SAT, APRIL 18, 5:30 AM EST
With the process of going through the budget line by line in full swing, the President uses his Weekly Address to give some examples, big and small, of how the Administration is working to cut costs and eliminate waste. The President also announces two new key appointments, Jeffrey Zients as Chief Performance Officer and Aneesh Chopra as Chief Technology Officer, who will be invaluable in streamlining the way government functions through efficiency and innovation.
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Jeffrey D. Zients - Chief Performance Officer
Zients has twenty years of business experience as a CEO, management consultant and entrepreneur with a deep understanding of business strategy, process reengineering and financial management. He served as CEO and Chairman of the Advisory Board Company and Chairman of the Corporate Executive Board. These firms are leading providers of performance benchmarks and best practices across a wide range of industries. Currently, he is the Founder and Managing Partner of Portfolio Logic, an investment firm focused primarily on business and healthcare service companies.
[UPDATE: Learn lots more about the CPO from OMB Director Orszag on his blog.]
Aneesh Paul Chopra - Chief Technology Officer
Chopra serves as Virginia’s Secretary of Technology. He leads the Commonwealth’s strategy to effectively leverage technology in government reform, to promote Virginia’s innovation agenda, and to foster technology-related economic development. Previously, he worked as Managing Director with the Advisory Board Company, leading the firm’s Financial Leadership Council and the Working Council for Health Plan Executives.
FRI, APRIL 17, 6:30 PM EST
Your Friday reminder that the EPA is collecting videos and photos in honor of Earth Day -- here's our pick for the day. It's user tklancer at the top of Angel's Landing in Zion Canyon, learn more courtesy of your friendly U.S. National Park Service.
FRI, APRIL 17, 12:56 PM EST
The Vice President and others from the Task Force, joined by 28-year educator Dr. Jill Biden, are delving deep into these issues at their meeting. And for those with kids in college, or even just experiencing a sense of dread as tuition costs skyrocket year after year while your children grow up, the full report is worth a read. It examines the causes of the rise in costs, and addresses them head on. It discusses the fundamental shift in the treatment of government assistance in the President’s budget proposal, from increasing loans and grants to protecting them from political back-and-forth in the budget process year to year, ensuring families will always be able to count on the help they expect. The report also examines innovative ways that colleges can cut down on their costs, which are a primary factor in tuition costs alongside state budget cuts. This is all related to the President’s goal that by 2020, America should once again lead the world in the proportion of adults with a college degree.
(Vice President Joe Biden listens as Secretary of Education Arne Duncan answers a question from the audience
during a Middle Class Task Force event on College Affordability at the University of Missouri St. Louis,
Friday, April 17, 2009. Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)
For those who have been through the process, or are facing the daunting task of applying for aid, the section on simplifying that process may be of particular interest:
Simplifying the Application Process for Aid
Another obstacle to federal student aid is the unnecessarily complicated application process that is often intimidating to families and students seeking loans. In order to qualify for aid, students or their parents must first complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, which contains well over 100 questions on income, assets, family characteristics, personal characteristics, and other items. Completing the FAFSA requires families to sift through paperwork and transfer numbers from tax forms that they may or may not have readily available.
The fact that well over one million students who could qualify for aid went without it during the 2003-2004 school year is one indication that the application process is too complicated. Furthermore, students who do not apply for aid due to the complexity of the process may be discouraged from applying to college at all, reducing college attendance rates. As a result, the complicated process works at cross-purposes with our goal of increasing college attendance and completion. Experts widely agree that the system is in need of change. There are two broad strategies to simplify the financial aid application process that are currently under discussion.
One strategy is to make it easier to complete the current form. For example, according to The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS), about two-thirds of the questions on income and assets that are included in the FAFSA form can be automatically answered using IRS data. This means that the U.S. Department of Education could obtain this information directly from the IRS, and the student or family would only be required to answer the remaining questions. TICAS contends that a simplified process would have the added benefit of reducing errors among filers who erroneously transfer data by hand from their tax returns to the FAFSA form. It would also remove the burden of requiring colleges and universities to verify the income information on the FAFSA form using tax returns. The use of IRS data is also an attractive option because it can make the financial aid application process more efficient on its own or can be combined with other FAFSA simplification proposals. Importantly, compelling new research suggests that FAFSA simplification can substantially increase applications for student aid as well as subsequent college enrollment.
