From OFA Director Mitch Stewart: This week, hundreds of thousands of supporters like you stood up to support Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s historic nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court
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The President’s Weekly Address: Judge Sotomayor
The President discusses the breadth and depth of experience held by his nominee for the Supreme Court.
The President discusses the breadth and depth of experience held by his nominee for the Supreme Court. In the course of a life that began in a housing project in the South Bronx and brought her to the pinnacle of her profession, Judge Sonia Sotomayor accumulated more experience on the federal bench than any incoming Supreme Court Justice in the past 100 years, touching nearly every aspect of our legal system
As we mentioned earlier today, the administration has been working hard on a coordinated effort to prepare for hurricane season. This afternoon, the President met with FEMA at the National Response Coordination Center to discuss hurricane preparedness. The President stated that he had no greater responsibility than the safety of the American people, and emphasized the importance of planning in ensuring that safety: Our top priority is ensuring the public safety.
Another update from Norm Eisen, special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform , in the spirit of transparency as always: I am writing with an update on the President’s March 20, 2009 Memorandum on Ensuring Responsible Spending of Recovery Act Funds. Section 3 of the Memorandum required all oral communications between federally registered lobbyists and government officials concerning Recovery Act policy to be disclosed on the Internet; barred registered lobbyists from having oral communications with government officials about specific Recovery Act projects or applications and instead required those communications to be in writing; and also required those written communications to be posted on the Internet. That Memorandum instructed the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to review the initial 60 days of implementation of the stimulus lobbying restrictions, to evaluate the data, and to recommend modifications. Following OMB’s review, the Administration has decided to make a number of changes to the rules that we think make them even tougher on special interests and more focused on merits-based decision making. First, we will expand the restriction on oral communications to cover all persons, not just federally registered lobbyists. For the first time, we will reach contacts not only by registered lobbyists but also by unregistered ones, as well as anyone else exerting influence on the process. We concluded this was necessary under the unique circumstances of the stimulus program
OMB Director Orszag explains why the fiscal problems the President inherited don’t preclude health reform, but rather necessitate it. Read the full post.
Melissa Hathaway, Cybersecurity Chief at the National Security Council, discusses securing our nation’s digital future: The globally-interconnected digital information and communications infrastructure known as cyberspace underpins almost every facet of modern society and provides critical support for the U.S.
Yesterday, Vice President Joe Biden sent out a message to supporters about President Obama nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor: President Obama hit a home run with his nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court — and not just because she’s the "woman who saved baseball" by ending the strike in 1995, nor simply because she would be the first Latina ever to serve on the high court. It was a home run because in her three-decade career as a prosecutor, judge, private litigator and law professor, she has time and again earned bipartisan praise as one of America’s finest legal minds. And it was the right choice because Judge Sotomayor — herself born and raised in a South Bronx housing project — has summed up the American dream in her own incredible story and never once forgotten how the law affects our daily lives
With Monday marking the beginning of hurricane season, this afternoon the President will attend a hurricane preparedness meeting at FEMA Headquarters. The President has already called on all Americans to plan ahead and help secure the safety of those facing advancing storms, declaring May 24 through May 30, 2009 National Hurricane Preparedness Week . Department of Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano said preparing for disasters is one of the highest priorities of Homeland Security