At a news conference last week, now-President Donald Trump said he and his daughter, Ivanka, had signed paperwork relinquishing control of all Trump-branded companies. Next to him were stacks of papers in manila envelopes — documents he said transferred “complete and total control” of his businesses to his two sons and another longtime employee.
Sheri Dillon, the Trump attorney who presented the plan, said that Trump “has relinquished leadership and management of the Trump Organization.” Everything would be placed in a family trust by Jan. 20, she said.
That hasn’t happened.
To transfer ownership of his biggest companies, Trump has to file a long list of documents in Florida, Delaware and New York. We asked officials in each of those states whether they have received the paperwork. As of 3:15 p.m. today, the officials said they have not.
Trump and his associates “are not doing what they said they would do,” said Richard Painter, the chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush. “And even that was completely inadequate.”
ProPublica’s questions to the transition team were referred to an outside public relations firm, Hiltzik Strategies, which declined to comment. The president’s team did not allow reporters to view documents, which they said were legal records separating Trump from his eponymous business empire. Dillon’s law firm, Morgan Lewis, has not released the records and they declined further comment, saying it doesn’t comment on client issues.
ProPublica looked at more than a dozen of Trump’s largest companies, which are registered or incorporated in three states. Officials in New York and Delaware said documents are logged as soon as they are received. In Florida, officials told us there is typically a day or two before documents are logged into the system.
Here is what we found:
- Business filings for Trump Organization LLC, Trump’s primary holding company, had not been changed, according to New York’s Department of State. Wollman Rink Operations LLC, which runs the Wollman Rink in Central Park through an agreement with New York City, hasn’t been updated either. Trump is listed as the sole authorized representative of the company.
- Ivanka Trump is still listed as the authorized officer on records for two entities related to the Old Post Office in Washington, D.C., which the Trump family bought and turned into a hotel. No changes have been filed for either of the companies, which are registered in Delaware.
- Documents on The Donald J. Trump Foundation, which Trump has said he would dissolve, haven’t been updated. The charitable foundation has been in a swirl of controversy over its collection and disbursement of funds and an active investigation by New York’s attorney general. (The foundation cannot legally dissolve until the investigation is complete, but the New York Attorney General’s office told ProPublica that Trump can resign as an officer at any time.)
- In Delaware, where the majority of Trump’s businesses are registered, state officials told ProPublica that no amendments have been filed for four businesses tied to the Old Post Office and that the most recent filings for two businesses related to the Trump National Golf Club in Washington, D.C., were made more than a year ago.
- In Florida, no changes have been made for years to three key Trump businesses operating there: the Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach, the Mar-A-Lago Club, and DJT Holdings, which has controlling interest in most of Trump’s golf courses in the U.S. and abroad, according to the state’s Division of Corporations.
Even if Trump hands over his companies to a new trust, the plan fails to solve many of his bigger business conflicts, experts say. Terms of the trust that would insulate the president from the Trump Organization haven’t been made public. Trump’s decision not to divest his assets has also been heavily criticized by several former White House attorneys and ethics chiefs.
“What are the terms of the trust? Who is going to be the ethics monitor and what standards will he or she abide by?” said Norman Eisen, who served as the White House chief ethics lawyer under President Obama. “There are 1,000 unanswered questions.”
–Derek Kravitz and Al Shaw, ProPublica
Cat says
Thank you Flaglerlive for being the eyes and ears that we so badly need right now.
Knightwatch says
The trumppet (that’s Putin’s trumppet!) is a tiny little disgrace of a man who would be king. He cares not a whit for legality, morality or ethics. He knows his Republican martinets will back his every move, his every infraction of the laws and mores that have guided this nation for near 250 years. The Republican Party has been poisoned, defiled and corrupted by this vile man, and cannot be trusted to govern our city, county or state, and surely not our country.
I urge all of our citizens to get behind the resistance that has exploded across this country and in fact, the world, and reject the trumppet and his disastrous plans and policies.
Veteran says
Who cares. Get over it.
Sherry says
Trump also “promised” he would make his tax returns public. . . like every other recent presidential candidate has done. Before YOU start with his completely lame excuses about being audited. . . there are many years of returns that are NOT under audit! Why hasn’t he released those? What is he hiding?
He will never release all his returns and he will never put his companies/holdings in a genuinely blind trust! We will never be able to completely trust him or his “promises”!
