We have the chance to make it easier — not harder — for people to get the birth control they need. There are multiple bills being introduced in Congress right now that would do just that — and we need to make sure they pass. Tell your representatives that you support these efforts to expand birth control access and coverage.

Will you help us make these bills reality by telling your representatives in Congress we need to expand access to birth control?

Sincerely,
Mara Gandal-Powers
Director of Birth Control Access & Senior Counsel
National Women’s Law Center

President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorizes almost $5 million to implement work-relief programs on this day in 1935. Hoping to lift the country out of the crippling Great Depression, Congress allowed the president to use the funds at his discretion. The act was unprecedented and remains the largest system of public-assistance relief programs in the nation’s history.

One of the most notable federal agencies FDR created with the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act was the Works Progress Administration, one of several New Deal programs FDR hoped would relieve the chronic and widespread unemployment citizens faced during the Depression. While FDR believed in the elementary principles of justice and fairness, he also expressed disdain for doling out welfare to able workers. The WPA, the Public Works Administration (PWA) and other federal-assistance programs created by the act put Americans to work in return for temporary financial assistance. To prevent the act from harming private enterprise, Roosevelt included a provision that prohibited federal programs from competing with independent businesses by placing wage and price controls on federally funded products and services.

Workers with the WPA built highways, schools, hospitals, airports and playgrounds. They even restored theaters, such as the Dock Street Theater in Charleston, South Carolina, and built the ski lodge at Oregon’s Mt. Hood. The WPA also put actors, writers and other creative-arts professionals back to work by sponsoring federally funded plays and art projects. For its part, the PWA funded the construction of New York’s Triborough Bridge and the Lincoln Tunnel, as well as the port at Brownsville, Texas.

From 1935, FDR lobbied Congress annually to continue funding the ERA Act. In total, the act allocated approximately $880 million in federal funds and created millions of jobs, although historians disagree about the long-term value of most of the WPA’s projects. In 1940, the economy roared back to life with the surge in defense-industry production and, in 1943, Congress suspended many of the programs under the ERA Act, including the WPA and the PWA.

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FDR signs Emergency Relief Appropriation Act
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History.com Editors
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HISTORY

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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent Federal regulatory agency responsible directly to Congress. Established by the Communications Act of 1934, it is charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. Its jurisdiction covers the 50 states and territories, the District of Columbia, and U.S. Possessions.

The FCC is directed by five commissioners appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate for five-year terms, except when filling an unexpired term. The President designates one commissioner to serve as chairman. As the chief executive officer of the Commission, the chairman delegates management and administrative responsibility to the Managing Director. Certain other functions are delegated to staff units and bureaus and to committees of commissioners. The commissioners hold regular open and closed agenda meetings and special meetings. They also may act between meetings by “circulation,” a procedure by which a document is submitted to each commissioner individually for consideration and official action.

The Commission staff is organized by function. There are six operating Bureaus and 10 Staff Offices. The Bureaus’ responsibilities include: processing applications for licenses and other filings; analyzing complaints; conducting investigations; developing and implementing regulatory programs; and taking part in hearings. The Offices provide support services. Even though the Bureaus and Offices have their individual functions, they regularly join forces and share expertise in addressing Commission issues. More on the FCC organizational structure and the Bureaus and Office functions are described at their website (www.fcc.gov).

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