Michelle Obama's Speaks on Childhood Obesity Task Force Plan

Read the report here.

Obama Meets With Cabinet on Oil Spill

Statement from Robert Gibbs on the meeting:

The Deepwater Horizon explosion and BP oil spill presents us with challenges on a number of fronts – from capping the flow at the well head and containing the spill on the ocean’s surface, to controlling the impact of the oil on the coastal shoreline and on the precious wetlands and fisheries in the area. President Obama remains committed to bringing any and all available resources to the Gulf of Mexico. Earlier today the President met with a number of Cabinet members and senior staff in the White House Situation Room to review BP’s efforts to stop the oil leak as well as to decide on next steps to ensure all is being done to contain the spread, mitigate the environmental impact and provide assistance to affected states, including individuals, businesses, and communities.

As we continue to evaluate different options to stop the flow of oil, the President impressed upon his team two things in the meeting today: first, the importance of engaging independent experts in the fields of science and technology; and, second, bringing every perspective to the table to identify potential solutions.

The President was pleased to hear that some of Energy Secretary Chu’s ideas have helped us better understand the dimensions of this serious problem and he asked Secretary Chu to lead a team of top administration officials and government scientists to Houston this week for an extensive dialogue with BP officials to continue to aggressively pursue potential solutions. Throughout the week, the President will continue to dispatch additional Cabinet officials to the region. As the President has made clear before, BP will be paying for all costs of stopping the spill and cleaning it up, and we will aggressively pursue full compensation for damages.

In addition, to deal more generally with the harms created by oil spills, the President has requested that we send legislation to Congress to toughen and update the law surrounding caps on damages.


The principals participating in the meeting included:

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano
United States Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad Allen (National Incident Commander for this event)
Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar
Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen
Department of Defense Secretary Robert Gates
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel
Assistant to the President for Homeland Security John Brennan
National Security Advisor General Jim Jones
EPA Deputy Administrator Bob Perciasepe (Administrator Jackson is currently in Louisiana)
NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco
Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli
Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change Carol Browner
OMB Director Peter Orszag
Assistant to the President for Science and Technology John Holdren
DPC Chair Melody Barnes
CEQ Chair Nancy Sutley
Assistant to the President for Cabinet Affairs Chris Lu

No oil on Mississippi beaches but no beachgoers:

Duncan and Barnes Answer College Affordability Questions

Obama Announces December Jobs Forum

Unemployment claims fell more than expected, more good news.

Joe Biden working on jobs:

Melody Barnes Speaks on Stimulus Teaching Jobs

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From the White House:

WASHINGTON – The Obama Administration today announced that preliminary indications are that state governments will credit the Recovery Act with creating and saving at least 250,000 education jobs across the country when reports filed on Recovery Act education spending to-date are posted online later this month.

"This is one more indication of how the Recovery Act is helping soften the blow of tough times, by keeping educators on the job and teachers in the classroom," said Vice President Joe Biden.

A report released today by the Domestic Policy Council, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Education, finds that preliminary data shows that Recovery Act funding has enabled states to restore nearly all of their projected education budget shortfalls for FY09 and FY10. Filling these budget gaps has allowed the Recovery Act to avert layoffs of educators in school districts and universities across the nation, saving and creating at least a quarter of a million education jobs, while helping school districts make progress on reforms that will improve teaching and learning in America’s classrooms. To view the report, click HERE.

"Initial reporting from states shows that education stimulus dollars have created or saved over 250,000 education jobs across the nation and have been invested in the kinds of reforms that will help today's students compete in a global economy," said Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. "Early feedback from states also tells us that many districts are using stimulus dollars in ways that will move us beyond the status quo. There is a lot more work to be done but we applaud those districts that have successfully used stimulus funding to stave off catastrophic layoffs and invest in critical reforms."

The education jobs were reported as part of a historic effort the Administration has undertaken to provide the American people with more information about the Recovery Act at work than with any previous government program. In addition to the extensive data already available on every area of spending on Recovery.gov, recipients of the roughly one-third of the Recovery Act made up of projects and activities are required submit quarterly reports with more specific information about their spending and the related direct job impact to be publicly posted on the site.

The final individual reports will be published on Recovery.gov on October 30th after the current review period is completed; however, preliminary data from the states on education spending shows at least 250,000 education positions directly credited to the Recovery Act. This comes on top of last week’s data on Recovery contracts. On October 15th, preliminary data tied to federal contracts – less than 10 percent of total filings – was posted on Recovery.gov and showed 30,000 Recovery Act-funded direct jobs from that area of spending.