Rich says
Just more BS from the Liar in Chief
Mark says
Signed and received are two different things. If you mail your tax return on the 15th of April, the IRS hasn’t received them yet. Absorb the spin!
gmath55 says
Who cares about tax returns. Shouldn’t be public any way. Do you make your tax returns public to your neighbors, friends, etc. Get over it! Gezzzzzzzzzzz
r&r says
You talk about a liar the fake that just left has lived a lie his whole life. From being born here , achievements at Yale and Harvard and when does he lie, when his lips are moving. I hope we don’t have to hear about all the things he does or doesn’t do for the next 8 years.
Percy's mother says
Get a life woman. Move on and into the future.
All you people who can’t accept the election results are the same who crucified Trump when he said he’d have to consider the election results during one of the last debates.
Accept what is and move on for God’s sake.
#bernie2020 says
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.
Time to impeach!
Sherry says
It is NOT about accepting the Election Results! Please do try and get beyond that yourselves! It’s now about holding Trump to his “promises” and holding him “accountable”. . . . as ANY president should be. WINNING is just the BEGINNING. . .NOT the END. . . now, he needs to put on his “big boy pants” and GOVERN!!!!
Anonymous says
Now body really cares
BOB says
It must be tough to wake up EVERY DAY and remember that as DEMS you don’t control ANYTHING. And to add insult to injury you CHANGED THE RULES a few years ago to give the majority MORE POWER.
Rich H. says
Get all of this done in two days, right? Remember that he has eight (8) years of mess to get cleaned up. Give him some time. You can’t drain a swamp in one weekend.
Veteran says
I believe his business connections were ok’d D by the justice department. Once again, stop whining, he’s our president, accept it and get over it. And Sherry, he has his big boy pants on and is governing, not playing golf.
Veteran says
I’m sure Trumps tax returns will show he made gazillions of dollars. He did it legally by using the tax laws written by past administrations. Why won’t Obama release his college records. What is he hiding?
Seriously says
Hell, I’m still waiting for all the celebrities to move to Canada like they promised. So suck it up buttercup and keep moving along. Nothin to see here….
Makeitso1701 says
Lying crooked Donald!!!!!!
Knightwatch says
No… we do not and never will accept that narcissistic sociopathic liar as president. We will harass and humiliate him until his head explodes. This is the start of the rebellion.
Shark says
Can’t believe the undesirables elected a five year old for president !!!!!!!!!!!
Veteran says
Rebellion. Really. That kind of talk is sedition. Any rebellion attempted will squashed by the US military. I hope you snowflakes try it!
woodchuck says
Rev.Al Sharpton showed his tax returns whoa owes over 3 millon dollars good luck ever getting that!!!!
Knightwatch says
Hey, Veteran, our rebellion uses truth as a weapon. We are going to publish the truth every day. We’re going to march and protest everywhere he goes, and disrupt every public appearance. We are going to barrage him with lawsuits and freedom of information act requests. We’re going to turn loose professional investigators and hackers to acquire negative information, by any means possible, and publish whatever dirt we can dig up day after day, after day. We are going to harass and humiliate him in newsprint, on the web and by word of mouth.
We are organizing by the hundreds of thousands from all over the world and we’re coming for him with the best technology and the most devious minds ever assembled. If you liked Hillary’s leaked e-mails, you’re going to love the hatchet job we’re going to do on the trumppet. Even Putin won’t be able to save him.
Anonymous says
Donald is a big upgrade from Hillary, that is something no one should dispute.
k. roberts says
It’s to bad you Trump haters don’t get on Hillary & Obama’s cases for the so many questionable situations; missing 6 BILLION ~ money, emails, payments to Iran *cash, arming/contributing to rise of ISIL, They are aiding the New World Order Plan and we have been slowly, insidiously losing our Country. Try as you may, God’s hand will let all your arrows bounce off like rubber. This is truly the war between good & evil.
Veteran says
Knightwatch, why don’t you get Obama’s college transcripts while your at it.
Sara says
By law he is not required to do this.
Flatsflyer says
Anonymous, you better change you’re handle or are you the group who is going to take Trump down?
greenbean says
Now that should keep him busy! I wonder if knightwatch is his Don Quixote replacement handle……
Sherry says
For those who live in an “Alternative Fact” reality. . . the latest polls show that 76% of Americans want Trump to release ALL his tax returns: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/314483-almost-three-quarters-of-americans-want-trump-to-release-tax-returns
If we cannot TRUST the president at all. . . if that president requires their spokespersons to “lie” to the press. . . and to create “Alternative Facts”. . . we are in a world of trouble!!!!!
As Americans we should hold every elected official accountable for their words and actions. . . and for their lack of transparency and ethics. Why is it that Trump supporters are allowing our foundational sense of right and wrong . . . and honesty, and truth. . . to be completely trashed???
palmcoaster says
Trump violating our Constitution and allowed to do so by his buddies in Congress and Senate. Shame the bias and fraud and yet he did not publish his tax returns.
