What’s New
President Joe Biden signed a flurry of bills—at least 50, according to CBS News—into law on Christmas Eve.
Among them was a measure barring lawmakers convicted of some crimes from receiving pension payments.
Bill S.932 “makes a Member of Congress who has been convicted of a crime related to public corruption ineligible to receive retirement payments pursuant to the Civil Service Retirement System or the Federal Employees’ Retirement System based on service as a Member,” according to a summary posted to Congress’ website. “Under current law, a Member must forgo receipt of these payments only after a final conviction (i.e., after the exhaustion of all appeals under the judicial process).”
Why It Matters
The new pension law arrives after then-U.S. Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey was convicted in July of more than a dozen bribery charges. Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen of Nevada introduced the bill on September 22, 2023, the same day the federal indictment against Menendez was unsealed.
Menendez was accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from foreign officials in exchange for using his official position to benefit them and Egypt’s government.
The former senator accepted gold bars, cash and a luxury convertible in exchange for putting his thumb on the scale, federal prosecutors said.
Menendez ran for reelection as an independent after he was indicted, even as the majority of Democrats were calling on him to resign. He formally resigned his seat after getting convicted of all 16 counts.
What To Know
Biden also signed the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act, which establishes “an interagency Federal Work Group on Youth Residential Programs to support and implement best practices regarding the health and safety, care, treatment, and appropriate placement of youth in youth residential programs,” according to a summary of the bill. The proposal gained traction in large part because it was spearheaded by socialite, heiress and reality TV star Paris Hilton.
The president also signed the Stop Campus Hazing Act, which was also introduced in September 2023. The measure requires higher education institutions to participate in federal student aid programs for reporting hazing incidents on campus, a summary of the bill says.
Hazing is defined as “any intentional, knowing, or reckless act committed by a person against a student (regardless of that student’s willingness to participate)” that could cause “physical injury, mental harm, or degradation” in attempts to gain membership into a campus organization.
In addition to signing these bills, Biden has also focused much of his energy on granting executive clemency in the final weeks of his term, which is typical of outgoing presidents. On Monday, he commuted the sentences of 37 out of 40 inmates on federal death row, reducing them to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“President Biden has dedicated his career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system,” the White House said in a statement Monday. “He believes that America must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level, except in cases of terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder—which is why today’s actions apply to all but those cases.”
The three people whose sentences were not commuted are Dylann Roof, who was convicted of killing nine Black churchgoers in South Carolina; Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who carried out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing along with his brother; and Robert Bowers, who was convicted in the October 2018 Tree of Life Synagogue shooting.
What People Are Saying
Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement: The death row commutations cement Biden’s legacy as “a leader who stands for racial justice, humanity and morality.”
Ohio Republican State Representative Jean Schmidt, who witnessed the Boston bombing after finishing the race, said in a statement that she believes Tsarnaev should be sentenced to life in prison without parole: “I believe he deserves life in prison without parole, and I am disturbed that President Biden has not commuted his death sentence to life without parole.”
What Comes Next
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to take a more hard-line stance against violent offenders.
“As soon as I am inaugurated, I will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters,” he wrote on Truth Social. “We will be a Nation of Law and Order again!”
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