What A Difference A Day Makes January 20, 2009 Obama Inauguration! January 22, 2009 Guantanamo ordered closed. Mandates that interrogation techniques in the Army Field Manual be used by all intelligence and law enforcement services. Secret prisons ordered closed. New rules on government transparency and ethics. Senior Aides' salaries frozen. George J. Mitchell assigned as Special Envoy for Arab-Israeli Affairs. Richard C. Holbrooke assigned as Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Obama wins battle to keep . . . . . his BlackBerry! January 23, 2009 Obama revokes "Mexico City/Global Gag Rule" which banned U.S. taxpayer money from going to international family planning groups that either offer abortions or provide information, counseling or referrals about abortion. January 26, 2009 Obama issues Presidential Order directing the EPA to move swiftly on an application by California and 13 other states to set strict automobile emission and fuel efficiency standards, requiring automakers to cut emissions by nearly a third by 2016, four years ahead of the federal timetable. The result would be an increase in fuel efficiency in the American car and light truck fleet to roughly 35 miles per gallon from the current average of 27. January 27, 2009 In President Obama's first televised interview from the White House and the first with any foreign news outlet, Obama said it was his job "to communicate to the Muslim world that the Americans are not your enemy." He added that "we sometimes make mistakes," but said that America was not born as a colonial power and that he hoped for a restoration of "the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago." President Obama visited Republicans on Capitol Hill and suggested that he was open to some limited revisions that would address their demands for more tax cuts. "This was not a drive-by P.R. stunt, and I actually thought it might be," said Representative Zach Wamp, Republican of Tennessee. "It was a substantive, in-depth discussion with our conference, and he's very effective. He knows that the debt and the deficit are huge long-term problems as well," Mr. Wamp said, "and he made a compelling case. He sounded, frankly, a lot like a Republican." January 29, 2009 President Obama signed his first law: the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, which changes the current law to make it easier for those suing because of alleged pay discrimination. The law, President Obama says, sends "a clear message: That making our economy work means making sure it works for everyone." February 4, 2009 President Barack Obama took steps to rein in corporate compensation on Wednesday, imposing a $500,000 cap on executive pay for firms that take government bailout money and limiting lavish severance packages. "As part of the reforms we are announcing today, top executives at firms receiving extraordinary help from U.S. taxpayers will have their compensation capped at $500,000 -- a fraction of the salaries that have been reported recently," Obama said in prepared remarks. President Barack Obama signed a bill extending health coverage to 4 million uninsured children, a move he called a first step toward fulfilling a campaign pledge to provide insurance for all Americans. Obama used an ebullient East Room signing ceremony to continue his push for his plan that would provide universal health insurance. "As I think everybody here will agree, this is only the first step," Obama said of the bill that reauthorizes the State Children's Health Insurance Program. "Because the way I see it, providing coverage to 11 million children through CHIP is a down payment on my commitment to cover every single American." February 5, 2009 President Obama ordered the Energy Department on Thursday to immediately draft long-overdue standards to make a variety of appliances and light bulbs more energy efficient. starting this year with nine categories of products, including ovens, vending machines, microwave ovens, dishwashers and light bulbs. He said the new standards would cut energy use and reduce emissions of the heat-trapping gases that scientists blame for global warming. "This will save consumers money, this will spur innovation and this will conserve tremendous amounts of energy," Mr. Obama said. "We'll save through these simple steps over the next 30 years the amount of energy produced over a two-year period by all the coal-fired power plants in America." February 17, 2009 President Barack Obama put his own indelible imprint on the nation's distressed economy Tuesday, signing the huge recovery package into law, readying a $50 billion proposal to help homeowners fend off foreclosure and awaiting emergency restructuring plans from flailing automakers. Obama said the legislation, which congressional Democrats pushed to passage last week over near-unanimous opposition from Republicans, would "set our economy on a firmer foundation." Obama's first major piece of legislation, it's a $787 billion mix of tax cuts and one of the biggest public spending programs since World War II. "I don't want to pretend that today marks the end of our economic problems, nor does it constitute all of what we have to do to turn our economy around. But today does mark the beginning of the end, the beginning of what we need to do to create jobs for Americans scrambling in the wake of layoffs," Obama said. February 18, 2009 President Barack Obama marshaled $75 billion on Wednesday to tackle the foreclosure crisis in an effort to prevent up to 9 million Americans from losing their homes. In tandem, the Treasury Department said it would double the size of its lifeline to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The government, which seized the mortgage finance companies last fall, said it would absorb up to $200 billion in losses at each company. The plan aims to aid 5 million borrowers refinance who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are currently worth, or who are on the verge of foreclosure. Obama said, "In the end, all of us are paying a price for