[Note: Updated on 2.16.2011]

What is the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993?

The Family and Medical Leave Act was signed into law by President Bill Clinton and required covered employers to allow employees to take unpaid, job-protected leave for family and medical reasons. Eligible employees are entitled to twelve workweeks of leave in a 12-month period for the birth or adoption of a child, a serious medical condition or a family member who has one, as well as military caregiver needs.

What's the significance?

The law applies to employees of covered employers, but only slightly more than half of all workers fall into this category, according to a 2000 estimate by the Labor Department. Critics have also suggested that by mandating leave that women use more than men, it makes women more expensive to employ and leads to subtle hiring discrimination. And while the Act protects workers from discrimination based on sex or pregnancy status, it doesn't explicitly protect them based on caregiving responsibilities. Some state and local governments have passed laws that counteract this loophole.

Who's talking about it?

June Carbone and Naomi Cahn call for changes in the Act to promote more family friendly workplaces...Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis explains how the Labor Department clarified the law to cover caregivers for children who share no biological connection...Labor Solicitor Patricia Smith announced that the Labor Department will be focused on enforcing the Act, "which ground to a halt'' under President bush...Democrats want to offer federal employees paid parental leave.

What is the FDIC?

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) preserves and promotes public confidence in the U.S. financial system by insuring deposits in banks and thrift institutions for at least $250,000; by identifying, monitoring and addressing risks to the deposit insurance funds; and by limiting the effect on the economy and the financial system when a bank or thrift institution fails.

What's the significance?

An independent agency of the federal government, the FDIC was created in 1933 in response to the thousands of bank failures that occurred in the 1920s and early 1930s. The FDIC helps to prevent bank runs by assuring depositors that they have access to their money. Since the start of FDIC insurance on January 1, 1934, no depositor has lost a single cent of insured funds as a result of a failure.

Who's talking about it?

Bloomberg Businessweek discusses an evaluation of the FDIC... Huffington Post reports on the FDIC's concern/involvement for economic climate(s) overseas... the Wall Street Journal highlights Chairman Bair on capital rule.

What is the Federal Theatre Project?

The Federal Theatre Project (FTP) was a federally funded arts initiative committed to the employment of artists and directors. It was an aspect of the Works Progress Administration of the New Deal and was established on August 27, 1935 by FDR.

What is the significance?

The FTP employed thousands of displaced artists under the direction of Hallie Flanagan. Chapters of the FTP were given autonomy in the creation of art, often scripting politically and socially relevant plays open to the public for free. These works were often considered to lean to the left, inspiring controversy among the politicians who had originally supported its funding.

Great works of the era included the musical The Cradle Will Rock by Marc Blitzstein and It Can't Happen Here, a political novel written originally by Sinclair Lewis and then adopted for the stage by both Lewis and John C. Moffitt. The Cradle Will Rock, performed for nearly a quarter of the U.S. population, employed thousands of artists using less than 1% of the WPA budget. Famous playwrights who became established with the aid of the FTP included Arthur Miller and Orson Welles.

Who's talking about it?

The Lost Colony, a Pulitzer Prize-winning play written by Paul Green, was a product of the FTP. Considered the longest-running outdoor symphonic drama in the United States, The Lost Colony tells the tale of the original settlements of the United States. It continues to be shown today in an outdoor amphitheater on Roanoke Island, off the shores of North Carolina.

[Note: updated on 2.16.2011]

What is a filibuster?

The Founding Fathers meant the Senate to be the cooling chamber for legislation, as opposed to the more nimble House. Therefore in the Senate, unlike in the House, debate on a bill can be endless. A filibuster occurs during debate when a Senator refuses to yield the floor and prevents a roll call vote from happening, often killing the bill. Filibusters give a minority of Senators, or even a single Senator, a chance to be heard. Think Jimmy Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."

What's the significance?

While in the past filibusters were used sparingly, coming up in extreme cases such as the defeat of the Costigan-Wagner anti-lynching bill of the 1930s and to stop civil rights legislation in the 1950s and 1960s, they are now used against a wide variety of bills. About two thirds of all filibusters have taken place just in the last thirty years. Even the threat of a filibuster can now derail pending legislation. Richard Kirsch, previously the National Campaign Manager of Health Care for America Now and now a Senior Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, explains two types of filibuster: the first is a Senatorial line-item veto, such as when "Joe Lieberman single-handedly killed a compromise on the public option that would have expanded Medicare to age 55 for some people. Lieberman in effect exercised a line-item veto on the bill." The second is the "tail wagging the dog": "The filibuster allows a minority of senators to dictate legislation, so that a handful of senators can overrule the wishes of the majority of the Senate or their party."

Some are calling for filibuster reform, but such a move requires 67 votes and getting there will take some heroic vote whipping.

Who's talking about it?

Matthew Yglesias thinks filibusters are the biggest roadblock to making reforms to the systems that sorely need it...Katrina vanden Heuval points to GOP obstructionism as a clear case for filibuster reform...George Packer writes an exposé on the filibuster and other arcane rules that keep the Senate broken...Ezra Klein outlines a way to get filibuster reform with only 51 votes...Jamelle Bouie says filibusters are "bad for reform, period"...Robert Creamer writes that in order to pass the most important parts of the progressive agenda, the filibuster rules must change...An attempt by Senators Jeff Merkley and Tom Udall to significantly change filibuster rules fell flat in January of 2011 after Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell struck a deal that did away with a few minor impediments...Ezra Klein analyzes what Senator Bernie Sanders' filibuster shows about how it works (or doesn't).