Obama on Issues -- Ethics

From barackobama.com:

Plan to Change Washington

“I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over. I have done more than any other candidate in this race to take on lobbyists — and won. They have not funded my campaign, they will not run my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I am president.”

— Barack Obama, Speech in Des Moines, IA, November 10, 2007

At a Glance

• Shine the Light on Washington Lobbying
• Shine the Light on Federal Contracts, Tax Breaks and Earmarks
• Bring Americans Back into their Government
• Free the Executive Branch from Special Interest Influence

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The Problem

Lobbyists Write National Policies: For example, Vice President Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force of oil and gas lobbyists met secretly to develop national energy policy.

Secrecy Dominates Government Actions: The Bush administration has ignored public disclosure rules and has invoked a legal tool known as the "state secrets" privilege more than any other previous administration to get cases thrown out of civil court.

Wasteful Spending is Out of Control: The current administration has abused its power by handing out contracts without competition to its politically connected friends and supporters. These abuses cost taxpayers billions of dollars each year.

Barack Obama's Plan

Shine the Light on Washington Lobbying

• Centralize Ethics and Lobbying Information for Voters: Obama will create a centralized Internet database of lobbying reports, ethics records, and campaign finance filings in a searchable, sortable and downloadable format.
• Require Independent Monitoring of Lobbying Laws and Ethics Rules: Obama will use the power of the presidency to fight for an independent watchdog agency to oversee the investigation of congressional ethics violations so that the public can be assured that ethics complaints will be investigated.
• Support Campaign Finance Reform: Obama supports public financing of campaigns combined with free television and radio time as a way to reduce the influence of moneyed special interests. Obama introduced public financing legislation in the Illinois State Senate, and is the only 2008 candidate to have sponsored Senator Russ Feingold's (D-WI) tough bill to reform the presidential public financing system.

Shine the Light on Federal Contracts, Tax Breaks and Earmarks

• Create a Public “Contracts and Influence” Database: As president, Obama will create a "contracts and influence" database that will disclose how much federal contractors spend on lobbying, and what contracts they are getting and how well they complete them.
• Expose Special Interest Tax Breaks to Public Scrutiny: Barack Obama will ensure that any tax breaks for corporate recipients — or tax earmarks — are also publicly available on the Internet in an easily searchable format.
• End Abuse of No-Bid Contracts: Barack Obama will end abuse of no-bid contracts by requiring that nearly all contract orders over $25,000 be competitively awarded.
• Sunlight Before Signing: Too often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them. As president, Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.
• Shine Light on Earmarks and Pork Barrel Spending: Obama's Transparency and Integrity in Earmarks Act will shed light on all earmarks by disclosing the name of the legislator who asked for each earmark, along with a written justification, 72 hours before they can be approved by the full Senate.

Bring Americans Back into their Government

• Hold 21st Century Fireside Chats: Obama will bring democracy and policy directly to the people by requiring his Cabinet officials to have periodic national broadband townhall meetings to discuss issues before their agencies.
• Make White House Communications Public: Obama will amend executive orders to ensure that communications about regulatory policymaking between persons outside government and all White House staff are disclosed to the public.
• Conduct Regulatory Agency Business in Public: Obama will require his appointees who lead the executive branch departments and rulemaking agencies to conduct the significant business of the agency in public, so that any citizen can see in person or watch on the Internet these debates.
• Release Presidential Records: Obama will nullify the Bush attempts to make the timely release of presidential records more difficult.

Free the Executive Branch from Special Interest Influence

• Close the Revolving Door on Former and Future Employers: No political appointees in an Obama administration will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years. And no political appointee will be able to lobby the executive branch after leaving government service during the remainder of the administration.
• Free Career Officials from the Influence of Politics: Obama will issue an executive order asking all new hires at the agencies to sign a form affirming that no political appointee offered them the job solely on the basis of political affiliation or contribution.
• Reform the Political Appointee Process: FEMA Director Michael Brown was not qualified to head the agency, and the result was a disaster for the people of the Gulf Coast. But in an Obama administration, every official will have to rise to the standard of proven excellence in the agency's mission.