The law requires this more detailed reporting on $276 billion of the $787 billion Recovery Act – of which approximately $150 billion was already being put to work through September 30th and subject to reporting this quarter. Recipients are only asked to report the direct job impact and are instructed not to estimate indirect or induced job data.

For estimates of the total jobs impact of the Recovery Act, including the impact of the tax cuts, aid to individuals directly hurt by the recession, and much of the state fiscal relief, experts rely on macroeconomic modeling. Using these models, the Council of Economic Advisers and private forecasters estimated that the Recovery Act had helped to create or retain about 1 million jobs as of the end of August. Independent economists have also credited the Recovery Act with contributing between 2 and 3 percentage points to real GDP growth in the second half of this year.

President Obama signed the Recovery Act into law on February 17, 2009, as the country faced the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. The Act was designed to create jobs and spur economic growth through a combination of tax relief for individuals and businesses, aid to hard-hit families and state and local governments, and funding for science, technology and infrastructure projects across the country.

Melody Barnes Speaks on the Budget

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What's Going On At The Healthcare Summit and Money for Community Health Centers

While detractors continue to say that reforming healthcare is too much too soon, Obama continues to say that reforming healthcare isn't a luxury and it can't happen soon enough.

Our healthcare system costs the most, yet 48 million are uninsured. Not only are people uninsured, but they're underinsured (estimated 25 million). How many times have we heard stories about people who thought they were insured only to find out that their insurance company wouldn't pay the medical bills? Half of the bankruptcies are caused by medical bills. 

Obama seems to view government in a holistic way -- that everything must be tackled simultaneously because healthcare affects the economy and the economy affects national security. All the issues coincide as part of social ecosystem. It's a gigantic puzzle. 

If Obama's goal of getting all Americans insured isn't possible, he's willing to compromise. Today's healthcare summit is an attempt to get all interests on board. See the video below.

The administration's health care summit will focus on reducing and containing costs as well as expanding coverage, one senior administration official said.

Doctors, nurses, pharmaceutical representatives, lawmakers and hospital officials are among the 150 people expected to take part in the gathering, which President Obama sees as a starting point in tackling the overhaul of health care.

"This isn't a luxury; this is a necessity," Melody Barnes, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, told CNN's "American Morning" on Thursday, explaining that health care reform is a must for the U.S. to get its "economic ship steady."

"Health care costs are exploding. Many people are bringing in less income every month and seeing their premiums go up at the same time. It's affecting the bottom line and businesses. It's also affecting the fiscal well-being of our country," Barnes said.

"So this is something we have to do, because of the tough economic times, and we feel like we've learned lessons from the past that are going to help us get health care reform on the president's desk for his signature this year." CNN

Obama's going to need to rally the people on this one. Nothing's happened yet and republicans are already whining "socialized medicine:"

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In other healthcare news, stimulus money has been released to community centers across the U.S.

President Obama announced the release of $155 million in Recovery Act grant funds to support 126 Community Health Centers across the country. These grants alone will help provide health services to 750,000 Americans and create 5,500 jobs.

See the map of where the money is going here.

What's going on at the healthcare summit:

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Words from Melody Barnes

We sure know a lot more about Obama's team than Bush's. Or maybe it's because I'm paying attention. Nah, I don't think it's just that. Information about Obama's staff and all the transition happenings are continually posted at change.gov.
An exchange between NPR's Juan Williams and Obama's Director of the Domestic Policy Council (job description) Melody Barnes:

Juan Williams: Melody Barnes, you're going to be in the White House advising President Obama on domestic policy. As you look out on this group of people, what do you have to say to them about what they can do to help you do your job and achieve some of the goals that you have in mind for the President-elect?
Melody Barnes: That's a wonderful question. Thank you so much, Juan. What I want everyone to remember is that we have elected a different kind of president. On this panel already we've talked about the hunger to deliver on promises, to deliver on the needs of the American people. We've talked about the desire to be heard. The willingness to be heard and to contribute. We've talked about the need for humanity and the absolute need not to let up. And what we have now is a President-elect who understands that, who understands that we are interconnected, that each off us has a common set of problems and the solutions to those problems are also commonly linked. So we have to rely on the expertise that you have, expertise that exists in the faith community that exists in the labor community, that is born of the immigrant experience, that exists in the business community and all of us have to come together to bring that expertise to the table. We are counting, counting on you to talk to us and we have already started that process of listening to people on healthcare, listening to people on our labor relations issues and a whole host of other issues, so that we can use that information to build the solutions that are going to bring opportunity and mobility back to this country.
Juan Williams: Melody Barnes, do you have, as you look out on that first year, do you have an agenda that you could advertise to the audience here this afternoon so they know what's your priority?
Melody Barnes: Sure. The beauty of working for President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden is what they talked about for 21 months is what we believe in today. We know we have an economic crisis staring us in the face right now and we have to do something about that. And we are preparing as President-elect Obama has said a stimulus package to shock the economy back into being. But when we are doing that, we are not forgetting about our promises on healthcare, access to healthcare for everyone. We're not forgetting about our promises with regard to education, starting not just in kindergarten but the day you are born and helping young families, to make sure that they are prepared to raise their children. And we are not forgetting about our promises with regard to the immigrant community as well. So all of those things are a part of our agenda. We will start making down payments on those things as President-elect Obama has said in the stimulus package and beyond going into this first year. That's part of our economic recovery.

Obama Press Conference on Economic Team- Video

Obama officially announced economic team members: Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury; Lawrence Summers, Director of the National Economic Council; Christina Romer, Director of the Council of Economic Advisors; Melody Barnes, Director of the Domestic Policy Council; and Heather Higginbottom, Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council.
Transcript

Q&A with reporters

Obama's Transition Team Heads

Update Nov. 14: More transition team announcements. Read the whole list here.
For all who care about the nitty gritty of the transition, here are the people leading the various transition teams.

WASHINGTON – The Obama-Biden Transition Team today announced the Agency Review Team leads for the Deperatment of Treasury, Department of State, and Department of Defense. The Obama-Biden Transition Team also announced the Agency Review Team co-chairs, who will oversee the entire review process, as well as the Agency Review Working Group, which will manage and review the Teams' work and coordinate with other transition teams, including those handling personnel, policy and the budget.

The Agency Review Teams will complete a thorough review of key departments, agencies and commissions of the United States government, as well as the White House, to provide the President-elect, Vice President-elect, and key advisors with information needed to make strategic policy, budgetary, and personnel decisions prior to the inauguration. The Teams will begin their efforts by the end of the week, and will ensure that senior appointees have the information necessary to complete the confirmation process, lead their departments, and begin implementing signature policy initiatives immediately after they are sworn in.

Department of the Treasury Agency Review Team Leads

Josh Gotbaum currently serves as an advisor to investment funds, with a special focus on restructurings and management turnaround. He was startup CEO of the September 11th Fund, a charity that serves people, businesses and non-profits. From 1994-2001, Josh held Senate-confirmed positions in Treasury, Defense, and OMB. From 1981-94, he was an investment banker, working on mergers and restructuring in North America and Europe. His clients included major corporations, unions, and government. He also has worked in the White House and at the Department of Energy.

Michael Warren is the Chief Operating Officer of Stonebridge International LLC. He also is on the Board of Directors of the District of Columbia Retirement Board, Catalist, the DC Minority Business Enterprise Center Advisory Board, Southeastern University’s Center for Entrepreneurship, Civitas, Riptopia, and the National Child Research Center. Mr. Warren previously worked at McKinsey & Company, both as a strategic consultant in the technology and financial institutions industries and as a fellow of the McKinsey Global Institute. Mr. Warren served within the White House as Executive Director of the President’s National Economic Council.

Department of State Agency Review Team Leads

Tom Donilon is a partner at the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers and serves on the firm’s global governing committee. Tom served as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of State during the Clinton Administration. Since leaving the Department he has remained deeply involved in the national security arena. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Aspen Strategy Group, the National Security Advisory Group to the Congressional Leadership, the Brookings Institution Board of Trustees, the Miller Center of Public Affairs Governing Council, and the Trilateral Commission.

Wendy R. Sherman is a Principal of The Albright Group LLC and of Albright Capital Management LLC. Ambassador Sherman served as Counselor and chief troubleshooter for the State Department, as well as Special Advisor to President Clinton and Policy Coordinator on North Korea. Sherman is a recognized expert on national security issues and serves as a frequent analyst in major news outlets. She was recently appointed by Congressional Leadership to serve on the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism.

