Why hasn't the GOP repealed Obamacare and where is their alternative Health plan?

[MongGrel]

33 days is not stupid. Trump said he would have executive actions to start repealing the ACA on "day one." That didn't happen. Congressional Republicans said they hoped to have a bill by February 20. That didn't happen.

They used that and similar rhetoric on many occasions. Many, many of their followers based their votes on that rhetoric. Now they need to deliver but are backpedaling at a furious pace. No, 33 is not stupid, it's just holding them to their campaign promises.

I did not believe they could do half of what they were promising in two years.

They just look foolish atm.

 

[HomerJS]

No they do not own all of it.

And 33 days is totally unrealistic and retarded.

But 6 years and 33 days is completely realistic if they were serious. But we all know the truth.

And once they fuck with it they own all of it. Pottery Barn rule

 

[pcgeek11]

33 days is not stupid. Trump said he would have executive actions to start repealing the ACA on "day one." That didn't happen. Congressional Republicans said they hoped to have a bill by February 20. That didn't happen.

They used that and similar rhetoric on many occasions. Many, many of their followers based their votes on that rhetoric. Now they need to deliver but are backpedaling at a furious pace. No, 33 is not stupid, it's just holding them to their campaign promises.

They did Start.
They hoped to have...

OK lets talk about all of Obama's promises that he failed to deliver on. In an 8 year term.

Eliminate all oil and gas tax loopholes
"Eliminating special tax breaks for oil and gas companies: including repealing special expensing rules, foreign tax credit benefits, and manufacturing deductions for oil and gas firms."

Expand the child and dependent care credit
Expand and make refundable the child and dependent care credit.

Require publicly traded financial partnerships to pay the corporate income tax
Require publicly traded financial partnerships to pay the corporate income tax.

Close loopholes in the corporate tax deductibility of CEO pay
Congress has set rules regarding the tax deductibility of the salaries of CEOs, but forms of non-salary compensation have become popular. Obama would look at revamping definitions of compensation.

Create a foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners
Create a $10 billion fund to help homeowners refinance or sell their homes. "The Fund will not help speculators, people who bought vacation homes or people who falsely represented their incomes."

Provide option for a pre-filled-out tax form
Will direct the Internal Revenue Service to "give taxpayers the option of a pre-filled tax form to verify, sign and return to the IRS or online. This will eliminate the need for Americans to hire expensive tax preparers and to gather information that the federal government already has on file."

Create a mortgage interest tax credit for non-itemizers
Create a refundable tax credit equal to 10 percent of mortgage interest for nonitemizers, up to a maximum credit of $800.

Require automatic enrollment in 401(k) plans
Automatic enrollment in 401(k) plans for workers whose employers offer retirement plans.

Create a retirement savings tax credit for low incomes
A tax credit for retirement savings up to $500 (couples) or $250 (singles). Phases out when incomes exceed $65,000 (couples) or $32,500 (single). Indexed for inflation.

End income tax for seniors making less than $50,000
"Will eliminate all income taxation of seniors making less than $50,000 per year. This will eliminate taxes for 7 million seniors -- saving them an average of $1,400 a year-- and will also mean that 27 million seniors will not need to file an income tax return at all."
End no-bid contracts above $25,000
"Will ensure that federal contracts over $25,000 are competitively bid."

Create a $60 billion bank to fund roads and bridges
"Will address the infrastructure challenge by creating a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank to expand and enhance, not supplant, existing federal transportation investments. This independent entity will be directed to invest in our nation's most challenging transportation infrastructure needs. The Bank will receive an infusion of federal money, $60 billion over 10 years, to provide financing to transportation infrastructure projects across the nation. These projects will create up to two million new direct and indirect jobs and stimulate approximately $35 billion per year in new economic activity."

Tax carried interest as ordinary income
Carried interest is a way of compensating executives by giving them ownership stakes, or "interest," in a business. Carried interest is taxed as a capital gain, which has a lower tax rate than ordinary income. Obama proposes taxing carried interest at the same rate as regular income.

Sign the Employee Free Choice Act, making it easier for workers to unionize
"Obama is a cosponsor and strong advocate of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a bipartisan effort to make the unionization process more transparent and increase penalties on companies that violate employee rights. He will sign EFCA into law as president."

Lift the payroll tax cap on earnings above $250,000
"Barack Obama believes that the first place to look to strengthen Social Security is the payroll tax system. Obama believes that one strong option is increasing the maximum amount of earnings covered by Social Security by lifting the payroll tax cap on only earnings above $250,000."

Forbid companies in bankruptcy from giving executives bonuses
"Protect the jobs and benefits of workers and retirees when corporations file for bankruptcy by telling companies that they cannot issue bonuses for executives during bankruptcy while their workers watch their pensions disappear."

Allow workers to claim more in unpaid wages and benefits in bankruptcy court
"Increase the amount of unpaid wages and benefits workers can claim in bankruptcy court against their employer."

Require full disclosure of company pension investments to employees
"When companies fund their pensions, many do not disclose their investments with the employee's pension dollars. This lack of transparency can make it easier for fund managers to make imprudent or even fraudulent investment decisions. Obama will ensure that all employees who have company pensions receive annual disclosures about their pension fund's investments, including full details about which projects have been invested in, the performance of those investments and appropriate details about probable future investments strategies."

Allow imported prescription drugs
"Allow Americans to buy their medicines from other developed countries if the drugs are safe and prices are lower outside the U.S."

Prevent drug companies from blocking generic drugs
"Prevent drug companies from blocking generic drugs from consumers."

Allow Medicare to negotiate for cheaper drug prices
"Allow Medicare to negotiate for cheaper drug prices."

Appoint federal-level coordinator to oversee all federal autism efforts
"They will appoint a Federal ASD Coordinator to oversee federal ASD research and federal efforts to improve awareness of ASD and improve the training of medical professionals to identify and treat ASD. By establishing one top-level point person to coordinate ASD efforts in the White House, they will ensure that ASD receives the recognition and priority it deserves in the federal government. The Federal ASD Coordinator will also be tasked with eliminating bureaucratic obstacles that may be delaying implementation of important ASD measures and ensuring that all federal ASD dollars are being spent in a manner that prioritizes results. The Coordinator will work with state task forces on ASD to ensure effective communication and collaboration among federal, state, and local agencies."

Double federal funding for cancer research
"Will double federal funding for cancer research within 5 years, focusing on NIH (National Institutes of Health) and NCI (National Cancer Institute)."

Provide the CDC $50 million in funding to determine effective approaches for cancer patient care
"Will provide the CDC $50 million in new funding to determine the most effective approaches that assist not only navigation of cancer patients through diagnosis and treatment processes, but also provide easy-to-understand information on the necessary follow-up steps to ensure continued lifelong health."

Sign the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
"As president, Barack Obama will renew America's leadership by making the United States a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; the first human rights treaty approved by the UN in the 21st century and a vital foundation for respecting the rights of people with disabilities worldwide He will urge the U.S. Senate to ratify the Convention expeditiously."

Fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
"Barack Obama has been a strong and consistent advocate for fully funding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Congress promised to shoulder 40 percent of each state's "excess cost" of educating children with disabilities, but it has never lived up to this obligation. Currently, the federal government provides less than half of the promised funding (17 percent)."

Create a National Commission on People with Disabilities, Employment, and Social Security
Create a national commission charged with "examining and proposing solutions to work disincentives in the SSDI, SSI, Medicare, and Medicaid," among other things.

Change rules so small businesses owned by people with disabilities get preferences for contracts.
"Barack Obama and Joe Biden would direct the Small Business Administration to amend regulations under the Small Business Act that provide preferences in federal contracting to small businesses owned by members of socially and economically disadvantaged groups to include individuals with disabilities."

Reduce the threshhold for the Family and Medical Leave Act from companies with 50 employees to companies with 25 employees
"The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides eligible employees of larger employers (i.e., 50 or more employees) with 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a family member's or their own serious health condition. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will guarantee that millions more workers have access to FMLA leave by reducing the threshold for which employers are covered from companies with 50 or more employees to those with 25 or more."

Provide a $1.5 billion fund to help states launch programs for paid family and medical leave
"As president, Barack Obama and Joe Biden will initiate a 50-state strategy to encourage all of the states to adopt paid-leave systems (as part of the Family and Medical Leave Act). Barack Obama and Joe Biden will provide a $1.5 billion fund to assist states with start-up costs and to help states offset the costs for employees and employers. Obama's Department of Labor will also provide technical information to the states on how to craft paid-leave programs consistent with their local needs."

Require employers to provide seven paid sick days per year
"Require that employers provide seven paid sick days per year – which may be taken on an hourly basis – so that Americans with disabilities can take the time off they need without fear of losing their jobs or a paycheck."

Amend the Medicare "homebound" rule to allow some travel without loss of benefits
Amend the Medicare 'homebound' rule, which requires severely disabled recipients to stay in their homes to retain benefits, so that they have the freedom to leave their homes without fear of having their home-health benefits taken away.

Expand the Family Medical Leave Act to include leave for domestic violence or sexual assault
"Expand the purposes for which leave can be taken under the Family Medical Leave Act to include reasons related to domestic violence or sexual assault."

Form international group to help Iraq refugees
"Will form an international working group to address" the problem of "more than five million Iraqis (who) are refugees or are displaced inside their own country."

Work with Russia to move nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert
"The United States and Russia have thousands of nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert. Barack Obama believes that we should take our nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert -- something that George W. Bush promised to do when he was campaigning for president in 2000. Maintaining this Cold War stance today is unnecessary and increases the risk of an accidental or unauthorized nuclear launch. As president, Obama will work with Russia to find common ground and bring significantly more weapons off hair-trigger alert."

Clarify legal status for defense contractor personnel
"Establish the legal status of contractor personnel, making possible prosecution of any abuses committed by private military contractors."

Double U.S. spending on foreign aid to $50 billion a year by 2012
"Barack Obama would target this new spending towards strategic goals, including helping the world's weakest states to build democratic institutions, foster healthy and educated communities, reduce poverty and generate wealth."

Establish a Global Education Fund
Barack Obama would use part of increased U.S. assistance to establish a $2 billion Global Education Fund to "offer an alternative to extremist schools."

Launch a new 'America's Voice Corps'
"Obama also would launch a new 'America's Voice Corps' to rapidly recruit and train fluent speakers of local languages (Arabic, Bahasa Melayu, Bahasa, Farsi, Urdu, and Turkish) with public diplomacy skills, who can ensure our voice is heard in the mass media and in our efforts on the ground."

Close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center
"As president, Barack Obama will close the detention facility at Guantanamo."

Develop an alternative to President Bush's Military Commissions Act on handling detainees
"He will reject the Military Commissions Act, which allowed the U.S. to circumvent Geneva Conventions in the handling of detainees. He will develop a fair and thorough process based on the Uniform Code of Military Justice to distinguish between those prisoners who should be prosecuted for their crimes, those who can't be prosecuted but who can be held in a manner consistent with the laws of war, and those who should be released or transferred to their home countries."

Restore habeas corpus rights for "enemy combatants"
"The right of habeas corpus allows prisoners to ask a court to determine whether they are being lawfully imprisoned. Recently, this right has been denied to those deemed enemy combatants. Barack Obama strongly supports bipartisan efforts to restore habeas rights. He firmly believes that those who pose a danger to this country should be swiftly tried and brought to justice, but those who do not should have sufficient due process to ensure that we are not wrongfully denying them their liberty."

Improve port security through better radiation detection
"Will redouble our efforts to develop technology that can detect radiation and determine the danger it poses, and he will work with the maritime transportation industry to integrate this technology into their operations so as to maximize security without causing economic disruption."

Strengthen the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and double its budget in the next four years
"The IAEA is understaffed and underresourced at a time when demand for its expertise are growing. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will seek to ensure that the Agency gets the authority, information, people, and technology it needs to do its job. They will work to double the IAEA budget in the next four years (increasing the U.S. annual share to about $225 million). They will press countries to adopt the "Additional Protocol," -- which grants the IAEA the right to conduct more intrusive inspections, including at undeclared facilities — and seek agreement among members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group not to transfer nuclear technology to NPT countries that have not adopted the Additional Protocol. They will work to gain agreement on effective global standards for nuclear safety and security. And they will call for establishing IAEA verification procedures that go beyond the Additional Protocol to strengthen the agency's ability to detect clandestine facilities and activities."

Secure ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)
"The United States has maintained a moratorium on testing since 1992. It signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996, but it has not been ratified yet. Since the U.S. Senate last considered the treaty in 1999, significant progress has been made in our verification capability to detect nuclear explosions, even at extremely low yields, and to ensure confidence in the reliability of our nuclear stockpile without nuclear testing."

Mandate standards for securing personal data
"The federal government must partner with industry and our citizens to secure personal data stored on government and private systems. An Obama administration will institute a common standard for securing such data across industries."

Require companies to disclose personal information data breaches
"California and other states have laws requiring a company that may have disclosed a resident's personal information without authorization to inform the victim of the disclosure. Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that all Americans deserve the same right to know and will push for comparable federal legislation."

Seek to negotiate a political agreement on Cyprus
"As president, Barack Obama will show U.S. leadership in seeking to negotiate a political settlement on Cyprus. He believes strongly that Cyprus should remain a single, sovereign country in which each of the two communities on the island is able to exercise substantial political authority within a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation."