For More Information about Barack's Plan

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Read and Watch the Speech

Barack Obama on the Family

From barackobama.com:

Strengthening Families and Communities

“U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) preached with grace and gratitude about fatherhood to a crowd of 4,000 at Christ Universal Temple, an important church in Chicago's African-American community. . . . Obama's tone Sunday was respectful, his words colorblind. . . . Pressed on why he risked this sermon, with its potential for backlash from African-Americans, Obama said he knew his audience understood that many fathers make enormous sacrifices. . . . His words did, though, apply to many more people than those seated before him in church: fathers of all races, senators and laborers alike.”

— Chicago Tribune, Editorial, June 22, 2005

At a Glance

• Promote Responsible Fatherhood
• Help Low-Income Workers Climb the Job Market
• Support Low-Income Families
• Fight Mortgage Fraud

Speak your mind and help set the policies that will guide this campaign and change the country.

• Present your ideas

The Problem

Strong families raise successful children and keep communities together. While Senator Obama does not believe that we can simply legislate healthy families, good parenting skills or economic success, he does believe we can eliminate roadblocks that parents face and provide tools to help them succeed. A husband and father of two, Senator Obama has promoted strong families in the Senate.

Barack Obama's Plan

Promote Responsible Fatherhood

Since 1960, the number of American children without fathers has quadrupled, from 6 million to more than 24 million. A healthy relationship between children and their fathers is important to good development. Children without fathers in their lives are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime, nine times more likely to drop out of school, and 20 times more likely to end up in prison. Senator Obama introduced the Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act with Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) to remove some of the government penalties on married families and support fathers already trying to do the right thing, while also cracking down on men trying to avoid their parental responsibilities. The bill provides fathers with an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit. It also would increase child support enforcement and strengthen domestic violence prevention services.

Help Low-Income Workers Climb the Job Market

Transitional jobs are a promising way to help chronically unemployed people break into the workplace. This approach places participants into temporary, subsidized wage-paying jobs. It also offers mentoring and social services designed to address work-blocking problems like personal and family conflicts. Once they find entry-level work, low-income workers often are unable to break into middle-class jobs. Bridge programs can help by partnering the federal government with employers and community-based organizations to identify job opportunities, develop customized training programs, and place low-income employees in better jobs. Senator Obama introduced legislation to devote $50 million for transitional and bridge employment programs for hard-to-employ groups like homeless veterans, children aging out of foster care, and people returning to communities after a time in prison.

Support Low-Income Families

The Child Tax Credit allows parents to receive $1,000 per child and has been an important financial resource for working families. Unfortunately, the credit is skewed so that many families who need it the most cannot get it. Because of artificially high income limits that are indexed to inflation every year, parents that work full time at minimum wage are not eligible for the credit. As a result, nearly 17 million low-income children get less than the full credit. Senator Obama worked with Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) to introduce legislation lowering the income limit so that 600,000 more families can benefit. Senator Obama also introduced legislation to temporarily expand the Child Tax Credit for low-income parents affected by Hurricane Katrina. Senator Obama succeeded in passing legislation to extend tax credits for military families by allowing service members deployed to war zones to apply their non-taxable combat pay toward the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Fight Mortgage Fraud

The FBI is predicting that mortgage fraud may become a criminal epidemic. In these elaborate schemes, criminals use identity theft or face-to-face scams to gain control of victims' homes. The offenders then apply for hefty mortgage loans, take the cash, then disappear, robbing homeowners of their property and threatening the financial health of the most vulnerable members of society. Senator Obama introduced the first federal bill to combat mortgage fraud. The STOP FRAUD Act criminalizes mortgage fraud, authorizes $10 million more for anti-mortgage fraud programs and requires the FBI to update bankers on fraudulent activity in a formal, systematic way. The bill also would authorize increased federal funding for mortgage counseling.