#Bernie2020 says
k. roberts
Where do you get your facts?
“Hillary & Obama’s cases for the so many questionable situations; missing 6 BILLION ~ money, emails, payments to Iran *cash, arming/contributing to rise of ISIL”
I searched all over the web and I found no facts to back up this comment.
The only thing I can find is Defense Department Audit and Hillary wasn’t even the Sec of State at the time.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-audit-army-idUSKCN10U1IG
The Inspector General largely attributed the errors to Defense Department accounting employees failing to prioritize fixing the glitches in the systems that partly caused the mistakes. In addition, more than 16,000 files vanished from the computer system of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) because of a flaw in the computing software, the audit said.
In regards to Iran. The money we gave them was not our tax dollars. In 1979 when Iran toppled had paid for U.S. fighter jets, while Tehran was still a U.S. ally. We owed them $400 million with interest.
http://www.businessinsider.com/whats-in-irans-100-billion-in-frozen-assets-2015-7
Also, please don’t lecture me on God and losing our country. People that don’t understand facts shouldn’t use God in arguments.
Anonymous says
Flats- don’t know what will happen to Donald. There is going to be billions spent on trying to bring him down and who knows maybe they will. All I’m saying is Hillary is corrupt and she had more issues hanging in the balance than does Trump, she would be facing a lot of scandals that needed investigation. This election is the definition of. “Debacle”. I didn’t vote for either (I did vote) but Obama over reached and only a fraction of what he forced on us should remain. For that reason I’m glad Hillary did not win.
Outsider says
It’s impossible to undo decades worth of legal work in a few days. If it takes some time to complete these divestitures then so be it. It’s a small price to pay for having a competent person leading our country. Yes, it was easy for Obama to divest himself; he had no accomplishments to part ways with. Heck, a good part of his senate votes were abstentions. I watched Trump at a meeting with business leaders this morning. I was thoroughly impressed that he laid out a plan to make America competitive in the business world again. Those in attendance were enthusiastic. He has accomplished more in a few days than Obama accomplished in his entire presidency, again, because he had no usable skills for an executive office. He was a figure head that read speeches eloquently from a teleprompter. That’s it! I would remind people, who may have missed this because they were too busy crying or burning cars in protest, that the IMF recently increased the GDP estimate for the U.S., citing Trump’s policies directly. Only time will tell, but anyone who is willing to judge Trump on his results, instead of intangibles, will realize Obama was a stuffed shirt that has done very little to improve our country.
Coyote says
“Who cares. Get over it”
“he’s our president, accept it and get over it”
“Get over it! Gezzzzzzzzzzz”
Actually I AM over it. I don’t like it, but it’s a fact that Donald J. Trump is now President of the United States.
However, AS President, I now expect him to adhere to his promises, and to AT LEAST accept the standards of ethics and behavior that he lambasted his opponent for (supposedly) violating.
*I* didn’t provide (nor demand) a list of the 18 things he would do his first day of office. *HE* did. *I* didn’t demand the ‘First Hundred Days’ listing of promises, *HE* did. But once he did, I expect him to at least attempt to accomplish his promises.
And I would expect all the people who supported President Trump in his campaign and his election to be even *more* adamant that he fulfill his promises. After all, isn’t that why you voted for him? Because he promised you things?
Instead, all I hear is excuses as to why he can’t do the thing he said he was going to do, and, of course, the schoolyard excuse of “Well, Obama did this, and Obama did that”. So you’re saying that President Trump is no better than President Obama was, so we can’t expect anything better from him?
Get over it yourselves, and start holding your elected officer to his promises (and the law).
Pogo says
The problem with fans of the little crooked liar is either their intellect or their integrity. With Republicans it’s usually both. Trump’s tax returns aren’t needed so we can know how much or what rate he paid. We the people deserve and require to know the sources of Trump’s income. The facts will be revealed eventually anyway. Trump, like any other criminal, will be properly investigated using public records. Between good investigative journalism, and the tsunami of disclosures from all over the planet that is swelling as we speak, Trump is already toast.
Trumpitts forget Trump’s lies, threats, and idiotic boasts. Trumpitts overlook his grotesque vanity and a personal esthetic borrowed from every infamous person in history – his insane self-regard is manifested continuously. Trumpitts are comfortable and proud of Trump’s diseased personality, e.g. the sadistic cruelty of his parading Mitt Romney around on his knees. Romney’s part speaks volumes too – about ALL Republican’s continued acquiescence of Trump.
