Democratic moderate Bill Clinton elected president

Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

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

Clinton health insurance reform effort fails

Republicans gain control of Congress

U.S. troops enforce peace in Bosnia

Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act reforms welfare system

Bill Clinton impeached by House of Representatives

Defense of Marriage Act

Clinton acquitted by Senate

World Trade Organization (WTO) protests

George W. Bush wins contested presidential election

Bush tax cuts

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

Congress passes USA PATRIOT Act

United States unseats Taliban in Afghanistan

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

United States invades Iraq in March

Torture at Abu Ghraib prison becomes public

President Bush wins reelection

Great Recession begins

Barack Obama elected president

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

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

Osama bin Laden killed by U.S. forces

Last U.S. combat troops withdrawn from Iraq

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