• The President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
• The President announced the “Making Home Affordable” home refinancing plan.
• The President launched a $15 billion plan to boost lending to small businesses.
• The President and Secretary Geithner announced the details of the Financial Stability Plan.
• President Obama played a lead role in G-20 Summit that produced a $1.1 trillion deal to combat the global financial crisis.
• The President signed the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act which gives the federal government more tools to investigate and prosecute fraud, from lending to the financial system, and creates a bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to investigate the financial practices that brought us to this point.
• The President signed the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, expanding on the Making Home Affordable Program to help millions of Americans avoid preventable foreclosures, providing $2.2 billion to help combat homelessness , and helping to stabilize the housing market for everybody.
• The President signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act to protect Americans from unfair and deceptive credit card practices.

Civil Rights

• The President signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, restoring basic protections against pay discrimination for women and other workers.

Disabilities

• The President issued an Executive Order repealing the Bush-Era restrictions on embryonic stem cell research.
• The President signed the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act, the first piece of comprehensive legislation aimed at improving the lives of Americans living with paralysis.

Fiscal Responsibility

• The President signed an Executive Order on government contracting to fight waste and abuse.
• The President launched Recovery.gov to track spending from the Recovery Act, an unprecedented step to provide transparency and accountability through technology.
• The President wrote to the congressional leadership calling on them to pass statutory Pay-As-You-Go rules so that any new non-emergency tax cut or entitlement expansion offset in the budget.
• The President signed the Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act to stop fraud and wasteful spending in the defense procurement and contracting system.

Immigration

• The President signed the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, which provides quality health care to 11 million kids – 4 million who were previously uninsured — and removes barriers preventing legal immigrant children from being covered.
• The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides over $400 million in funds to strengthen security and infrastructure for ports of entry on the Southwest border.

Service

• The President signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, a hallmark piece of legislation.
• The Serve America Act will increase the size of AmeriCorps from 75,000 volunteers to 250,000 by 2017.
• The Act also creates a Social Innovation Fund that will invest in ideas that are proven to improve outcomes and “what works” funds in federal agencies to promote effective and innovative programs

Taxes

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included a broad range of tax cuts aimed at making the tax code more fair and supporting the middle class:

• 95% of all working families will receive a tax cut
• 70% of the tax benefits goes to the middle 60% of American workers
• 2 million families will be lifted out of poverty by the tax cuts in the Recovery Act
• More than $150 billion in tax cuts will help low-income and vulnerable households during the economic recovery
• About 1 Million jobs will be created or saved by these tax cuts alone

Government

“To help build a new foundation for the 21st century, we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative.”
-President Obama, April 25, 2009

• The President issued a Presidential Memorandum to the heads of executive departments and agencies ordering them to compile recommendations for an open government directive on transparency, participation, and collaboration in government.

Urban

The President signed an Executive Order establishing the White House Office of Urban Affairs. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included broad support for urban communities.

• To broaden access to affordable housing, the Act provides for $1 billion in increased funding for the Community Development Block Grant; $4 billion in increased public housing capital funds; $2 billion in payments to owners of project based rental assistance properties to keep them affordable; $2 billion in Neighborhood Stabilization Funds to purchase and rehabilitate forclosed homes; and $1.5 billion in Homelessness Prevention Funds to keep people in their homes;
• To expand educational opportunity for low-income students, the Act provides for $13 billion in Title I funds to go to K-12 education in disadvantaged school systems;
• To strengthen workforce development, the Act provides $3.95 billion in increased workforce investment training dollars to keep our workers skilled and to employ young people during the summer;
• To improve energy efficiency, the Act increases the Weatherization Assistance Program by $5 billion, helping low income consumers save on their energy bills while simultaneously training more workers for a growing field;
• To bolster our nation’s transportation infrastructure, the Act provides $1.5 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Transportation to fund projects of regional or national significance as well as $8 billion to jumpstart high speed rail and connect regions to one another; and,
• The Act also provides $4.7 billion to provide broadband access to underserved areas.