this home mortgage crisis. And all of us will pay an even steeper price if we allow this crisis to deepen." February 23, 2009 President Barack Obama named Interior Department Inspector General Earl Devaney as chairman of the new Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board, which will oversee the $787 billion economic stimulus plan. Devaney helped turn up disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff's dealings at the department. Obama also tapped Vice President Joe Biden to meet regularly with Cabinet members, governors and mayors to make sure their efforts were quick and effective. His reports to Obama are expected to be posted at the administration Web site devoted to the bill, Recovery.gov. February 27, 2009 President Barack Obama consigned the Iraq war to history Friday, declaring he will end combat operations within 18 months and open a new era of diplomacy in the Middle East. "Let me say this as plainly as I can: By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end." Just six weeks into office, Obama used blunt terms and a cast-in-stone promise to write the last chapter of a war that began six years ago. "Iraq's future is now its own responsibility," Obama said. March 4, 2009 With Senator John McCain at his side, President Barack Obama announced he had signed a memorandum directing his administration to inject competition into government contracting. The new rules will open up the bidding for contracts to small businesses, limit the use of outside contractors, and reduce fraud by providing more oversight. March 9, 2009 President Barack Obama ended former President George W. Bush's limits on using federal dollars for embryonic stem cell research, with advisers calling the move a clear signal that science - not political ideology - will guide the administration. "We've got eight years of science to make up for," said Dr. Curt Civin, whose research allowed scientists to isolate stem cells and who now serves as the founding director of the University of Maryland Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. Scientists, who until now have had to rely on private donations to work with these newer stem cell lines, can apply for government money for the research, just like they do for studies of gene therapy or other treatment approaches. Calling into question the legitimacy of all the signing statements that former President George W. Bush used to challenge new laws, President Barack Obama ordered executive officials on Monday to consult with Attorney General Erick Holder before relying on any of them to bypass a statute. "In exercising my responsibility to determine whether a provision of an enrolled bill is unconstitutional, I will act with caution and restraint, based only on interpretations of the Constitution that are well-founded," Mr. Obama wrote in a memorandum to the heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch. In his directive, Mr. Obama said any signing statement issued before his presidency should be viewed with doubt, placing an asterisk beside all of those issued by Mr. Bush and other former presidents. "To ensure that all signing statements previously issued are followed only when consistent with these principles," he wrote, "executive branch departments and agencies are directed to seek the advice of the attorney general before relying on signing statements issued prior to the date of this memorandum as the basis for disregarding, or otherwise refusing to comply with, any provision of a statute." March 10, 2009 President Obama called for sweeping changes in American education on Tuesday, urging states to lift limits on charter schools and improve the quality of early childhood education while also signaling that he intends to make good on his campaign promise of linking teacher pay to performance. "For decades, Washington has been trapped in the same stale debates that have paralyzed progress and perpetuated our educational decline. Too many supporters of my party have resisted the idea of rewarding excellence in teaching with extra pay, even though we know it can make a difference in the classroom. Too many in the Republican Party have opposed new investments in early childhood education, despite compelling evidence of its importance." March 14, 2009 President Obama named Margaret "Peggy" Hamburg to be FDA commissioner and unveiled changes to help ensure the safety of the nation's food supply following recent recalls of peanut butter and tomatoes. The President laid out plans to create a new food safety working group and a $1 billion government investment to boost the number of food inspectors and upgrade safety labs. Obama said the FDA has lacked sufficient funds in recent years to inspect the country's 150,000 food processing plants and warehouses. He explained that the FDA has had the resources to examine just 7,000 of them. Obama said it is a fundamental responsibility of the U.S. government to protect the safety of our food. The president further announced that the Agriculture Department is closing a loophole to ensure sick cows don't enter the country's food supply. March 26, 2009 President Obama held an unprecedented Internet town hall from the White House, speaking to an audience of 100 invited guests and an estimated 67,000 people watching him in cyberspace. The President explained he had called the first-of-its-kind online town hall meeting as an "an important step" toward creating a broader avenue for information about his administration, and said the budget would put the country on a path to "a recovery that will be measured by whether it lasts, whether it endures; by whether we build our economy on a solid foundation instead of an overheated housing market or maxed-out credit cards or the sleight of hand on Wall Street; whether we build an economy in which prosperity is broadly shared." March 30, 2009 President Obama delivered an ultimatum to General Motors and Chrysler on Monday, telling them to adopt radical changes in short order or face bankruptcy - a move that came after a series of