President Obama Names Commerce Secretary John Bryson, NEC Chair Gene Sperling as Co-Chairs of White House Office of Manufacturing Policy

WASHINGTON - President Obama today announced that Secretary John Bryson would join National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling as co-chair of the White House Office of Manufacturing Policy.  The Office of Manufacturing Policy is part of the National Economic Council in the White House and works across federal government agencies to coordinate the execution of manufacturing programs and the development of manufacturing policy.

“At this make or break time for the middle class and our economy, we need a strong manufacturing sector that will put Americans back to work making products stamped with three proud words: Made in America,” said President Obama.  “I am grateful that Secretary Bryson and Gene Sperling will head up this office to continue our efforts to revitalize this great American industry and fight for American workers and jobs.”

“John Bryson brings to this role decades of business leadership, a passion for manufacturing, and a strong understanding of its importance for jobs and our nation's economic competitiveness. He will play a key leadership role for the President and his economic team on these critical issues,” said Gene Sperling.

Secretary Bryson led Southern California Edison as Chairman and CEO for 18 years, served as Boeing’s longest-serving director, as well as served as an adviser to Coda Automotive.  Secretary Bryson’s business experience, combined with the Commerce Department’s strengths, including promoting U.S. exports, advising small manufacturers, developing tomorrow’s cutting edge standards, commercializing federally funded research, and protecting America’s intellectual property, uniquely position Secretary Bryson to help lead the Administration’s manufacturing efforts.

“Supporting the manufacturing sector will further our ability to innovate at home and compete around the world while generating more high-wage American jobs,” Secretary Bryson said. “Since day one, President Obama has been focused on supporting the entire United States manufacturing sector but especially small and medium sized businesses on the cutting edge of advanced manufacturing. We are introducing an ‘all hands on deck’ approach that coordinates all of our assets - public and private, federal, state, and regional.”

The White House Office of Manufacturing Policy will convene cabinet-level meetings to aggressively implement the Administration’s priority manufacturing initiatives.  Consistent with the President’s focus on small and growing businesses, Administrator Karen Mills will lead efforts on access to capital for small and medium manufacturers.

In his first month in office, Secretary Bryson has led trade talks with China to level the playing field for American companies and workers.   He is reaching out to CEOs, has met with the Steering Committee of the President’s Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, and has directed the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) housed within the Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to expand their efforts to connect competitive, U.S. based suppliers with upper tier domestic and foreign companies, wherever located.

Upon taking office, the President made the tough choice to provide the auto industry temporary support – assistance which has helped the auto industry add back more than 140,000 jobs and positions the United States to lead the world in advanced vehicle manufacturing.  In addition, the Administration has taken steps to reduce costs for manufacturers, expand markets abroad, and invest in infrastructure and innovation to make our manufacturers globally competitive.

Those actions have included passing three free trade agreements that will significantly boost exports as well as support tens of thousands of good-paying American jobs.  These agreements also support the President’s National Export Initiative launched in 2010, with the goal of doubling U.S. exports by 2014.  Over 60% of exports are manufactured goods, and exports support over one quarter of all U.S. manufacturing jobs.  The initiative is on track to reach that goal, and has already helped U.S. businesses expand exports 17 percent in 2010 and 16 percent so far this year.

The President has also called on Congress to help revitalize American manufacturing, including continuing to push for an expanded, simplified, and permanent research and development tax credit which would provide the certainty and predictability manufacturers need to invest in innovation.  In addition, the President’s American Jobs Act would extend the 100 percent capital purchase expensing provision signed into law in December 2010 and make an immediate $50 billion investment for highway, highway safety, transit, passenger rail, and aviation activities.

Since the bottom of the recession in 2009, manufacturing production has grown 14 percent while real goods exports have grown 29 percent.  Over this same period, U.S. manufacturing has added over 300,000 jobs, the first time the sector has experienced sustained job growth in over a decade, but more must be done to revitalize American manufacturing.

President Obama Announces Presidential Delegation to Argentina to Attend the Inauguration of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner

President Barack Obama today announced the designation of a Presidential Delegation to Buenos Aires, Argentina to attend the Inauguration of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on December 10, 2011.

The Honorable Hilda L. Solis, U.S. Secretary of Labor, will lead the delegation.

Members of the Presidential Delegation:

The Honorable Vilma S. Martinez, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Argentina

Mr. Daniel Restrepo, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs, National Security Staff

We Can’t Wait: Obama Administration Announces $2 Billion in Resources to Support Job-Creating Startups

Today, the White House announced administrative and private sector actions that will help entrepreneurs grow their businesses and create jobs by increasing their access to capital and resources. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is moving forward with launching a $1 billion Early Stage Innovation Fund, originally announced as part of Startup America, which will provide matching capital to Small Business Investment Companies (SBICs), targeting early-stage small businesses seeking private institutional capital. Today, the White House is also hosting the first board meeting of the Startup America Partnership, where board members will announce commitments from more than 50 private-sector partners to deliver over $1 billion in value – from free software to free consulting and legal services – to 100,000 startups over the next three years. The President also renewed his call for Congress to work on a bipartisan basis to develop ideas from his American Jobs Act plan that will help our small and growing businesses access capital while continuing to protect investors. Specifically, the President has called for increasing limits on “miniofferings,” allowing “crowdfunding,” and phasing in some requirements for small firms as they go public.

“Today, we’re announcing $2 billion in public and private resources to help entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. Now it’s time for Congress to do its part. It was encouraging to see members of both parties in the House come together to pass legislation that will help small businesses get ahead, and I’m calling on the Senate to do the same. But America’s small businesses can’t wait for these important tools to grow and hire faster,” said President Obama.