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Barack Obama on Veterans

Plan to keep our Sacred Trust with Veterans

"Keeping faith with those who serve must always be a core American value and a cornerstone of American patriotism. Because America's commitment to its servicemen and women begins at enlistment, and it must never end."

— Barack Obama, Speech in Kansas City, MO, August 21, 2007

At a Glance

• A Sacred Trust
• Help for Returning Service Members
• Improved Mental Health Treatment

Speak your mind and help set the policies that will guide this campaign and change the country.

• Present your ideas

The Problem

Wounded Troops Suffer: The Walter Reed scandal showed that we don't always provide returning service members with the care they deserve.

Veterans Budget Shortfalls: In 2005, a multi-billion dollar VA funding shortfall required Congress to step in and bail out the system.

Benefits Bureaucracy is Broken: There are currently more than 400,000 claims pending with the Veterans Benefits Administration. VA error rates have grown to more than 100,000 cases a year.

There is Shortage of Care for PTSD: Veterans are coming home with record levels of combat stress, but we are not adequately providing for them.

Barack Obama's Plan

A Sacred Trust

Barack Obama believes America has a sacred trust with our veterans. He is committed to creating a 21st Century Department of Veterans' Affairs that provides the care and benefits our nation?s veterans deserve.

• Allow All Veterans Back into the VA: One of Obama's first acts will be reversing the 2003 ban on enrolling modest-income veterans, which has denied care to a million veterans.
• Strengthen VA Care: Obama will make the VA a leader of national health care reform so that veterans get the best care possible. He will improve care for polytrauma vision impairment, prosthetics, spinal cord injury, aging, and women's health.
• Combat Homelessness among Our Nation's Veterans: Obama will establish a national "zero tolerance" policy for veterans falling into homelessness by expanding proven programs and launching innovative services to prevent veterans from falling into homelessness.
• Fight Veterans Employment Discrimination: Obama will crack down on employers who commit job discrimination against guardsmen and reservists.

Help for Returning Service Members

Obama will improve the quality of health care for veterans, rebuild the VA&rsquot;s broken benefits system, and combat homelessness among veterans.

• Ensure a Seamless Transition: Obama will demand that the military and the VA coordinate to provide a seamless transition from active duty to civilian life.
• Fully Fund VA Medical Care: Barack Obama will fully fund the VA so it has all the resources it needs to serve the veterans who need it, when they need it. Obama will establish a world-class VA Planning Division to avoid future budget shortfalls.
• Fix the Benefits Bureaucracy: Obama will hire additional claims workers, and improve training and accountability so that VA benefit decisions are rated fairly and consistently. He also will transform the paper benefit claims process to an electronic one to reduce errors and improve timeliness.

Improved Mental Health Treatment

Obama will improve mental health treatment for troops and veterans suffering from combat-related psychological injuries.

• Improve Mental Health Treatment: Obama will improve mental health care at every stage of military service. He will recruit more health professionals, improve screening, offer more support to families and make PTSD benefits claims fairer.
• Improve Care for Traumatic Brain Injury: Obama will establish standards of care for Traumatic Brain Injury, the signature injury of the Iraq war.
• Expand Vet Centers: Obama will expand and strengthen Vet Centers to provide more counseling for vets and their families.

Barack Obama's Record

Record of Advocacy: As a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Obama passed legislation to improve care and slash red tape for our wounded warriors recovering at places like Walter Reed. He passed laws to help homeless veterans and offered an innovative solution to prevent at-risk veterans from falling into homelessness. Obama led a bipartisan effort in the Senate to try to halt the military's unfair practice of discharging service members for having a service-connected psychological injury. He fought for fair treatment of Illinois veterans' claims and forced the VA to conduct an unprecedented outreach campaign to disabled veterans with lower than-average benefits. Obama passed legislation to stop a VA review of closed PTSD cases that could have led to a reduction in veterans' benefits. He passed an amendment to ensure that all service members returning from Iraq are properly screened for traumatic brain injuries. He introduced legislation to direct the VA and Pentagon to fix disjointed records systems and improve outreach to members of the National Guard and Reserves.