The rest of the world is witnessing our disaster. We may be certain they are acting to defend themselves from Trump – and us – if we don’t steer back to our side of the road.
Resist Trump. Organize and oppose Trump. Investigate Trump. Testify about and against Trump. Impeach Trump. Then lock him up. And throw away the key.
#Bernie2020 says
“Yes, it was easy for Obama to divest himself; he had no accomplishments to part ways with”
All Obama’s accomplishment were earned by him, his dad didn’t give him million dollar loans. I wonder how well Trump would have done with a single MOM and just few 100 bucks in the bank. And things he did have to divest from as done PRIOR to him being named president, cause.. that’s the law. So laws can be bent for Trump but can’t be done for Obama?
Also I watched the same meeting with Trump with business leaders this morning, he had NO plans. Just promises. Obama promised you can keep your doctor and you’ve never let him forget that didn’t happen for some people.
Making promises is what he did today with TTP and withdrawing us from that trade deal. Victory for labor unions and the American Worker.
Also your correct, IMF did say GDP could go up 2018 but also warned that if Trump’s trade proposals will set off a trade war, that could be “quite destructive” for the global economy.
Much like all the non partisan details Democrats have shown Republicans about Obamacare and the Iran deal, I find it really funny Republicans are now citing reports when they held no truth when they didn’t control the White House.
Common Sense says
He won’t release his tax returns because he doesn’t want Americans to know who owns him.
He stood in front of the wall of heroes at the CIA and disrespected the men and women who work to protect our country by talking about the size of the crowds at his inauguration and lying to their faces about the insults he had been tweeting about them.
He hasn’t distanced himself from his businesses as he said he would do. He lied about who would pay for the wall, he lies and lies and lies.
Our country deserves better.
Knightwatch says
Outsider… lying, threatening, cheating and inappropriately grabbing are not “intangibles”. I do not comprehend how you conservatives live with your hypocrisy and alternative facts. Must hide all the mirrors.
Millions are resisting the debacle of the trumppet’s election. Join us!
Sherry says
What in the world does President Obama’s college transcripts have to do with anything at all? What?
Are you really not capable of understanding that if Trump does not release his tax returns, we will never be able to TRUST that his decisions as president are NOT “corrupted” and influenced by his business dealings and holdings both domestically and internationally. Having his returns reviewed and analyzed will at least be a beginning in understanding where there may be a “conflict of interest”. This is extremely important to all “thinking” citizens! Until they are released, there is NO WAY he, or any person in his position can earn the TRUST of the American “thinking” citizens! That is precisely why ALL recent presidents have been completely transparent and released their tax returns to the public. . . we should ALL be demanding just that!!!
RP says
If Obama had done the same thing, fox news would have had a field day and the vein in Bill Orilley’s head would have exploded.
Cat says
Sadly this country has elected a man who is unbalanced; one who either gives his ‘alternative facts’ in person or sends his mouthpieces out to spew them forth for him. All apparently is well in his alternative universe where his alternative facts support is unbalanced mind. I have seen two clear cracks in his veneer…one is he has to see and hear his name over and over on a daily basis and the other is where he cannot abide anyone making fun of him. Amazing isn’t it, that the number one film this year is La la Land?
What special kind of nitwit believes in Alternative Facts?? Wait…..never mind…I have the answer….
Veteran says
Obama’s college transcripts are very important. Why did he pay attorneys mega bucks to keep them sealed? Because he had bad grades? No! He was accepted into Occidental as a foreign student, which means he was not a US citizen or he lied. Of course this will never come to light because it would be the biggest joke and embarrassment America. Nobody owns President Trump but George Soros sure as hell owns Obama.
#Bernie2020 says
@Veteran
Do Trump Supports ever tell the Truth? #alternativefacts strike again.
Obama’s college transcripts are very important. Why did he pay attorneys mega bucks to keep them sealed? Because he had bad grades? No! He was accepted into Occidental as a foreign student.
Googled what you said. Here is the TRUTH.
http://www.factcheck.org/2012/07/obamas-sealed-records/
Sherry says
“Alternate Facts” AKA Conspiracy Theories AKA downright LIES . . . yet again, and again! Please do check your “actual facts” before again making ridiculously, ignorant and slanderous remarks! This from factcheck.org:
Claims #1, 2 and 4, college records. Obama’s college records are not “sealed” by a court order, as this graphic would have you believe. It would be illegal under federal law (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974) for Occidental, Columbia or Harvard Law School to give any former student’s records to reporters or members of the public without that person’s specific, written permission. Obama hasn’t released them, but neither have other presidential candidates released their college records.