With the G-8, launch Health Infrastructure 2020
"Barack Obama and Joe Biden will take the lead at the G-8, working with and leveraging the engagement of the private sector and private philanthropy, to launch Health Infrastructure 2020 – a global effort to work with developing countries to invest in the full range of infrastructure needed to improve and protect both American and global health."

Reinstate special envoy for the Americas
"In the past, American presidents have filled the position of special envoy to bring senior-level attention to hemispheric matters that might otherwise get buried in the normal diplomatic process. Unfortunately, the position was eliminated after the post was vacated in June of 2004. As president Barack Obama will reinstate the position."

Double the Peace Corps
"Barack Obama will double the Peace Corps to 16,000 by its 50th anniversary in 2011 and push Congress to fully fund this expansion, with a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean."

Seek independent watchdog agency to investigate congressional ethics violations
"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."

Create a public "Contracts and Influence" database
"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
"Will ensure that any tax breaks for corporate recipients — or tax earmarks — are also publicly available on the Internet in an easily searchable format."

Allow five days of public comment before signing bills
To reduce bills rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them, 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."

Tougher rules against revolving door for lobbyists and former officials
"No political appointees in an Obama-Biden 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."
Double funding for afterschool programs
"Will double funding for the main federal support for afterschool programs, the 21st Century Learning Centers program, to serve one million more children."
Create scholarships to recruit new teachers
"Will create new Teacher Service Scholarships that will cover four years of undergraduate or two years of graduate teacher education, including high-quality alternative programs for mid-career recruits in exchange for teaching for at least four years in a high-need field or location."

Require all schools of education to be accredited
"Will require all schools of education to be accredited."

Regulate pollution from major livestock operations
"In the Obama Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency will strictly monitor and regulate pollution from large Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) - which raise more than 40 percent of U.S. livestock - with fines for those who violate tough air and water quality standards."

Provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants
Will support "a system that allows undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens."

Expand the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to include sexual orientation and gender identity
Will "place the weight of (his) administration behind...a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act to outlaw workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity."

Sign the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act into law
"Will sign the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act into law and charge the Voting Rights Section with vigorously enforcing that law and the provisions of the Voting Rights Act. The act will will enable investigations into deceptive and fraudulent practices. It establishes significant, harsh penalties for those who have engaged in fraud, and it provides voters who have been misinformed with accurate and full information so they can vote."

Eliminate caps on damages for discrimination cases
Will sign into law the Equal Remedies Act of 2007 "to do away with the caps on compensatory and punitive damages under Title VII that presently impede the ability of victims of racial and gender discrimination to fully recover for the wrongs they have suffered."

Allow bankruptcy judges to modify terms of a home mortgage
Will repeal provisions of the Chapter 13 law that prohibit bankruptcy judges from modifying the original terms of home mortgages for ordinary families -- regardless of whether the loan was predatory or unfair or is otherwise unaffordable -- "so that ordinary families can also get relief that bankruptcy laws were intended to provide."
Increase the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour
"Will further raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2011, index it to inflation and increase the Earned Income Tax Credit to make sure that full-time workers can earn a living wage that allows them to raise their families and pay for basic needs such as food, transportation, and housing."

Restore Superfund program so that polluters pay for clean-ups
"Will restore the strength of the Superfund program by requiring polluters to pay for the cleanup of contaminated sites they created."

Fully fund the COPS program
Will fully funding the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program "to combat crime and help address police brutality and accountability issues in local communities."

Support tax deduction for artists
Will "ensure tax fairness for artists" by supporting the Artist-Museum Partnership Act, introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. "The Act amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow artists to deduct the fair market value of their work, rather than just the costs of the materials, when they make charitable contributions."

Re-establish the National Aeronautics and Space Council
Will re-establish an organizational authority in the federal government with a sufficiently broad mandate to oversee a comprehensive and integrated strategy and policy dealing with all aspects of the government's space-related programs, including those being managed by NASA, the Department of Defense, the National Reconnaissance Office, the Commerce Department, the Transportation Department, and other federal agencies. This Council reporting to the president "will oversee and coordinate civilian, military, commercial and national security space activities. It will solicit public participation, engage the international community, and work toward a 21st century vision of space that constantly pushes the envelope on new technologies as it pursues a balanced national portfolio that expands our reach into the heavens and improves life here on Earth."

Support human mission to moon by 2020
Will "endorse the goal of sending human missions to the Moon by 2020, as a precursor in an orderly progression to missions to more distant destinations, including Mars."

Direct revenues from offshore oil and gas drilling to increased coastal hurricane protection
"Will also direct revenues from offshore oil and gas drilling to increased coastal hurricane protection."

Create a national catastrophe insurance reserve
"Will create a National Catastrophe Insurance Reserve that would be funded by private insurers contributing a portion of the premiums they collect from policyholders. Such a framework would neither distort the insurance market nor discourage risk avoidance and risk mitigation investments because insurers would not be forced out of high-risk markets for fear of bankruptcy in the event of a disaster. With this program in place, disaster victims would no longer have to depend solely on taxpayerfunded federal disaster aid loans."

Establish a Global Energy Corps to promote green energy in developing countries
"Will extend opportunities for older individuals such as teachers, engineers, and doctors to serve overseas. This effort will include a Global Energy Corps to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions overseas and promote low-carbon and affordable energy solutions in developing nations. One of this century's great challenges will be promoting the use of green energy in developing countries, which will face exponential increases in energy demand. This Corps will be composed of scientists and engineers who will work with local partners overseas."

Expand service-learning in schools
Will tie a plan to give schools a substantial infusion of funds to support teachers and principals and improve student learning to the condition that school districts develop programs to engage students in service opportunities. "Obama and Biden believe that middle and high school students should be expected to engage in community service for 50 hours annually during the school year or summer months. They will develop national guidelines for service-learning and community service programs, and will give schools better tools both to develop successful programs and to document the experience of students at all levels. They will encourage programs that engage with community partners to expand opportunities for community service and service-learning opportunities, so that students can apply what they learn in the classroom to authentic situations that help the community. These programs will also involve citizens from the community engaging students in service opportunities through the Classroom Corps."

Pay for the national service plan without increasing the deficit
"Will maintain fiscal responsibility and prevent any increase in the deficit by offsetting cuts and revenue sources in other parts of the government (to pay for a national service plan that will cost about $3.5 billion per year when it is fully implemented). This plan will be paid for in part by cancelling tax provisions that would otherwise help multinational corporations pay less in U.S. taxes starting in 2008 by reallocating tax deductions for interest expenses between income earned in the U.S. and income earned abroad. The rest of the plan will be funded using a small portion of the savings associated with ending the war in Iraq."

Seek treaty to control fissile materials
"Will lead a global effort to negotiate a verifiable treaty ending the production of fissile materials for weapons purposes."

Encourage diversity in media ownership
"Will encourage diversity in the ownership of broadcast media, promote the development of new media outlets for expression of diverse viewpoints, and clarify the public interest obligations of broadcasters who occupy the nation's spectrum."

Double federal funding for basic science research over 10 years
Will "support doubling federal funding for basic research over ten years, changing the posture of our federal government...to one that embraces science and technology. This will foster home-grown innovation, help ensure the competitiveness of US technology-based businesses, and ensure that 21st century jobs can and will grow in America."

Improve and prioritize student science assessments
"Will work with governors and educators to ensure that state assessments measure…a student's higher order thinking skills including inference, logic, data analysis, interpretation, forming questions and communicating these skills."

And many more... http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/rulings/promise-broken/?page=1

 

[theeedude]

You can give GOP 1000 days, it won't matter. They just don't have any good ideas that pass both their ideological filter and their corporatist filter.

 

[pcgeek11]

Rather than beating on someone after only 33 days I'll wait and see rather than speculate and get all worked up about it.

 

[theeedude]

You can wait till the cows come home. Obama took the one idea Republicans had on health care but had no guts to pass. Now they got nothing left.

 

[pcgeek11]

Whatever you want to believe...

 

[MongGrel]

Whatever you want to believe...

Maybe you can get Trump to stop flying to Mar-a-Lago every weekend and playing golf almost non stop every weekend there, and Melania living in NY in Trump Tower, his two non Whitehouse residences also

While you're at it, see if you can get his kids to stop cutting ribbons on new resorts in Saudi Arabia and the new golf course and resort there, with Secret Service protection.

You sound a bit foolish atm.

 

[ivwshane]

Thanks for showing everybody you have no fucking clue how government works!

Also, thanks for showing us what we could have had if the GOP in Congress weren't a bunch of obstructionists.

Keep fellating the trump though, he loves his poorly educated!

They did Start.
They hoped to have...

OK lets talk about all of Obama's promises that he failed to deliver on. In an 8 year term.

Eliminate all oil and gas tax loopholes
"Eliminating special tax breaks for oil and gas companies: including repealing special expensing rules, foreign tax credit benefits, and manufacturing deductions for oil and gas firms."

Expand the child and dependent care credit
Expand and make refundable the child and dependent care credit.

Require publicly traded financial partnerships to pay the corporate income tax
Require publicly traded financial partnerships to pay the corporate income tax.

Close loopholes in the corporate tax deductibility of CEO pay
Congress has set rules regarding the tax deductibility of the salaries of CEOs, but forms of non-salary compensation have become popular. Obama would look at revamping definitions of compensation.

Create a foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners
Create a $10 billion fund to help homeowners refinance or sell their homes. "The Fund will not help speculators, people who bought vacation homes or people who falsely represented their incomes."

Provide option for a pre-filled-out tax form
Will direct the Internal Revenue Service to "give taxpayers the option of a pre-filled tax form to verify, sign and return to the IRS or online. This will eliminate the need for Americans to hire expensive tax preparers and to gather information that the federal government already has on file."

Create a mortgage interest tax credit for non-itemizers
Create a refundable tax credit equal to 10 percent of mortgage interest for nonitemizers, up to a maximum credit of $800.

Require automatic enrollment in 401(k) plans
Automatic enrollment in 401(k) plans for workers whose employers offer retirement plans.

Create a retirement savings tax credit for low incomes
A tax credit for retirement savings up to $500 (couples) or $250 (singles). Phases out when incomes exceed $65,000 (couples) or $32,500 (single). Indexed for inflation.

End income tax for seniors making less than $50,000
"Will eliminate all income taxation of seniors making less than $50,000 per year. This will eliminate taxes for 7 million seniors -- saving them an average of $1,400 a year-- and will also mean that 27 million seniors will not need to file an income tax return at all."
End no-bid contracts above $25,000
"Will ensure that federal contracts over $25,000 are competitively bid."

Create a $60 billion bank to fund roads and bridges
"Will address the infrastructure challenge by creating a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank to expand and enhance, not supplant, existing federal transportation investments. This independent entity will be directed to invest in our nation's most challenging transportation infrastructure needs. The Bank will receive an infusion of federal money, $60 billion over 10 years, to provide financing to transportation infrastructure projects across the nation. These projects will create up to two million new direct and indirect jobs and stimulate approximately $35 billion per year in new economic activity."

Tax carried interest as ordinary income
Carried interest is a way of compensating executives by giving them ownership stakes, or "interest," in a business. Carried interest is taxed as a capital gain, which has a lower tax rate than ordinary income. Obama proposes taxing carried interest at the same rate as regular income.

Sign the Employee Free Choice Act, making it easier for workers to unionize
"Obama is a cosponsor and strong advocate of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a bipartisan effort to make the unionization process more transparent and increase penalties on companies that violate employee rights. He will sign EFCA into law as president."

Lift the payroll tax cap on earnings above $250,000
"Barack Obama believes that the first place to look to strengthen Social Security is the payroll tax system. Obama believes that one strong option is increasing the maximum amount of earnings covered by Social Security by lifting the payroll tax cap on only earnings above $250,000."

Forbid companies in bankruptcy from giving executives bonuses
"Protect the jobs and benefits of workers and retirees when corporations file for bankruptcy by telling companies that they cannot issue bonuses for executives during bankruptcy while their workers watch their pensions disappear."

Allow workers to claim more in unpaid wages and benefits in bankruptcy court
"Increase the amount of unpaid wages and benefits workers can claim in bankruptcy court against their employer."

Require full disclosure of company pension investments to employees
"When companies fund their pensions, many do not disclose their investments with the employee's pension dollars. This lack of transparency can make it easier for fund managers to make imprudent or even fraudulent investment decisions. Obama will ensure that all employees who have company pensions receive annual disclosures about their pension fund's investments, including full details about which projects have been invested in, the performance of those investments and appropriate details about probable future investments strategies."

Allow imported prescription drugs
"Allow Americans to buy their medicines from other developed countries if the drugs are safe and prices are lower outside the U.S."

Prevent drug companies from blocking generic drugs
"Prevent drug companies from blocking generic drugs from consumers."

Allow Medicare to negotiate for cheaper drug prices
"Allow Medicare to negotiate for cheaper drug prices."

Appoint federal-level coordinator to oversee all federal autism efforts
"They will appoint a Federal ASD Coordinator to oversee federal ASD research and federal efforts to improve awareness of ASD and improve the training of medical professionals to identify and treat ASD. By establishing one top-level point person to coordinate ASD efforts in the White House, they will ensure that ASD receives the recognition and priority it deserves in the federal government. The Federal ASD Coordinator will also be tasked with eliminating bureaucratic obstacles that may be delaying implementation of important ASD measures and ensuring that all federal ASD dollars are being spent in a manner that prioritizes results. The Coordinator will work with state task forces on ASD to ensure effective communication and collaboration among federal, state, and local agencies."

