Barack Obama
2014-07-01
2
Barack Obama
2014-07-01
2
PUBLIC PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS
OF THE
UNITED STATES
Barack Obama
2014
(IN TWO BOOKS)
BOOK II--JULY 1 TO DECEMBER 31, 2014
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 2020
Published by the
Office of the Federal Register
National Archives and Records Administration
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office
• Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov • Phone: (202) 512-1800 • Fax: (202) 512-1204
• Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20401
Foreword
As 2014 came to a close, there was no doubt it was a year of action.
Our recovery from the Great Recession accelerated as businesses added nearly three million jobs and the unemployment rate fell at the fastest pace in three decades. In fact, over a 4 year stretch, America had put more people back to work than all other major advanced economies combined. The successful rescue of the auto industry officially came to an end, with American taxpayers paid back in full for what my Administration had invested. And thanks to the Affordable Care Act, we saw the largest gains in health coverage in four decades, an uninsured rate approaching an all-time low, and the price of health care rising at its slowest rate in half a century--an achievement that had also helped us cut our deficits by roughly two-thirds since I took office.
It was also a year in which social justice issues were front and center. At the height of summer, protests spread in Ferguson, Missouri, sparking another national conversation on race relations in America. A subject of passionate debate, the situation in Ferguson illuminated broader challenges we face as a Nation, and in its wake, I established the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing and advocated for the expanded use of body cameras to help strengthen the trust between law enforcement officers and the communities they serve. We took steps to reform the Department of Veterans Affairs, providing it new authorities to get veterans the health care they need when they need it. Across our country, in courthouses and statehouses, the rights of LGBT individuals were more widely recognized and affirmed--with same-sex couples gaining the right to marry in 19 additional States in 2014 alone. And because the Congress failed to act on bipartisan legislation, I announced a series of Executive actions to make our Nation’s broken immigration system smarter, fairer, and more just.
To expand opportunity for people in every corner of our country, I signed bipartisan legislation to improve the quality of childcare and give some peace of mind to working parents. Building on that achievement, the White House hosted a Summit on Early Childhood Education to announce more than one billion dollars in Federal, private, and public sector resources for early education and for the launch of Invest in US, a private-public initiative that encourages investment in our youngest learners.
In a year when a Republican-led Congress too often refused to act on issues that mattered to American families, I did what I could on my own, taking more than 80 Executive actions to help grow the economy, create jobs, and strengthen the middle class. Over the final 6 months of 2014, I took action to prohibit Federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT employees, to keep our workplaces safe and fair, to protect a free and open internet, to spur innovation in high-tech manufacturing, and to deter corporations from moving their mailbox abroad just to avoid paying taxes in America. My Administration also launched "It’s On Us," a collaborative public awareness and educational campaign led by Vice President Joe Biden to engage college students and campus communities to prevent sexual assault.
While welcome economic milestones were reached here at home, emerging crises abroad demanded strong American leadership. In a powerful example of what America does best, our country did more than any other to lead the international effort in West Africa to contain the spread of Ebola, a rare and deadly disease, sending some of our best people--our troops, scientists, health care workers, and public health professionals--to the front lines of the outbreak to help stop it at its source and save lives. And the United States built a global coalition in defense of our common security to degrade and ultimately destroy the terrorist group ISIL.
2014 set yet another new record for global average temperatures, and America led global efforts to combat climate change. We proposed a Clean Power Plan to substantially cut carbon pollution from our power plants. We partnered with China to reduce global carbon emissions--the first time China had committed to limiting its emissions--and our partnership jumpstarted new progress in other countries. And I protected more of our lands and waters, bringing the amount of land conserved during my Administration to a total of 260 million acres by the end of 2014.
We also began to write a new chapter in our leadership in the Americas by turning a new page in our relationship with the Cuban people and by beginning to bury the last remnant of the Cold War in the Americas. And as the year drew to a close, our combat mission in Afghanistan did as well--and more of our brave troops spent the holidays at home than at any time in over a decade.
By the end of 2014, 6 years had passed since the economic crisis. Six years that demanded hard work and sacrifice on everyone’s part. But as a country, we have every right to be proud of what we had to show for it. More jobs. More insured citizens. A growing economy. Shrinking deficits. Bustling industry. Booming energy. For all the challenges we faced in 2014, you could pick any metric you wanted--America’s resurgence was real, and our leadership was as vital as ever.
My Presidency is about to enter its fourth quarter. And I am as determined as ever to keep doing everything in my power to make life better for the American people. Because thanks to their efforts, a new foundation has been laid. A new future is ready to be written. Together, we have set the stage for a new American moment, and I am going to spend every minute of my final 2 years in office making sure we seize it.
Preface
This book contains the papers and speeches of the President of the United States that were issued by the Office of the Press Secretary during the period July 1-December 31, 2014. The material has been compiled and published by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration.