George W. Bush’s grades at Yale eventually became public, but only because somebody leaked them to the New Yorker magazine. Bush himself refused to release them, according to a 1999 profile in the Washington Post.
Claim #3, thesis paper. Obama did write a paper on nuclear disarmament for an honors course in American foreign policy during his senior year, but it wasn’t the sort of “thesis” that some colleges require for graduation and keep on file in their libraries, like those that Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama released. During the 2008 campaign, reporters were told that Columbia had not retained a copy of Obama’s 1983 paper, and that Obama didn’t have a copy, either. NBC News contacted his former professor, Michael Baron, who said he looked for his copy but couldn’t find it, and thought he probably tossed it out eight years earlier in a move.
NBC quoted Baron as saying the paper likely would have disappointed Obama’s critics. “The course was not a polemical course, it was a course in decision making and how decisions got made,” Baron told NBC. “None of the papers in the class were controversial.”
Claim #5, Selective Service registration. Obama’s Selective Service registration is public. A copy has been posted publicly, and the Selective Service confirmed that Obama registered for the draft on Sept. 4, 1980, and was given registration number 61-1125539-1.
Worth noting is that nobody in the U.S. has been drafted for military service since 1972, the year Obama turned 11. Obama, like other young men turning age 18 since then, was required to register on a standby basis, in case Congress ever resumes an active military draft. Failure to register is technically a crime, and disqualifies a man for federal student aid or from holding certain federal jobs.
Claim #6, medical records. During the 2008 campaign, Obama released summary medical information from his personal physician, who pronounced him to be in “excellent health” with routine test results for such things as cholesterol all within normal levels. (McCain, who is a cancer survivor and was 71 at the time, let reporters see his records for three hours to show he was cancer-free.)
Since taking office, Obama has followed the practice of earlier presidents. He released results of his first “periodic” physical exam on Feb. 28, 2010. Results of his second “periodic” exam were released Oct. 31, 2011. His physician described him as being “in excellent health and ‘fit for duty.’”
Claims #7 and 8, Illinois state Senate records. Obama’s voting record in the Illinois state Senate is a matter of public record, and about as far from being “sealed” as one can imagine. Reporters extensively went over his votes in 2008. Transcripts of Senate debates in which Obama took part while in office (1997 – 2004) can even be found online, at the website of the Illinois General Assembly.
Obama’s personal appointment calendar as a state senator may still be private — if it still exists — but we’ve seen nothing to suggest that would add much to what is already public. As president, Obama has released records of visitors to the White House (2.4 million so far). There are some exceptions. Personal information about visitors, such as Social Security numbers are not released. And there’s an exemption for “particularly sensitive” information, which might include a visit by a potential Supreme Court nominee, for example. But that’s still more disclosure than any previous president has made, by far.
Sherry says
Not enough for you? Here’s what Snopes has to say about your stupid “alternate fact” regarding President Obama’s college records: http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthers/occidental.asp
Veteran says
Bernie and Sherry please list every good/positive accomplishment by Obama. And back it up.
Anonymous says
I would like to hear from liberals on what they truly think of Hillary, does anyone really think she is a honest person with integrity?
Sherry says
This from the Washington Monthly. . . not EVERY single one, but a few of President Obama’s accomplishments:
1. Passed Health Care Reform: After five presidents over a century failed to create universal health insurance, signed the Affordable Care Act (2010). It will cover 32 million uninsured Americans beginning in 2014 and mandates a suite of experimental measures to cut health care cost growth, the number one cause of America’s long-term fiscal problems.
2. Passed the Stimulus: Signed $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 to spur economic growth amid greatest recession since the Great Depression. Weeks after stimulus went into effect, unemployment claims began to subside. Twelve months later, the private sector began producing more jobs than it was losing, and it has continued to do so for twenty-three straight months, creating a total of nearly 3.7 million new private-sector jobs.
3. Passed Wall Street Reform: Signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010) to re-regulate the financial sector after its practices caused the Great Recession. The new law tightens capital requirements on large banks and other financial institutions, requires derivatives to be sold on clearinghouses and exchanges, mandates that large banks provide “living wills” to avoid chaotic bankruptcies, limits their ability to trade with customers’ money for their own profit, and creates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (now headed by Richard Cordray) to crack down on abusive lending products and companies.
4. Ended the War in Iraq: Ordered all U.S. military forces out of the country. Last troops left on December 18, 2011.
5. Began Drawdown of War in Afghanistan: From a peak of 101,000 troops in June 2011, U.S. forces are now down to 91,000, with 23,000 slated to leave by the end of summer 2012. According to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, the combat mission there will be over by next year.