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Barack Obama on Jobs and the Economy

Obama on Job Issues

• Wants to end tax breaks for companies that outsource.
• Make miminum wage a living wage.
• Supports unions and organized labor.
• Does not believe tax cuts for rich create jobs.
• Has detailed plan for improving urban and rural development.
• Obama voted FOR raising the minimum wage to $7.25 (2005 & 2007) and FOR restricting employer interference in union organizing (2007). The AFL-CIO has given him a rating of 100%.

Barack Obama on the Economy

Barack Obama on Immigration

Obama on Immigration Issues

• Wants better patrolling of borders
• Supports welfare and Medicaid for immigrants.
• Wants undocumented immigrants to have opportunity to earn citizenship.
• Supports a guest worker program.
• Supports drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants.
  

Floor Statement of Senator Barack Obama on Immigration Reform

Monday, April 3, 2006

Printable Format

Mr. President, I come to the floor today to enter the debate on comprehensive immigration reform. It is a debate that will touch on the basic questions of morality, the law, and what it means to be an American.

I know that this debate evokes strong passions on all sides. The recent peaceful but passionate protests that we saw all across the country--500,000 in Los Angeles and 100,000 in my hometown of Chicago--are a testament to this fact, as are the concerns of millions of Americans about the security of our borders.

But I believe we can work together to pass immigration reform in a way that unites the people in this country, not in a way that divides us by playing on our worst instincts and fears.

Like millions of Americans, the immigrant story is also my story. My father came here from Kenya, and I represent a State where vibrant immigrant communities ranging from Mexican to Polish to Irish enrich our cities and neighborhoods. So I understand the allure of freedom and opportunity that fuels the dream of a life in the United States. But I also understand the need to fix a broken system.

When Congress last addressed this issue comprehensively in 1986, there were approximately 4 million illegal immigrants living in the United States. That number had grown substantially when Congress again addressed the issue in 1996. Today, it is estimated that there are more than 11 million undocumented aliens living in our country.

The American people are a welcoming and generous people. But those who enter our country illegally, and those who employ them, disrespect the rule of law. And because we live in an age where terrorists are challenging our borders, we simply cannot allow people to pour into the United States undetected, undocumented, and unchecked. Americans are right to demand better border security and better enforcement of the immigration laws.

The bill the Judiciary Committee has passed would clearly strengthen enforcement. I will repeat that, because those arguing against the Judiciary Committee bill contrast that bill with a strong enforcement bill. The bill the Judiciary Committee passed clearly strengthens enforcement.

To begin with, the agencies charged with border security would receive new technology, new facilities, and more people to stop, process, and deport illegal immigrants.

But while security might start at our borders, it doesn't end there. Millions of undocumented immigrants live and work here without our knowing their identity or their background. We need to strike a workable bargain with them. They have to acknowledge that breaking our immigration laws was wrong. They must pay a penalty, and abide by all of our laws going forward. They must earn the right to stay over a 6-year period, and then they must wait another 5 years as legal permanent residents before they become citizens.

But in exchange for accepting those penalties, we must allow undocumented immigrants to come out of the shadows and step on a path toward full participation in our society. In fact, I will not support any bill that does not provide this earned path to citizenship for the undocumented population--not just for humanitarian reasons; not just because these people, having broken the law, did so for the best of motives, to try and provide a better life for their children and their grandchildren; but also because this is the only practical way we can get a handle on the population that is within our borders right now.

To keep from having to go through this difficult process again in the future, we must also replace the flow of undocumented immigrants coming to work here with a new flow of guestworkers. Illegal immigration is bad for illegal immigrants and bad for the workers against whom they compete.

Replacing the flood of illegals with a regulated stream of legal immigrants who enter the United States after background checks and who are provided labor rights would enhance our security, raise wages, and improve working conditions for all Americans.

But I fully appreciate that we cannot create a new guestworker program without making it as close to impossible as we can for illegal workers to find employment. We do not need new guestworkers plus future undocumented immigrants. We need guestworkers instead of undocumented immigrants.

