1978: NOAA announces gender-neutral hurricane naming system
Federal News Network presents a daily update of important moments in the history of the U.S. government.
The 27th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was first proposed in 1789, and stipulated that, “No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.” It meant that members of Congress could not raise or lower their salaries mid-term, and was referred to as the “compensation amendment.” The Constitutional Convention had previously decided that Congress would set its own pay rate, but future president James Madison and other critics said that created potential for political misconduct. The amendment failed to win a three-fourths majority of the states and would occasionally reappear over the next 200 years. Then in 1982, a student at the University of Texas at Austin named Gregory Watson wrote a term paper asserting the amendment could still be ratified. He started a campaign to see it done and had a breakthrough with Maine’s approval in 1983. By 1990 nearly 20 other stated joined in and finally, on May 7, 1992, Michigan became the 38th and last needed state to ratify the 27th Amendment.
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