somber discussions in which he concluded that a controlled bankruptcy might be the best way to reorganize the two ailing auto giants. In the end, the president decided to throw the companies a short lifeline. He gave G.M. 60 days and Chrysler one month to avert bankruptcy and restructure on their own. But during that period, Mr. Obama warned on Monday, the automakers will have to drastically reshape their businesses in a way that experts say will severely shrink them. April 2, 2009 In his debut on the international stage, President Obama presented himself as the leader of an America that can no longer go it alone, and as abiding by the protocol of a global new deal. "If there's just Roosevelt and Churchill sitting in a room with a brandy, that's an easier negotiation," Mr. Obama said during his hourlong meeting with the international news media, during which he called on reporters from India and China to ask him questions. "But that's not the world we live in, and it shouldn't be the world that we live in." Mr. Obama said that if America neglected or abandoned poor countries, "not only are we depriving ourselves of potential opportunities for markets and economic growth, but ultimately that despair may turn to violence that turns on us. Unless we are concerned about the education of all children and not just our children, not only may we be depriving ourselves of the next great scientist who's going to find the next new energy source that saves the planet, but we also may make people around the world much more vulnerable to anti-American propaganda." In a rare show of emotion from the international press, many in the room stood up and cheered after Mr. Obama was done. April 5, 2009 President Obama called for new United Nations sanctions and laid out a new approach to American nuclear disarmament policy - one intended to strengthen the United States and its allies in halting proliferation. "In a strange turn of history, the threat of global nuclear war has gone down, but the risk of a nuclear attack has gone up," Mr. Obama told a huge crowd in Prague's central square. "Black market trade in nuclear secrets and nuclear materials abound. The technology to build a bomb has spread." And yet, he said, too few resources have been committed to developing a strategy to stop terrorist groups like Al Qaeda that are "determined to buy, build or steal" a bomb. Mr. Obama said that his administration would "reduce the role of nuclear weapons" in its national security strategy, and would urge other countries to do the same. He pointed to the agreement he reached last week with President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia to begin negotiations on reducing warheads and stockpiles, and said the two countries would try to reach an agreement by the end of the year. He also promised to aggressively pursue American ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which in the past has faced strong opposition in Congress. April 13, 2009 President Barack Obama wll allow Americans to make unlimited trips and money transfers to family in Cuba and ease other restrictions to usher in a new era of openness toward the island nation ruled by communists for 50 years. The White House made the formal announcement during presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs' daily briefing with reporters - in both English and Spanish. "The president would like to see greater freedom for the Cuban people. There are actions that he can and has taken today to open up the flow of information to provide some important steps to help that," Gibbs said. Obama aims to lessen Cubans' dependence on the Castro regime, hoping that will lead them to demand progress on political freedoms. About 1.5 million Americans have relatives on the island nation that turned to communist rule in 1959 when Fidel Castro seized control. April 14 2009 In his address to students and faculty at Georgetown University, President Obama restated his belief that the rebuilding of the nation can only be achieved by addressing problems on multiple fronts, including sweeping changes in banking regulation, health care, energy and education. Without deeper reform, he argued, the economy would only topple again later. "It's more than most Congresses and most presidents have to deal with in a lifetime," Mr. Obama said. "But we have been called to govern in extraordinary times. And that requires an extraordinary sense of responsibility to ourselves, to the men and women who sent us here, to the many generations whose lives will be affected for good or for ill because of what we do here." "I know there's a criticism out there that my administration has been spending with reckless abandon, pushing a liberal social agenda while mortgaging our children's future," Mr. Obama said. But he rejected that characterization and said it was time to make difficult decisions. "There's been a tendency to spend a lot of time scoring political points instead of rolling up sleeves to solve real problems." He chided critics of his spending plans and recommitted himself to addressing the entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid that consume so much of the budget. "Let's not kid ourselves and suggest that we can solve this problem by trimming a few earmarks or cutting the budget for the National Endowment for the Arts," he said. "If we want to get serious about fiscal discipline, and I do," then the country's leaders must "get serious about entitlement reform." Mr. Obama pushed back at critics on the left who accuse him of being too timid, and ask, as he described their grievance, " 'Why aren't you tougher on the banks?' " He said he had not embraced pre-emptive government takeovers because in the end such a move would cost taxpayers more and undermine confidence. "Government should practice the same principle as doctors," he said. "First, do no harm." "If we don't lay this new foundation now," he said, "it won't be long before we're right back where we are today." April 23, 2009 President Barack Obama said Thursday his administration