President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:

•  Ann Calvaresi Barr – Inspector General, United States Agency for International Development
•  Julius Lloyd Horwich – Assistant Secretary for Legislative and Congressional Affairs, Department of Education
• Greg Nadeau – Administrator, Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation

President Obama also announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:

• Elizabeth H. Blackburn – Member, President's Committee on the National Medal of Science
•  Xavier Briggs – Member, Community Development Advisory Board
• Jacob James Fitisemanu, Jr. – Member, President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
• Sanjita Pradhan – Member, President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
• Paul Y. Watanabe – Member, President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
• Peter V. Berns – Member, President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities
• James T. Brett – Member, President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities
• Kenneth Capone – Member, President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities
• Zachary W. Holler – Member, President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities
• Deborah M. Spitalnik – Member, President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities
• Elizabeth Weintraub – Member, President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities

President Obama said, “These men and women bring extraordinary dedication to their roles and will serve the American people well.  I look forward to working with them.”

President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:

Ann Calvaresi Barr, Nominee for Inspector General, United States Agency for International Development

Ann Calvaresi Barr is the Deputy Inspector General of the Department of Transportation, a position she has held since 2010.  Ms. Calvaresi Barr joined the Department of Transportation as Principal Assistant Inspector General for Audits and Evaluations in 2009.  She served at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) as Director of Acquisition and Sourcing Management from 2004 to 2009, Assistant Director for Strategic Issues from 2002 to 2004, and Assistant Director for Health Care Issues from 1998 to 2002.  Ms. Calvaresi Barr held several roles as an analyst and senior analyst at GAO from 1984 to 1998, including a five year tour in GAO’s former European Office.  Ms. Calvaresi Barr received a B.A. from Dickinson College and an M.P.A. from American University.

Julius Lloyd Horwich, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Legislative and Congressional Affairs, Department of Education

Julius Lloyd Horwich is currently Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs at the Department of Education (DoED), a position he has held since 2009.  Prior to this, Mr. Horwich served as Education Counsel and Policy Advisor to the United States House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education from 2004 to 2009.  From 2003 to 2004, he was the Director of Federal Relations for the University of Pennsylvania, and from 2001 to 2003, he served as Education Counsel to the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Children and Families.  From 1997 to 2001, Mr. Horwich was a Policy Analyst in the Program Development Division of the Office of Student Financial Assistance at DoED.  From 1991 to 1995, he was an Associate at the law firm Howrey & Simon.  He began his career as a Research Analyst and Director of Field Operations for Cambridge Survey Research from 1986 to 1988.  Mr. Horwich received a B.S. from Georgetown University, a J.D. from Boston University, and an M.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Greg Nadeau, Nominee for Administrator of Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation

Greg Nadeau is the Deputy Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) at the Department of Transportation (DOT), a position he has held since 2009.  From July 2014 to February 2015, he also served as the Acting Administrator at FHWA.  Mr. Nadeau served at the Maine Department of Transportation from 2002 to 2009 in various capacities, including as the Deputy Commissioner for Policy, Planning and Communications from 2004 to 2009 and as the Director of Policy and Communications from 2002 to 2004.  Prior to that, Mr. Nadeau served as a Senior Policy Advisor to Maine Governor Angus King from 1995 to 2002 and as a Policy Advisor in the Office of the Senate President of Maine from 1993 to 1994.  He was President of Public Policy Associates, Inc. from 1991 to 1993.  Before that, Mr. Nadeau served as a member of the Maine House of Representatives from 1978 to 1990.

President Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:

Dr. Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Appointee for Member, President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science

Dr. Elizabeth H. Blackburn is the Morris Herzstein Professor of Biology and Physiology in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco, a position she has held since 2004.  Dr. Blackburn was a Professor in that Department from 2000 to 2004.  She was a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of California, San Francisco from 1990 to 1999, and was Chair of that Department from 1993 to 1999.  Dr. Blackburn was a Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of California, Berkeley from 1986 to 1990.  She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Institute of Medicine, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of London.  Dr. Blackburn was a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics from 2002 to 2004.  She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2009, was the North American Laureate for L’Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science in 2008, and received the Albert Lasker Medical Research Award for Basic Medical Research in 2006.  Dr. Blackburn was named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2007.  Dr. Blackburn received a B.S. and M.S. from the University of Melbourne and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge.

