Bill Clinton Administration

1. Bill Clinton Administration • Domestic Issues • Health-Care Reform: In 1993, President Clinton presented to Congress a health­care reform plan that would ensure health insurance for all Americans. Critics of the plan complained it was too expensive, complex, and would limit choice in health care.

2. Bill Clinton Administration • Domestic Issues • In 1994, Congress rejected Clinton's plan. Since the 1990s, the primary issue concerning health care in the United States has been the increasing cost of medical insurance. In the twenty-first century, growing numbers of Americans have been unable to afford health care insurance.

3. Bill Clinton Administration • Domestic Issues • Social Security It became clear that the Social Security program, begun during the Great Depression, would run into trouble because of changing demographics. The number of recipients is increasing rapidly due to longer life spans and the aging baby boomer generation. Several plans to fund Social Security have been considered, but no plan has been agreed upon.

4. Bill Clinton Administration • Domestic Issues • Supreme Court Appointees With his nominations of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, President Clinton became the first Democratic president in 26 years to name a Supreme Court justice. • The 1994 Congressional Elections In 1994, Republicans took majority control of Congress for the first time in 40 years.

5. Bill Clinton Administration • Domestic Issues • The 1996 and 1998 Elections At the end of 1995, disagreements between Republicans and President Clinton over the budget led to a shutdown of the federal government. • During the 1996 presidential campaign, Clinton focused public attention on the Republicans' role in the shutdown.

6. Bill Clinton Administration • Domestic Issues • He also adopted several Republican issues by signing welfare reform into law and supporting a balanced budget. • Clinton easily won reelection. • Republicans maintained their congressional majority after both elections, but Democrats gained five House seats in 1998.

7. Bill Clinton Administration • Domestic Issues • Some of President Clinton's activities were the subject of investigations, including the Whitewater affair, which accused him and his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton of involvement with an illegal real estate scheme in Arkansas. The Clintons were never formally charged

8. Bill Clinton Administration • Domestic Issues • In 1998, a special prosecutor accused President Clinton of several offenses, including lying under oath about his relationship with a White House intern (Monica Lewinsky). On December 19, 1998, the House impeached President Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. The Senate acquitted President Clinton two months later.

9. Bill Clinton Administration • Domestic Issues • This was similar to President Andrew Johnson's impeachment trial in 1868. Both presidents went through the impeachment process and both won acquittals in the Senate. • There was a major difference between the impact of the impeachment on each president. President Andrew Johnson lost power in Washington, whereas President Clinton has remained an extremely popular political figure.

10. Bill Clinton Administration • Foreign Issues • The Middle East The Arab-Israeli conflict has long focused attention on the Middle East. Since 1948, Arabs and Israelis have waged four wars. In 1993, the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel agreed to a measure of Palestinian self-government.

11. Bill Clinton Administration • Foreign Issues • The Former Yugoslavia Tensions between ethnic groups in the former Yugoslavia led to war in Bosnia in the early 1990s. The United States helped win an agreement between the two sides in 1995. In 1998, violence erupted in Kosovo, where Serbian forces massacred ethnic Albanian civilians. A brief bombing campaign by NATO forced the Serbs to withdraw. Many Serbian leaders then were arrested for war crimes and tried.

12. Bill Clinton Administration • Foreign Issues • Global Economy In 1992, the United States, Canada, and Mexico signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in an effort to break down trade barriers among the three nations. American trade in Europe continued to be strong, despite the formation of the European Union, a trade organization designed to break down trade barriers within Europe.

13. 2000 Election • In the 2000 presidential election, Texas Governor George W. Bush ran as the Republican candidate against the Democrat, Vice President Al Gore. In one of the closest presidential races in history, Florida emerged as the key state because its electoral votes could decide the winner. The Florida vote was so close that a recount of ballots was ordered by law.

14. 2000 Election • The election ended when the Supreme Court ruled to discontinue the recounts (Bush v. Gore). • Although Gore won the popular vote, Bush won the electoral vote. The election marked the first time the Supreme Court intervened in a presidential election.

15. 2000 Election • The presidential election of 2000 was also the first election since the Hayes /Tilden election of 1876 where the winner of the popular vote—Tilden in 1876 and Gore in 2000—did not win the electoral vote.

16. 2000 Election • This election also popularized the term Swing State, which is a term used for a state in which the voters are almost evenly divided between major parties. • Candidates and political experts acknowledge that either major party candidate could win the popular vote and therefore that state's electoral votes. Swing states such as Florida, Ohio, and Michigan were also crucial to the elections of 2004 and 2008.

17. George W. Bush (43) • Domestic Issues • Taxes and the Economy President Bush attempted a tax cut and rebates to taxpayers earlier in his administration and in 2008 taxpayers received rebate checks of $300 to $1200. Since 2007, the economy has shown signs of a possible recession, especially in the housing market as thousands of homeowners struggled to meet mortgage payments and others faced bank foreclosures.

18. George W. Bush (43) • In 2007, Congress approved an increase in the minimum wage from $5.15 to $5.85 with an increase to $7.25 by 2009. The Federal Reserve Board has lowered its interest rate several times, including a drop of .75 percent, the largest in the history of the Federal Reserve Board. By early spring 2009, the Federal Reserve interest rate was actually at a record breaking 0 percent. All of these actions were an effort to reverse the threat of a recession. By late 2008, the recession was being described as the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

19. George W. Bush (43) • Educational Reform On January 8, 2002, President Bush signed into law a major educational reform bill called No Child Left Behind. • The plan called for increased student and teacher accountability and targeted funds for improving schools. Critics said that it did not accomplish what it needed to do to improve American education.

