6 posts from May 2009

Reopening of Statue of Liberty’s Crown

  • May 27, 2009

Salazar Announces Reopening of Statue of Liberty’s Crown, Restoration of Historic Building at Ellis Island

NEW YORK, NY – The American public will once again be able to visit the crown of the Statue of Liberty, which was closed after the 9/11 attacks for safety and security reasons, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced today.

In addition, the Department of the Interior will invest $25 million under the President’s economic recovery plan to stabilize the Baggage and Dormitory Building at Ellis Island, built in 1908 to house immigrants waiting for further processing, and repair 2,000 feet of the island’s crumbling seawall.

“On July 4th, we are giving America a special gift,” Salazar said. “We are once again inviting the public to celebrate our great nation and the hope and opportunity it symbolizes by climbing to Lady Liberty’s crown for a unique view of New York Harbor, where the forbearers of millions of American families first saw the new world.”

Access to the crown will be limited to 10 people at a time, guided by a National Park Service ranger.

Salazar, who visited the Statue of Liberty on his third day in office, based his decision on a comprehensive analysis of the entire structure completed last month by the National Park Service, including expert recommendations on reducing risk for visitors.

The Park Service, which has responsibility to keep visitors safe and make it possible for them to evacuate in the event of an emergency, closed the crown because of health and safety concerns. The crown is accessible only by a narrow 168-step double-helix spiral staircase. After 9/11, the Park Service deemed the risk too high to re-open the crown to the public.

“We cannot eliminate all the risk of climbing to the crown, but we are taking steps to make it safer,” Salazar said. This includes raising the handrails on the spiral staircase and stationing rangers throughout the Statue to aid visitors, as well as help them enjoy the experience and learn more about the Statue and its symbolism.

The Statue of Liberty will be open for the next two years. Then it will be closed again for work on a long-term solution that will improve safety and security permanently.

“Once the work is complete, the Statue will be safer, and so will its visitors,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Park Service will help create jobs and stimulate the economy by beginning to restore a building at Ellis Island that is a tangible reminder of the difficult path so many people followed to this country.

Some 40 percent of American citizens can trace a family connection to Ellis. “Visitors who make the pilgrimage to Ellis Island will be able see, touch, and get a sense of that first American experience had by a mother or grandfather,” Salazar said.

The funds to restore the building and sea wall at Ellis Island are part of more than $750 million in Recovery funds we will be investing in national parks across the nation.


The Troops

  • May 25, 2009

Reform for Our Troops

This morning the President signed legislation that seems an obvious step, and yet it is one that has not been taken despite all of the incidents that have cried out for it: reform of the defense procurement and contracting system.  This accomplishment for American taxpayers ,and for our military who can now stretch every dollar that much further for those who serve our country, was made all the more gratifying by the bipartisan consensus that it finally found.
The President recognized Senator McCain in particular in his remarks:
Last year, the Government Accountability Office, or the GAO, looked into 95 major defense projects and found cost overruns that totaled $295 billion.  Wasteful spending comes from exotic requirements, lack of oversight, and indefensible no-bid contracts that don't make our troops or our country any safer.  To put this in perspective, these cost overruns would have paid our troops' salaries and provided benefits for their families for more than a year. 
At a time when we're fighting two wars and facing a serious deficit, this is unexcusable and unconscionable.  As Secretary Gates has said, one dollar of waste in our defense budget is a dollar we can't spend to support our troops, or prepare for future threats, or protect the American people.  Well, it's finally time to end this waste and inefficiency.
Already, I've announced reform that will greatly reduce no-bid defense contracts and save the government billions of dollars.  And Secretary Gates, working with our military leadership, has also proposed a courageous set of reforms in our defense budget that will target waste and strengthen our military for the future.  In taking on this enormously difficult task, he's done a tremendous job, and I want to publicly commend Secretary Gates for that.
The bill I'm signing today, known as the Weapons System Acquisition Reforms Act, represents an important next step in this procurement reform process.  It reforms a system where taxpayers are charged too much for weapons systems that too often arrive late -- a system that suffers from spending on unproven technologies, outdated weapons, and a general lack of oversight. 
The purpose of this law will be to limit cost overruns before they spiral out of control.  It will strengthen oversight and accountability by appointing officials who will be charged with closely monitoring the weapons systems we're purchasing to ensure that costs are controlled.  If the cost of certain defense projects continue to grow year after year, those projects will be closely reviewed, and if they don't provide the value we need, they will be terminated.  This law will also enhance competition and end conflicts of interest in the weapons acquisitions process so that American taxpayers and the American military can get the best weapons at the lowest cost.
And this legislation is long overdue, and it's been a long time coming.  But we're finally signing it into law because of the dedication and commitment of a few key members of Congress who've been fighting for years for this reform:  Senators Carl Levin and John McCain; Representatives Ike Skelton, John McHugh, Rob Andrews, and Mike Conaway.  I'm very proud of the extraordinary work that all these gentlemen have done who are standing behind me today.  Senator McCain couldn't be here today because he's making sure he has a good seat to watch his son graduate from the Naval Academy in a few hours, and that's where I'm headed as soon as I catch my ride over here.
But I will tell you that defense procurement reform was one of the issues that John McCain and I discussed in our first meeting after the election.  We pledged to work together to get it done, and today I'm extraordinarily proud to stand here and sign a bill that passed with unanimous support from both parties at every step of the way.
 The President signs Procurement Reform
(President Barack Obama hands a pen to U.S. Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ) as he signs the Weapons Systems
Acquisition Reform Act in the Rose Garden at the White House Friday, May 22, 2009. Standing from left are:
Andrews, Rep. John McHugh (R-NY), Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), Rep. Ike Skelton (D-MO) and
Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX).   Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)
 