Dr. Xavier Briggs, Appointee for Member, Community Development Advisory Board

Dr. Xavier Briggs is Vice President of the Economic Opportunity and Assets program at the Ford Foundation, a position he has held since 2014.  He is also on leave from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he serves as Professor of Sociology and Planning and was the former Head of the Housing, Community, and Economic Development Group in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning.  Between 2009 and 2011, Dr. Briggs served as Associate Director for General Government Programs at the Office of Management and Budget.  Prior to joining the MIT faculty, he was Associate Professor and Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University from 2003 to 2004, 1996 to 1998, and 2000 to 2002.  From 1998 to 2000, Dr. Briggs served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of Policy Development and Research at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.  Earlier in his career, Dr. Briggs was a community planner and environmental consultant.  He has authored a number of award winning books on economic opportunity, democracy and governance, and racial and ethnic diversity in cities and metropolitan regions. Dr. Briggs received a B.S. from Stanford University, an M.P.A. from John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a Ph.D. from Columbia University.

Jacob James Fitisemanu, Jr., Appointee for Member, President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

Jacob James Fitisemanu, Jr. is the Outreach Coordinator in the Office of Health Disparities at the Utah Department of Health, a position he has held since 2011.  Since 2006, Mr. Fitisemanu has also been a Program Specialist for the Queen Center – Pacific Islander Ethnic Tobacco Prevention Network.  He currently serves on several boards, including the Mana Academy Charter School Board of Directors, Census Bureau’s National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations, and the Intermountain Healthcare Community Advisory Board.  From 2011 to 2014, he served as Chair of the Utah Pacific Islander Health Coalition Week and Founder and Director of the Samonana Integrated Language Initiative.  He served as Co-Director the Pacific Islander Medical Student Association from 2007 to 2014.  Mr. Fitisemanu received a B.S. and M.P.H from Westminster College. 

Sanjita Pradhan, Appointee for Member, President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

Sanjita Pradhan is the Executive Officer of the Office of Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs at the Iowa Department of Human Rights, a position she has held since 2013.  From 2010 to 2013, Ms. Pradhan served as Resettlement Director at Catholic Charities of Des Moines, Iowa.  She was previously the Employment Coordinator of Lutheran Services of Iowa’s Refugee Cooperative Services from 2009 to 2010.  From 2007 to 2008, Ms. Pradhan was Marketing Coordinator at Principal Financial Group.  She has served on numerous volunteer and community organizations, including as Commissioner of the West Des Moines Human Rights Commission and as a Member of the Greater Des Moines Partnership’s Diversity and Inclusion Council.  Ms. Pradhan also serves on the Advisory Board for the Ethnic Minorities of Burma Advocacy and Resource Center.  She received a B.A. from the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science in Nepal and an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Technology.

Dr. Paul Y. Watanabe, Appointee for Member, President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

Dr. Paul Y. Watanabe is currently Director of the Institute for Asian American Studies, a position he has held since 2003. Concurrently, he serves as an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Boston, a position he has held since 1985.  His focus areas include American foreign policy, American political behavior, ethnic group politics, and Asian Americans.  Since 2012, Dr. Watanabe has served as Chair of the Census Bureau’s National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations.  He has also been President of the Board of Directors of the Nisei Student Relocation Commemorative Fund since 2012, and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts since 2009.  Dr. Watanabe has been a Member of the Advisory Board of the New Americans Integration Institute since 2011 and a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Harry H. Dow Memorial Legal Assistance Fund since 2013.  Previously, he served as a member of the American Political Science Association’s Status of Asian-Pacific Americans in the Profession Committee from 2010 to 2013.  Dr. Watanabe received a B.S. from the University of Utah and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University.

Peter V. Berns, Appointee for Member, President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities

Peter V. Berns is CEO of The Arc, the world’s largest community-based organization of and for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, a position he has held since 2008.  Previously, he was Executive Director of the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations from 1992 to 2008.  Mr. Berns was CEO of the Standards for Excellence Institute from 2004 to 2008.  Earlier in his career, he held positions in the Maryland Attorney General’s Office, including Deputy Chief of Consumer Protection from 1988 to 1992 and Assistant Attorney General from 1983 to 1987.  Mr. Berns was first appointed to the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities in 2011 and was re-appointed in 2014.  He has been named to The Nonprofit Times’ Power and Influence Top 50 list five times over the past fifteen years.  Mr. Berns received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and an L.L.M. from Georgetown University Law Center.

