Biden signs 50 bills into law, makes bald eagle country’s official bird

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden signed 50 bills into law late on Tuesday that include making the bald eagle the country’s official bird and one that stops members of Congress from collecting their pensions if convicted of crimes.

Biden also established the first federal anti-hazing standard to address violence and deaths occurring on higher education campuses around the country. He also signed a bill supported by reality-TV star and heiress Paris Hilton, which holds treatment centres and care facilities serving the youth accountable.

Earlier this month, Biden vetoed legislation to add 66 new judges to understaffed federal courts nationally, commuted the sentences for 37 out of 40 federal inmates on death row, converting them to life in prison without parole and issued a full and unconditional pardon for his son Hunter.

The flurry of activity comes as Biden is pushing his final priorities before handing power to President-elect Donald Trump on Jan. 20.

He is also wrapping up his time in office by getting money previously approved by Congress out the door for infrastructure projects at home and arms for Ukraine.

Among the other bills signed on Christmas Eve was the Stop Campus Hazing Act, which creates disclosure regulations at federally funded universities, requiring them to report on campus hazing incidents in their annual security reports.

On-campus fraternities and sororities often take part in hazings as part of their pledging proceedings. North Carolina State University has found that more than half of college students take part in some kind of hazing.

Biden signed two bills renaming local post offices in honour of community leaders in Texas and California. A post office in Bastrop, Texas will be renamed after Sergeant Major Billy D. Waugh, a CIA intelligence officer and Army soldier who spent more than 50 years serving the US.

Meanwhile, a post office in San Francisco, California, will be renamed after the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

The president also signed a number of bills to rename federal buildings, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs community clinic in Lynchburg, Virginia, which is now the Private First Class Desmond T. Doss VA Clinic, The Hill noted.