grove City civil rights measure. Overturned 1984 court decision; reasserted that civil rights laws reach whole institutions receiving federal aid, not just particular programs. Enacted over Reagan's veto.
  • Intermediate-Range Nuclear-Force (INF) treaty ratified.
  • Japanese-American reparations. $1.25 billion to those interned during World War II.

    1989

  • Minimum wage hike. To $4.25 in 1991. New training wage for teenagers.
  • Savings-and-loan bailout. $50 billion to sell off or close down insolvent banks.

    1990

  • Deficit Reduction Package. Bipartisan deal; $490 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts over 5 years.
  • Americans with Disabilities Act. To guarantee job rights and access to public facilities.
  • Clean Air Act To curb acid rain, airborne toxics, urban smog.
  • Child care package. $22.5 billion; tax credits and state grants for children of working parents.
  • Immigration Act. 40% increase in annual intake; new emphasis on occupational skills.
  • National Affordable Housing Act. New block grants to expand stock; new HOPE program to sell off public housing projects to tenants.
  • Agriculture Act. 15% cut in subsidized acreage.

    1991

  • Continuation of fast-track trade procedures.
  • Intermodal Surface Transportation Act.
  • Federal Supplemental Compensation Act. Unemployment benefits.
  • Civil Rights Act.
  • Resolution Trust Corporation Refinancing Act. Savings and loan bailout.
  • Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty Implementation Act. Humanitarian and weapons dismantlement aid for the former Soviet Union.

    1992

  • Dire Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act. Post-L.A. riots urban aid.
  • Unemployment Compensation Amendments. Long-term jobless bill.
  • Cable Television Consumer Protection Act. Cable reregulation.
  • Reclamation Projects Authorization and Adjustment Act. Western water bill.
  • Freedom for Russian and Emerging Eurasian Democracies and Open Markets Support Act.

    1993

  • Family and Medical Leave Act.
  • National Voter Registration Act (Motor Voter).
  • Hatch Act Reform Amendments.
  • National Service Trust Act.
  • Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.
  • Supplemental Appropriations for the New Independent State of the Former Soviet Union Act.
  • North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (NAFTA).
  • Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Brady bill).
  • Resolution Trust Corporation Completion Act. Savings and loan bailout.

    Source, 1942-1990: David R. Mayhew. 1991. Divided We Govern: Party Control, Lawmaking, and Investigations, 1946-1990. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Source, 1991-1993: Robert H. Durr, John B. Gilmour, and Christina Wolbrecht. 1997. "Explaining Congressional Approval." American Journal of Political Science 41(January):175-207

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    [Last modified 12 July 2002]