Secretary Clinton on Humanitarian aid to Pakistan

  • May 21, 2009

Streaming at 11:15: Secretary Clinton on Humanitarian aid to Pakistan

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will make an announcement about humanitarian aid to Pakistan today at 11:15AM EDT in the Brady briefing room here at the White House.

UPDATE: This event has concluded, read details provided by the Press Office:

Background on Secretary Clinton’s announcement of Humanitarian Aid to Pakistan
 
Today, Secretary Clinton will announce that the United States will supply $110 million in humanitarian aid from the State Department and Defense Department to help Internally Displaced Persons in Pakistan.
 
Prime Minister Gillani recently appointed Brigadier General Nadeem Ahmad to lead the Pakistani relief effort. General Nadeem’s appointment has been universally praised given how successfully he led relief efforts following the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir.
 
Here is how the $100 million from State breaks down:
 
  • $20 million from the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance to provide family relief kits, tents, FM radios, and generators that will provide light and water.
  • $26 million for the immediate purchase of wheat, other food, and related items from local sources.
  • $17 million from Food for Progress for 50,000 tons of wheat arriving in May and June.
  • $10 million to respond to forthcoming emergency appeals by the United Nations.
  • $15 million for shipments of food items such as lentils, dried peas, and other basic foodstuffs.
  • $12 million for an emergency response center for direct humanitarian needs.
In addition, there is $10 million from DOD:
 
  • $10 million to be used water trucks, halal food, and large tents with environmental units, such as air conditioning, for hot weather.
    •  
 
Tags: pakistan, secretary clinton

EMPLOYER HEALTH CARE COSTS

  • May 13, 2009

THE WHITE HOUSE

 

Office of the Press Secretary

_________________________________________________________________

For Immediate Release                                May 12, 2009

 

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AFTER ROUNDTABLE WITH BUSINESS LEADERS TO
DISCUSS EMPLOYER HEALTH CARE COSTS

 Roosevelt Room

 

12:23 P.M. EDT

 

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody.  We just had a wonderful conversation that is a corollary to the discussion that I had yesterday.  And you may be seeing a theme, this was -- we're doing some stuff on health care because I think the country is geared up, businesses are geared up, families are geared up, to go ahead and start solving some of our extraordinary health care system problems.

Yesterday we focused a lot on cost.  One element of cost is that where companies are able to take initiatives to make their employees healthier, to give them incentives and mechanisms to improve their wellness and to prevent disease, companies see their bottom lines improve.

And so what we've done is to gather together a group today -- some of the best practitioners of prevention and wellness, wellness programs -- in the private sector.  You have companies like Safeway that have been able to hold their costs flat for their employees at a time when other companies are seeing double-digit inflation in their health care.

You've got terrific innovations at companies like Microsoft, where they actually have used home visits of doctors to reduce the utilization of emergency room care and are saving themselves millions of dollars.

We've got the Hotel Employees Union that has been taking data and working individually with providers as well as their membership, working with the employer and the employee as well as the providers, and seeing huge reductions in some of the costs related to chronic illnesses.

Johnson & Johnson has been a leader in this area since 1978.  Pitney Bowes has been taking similar approaches and seeing millions of dollars in savings to their bottom line.  The Ohio Department of Public Health has been doing terrific work with respect to their state employees as well as spreading the message across the state.

And then REI, which has to be fit since they're a fitness company -- (laughter) -- has been doing work that allows them to provide health care coverage, health insurance, not only to their full-time employees but also their part-time employees.  Every single employee is covered, but part of the reason they're able to do it is because they put a big emphasis on prevention and wellness.

So what we've done here today is to gather together some of these stories and best practices to make sure that they are going to be informing the health care reform discussions that take place here in Washington.  There's no quick fix, there's no silver bullet.  When you hear what Safeway or Johnson & Johnson or any of these other companies have done, what you've seen is sustained experimentation over many years and a shift in incentive structures so that employees see concrete benefits as a consequence of them stopping smoking or losing weight or getting exercise, working with providers -- the provider incentives are aligned with the employee incentives as well, and changing the culture of a company.