6. Eliminated Osama bin laden: In 2011, ordered special forces raid of secret compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in which the terrorist leader was killed and a trove of al-Qaeda documents was discovered.
7. Turned Around U.S. Auto Industry: In 2009, injected $62 billion in federal money (on top of $13.4 billion in loans from the Bush administration) into ailing GM and Chrysler in return for equity stakes and agreements for massive restructuring. Since bottoming out in 2009, the auto industry has added more than 100,000 jobs. In 2011, the Big Three automakers all gained market share for the first time in two decades. The government expects to lose $16 billion of its investment, less if the price of the GM stock it still owns increases.
8. Recapitalized Banks: In the midst of financial crisis, approved controversial Treasury Department plan to lure private capital into the country’s largest banks via “stress tests” of their balance sheets and a public-private fund to buy their “toxic” assets. Got banks back on their feet at essentially zero cost to the government.
9. Repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”: Ended 1990s-era restriction and formalized new policy allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military for the first time.
10. Toppled Moammar Gaddafi: In March 2011, joined a coalition of European and Arab governments in military action, including air power and naval blockade, against Gaddafi regime to defend Libyan civilians and support rebel troops. Gaddafi’s forty-two-year rule ended when the dictator was overthrown and killed by rebels on October 20, 2011. No American lives were lost.
11. Told Mubarak to Go: On February 1, 2011, publicly called on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to accept reform or step down, thus weakening the dictator’s position and putting America on the right side of the Arab Spring. Mubarak ended thirty-year rule when overthrown on February 11.
12. Reversed Bush Torture Policies: Two days after taking office, nullified Bush-era rulings that had allowed detainees in U.S. custody to undergo certain “enhanced” interrogation techniques considered inhumane under the Geneva Conventions. Also released the secret Bush legal rulings supporting the use of these techniques.
13. Improved America’s Image Abroad: With new policies, diplomacy, and rhetoric, reversed a sharp decline in world opinion toward the U.S. (and the corresponding loss of “soft power”) during the Bush years. From 2008 to 2011, favorable opinion toward the United States rose in ten of fifteen countries surveyed by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, with an average increase of 26 percent.
14. Kicked Banks Out of Federal Student Loan Program, Expanded Pell Grant Spending: As part of the 2010 health care reform bill, signed measure ending the wasteful decades-old practice of subsidizing banks to provide college loans. Starting July 2010 all students began getting their federal student loans directly from the federal government. Treasury will save $67 billion over ten years, $36 billion of which will go to expanding Pell Grants to lower-income students.
15. Created Race to the Top: With funds from stimulus, started $4.35 billion program of competitive grants to encourage and reward states for education reform.
16. Boosted Fuel Efficiency Standards: Released new fuel efficiency standards in 2011 that will nearly double the fuel economy for cars and trucks by 2025.
17. Coordinated International Response to Financial Crisis: To keep world economy out of recession in 2009 and 2010, helped secure from G-20 nations more than $500 billion for the IMF to provide lines of credit and other support to emerging market countries, which kept them liquid and avoided crises with their currencies.
18. Passed Mini Stimuli: To help families hurt by the recession and spur the economy as stimulus spending declined, signed series of measures (July 22, 2010; December 17, 2010; December 23, 2011) to extend unemployment insurance and cut payroll taxes.
19. Began Asia “Pivot”: In 2011, reoriented American military and diplomatic priorities and focus from the Middle East and Europe to the Asian-Pacific region. Executed multipronged strategy of positively engaging China while reasserting U.S. leadership in the region by increasing American military presence and crafting new commercial, diplomatic, and military alliances with neighboring countries made uncomfortable by recent Chinese behavior.
20. Increased Support for Veterans: With so many soldiers coming home from Iraq and Iran with serious physical and mental health problems, yet facing long waits for services, increased 2010 Department of Veterans Affairs budget by 16 percent and 2011 budget by 10 percent. Also signed new GI bill offering $78 billion in tuition assistance over a decade, and provided multiple tax credits to encourage businesses to hire veterans.
21. Tightened Sanctions on Iran: In effort to deter Iran’s nuclear program, signed Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act (2010) to punish firms and individuals who aid Iran’s petroleum sector. In late 2011 and early 2012, coordinated with other major Western powers to impose sanctions aimed at Iran’s banks and with Japan, South Korea, and China to shift their oil purchases away from Iran.
