Bush signs law increasing US public debt limit News
Bush signs law increasing US public debt limit

[JURIST] Following Senate approval on Wednesday, and Thursday's 208-204 vote in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives, President Bush Friday signed a bill to increase the public debt limit of the United States by $800 billion. The debt allowance increase, President Bush's third in the past three years, was explained by Republicans as necessary to compensate for fiscal shortfalls created by the 2001 recession, military operations in Middle East, and recovery from the 9/11 attacks. Democrats, however, state that the increase was necessitated by the President's "irresponsible" fiscal policies. The signing increases the public debt limit of the United States to $8.184 trillion. Read the text of S 2986. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Montgomery started racially-integrated bus service after boycott

On December 21, 1956, buses in Montgomery, Alabama, started racially integrated service following federal court rulings ending on-board segregation. Bus boycott leaders Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and Rev. Ralph Abernathy were among the first riders under the new scheme. Learn about the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Stalin born

On December 21, 1879, Joseph Stalin was born in Gori, Georgia. In 1922, he became leader of the USSR until his death in 1953. During his time as Soviet dictator, Stalin industrialized his country, which he then led to become one of the world's two superpowers after WWII. Through his infamous purges, show trials and nationwide famines, Stalin also became responsible for millions of deaths.