First Session The first session of Congress, known as the "
Hundred Days", took place before the regular seating and was called by President Roosevelt specifically to pass two acts: • March 9, 1933: The
Emergency Banking Act (ch. 1, ) was enacted within four hours of its introduction. It was prompted by the "
bank holiday" and was the first step in Roosevelt's "
first hundred days" of the
New Deal. The Act was drafted in large part by officials appointed by the
Hoover administration. The bill provided for the
Treasury Department to initiate
reserve requirements and a federal bailout to large failing institutions. It also removed the United States from the
Gold Standard. All
banks had to undergo a federal inspection to deem if they were stable enough to re-open. Within a week 1/3 of the banks re-opened in the United States and faith was, in large part, restored in the banking system. The act had few opponents, only taking fire from the farthest left elements of Congress who wanted to
nationalize banks altogether. • March 20, 1933: The
Economy Act of 1933. Roosevelt, in sending this act to Congress, warned that if it did not pass, the country faced a billion-dollar
deficit. The act balanced the federal budget by cutting the salaries of government employees and cutting pensions to veterans by as much as 15 percent. It intended to reassure the deficit hawks that the new president was fiscally conservative. Although the act was heavily protested by left-leaning members of congress, it passed by an overwhelming margin. The session also passed several other major pieces of legislation: • March 31, 1933: The
Civilian Conservation Corps Reforestation Relief Act (ch. 17, ) established the
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) as a means to combat
unemployment and
poverty. • May 12, 1933: The
Agricultural Adjustment Act (ch. 25, ) was part of a plan developed by Roosevelt's
Secretary of Agriculture,
Henry A. Wallace, and was designed to protect American
farmers from the uncertainties of the depression through subsidies and production controls. The act laid the frame for long-term government control in the planning of the agricultural sector. In 1936 the act was ruled unconstitutional by the
United States Supreme Court because it taxed one group to pay for another. • May 12, 1933: The
Federal Emergency Relief Act (ch. 30, ) established the
Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) which develop public works projects to give work to the unemployed. • May 18, 1933: The
Tennessee Valley Authority Act (ch. 32, ) created the Tennessee Valley Authority to relieve the
Tennessee Valley by a series of public works projects. • June 5, 1933: The
Securities Act of 1933 (ch. 38, ) established the
Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) as a way for the government to prevent a repeat of the
Stock Market Crash of 1929. • June 12, 1933: The
Glass–Steagall Act of 1933 (ch. 89, ) was a follow-up to the
Glass–Steagall Act of 1932. Both acts sought to make banking safer and less prone to speculation. The 1933 act, however, established the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. • June 16, 1933: The
National Industrial Recovery Act ("NIRA", ch. 90, ) was an anti-
deflation scheme promoted by the
Chamber of Commerce that reversed
anti-trust laws and permit trade associations to cooperate in stabilizing prices within their industries while making businesses ensure that the incomes of workers would rise along with their prices. It guaranteed to workers of the right of collective bargaining and helped spur major union organizing drives in major industries. In case consumer buying power lagged behind, thereby defeating the administration's initiatives, the NIRA created the
Public Works Administration (PWA), a major program of public works spending designed to alleviate unemployment, and moreover to transfer funds to certain beneficiaries. The NIRA established the most important, but ultimately least successful provision: a new federal agency known as the
National Recovery Administration (NRA), which attempted to stabilize prices and wages through cooperative "code authorities" involving government, business, and labor. The NIRA was seen hailed as a miracle, responding to the needs of labor, business, unemployment, and the deflation crisis. The "
sick chicken case" led to the Supreme Court invalidating NIRA in 1935.
Second Session • March 24, 1934: The
Tydings–McDuffie Act (, ) provided for self-government for the
Commonwealth of the Philippines and a pathway to independence. • June 6, 1934: The
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (ch. 404, ) grew out of the
Securities Act of 1933 and regulated participation in financial markets. • June 19, 1934:
Communications Act of 1934 (ch. 652, , ) • June 26, 1934: The
National Firearms Act of 1934 (ch. 757, ) regulated machine guns, short-barreled rifles and shotguns. ==Constitutional amendments==