Double federal funding for cancer research
"Will double federal funding for cancer research within 5 years, focusing on NIH (National Institutes of Health) and NCI (National Cancer Institute)."

Provide the CDC $50 million in funding to determine effective approaches for cancer patient care
"Will provide the CDC $50 million in new funding to determine the most effective approaches that assist not only navigation of cancer patients through diagnosis and treatment processes, but also provide easy-to-understand information on the necessary follow-up steps to ensure continued lifelong health."

Sign the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
"As president, Barack Obama will renew America's leadership by making the United States a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; the first human rights treaty approved by the UN in the 21st century and a vital foundation for respecting the rights of people with disabilities worldwide He will urge the U.S. Senate to ratify the Convention expeditiously."

Fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
"Barack Obama has been a strong and consistent advocate for fully funding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Congress promised to shoulder 40 percent of each state's "excess cost" of educating children with disabilities, but it has never lived up to this obligation. Currently, the federal government provides less than half of the promised funding (17 percent)."

Create a National Commission on People with Disabilities, Employment, and Social Security
Create a national commission charged with "examining and proposing solutions to work disincentives in the SSDI, SSI, Medicare, and Medicaid," among other things.

Change rules so small businesses owned by people with disabilities get preferences for contracts.
"Barack Obama and Joe Biden would direct the Small Business Administration to amend regulations under the Small Business Act that provide preferences in federal contracting to small businesses owned by members of socially and economically disadvantaged groups to include individuals with disabilities."

Reduce the threshhold for the Family and Medical Leave Act from companies with 50 employees to companies with 25 employees
"The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides eligible employees of larger employers (i.e., 50 or more employees) with 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a family member's or their own serious health condition. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will guarantee that millions more workers have access to FMLA leave by reducing the threshold for which employers are covered from companies with 50 or more employees to those with 25 or more."

Provide a $1.5 billion fund to help states launch programs for paid family and medical leave
"As president, Barack Obama and Joe Biden will initiate a 50-state strategy to encourage all of the states to adopt paid-leave systems (as part of the Family and Medical Leave Act). Barack Obama and Joe Biden will provide a $1.5 billion fund to assist states with start-up costs and to help states offset the costs for employees and employers. Obama's Department of Labor will also provide technical information to the states on how to craft paid-leave programs consistent with their local needs."

Require employers to provide seven paid sick days per year
"Require that employers provide seven paid sick days per year – which may be taken on an hourly basis – so that Americans with disabilities can take the time off they need without fear of losing their jobs or a paycheck."

Amend the Medicare "homebound" rule to allow some travel without loss of benefits
Amend the Medicare 'homebound' rule, which requires severely disabled recipients to stay in their homes to retain benefits, so that they have the freedom to leave their homes without fear of having their home-health benefits taken away.

Expand the Family Medical Leave Act to include leave for domestic violence or sexual assault
"Expand the purposes for which leave can be taken under the Family Medical Leave Act to include reasons related to domestic violence or sexual assault."

Form international group to help Iraq refugees
"Will form an international working group to address" the problem of "more than five million Iraqis (who) are refugees or are displaced inside their own country."

Work with Russia to move nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert
"The United States and Russia have thousands of nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert. Barack Obama believes that we should take our nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert -- something that George W. Bush promised to do when he was campaigning for president in 2000. Maintaining this Cold War stance today is unnecessary and increases the risk of an accidental or unauthorized nuclear launch. As president, Obama will work with Russia to find common ground and bring significantly more weapons off hair-trigger alert."

Clarify legal status for defense contractor personnel
"Establish the legal status of contractor personnel, making possible prosecution of any abuses committed by private military contractors."

Double U.S. spending on foreign aid to $50 billion a year by 2012
"Barack Obama would target this new spending towards strategic goals, including helping the world's weakest states to build democratic institutions, foster healthy and educated communities, reduce poverty and generate wealth."

Establish a Global Education Fund
Barack Obama would use part of increased U.S. assistance to establish a $2 billion Global Education Fund to "offer an alternative to extremist schools."

Launch a new 'America's Voice Corps'
"Obama also would launch a new 'America's Voice Corps' to rapidly recruit and train fluent speakers of local languages (Arabic, Bahasa Melayu, Bahasa, Farsi, Urdu, and Turkish) with public diplomacy skills, who can ensure our voice is heard in the mass media and in our efforts on the ground."

Close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center
"As president, Barack Obama will close the detention facility at Guantanamo."

Develop an alternative to President Bush's Military Commissions Act on handling detainees
"He will reject the Military Commissions Act, which allowed the U.S. to circumvent Geneva Conventions in the handling of detainees. He will develop a fair and thorough process based on the Uniform Code of Military Justice to distinguish between those prisoners who should be prosecuted for their crimes, those who can't be prosecuted but who can be held in a manner consistent with the laws of war, and those who should be released or transferred to their home countries."

Restore habeas corpus rights for "enemy combatants"
"The right of habeas corpus allows prisoners to ask a court to determine whether they are being lawfully imprisoned. Recently, this right has been denied to those deemed enemy combatants. Barack Obama strongly supports bipartisan efforts to restore habeas rights. He firmly believes that those who pose a danger to this country should be swiftly tried and brought to justice, but those who do not should have sufficient due process to ensure that we are not wrongfully denying them their liberty."

Improve port security through better radiation detection
"Will redouble our efforts to develop technology that can detect radiation and determine the danger it poses, and he will work with the maritime transportation industry to integrate this technology into their operations so as to maximize security without causing economic disruption."

Strengthen the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and double its budget in the next four years
"The IAEA is understaffed and underresourced at a time when demand for its expertise are growing. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will seek to ensure that the Agency gets the authority, information, people, and technology it needs to do its job. They will work to double the IAEA budget in the next four years (increasing the U.S. annual share to about $225 million). They will press countries to adopt the "Additional Protocol," -- which grants the IAEA the right to conduct more intrusive inspections, including at undeclared facilities — and seek agreement among members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group not to transfer nuclear technology to NPT countries that have not adopted the Additional Protocol. They will work to gain agreement on effective global standards for nuclear safety and security. And they will call for establishing IAEA verification procedures that go beyond the Additional Protocol to strengthen the agency's ability to detect clandestine facilities and activities."

Secure ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)
"The United States has maintained a moratorium on testing since 1992. It signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996, but it has not been ratified yet. Since the U.S. Senate last considered the treaty in 1999, significant progress has been made in our verification capability to detect nuclear explosions, even at extremely low yields, and to ensure confidence in the reliability of our nuclear stockpile without nuclear testing."

Mandate standards for securing personal data
"The federal government must partner with industry and our citizens to secure personal data stored on government and private systems. An Obama administration will institute a common standard for securing such data across industries."

Require companies to disclose personal information data breaches
"California and other states have laws requiring a company that may have disclosed a resident's personal information without authorization to inform the victim of the disclosure. Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that all Americans deserve the same right to know and will push for comparable federal legislation."

Seek to negotiate a political agreement on Cyprus
"As president, Barack Obama will show U.S. leadership in seeking to negotiate a political settlement on Cyprus. He believes strongly that Cyprus should remain a single, sovereign country in which each of the two communities on the island is able to exercise substantial political authority within a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation."

With the G-8, launch Health Infrastructure 2020
"Barack Obama and Joe Biden will take the lead at the G-8, working with and leveraging the engagement of the private sector and private philanthropy, to launch Health Infrastructure 2020 – a global effort to work with developing countries to invest in the full range of infrastructure needed to improve and protect both American and global health."

Reinstate special envoy for the Americas
"In the past, American presidents have filled the position of special envoy to bring senior-level attention to hemispheric matters that might otherwise get buried in the normal diplomatic process. Unfortunately, the position was eliminated after the post was vacated in June of 2004. As president Barack Obama will reinstate the position."

Double the Peace Corps
"Barack Obama will double the Peace Corps to 16,000 by its 50th anniversary in 2011 and push Congress to fully fund this expansion, with a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean."

Seek independent watchdog agency to investigate congressional ethics violations
"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."

Create a public "Contracts and Influence" database
"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
"Will ensure that any tax breaks for corporate recipients — or tax earmarks — are also publicly available on the Internet in an easily searchable format."

Allow five days of public comment before signing bills
To reduce bills rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them, 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."

Tougher rules against revolving door for lobbyists and former officials
"No political appointees in an Obama-Biden 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."
Double funding for afterschool programs
"Will double funding for the main federal support for afterschool programs, the 21st Century Learning Centers program, to serve one million more children."
Create scholarships to recruit new teachers
"Will create new Teacher Service Scholarships that will cover four years of undergraduate or two years of graduate teacher education, including high-quality alternative programs for mid-career recruits in exchange for teaching for at least four years in a high-need field or location."

Require all schools of education to be accredited
"Will require all schools of education to be accredited."

Regulate pollution from major livestock operations
"In the Obama Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency will strictly monitor and regulate pollution from large Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) - which raise more than 40 percent of U.S. livestock - with fines for those who violate tough air and water quality standards."

Provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants
Will support "a system that allows undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens."

Expand the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to include sexual orientation and gender identity
Will "place the weight of (his) administration behind...a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act to outlaw workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity."

Sign the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act into law
"Will sign the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act into law and charge the Voting Rights Section with vigorously enforcing that law and the provisions of the Voting Rights Act. The act will will enable investigations into deceptive and fraudulent practices. It establishes significant, harsh penalties for those who have engaged in fraud, and it provides voters who have been misinformed with accurate and full information so they can vote."

Eliminate caps on damages for discrimination cases
Will sign into law the Equal Remedies Act of 2007 "to do away with the caps on compensatory and punitive damages under Title VII that presently impede the ability of victims of racial and gender discrimination to fully recover for the wrongs they have suffered."

Allow bankruptcy judges to modify terms of a home mortgage
Will repeal provisions of the Chapter 13 law that prohibit bankruptcy judges from modifying the original terms of home mortgages for ordinary families -- regardless of whether the loan was predatory or unfair or is otherwise unaffordable -- "so that ordinary families can also get relief that bankruptcy laws were intended to provide."
Increase the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour
"Will further raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2011, index it to inflation and increase the Earned Income Tax Credit to make sure that full-time workers can earn a living wage that allows them to raise their families and pay for basic needs such as food, transportation, and housing."

Restore Superfund program so that polluters pay for clean-ups
"Will restore the strength of the Superfund program by requiring polluters to pay for the cleanup of contaminated sites they created."

Fully fund the COPS program
Will fully funding the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program "to combat crime and help address police brutality and accountability issues in local communities."

Support tax deduction for artists
Will "ensure tax fairness for artists" by supporting the Artist-Museum Partnership Act, introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. "The Act amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow artists to deduct the fair market value of their work, rather than just the costs of the materials, when they make charitable contributions."

Re-establish the National Aeronautics and Space Council
Will re-establish an organizational authority in the federal government with a sufficiently broad mandate to oversee a comprehensive and integrated strategy and policy dealing with all aspects of the government's space-related programs, including those being managed by NASA, the Department of Defense, the National Reconnaissance Office, the Commerce Department, the Transportation Department, and other federal agencies. This Council reporting to the president "will oversee and coordinate civilian, military, commercial and national security space activities. It will solicit public participation, engage the international community, and work toward a 21st century vision of space that constantly pushes the envelope on new technologies as it pursues a balanced national portfolio that expands our reach into the heavens and improves life here on Earth."

Support human mission to moon by 2020
Will "endorse the goal of sending human missions to the Moon by 2020, as a precursor in an orderly progression to missions to more distant destinations, including Mars."

Direct revenues from offshore oil and gas drilling to increased coastal hurricane protection
"Will also direct revenues from offshore oil and gas drilling to increased coastal hurricane protection."

Create a national catastrophe insurance reserve
"Will create a National Catastrophe Insurance Reserve that would be funded by private insurers contributing a portion of the premiums they collect from policyholders. Such a framework would neither distort the insurance market nor discourage risk avoidance and risk mitigation investments because insurers would not be forced out of high-risk markets for fear of bankruptcy in the event of a disaster. With this program in place, disaster victims would no longer have to depend solely on taxpayerfunded federal disaster aid loans."

Establish a Global Energy Corps to promote green energy in developing countries
"Will extend opportunities for older individuals such as teachers, engineers, and doctors to serve overseas. This effort will include a Global Energy Corps to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions overseas and promote low-carbon and affordable energy solutions in developing nations. One of this century's great challenges will be promoting the use of green energy in developing countries, which will face exponential increases in energy demand. This Corps will be composed of scientists and engineers who will work with local partners overseas."

Expand service-learning in schools
Will tie a plan to give schools a substantial infusion of funds to support teachers and principals and improve student learning to the condition that school districts develop programs to engage students in service opportunities. "Obama and Biden believe that middle and high school students should be expected to engage in community service for 50 hours annually during the school year or summer months. They will develop national guidelines for service-learning and community service programs, and will give schools better tools both to develop successful programs and to document the experience of students at all levels. They will encourage programs that engage with community partners to expand opportunities for community service and service-learning opportunities, so that students can apply what they learn in the classroom to authentic situations that help the community. These programs will also involve citizens from the community engaging students in service opportunities through the Classroom Corps."