While appealing, simplification of the application process may not substantially address the length and complexity of the FAFSA for some, such as those who do not file tax returns with the IRS. Furthermore, even after removing the 22 questions that could be completed with data directly from the IRS, the form still would include nearly 100 questions. As a result, a second strategy for simplifying the application process for student aid is to shorten the form by reducing the number of questions asked. The scope of such simplification could be small or large, depending on the number of questions eliminated. The advantages of a short form would include greater transparency and the ability to make earlier determinations of aid. As an extreme example, economists Susan Dynarski and Judith Scott-Clayton have advocated for a form based on adjusted gross income and family size alone.14 Combined with IRS data, such an application would provide immediate, verifiable feedback on the amount of aid for which a student would be eligible. They argue that this would likely facilitate more timely decisions for families concerning higher education financing, and it would do so with only modest changes to the distribution of aid. This proposal represents just one possibility, but even a much less radical simplification would substantially ease the burden of filing the FAFSA on students and their families.
Strategies for simplifying the financial aid application process have potential merits, potential impacts on financial aid awards, and potential challenges in implementation. However, it is clear that simplification makes good policy sense, and that it would help families benefit from important resources available to help cover the cost of college.
(Dr. Jill Biden introduces Vice President Joe Biden during a Middle Class Task Force event on College
Affordability at the University of Missouri St. Louis, Friday, April 17, 2009.
Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)FRI, APRIL 17, 11:13 AM EST
Watch Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's digital town hall in advance of the Summit of the Americas live from the Dominican Republic, embedded via the State Department's Social Media Hub:
*****
UPDATE: This event has now concluded, but you can still learn all about the Summit through the
State Department's Social Media Hub.
THU, APRIL 16, 6:27 PM EST
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This afternoon the President landed in Mexico, where he met with President Felipe Calderon in anticipation of the
Summit of the Americas. Even before leaving, this morning he reached out to all of the nations who will be in attendance with an
op-ed published in English, Spanish or Portuguese in the following papers: Trinidad Express (Trinidad & Tobago); St. Petersburg Times (USA); Miami Herald (USA); El Nuevo Herald (USA); La Nación (Argentina); O Globo (Brazil); El Mercurio (Chile); El Tiempo (Colombia); La Nación (Costa Rica); El Comercio (Ecuador); El Universal (México); El Comercio (Perú); El Nuevo Día (Puerto Rico); El País (Uruguay); and El Nacional (Venezuela).
The President laid out his vision for the Summit in the op-ed:
As we approach the Summit of the Americas, our hemisphere is faced with a clear choice. We can overcome our shared challenges with a sense of common purpose, or we can stay mired in the old debates of the past. For the sake of all our people, we must choose the future.
Too often, the United States has not pursued and sustained engagement with our neighbors. We have been too easily distracted by other priorities, and have failed to see that our own progress is tied directly to progress throughout the Americas. My Administration is committed to the promise of a new day. We will renew and sustain a broader partnership between the United States and the hemisphere on behalf of our common prosperity and our common security.
But the President made clear that this commitment would be more than rhetorical. He pointed to the dramatic and long overdue shift in policy towards Cuba, and forthrightly pointed out that there are many other issues that will be difficult to grapple with: "The United States will strongly support respect for the rule of law, better law enforcement, and stronger judicial institutions. Security must be advanced through our commitment to partner with those who are courageously battling drug cartels, gangs and other criminal networks throughout the Americas. And our efforts start at home. By reducing demand for drugs and curtailing the illegal flow of weapons and bulk cash south across our border, we can advance security in the United States and beyond."
(President Barack Obama bids farewell to the family of Mexican President Felipe Calderon following their
meeting in Mexico City, Thursday, April 16, 2009. White House Photo/Peter Souza)
Indeed, even at his welcoming ceremony was joined by President Calderon when he immediately pledged to work together in new ways to crack down on the drug cartels tied to so much tragedy on both sides of the border: "At a time when the Mexican government has so courageously taken on the drug cartels that have plagued both sides of the borders, it is absolutely critical that the United States joins as a full partner in dealing with this issue, both through initiatives like the Merida Initiative, but also on our side of the border, in dealing with the flow of guns and cash south."