Department of Defense Agency Review Team Leads

John P. White is Robert and Renee Belfer Lecturer and Chair of the Kennedy School Middle East Initiative. He served as U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1995 to 1997, Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget from 1978 to 1981, Assistant Secretary of Defense, Manpower, Reserve Affairs, and Logistics from 1977 to 1978, and as a lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps from 1959 to 1961. Prior to his most recent government service, White was the Director of the Center for Business and Government at Harvard University and the Chair of the Commission on Roles and Missions of the Armed Forces.

Michèle A. Flournoy is President and Co-Founder of the Center for a New American Security. Previously, she was a senior adviser at CSIS and a distinguished research professor at NDU. In the Clinton administration, she was dual-hatted as principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and threat reduction and deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy. She is on the board of the Institute for Defense Analyses, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Aspen Strategy Group, the Executive Board of Women in International Security, and a former member of the Defense Policy Board.

Agency Review Co-Chairs

Melody Barnes is Co-chair of the Agency Review Working Group for the Obama-Biden Transition Project. She most recently served as the Senior Domestic Policy Advisor to the Obama for America campaign. Prior to joining the campaign, Ms. Barnes served as the Executive Vice President for Policy at the Center for American Progress, Chief Counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee and a Principal at The Raben Group, LLC. Her experience also includes an appointment as Director of Legislative Affairs to the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Ms. Barnes began her career as an attorney with Shearman & Sterling.

Lisa Brown is Co-chair of the Agency Review Working Group for the Obama-Biden Transition Project. She is on leave from the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy where she is the Executive Director. Lisa served as Counsel to Vice President Gore, with a broad legal and policy portfolio that included serving on the Executive Board of the President’s Committee for Employment of People with Disabilities. Before that, she worked in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice, was a Partner at the D.C. law firm of Shea & Gardner (now Goodwin Procter), and clerked on the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals for the Honorable John C. Godbold.

Don Gips is on the Advisory Board of the Obama-Biden Transition Project and is Co-chair of the Agency Review Working Group. He is on leave from his role as Group Vice President of Global Corporate Development at Level 3 Communications, where he leads merger and acquisition efforts and is the Chief Strategy Officer. Prior to joining Level 3, Mr. Gips served in the White House as Chief Domestic Policy Advisor to Vice President Gore. Previously, Mr. Gips was Chief of the International Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission where he was responsible for the WTO negotiations and all spectrum policy. Mr. Gips also helped launch the Americorps Program at the Corporation for National Service. Before entering government, he was an Executive Manager at McKinsey & Company.

Working Group Members

Seth Harris is a member of the Obama-Biden Transition Project’s Agency Review Working Group responsible for the labor, education, and transportation agencies. He is a Professor and the Director of Labor & Employment Law Programs at New York Law School. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Life Without Limits Project of the United Cerebral Palsy Association and a member of the National Advisory Commission on Workplace Flexibility. He served as the Chair of Obama for America’s Labor, Employment, and Workplace Policy Committee and a Co-Chair of its Disability Policy Committee. During the Clinton Administration, he served as Counselor to the Secretary of Labor and Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for Policy, among other policy-advising positions. Before joining the administration, he was a law clerk to Judge William Canby of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Judge Gene Carter of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine. He was Editor-in-Chief of the Review of Law & Social Change at the New York University School of Law.

David J. Hayes is a member of the Obama-Biden Transition Project’s Agency Review Working Group responsible for the energy and natural resources agencies. He is former Global Chair of the Environment, Land and Resources Department at Latham & Watkins, an international law firm. He is a Senior Fellow at the World Wildlife Fund, advising the President of WWF on climate change matters, and he is a Senior Fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute, specializing on energy matters. Mr. Hayes is the Vice-Chairman of the national conservation group, American Rivers, and he is the former Chairman of the Board of the Environmental Law Institute. Mr. Hayes was the Deputy Secretary of the Interior during the Clinton Administration. During the 2007-2008 academic year, Hayes was a Consulting Professor at Stanford University’s Woods Institute for the Environment.

Reed Hundt, is a member of the Obama-Biden Transition Project’s Agency Review Working Group responsible for the international trade and economics agencies. He is a member of various boards of directors, a part-time senior adviser to McKinsey & Company, a strategic consulting firm, and an adviser to a number of firms. He served as the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission from 1993 to 1997. Since that date, he has taught for a number of years at Yale College, Yale Law School, and the Yale School of Management, and Yale University Press has published two books written by him, You Say You Want A Revolution: A Story of Information Age Politics and In China’s Shadow: The Crisis of American Entrepreneurship.