Pay for the national service plan without increasing the deficit
"Will maintain fiscal responsibility and prevent any increase in the deficit by offsetting cuts and revenue sources in other parts of the government (to pay for a national service plan that will cost about $3.5 billion per year when it is fully implemented). This plan will be paid for in part by cancelling tax provisions that would otherwise help multinational corporations pay less in U.S. taxes starting in 2008 by reallocating tax deductions for interest expenses between income earned in the U.S. and income earned abroad. The rest of the plan will be funded using a small portion of the savings associated with ending the war in Iraq."

Seek treaty to control fissile materials
"Will lead a global effort to negotiate a verifiable treaty ending the production of fissile materials for weapons purposes."

Encourage diversity in media ownership
"Will encourage diversity in the ownership of broadcast media, promote the development of new media outlets for expression of diverse viewpoints, and clarify the public interest obligations of broadcasters who occupy the nation's spectrum."

Double federal funding for basic science research over 10 years
Will "support doubling federal funding for basic research over ten years, changing the posture of our federal government...to one that embraces science and technology. This will foster home-grown innovation, help ensure the competitiveness of US technology-based businesses, and ensure that 21st century jobs can and will grow in America."

Improve and prioritize student science assessments
"Will work with governors and educators to ensure that state assessments measure…a student's higher order thinking skills including inference, logic, data analysis, interpretation, forming questions and communicating these skills."

And many more... http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/rulings/promise-broken/?page=1

 

[Bitek]

They did Start.
They hoped to have...

OK lets talk about all of Obama's promises that he failed to deliver on. In an 8 year term.

Eliminate all oil and gas tax loopholes
"Eliminating special tax breaks for oil and gas companies: including repealing special expensing rules, foreign tax credit benefits, and manufacturing deductions for oil and gas firms."

Expand the child and dependent care credit
Expand and make refundable the child and dependent care credit.

Require publicly traded financial partnerships to pay the corporate income tax
Require publicly traded financial partnerships to pay the corporate income tax.

Close loopholes in the corporate tax deductibility of CEO pay
Congress has set rules regarding the tax deductibility of the salaries of CEOs, but forms of non-salary compensation have become popular. Obama would look at revamping definitions of compensation.

Create a foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners
Create a $10 billion fund to help homeowners refinance or sell their homes. "The Fund will not help speculators, people who bought vacation homes or people who falsely represented their incomes."

Provide option for a pre-filled-out tax form
Will direct the Internal Revenue Service to "give taxpayers the option of a pre-filled tax form to verify, sign and return to the IRS or online. This will eliminate the need for Americans to hire expensive tax preparers and to gather information that the federal government already has on file."

Create a mortgage interest tax credit for non-itemizers
Create a refundable tax credit equal to 10 percent of mortgage interest for nonitemizers, up to a maximum credit of $800.

Require automatic enrollment in 401(k) plans
Automatic enrollment in 401(k) plans for workers whose employers offer retirement plans.

Create a retirement savings tax credit for low incomes
A tax credit for retirement savings up to $500 (couples) or $250 (singles). Phases out when incomes exceed $65,000 (couples) or $32,500 (single). Indexed for inflation.

End income tax for seniors making less than $50,000
"Will eliminate all income taxation of seniors making less than $50,000 per year. This will eliminate taxes for 7 million seniors -- saving them an average of $1,400 a year-- and will also mean that 27 million seniors will not need to file an income tax return at all."
End no-bid contracts above $25,000
"Will ensure that federal contracts over $25,000 are competitively bid."

Create a $60 billion bank to fund roads and bridges
"Will address the infrastructure challenge by creating a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank to expand and enhance, not supplant, existing federal transportation investments. This independent entity will be directed to invest in our nation's most challenging transportation infrastructure needs. The Bank will receive an infusion of federal money, $60 billion over 10 years, to provide financing to transportation infrastructure projects across the nation. These projects will create up to two million new direct and indirect jobs and stimulate approximately $35 billion per year in new economic activity."

Tax carried interest as ordinary income
Carried interest is a way of compensating executives by giving them ownership stakes, or "interest," in a business. Carried interest is taxed as a capital gain, which has a lower tax rate than ordinary income. Obama proposes taxing carried interest at the same rate as regular income.

Sign the Employee Free Choice Act, making it easier for workers to unionize
"Obama is a cosponsor and strong advocate of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a bipartisan effort to make the unionization process more transparent and increase penalties on companies that violate employee rights. He will sign EFCA into law as president."

Lift the payroll tax cap on earnings above $250,000
"Barack Obama believes that the first place to look to strengthen Social Security is the payroll tax system. Obama believes that one strong option is increasing the maximum amount of earnings covered by Social Security by lifting the payroll tax cap on only earnings above $250,000."

Forbid companies in bankruptcy from giving executives bonuses
"Protect the jobs and benefits of workers and retirees when corporations file for bankruptcy by telling companies that they cannot issue bonuses for executives during bankruptcy while their workers watch their pensions disappear."

Allow workers to claim more in unpaid wages and benefits in bankruptcy court
"Increase the amount of unpaid wages and benefits workers can claim in bankruptcy court against their employer."

Require full disclosure of company pension investments to employees
"When companies fund their pensions, many do not disclose their investments with the employee's pension dollars. This lack of transparency can make it easier for fund managers to make imprudent or even fraudulent investment decisions. Obama will ensure that all employees who have company pensions receive annual disclosures about their pension fund's investments, including full details about which projects have been invested in, the performance of those investments and appropriate details about probable future investments strategies."

Allow imported prescription drugs
"Allow Americans to buy their medicines from other developed countries if the drugs are safe and prices are lower outside the U.S."

Prevent drug companies from blocking generic drugs
"Prevent drug companies from blocking generic drugs from consumers."

Allow Medicare to negotiate for cheaper drug prices
"Allow Medicare to negotiate for cheaper drug prices."

Appoint federal-level coordinator to oversee all federal autism efforts
"They will appoint a Federal ASD Coordinator to oversee federal ASD research and federal efforts to improve awareness of ASD and improve the training of medical professionals to identify and treat ASD. By establishing one top-level point person to coordinate ASD efforts in the White House, they will ensure that ASD receives the recognition and priority it deserves in the federal government. The Federal ASD Coordinator will also be tasked with eliminating bureaucratic obstacles that may be delaying implementation of important ASD measures and ensuring that all federal ASD dollars are being spent in a manner that prioritizes results. The Coordinator will work with state task forces on ASD to ensure effective communication and collaboration among federal, state, and local agencies."

Double federal funding for cancer research
"Will double federal funding for cancer research within 5 years, focusing on NIH (National Institutes of Health) and NCI (National Cancer Institute)."

Provide the CDC $50 million in funding to determine effective approaches for cancer patient care
"Will provide the CDC $50 million in new funding to determine the most effective approaches that assist not only navigation of cancer patients through diagnosis and treatment processes, but also provide easy-to-understand information on the necessary follow-up steps to ensure continued lifelong health."

Sign the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
"As president, Barack Obama will renew America's leadership by making the United States a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; the first human rights treaty approved by the UN in the 21st century and a vital foundation for respecting the rights of people with disabilities worldwide He will urge the U.S. Senate to ratify the Convention expeditiously."

Fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
"Barack Obama has been a strong and consistent advocate for fully funding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Congress promised to shoulder 40 percent of each state's "excess cost" of educating children with disabilities, but it has never lived up to this obligation. Currently, the federal government provides less than half of the promised funding (17 percent)."

Create a National Commission on People with Disabilities, Employment, and Social Security
Create a national commission charged with "examining and proposing solutions to work disincentives in the SSDI, SSI, Medicare, and Medicaid," among other things.

Change rules so small businesses owned by people with disabilities get preferences for contracts.
"Barack Obama and Joe Biden would direct the Small Business Administration to amend regulations under the Small Business Act that provide preferences in federal contracting to small businesses owned by members of socially and economically disadvantaged groups to include individuals with disabilities."

Reduce the threshhold for the Family and Medical Leave Act from companies with 50 employees to companies with 25 employees
"The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides eligible employees of larger employers (i.e., 50 or more employees) with 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a family member's or their own serious health condition. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will guarantee that millions more workers have access to FMLA leave by reducing the threshold for which employers are covered from companies with 50 or more employees to those with 25 or more."

Provide a $1.5 billion fund to help states launch programs for paid family and medical leave
"As president, Barack Obama and Joe Biden will initiate a 50-state strategy to encourage all of the states to adopt paid-leave systems (as part of the Family and Medical Leave Act). Barack Obama and Joe Biden will provide a $1.5 billion fund to assist states with start-up costs and to help states offset the costs for employees and employers. Obama's Department of Labor will also provide technical information to the states on how to craft paid-leave programs consistent with their local needs."

Require employers to provide seven paid sick days per year
"Require that employers provide seven paid sick days per year – which may be taken on an hourly basis – so that Americans with disabilities can take the time off they need without fear of losing their jobs or a paycheck."

Amend the Medicare "homebound" rule to allow some travel without loss of benefits
Amend the Medicare 'homebound' rule, which requires severely disabled recipients to stay in their homes to retain benefits, so that they have the freedom to leave their homes without fear of having their home-health benefits taken away.

Expand the Family Medical Leave Act to include leave for domestic violence or sexual assault
"Expand the purposes for which leave can be taken under the Family Medical Leave Act to include reasons related to domestic violence or sexual assault."

Form international group to help Iraq refugees
"Will form an international working group to address" the problem of "more than five million Iraqis (who) are refugees or are displaced inside their own country."

Work with Russia to move nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert
"The United States and Russia have thousands of nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert. Barack Obama believes that we should take our nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert -- something that George W. Bush promised to do when he was campaigning for president in 2000. Maintaining this Cold War stance today is unnecessary and increases the risk of an accidental or unauthorized nuclear launch. As president, Obama will work with Russia to find common ground and bring significantly more weapons off hair-trigger alert."

Clarify legal status for defense contractor personnel
"Establish the legal status of contractor personnel, making possible prosecution of any abuses committed by private military contractors."

Double U.S. spending on foreign aid to $50 billion a year by 2012
"Barack Obama would target this new spending towards strategic goals, including helping the world's weakest states to build democratic institutions, foster healthy and educated communities, reduce poverty and generate wealth."

Establish a Global Education Fund
Barack Obama would use part of increased U.S. assistance to establish a $2 billion Global Education Fund to "offer an alternative to extremist schools."

Launch a new 'America's Voice Corps'
"Obama also would launch a new 'America's Voice Corps' to rapidly recruit and train fluent speakers of local languages (Arabic, Bahasa Melayu, Bahasa, Farsi, Urdu, and Turkish) with public diplomacy skills, who can ensure our voice is heard in the mass media and in our efforts on the ground."

Close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center
"As president, Barack Obama will close the detention facility at Guantanamo."

Develop an alternative to President Bush's Military Commissions Act on handling detainees
"He will reject the Military Commissions Act, which allowed the U.S. to circumvent Geneva Conventions in the handling of detainees. He will develop a fair and thorough process based on the Uniform Code of Military Justice to distinguish between those prisoners who should be prosecuted for their crimes, those who can't be prosecuted but who can be held in a manner consistent with the laws of war, and those who should be released or transferred to their home countries."

Restore habeas corpus rights for "enemy combatants"
"The right of habeas corpus allows prisoners to ask a court to determine whether they are being lawfully imprisoned. Recently, this right has been denied to those deemed enemy combatants. Barack Obama strongly supports bipartisan efforts to restore habeas rights. He firmly believes that those who pose a danger to this country should be swiftly tried and brought to justice, but those who do not should have sufficient due process to ensure that we are not wrongfully denying them their liberty."

Improve port security through better radiation detection
"Will redouble our efforts to develop technology that can detect radiation and determine the danger it poses, and he will work with the maritime transportation industry to integrate this technology into their operations so as to maximize security without causing economic disruption."

Strengthen the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and double its budget in the next four years
"The IAEA is understaffed and underresourced at a time when demand for its expertise are growing. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will seek to ensure that the Agency gets the authority, information, people, and technology it needs to do its job. They will work to double the IAEA budget in the next four years (increasing the U.S. annual share to about $225 million). They will press countries to adopt the "Additional Protocol," -- which grants the IAEA the right to conduct more intrusive inspections, including at undeclared facilities — and seek agreement among members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group not to transfer nuclear technology to NPT countries that have not adopted the Additional Protocol. They will work to gain agreement on effective global standards for nuclear safety and security. And they will call for establishing IAEA verification procedures that go beyond the Additional Protocol to strengthen the agency's ability to detect clandestine facilities and activities."

Secure ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)
"The United States has maintained a moratorium on testing since 1992. It signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996, but it has not been ratified yet. Since the U.S. Senate last considered the treaty in 1999, significant progress has been made in our verification capability to detect nuclear explosions, even at extremely low yields, and to ensure confidence in the reliability of our nuclear stockpile without nuclear testing."

Mandate standards for securing personal data
"The federal government must partner with industry and our citizens to secure personal data stored on government and private systems. An Obama administration will institute a common standard for securing such data across industries."