James T. Brett, Appointee for Member, President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities

James T. Brett is President and CEO of The New England Council, a positions he has held since 1996.  Mr. Brett previously served as a Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1981 to 1996.  He serves as Chairman of the Massachusetts Governor’s Commission on Intellectual Disability and is a member of the Board of Directors of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.  Mr. Brett received the Lifetime Public Service Award from Action for Boston Community Development, the Massachusetts Special Olympics’ Distinguished Leadership Award, and the Hospice of Boston’s Humanitarian of the Year Award.  Mr. Brett was inducted into the Special Olympics, Massachusetts Hall of Fame in 2014, and received the Edward M. Kennedy Leadership Award from the Disability Law Center in 2014.  The University of Massachusetts Boston established the James T. Brett Chair in Disability and Workforce Development in 2013.  In 1996, Bay Cove Human Services of Boston named “Brett House,” a new community home for disabled adults, in his honor.  He served on the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities from 2002 to 2006, from 2011 to 2013, and from 2014 to the present, and was Chair from 2011 to 2013.  Mr. Brett received a B.A. from American University and an M.P.A. from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Kenneth Capone, Appointee for Member, President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities

Kenneth Capone is a Public Policy Coordinator for People on the Go of Maryland, a position he has held since 2010.  Previously, he served as Director of the Cross Disability Rights Coalition of Maryland from 2004 to 2010 and as a Legislative Intern with People on the Go of Maryland from 2004 to 2007.  He was an Interviewer at The Arc Maryland from 2002 to 2006.  Mr. Capone is a member of the Developmental Disabilities Coalition, the Civil Rights Coalition, and Community First Choice.  He has been a member of the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities since 2014.  Mr. Capone received a Certificate in Computer Technology/Programming from Johns Hopkins University.

Zachary W. Holler, Appointee for Member, President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities

Zachary W. Holler serves as Lay Minister and co-Founder of Bridge Builder’s Abilities Ministry, a disability ministry at Christian Life Center.  Mr. Holler was Youth Development Coordinator at Access Center for Independent Living in Dayton, Ohio from 2011 to 2013.  He worked as an intern for the American Association of Persons with Disabilities in Washington, D.C. in 2011, as a Deaf Role Model at the Sinclair Community College ASL Lab from 2010 to 2011, and as a Human Resource Assistant Intern at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in 2009.  Mr. Holler has served as a member of the Consumer Advisory Committee of the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission and as a Delegate for the Ohio Governor’s Council on People with Disabilities at the Ohio Governor’s Council Youth Leadership Forum.  At Wright State University, he was President of Abilities United and Associate Director of Disability Affairs with the student government.  Mr. Holler was named 2015 Outstanding Alumnus by the College of Education and Human Services at Wright State University.  He has been a member of the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities since 2014.  Mr. Holler received a B.A. from Wright State University.

Dr. Deborah M. Spitalnik, Appointee for Member, President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities

Dr. Deborah M. Spitalnik is founding Executive Director of The Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, where she is also a Professor of Pediatrics, positions she has held since 1983.  Dr. Spitalnik is Chair of the New Jersey Medical Assistance Advisory Council, having joined the Council in 2005.  She is former Chair of the National Council on Quality and Leadership and past President of the Association of University Centers on Disabilities.  Dr. Spitalnik was appointed to the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities in 2014, having previously served on the Committee from 2011 to 2013, from 1994 to 2001, and as Chair from 2000 to 2001.  She received the Dybwad Humanitarian Award from the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in 2000.  Dr. Spitalnik received a B.A from Brandeis University, an Ed.M. from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. from Temple University.

Elizabeth Weintraub, Appointee for Member, President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities

Elizabeth Weintraub is an Advocacy Specialist for the Association of University Centers on Disabilities and a Quality Enhancement Specialist for the Council on Quality and Leadership, positions she has held since 2000.  She is past Chair of the Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council, and a former member of the boards of the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities and of Self Advocates Becoming Empowered.  Ms. Weintraub was first appointed to the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities in 2011, and was reappointed in 2014.  Ms. Weintraub was the recipient of the Elizabeth Monroe Boggs Award for Young Leadership in 1998.

Letter -- Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to the Central African Republic

Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)

Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)) provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, within 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date. In accordance with this provision, I have sent to the Federal Register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13667 of May 12, 2014, with respect to the Central African Republic is to continue in effect beyond May 12, 2015.