20. Election 2004 • In November 2004, George W. Bush, the Republican incumbent won a close race against challenger, Massachusetts Senator and Vietnam War veteran, John Kerry. The popular vote was Bush, 62,040,606 (51%) to Kerry's 59,028,109 (48%). The state of Ohio ultimately gave the president the needed Electoral votes to win, 286 to 251.

21. Election 2004 • The Congressional elections of 2006 were a major upset for both President Bush and the majority Republican Party. Democrats took control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Nancy Pelosi, a representative from California, was elected by her party to be the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives. This made Speaker Pelosi the highest ranking woman in the history of the United States government. According to the Constitution, the Speaker of the House is second only to the Vice President in succession to the Presidency.

22. September 11, 2001 • President Bush focused largely on foreign policy after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The president called the attacks "acts of war" and committed the country to a campaign against terrorists. American forces attacked military sites and terrorists training camps in Afghanistan.

23. September 11, 2001 • A major goal of this campaign was to aid in the overthrow of the Taliban rule and to find and bring to justice the al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden. Bush urged Americans not to "expect one battle but a lengthy campaign unlike any other we have ever seen.“ • In April 2011, President Obama ordered a covert operation to kill or capture bin Laden. On May 2, 2011, the White House announced that U.S. Navy SEALs had carried it out, killing him in his Abbottabad, Pakistan compound

24. Patriot Act • The Patriot Act was signed into law by President Bush Oct. 26, 2001. It expanded law enforcement's surveillance and investigative powers both at home and abroad. • It has been hailed by some as a necessary step to protect the nation and help avert future terrorist attacks. Others have protested that it is a dangerous measure that gives the government too much power, and threatens Americans' liberties.

25. Homeland Security • The Department of Homeland Security was created by Congress and approved by President Bush in response to the attacks of September 1 Ph, 2001. • Its main objective is to coordinate various federal agencies (22 in total), as well as law enforcement organizations throughout the country to try to prevent future acts of terrorism in the U.S.

26. War in Iraq • In late 2002 and early 2003, the Bush administration warned Saddam Hussein to eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Hussein claimed not to have any WMD. The United Nations sent an inspection team, which reported little success finding these weapons. The United States worked to gain United Nations support for an invasion of Iraq.

27. War in Iraq • Failing to gain this support, a small number of countries led by the United States and Great Britain attacked Iraq in March 2003. • This campaign is known as Operation Iraqi Freedom. More than 200,000 American troops were sent to the area. For the first time, the United States military allowed reporters to be "embedded" with the troops. Bush declared an official end to the war on May 1, 2003. The official end of the war was December 15, 2011.

28. War in Iraq • In July 2003, both sons of Saddam Hussein were killed in a shootout with U.S. forces in Mosul, Iraq. Hussein escaped capture until December 2003. An Iraqi Governing Council was established during 2003 with the goal of making Iraq an independent, democratic nation. American causalities continued to rise as the military met resistance.

29. War in Iraq • President Bush defended the war on the grounds that a brutal dictator who had terrorist links and was hiding WMD was removed. Given the rising loss of human lives and financial costs to the United States, and the failure to find WMD, critics questioned the Bush administration's activities in Iraq and its long term plan for the country.

30. War in Iraq • In 2006, President Bush replaced the Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld with Robert Gates, who agreed to continue in that position in President Obama's administration. • Early in 2007, the Bush administration was forced to answer questions about the poor treatment of many returning wounded soldiers. • At the end of 2007, several Army leaders were dismissed from their jobs as a result of the conditions at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington.

31. War in Iraq • Although the new Iraqi government made some progress at establishing democracy, the two most powerful Islamic sects, the Shiites and the Sunnis, continued to have difficulties working together. • The trial of Saddam Hussein concluded with his being found guilty of multiple murders. He was hanged on December 30, 2006. By 2007, the violent actions of the insurgents moved Iraq into a civil war. Daily violence and loss of life increased as American and coalition troops tried to maintain order.

32. War in Iraq • By the spring of 2009, over 140,000 American troops remained in Iraq with a goal of training Iraqi soldiers to eventually replace the Americans. • Over 4,000 American servicemen and women have been killed in Iraq and thousands more have been seriously wounded.

33. War in Afghanistan • In the 1990s, a reactionary, extremist Islamic fundamentalist group known as the Taliban took over the Afghan government and imposed strict, conservative laws on the population. • Women were forced to wear traditional coverings and to remain primarily in their homes. In 2001, NATO forces led by the United States forced the Taliban from power.

34. War in Afghanistan • Many of the surviving Taliban fled across the border into Pakistan where they continued to launch attacks across the border. • In 2006, President Bush visited the area under very heavy security to emphasize the desire of the United States to cooperate with that part of Asia. In 2007, Vice President Cheney visited Afghanistan, and suicide bombers attempted to attack the secured compound where the vice president was staying.

35. War in Afghanistan • It is generally believed that Osama bin Laden, the head of the terrorist group al-Qaeda, responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks, remains at large there or in the rugged mountains of neighboring Pakistan. • Bin Laden released his first video in three years in September 2007, declaring that he and al-Qaeda would "continue to escalate the killing and fighting in Iraq.

36. War in Afghanistan • Continued American involvement in Afghanistan is considered crucial to American goals and interests in that part of Asia. • Approximately $127 billion has already been spent on the war in Afghanistan. As in the case of the war in Iraq, estimates of total cost vary widely. However, the cost of the war in Afghanistan will likely continue to rise due to a new emphasis by the Obama administration on war efforts there.

37. Africa • Early in 2008, President Bush and the First Lady made a visit to several African nations. Throughout the Bush presidency, aid to Africa was a major goal, with funds being directed to the widespread problem of AIDS there. The civil war in Kenya caused thousands of deaths, and the situation of starvation and mass murders in Darfur has drawn world wide attention.