President Joe Biden spent Christmas Eve signing 50 bills into law, including one piece of legislation supported by Paris Hilton and another designating the bald eagle as the U.S. national bird.
The Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act, backed by Hilton, a socialite and activist, is designed to hold teenage treatment centers and care facilities accountable. Hilton spent time on Capitol Hill promoting the measure.
This month, the Senate voted unanimously to support the bill, and it passed the House by a vote of 367 to 33. Biden signed the law Tuesday. Hilton, meanwhile, has expressed interest in possibly becoming an elected official.
Biden also signed legislation, sponsored by Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, and Minnesota Reps. Brad Finstad and Angie Craig, making the bald eagle the official bird of the U.S.
“Bald eagles are a historical symbol of the United States representing independence, strength, and freedom,” the bill states, also noting that the bird “remains the leading insignia for all branches of the United States military.”
The co-chair of the National Bird Initiative for the National Eagle Center, Preston Cook, who helped push for the legislation, said in a statement earlier this month that “the Bald Eagle has symbolized American ideals since its placement on the Great Seal in 1782.”
“With this legislation, we honor its historic role and solidify its place as our national bird and an emblem of our national identity,” he added.
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 honor 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 U.S.
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. The Veterans Affairs medical center in Tulsa, Oklahoma was renamed after the late Sen. Jim Inhofe.