The Early Stage Innovation Fund will leverage the successful SBIC program to allow privately managed investment funds to put more capital into the hands of small business startups. SBA is acting on this commitment by proposing a modification of its rules allowing private funds that invest in early stage companies to participate in the SBIC program. The proposed modifications are now up for public display, and the fund will be fully implemented in 2012. Today’s announcement is the latest in a series of executive actions the Obama Administration is taking to strengthen the economy and move the country forward because we can’t wait for Congress to act.

The Startup America Partnership is a nonprofit alliance of entrepreneurs, major corporations, and service providers committing private-sector resources to accelerate the growth of new companies. The Partnership, led by iconic entrepreneurs like Steve Case (AOL) and Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn), was launched earlier this year in response to the President’s call to action to dramatically increase the success of America’s high-growth entrepreneurs. New startup businesses create most of the net new jobs each year, in every industry and all across the country.

In September, when the President announced his American Jobs Act, he called on Congress to take steps to help small businesses raise the funds they need to innovate and grow. He urged Congress to work on a bipartisan basis to develop these ideas in ways that will help our small businesses while continuing to protect American investors.

• Regulation A “miniofferings:” Small businesses owners who are seeking private capital of less than $5 million are currently exempt from a variety of regulations. The President has called for raising that limit to up to $50 million, while still protecting investors, in order to make it easier for small companies to raise the capital they need to grow.
• Crowdfunding: Already, nonprofits have harnessed the power of online fundraising and social media to help meet their mission. In a similar way, we can allow entrepreneurs to raise money from many small-dollar investors, while also modifying the rules to build in strong investor protections to these new platforms.
• Easing costs for small, young firms: Research shows that most job creation for public firms occurs after they go public. By phasing in certain regulations for small, high-growth firms, we can provide a transition period to help these companies ramp up to the full costs of being public, while still protecting investors.

Additional commitments announced today include:

• Startup America Policy Challenge. In the spirit of open and participatory government, the White House will use online platforms to ask entrepreneurs and the broader public how to accelerate entrepreneurial innovation in three priority industries: healthcare, clean energy, and education. Students and other solvers will then compete to translate the best ideas into “Policy Business Plans,” which will be shared with relevant Cabinet Secretaries from the Depts. of Health and Human Services, Energy, and Education.
• Administration Commits to Advance Entrepreneurship Education. The Dept. of Education and the Dept. of Labor are advancing a youth entrepreneurship agenda that infuses entrepreneurship education into a range of existing programs involving K-12 education, career and technical education, community colleges, universities, and low-income youth. As part of this effort, the Dept. of Education is launching a new National Education Startup Challenge, inviting middle school, high school, and college students to develop an innovative solution to an education problem and prepare a business plan for a new company or non-profit organization to deliver that solution.
• NFTE Expands Entrepreneurship Education for Underserved Youth. The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) provides a first-class entrepreneurship education for at-risk high school students from low-income communities. Today, NFTE and the Pearson Foundation are launching Connect, a free online community for teacher collaboration and training focused on entrepreneurship education, fulfilling a commitment made at the launch of Startup America earlier this year. The Connect community is open to all educators who want to infuse entrepreneurship education best practices into their classroom, with a goal of at least 5,000 registered educators in the next 24 months. In addition, SuperCamp/Quantum Learning Network, one of the top academic summer camp providers in America, is partnering with NFTE to making its BizCamps widely available to young people across the country.
• Junior Achievement Announces Entrepreneurial Reinvention. Junior Achievement, the nation’s oldest and largest youth entrepreneurship program, is announcing a historic reinvention of its century-old JA Company Program to be more contemporary and relevant to today’s dynamic entrepreneurial landscape. Supported by global technology leader Emerson, this program is designed to reach at least 50,000 students over the next five years.
• Over 100 Community College Presidents Commit to Entrepreneurial Transformation. The National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE) is launching the Presidents for Entrepreneurship Forum, through which community college presidents make specific commitments to advance entrepreneurship and the impact these colleges have on the economic well-being of their communities. Over 100 community college presidents have signed on at launch, with the goal of at least 600 by the end of 2012, comprising around half of all community colleges in the U.S.

President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

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

• Preeta D. Bansal – Member, Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States
• Boris Bershteyn – Member (Government Official), Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States

President Obama said, “I am proud to appoint such impressive individuals to these important roles, and I am grateful they have agreed to lend their considerable talents to this Administration.  I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead.”

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

Preeta D. Bansal, Appointee for Member, Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States
Preeta D. Bansal served as the General Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor for the Office of Management and Budget from 2009 to 2011.  In that capacity, she was also a government member of the Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States, serving as Vice Chair from 2010 until 2011.  She is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.  Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Ms. Bansal was a Partner and Head of the Appellate Litigation Practice at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom, LLP, in New York City.  She is the former Solicitor General of the State of New York and a former law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.  From 2003 to 2009, while in private law practice, Ms. Bansal also was a Commissioner of the bipartisan United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, serving as its Chair from 2004 to 2005.  Ms. Bansal received a J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School and an A.B., magna cum laude, from Harvard-Radcliffe College. 

Boris Bershteyn, Appointee for Member (Government Official), Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States
Boris Bershteyn currently serves as the General Counsel of the Office of Management and Budget.  He served as Special Assistant to the President and Associate White House Counsel at the Office of White House Counsel from 2010 until the summer of 2011 and as the Deputy General Counsel of the Office of Management of Budget from 2009 to 2010.  Prior to joining the Administration, Mr. Bershteyn practiced law at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom, LLP, and at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz in New York.  He served as a Law Clerk for Justice David H. Souter of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge José A. Cabranes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.  He holds a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Stanford University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.