The material is presented in chronological order, and the dates shown in the headings are the dates of the documents or events. In instances when the release date differs from the date of the document itself, that fact is shown in the textnote. Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy: Remarks are checked against an audio recording, and signed documents are checked against the original. Textnotes and cross references have been provided by the editors for purposes of identification or clarity. Speeches were delivered in Washington, DC, unless otherwise indicated. The times noted are local times. All materials that are printed in full text in the book have been indexed in the subject and name indexes and listed in the document categories list.
The Public Papers of the Presidents series was begun in 1957 in response to a recommendation of the National Historical Publications Commission. An extensive compilation of messages and papers of the Presidents covering the period 1789 to 1897 was assembled by James D. Richardson and published under congressional authority between 1896 and 1899. Since then, various private compilations have been issued, but there was no uniform publication comparable to the Congressional Record or the United States Supreme Court Reports. Many Presidential papers could be found only in the form of mimeographed White House releases or as reported in the press. The Commission therefore recommended the establishment of an official series in which Presidential writings, addresses, and remarks of a public nature could be made available.
The Commission’s recommendation was incorporated in regulations of the Administrative Committee of the Federal Register, issued under section 6 of the Federal Register Act (44 U.S.C. 1506), which may be found in title 1, part 10, of the Code of Federal Regulations.
A companion publication to the Public Papers series, the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, was begun in 1965 to provide a broader range of Presidential materials on a more timely basis to meet the needs of the contemporary reader. Beginning with the administration of Jimmy Carter, the Public Papers series expanded its coverage to include additional material as printed in the Weekly Compilation. On January 20, 2009, the printed Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents was superseded by the online Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents. The Daily Compilation provides a listing of the President’s daily schedule and meetings, when announced, and other items of general interest issued by the Office of the Press Secretary.
Also included in the printed edition are lists of the President’s nominations submitted to the Senate, materials released by the Office of the Press Secretary that are not printed in full text in the book, and proclamations, Executive orders, and other Presidential documents released by the Office of the Press Secretary and published in the Federal Register. This information appears in the appendixes at the end of the book.
Volumes covering the administrations of Presidents Herbert Hoover, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, William J. Clinton, and George W. Bush are also included in the Public Papers series.
The Public Papers of the Presidents publication program is under the direction of John Hyrum Martinez, Director of the Publications and Services Division, Office of the Federal
Register. The series is produced by the Presidential and Legislative Publications Unit, Kimberly R. Tilliman, Supervisor. The Chief Editor of this book was Joseph K. Vetter; the Managing Editor was Joshua H. Liberatore, assisted by Amelia E. Otovo.
The frontispiece and photographs used in the portfolio were supplied by the White House Photo Office. The typography and design of the book were developed by the Government Publishing Office under the direction of Hugh N. Halpern, Director.
Oliver A. Potts
Director of the Federal Register
David S. Ferriero
Archivist of the United States
Contents
Foreword . . . v
Preface . . . vii
Cabinet . . . xi
Public Papers of Barack Obama,
July 1-December 31, 2014 . . . 909
Appendix A
Digest of Other White House Announcements . . . 1647
Appendix B
Nominations Submitted to the Senate . . . 1691
Appendix C
Checklist of White House Press Releases . . . 1701
Appendix D
Presidential Documents Published in the Federal Register . . . 1719
Subject Index . . . A-1
Name Index . . . B-1
Document Categories List . . . C-1
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Vice President
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Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
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Secretary of State
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John F. Kerry
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Secretary of the Treasury
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Jacob J. Lew
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Secretary of Defense
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Charles T. Hagel
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Attorney General
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Eric H. Holder, Jr.
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Secretary of the Interior
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Sarah M.R. "Sally" Jewell
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Secretary of Agriculture
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Thomas J. Vilsack
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Secretary of the Commerce
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Penny S. Pritzker
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Secretary of Labor
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Thomas E. Perez
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Secretary of Health and Human Services
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Sylvia Mathews Burwell
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Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
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Shaun L.S. Donovan
(resigned July 9)
Julián Castro
(confirmed July 9)
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Secretary of Transportation
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Anthony R. Foxx
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Secretary of Energy
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Ernest J. Moniz
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Secretary of Education
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Arne Duncan
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Secretary of Veterans Affairs
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Robert A. McDonald
(confirmed July 29)
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Secretary of Homeland Security
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Jeh C. Johnson
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Chief of Staff
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Denis R. McDonough
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Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
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Regina McCarthy
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United States Trade Representative
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Michael B. Froman
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Director of the Office of Management and Budget
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Shaun L.S. Donovan
(confirmed July 10)
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Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers
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Jason L. Furman
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United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations
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Samantha Power
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Administrator of the Small Business Administration
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Maria Contreras-Sweet
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Administration of Barack Obama
2014