The two countries also announced the "US-Mexico Bilateral Framework on Clean Energy and Climate Change," which will focus on renewable energy, energy efficiency, adaptation, market mechanisms, forestry and land use, green jobs, low carbon energy technology development and capacity building. Specific areas of joint cooperation under the Bilateral Framework may include:
· Collaborating on training/workshops and information exchanges for government officials to explore possible cooperation on greenhouse gas inventories, various greenhouse gas reduction strategies, and market mechanisms;
· Through our collaboration in the Border 2012 program, working with our respective border states to provide opportunities for information exchange and joint work on renewable energy, such as wind and solar, that could include technical and economic project feasibility studies, project development, and capacity building in the border region. Other border work could include a bilateral border crossing planning group to develop strategies to reduce emissions from idling vehicles, among other initiatives that may be deemed appropriate;
· Expanding our extensive bilateral collaboration on clean energy technologies to facilitate renewable power generation including by addressing transmission and distribution obstacles between our countries; fostering Energy Service Company market development; and highlighting existing and proposed areas for cooperation on clean energy and energy efficiency under the North American Energy Working Group;
· Promoting academic and scientific exchanges on renewable energy;
· Pursuing projects on adapting to climate change, including coastal or disaster risk reduction activities as well as adaptation in key sectors; and
· Working jointly with other countries to take advantage of growing Mexican expertise on greenhouse gas inventories, adaptation and project planning. This work could also possibly include a shared US/Mexican initiative to help developing countries in the Americas create low carbon development strategies plans for adaptation to climate change, and monitoring and accounting for the results.
(President Barack Obama and Mexico's President Felipe Calderon participate in a joint press conference
Thursday, April 16, 2009, following their meeting in Mexico City. White House Photo/Samantha Appleton)THU, APRIL 16, 12:20 PM EST
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"I'm happy to be here. I’m more happy than you can imagine," said the Vice President, a noted rail enthusiast, before introducing the President for the release of his
strategic plan for high speed rail in America. Revolving around the $8 billion in the Recovery Act and the $1 billion per year for five years requested in the President’s budget to get these projects off the ground, the
President painted the picture that will become a reality as a result of these investments:
What we're talking about is a vision for high-speed rail in America. Imagine boarding a train in the center of a city. No racing to an airport and across a terminal, no delays, no sitting on the tarmac, no lost luggage, no taking off your shoes. (Laughter.) Imagine whisking through towns at speeds over 100 miles an hour, walking only a few steps to public transportation, and ending up just blocks from your destination. Imagine what a great project that would be to rebuild America.
Now, all of you know this is not some fanciful, pie-in-the-sky vision of the future. It is now. It is happening right now. It's been happening for decades. The problem is it's been happening elsewhere, not here.
In France, high-speed rail has pulled regions from isolation, ignited growth, remade quiet towns into thriving tourist destinations. In Spain, a high-speed line between Madrid and Seville is so successful that more people travel between those cities by rail than by car and airplane combined. China, where service began just two years ago, may have more miles of high-speed rail service than any other country just five years from now. And Japan, the nation that unveiled the first high-speed rail system, is already at work building the next: a line that will connect Tokyo with Osaka at speeds of over 300 miles per hour. So it's being done; it's just not being done here.
There's no reason why we can't do this. This is America. There's no reason why the future of travel should lie somewhere else beyond our borders. Building a new system of high-speed rail in America will be faster, cheaper and easier than building more freeways or adding to an already overburdened aviation system –- and everybody stands to benefit.
The
inclusion of high speed rail in the Recovery Act was one of many symbols of the new vision for America and its economy that guided the plan. As the Vice President explained in his introduction, joined by Transportation Secretary LaHood, in addition to putting Americans to work across the country it went towards several the Recovery Act’s key goals:
And we're making a down payment today, a down payment on the economy for tomorrow, the economy that's going to drive us in the 21st century in a way that the other -- the highway system drove us in the mid-20th century. And I'm happy to be here. I'm more happy than you can imagine -- (laughter) -- to talk about a commitment that, with the President's leadership, we're making to achieve the goal through the development of high-speed rail projects that will extend eventually all across this nation. And most of you know that not only means an awful lot to me, but I know a lot of you personally in this audience over the years, I know it means equally as much to you.