22. Created Conditions to Begin Closing Dirtiest Power Plants: New EPA restrictions on mercury and toxic pollution, issued in December 2011, likely to lead to the closing of between sixty-eight and 231 of the nation’s oldest and dirtiest coal-fired power plants. Estimated cost to utilities: at least $11 billion by 2016. Estimated health benefits: $59 billion to $140 billion. Will also significantly reduce carbon emissions and, with other regulations, comprises what’s been called Obama’s “stealth climate policy.”
23. Passed Credit Card Reforms: Signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (2009), which prohibits credit card companies from raising rates without advance notification, mandates a grace period on interest rate increases, and strictly limits overdraft and other fees.
24. Eliminated Catch-22 in Pay Equality Laws: Signed Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009, giving women who are paid less than men for the same work the right to sue their employers after they find out about the discrimination, even if that discrimination happened years ago. Under previous law, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., the statute of limitations on such suits ran out 180 days after the alleged discrimination occurred, even if the victims never knew about it.
25. Protected Two Liberal Seats on the U.S. Supreme Court: Nominated and obtained confirmation for Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic and third woman to serve, in 2009; and Elena Kagan, the fourth woman to serve, in 2010. They replaced David Souter and John Paul Stevens, respectively.
26. Improved Food Safety System: In 2011, signed FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which boosts the Food and Drug Administration’s budget by $1.4 billion and expands its regulatory responsibilities to include increasing number of food inspections, issuing direct food recalls, and reviewing the current food safety practices of countries importing products into America.
27. Achieved New START Treaty: Signed with Russia (2010) and won ratification in Congress (2011) of treaty that limits each country to 1,550 strategic warheads (down from 2,200) and 700 launchers (down from more than 1,400), and reestablished and strengthened a monitoring and transparency program that had lapsed in 2009, through which each country can monitor the other.
28. Expanded National Service: Signed Serve America Act in 2009, which authorized a tripling of the size of AmeriCorps. Program grew 13 percent to 85,000 members across the country by 2012, when new House GOP majority refused to appropriate more funds for further expansion.
29. Expanded Wilderness and Watershed Protection: Signed Omnibus Public Lands Management Act (2009), which designated more than 2 million acres as wilderness, created thousands of miles of recreational and historic trails, and protected more than 1,000 miles of rivers.
30. Gave the FDA Power to Regulate Tobacco: Signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (2009). Nine years in the making and long resisted by the tobacco industry, the law mandates that tobacco manufacturers disclose all ingredients, obtain FDA approval for new tobacco products, and expand the size and prominence of cigarette warning labels, and bans the sale of misleadingly labeled “light” cigarette brands and tobacco sponsorship of entertainment events.
31. Pushed Federal Agencies to Be Green Leaders: Issued executive order in 2009 requiring all federal agencies to make plans to soften their environmental impacts by 2020. Goals include 30 percent reduction in fleet gasoline use, 26 percent boost in water efficiency, and sustainability requirements for 95 percent of all federal contracts. Because federal government is the country’s single biggest purchaser of goods and services, likely to have ripple effects throughout the economy for years to come.
32. Passed Fair Sentencing Act: Signed 2010 legislation that reduces sentencing disparity between crack versus powder cocaine possessionfrom100 to1 to 18 to1.
33. Trimmed and Reoriented Missile Defense: Cut the Reagan-era “Star Wars” missile defense budget, saving $1.4 billion in 2010, and canceled plans to station antiballistic missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic in favor of sea-based defense plan focused on Iran and North Korea.
34. Began Post-Post-9/11 Military Builddown: After winning agreement from congressional Republicans and Democrats in summer 2011 budget deal to reduce projected defense spending by $450 billion, proposed new DoD budget this year with cuts of that size and a new national defense strategy that would shrink ground forces from 570,000 to 490,000 over the next ten years while increasing programs in intelligence gathering and cyberwarfare.
35. Let Space Shuttle Die and Killed Planned Moon Mission: Allowed the expensive ($1 billion per launch), badly designed, dangerous shuttle program to make its final launch on July 8, 2011. Cut off funding for even more bloated and problem-plagued Bush-era Constellation program to build moon base in favor of support for private-sector low-earth orbit ventures, research on new rocket technologies for long-distance manned flight missions, and unmanned space exploration, including the largest interplanetary rover ever launched, which will investigate Mars’s potential to support life.
36. Invested Heavily in Renewable Technology: As part of the 2009 stimulus, invested $90 billion, more than any previous administration, in research on smart grids, energy efficiency, electric cars, renewable electricity generation, cleaner coal, and biofuels.
37. Crafting Next-Generation School Tests: Devoted $330 million in stimulus money to pay two consortia of states and universities to create competing versions of new K-12 student performance tests based on latest psychometric research. New tests could transform the learning environment in vast majority of public school classrooms beginning in 2014.
