Barack Obama
2015-01-01
1
Barack Obama
2015-01-01
1
PUBLIC PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS
OF THE
UNITED STATES
Barack Obama
2015
(IN TWO BOOKS)
BOOK I--JANUARY 1 TO JUNE 30, 2015
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 2021
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 we approached the halfway point of the fourth quarter of my Presidency, I was as optimistic as ever about our Nation’s future.
Thanks to the steady and persistent work of the American people, we brought our economy back from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and saw the longest streak of total job growth on record--with U.S. businesses adding more than 12 million new jobs over 64 straight months of growth. Hardworking families saw their 401(k)s replenished, the housing market rebounded, and the unemployment rate continued to steadily decline, falling to 5.3 percent--down almost 50 percent from its peak. And thanks to the Affordable Care Act, more than 16 million Americans had gained the financial security of quality, affordable health insurance.
America’s high school graduation rate reached an all-time high, we were producing more energy than ever before--including alternatives like wind and solar--and more States raised their minimum wage. We also continued to explore ways that science and technology can improve people’s lives. For example, drawing on the power of personalized medicine, I announced the Precision Medicine Initiative to bring us closer to curing diseases like cancer and diabetes.
To build on these gains, we focused on supporting working families so they have the tools to succeed. At the start of the year, at least 43 million Americans did not get paid sick leave, which meant workers could find themselves having to choose between groceries or the rent and caring for themselves or their children. That is why I urged States and cities to take action to expand access to paid sick days and paid family leave. My Administration also launched a new initiative, TechHire, which brings employers and local governments together to support innovative job training programs like online classes, coding boot camps, and community college courses designed by local employers. And I signed two pieces of bipartisan legislation passed by the Congress that support our workers, small businesses, and environment. These new laws enable us to rewrite the rules of global trade and pass new, 21st-century trade agreements, and will renew and expand job training and other assistance to tens of thousands of American workers so that they can compete and succeed in today’s economy.
In June, the Supreme Court issued historic rulings that safeguarded our progress and delivered justice for more of our fellow Americans. Five years after I signed the Affordable Care Act, advancing the principle that in America, health care is not a privilege for a few but a right for all, the Supreme Court upheld a critical part of the law. The very next day, the Court ruled that the Constitution guarantees marriage equality--in all 50 States, and for all of our citizens. This ruling--a consequence of the collective acts of courage by millions of people across decades who came out, spoke out, and believed in themselves and who they were--recognized that all people should be treated equally before the law, regardless of who they are or who they love.
For all the extraordinary progress we had witnessed, it was clear that communities across America still faced challenges. The tensions that too often undermine the relationship between law enforcement officials and the communities they serve continued to reverberate in too many cities and towns around our country. My Administration took action to implement some of the recommendations put forth by my Task Force on 21st Century Policing. We launched the Police Data Initiative to improve trust and increase transparency by bringing localities together to promote knowledge sharing, community-sourced problem solving, and data analysis. We also released new policies aimed at ensuring State and local law enforcement agencies were being responsible and accountable with their use of Federally-funded military-style equipment. Being a police officer takes a special kind of courage, and the overwhelming majority are fair and honest public servants. By encouraging community policing--matching the courage of police with the compassion and understanding of the citizens they protect--we can help keep everyone safe.
For all we had achieved, we experienced painful tragedies as well. In January, terrorism touched the heartland of America’s oldest ally, when Paris suffered a shooting at the offices of its Charlie Hebdo magazine. The United States stood shoulder to shoulder with France in the aftermath of the
attack, and together we reaffirmed our joint commitment to fighting terrorists who threaten our shared security and the world. Just over one month after the attack, the White House hosted a Summit on Countering Violent Extremism to address the challenge of countering violent extremism and the ideologies that fuel it, and defeating those who advance it, including the terrorist group ISIL.
Tragedy struck here at home when, in June, nine people lost their lives in a horrific act of hatred--a shooting at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. I traveled to Charleston in the wake of the attack to mourn the beautiful souls we lost and to reflect on the power of God’s grace to heal our wounds and bring our people together. Though the perpetrator sought to divide our Nation and inflame old tensions rooted in our Nation’s original sin, America--guided by the example of forgiveness by the victims’ families--responded with grace.
As we enter the second half of the year and reflect on how far we had come, I am confident that the future ahead is bright. Through trial and triumph, the American people have only reaffirmed my faith in the power of ordinary citizens to bring about real and lasting progress. The task we started 6 years ago--that of picking ourselves up, dusting ourselves off, and beginning again the work of remaking America--is at last being fulfilled. And I have as much hope as ever before for the world our children and grandchildren will inherit.
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 January 1-June 30, 2015. 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 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,
January 1-June 30, 2015 . . . 1
Appendix A
Digest of Other White House Announcements . . . 779
Appendix B
Nominations Submitted to the Senate . . . 817
Appendix C
Checklist of White House Press Releases . . . 833
Appendix D
Presidential Documents Published in the Federal Register . . . 851
Subject Index . . . A-1
Name Index . . . B-1
Document Categories List . . . C-1
Cabinet
|
Vice President
|
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
|
|
Secretary of State
|
John F. Kerry
|
|
Secretary of the Treasury
|
Jacob J. Lew
|
|
Secretary of Defense
|
Charles T. Hagel
(resigned February 12)
Ashton B. Carter
(confirmed February 12)
|
|
Attorney General
|
Eric H. Holder, Jr.
(resigned April 23)
Loretta E. Lynch
(confirmed April 23)
|
|
Secretary of the Interior
|
Sarah M.R. "Sally" Jewell
|
|
Secretary of Agriculture
|
Thomas J. Vilsack
|
|
Secretary of the Commerce
|
Penny S. Pritzker
|
|
Secretary of Labor
|
Thomas E. Perez
|
|
Secretary of Health and Human Services
|
Sylvia Mathews Burwell
|
|
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
|
Julián Castro
|
|
Secretary of Transportation
|
Anthony R. Foxx
|
|
Secretary of Energy
|
Ernest J. Moniz
|
|
Secretary of Education
|
Arne Duncan
|
|
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
|
Robert A. McDonald
|
|
Secretary of Homeland Security
|
Jeh C. Johnson
|
|
Chief of Staff
|
Denis R. McDonough
|
|
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
|
Regina McCarthy
|
|
United States Trade Representative
|
Michael B. Froman
|
|
Director of the Office of Management and Budget
|
Shaun L.S. Donovan
|
|
Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers
|
Jason L. Furman
|
|
United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations
|
Samantha Power
|
|
Administrator of the Small Business Administration
|
Maria Contreras-Sweet
|