TIMELINE

1992
  • Democratic moderate Bill Clinton elected president

  • Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey

1993
  • North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

  • Clinton budget plan balances federal budget and begins to pay down federal debt

1994
  • Clinton health insurance reform effort fails

  • Republicans gain control of Congress

1995
  • U.S. troops enforce peace in Bosnia

1996
  • Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act reforms welfare system

1998
  • Bill Clinton impeached by House of Representatives

  • Defense of Marriage Act

1999
  • Clinton acquitted by Senate

  • World Trade Organization (WTO) protests

2000
  • George W. Bush wins contested presidential election

2001
  • Bush tax cuts

  • September 11: Al Qaeda terrorists attack World Trade Center and Pentagon

  • Congress passes USA PATRIOT Act

2002
  • United States unseats Taliban in Afghanistan

  • President Bush declares Iran, North Korea, and Iraq an “axis of evil”

2003
  • United States invades Iraq in March

2004
  • Torture at Abu Ghraib prison becomes public

  • President Bush wins reelection

2007
  • Great Recession begins

2008
  • Barack Obama elected president

  • American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

2010
  • Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

  • “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” military policy on homosexuality ended

2011
  • Osama bin Laden killed by U.S. forces

  • Last U.S. combat troops withdrawn from Iraq

2013
  • Continued drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan toward planned full exit by 2014