MON, APRIL 27, 9:47 AM EST
As the President delivered his remarks to the National Academy of Sciences this morning, the Office of Science & Technology Policy was launching its new blog around a push for conversation and public comment on the President’s memorandum on scientific integrity issued in March.
The President gave the context in his remarks:
On March 9th, I signed an executive memorandum with a clear message: Under my administration, the days of science taking a back seat to ideology are over. Our progress as a nation – and our values as a nation – are rooted in free and open inquiry. To undermine scientific integrity is to undermine our democracy. It is contrary to our way of life.
That’s why I have charged John Holdren in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy with leading a new effort to ensure that federal policies are based on the best and most unbiased scientific information. I want to be sure that facts are driving scientific decisions – and not the other way around.
As part of this effort, we’ve already launched a website that allows individuals to not only make recommendations to achieve this goal, but to collaborate on those recommendations; it is a small step, but one that is creating a more transparent, participatory and democratic government.
SUN, APRIL 26, 11:26 AM EST
UPDATE: This briefing has concluded, read the transcript.
Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano: "The first thing I want to announce today is that the Department of Health and Human Services will declare today a public health emergency in the United States. That sounds more severe than really it is. This is standard operating procedure and allows us to free up federal, state, and local agencies and their resources for prevention and mitigation; it allows us to use medication and diagnostic tests that we might not otherwise be able to use, particularly on very young children; and it releases funds for the acquisition of additional antivirals."
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The Office of the Press Secretary issued the following advisory this morning concerning a special White House Briefing to discuss the reported swine flu cases. Watch it streamed at 12:30pm EDT at WhiteHouse.gov/live, and find up-to-the-minute information through the HHS/ CDC swine flu widget.
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SUNDAY, April 26, 2009
White House Briefing to Discuss Reported Swine Flu Cases – Today at 12:30pm EDT
WASHINGTON – Obama administration officials will host an on-camera briefing this afternoon in the White House Press Briefing Room to provide an update on swine influenza in the United States and the government response.
WHO: Secretary Janet Napolitano, Department of Homeland Security; Dr. Richard Besser, Acting Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security; White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs
WHEN: Sunday, April 26, 2009, 12:30pm EDT
WHERE: White House Press Briefing Room
SAT, APRIL 25, 5:30 AM EST
This week the President reiterates a theme that has been a hallmark of his career, namely that "old habits and stale thinking" will simply not help us solve the new and immense problems our country faces. Listing off several specific changes he intends to bring, he describes his guiding principle: "To help build a new foundation for the 21st century, we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative. That will demand new thinking and a new sense of responsibility for every dollar that is spent."
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FRI, APRIL 24, 9:09 PM EST
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FRI, APRIL 24, 5:42 PM EST
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Now, some of you have probably seen how this proposal was greeted by the special interests. The banks and the lenders who have reaped a windfall from these subsidies have mobilized an army of lobbyists to try to keep things the way they are. They are gearing up for battle. So am I. They will fight for their special interests. I will fight for Stephanie, and other American students and their families. And for those who care about America's future, this is a battle we can't afford to lose.
The
proposal he was talking about would cut the middle man out of student lending by shifting federal support entirely to the Direct Loan program, and away from the program that cushions bank profits. The proposal follows on significant action already taken: together, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and the President’s Budget provide about $200 billion in Pell Grant scholarships and tax credits over the next decade, including giving millions of families up to $2,500 each to help pay for college. The Middle Class Task Force also held their
most recent meeting going in depth into precisely this issue of college affordability.
He once again explained that he was not motivated by any ideology from the right or the left, but by simple common sense:
In the end, this is not about growing the size of government or relying on the free market -- because it's not a free market when we have a student loan system that's rigged to reward private lenders without any risk. It's about whether we want to give tens of billions of tax dollars to special interests or whether we want to make college more affordable for eight and a half million more students. I think most of us would agree on what the right answer is.
FRI, APRIL 24, 4:10 PM EST
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(Special Envoy for Sudan, Scott Gration briefs President Obama on his recent visit to the region, providing an update on the urgent humanitarian situation as well as recent key political, economic, and security developments. White House Photo/ Pete Souza)
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(Special Envoy for Sudan Scott Gration provides President Obama with a preview of his next trip to the region and receives important direction from the President. White House Photo/ Pete Souza)
FRI, APRIL 24, 10:00 AM EST
Even as the broader economy puts a strain on the profits of small businesses, health care costs continue to go up, with the inevitable result that more and more small business workers simply don't get coverage. Read a new, meticulously documented report from HHS,
"Helping the Bottom Line: Health Reform and Small Business."
Also, at 11:00 this morning Nancy-Ann DeParle, Director of the White House Office of Health Reform, will meet with small business owners and representatives as part of the Administration’s continuing series of White House Health Care Stakeholder Discussions. Listen to their experiences first hand:
Watch the live-stream of the discussion.