With high-speed rail system, we're going to be able to pull people off the road, lowering our dependence on foreign oil, lowering the bill for our gas in our gas tanks. We're going to loosen the congestion that also has great impact on productivity, I might add, the people sitting at stop lights right now in overcrowded streets and cities. We're also going to deal with the suffocation that's taking place in our major metropolitan areas as a consequence of that congestion. And we're going to significantly lessen the damage to our planet. This is a giant environmental down payment.
The report formalizes the identification of ten high-speed rail corridors as potential recipients of federal funding. Those lines are: California, Pacific Northwest, South Central, Gulf Coast, Chicago Hub Network, Florida, Southeast, Keystone, Empire and Northern New England. Also, opportunities exist for the Northeast Corridor from Washington to Boston to compete for funds to improve the nation’s only existing high-speed rail service:
WED, APRIL 15, 6:44 PM EST
We mentioned once before that the EPA is collecting videos and photos in honor of Earth Day, so for the next week we'll pick one we happen to like to tease you with here on WhiteHouse.gov. For starters, here's "Valley View Farm Sunset 2008," courtesy of user Goddess of Green:
Think you can beat that? Head over to the Photo Project.
WED, APRIL 15, 4:34 PM EST
As another demonstration of the President’s commitment to openness and transparency, today the White House issued the following releases making the President and Vice President’s tax returns public:
For the President:
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 15, 2009
President and First Lady Release 2008 Income Tax Returns
Today, the President released his 2008 federal income tax returns. He and the First Lady filed their income tax returns jointly and reported an adjusted gross income of $2,656,902. The vast majority of the family’s 2008 income is the proceeds from the sale of the President’s books. The Obamas paid $855,323 in federal income tax.
The President and First Lady also reported donating $172,050 – or about 6.5% of their adjusted gross income – to 37 different charities. The largest reported gifts to charity were $25,000 contributions to CARE and the United Negro College Fund.
The President and First Lady also released their Illinois income tax return and reported paying $77,883 in state income taxes.
Copies of the returns are available below:
For the Vice President:
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Vice President
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 15, 2009
The Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden Release 2008 Income Tax Returns
Today, the Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden released their 2008 federal and state income tax returns. He and Dr. Biden filed their income tax returns jointly and reported an adjusted gross income of $269,256 and an after-tax income of $183,315. The family’s primary sources of income were salaries from the United States Senate, Widener University, Delaware Technical & Community College, as well as royalties from the audio rights to the Vice President’s book. The Bidens paid $46,952 in federal income taxes; $11,164 in Delaware state income taxes; and donated $1,885 to charity. The charitable donations claimed by the Bidens on their tax returns are not the sum of their annual contributions to charity. They donate to their church, and they contribute to their favorite causes with their time, as well as their checkbooks.
Copies of the returns are available below:
WED, APRIL 15, 1:02 PM EST
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The Wrights from Marrietta, Pennsylvania, and the Kirkwoods from Lynchburg, Virginia supported then-candidate Obama during the campaign as he was touting his promise of a Making Work Pay tax credit. Chris and Guenna Wright just bought a new home with their four-year-old son after seven years in their previous house. Kelly Kirkwood is a part time Nursery School teacher at Randolph College in Lynchburg, and her husband Scott is a graphic designer for a small local company – together they are living paycheck-to-paycheck during this economic downturn. Today all of them came to the White House to meet with now-President Obama on tax day, with the President having made good on his pledge.
Clark Harrison from Preston, Maryland and Latoya Malone from West Hempstead, New York both made good on the $8,000 home-buyers tax credit. For Clark it was exactly the breathing room he needed to be able to settle bills and make the fixes to the house, allowing him to get out on his own. For Latoya, who moved from the Virgin Islands to New York City to be close to her mother, the home-buyers tax credit helped put a house that had seemed just out of reach under contract for her.