is determined to get a credit-card law that eliminates tricky fine print, sudden rate increases and late fees that give millions of consumers headaches. "I trust that those in the industry who want to act responsibly will engage with us in a constructive fashion, and that we're going to get this done in short order," Obama said, delivering a pointed message to leading executives of credit-card issuing companies seated at his side. Both the House and the Senate are pursuing bills to give consumers greater protections. Obama said his economic advisers will examine the various proposals and work with Congress and the industry, but he made clear he intends to sign a law. Obama outlined the principles he wants in any legislation: Protections so that consumers won't face sudden, surprising jumps in fees; requirements that companies publish their forms in plainspoken language, with no more fine print; the availability of customer-friendly comparison shopping on credit-card offers; and greater enforcement so that violators feel the "full weight" of the law. May 4, 2009 President Obama promised sternly to crack down on companies "that ship jobs overseas" and duck U.S. taxes with offshore havens. The president's plan would limit the ability of U.S. companies to defer paying U.S. taxes on overseas profits. At the same time, Obama would step up efforts to go after evaders who abuse offshore tax shelters. Obama said his plan would raise $210 billion over the next 10 years, though no tax increases would go into effect until 2011. He stated the current system gives companies an incentive to invest overseas rather than creating jobs in the U.S. "It's a tax code that says you should pay lower taxes if you create a job in Bangalore, India, than if you create one in Buffalo, N.Y.," Obama said Monday. Obama also proposed a package of disclosure and enforcement measures designed to make it harder for financial institutions to help wealthy individuals evade taxes in overseas accounts. Obama said the government is hiring nearly 800 new IRS agents to enforce the tax code. "I want to see our companies remain the most competitive in the world," Obama said at a White House announcement. "But the way to make sure that happens is not to reward our companies for moving jobs off our shores or transferring profits to overseas tax havens." May 19, 2009 President Obama announced tough new nationwide rules for automobile emissions and mileage standards, embracing standards that California has sought to enact for years over the objections of the auto industry and the Bush administration. The rules will put in place a federal standard for fuel efficiency that is as tough as the California program, while imposing the first-ever limits on climate-altering gases from cars and trucks. The effect will be a single new national standard that will create a car and light truck fleet in the United States that is almost 40 percent cleaner and more fuel-efficient by 2016 than it is today, with an average of 35.5 miles per gallon. May 20, 2009 In a sweeping order, President Barack Obama called for a rollback of Bush administration regulations designed to protect companies from product-liability lawsuits in state courts. He said federal agencies and departments should claim that state law is pre-empted by federal law only when there is a well-defined legal basis. He ordered agencies to review regulations from the past 10 years to see if the government had improperly asserted federal pre-emption. Mr. Obama's order said state laws play a valuable role in supplementing federal regulation. "State and local governments have frequently protected health, safety and the environment more aggressively than has the federal government. May 23, 2009 In a speech at the National Archives, President Barack Obama announced that he intended to transfer some detainees from Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to highly secure facilities inside the United States. He also proposed "prolonged detention" for terrorism suspects who cannot be tried, a problem he called "the toughest issue we face." "We are not going to release anyone if it would endanger our national security," Mr. Obama declared, adding, "As we make these decisions, bear in mind the following fact: Nobody has ever escaped from one of our federal supermax prisons, which hold hundreds of convicted terrorists." In describing his plans for the roughly 240 terrorism suspects still held at Guantánamo Bay, Mr. Obama accused his predecessor, George W. Bush, of having embarked on "a misguided experiment" that resulted in "a mess." He said there would be no danger in transferring detainees to "highly secure prisons" in this country, and pledged to seek trials for many in civilian or military courts. But he also said he would move to "construct a legitimate legal framework" to justify the detention of dangerous terrorism suspects who could not be tried or released. May 24, 2009 President Barack Obama signed into law a bill aimed at tightening the controls on defense spending, saying it is "long overdue." Obama noted one study which found that roughly $295 billion of taxpayers' money was wasted last year on cost overruns involving 95 defense programs. He said wasteful defense spending "is unacceptable" at a time when the country is fighting two wars and trying to overcome a deep recession at home. May 26, 2009 President Barack Obama chose federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor to become the nation's first Hispanic Supreme Court justice on Tuesday, praising her as "an inspiring woman" with both the intellect and compassion to interpret the Constitution wisely. Obama said Sotomayor has more experience as a judge than any current member of the high court had when nominated, adding she has earned the "respect of colleagues on the bench, the admiration of many lawyers who argue cases in her court and the adoration of her clerks, who look to her as a mentor." To provide your own input to the process, go to: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/