Thanks to Linda Ilog for the list! Source: whitehouse.gov

Obama announces the end of US combat missions in Iraq

Barack Obama says US effort in Iraq to switch from troops to diplomats as timetable for military withdrawal is on track. In his speech yesterday he proclaimed that the seven-year conflict costing US taxpayers around $700bn and the lives of more than 4,000 American troops was coming to an end as a military operation “as promised, on schedule”, fulfilling his pledge as a presidential candidate to bring the conflict in Iraq to a “responsible end”.

He was careful to sidestep Bush’s mistake to claim victory prematurely by also warned that “the hard truth is we have not seen the end of American sacrifice in Iraq”.

The White House has released the full text of Obama’s speech. Here are the key passages dealing with US strategy in Iraq:

As a candidate for President, I pledged to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end. Shortly after taking office, I announced our new strategy for Iraq and for a transition to full Iraqi responsibility. And I made it clear that by 31 August 2010 America’s combat mission in Iraq would end. And that is exactly what we are doing – as promised, on schedule.

Already, we have closed or turned over to Iraq hundreds of bases.

We’re moving out millions of pieces of equipment in one of the largest logistics operations that we’ve seen in decades. By the end of this month, we’ll have brought more than 90,000 of our troops home from Iraq since I took office – more than 90,000.

Today – even as terrorists try to derail Iraq’s progress – because of the sacrifices of our troops and their Iraqi partners, violence in Iraq continues to be near the lowest it’s been in years. And next month, we will change our military mission from combat to supporting and training Iraqi security forces. In fact, in many parts of the country, Iraqis have already taken the lead for security.

As agreed to with the Iraqi government, we will maintain a transitional force until we remove all our troops from Iraq by the end of next year. During this period, our forces will have a focused mission – supporting and training Iraqi forces, partnering with Iraqis in counter-terrorism missions, and protecting our civilian and military efforts. These are dangerous tasks. And there are still those with bombs and bullets who will try to stop Iraq’s progress. The hard truth is we have not seen the end of American sacrifice in Iraq.

But make no mistake, our commitment in Iraq is changing – from a military effort led by our troops to a civilian effort led by our diplomats. And as we mark the end of America’s combat mission in Iraq, a grateful America must pay tribute to all who served there.

Here are the key extracts dealing with Afghanistan:

Let us never forget – it was Afghanistan where al-Qaida plotted and trained to murder 3,000 innocent people on 9/11. It is Afghanistan and the tribal regions of Pakistan where terrorists have launched other attacks against us and our allies. And if Afghanistan were to be engulfed by an even wide insurgency, al-Qaida and its terrorist affiliates would have even more space to plan their next attack. And as president of the United States, I refuse to let that happen.

That is why, after years in which the situation had deteriorated in Afghanistan, I announced a new strategy last December – a military effort to break the Taliban’s momentum and train Afghan forces so they can take the lead for security; a civilian effort to promote good governance and development that improves the lives of the Afghan people; and deeper cooperation with Pakistan to root out terrorists on both sides of the border.

We face huge challenges in Afghanistan. But it’s important that the American people know that we are making progress and we’re focused on goals that are clear and achievable.

On the military front, nearly all the additional forces that I ordered to Afghanistan are now in place. Along with our Afghan and international partners, we’re going on the offensive against the Taliban – targeting their leaders, challenging them in regions where they’d had free reign, and training Afghan national security forces.

And today our thoughts are prayers are with all our troops risking their lives for our safety in Afghanistan.

On the civilian front, we’re insisting on greater accountability, and the Afghan government has taken concrete steps to foster development; to combat corruption; and to put forward a reintegration plan that allows Afghans to lay down their arms.

So says Robert Reich on Salon.com.

The economy is slouching backward because consumers can’t and won’t spend enough to revive it. Congress is about to recess for the summer without doing anything to fill the gap. And it looks like the only issue it will be debating when it returns is who, if anyone, should pay more taxes next year — just the very rich, everyone, or no one? The cuts enacted by George W. Bush will expire in January, and with midterm election pending in November we’re about to be treated to months of tax demagoguery.

Here’s a guide to the perplexed.

World views of America in steep rise

And yes, the US has been viewed as having more of a negative influence in the world than both China and Russia previously…

Full story at BBC here.