Sally Katzen is a member of the Obama-Biden Transition Project’s Agency Review Working Group responsible for the Executive Office of the President and government operations agencies. She is a Lecturer at Michigan Law School and teaches American Government at the Michigan in Washington Program. She has also taught at George Mason, Pennsylvania and Georgetown law schools as well as at Smith College and Johns Hopkins University. From 1993-2001, she served as Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), then Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, and then OMB’s Deputy Director for Management. She has served on National Academies of Science panels and is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. Before 1993, she was a partner at then Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering. She clerked for Judge J. Skelly Wright of the District of Columbia Circuit.

Tom Perez is as a member of the Obama Transition Project’s Agency Review Working Group responsible for the justice, health and human services, veterans affairs, and housing and urban development agencies. He is Secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation under Governor Martin O’Malley. He worked in a variety of civil rights positions at the Department of Justice, including Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights under Attorney General Janet Reno. He also served as Director of the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Donna Shalala, and as Special Counsel to Senator Edward Kennedy. From 2001 until 2007, he was Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Maryland School of Law, and is an adjunct faculty member at the George Washington School of Public Health.

Sarah Sewall is a member of the Obama-Biden Transition Project’s Agency Review Working Group responsible for the national security agencies. She is on part-time leave from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where she teaches and is Faculty Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. Her research focuses on U.S. national security strategy, civil-military relations, counterinsurgency, terrorism and mass atrocity. Sewall served as the first U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Assistance (1993-1996). She previously served for six years as Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell.

Louisa Terrell is a Working Group member of the Obama-Biden Transition Project’s Agency Review Team. Louisa is on leave from her role as Senior Director at Yahoo!’s public policy office in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining Yahoo! Louisa was Deputy Chief of Staff for Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Previously, Louisa was counsel for Senator Biden on his Senate Judiciary Committee staff where she handled criminal sentencing, juvenile justice, child protection, immigration policy and women’s issues, among other areas and before that worked in the Civil Rights Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.

Ray Rivera is a member of the Obama-Biden Transition Project’s Agency Review Working Group. He was most recently State Director for the Obama-Biden Campaign in Colorado. He was also the State Director for the Colorado Caucus and served as Northeast Field Desk out of Chicago headquarters early in the campaign. Prior to the Obama Campaign, Ray was a Political Director for AFSCME, public employee’s labor union and a union organizer. Ray was born in Albuquerque, NM and graduated with a BA from the University of New Mexico in 2001.

Michael Warren is a member of the Obama-Biden Transition Project’s Agency Review Working Group helping to oversee the international trade and economics agencies. He is on partial leave from his role as Chief Operating Officer of Stonebridge International LLC., where he is a member of the firm’s Management Committee. Prior to joining Stonebridge, Warren led corporate development at Horne Engineering Services and served as President of Appfluent Technologies. He also serves as Chairman of Ironbridge Systems. He is on the Board of Directors of the District of Columbia Retirement Board, Catalist, the DC Minority Business Enterprise Center Advisory Board, Southeastern University’s Center for Entrepreneurship, Civitas, and the National Child Research Center. Warren previously worked at McKinsey & Company, both as a strategic consultant in the technology and financial institutions industries and as a fellow of the McKinsey Global Institute, advising corporate leaders in the U.S. and Asian semiconductor industries. He served within the White House as Executive Director of the President’s National Economic Council.

Tom Wheeler is a member of the Obama-Biden Transition Project’s Agency Review Working Group responsible for the science, technology, space and arts agencies. He has taken a leave of absence from Core Capital Partners, a venture capital firm working with early stage technology companies, where he is a Managing Director. For three decades, Wheeler has worked at the forefront of technology, both as an entrepreneur and as a policy specialist. He has been the CEO of the National Cable Television Association and the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, as well as the founder or co-founder of multiple new technology companies. Wheeler is the author of two books: Mr. Lincoln’s T-Mails and Leadership Lessons from the Civil War.

Jon Wilkins is a member of the Obama-Biden Transition Project’s Agency Review Working Group. He has taken a partial leave of absence from McKinsey & Company, where he is a partner in the Washington, DC office. Jon first joined McKinsey in 1996. He then worked at the Federal Communications Commission from 1998-1999 before re-joining McKinsey in 1999. He was Managing Editor of the Yale Law Journal.