The Vital Short-Term Funding Bill: We all know that money is limited. I mean, I would love to spend hundreds of dollars buying books from Barnes and Noble, but then I wouldn’t have anything for gas money or necessary food items I need. Everyone struggles to ensure that we don’t suddenly blow through tons of cash and credit to the point where we can’t supply ourselves with what we need; however, I’ve never really considered how the government goes through the exact same thing. 

NPR reports that one day before the federal government was scheduled to go out of money, Congress passed a short-term spending bill to keep federal agencies a float until February 18, 2022. How far away was this? It was last week. That’s right! On the night of Thursday, December 2, Senate approved the legislature 69-28 after threats from a few conservative Republicans called to delay the bill, opposing the Biden administration’s “proposed vaccine-or-testing requirements for companies with at least 100 employees” which was rejected. Earlier that day, the House approved the bill 221-212. Let me just clarify that the deadline to avoid lapse in funding was at midnight on Friday, December 3, so this was a very close call (Walsh). 

AP NEWS elaborates that although both parties agree that government shutdowns are irresponsible, they still happen and the most recent factor to blame is brinkmanship. Huh? Brinkmanship means the practice of pursuing a dangerous policy to the limits of safety before stopping, and it has been the cause of numerous costly shutdowns and semi-closures of government over the past 20 years (Freking).  

The current, most prominent debate that has been discussed between the public parties is, as previously mentioned, vaccine and testing mandates in the workplace. Republicans such as Senator Mike Lee and Senator Roger Marshall argue that Americans are being threatened by the government as they are forced to either lose their job or receive the vaccine. On the other hand, Democrats such as Senator Patty Murray argue that the government must do what is necessary to keep Americans safe which is why the Biden administration is urging employers to ensure that workers are either fully vaccinated or are tested negative for COVID-19. Other vaccine mandates, such as the requirement for federal employees and federal contractors to be fully vaccinated, are similarly challenged (Freking).

When Biden signed the legislation on Friday, it may have avoided a government shut-down but it certainly didn’t solve the numerous issues that face Congress. Kelsey Snell, writer for NPR, details that Congress has until the New Year to resolve impending differences consuming recent debates, such as an annual defense authorization package and Biden’s $2 Build Back Better bill. His infamous legislation passed the House in November but is in a lull period as more discussions are to be had on the cost of the bill, specific policies, and more. And that’s not all. Another major disparity between the parties is based on amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act as well as increasing debt limits (Snell). 

The 2021 Holiday season may be filled with hot chocolate and odd flavored candy canes, but the government will be constantly evaluating and changing policies and legislation to accommodate both sides of the political spectrum. The short-term, hastily signed bill may have avoided a major issue, but there are so much more to come.  

Immerse into the Diverse: The legal field is not a simple system. The amount of people that are necessary to maintain the structure of the system is vast, and it truly takes a village. However, one of the most important positions is the State Attorney General, accurately defined by usa.gov as the top legal officer of a state or territory, overseeing their legislature and state agencies and acting as a lawyer for its citizens (“State Attorneys General | usagov”). If you haven’t already guessed it, we will be discussing a historically important figure who broke gender barriers when she became the first woman U.S. Attorney General in 1993. Her name is Janet Reno, and she lived not only an impressive life but also an impactful one. 

Detailed by Britannica, Reno was born in sunny Miami, Florida on July 21, 1938 (for all my zodiac buffs, she’s a Leo). When she was 8-year-old, she and her family lived at the edge of the Everglades on 20 acres of land, where her parents built the place she would call home for many years. Born into her future craft, her father, a Danish immigrant, was a police reporter for the Miami Herald and her mother an investigative reporter for the Miami News. Her love for law and leadership sparked at a young age as she flourished on her high school’s, Coral Gables, debate tea (“Janet Reno | Biography & Facts”).

After she graduated, she attended Cornell University and, interestingly enough, earned a degree in chemistry in 1960. That definitely does not add up with the interests she displayed at a young age but, of course, those didn’t go away and she ended up attending Harvard Law School and graduated in 1963. Being accepted, attending, and graduating from two ivy league schools is more than impressive and goes to show her dedication to education and developing a full understanding of her passions (“Janet Reno | Biography & Facts”)

The official Department of Justice website details that between 1963 to 19993, Reno worked tirelessly in a multitude of positions within the legal field and continuously made her way up the leadership ladder. From 1963 to 1967, she was an associate at Brigham & Brigham and right after, became a partner at Lewis & Reno (“Attorney General: Janet Reno”). Her political career began in 1971 when she became staff director of the Judiciary Committee of the Florida House of Representatives  (“Janet Reno | Biography & Facts”), and then became a consultant to the Florida State Senate Criminal Justice Committee in 1973. That same year, she worked as an assistant to the State Attorney of Florida and in 1976 joined as partner of Steel, Hector & Davis in Miami (“Attorney General: Janet Reno”). 