The situation in and in relation to the Central African Republic, which has been marked by a breakdown of law and order, intersectarian tension, widespread violence and atrocities, and the pervasive, often forced recruitment and use of child soldiers, threatens the peace, security, or stability of the Central African Republic and neighboring states, and continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. For this reason, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13667 with respect to the Central African Republic.

Sincerely,

BARACK OBAMA

Statement by the President on the 70th Anniversary of V-E Day

Seventy years ago today, the Allied Forces declared victory in Europe over tyranny during World War II.  After more than five years of brutal fighting that took the lives of some 40 million people across the continent—including six million Jews and millions of others murdered by the Nazi regime—the forces of freedom triumphed over oppression in Europe.  The war was not yet won; it would be three more months of fighting in the Pacific.  But V-E Day represented, at long last, a hope for peace.

Today, we salute the more than 16 million Americans who left everything they knew—their families, their homes—to serve in World War II, and then came home to help build the America we know today.  We honor the memory of the more than 400,000 Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we might live free.  We rededicate ourselves—on this day and every day—to the freedoms for which they fought, and to the American Dream for which they died.  We stand with our allies, in Europe and around the world, in defending the liberty and human rights of all people.  And we honor our brave men and women in uniform and their families who continue to defend the freedom that was won 70 years ago today.

White House Report: Making College Affordable for Millions of Americans

A full version of this report is attached and can be found HERE.

Tomorrow at Lake Area Technical College in South Dakota, the President will underscore the importance of making community college available to all responsible students as part of his America's College Promise Campaign, one of several major proposals that build on the historic investments the President has made in college affordability and quality.

Nearly a century ago, a movement that made high school widely available helped lead to rapid growth in the education and skills training of Americans, driving decades of economic growth and prosperity. America thrived in the 20^th century in large part because we had the most educated workforce in the world.  A quality higher education continues to be the single most important investment students can make in their own futures and that we can make in the future of our nation.  But other nations have matched or exceeded the United States’ investment in higher education.  Today, more than ever, Americans need more knowledge and skills to meet the demands of a growing global economy without having to take on decades of debt before they even embark on their career. 

Over the past six years, the President and Congress have:

• Increased Pell Grant funding, the government’s primary scholarship program, by 70 percent, and increased the maximum Pell Grant award by $1,000 since 2008.  As of 2015-16, Pell Grants will have helped more than 2 million additional students per year.

• Created the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC), providing up to $2,500 per student, per year to help cover the cost of tuition, fees and books. In 2016, the AOTC will provide 10 million students and families an average benefit of about $1,800.  Families benefitting from the creation of the AOTC will receive an additional $1,000 on average per year compared to the tax credits available prior to its enactment.  Combined, the AOTC and the Lifetime Learning Credit will provide families with more than $20 billion of assistance in 2016, an increase of about 170 percent value relative to the value of education tax credits in 2008.

Taken together, Pell Grants and the AOTC will continue to provide students and families $50 billion in aid next year to help them afford college.  In part as a result of these investments, and despite deep cuts to higher education in many states, the net price students pay – tuition after scholarships and tuition-based tax credits – has actually fallen at four-year private colleges and remained constant at community colleges.  At community colleges, the average full-time student could save $3,800 per year under the President’s America’s College Promise Proposal, which would make two years of community college free for responsible students.

Many states responded to the recession and resulting budget shortfalls by cutting funding for higher education. As a result, public four-year colleges faced significant cuts to their state funding. The President’s investments in higher education, including Pell Grant funding and AOTC benefits, have helped fill the gap so that students can still afford the rising costs at public four-year universities.

This year, President Obama proposed to build on this progress with a bold plan to make community college free for responsible students, ensure that the Pell grant is never eroded by inflation, and simplify, expand and make permanent the American Opportunity Tax Credit. He is also working to make student loans more affordable – including expanding current regulations that cap student loan payments at 10 percent of income – and encouraging innovation and competition to bring down the cost of college.

However, despite these hard-fought gains in college affordability, Republicans in Congress have proposed a budget that slashes these and other investments that benefit students and their families.  The budget blueprint agreed to by House and Senate Republicans last week would eliminate $90 billion in dedicated Pell Grant funding and let the American Opportunity Tax Credit expire after 2017 – resulting in a tax increase on millions of students and families. 

And the Republican budget does nothing to end the harmful effects of sequestration, capping discretionary funding for education and other key areas we need to strengthen the economy and expand opportunity.