Require companies to disclose personal information data breaches
"California and other states have laws requiring a company that may have disclosed a resident's personal information without authorization to inform the victim of the disclosure. Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that all Americans deserve the same right to know and will push for comparable federal legislation."

Seek to negotiate a political agreement on Cyprus
"As president, Barack Obama will show U.S. leadership in seeking to negotiate a political settlement on Cyprus. He believes strongly that Cyprus should remain a single, sovereign country in which each of the two communities on the island is able to exercise substantial political authority within a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation."

With the G-8, launch Health Infrastructure 2020
"Barack Obama and Joe Biden will take the lead at the G-8, working with and leveraging the engagement of the private sector and private philanthropy, to launch Health Infrastructure 2020 – a global effort to work with developing countries to invest in the full range of infrastructure needed to improve and protect both American and global health."

Reinstate special envoy for the Americas
"In the past, American presidents have filled the position of special envoy to bring senior-level attention to hemispheric matters that might otherwise get buried in the normal diplomatic process. Unfortunately, the position was eliminated after the post was vacated in June of 2004. As president Barack Obama will reinstate the position."

Double the Peace Corps
"Barack Obama will double the Peace Corps to 16,000 by its 50th anniversary in 2011 and push Congress to fully fund this expansion, with a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean."

Seek independent watchdog agency to investigate congressional ethics violations
"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."

Create a public "Contracts and Influence" database
"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
"Will ensure that any tax breaks for corporate recipients — or tax earmarks — are also publicly available on the Internet in an easily searchable format."

Allow five days of public comment before signing bills
To reduce bills rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them, 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."

Tougher rules against revolving door for lobbyists and former officials
"No political appointees in an Obama-Biden 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."
Double funding for afterschool programs
"Will double funding for the main federal support for afterschool programs, the 21st Century Learning Centers program, to serve one million more children."
Create scholarships to recruit new teachers
"Will create new Teacher Service Scholarships that will cover four years of undergraduate or two years of graduate teacher education, including high-quality alternative programs for mid-career recruits in exchange for teaching for at least four years in a high-need field or location."

Require all schools of education to be accredited
"Will require all schools of education to be accredited."

Regulate pollution from major livestock operations
"In the Obama Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency will strictly monitor and regulate pollution from large Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) - which raise more than 40 percent of U.S. livestock - with fines for those who violate tough air and water quality standards."

Provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants
Will support "a system that allows undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens."

Expand the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to include sexual orientation and gender identity
Will "place the weight of (his) administration behind...a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act to outlaw workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity."

Sign the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act into law
"Will sign the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act into law and charge the Voting Rights Section with vigorously enforcing that law and the provisions of the Voting Rights Act. The act will will enable investigations into deceptive and fraudulent practices. It establishes significant, harsh penalties for those who have engaged in fraud, and it provides voters who have been misinformed with accurate and full information so they can vote."

Eliminate caps on damages for discrimination cases
Will sign into law the Equal Remedies Act of 2007 "to do away with the caps on compensatory and punitive damages under Title VII that presently impede the ability of victims of racial and gender discrimination to fully recover for the wrongs they have suffered."

Allow bankruptcy judges to modify terms of a home mortgage
Will repeal provisions of the Chapter 13 law that prohibit bankruptcy judges from modifying the original terms of home mortgages for ordinary families -- regardless of whether the loan was predatory or unfair or is otherwise unaffordable -- "so that ordinary families can also get relief that bankruptcy laws were intended to provide."
Increase the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour
"Will further raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2011, index it to inflation and increase the Earned Income Tax Credit to make sure that full-time workers can earn a living wage that allows them to raise their families and pay for basic needs such as food, transportation, and housing."

Restore Superfund program so that polluters pay for clean-ups
"Will restore the strength of the Superfund program by requiring polluters to pay for the cleanup of contaminated sites they created."

Fully fund the COPS program
Will fully funding the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program "to combat crime and help address police brutality and accountability issues in local communities."

Support tax deduction for artists
Will "ensure tax fairness for artists" by supporting the Artist-Museum Partnership Act, introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. "The Act amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow artists to deduct the fair market value of their work, rather than just the costs of the materials, when they make charitable contributions."

Re-establish the National Aeronautics and Space Council
Will re-establish an organizational authority in the federal government with a sufficiently broad mandate to oversee a comprehensive and integrated strategy and policy dealing with all aspects of the government's space-related programs, including those being managed by NASA, the Department of Defense, the National Reconnaissance Office, the Commerce Department, the Transportation Department, and other federal agencies. This Council reporting to the president "will oversee and coordinate civilian, military, commercial and national security space activities. It will solicit public participation, engage the international community, and work toward a 21st century vision of space that constantly pushes the envelope on new technologies as it pursues a balanced national portfolio that expands our reach into the heavens and improves life here on Earth."

Support human mission to moon by 2020
Will "endorse the goal of sending human missions to the Moon by 2020, as a precursor in an orderly progression to missions to more distant destinations, including Mars."

Direct revenues from offshore oil and gas drilling to increased coastal hurricane protection
"Will also direct revenues from offshore oil and gas drilling to increased coastal hurricane protection."

Create a national catastrophe insurance reserve
"Will create a National Catastrophe Insurance Reserve that would be funded by private insurers contributing a portion of the premiums they collect from policyholders. Such a framework would neither distort the insurance market nor discourage risk avoidance and risk mitigation investments because insurers would not be forced out of high-risk markets for fear of bankruptcy in the event of a disaster. With this program in place, disaster victims would no longer have to depend solely on taxpayerfunded federal disaster aid loans."

Establish a Global Energy Corps to promote green energy in developing countries
"Will extend opportunities for older individuals such as teachers, engineers, and doctors to serve overseas. This effort will include a Global Energy Corps to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions overseas and promote low-carbon and affordable energy solutions in developing nations. One of this century's great challenges will be promoting the use of green energy in developing countries, which will face exponential increases in energy demand. This Corps will be composed of scientists and engineers who will work with local partners overseas."

Expand service-learning in schools
Will tie a plan to give schools a substantial infusion of funds to support teachers and principals and improve student learning to the condition that school districts develop programs to engage students in service opportunities. "Obama and Biden believe that middle and high school students should be expected to engage in community service for 50 hours annually during the school year or summer months. They will develop national guidelines for service-learning and community service programs, and will give schools better tools both to develop successful programs and to document the experience of students at all levels. They will encourage programs that engage with community partners to expand opportunities for community service and service-learning opportunities, so that students can apply what they learn in the classroom to authentic situations that help the community. These programs will also involve citizens from the community engaging students in service opportunities through the Classroom Corps."

Pay for the national service plan without increasing the deficit
"Will maintain fiscal responsibility and prevent any increase in the deficit by offsetting cuts and revenue sources in other parts of the government (to pay for a national service plan that will cost about $3.5 billion per year when it is fully implemented). This plan will be paid for in part by cancelling tax provisions that would otherwise help multinational corporations pay less in U.S. taxes starting in 2008 by reallocating tax deductions for interest expenses between income earned in the U.S. and income earned abroad. The rest of the plan will be funded using a small portion of the savings associated with ending the war in Iraq."

Seek treaty to control fissile materials
"Will lead a global effort to negotiate a verifiable treaty ending the production of fissile materials for weapons purposes."

Encourage diversity in media ownership
"Will encourage diversity in the ownership of broadcast media, promote the development of new media outlets for expression of diverse viewpoints, and clarify the public interest obligations of broadcasters who occupy the nation's spectrum."

Double federal funding for basic science research over 10 years
Will "support doubling federal funding for basic research over ten years, changing the posture of our federal government...to one that embraces science and technology. This will foster home-grown innovation, help ensure the competitiveness of US technology-based businesses, and ensure that 21st century jobs can and will grow in America."

Improve and prioritize student science assessments
"Will work with governors and educators to ensure that state assessments measure…a student's higher order thinking skills including inference, logic, data analysis, interpretation, forming questions and communicating these skills."

And many more... http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/rulings/promise-broken/?page=1

What is that? Every utterance of all his SOTU addresses?

I don't recall "Regulate pollution from major livestock operations" being a defining issue of the Democratic primaries or the Obama presidential campaign....

A better comparison would be campaigning on how much the economy is a disaster, then NOT passing the Recovery Act (passed in Feb 09 btw) or doing anything else as he was too busy going to basketball games and yelling at Fox for being fake news.


Trump is lucky Obama handed him the keys to a strong economy and relative peace and security so we have the time to withstand his incompetence and distractions.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

They did Start.
They hoped to have...

OK lets talk about all of Obama's promises that he failed to deliver on. In an 8 year term.

Eliminate all oil and gas tax loopholes
"Eliminating special tax breaks for oil and gas companies: including repealing special expensing rules, foreign tax credit benefits, and manufacturing deductions for oil and gas firms."

Expand the child and dependent care credit
Expand and make refundable the child and dependent care credit.

Require publicly traded financial partnerships to pay the corporate income tax
Require publicly traded financial partnerships to pay the corporate income tax.

Close loopholes in the corporate tax deductibility of CEO pay
Congress has set rules regarding the tax deductibility of the salaries of CEOs, but forms of non-salary compensation have become popular. Obama would look at revamping definitions of compensation.

Create a foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners
Create a $10 billion fund to help homeowners refinance or sell their homes. "The Fund will not help speculators, people who bought vacation homes or people who falsely represented their incomes."

Provide option for a pre-filled-out tax form
Will direct the Internal Revenue Service to "give taxpayers the option of a pre-filled tax form to verify, sign and return to the IRS or online. This will eliminate the need for Americans to hire expensive tax preparers and to gather information that the federal government already has on file."

Create a mortgage interest tax credit for non-itemizers
Create a refundable tax credit equal to 10 percent of mortgage interest for nonitemizers, up to a maximum credit of $800.

Require automatic enrollment in 401(k) plans
Automatic enrollment in 401(k) plans for workers whose employers offer retirement plans.

Create a retirement savings tax credit for low incomes
A tax credit for retirement savings up to $500 (couples) or $250 (singles). Phases out when incomes exceed $65,000 (couples) or $32,500 (single). Indexed for inflation.

End income tax for seniors making less than $50,000
"Will eliminate all income taxation of seniors making less than $50,000 per year. This will eliminate taxes for 7 million seniors -- saving them an average of $1,400 a year-- and will also mean that 27 million seniors will not need to file an income tax return at all."
End no-bid contracts above $25,000
"Will ensure that federal contracts over $25,000 are competitively bid."

Create a $60 billion bank to fund roads and bridges
"Will address the infrastructure challenge by creating a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank to expand and enhance, not supplant, existing federal transportation investments. This independent entity will be directed to invest in our nation's most challenging transportation infrastructure needs. The Bank will receive an infusion of federal money, $60 billion over 10 years, to provide financing to transportation infrastructure projects across the nation. These projects will create up to two million new direct and indirect jobs and stimulate approximately $35 billion per year in new economic activity."

Tax carried interest as ordinary income
Carried interest is a way of compensating executives by giving them ownership stakes, or "interest," in a business. Carried interest is taxed as a capital gain, which has a lower tax rate than ordinary income. Obama proposes taxing carried interest at the same rate as regular income.

Sign the Employee Free Choice Act, making it easier for workers to unionize
"Obama is a cosponsor and strong advocate of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a bipartisan effort to make the unionization process more transparent and increase penalties on companies that violate employee rights. He will sign EFCA into law as president."

Lift the payroll tax cap on earnings above $250,000
"Barack Obama believes that the first place to look to strengthen Social Security is the payroll tax system. Obama believes that one strong option is increasing the maximum amount of earnings covered by Social Security by lifting the payroll tax cap on only earnings above $250,000."

Forbid companies in bankruptcy from giving executives bonuses
"Protect the jobs and benefits of workers and retirees when corporations file for bankruptcy by telling companies that they cannot issue bonuses for executives during bankruptcy while their workers watch their pensions disappear."

Allow workers to claim more in unpaid wages and benefits in bankruptcy court
"Increase the amount of unpaid wages and benefits workers can claim in bankruptcy court against their employer."

Require full disclosure of company pension investments to employees
"When companies fund their pensions, many do not disclose their investments with the employee's pension dollars. This lack of transparency can make it easier for fund managers to make imprudent or even fraudulent investment decisions. Obama will ensure that all employees who have company pensions receive annual disclosures about their pension fund's investments, including full details about which projects have been invested in, the performance of those investments and appropriate details about probable future investments strategies."

Allow imported prescription drugs
"Allow Americans to buy their medicines from other developed countries if the drugs are safe and prices are lower outside the U.S."

Prevent drug companies from blocking generic drugs
"Prevent drug companies from blocking generic drugs from consumers."

Allow Medicare to negotiate for cheaper drug prices
"Allow Medicare to negotiate for cheaper drug prices."

Appoint federal-level coordinator to oversee all federal autism efforts
"They will appoint a Federal ASD Coordinator to oversee federal ASD research and federal efforts to improve awareness of ASD and improve the training of medical professionals to identify and treat ASD. By establishing one top-level point person to coordinate ASD efforts in the White House, they will ensure that ASD receives the recognition and priority it deserves in the federal government. The Federal ASD Coordinator will also be tasked with eliminating bureaucratic obstacles that may be delaying implementation of important ASD measures and ensuring that all federal ASD dollars are being spent in a manner that prioritizes results. The Coordinator will work with state task forces on ASD to ensure effective communication and collaboration among federal, state, and local agencies."