38. Cracked Down on Bad For-Profit Colleges: In effort to fight predatory practices of some for-profit colleges, Department of Education issued “gainful employment” regulations in 2011 cutting off commercially focused schools from federal student aid funding if more than 35 percent of former students aren’t paying off their loans and/or if the average former student spends more than 12 percent of his or her total earnings servicing student loans.
39. Improved School Nutrition: In coordination with Michelle Obama, signed Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2010 mandating $4.5 billion spending boost and higher nutritional and health standards for school lunches. New rules based on the law, released in January, double the amount of fruits and vegetables and require only whole grains in food served to students.
40. Expanded Hate Crimes Protections: Signed Hate Crimes Prevention Act (2009), which expands existing hate crime protections to include crimes based on a victim’s sexual orientation, gender, or disability, in addition to race, color, religion, or national origin.
41. Avoided Scandal: As of November 2011, served longer than any president in decades without a scandal, as measured by the appearance of the word “scandal” (or lack thereof) on the front page of the Washington Post.
42. Brokered Agreement for Speedy Compensation to Victims of Gulf Oil Spill: Though lacking statutory power to compel British Petroleum to act, used moral authority of his office to convince oil company to agree in 2010 to a $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico; $6.5 billion already paid out without lawsuits. By comparison, it took nearly two decades for plaintiffs in the Exxon Valdez Alaska oil spill case to receive $1.3 billion.
43. Created Recovery.gov: Web site run by independent board of inspectors general looking for fraud and abuse in stimulus spending, provides public with detailed information on every contract funded by $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Thanks partly to this transparency, board has uncovered very little fraud, and Web site has become national model: “The stimulus has done more to promote transparency at almost all levels of government than any piece of legislation in recent memory,” reports Governing magazine.
44. Pushed Broadband Coverage: Proposed and obtained in 2011 Federal Communications Commission approval for a shift of $8 billion in subsidies away from landlines and toward broadband Internet for lower-income rural families.
45. Expanded Health Coverage for Children: Signed 2009 Children’s Health Insurance Authorization Act, which allows the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to cover health care for 4 million more children, paid for by a tax increase on tobacco products.
46. Recognized the Dangers of Carbon Dioxide: In 2009, EPA declared carbon dioxide a pollutant, allowing the agency to regulate its production.
47. Expanded Stem Cell Research: In 2009, eliminated the Bush-era restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, which shows promise in treating spinal injuries, among many other areas.
48. Provided Payment to Wronged Minority Farmers: In 2009, signed Claims Resolution Act, which provided $4.6 billion in funding for a legal settlement with black and Native American farmers who the government cheated out of loans and natural resource royalties in years past.
49. Helped South Sudan Declare Independence: Helped South Sudan Declare Independence: Appointed two envoys to Sudan and personally attended a special UN meeting on the area. Through U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, helped negotiate a peaceful split in 2011.
50. Killed the F-22: In 2009, ended further purchases of Lockheed Martin single-seat, twin-engine, fighter aircraft, which cost $358 million apiece. Though the military had 187 built, the plane has never flown a single combat mission. Eliminating it saved $4 billion.
#Bernie2020 says
Veteran
Bernie and Sherry please list every good/positive accomplishment by Obama. And back it up.
You don’t have google? Sherry took care of it for you.
Regarding Hillary
I would like to hear from liberals on what they truly think of Hillary, does anyone really think she is a honest person with integrity
I did not like Hillary. I as you can tell I support Bernie for similar reasons most people support Trump.
I however voted for her because Trump isn’t the president this country needs.
Trump has had issues long before he ran for president as being a typical suit that will take as much for himself and leave everyone else cleaning up the mess. He did in in NY with buildings and companies, NJ with Atlantic City and had far too many issues with Women. Also when he waved the Purple heart around and said “I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier’ ended any support I would have. Then when he picked Pence, I knew I had to vote for Hillary if she won the nomination.
Pence signed the most abortion-restrictive regulations in the nation. Indiana banned abortion even in cases where the fetus has a “genetic abnormality” such as Down syndrome and holding doctors legally liable if they had knowingly performed such procedures. The law also required that aborted fetal tissue be buried or cremated. Following the Supreme Court’s decision in a landmark abortion case in June, a federal judge blocked the law from going into effect.
Hillary was bad with emails and was cleared on benghazi attacks and she has alot of issues in her past. But I know she wouldn’t brag about a purple heart and protect Americans from policies like Pence signed into law.
Just remember, if your are a vet and you did get Wounded, Trump got one after dodging the draft with bad knees.