UPDATE: A recap of the meeting from
Rebecca Adelman of HHS, who was there:
Today, as the Department of Health and Human Services released a report detailing how small businesses are struggling to keep up with rising health care costs, White House office of Health Reform Director Nancy-Ann DeParle went straight to the source. She hosted a group of over 20 representatives from small businesses across the country, who affirmed the findings in the HHS report – small business are uniquely feeling the impact of skyrocketing health care costs. In fact, nearly one-third of the uninsured – 13 million people – are employees of firms with fewer than 100 workers. As a result, an increasing number of small business owners are unable to offer coverage to their employees.
Jody Hall, owner of "Verité Coffee and Cupcake Royale" in Seattle, Washington, opened the meeting with a story familiar to all the small business owners gathered at the White House. Each year, she said, it is becoming more difficult to offer viable insurance plans to her employees. She said her health insurance premiums went up 40 percent last year, "and that’s just for a basic plan that, in all honesty, doesn’t provide real security." Before opening a small business, Hall spent years working at a large corporation that provided affordable insurance to even part-time employees. There, she learned that offering health insurance is the right thing to do, and it also helps a business attract and maintain a talented pool of employees. This year she had to raise the price of cupcakes in her store and offer her employees a less attractive health care plan to compensate for the escalating insurance costs.
Many of the small business owners expressed concern that health care costs were making it more difficult for them to grow and take new risks. Jane Huelle, who owns a specialty pet-supply and dog training store called "The Dog Spot" in Washington DC, has five employees. She said, "I could really use another person, but I can’t hire anyone else because I’m already paying a salary in health insurance." Other attendees spoke of having to make painful cutbacks. Chris and Becky Link, owners of "Imagination Branding", had to reduce their staff by a third on account of increasing health care costs and the economic recession. "We are like a family, it was hard to do," they said.
Director of the White House's
National Economic Council Larry Summers also took part in the discussion. He stressed that small businesses are the backbone of the American economy: "There’s never been a big business which didn’t start as a small business." He noted that providing health care coverage for employees is especially costly for small businesses, and "as a country, we can do much, much better than we are." Health care reform, he said, is both a moral issue for our children and a deeply practical issue – and this year, we have a good chance to make this right
(HHS Photo/ Chris Smith)
THU, APRIL 23, 7:24 PM EST
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(First Lady Michelle Obama hosts Jordan's Queen Rania in the Yellow Oval Room in the
White House Residence, April 23, 2009. White House Photo/ Samantha Appleton)
THU, APRIL 23, 6:58 PM EST
Having long argued that credit card practices need to be cleaned up, this afternoon the President brought representatives from the credit card industry in to talk about the need for greater consumer protections, a need made all the more urgent by the economic crisis.
A few facts: Almost half of American families currently carry a balance, and for those families the average balance was $7,300 at last check in 2007 (the median was $3,000). Meanwhile, penalty fees on credit cards are around $15 billion annually, an estimated 10 percent of total credit card industry revenues -- one-fifth of those carrying credit card debt pay an interest rate above 20 percent.
Against that backdrop, with Congressional negotiations on legislation getting off the ground, and having acknowledged that neither credit cards not credit card companies are inherently bad,
President Obama made clear that some new lines in the sand needed to be drawn.
There are going to be some core principles, though, that I want to adhere to, and I mentioned these to all the credit card issuers involved.
First of all, I think that there has to be strong and reliable protections for consumers -- protections that ban unfair rate increases and forbid abusive fees and penalties. The days of any time, any reason rate hikes and late fee traps have to end.
Number two, all the forms and statements that credit card companies send out have to be written in plain language and be in plain sight. No more fine print, no more confusing terms and conditions. We want clarity and transparency from here on out.
Number three, we have to make sure that people can comparison shop when it comes to credit cards without being afraid that they're going to be taken advantage of. So we believe that it's important to require firms to make all their contract terms easily accessible online in a fashion that allows people to shop for the best deal for their needs.
Not every consumer is going to have the same needs. And some may want to take on a higher interest rate because it provides them more convenience or it provides them with a higher credit line. But we want to make sure that they can make those comparisons themselves easily. And we think that one of the things that needs to be explored is the possibility that every credit card issuer has to issue a plain vanilla, easy to understand, simplest terms possible credit card as a default credit card that the average user can feel comfortable with.
Finally, we think we need more accountability in the system. And that means more effective oversight and more effective enforcement so that people who are issuing credit cards but violate law, they will feel the full weight of the law.
THU, APRIL 23, 2:04 PM EST
The White House has issued the following readout on the President’s meeting with Ambassador Chris Hill:
Earlier this week, Ambassador Hill was confirmed by the Senate to serve as our Ambassador to Iraq. Ambassador Hill will head to Iraq this week, and the President wanted to speak with him before he leaves for his important new post. They discussed the current situation in Iraq and the need to make political progress.
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(President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden meet in the Oval Office with
Christopher Hill, the new U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Thursday, April 23, 2009,
at the White House. White House Photo/Pete Souza)
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(Vice President Joe Biden speaks with Christopher Hill, the new U.S. Ambassador to Iraq,
Thursday, April 23, 2009, at the White House. White House Photo/Pete Souza)