Double federal funding for cancer research
"Will double federal funding for cancer research within 5 years, focusing on NIH (National Institutes of Health) and NCI (National Cancer Institute)."

Provide the CDC $50 million in funding to determine effective approaches for cancer patient care
"Will provide the CDC $50 million in new funding to determine the most effective approaches that assist not only navigation of cancer patients through diagnosis and treatment processes, but also provide easy-to-understand information on the necessary follow-up steps to ensure continued lifelong health."

Sign the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
"As president, Barack Obama will renew America's leadership by making the United States a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; the first human rights treaty approved by the UN in the 21st century and a vital foundation for respecting the rights of people with disabilities worldwide He will urge the U.S. Senate to ratify the Convention expeditiously."

Fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
"Barack Obama has been a strong and consistent advocate for fully funding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Congress promised to shoulder 40 percent of each state's "excess cost" of educating children with disabilities, but it has never lived up to this obligation. Currently, the federal government provides less than half of the promised funding (17 percent)."

Create a National Commission on People with Disabilities, Employment, and Social Security
Create a national commission charged with "examining and proposing solutions to work disincentives in the SSDI, SSI, Medicare, and Medicaid," among other things.

Change rules so small businesses owned by people with disabilities get preferences for contracts.
"Barack Obama and Joe Biden would direct the Small Business Administration to amend regulations under the Small Business Act that provide preferences in federal contracting to small businesses owned by members of socially and economically disadvantaged groups to include individuals with disabilities."

Reduce the threshhold for the Family and Medical Leave Act from companies with 50 employees to companies with 25 employees
"The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides eligible employees of larger employers (i.e., 50 or more employees) with 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a family member's or their own serious health condition. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will guarantee that millions more workers have access to FMLA leave by reducing the threshold for which employers are covered from companies with 50 or more employees to those with 25 or more."

Provide a $1.5 billion fund to help states launch programs for paid family and medical leave
"As president, Barack Obama and Joe Biden will initiate a 50-state strategy to encourage all of the states to adopt paid-leave systems (as part of the Family and Medical Leave Act). Barack Obama and Joe Biden will provide a $1.5 billion fund to assist states with start-up costs and to help states offset the costs for employees and employers. Obama's Department of Labor will also provide technical information to the states on how to craft paid-leave programs consistent with their local needs."

Require employers to provide seven paid sick days per year
"Require that employers provide seven paid sick days per year – which may be taken on an hourly basis – so that Americans with disabilities can take the time off they need without fear of losing their jobs or a paycheck."

Amend the Medicare "homebound" rule to allow some travel without loss of benefits
Amend the Medicare 'homebound' rule, which requires severely disabled recipients to stay in their homes to retain benefits, so that they have the freedom to leave their homes without fear of having their home-health benefits taken away.

Expand the Family Medical Leave Act to include leave for domestic violence or sexual assault
"Expand the purposes for which leave can be taken under the Family Medical Leave Act to include reasons related to domestic violence or sexual assault."

Form international group to help Iraq refugees
"Will form an international working group to address" the problem of "more than five million Iraqis (who) are refugees or are displaced inside their own country."

Work with Russia to move nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert
"The United States and Russia have thousands of nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert. Barack Obama believes that we should take our nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert -- something that George W. Bush promised to do when he was campaigning for president in 2000. Maintaining this Cold War stance today is unnecessary and increases the risk of an accidental or unauthorized nuclear launch. As president, Obama will work with Russia to find common ground and bring significantly more weapons off hair-trigger alert."

Clarify legal status for defense contractor personnel
"Establish the legal status of contractor personnel, making possible prosecution of any abuses committed by private military contractors."

Double U.S. spending on foreign aid to $50 billion a year by 2012
"Barack Obama would target this new spending towards strategic goals, including helping the world's weakest states to build democratic institutions, foster healthy and educated communities, reduce poverty and generate wealth."

Establish a Global Education Fund
Barack Obama would use part of increased U.S. assistance to establish a $2 billion Global Education Fund to "offer an alternative to extremist schools."

Launch a new 'America's Voice Corps'
"Obama also would launch a new 'America's Voice Corps' to rapidly recruit and train fluent speakers of local languages (Arabic, Bahasa Melayu, Bahasa, Farsi, Urdu, and Turkish) with public diplomacy skills, who can ensure our voice is heard in the mass media and in our efforts on the ground."

Close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center
"As president, Barack Obama will close the detention facility at Guantanamo."

Develop an alternative to President Bush's Military Commissions Act on handling detainees
"He will reject the Military Commissions Act, which allowed the U.S. to circumvent Geneva Conventions in the handling of detainees. He will develop a fair and thorough process based on the Uniform Code of Military Justice to distinguish between those prisoners who should be prosecuted for their crimes, those who can't be prosecuted but who can be held in a manner consistent with the laws of war, and those who should be released or transferred to their home countries."

Restore habeas corpus rights for "enemy combatants"
"The right of habeas corpus allows prisoners to ask a court to determine whether they are being lawfully imprisoned. Recently, this right has been denied to those deemed enemy combatants. Barack Obama strongly supports bipartisan efforts to restore habeas rights. He firmly believes that those who pose a danger to this country should be swiftly tried and brought to justice, but those who do not should have sufficient due process to ensure that we are not wrongfully denying them their liberty."

Improve port security through better radiation detection
"Will redouble our efforts to develop technology that can detect radiation and determine the danger it poses, and he will work with the maritime transportation industry to integrate this technology into their operations so as to maximize security without causing economic disruption."

Strengthen the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and double its budget in the next four years
"The IAEA is understaffed and underresourced at a time when demand for its expertise are growing. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will seek to ensure that the Agency gets the authority, information, people, and technology it needs to do its job. They will work to double the IAEA budget in the next four years (increasing the U.S. annual share to about $225 million). They will press countries to adopt the "Additional Protocol," -- which grants the IAEA the right to conduct more intrusive inspections, including at undeclared facilities — and seek agreement among members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group not to transfer nuclear technology to NPT countries that have not adopted the Additional Protocol. They will work to gain agreement on effective global standards for nuclear safety and security. And they will call for establishing IAEA verification procedures that go beyond the Additional Protocol to strengthen the agency's ability to detect clandestine facilities and activities."

Secure ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)
"The United States has maintained a moratorium on testing since 1992. It signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996, but it has not been ratified yet. Since the U.S. Senate last considered the treaty in 1999, significant progress has been made in our verification capability to detect nuclear explosions, even at extremely low yields, and to ensure confidence in the reliability of our nuclear stockpile without nuclear testing."

Mandate standards for securing personal data
"The federal government must partner with industry and our citizens to secure personal data stored on government and private systems. An Obama administration will institute a common standard for securing such data across industries."

Require companies to disclose personal information data breaches
"California and other states have laws requiring a company that may have disclosed a resident's personal information without authorization to inform the victim of the disclosure. Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that all Americans deserve the same right to know and will push for comparable federal legislation."

Seek to negotiate a political agreement on Cyprus
"As president, Barack Obama will show U.S. leadership in seeking to negotiate a political settlement on Cyprus. He believes strongly that Cyprus should remain a single, sovereign country in which each of the two communities on the island is able to exercise substantial political authority within a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation."

With the G-8, launch Health Infrastructure 2020
"Barack Obama and Joe Biden will take the lead at the G-8, working with and leveraging the engagement of the private sector and private philanthropy, to launch Health Infrastructure 2020 – a global effort to work with developing countries to invest in the full range of infrastructure needed to improve and protect both American and global health."

Reinstate special envoy for the Americas
"In the past, American presidents have filled the position of special envoy to bring senior-level attention to hemispheric matters that might otherwise get buried in the normal diplomatic process. Unfortunately, the position was eliminated after the post was vacated in June of 2004. As president Barack Obama will reinstate the position."

Double the Peace Corps
"Barack Obama will double the Peace Corps to 16,000 by its 50th anniversary in 2011 and push Congress to fully fund this expansion, with a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean."

Seek independent watchdog agency to investigate congressional ethics violations
"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."

Create a public "Contracts and Influence" database
"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
"Will ensure that any tax breaks for corporate recipients — or tax earmarks — are also publicly available on the Internet in an easily searchable format."

Allow five days of public comment before signing bills
To reduce bills rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them, 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."

Tougher rules against revolving door for lobbyists and former officials
"No political appointees in an Obama-Biden 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."
Double funding for afterschool programs
"Will double funding for the main federal support for afterschool programs, the 21st Century Learning Centers program, to serve one million more children."
Create scholarships to recruit new teachers
"Will create new Teacher Service Scholarships that will cover four years of undergraduate or two years of graduate teacher education, including high-quality alternative programs for mid-career recruits in exchange for teaching for at least four years in a high-need field or location."

Require all schools of education to be accredited
"Will require all schools of education to be accredited."

Regulate pollution from major livestock operations
"In the Obama Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency will strictly monitor and regulate pollution from large Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) - which raise more than 40 percent of U.S. livestock - with fines for those who violate tough air and water quality standards."

Provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants
Will support "a system that allows undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens."

Expand the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to include sexual orientation and gender identity
Will "place the weight of (his) administration behind...a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act to outlaw workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity."

Sign the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act into law
"Will sign the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act into law and charge the Voting Rights Section with vigorously enforcing that law and the provisions of the Voting Rights Act. The act will will enable investigations into deceptive and fraudulent practices. It establishes significant, harsh penalties for those who have engaged in fraud, and it provides voters who have been misinformed with accurate and full information so they can vote."

Eliminate caps on damages for discrimination cases
Will sign into law the Equal Remedies Act of 2007 "to do away with the caps on compensatory and punitive damages under Title VII that presently impede the ability of victims of racial and gender discrimination to fully recover for the wrongs they have suffered."

Allow bankruptcy judges to modify terms of a home mortgage
Will repeal provisions of the Chapter 13 law that prohibit bankruptcy judges from modifying the original terms of home mortgages for ordinary families -- regardless of whether the loan was predatory or unfair or is otherwise unaffordable -- "so that ordinary families can also get relief that bankruptcy laws were intended to provide."
Increase the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour
"Will further raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2011, index it to inflation and increase the Earned Income Tax Credit to make sure that full-time workers can earn a living wage that allows them to raise their families and pay for basic needs such as food, transportation, and housing."

Restore Superfund program so that polluters pay for clean-ups
"Will restore the strength of the Superfund program by requiring polluters to pay for the cleanup of contaminated sites they created."

Fully fund the COPS program
Will fully funding the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program "to combat crime and help address police brutality and accountability issues in local communities."

Support tax deduction for artists
Will "ensure tax fairness for artists" by supporting the Artist-Museum Partnership Act, introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. "The Act amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow artists to deduct the fair market value of their work, rather than just the costs of the materials, when they make charitable contributions."

Re-establish the National Aeronautics and Space Council
Will re-establish an organizational authority in the federal government with a sufficiently broad mandate to oversee a comprehensive and integrated strategy and policy dealing with all aspects of the government's space-related programs, including those being managed by NASA, the Department of Defense, the National Reconnaissance Office, the Commerce Department, the Transportation Department, and other federal agencies. This Council reporting to the president "will oversee and coordinate civilian, military, commercial and national security space activities. It will solicit public participation, engage the international community, and work toward a 21st century vision of space that constantly pushes the envelope on new technologies as it pursues a balanced national portfolio that expands our reach into the heavens and improves life here on Earth."

Support human mission to moon by 2020
Will "endorse the goal of sending human missions to the Moon by 2020, as a precursor in an orderly progression to missions to more distant destinations, including Mars."

Direct revenues from offshore oil and gas drilling to increased coastal hurricane protection
"Will also direct revenues from offshore oil and gas drilling to increased coastal hurricane protection."

Create a national catastrophe insurance reserve
"Will create a National Catastrophe Insurance Reserve that would be funded by private insurers contributing a portion of the premiums they collect from policyholders. Such a framework would neither distort the insurance market nor discourage risk avoidance and risk mitigation investments because insurers would not be forced out of high-risk markets for fear of bankruptcy in the event of a disaster. With this program in place, disaster victims would no longer have to depend solely on taxpayerfunded federal disaster aid loans."

Establish a Global Energy Corps to promote green energy in developing countries
"Will extend opportunities for older individuals such as teachers, engineers, and doctors to serve overseas. This effort will include a Global Energy Corps to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions overseas and promote low-carbon and affordable energy solutions in developing nations. One of this century's great challenges will be promoting the use of green energy in developing countries, which will face exponential increases in energy demand. This Corps will be composed of scientists and engineers who will work with local partners overseas."

Expand service-learning in schools
Will tie a plan to give schools a substantial infusion of funds to support teachers and principals and improve student learning to the condition that school districts develop programs to engage students in service opportunities. "Obama and Biden believe that middle and high school students should be expected to engage in community service for 50 hours annually during the school year or summer months. They will develop national guidelines for service-learning and community service programs, and will give schools better tools both to develop successful programs and to document the experience of students at all levels. They will encourage programs that engage with community partners to expand opportunities for community service and service-learning opportunities, so that students can apply what they learn in the classroom to authentic situations that help the community. These programs will also involve citizens from the community engaging students in service opportunities through the Classroom Corps."