Toward that end, American employers need to take responsibility. Too often illegal immigrants are lured here with a promise of a job, only to receive unconscionably low wages. In the interest of cheap labor, unscrupulous employers look the other way when employees provide fraudulent U.S. citizenship documents. Some actually call and place orders for undocumented workers because they don't want to pay minimum wages to American workers in surrounding communities. These acts hurt both American workers and immigrants whose sole aim is to work hard and get ahead. That is why we need a simple, foolproof, and mandatory mechanism for all employers to check the legal status of new hires. Such a mechanism is in the Judiciary Committee bill.

And before any guestworker is hired, the job must be made available to Americans at a decent wage with benefits. Employers then need to show that there are no Americans to take these jobs. I am not willing to take it on faith that there are jobs that Americans will not take. There has to be a showing. If this guestworker program is to succeed, it must be properly calibrated to make certain that these are jobs that cannot be filled by Americans, or that the guestworkers provide particular skills we can't find in this country.

I know that dealing with the undocumented population is difficult, for practical and political reasons. But we simply cannot claim to have dealt with the problems of illegal immigration if we ignore the illegal resident population or pretend they will leave voluntarily. Some of the proposed ideas in Congress provide a temporary legal status and call for deportation, but fail to answer how the government would deport 11 million people. I don't know how it would be done. I don't know how we would line up all the buses and trains and airplanes and send 11 million people back to their countries of origin. I don't know why it is that we expect they would voluntarily leave after having taken the risk of coming to this country without proper documentation.

I don't know many police officers across the country who would go along with the bill that came out of the House, a bill that would, if enacted, charge undocumented immigrants with felonies, and arrest priests who are providing meals to hungry immigrants, or people who are running shelters for women who have been subject to domestic abuse. I cannot imagine that we would be serious about making illegal immigrants into felons, and going after those who would aid such persons.

That approach is not serious. That is symbolism, that is demagoguery. It is important that if we are going to deal with this problem, we deal with it in a practical, commonsense way. If temporary legal status is granted but the policy says these immigrants are never good enough to become Americans, then the policy that makes little sense.

I believe successful, comprehensive immigration reform can be achieved by building on the work of the Judiciary Committee. The Judiciary Committee bill combines some of the strongest elements of Senator Hagel's border security proposals with the realistic workplace and earned-citizenship program proposed by Senators McCain and Kennedy.

Mr. President, I will come to the floor over the next week to offer some amendments of my own, and to support amendments my colleagues will offer. I will also come to the floor to argue against amendments that contradict our tradition as a nation of immigrants and as a nation of laws.

As FDR reminded the Nation at the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty, those who landed at Ellis Island ``were the men and women who had the supreme courage to strike out for themselves, to abandon language and relatives, to start at the bottom without influence, without money, and without knowledge of life in a very young civilization.''

It behooves us to remember that not every single immigrant who came into the United States through Ellis Island had proper documentation. Not every one of our grandparents or great-grandparents would have necessarily qualified for legal immigration. But they came here in search of a dream, in search of hope. Americans understand that, and they are willing to give an opportunity to those who are already here, as long as we get serious about making sure that our borders actually mean something.

Today's immigrants seek to follow in the same tradition of immigration that has built this country. We do ourselves and them a disservice if we do not recognize the contributions of these individuals. And we fail to protect our Nation if we do not regain control over our immigration system immediately.

Obama Events in Nevada and South Carolina

Barack Obama will visit Charleston, South Carolina on Thursday, and his campaign will hold a forum to discuss foreign policy issues in Reno, Nevada.

The Obama campaign will be holding a Foreign Policy Summit with top advisors General Tony McPeak and Samantha Power in Reno on Friday, January 11.

General McPeak, a retired four-star general and former member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Samantha Power, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide” and a professor of Global Leadership and Public Policy at Harvard, will discuss Barack Obama’s judgment to lead and his vision for a strong and principled new direction for American foreign policy.

