Obama Daily News Digest

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will dispatch senior agency officials to meet with airport executives around the world to review security and technology used to screen passengers on U.S.-bound flights, the department said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia will begin to block imports of U.S. poultry as of Jan 1. because of concerns about a commonly used chlorine treatment, U.S. government officials and a Russian news agency said on Thursday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve’s balance sheet shrank slightly in the latest week on a small dip in its holdings of agency mortgage-backed securities, Fed data released on Thursday showed.

The President offers his best wishes for the New Year, recorded on December 22nd before he left Washington:

Good evening. Tonight, as Americans across the country gather with family and friends, I want to wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year.

This is always a hopeful time, as we celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of another. And while 2009 was difficult for many Americans, we must also look back on this year with the knowledge that brighter days are ahead of us – that although our challenges are great, each of us has the courage and determination to rise up and meet them.

It is that spirit that has kept the American Dream alive for generations, and it is that spirit that will keep it alive for generations to come. Happy New Year, everyone.

En Español:

Saludos a todos. Esta noche que estadounidenses en todo el país se están reuniendo con familiares y amigos, quiero desearles a todos un feliz Año Nuevo, lleno de salud.
 
Éste siempre es un periodo de optimismo, ya que celebramos el final de un año y el inicio de otro. Y aunque el 2009 fue difícil para muchos estadounidenses, debemos también ver este año pasado con la certeza de que tendremos días mejores por delante – que a pesar de que los retos son grandes, cada uno de nosotros tiene la valentía y la determinación para enfrentarlos.
 
Es ese espíritu el que ha mantenido vivo el Sueño Americano generación tras generación, y es ese espíritu el que lo mantendrá vivo en generaciones futuras. Feliz Año Nuevo a todos.
 

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Conservative U.S. radio commentator Rush Limbaugh, hospitalized in Hawaii with chest pains, faced a battery of medical tests on Thursday after a “good night’s rest,” his substitute host told listeners.

KANEOHE, Hawaii (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has summoned the heads of U.S. intelligence agencies for a meeting on Tuesday to discuss ways of preventing a repeat of the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner on December 25.

You would think the global recession might have had a humbling effect - especially in a place like Las Vegas. Not so. Despite the fact the city has been devastated economically by the recession, the tanking real estate market and the state has seen its unemployment rate skyrocket to 12.6%, the Las Vegas Sun reports [...]

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he hoped for improved relations with the United States in 2010, days after his attack on U.S. missile defense plans displayed the fragility of efforts to draw closer.

Cross-posted from the White House blog

President Obama ordered earlier this year that in December the White House would — for the first time in history — begin posting White House visitor records as provided in our new voluntary disclosure policy. Today we are delivering on that commitment by posting more than 25,000 records created between Sept 16 and Sept 30. The volume is enormous because we are not just answering specific requests for records — we are disclosing thousands of folks who come and go here daily. We will do this on a monthly basis, with the records for the full month of October being posted in 30 days.

This release represents a milestone in the President's commitment to change Washington. The President believes that this and our many other transparency initiatives promote accountability and keep American democracy vital. 

We are excited about the visitor records policy not only because we are breaking new ground for this Administration but also because we are establishing a new standard for all future administrations. We know of no comparable initiative in the history of the White House. Indeed, previous Administrations fought for years to protect just a handful of records — far less than we are putting out for any single day of the month.

Today’s release also includes visitor information for the Vice President and his staff at the White House Complex.  Consistent with the voluntary disclosure policy, the Office of the Vice President is releasing the names and dates of visitors to the Vice President’s Residence for official events between Sept 16 and Sept 30, and the visitors to the Residence who appear on the daily schedules of the Vice President and Dr. Biden.  At this time, it is not possible to release visitor information for the Vice President’s Residence in an identical format to the White House Complex because the Residence is not equipped with the WAVES system that is in place at the White House Complex.  The Vice President’s staff is working with the Secret Service to upgrade the visitor records system at the Residence.  When the electronic update is complete, visitor information for the White House Complex and the Residence will be released in a common format. 

In addition, we are also today releasing close to 2,000 pre-Sept 16 records in response to specific requests. As part of our new initiative, we offered to look back at the records created before the announcement of the policy and answer specific requests for visitor records created earlier in the year.   Today’s production of records is in response to nearly 700 requests from the public during the month of November. Those requests have yielded close to 2000 responsive records that span the time period between January 20, 2009 and September 15, 2009. All of these have been added to the online database of published visitor records in an accessible, searchable format for anyone to browse or download. 

Today’s release builds upon the previous series of visitor record disclosures.  In October the White House released close to 500 records in response to 110 requests that were received throughout September.  In November, the White House released 1,600 records in response to nearly 300 individual requests received from the public in October. You can view them all here.

As you review this month’s release you will notice that the records presentation is slightly different.  Thanks to many of your suggestions, we have made some improvements that will hopefully make this information easier to use.  However, the raw data remains the same and you can access that information by downloading the csv file in full.

Today’s release is only one example of the many steps the President has taken to increase government transparency over the past year. This Administration’s concrete commitments to openness include issuing the Open Government Directive, putting up more government information than ever before on data.gov and recovery.gov, reforming the government’s FOIA processes, providing on-line access to White House staff financial reports and salaries, adopting a tough new state secrets policy, reversing an executive order that previously limited access to presidential records, and webcasting White House meetings and conferences. The release also compliments our new lobbying rules, which in addition to closing the revolving door for lobbyists who work in government have also emphasized expanding disclosure of lobbyist contacts with the government.

As before, some of the most frequent White House visitors in today's release are Administration officials who come to the White House as part of their daily work. For example, Matthew Yale and Doug O’Brien both visit the White House frequently as part of their agency responsibilities.

Also, as we have previously noted, sometimes rather than providing clear information, transparency can have confusing or amusing results. Given the significant number of visitors to the White House, many visitors share the same name. Today’s release includes the names of some notable figures (for example, yet another William Ayers record appears in this disclosure). The well-known individual with that name has not visited the White House, but we have included the record of the individual that did.

Lastly, we are still processing a small set of the September records to ensure that their release will not compromise national security.  We expect to conclude this review shortly and will release any additional records with next month’s posting.

Happy New Year!

Norm Eisen is Special Counsel to the President for Ethics and Government Reform
 

In an editorial titled, “Failed State,” the New York Times this morning calls on New Yorkers to vote out the entire State Legislature next year, saying Albany added “fiscal incompetence” in 2009 to its decades-long creed of “scandal and irresponsibility.”
The only solace is this: The entire Legislature is up for re-election in 2010. And unless [...]

« Previous entries