Obama Issues Executive Orders
Obama's first day: Pay freeze, lobbying rules
President also speaks with Mideast leaders, attends prayer service
Pete Souza / White House handout via EPA
President Barack Obama meets with chief of staff Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday in the Oval Office. Emanuel is among the senior staff affected by the pay freeze announced Wednesday.
NBC News and news services
updated 6 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - In his first full day in office, President Barack Obama issued his first orders — among them tighter rules on lobbyists, a pay freeze for senior staff and quick responses to Freedom of Information Act requests.
He also met with economic advisers, spoke with Middle East leaders and, last but not least, attended a prayer service, continuing a tradition that dates to the presidency of George Washington.
The pay freeze impacts about 100 White House employees who make more than $100,000 a year.
"Families are tightening their belts, and so should Washington," Obama said just before Vice President Joe Biden swore in the new senior staff at the White House.
Obama also announced a change in policy that will require each federal agency and department to give full attention to Freedom of Information requests and revealed what he called a "clean break" from existing rules spelling out when and under what circumstances administration officials could work on issues on which they lobbied governmental agencies before.
He said there would be a two-year, rather than a one-year, waiting period for government officials to be able to work on such issues and said they would "not be able to work on matters you lobbied on or White House agencies you lobbied during the last two years."
"Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this administration," Obama said in a statement to reporters.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28767687/?GT1=43001
Re: Obama Issues Executive Orders
Good! Let's see some more stuff like that!
Washington should have to live within it's means like we have to.
Lobbyists should be totally outlawed, there is such a sham to that job, it's EVIL for the USA. It's been corrupted beyond fixing. Something like 77 lobbyist per ???. I can't remember but it's outrageous.
Re: Obama Issues Executive Orders
Quote:
Originally Posted by WorriedAmerican
Good! Let's see some more stuff like that!
Washington should have to live within it's means like we have to.
Lobbyists should be totally outlawed, there is such a sham to that job, it's EVIL for the USA. It's been corrupted beyond fixing. Something like 77 lobbyist per ???. I can't remember but it's outrageous.
I agree with you!
Obama has been talking for a long time now, let see if he can walk the walk. I hope he is serious about running this country for the people. That is the way it was intended to be run, not for a few greedy like Bush administration did.
Re: Obama Issues Executive Orders
"WASHINGTON - In his first full day in office, President Barack Obama issued his first orders — among them tighter rules on lobbyists, a pay freeze for senior staff and quick responses to Freedom of Information Act requests."
Ronald Regan ordered his administration to stonewall FOIA requests. Republicans just don't want the people to know what their goverment is doing. Back in the 1980's I sued the Labor Department under the FOIA to make them give me pending Applications for Alien Employment Certification so, if I qualified, I could bump an alien out of a job he had already been hired for. I lost the case in Federal Court, but by that time I had already found a job. The H1B visas now don't require certification that there is no qualified American who can do the job. There is a limit on how many H1B's can be issued but the Labor Department under Bush ignored that limit. We have Bill Gates, who wants an unlimited number of H1B's authorized, to thank for this. Let Microsoft move to Canada like he threatens. Gates is the biggest anti-trust violater in history. He should be in jail.