Now, if we can do that in individual companies, there's no reason why we can't do that for a country as a whole.  Part of what we want to do here, starting here today is to lift up these best practices so other companies can identify and potentially implement them; but also to make sure that when we think about how we're going to reform the health care system as a whole, when we think about things like Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, when we think about how we can make the system more efficient, that we're not just doing this in the abstract, but we're actually taking proven measures that have been applied in the private sector and seeing how we can apply those, for example, to federal employees and our employee health care system.  All this designed to save taxpayers money, save businesses money and ultimately make the American people healthier and happier and make sure that we're getting a better bang for our health care dollar.

So it's been a terrific conversation.  This will be a part of the ongoing process that we're developing over the next several months and I appreciate all of you for participating in a wonderful conversation.

All right.  Thank you, guys.

 

END                                             
12:29 P.M. EDT
 

Tags: employer health care

Outreach and Meetings Regarding the Recovery Act

  • May 11, 2009

More News on Outreach and Meetings Regarding the Recovery Act

Another update from Norm Eisen, special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform, in the spirit of transparency as always:

The President has taken bold steps to enhance transparency in government, end lobbying abuses, and ensure that the government’s spending decisions are based on merit.  As we’ve mentioned in a prior post, we continue to track the implementation of the President’s unprecedented transparency rules for lobbying contacts under the Recovery Act.  Yesterday we had two meetings about the rules at which lobbyists were present.  First, we met with representatives of groups from the reform community, including those generally supportive of the policy.  A wide array of opinions was aired, with some indicating that they want the policy to stay as is, and others making a variety of suggestions for changes to make the policy even tougher.  Later in the day, we met with representatives from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who oppose the rules.  We heard their concerns and engaged in discussion about their particular objections.  We continue to believe that the rules are sound as a matter of law and policy, but consistent with the President’s instructions, we are using this 60-day implementation period to cultivate, and listen to, a wide range of views.  Present at the reform group meeting were:
 
Nicole Austin Hillary
Director and Counsel, Washington Office
The Brennan Center for Justice
 
Meredith McGehee
Policy Director
Campaign Legal Center
 
Tara Malloy
Associate Legal Counsel
Campaign Legal Center
 
Sarah Dufendach
Vice President for Legislative Affairs
Common Cause
 
Fred Wertheimer
President
Democracy 21
 
Scott Amey
General Counsel
Project on Government Oversight
 
Craig Holman
Legislative Representative
Public Citizen
 
John Wonderlich
Policy Director
Sunlight Foundation
 
Lisa Rosenberg
Government Affairs Consultant
Sunlight Foundation
 
Daniel Schuman
Policy Counsel
Sunlight Foundation
 
Lisa Gilbert
Democracy Advocate
U.S. PIRG
 
Lee Mason
Director of Nonprofit Speech Rights
OMB Watch
 
Sheila Krumholz
Executive Director
Center for Responsive Politics
 
Lloyd Leonard
Director of Advocacy
League of Women Voters
 
Norm Ornstein
Resident Scholar
American Enterprise Institute
 
Present at the meeting with the Chamber of Commerce were:
 
Steven Law
Chief Legal Officer
 
Judith K. Richmond
Associate General Counsel
 
Amar Sarwal
Staff Attorney
 
In addition to Norm Eisen, White House attendees included Preeta Bansal of OMB, Mike Mongan of the Office of the Vice President, and members of their staff.
Tags: recovery act

My Fellow Americans Speach

  • May 5, 2009

“My Fellow Americans”

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download .mp4 (183.0 MB) | also available here | read the transcript

This afternoon the President attended a naturalization ceremony for active duty service members in the East Room of the White House, along with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano who delivered the oath of allegiance. It was a meaningful moment to reflect on what it means to be an American.
 
 
The President also presented the Outstanding American by Choice award to Peter Lemon, whose amazing story you can read along with the names of all of the new American citizens in the background to the event.
 
 
You all have your own stories of how you came to this country.  And you all have your own personal reasons for why you joined the military.  But in the service that you render, in the sacrifices that each of you have made and will continue to make, in the commitment you've shown to your adopted nation, you're part of a larger story -- America's story.

For more than two centuries, this nation has been a beacon of hope and opportunity -- a place that has drawn enterprising men and women from around the world who have sought to build a life as good as their talents and their hard work would allow.  And generation after generation of immigrants have come to these shores because they believe that in America all things are possible.

So you are not only living examples of that promise; you're also serving to defend that promise for future generations.  And your service reminds all of us that much of the strength of this country is drawn from those who have chosen to call it home.  It's not lost on me or anybody here today that at a time when we face an economic crisis born in many ways of irresponsibility, there are those who are actively pursuing greater responsibility.