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Welcome to the West Wing Week, your guide to everything that's happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. This week, Education Month continued, with President Obama asking Congress to fix No Child Left Behind before the beginning of the coming school year. The President also updates the American people on relief efforts in Japan and pledges continued support. The Prime Minister of Denmark, Taoiseach of Ireland, and the Chicago Blackhawks also stopped by.
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March 17, 2011
05:00 PM EDTIn February, I traveled with Secretary Geithner and the President to Cleveland, Ohio to meet local business owners and discuss the challenges that they face each day. It was exciting to see the ingenuity and determination of so many entrepreneurs; the American spirit of entrepreneurial innovation remains strong, not just in Silicon Valley, but in all parts of the country. That innovation continues to be at the heart of the American economy and it has helped drive six quarters of economic growth.
However, the challenges that these business owners face cannot be ignored. In the wake of the recent financial crisis, it is difficult for so many entrepreneurs to access the capital necessary for their companies to grow. Across the Administration, as we encourage innovation and promote entrepreneurship, we are grappling with this question: How can we make sure that the next Facebook has the capital it needs to grow and succeed?
Next Tuesday, March 22, Treasury will be hosting a conference titled Access to Capital: Fostering Innovation and Growth for Small Companies. We will bring together policymakers, entrepreneurs, investors, academics, and other market participants to explore how both the public and private sectors can help promote access to capital at each phase in the lifecycle of a small company. We are committed to fostering an open dialogue about where the public sector should step in and where we should move out of the way.
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March 17, 2011
04:37 PM EDTSince his inauguration, President Obama has emphasized interfaith cooperation and community service – as an important way to build understanding between different communities and contribute to the common good.
On a conference call this afternoon, Joshua DuBois, Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and Patrick Corvington, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, launched the President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge. The launch featured a video from President Obama calling on institutions of higher education to make a commitment to advancing interfaith and community service initiatives over the course of the 2011-2012 academic year.
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Ed. Note: Watch a special video from the State Department with the President's message in the condolence book.
Having just returned from the Japanese Embassy where he wrote a message in a condolence book for victims, the President spoke at the White House on the tragic events in Japan. He made clear that the American government is helping in any way it can, is working for the safety of Americans in the country, and that the American West Coast is not in danger even under worst case scenarios. Read his full remarks below:
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Ed. Note: This post is part of our Sunshine Week series on the blog. Sunshine Week is a national initiative to celebrate and focus on government transparency and open government.
The mission of the Department of Veterans Affairs – enshrined in our building – is “to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan.” For our men and women in uniform who have fought for our country – serving them is a privilege and responsibility we take very seriously. At the VA, we are committed to continuing to meet and surpass our highest standards of care for each and every veteran, each and every day. Open government helps us do this: the publication of key health-related data to increase transparency, the creation of technological tools helping veterans to participate, and the harnessing of new ideas for innovation and collaboration, all fuel our mission.
During Sunshine Week we are reflecting on our accomplishments – not so we can rest, but so we can take inspiration to build on our successes. We’re on a deliberate and thoughtful path to become an even more people-centric, results-driven, and forward-looking organization. I invite you to visit http://www.va.gov/open/ to see for yourself. Here is a sample of important steps we have taken:
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Later this afternoon the President will speak on the tragic events in Japan, and even as the White House has marked St. Patrick’s Day that concern is on everybody's mind. But there was also important business to discuss with the new Taoiseach, Prime Minister Kenny, as they both explained together after their meeting.
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Today, we launched a new section on WhiteHouse.gov that is dedicated to good government. WhiteHouse.gov/GoodGovernment is your central portal to tools and data that connect citizens to their government and improve their everyday lives, as well as Presidential Actions that promote open, transparent and accountable government.
You'll find useful tools and data from across the administration all in one place. Here, you can:
- Browse the names of everyone who visits the White House: Having released over 1,000,000 names to date, the White House provides records of visitors on an ongoing basis online.
- Report suspected incidents of improper spending: PaymentAccuracy.gov gives taxpayers a way to join the fight against improper spending by reporting suspected incidents of fraud, waste, and abuse.
- See what’s on the President’s and Vice President’s calendar: Check out the President’s and Vice President’s daily public schedules, subscribe to updates, and even add their events to your own calendar.
- Review each agency’s Open Government Plan: Following the President’s Open Government Directive, agencies implemented ambitious Open Government Plans, utilizing new technologies to connect citizens to their government.
You can also review Presidential Actions that call for more open and accountable government:
- Shutting the "Revolving Door": President Obama has taken historic steps to close the "revolving door" that carries special interest influence in and out of the government.
- Mandating Federal Agencies Disclose Data: A Presidential Memorandum mandates an Open Government Directive directing specific actions to achieve transparency, openness, and engagement.
- Making the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) put citizens first: The President’s Memorandum on the Freedom of Information Act directs that it be administered with a presumption of disclosure, not one of non-disclosure.
- Making classification a two-way street: For the first time, no records may remain classified indefinitely. An executive order on Classified National Security Information makes major changes to address the problem of over-classification and public access to formerly classified records.
Sunshine Week, the national initiative that focuses on transparency and open government, is a particularly apt time to unveil a site that highlights successes from across the executive branch. The administration's efforts to promote open and accountable government are on-going. Moving forward, the good government site will be a useful resource to everyone interested in how, and how far, the administration is changing the way Washington works and improving citizens' everyday lives.
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Yesterday afternoon, First Lady Michelle Obama replanted the White House garden on the South Lawn with elementary students from local DC schools. Now in its third year, the garden includes spinach, peas, lettuce, broccoli, blueberries, raspberries and other vegetables and herbs.
She addressed students from Bancroft Elementary School and Harriet Tubman Elementary School before the planting itself began, letting them know that the White House was happy to have them come help out, and talking to them about trying different vegetables and the Let’s Move! initiative. Students from Bancroft Elementary have been helping out with the garden since its inception, and Harriet Tubman Elementary works closely with the White House Chefs through the Chefs Move to Schools Program.
Robin Schepper is the Executive Director of the Let's Move! initiative.
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Ed. Note: This post is part of our Sunshine Week series on the blog. Sunshine Week is a national initiative to celebrate and focus on government transparency and open government.
For too long, the Federal Government has failed to effectively harness the power and potential of information technology (IT) -- despite spending approximately $80 billion dollars on IT each year, and more than $600 billion over the past decade. As a result, it has lagged far behind the private sector in the reaping the gains in productivity and enhancements in service from IT. To get a better return on this investment for the American people, we have fundamentally altered the way we manage the federal government's IT projects -- using transparency to shed light on government operations and to hold government managers accountable for results.
On my first day on the job, at the beginning of the Obama Administration, I was handed a portfolio that included $27 Billion in IT projects that were years behind schedule, and over budget. I quickly found that the sheer size of the portfolio often led to a sense of faceless accountability and quickly set out to fix that. That’s why just months after President Obama took office, we launched the IT Dashboard (June, 2009) – which provides a clear window into Federal IT projects, bolstering transparency and accountability. The IT Dashboard shines a light on these projects, including if they are on schedule and within budget -- and posting the photo and name of the official responsible -- and agencies continue to increase transparency and improve data quality.
Watch the Enhanced Video