So to help you guys understand some of the finer points of the immense tome now on the table, here’s a list of concrete changes you can expect from this new bill.

WITHIN THE FIRST YEAR OF ENACTMENT

• Insurance companies will be barred from dropping people from coverage when they get sick. Lifetime coverage limits will be eliminated and annual limits are to be restricted.
• Insurers will be barred from excluding children for coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
  
• Medicare drug beneficiaries who fall into the “doughnut hole” coverage gap will get a $250 rebate. The bill eventually closes that gap which currently begins after $2,700 is spent on drugs. Coverage starts again after $6,154 is spent.
• A temporary reinsurance program is created to help companies maintain health coverage for early retirees between the ages of 55 and 64. This also expires in 2014.
• A tax credit becomes available for some small businesses to help provide coverage for workers.
• A 10 percent tax on indoor tanning services that use ultraviolet lamps goes into effect on July 1.

WHAT HAPPENS IN 2011

• Medicare provides 10 percent bonus payments to primary care physicians and general surgeons.
• Medicare beneficiaries will be able to get a free annual wellness visit and personalized prevention plan service. New health plans will be required to cover preventive services with little or no cost to patients.
• A new program under the Medicaid plan for the poor goes into effect in October that allows states to offer home and community based care for the disabled that might otherwise require institutional care.
• Payments to insurers offering Medicare Advantage services are frozen at 2010 levels. These payments are to be gradually reduced to bring them more in line with traditional Medicare.
• Employers are required to disclose the value of health benefits on employees’ W-2 tax forms.
• An annual fee is imposed on pharmaceutical companies according to market share. The fee does not apply to companies with sales of $5 million or less.

WHAT HAPPENS IN 2012

• Physician payment reforms are implemented in Medicare to enhance primary care services and encourage doctors to form “accountable care organizations” to improve quality and efficiency of care.
• An incentive program is established in Medicare for acute care hospitals to improve quality outcomes.
• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees the government programs, begin tracking hospital readmission rates and puts in place financial incentives to reduce preventable readmissions.

WHAT HAPPENS IN 2013

• A national pilot program is established for Medicare on payment bundling to encourage doctors, hospitals and other care providers to better coordinate patient care.
• The threshold for claiming medical expenses on itemized tax returns is raised to 10 percent from 7.5 percent of income. The threshold remains at 7.5 percent for the elderly through 2016.
• The Medicare payroll tax is raised to 2.35 percent from 1.45 percent for individuals earning more than $200,000 and married couples with incomes over $250,000. The tax is imposed on some investment income for that income group.
• A 2.9 percent excise tax in imposed on the sale of medical devices. Anything generally purchased at the retail level by the public is excluded from the tax.

WHAT HAPPENS IN 2014

• State health insurance exchanges for small businesses and individuals open.
• Most people will be required to obtain health insurance coverage or pay a fine if they don’t. Healthcare tax credits become available to help people with incomes up to 400 percent of poverty purchase coverage on the exchange.
• Health plans no longer can exclude people from coverage due to pre-existing conditions.
• Employers with 50 or more workers who do not offer coverage face a fine of $2,000 for each employee if any worker receives subsidized insurance on the exchange. The first 30 employees aren’t counted for the fine.
• Health insurance companies begin paying a fee based on their market share.

WHAT HAPPENS IN 2015

• Medicare creates a physician payment program aimed at rewarding quality of care rather than volume of services.

WHAT HAPPENS IN 2018

• An excise tax on high cost employer-provided plans is imposed. The first $27,500 of a family plan and $10,200 for individual coverage is exempt from the tax. Higher levels are set for plans covering retirees and people in high risk professions.

Instead they made it a point to call out that the actual estimated figure was that the bill would save “only” $ 132 billion dollars from 2010 to 2019. The one trillion dollar estimate was actually for the next decade after that.

Oh, darn.

Fox News

The group analyzed the impact of the 10-year budget proposal on various income groups. The study, released last week, said higher-income families would lose the most because of the expiration of Bush administration tax cuts and the proposed 28% cap on certain deductions. Low-income and middle-class families stand to benefit from the redistribution.

Read the whole story here