Pay for the national service plan without increasing the deficit
"Will maintain fiscal responsibility and prevent any increase in the deficit by offsetting cuts and revenue sources in other parts of the government (to pay for a national service plan that will cost about $3.5 billion per year when it is fully implemented). This plan will be paid for in part by cancelling tax provisions that would otherwise help multinational corporations pay less in U.S. taxes starting in 2008 by reallocating tax deductions for interest expenses between income earned in the U.S. and income earned abroad. The rest of the plan will be funded using a small portion of the savings associated with ending the war in Iraq."

Seek treaty to control fissile materials
"Will lead a global effort to negotiate a verifiable treaty ending the production of fissile materials for weapons purposes."

Encourage diversity in media ownership
"Will encourage diversity in the ownership of broadcast media, promote the development of new media outlets for expression of diverse viewpoints, and clarify the public interest obligations of broadcasters who occupy the nation's spectrum."

Double federal funding for basic science research over 10 years
Will "support doubling federal funding for basic research over ten years, changing the posture of our federal government...to one that embraces science and technology. This will foster home-grown innovation, help ensure the competitiveness of US technology-based businesses, and ensure that 21st century jobs can and will grow in America."

Improve and prioritize student science assessments
"Will work with governors and educators to ensure that state assessments measure…a student's higher order thinking skills including inference, logic, data analysis, interpretation, forming questions and communicating these skills."

And many more... http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/rulings/promise-broken/?page=1

So Obama doing something wrong make this right?
Trump said Obamacare is a disaster, a disaster and he will fix it. Trump later added the lower deductibles and more insured. Trump has made these promises they were his choice to commit himself to. I expect action on healthcare.

 

[emperus]

They did Start.
They hoped to have...

OK lets talk about all of Obama's promises that he failed to deliver on. In an 8 year term.

Eliminate all oil and gas tax loopholes
"Eliminating special tax breaks for oil and gas companies: including repealing special expensing rules, foreign tax credit benefits, and manufacturing deductions for oil and gas firms."

Expand the child and dependent care credit
Expand and make refundable the child and dependent care credit.

Require publicly traded financial partnerships to pay the corporate income tax
Require publicly traded financial partnerships to pay the corporate income tax.

Close loopholes in the corporate tax deductibility of CEO pay
Congress has set rules regarding the tax deductibility of the salaries of CEOs, but forms of non-salary compensation have become popular. Obama would look at revamping definitions of compensation.

Create a foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners
Create a $10 billion fund to help homeowners refinance or sell their homes. "The Fund will not help speculators, people who bought vacation homes or people who falsely represented their incomes."

Provide option for a pre-filled-out tax form
Will direct the Internal Revenue Service to "give taxpayers the option of a pre-filled tax form to verify, sign and return to the IRS or online. This will eliminate the need for Americans to hire expensive tax preparers and to gather information that the federal government already has on file."

Create a mortgage interest tax credit for non-itemizers
Create a refundable tax credit equal to 10 percent of mortgage interest for nonitemizers, up to a maximum credit of $800.

Require automatic enrollment in 401(k) plans
Automatic enrollment in 401(k) plans for workers whose employers offer retirement plans.

Create a retirement savings tax credit for low incomes
A tax credit for retirement savings up to $500 (couples) or $250 (singles). Phases out when incomes exceed $65,000 (couples) or $32,500 (single). Indexed for inflation.

End income tax for seniors making less than $50,000
"Will eliminate all income taxation of seniors making less than $50,000 per year. This will eliminate taxes for 7 million seniors -- saving them an average of $1,400 a year-- and will also mean that 27 million seniors will not need to file an income tax return at all."
End no-bid contracts above $25,000
"Will ensure that federal contracts over $25,000 are competitively bid."

Create a $60 billion bank to fund roads and bridges
"Will address the infrastructure challenge by creating a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank to expand and enhance, not supplant, existing federal transportation investments. This independent entity will be directed to invest in our nation's most challenging transportation infrastructure needs. The Bank will receive an infusion of federal money, $60 billion over 10 years, to provide financing to transportation infrastructure projects across the nation. These projects will create up to two million new direct and indirect jobs and stimulate approximately $35 billion per year in new economic activity."

Tax carried interest as ordinary income
Carried interest is a way of compensating executives by giving them ownership stakes, or "interest," in a business. Carried interest is taxed as a capital gain, which has a lower tax rate than ordinary income. Obama proposes taxing carried interest at the same rate as regular income.

Sign the Employee Free Choice Act, making it easier for workers to unionize
"Obama is a cosponsor and strong advocate of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a bipartisan effort to make the unionization process more transparent and increase penalties on companies that violate employee rights. He will sign EFCA into law as president."

Lift the payroll tax cap on earnings above $250,000
"Barack Obama believes that the first place to look to strengthen Social Security is the payroll tax system. Obama believes that one strong option is increasing the maximum amount of earnings covered by Social Security by lifting the payroll tax cap on only earnings above $250,000."

Forbid companies in bankruptcy from giving executives bonuses
"Protect the jobs and benefits of workers and retirees when corporations file for bankruptcy by telling companies that they cannot issue bonuses for executives during bankruptcy while their workers watch their pensions disappear."

Allow workers to claim more in unpaid wages and benefits in bankruptcy court
"Increase the amount of unpaid wages and benefits workers can claim in bankruptcy court against their employer."

Require full disclosure of company pension investments to employees
"When companies fund their pensions, many do not disclose their investments with the employee's pension dollars. This lack of transparency can make it easier for fund managers to make imprudent or even fraudulent investment decisions. Obama will ensure that all employees who have company pensions receive annual disclosures about their pension fund's investments, including full details about which projects have been invested in, the performance of those investments and appropriate details about probable future investments strategies."

Allow imported prescription drugs
"Allow Americans to buy their medicines from other developed countries if the drugs are safe and prices are lower outside the U.S."

Prevent drug companies from blocking generic drugs
"Prevent drug companies from blocking generic drugs from consumers."

Allow Medicare to negotiate for cheaper drug prices
"Allow Medicare to negotiate for cheaper drug prices."

Appoint federal-level coordinator to oversee all federal autism efforts
"They will appoint a Federal ASD Coordinator to oversee federal ASD research and federal efforts to improve awareness of ASD and improve the training of medical professionals to identify and treat ASD. By establishing one top-level point person to coordinate ASD efforts in the White House, they will ensure that ASD receives the recognition and priority it deserves in the federal government. The Federal ASD Coordinator will also be tasked with eliminating bureaucratic obstacles that may be delaying implementation of important ASD measures and ensuring that all federal ASD dollars are being spent in a manner that prioritizes results. The Coordinator will work with state task forces on ASD to ensure effective communication and collaboration among federal, state, and local agencies."

Double federal funding for cancer research
"Will double federal funding for cancer research within 5 years, focusing on NIH (National Institutes of Health) and NCI (National Cancer Institute)."

Provide the CDC $50 million in funding to determine effective approaches for cancer patient care
"Will provide the CDC $50 million in new funding to determine the most effective approaches that assist not only navigation of cancer patients through diagnosis and treatment processes, but also provide easy-to-understand information on the necessary follow-up steps to ensure continued lifelong health."

Sign the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
"As president, Barack Obama will renew America's leadership by making the United States a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; the first human rights treaty approved by the UN in the 21st century and a vital foundation for respecting the rights of people with disabilities worldwide He will urge the U.S. Senate to ratify the Convention expeditiously."

Fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
"Barack Obama has been a strong and consistent advocate for fully funding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Congress promised to shoulder 40 percent of each state's "excess cost" of educating children with disabilities, but it has never lived up to this obligation. Currently, the federal government provides less than half of the promised funding (17 percent)."

Create a National Commission on People with Disabilities, Employment, and Social Security
Create a national commission charged with "examining and proposing solutions to work disincentives in the SSDI, SSI, Medicare, and Medicaid," among other things.

Change rules so small businesses owned by people with disabilities get preferences for contracts.
"Barack Obama and Joe Biden would direct the Small Business Administration to amend regulations under the Small Business Act that provide preferences in federal contracting to small businesses owned by members of socially and economically disadvantaged groups to include individuals with disabilities."

Reduce the threshhold for the Family and Medical Leave Act from companies with 50 employees to companies with 25 employees
"The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides eligible employees of larger employers (i.e., 50 or more employees) with 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a family member's or their own serious health condition. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will guarantee that millions more workers have access to FMLA leave by reducing the threshold for which employers are covered from companies with 50 or more employees to those with 25 or more."

Provide a $1.5 billion fund to help states launch programs for paid family and medical leave
"As president, Barack Obama and Joe Biden will initiate a 50-state strategy to encourage all of the states to adopt paid-leave systems (as part of the Family and Medical Leave Act). Barack Obama and Joe Biden will provide a $1.5 billion fund to assist states with start-up costs and to help states offset the costs for employees and employers. Obama's Department of Labor will also provide technical information to the states on how to craft paid-leave programs consistent with their local needs."

Require employers to provide seven paid sick days per year
"Require that employers provide seven paid sick days per year – which may be taken on an hourly basis – so that Americans with disabilities can take the time off they need without fear of losing their jobs or a paycheck."

Amend the Medicare "homebound" rule to allow some travel without loss of benefits
Amend the Medicare 'homebound' rule, which requires severely disabled recipients to stay in their homes to retain benefits, so that they have the freedom to leave their homes without fear of having their home-health benefits taken away.

Expand the Family Medical Leave Act to include leave for domestic violence or sexual assault
"Expand the purposes for which leave can be taken under the Family Medical Leave Act to include reasons related to domestic violence or sexual assault."

Form international group to help Iraq refugees
"Will form an international working group to address" the problem of "more than five million Iraqis (who) are refugees or are displaced inside their own country."

Work with Russia to move nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert
"The United States and Russia have thousands of nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert. Barack Obama believes that we should take our nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert -- something that George W. Bush promised to do when he was campaigning for president in 2000. Maintaining this Cold War stance today is unnecessary and increases the risk of an accidental or unauthorized nuclear launch. As president, Obama will work with Russia to find common ground and bring significantly more weapons off hair-trigger alert."

Clarify legal status for defense contractor personnel
"Establish the legal status of contractor personnel, making possible prosecution of any abuses committed by private military contractors."

Double U.S. spending on foreign aid to $50 billion a year by 2012
"Barack Obama would target this new spending towards strategic goals, including helping the world's weakest states to build democratic institutions, foster healthy and educated communities, reduce poverty and generate wealth."

Establish a Global Education Fund
Barack Obama would use part of increased U.S. assistance to establish a $2 billion Global Education Fund to "offer an alternative to extremist schools."

Launch a new 'America's Voice Corps'
"Obama also would launch a new 'America's Voice Corps' to rapidly recruit and train fluent speakers of local languages (Arabic, Bahasa Melayu, Bahasa, Farsi, Urdu, and Turkish) with public diplomacy skills, who can ensure our voice is heard in the mass media and in our efforts on the ground."

Close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center
"As president, Barack Obama will close the detention facility at Guantanamo."

Develop an alternative to President Bush's Military Commissions Act on handling detainees
"He will reject the Military Commissions Act, which allowed the U.S. to circumvent Geneva Conventions in the handling of detainees. He will develop a fair and thorough process based on the Uniform Code of Military Justice to distinguish between those prisoners who should be prosecuted for their crimes, those who can't be prosecuted but who can be held in a manner consistent with the laws of war, and those who should be released or transferred to their home countries."

Restore habeas corpus rights for "enemy combatants"
"The right of habeas corpus allows prisoners to ask a court to determine whether they are being lawfully imprisoned. Recently, this right has been denied to those deemed enemy combatants. Barack Obama strongly supports bipartisan efforts to restore habeas rights. He firmly believes that those who pose a danger to this country should be swiftly tried and brought to justice, but those who do not should have sufficient due process to ensure that we are not wrongfully denying them their liberty."

Improve port security through better radiation detection
"Will redouble our efforts to develop technology that can detect radiation and determine the danger it poses, and he will work with the maritime transportation industry to integrate this technology into their operations so as to maximize security without causing economic disruption."

Strengthen the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and double its budget in the next four years
"The IAEA is understaffed and underresourced at a time when demand for its expertise are growing. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will seek to ensure that the Agency gets the authority, information, people, and technology it needs to do its job. They will work to double the IAEA budget in the next four years (increasing the U.S. annual share to about $225 million). They will press countries to adopt the "Additional Protocol," -- which grants the IAEA the right to conduct more intrusive inspections, including at undeclared facilities — and seek agreement among members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group not to transfer nuclear technology to NPT countries that have not adopted the Additional Protocol. They will work to gain agreement on effective global standards for nuclear safety and security. And they will call for establishing IAEA verification procedures that go beyond the Additional Protocol to strengthen the agency's ability to detect clandestine facilities and activities."

Secure ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)
"The United States has maintained a moratorium on testing since 1992. It signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996, but it has not been ratified yet. Since the U.S. Senate last considered the treaty in 1999, significant progress has been made in our verification capability to detect nuclear explosions, even at extremely low yields, and to ensure confidence in the reliability of our nuclear stockpile without nuclear testing."

Mandate standards for securing personal data
"The federal government must partner with industry and our citizens to secure personal data stored on government and private systems. An Obama administration will institute a common standard for securing such data across industries."