WHO: Obama’s Top Foreign Policy Advisors General Tony McPeak and Samantha Power

WHAT: Foreign Policy Summit

WHERE: University of Nevada, Reno
Joe Crowley Student Union Theater
1664 North Virginia Street
Reno, NV 89557

WHEN: Friday, January 11th
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/officialevent/4vdwv

Rally with Barack Obama in Charleston (Official Event)

Thursday, January 10 at 11:00 AM

The Cistern, College of Charleston (Charleston, SC)

Rally for Change with Barack Obama at the College of Charleston Cistern

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Targeting swing voters

As the campaign enters high gear with a few weeks before the first contest in Iowa and about six weeks until Super Tuesday, the Obama team is looking to garner more donations and implement its get-out-the-vote (GOTV) drive.

The campaign will also target swing voters, those who are deemed susceptible to persuasion, with their candidate's message.

Generally, one doesn't waste time trying to persuade hardcore supporters of one's opponents. It would not make sense, for example, for Obama supporters to spend days calling and attempting to win over dedicated volunteers from the Hillary Clinton campaign.

Instead, the Obama camp will attempt to identify those voters who haven't made up their minds yet and convince them that Barack is the best candidate. With limited time and resources the campaign must focus its grassroots efforts.

In addition to identifying persuadable voters, Obama's strategists must ascertain what issues are most important to those voters and then craft a message showing the voter why they should choose Obama.

Those swing voters who agree that Obama is the best choice are added to a list of supporters and then targeted for GOTV efforts in the last days before the election.


Election Dates

Iowa Caucus -- Jan. 3, 2008

New Hampshire Primary -- Jan. 8, 2008

Nevada Caucus -- Jan. 19, 2008

South Carolina Primary -- Jan. 26, 2008

Super Tuesday -- Feb. 5, 2008

Obama on the Issues

Obama on Foreign Policy Issues

• Immediate pullout from Iraq on taking office, one to two brigades a month. Opposed war from start.
• No permanent bases in Iraq but embassy presence and unspecified number of residual troops.
• Focus on Afghanistan and possibly Pakistan in combating terror.
• Opposed legislation labeling Iran's Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization, a move he viewed as a possibly prelude to military action. Believes diplomacy and economic sanctions are needed to address Iranian nuclear program. Has not ruled out military action.
• Supports Israel but has problems with that country's policy.
• Considers China a "competitor."
• Supports 6-way talks in North Korea.

Obama on Free Trade Issues

• Voted yes on Peru and Oman free trade pacts, but no on Central American pact.
• Supports reform of NAFTA.
• Insists on labor and human rights standards in China trade.
• Wants to reinvest in communities hit by outsourcing. Discourages outsourcing.

Obama on Immigration Issues

• Wants better patrolling of borders
• Supports welfare and Medicaid for immigrants.
• Wants undocumented immigrants to have opportunity to earn citizenship.
• Supports a guest worker program.

Obama on Civil Rights Issues

• Supports affirmative action.
• Opposes gay marriage; supports civil unions with full rights. Opposed constitutional ban on gay marriage.
• Wants to close Guantanamo and restore right of habeus corpus.
• Voted no on Patriot Act wiretapping.
• Voted yes on reauthorizing Patriot Act.

Obama on Job Issues

• Wants to end tax breaks for companies that outsource.
• Make miminum wage a living wage.
• Supports unions and organized labor.
• Does not believe tax cuts for rich create jobs.
• Has detailed plan for improving urban and rural development.

Obama on Healthcare Issues

• Supports "universal" health care system, but without automatic coverage.
• Wants U.S. to lead in global fight against AIDS.
• Has worked on reform of Medicare.

Obama on Environmental Issues

• Wants greater use of biofuels.
• Cut dependence on foreign oil.
• Open to liquid coal if it can be proven to be less polluting than petroleum.
• Open to nuclear power if issues of waste disposal, security, etc. can be managed.
• Supports significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

For more, see Barack Obama on the Issues.