Reno’s achievements aren’t even close to done. In 1978, the Governor of Florida broke history when he appointed her as the State Attorney of Miami, making her the first woman to hold that position. Biography.com elaborates that she remained there for five years and earned the reputation of being a “tough, outspoken, unpretentious” liberal woman and worked on cases in political corruption, child abuse, and others. In 1993, she was appointed as the first woman U.S. attorney general by Bill Clinton (“Janet Reno”). 

Reno got to work immediately, utilizing  her position to fight for greater protection for women seeking abortions. However, she made a severely controversial move in her beginning days. She ordered agents of the FBI to conduct the final raid on Branch Davidian cult near Waco, Texas (“Janet Reno | Biography & Facts”) as a result of a standoff between the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms opposing the cult (“Janet Reno.”) Due to this call, 87 adults and 17 children died and Reno accepted full responsibly, honestly addressing the situation and expressing sincere regret which ultimately gained her respect from many in the American public (“Janet Reno | Biography & Facts”). Nevertheless, she is considered one of the most respected members of the first-term Clinton administration as she focused on creating innovative programs to help avoid non-violent drug dealers from ending up in jail and supporting the rights of criminal defendants (“Janet Reno”). 

Further, Reno and the White House didn’t always have an agreeable relationship. They opposed her proposal to regulate violence on network television and she refused to accept Vice President Al Gore’s plan to combine the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration, causing tension between her and the administration even though her political position remained strong (“Janet Reno | Biography & Facts”). She was in charge of the Justice Department’s prosecution of a multitude of high-profile cases such as the conviction of domestic bombers. One of her most popular cases is when she returned a six-year-old Cuban immigrant to his father after he was stranded in an inner tube near the coast of Fort Lauderdale, having been fleeing from Cuba to the United States with a group of migrants including his mother (“Janet Reno”).

She was the longest serving attorney general in the 20th century (“Attorney General: Janet Reno”) and left the post in 2001, returning back to Florida and running for governor in 2002. She did not win the Democratic nomination and decided to stay out of public affairs from there on out, with the exception of her test-studying to the federal 9/11 commission in 2004 and vocalizing her opposing opinion on some of the nation’s anti-terrorism policies in 2006. On November 7, 2016, Reno unfortunately passed away at 78 in her home in Miami-dade County due to Parkinson’s disease. 

Janet Reno’s legacy lives on and her influence on the power of women in politics is felt today. Due to the fact that she established herself as a persistent, determined leader with a voice that needed to be heard, women were uplifted in society and many today feel more comfortable and empowered to showcase themselves in a similar light.

Works Cited 

“Attorney General: Janet Reno.” AG | Department of Justice, 16 Mar. 2021,

www.justice.gov/ag/bio/reno-janet.

“Janet Reno.” Biography, 11 Oct. 2019, www.biography.com/law-figure/janet-reno.

Freking, Kevin, and Mascaro, Lisa. “Senate Passes Stopgap Funding Bill, Avoiding Shutdown.”

AP NEWS, 3 Dec. 2021,

apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-congress-aa30e5922cb6650e

235b0a66813b2f4.

“Janet Reno | Biography & Facts.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 3 Nov. 2021,

www.britannica.com/biography/Janet-Reno.

Snell, Kelsey. “Congress Avoids a Government Shutdown — but a Long to-Do List Looms.”

NPR, 3 Dec. 2021,

choice.npr.org/index.html?origin=https://www.npr.org/2021/12/03/1061199740/congress

biden-signs-cr-shutdown-senate-house-debt-limit-bbb.

“State Attorneys General | usagov.” usa.gov,

www.usa.gov/state-attorney-general.

Walsh, Deirdre. “Congress Approves a Short-Term Funding Bill to Avoid a Government

Shutdown.” NPR, 2 Dec. 2021,

choice.npr.org/index.html?origin=https://www.npr.org/2021/12/02/1060181769/house-a

proves-a-short-term-funding-bill-to-avoid-a-government-shutdown.