Require companies to disclose personal information data breaches
"California and other states have laws requiring a company that may have disclosed a resident's personal information without authorization to inform the victim of the disclosure. Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that all Americans deserve the same right to know and will push for comparable federal legislation."

Seek to negotiate a political agreement on Cyprus
"As president, Barack Obama will show U.S. leadership in seeking to negotiate a political settlement on Cyprus. He believes strongly that Cyprus should remain a single, sovereign country in which each of the two communities on the island is able to exercise substantial political authority within a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation."

With the G-8, launch Health Infrastructure 2020
"Barack Obama and Joe Biden will take the lead at the G-8, working with and leveraging the engagement of the private sector and private philanthropy, to launch Health Infrastructure 2020 – a global effort to work with developing countries to invest in the full range of infrastructure needed to improve and protect both American and global health."

Reinstate special envoy for the Americas
"In the past, American presidents have filled the position of special envoy to bring senior-level attention to hemispheric matters that might otherwise get buried in the normal diplomatic process. Unfortunately, the position was eliminated after the post was vacated in June of 2004. As president Barack Obama will reinstate the position."

Double the Peace Corps
"Barack Obama will double the Peace Corps to 16,000 by its 50th anniversary in 2011 and push Congress to fully fund this expansion, with a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean."

Seek independent watchdog agency to investigate congressional ethics violations
"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."

Create a public "Contracts and Influence" database
"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
"Will ensure that any tax breaks for corporate recipients — or tax earmarks — are also publicly available on the Internet in an easily searchable format."

Allow five days of public comment before signing bills
To reduce bills rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them, 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."

Tougher rules against revolving door for lobbyists and former officials
"No political appointees in an Obama-Biden 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."
Double funding for afterschool programs
"Will double funding for the main federal support for afterschool programs, the 21st Century Learning Centers program, to serve one million more children."
Create scholarships to recruit new teachers
"Will create new Teacher Service Scholarships that will cover four years of undergraduate or two years of graduate teacher education, including high-quality alternative programs for mid-career recruits in exchange for teaching for at least four years in a high-need field or location."

Require all schools of education to be accredited
"Will require all schools of education to be accredited."

Regulate pollution from major livestock operations
"In the Obama Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency will strictly monitor and regulate pollution from large Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) - which raise more than 40 percent of U.S. livestock - with fines for those who violate tough air and water quality standards."

Provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants
Will support "a system that allows undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens."

Expand the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to include sexual orientation and gender identity
Will "place the weight of (his) administration behind...a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act to outlaw workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity."

Sign the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act into law
"Will sign the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act into law and charge the Voting Rights Section with vigorously enforcing that law and the provisions of the Voting Rights Act. The act will will enable investigations into deceptive and fraudulent practices. It establishes significant, harsh penalties for those who have engaged in fraud, and it provides voters who have been misinformed with accurate and full information so they can vote."

Eliminate caps on damages for discrimination cases
Will sign into law the Equal Remedies Act of 2007 "to do away with the caps on compensatory and punitive damages under Title VII that presently impede the ability of victims of racial and gender discrimination to fully recover for the wrongs they have suffered."

Allow bankruptcy judges to modify terms of a home mortgage
Will repeal provisions of the Chapter 13 law that prohibit bankruptcy judges from modifying the original terms of home mortgages for ordinary families -- regardless of whether the loan was predatory or unfair or is otherwise unaffordable -- "so that ordinary families can also get relief that bankruptcy laws were intended to provide."
Increase the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour
"Will further raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2011, index it to inflation and increase the Earned Income Tax Credit to make sure that full-time workers can earn a living wage that allows them to raise their families and pay for basic needs such as food, transportation, and housing."

Restore Superfund program so that polluters pay for clean-ups
"Will restore the strength of the Superfund program by requiring polluters to pay for the cleanup of contaminated sites they created."

Fully fund the COPS program
Will fully funding the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program "to combat crime and help address police brutality and accountability issues in local communities."

Support tax deduction for artists
Will "ensure tax fairness for artists" by supporting the Artist-Museum Partnership Act, introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. "The Act amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow artists to deduct the fair market value of their work, rather than just the costs of the materials, when they make charitable contributions."

Re-establish the National Aeronautics and Space Council
Will re-establish an organizational authority in the federal government with a sufficiently broad mandate to oversee a comprehensive and integrated strategy and policy dealing with all aspects of the government's space-related programs, including those being managed by NASA, the Department of Defense, the National Reconnaissance Office, the Commerce Department, the Transportation Department, and other federal agencies. This Council reporting to the president "will oversee and coordinate civilian, military, commercial and national security space activities. It will solicit public participation, engage the international community, and work toward a 21st century vision of space that constantly pushes the envelope on new technologies as it pursues a balanced national portfolio that expands our reach into the heavens and improves life here on Earth."

Support human mission to moon by 2020
Will "endorse the goal of sending human missions to the Moon by 2020, as a precursor in an orderly progression to missions to more distant destinations, including Mars."

Direct revenues from offshore oil and gas drilling to increased coastal hurricane protection
"Will also direct revenues from offshore oil and gas drilling to increased coastal hurricane protection."

Create a national catastrophe insurance reserve
"Will create a National Catastrophe Insurance Reserve that would be funded by private insurers contributing a portion of the premiums they collect from policyholders. Such a framework would neither distort the insurance market nor discourage risk avoidance and risk mitigation investments because insurers would not be forced out of high-risk markets for fear of bankruptcy in the event of a disaster. With this program in place, disaster victims would no longer have to depend solely on taxpayerfunded federal disaster aid loans."

Establish a Global Energy Corps to promote green energy in developing countries
"Will extend opportunities for older individuals such as teachers, engineers, and doctors to serve overseas. This effort will include a Global Energy Corps to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions overseas and promote low-carbon and affordable energy solutions in developing nations. One of this century's great challenges will be promoting the use of green energy in developing countries, which will face exponential increases in energy demand. This Corps will be composed of scientists and engineers who will work with local partners overseas."

Expand service-learning in schools
Will tie a plan to give schools a substantial infusion of funds to support teachers and principals and improve student learning to the condition that school districts develop programs to engage students in service opportunities. "Obama and Biden believe that middle and high school students should be expected to engage in community service for 50 hours annually during the school year or summer months. They will develop national guidelines for service-learning and community service programs, and will give schools better tools both to develop successful programs and to document the experience of students at all levels. They will encourage programs that engage with community partners to expand opportunities for community service and service-learning opportunities, so that students can apply what they learn in the classroom to authentic situations that help the community. These programs will also involve citizens from the community engaging students in service opportunities through the Classroom Corps."

Pay for the national service plan without increasing the deficit
"Will maintain fiscal responsibility and prevent any increase in the deficit by offsetting cuts and revenue sources in other parts of the government (to pay for a national service plan that will cost about $3.5 billion per year when it is fully implemented). This plan will be paid for in part by cancelling tax provisions that would otherwise help multinational corporations pay less in U.S. taxes starting in 2008 by reallocating tax deductions for interest expenses between income earned in the U.S. and income earned abroad. The rest of the plan will be funded using a small portion of the savings associated with ending the war in Iraq."

Seek treaty to control fissile materials
"Will lead a global effort to negotiate a verifiable treaty ending the production of fissile materials for weapons purposes."

Encourage diversity in media ownership
"Will encourage diversity in the ownership of broadcast media, promote the development of new media outlets for expression of diverse viewpoints, and clarify the public interest obligations of broadcasters who occupy the nation's spectrum."

Double federal funding for basic science research over 10 years
Will "support doubling federal funding for basic research over ten years, changing the posture of our federal government...to one that embraces science and technology. This will foster home-grown innovation, help ensure the competitiveness of US technology-based businesses, and ensure that 21st century jobs can and will grow in America."

Improve and prioritize student science assessments
"Will work with governors and educators to ensure that state assessments measure…a student's higher order thinking skills including inference, logic, data analysis, interpretation, forming questions and communicating these skills."

And many more... http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/rulings/promise-broken/?page=1

Or we can just talk about the topic at hand... If the GOP voted about 50 times to repeal it while Obama was in office, why is it taking then so long now to complete it. I'm sure they had a plan then right? Instead of all the deflections, maybe you can ponder the question and come up with a rational response.

 

[agent00f]

Weren't you in the military? Who paid for your salary and medical care then?

On the whole I'm going to guess the public has still paid more to you than any taxes you may have paid back.

@glenn1 is a thieving degenerate who only wants to steal other people's money, aka conservative.

 

[agent00f]

Anything is better than Obamacare.

Keep in mind Obamacare aka Romneycare was the GOP counterproposal to clinton universal care, even if you're obligated to hate on something when it gets a kenyan name.

 

[fskimospy]

LOL. Yeah, it's the progressives who are going to die, not the penniless redneck Trump voters in flyover country. You know, the ones who are older, fatter and unhealthier, and without decent jobs. It's definitely those evil young liberals in cities making a ton of money with good insurance already who are going to "die in the streets."

You simple idiots astound me sometimes with both your inability to critically think and your lack of care for your countrymen. Worst of both worlds -- malicious retards.

I wouldn't take glenn too seriously, he appears to enjoy coming in here to rant and rave and spin bizarre revenge fantasies about liberals and city dwellers. I get the sense that he's consumed by jealousy more than anything else.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Lets move to single payer and call it Trumpcare. everyone will be happy. Even Obama would be too.

If Trump could tear down our broken health care system and replace it with real socialized medicine, that alone would make him one of the nation's greatest presidents regardless of what else he does in office (as long as he doesn't start a nuclear war or cause some other calamity). If he could fully legalize marijuana too, that would be even better.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Since our nation is spending a higher percentage of GDP on health care than any other nation by a large margin while still having millions of uninsured people and hundreds of thousands of medical bankruptcies every year in addition to businesses concerned about health care costs and an economy burdened by it, maybe we need to completely reconsider our health care system. Could we learn anything from how other first world nations have solved their health care problems?

 

[shortylickens]

If Trump could tear down our broken health care system and replace it with real socialized medicine, that alone would make him one of the nation's greatest presidents regardless of what else he does in office (as long as he doesn't start a nuclear war or cause some other calamity). If he could fully legalize marijuana too, that would be even better.

Based on his hardcore conservative stance so far, I doubt either of those is likely.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

If Trump could tear down our broken health care system and replace it with real socialized medicine, that alone would make him one of the nation's greatest presidents regardless of what else he does in office (as long as he doesn't start a nuclear war or cause some other calamity). If he could fully legalize marijuana too, that would be even better.

Let's be honest Trump will likely have two terms it's possible this could be a second term item

 

[Jhhnn]

Or we can just talk about the topic at hand... If the GOP voted about 50 times to repeal it while Obama was in office, why is it taking then so long now to complete it. I'm sure they had a plan then right? Instead of all the deflections, maybe you can ponder the question and come up with a rational response.

He's still in attack mode, the same mode Repubs have been in for the last 8 years. They haven't been any good at anything else since GHWB.

But they still believe, believe, believe that the ideology of the Lootocracy will somehow yield impossible results. Cuz freedumb.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Let's be honest Trump will likely have two terms it's possible this could be a second term item

Well...he lost the popular vote and the working class white people who voted for him in the Rust Belt swing states might soon realize that he really doesn't have working class people's interests at heart. So, I wouldn't be surprised if he loses the 2020 election if the Democrats can find a better candidate than Hillary. Also, who's to say that he'll even finish out his first term? I can envision a scenario where the CIA discovers that he's a Russian spy and has him assassinated or has him assassinated for posing some other sort of threat to national security.

 

[Sea Ray]

33 days is not stupid. Trump said he would have executive actions to start repealing the ACA on "day one." That didn't happen. Congressional Republicans said they hoped to have a bill by February 20. That didn't happen.

They used that and similar rhetoric on many occasions. Many, many of their followers based their votes on that rhetoric. Now they need to deliver but are backpedaling at a furious pace. No, 33 is not stupid, it's just holding them to their campaign promises.

Trump is still trying to get his cabinet confirmed. As for ACA repeal/replace, anyone with common sense knew it'd be complicated. No surprises here.

Anyone with common sense knew shutting down Gitmo would be complicated.

 

[Sea Ray]

Rather than beating on someone after only 33 days I'll wait and see rather than speculate and get all worked up about it.

To hard core left wing partisans, it's not about the 33 days. They'd like nothing better than to pressure Republicans into a big mistake. This is nothing but internet fodder. I'd be more impressed if these folks complaining were saying something like "my insurance sucks since Obamacare. Why can't Trump give me my old plan?" But that's not what we're hearing. This is political BS. With all the things Trump is giving his detractors, this is worth 6 pages? C'mon.

 

[Flapdrol1337]

If Trump could tear down our broken health care system and replace it with real socialized medicine, that alone would make him one of the nation's greatest presidents regardless of what else he does in office (as long as he doesn't start a nuclear war or cause some other calamity). If he could fully legalize marijuana too, that would be even better.

There's no way republicans would go along with something like that. Goes agianst their free market religion.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Trump is still trying to get his cabinet confirmed. As for ACA repeal/replace, anyone with common sense knew it'd be complicated. No surprises here.

Anyone with common sense knew shutting down Gitmo would be complicated.

Obama lying about closing Gitmo makes Trumps potential lie right?
Again why did Trump say he has a plan that will make everything better and he'll do it immediately.
Again maybe more work is happening than appears if so I'll apologize.