Those stories, and others like them, were what the President heard in his meeting today with families from across the country. He asked them to join him on stage afterwards when he
spoke to the press:
Good morning. I decided not to bring Bo today -- because he stepped on my economic speech yesterday. (Laughter.)
Good morning. I know that April 15th isn't exactly everyone's favorite date on the calendar. But it is an important opportunity for those of us in Washington to consider our responsibilities to the people who sent us here and who pay the bills. And I've brought some friends of mine who sent me here and pay the bills.
Across America, families like the people who join me have had tough choices forced upon them because of this economic downturn. Many have lost a job; many are fighting to keep their business open. Many more are struggling to make payments, to stay in their home, or to pursue a college education. And these Americans are the backbone of our economy, the backbone of our middle class. They're the workers, the innovators, the students who are going to be powering our recovery. So their dreams have to be our own. They need a government that is working to create jobs and opportunity for them, rather than simply giving more and more to those at the very top in the false hope that wealth automatically trickles down.
And that's why my administration has taken far-reaching action to give tax cuts to the Americans who need them, while jump-starting growth and job creation in the process. We start from the simple premise that we should reduce the tax burden on working people, while helping Americans go to college, own a home, raise a family, start a business and save for retirement. Those goals are the foundation of the American Dream, and they are the focus of my tax policy.
The President went through the tax changes enacted just in these past few months, including: 1) The Making Work Pay credit for 95% of American families; 2) allowing small businesses to offset their losses during this downturn against the income they’ve earned over the last five years; 3) a $2,500 tax credit for all four years of college; 4) the $8,000 for credit for first-time home buyers. He also made clear that while the tax code is being made right, the federal government will also do its part to tighten its belt, reiterating that his Administration has identified two trillion dollars in deficit-reductions over the next decade: "That’s why we’re cutting programs that don’t work, contracts that aren’t fair, and spending that we don’t need."
He stood by his long-standing intentions to end tax breaks for companies shipping jobs overseas, and for people like himself who have made enough money not to need them. Lastly, he pledged as a long-term goal to greatly simplify the tax code and filing process, recognizing that this can be a hardship in itself at this time of year. He closed explaining that his tax policies are guided not by ideology but by the real experiences of people like those he met with today:
Now, I just had a conversation with these wonderful Americans, and like people I talked to all across the country, they're not looking for a free ride. Every single person here is working hard and deserves a chance to get ahead. And they're a family like -- families like the Kirkwoods, who just want to own their own business and put away some money away for their kids' college tuition. And they're workers like Clark Harrison, behind me, who has worked hard and wants to be able to purchase that first home. They're business owners like Alan Givens, who wants his company to sustain itself through bad times as well as the good. And I was encouraged to hear that Alan's business is going strong on a whole bunch of clean energy measures that he's helping to promote in his area.
For too long, we've seen taxes used as a wedge to scare people into supporting policies that actually increased the burden on working people instead of helping them live their dreams. That has to change, and that's the work that we've begun. We've passed tax cuts that will help our economy grow. We've made a clear promise that families that earn less than $250,000 a year will not see their taxes increase by a single dime. And we have kept to those promises that were made during the campaign. We've given tax relief to the Americans who need it and the workers who have earned it. And we're helping more Americans move towards their American Dream by going to school, owning a home, keeping their business and raising their family.
(President Barack Obama is joined by taxpaying citizens as he gives remarks Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., on the tax cut for 95 percent of American workers.
White House Photo/Chuck Kennedy)
WED, APRIL 15, 10:22 AM EST
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will conduct
Digital Town Hall of the Americas, a live web-based discussion, from the Dominican Republic on Friday, April 17, 2009, in anticipation of the
Fifth Summit of the Americas to be held April 17-19 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The event will provide an opportunity for Secretary Clinton to launch a conversation with citizens from across the Western Hemisphere to discuss the Summit’s themes of securing our citizens’ future by promoting human prosperity, energy security and environmental sustainability, as well as the situation in Haiti, where she will visit and attend meetings on Thursday, April 16.
The State Department has their
Social Media Hub dedicated to the Summit, which will host 34 democratically elected leaders from the Western hemisphere. Catch the webcast there on Friday and go over and get engaged with the questions in the meantime.
