Statement by the Press Secretary on H.R. 685 and H.R. 1209

On Friday, May 23, 2014, the President signed into law:

H.R. 685, the "American Fighter Aces Congressional Gold Medal Act," which provides for the award of a single congressional gold medal to the American Fighter Aces, collectively, in recognition of their heroic military service and defense of the Nation's freedom throughout the history of aviation warfare; and

H.R. 1209, which provides for the award of a single congressional gold medal to the World War II members of the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, for outstanding heroism, valor, skill, and service to the United States in conducting the bombings of Tokyo.

Remarks by the President at DSCC Dinner -- Chicago, IL

Private Residence
Chicago, Illinois

8:17 P.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT:  First of all, to Fred and Dan, I’m so grateful for you guys hosting us here today.  I’m trying to remember -- was it two years ago or three years ago that I was here?

Q    Two years ago.  And you were here in --

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I’ve been here a lot, I know.  (Laughter.)  I meant most recently.  I have abused Fred’s hospitality for quite some time.  But it is wonderful to be home now that is has warmed up.  (Laughter.)  And it is wonderful to be with a lot of old friends.

There are a couple other people I just want to acknowledge real quickly.  Obviously, our Governor Pat Quinn is in the house.  Please give him a big round of applause.  (Applause.)  Pat is doing a lot of hard stuff, and he’s doing it the right way.  And I’m very appreciative for all the efforts that he’s making down in Springfield. 

We also have two of our finest public servants in the country.  The first has the thankless job of being the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Reelection Committee, and that is our outstanding senator from Colorado, Michael Bennet.  (Applause.)  And the second guy is the person who, upon my election to the United States Senate, essentially taught me everything that he knew and kept me out of trouble, and supported me every step of the way when I ran for President, and has been a great friend and champion on behalf of working families not just in Illinois, but all across the country.  He is a great friend.  I couldn’t be prouder to be associated with him -- Dick Durbin.  (Applause.) 

So the goal here is not for me to give a long speech, because I want to have a conversation with you, but let me just set the context.  A little over five years since I’ve been elected.  We’ve gone from losing 800,000 jobs a month to creating over 9 million jobs.  The unemployment rate has come down.  The housing value has come up.  The stock market -- gone up.  Trillions of dollars of wealth restored for families all across the country.  The deficit -- you wouldn’t know it always from reading the newspapers -- has been cut by more than half. 

Clean energy -- we’ve doubled.  Greenhouse gases -- we’ve lowered.  Exports -- we’re on track to double.  College enrollment hitting all-time peaks.  High school dropout rates going down.  Latino dropout rates cut in half since 2000.

We’ve ended two wars.  We are -- or we’ve ended one war and we’re in the process of ending the second.  We’re producing more energy than we ever have before, and we’re importing less foreign oil than we have in close to two decades.

So there are a whole bunch of metrics -- a whole bunch of measures by which you’d say, indisputably, that we are better off now than we were when I came into office.  And a lot of that has to do with the incredible resilience and grit and hard work of the American people.  And yet, there’s still anxiety all across America.  And some of it is that people still feel the trauma of seeing their home values drop, or their 401(k)s plunge, or losing their job, or seeing a friend of theirs lose their home.  And you don’t shake those things off right away.  It feels as if the ground is less firm under your feet.

But a lot of it has to do with the fact that we’ve got trends that have continued over the course of decades in which those of us, frankly, in this room continue to do better and better.  Folks at the top have seen their incomes and their wealth soar.  And ordinary Americans have seen their wages and incomes flat-line at the same time as the costs of everything has gone up.  And so they’re less confident that not only they will be able to retire with some dignity and maintain their standard of living; more importantly, they’re concerned that their kids are not going to be able to match their standard of living and the upward trajectory of their lives -- the idea that if you work hard, if you take responsibility in this country, you can get ahead. 

Now, there are a lot of issues that we face in this country, but nothing is more important than restoring, making real that ideal that if you work hard in this country, you can make it.  And everything I think about every single day that I’m President revolves around that issue, along with keeping the American people safe.  And the problem I’ve got right now is not that we’re on the wrong side of issues.  There’s not an issue out there in which we do not enjoy majority support.  Immigration reform -- the majority agrees with us.  Minimum wage -- the majority agrees with us.  Equal pay for equal work -- the majority agrees with us.  Increasing clean energy -- the majority agrees with us.  Invest in education, early childhood education, making college more affordable -- folks on our side.  That’s not my problem.  That’s not our problem.

Our problem is very simple:  We have a Congress that currently is controlled, at least half of it, by an ideological faction that is not representative of the traditions of the Republican Party as I understood them -- maybe because I come from the land of Lincoln.  I thought we believed in investing in infrastructure.  I thought we believed in science.  I didn’t think those were partisan issues.  I thought we believed in education.  But this crowd doesn’t believe in science; doesn’t really believe in investing in our kids to make sure that upward mobility exists; doesn’t believe in climate change; doesn’t think that there’s really a problem in terms of the pay gap between men and women; isn’t interested in providing help for families. 

They operate on a single theory -- which is, if government is dismantled and folks at the top can do more and more without restraint, that everybody else is going to benefit from it.  I don’t know if they actually believe it, but that’s what they say.  And this is not a situation of equivalence where the Democrats are this far-left crazy group and we’re not willing to meet in the middle.  And if you need a better example than that, take a look at a health care law that uses the private sector to encourage people to buy insurance and has brought health care inflation down to its lowest rate in 50 years.  And you would think that I had dismantled the entire free-market system -- despite the fact that we now have somewhere between 13 and 15 million people who have insurance now that didn’t have it before.

So I need a new Congress.  But at a minimum, I’ve got to have a Democratic Senate.  And that’s why you’re here.  Which leads me to my last point:  If, in fact, people agree with us, why is it so hard for us to get a Democratic Senate and a Democratic House?  Well, part of it is demographics.  I was in Brooklyn with de Blasio -- this is right before he was about to be elected -- and we were coming from this wonderful school that’s training kids in math and science.  And we’re driving down Brooklyn and crowds are cheering, and we go into this place to buy some cheesecake and people are hugging me -- and, oh, my uncle just got on Obamacare and it’s terrific.  And a woman yells out, what can I do to help?  And I said, move to Nebraska!  (Laughter.)  I don’t need 80 percent of the vote in New York City -- (laughter) -- or Chicago.  But Democrats tend to congregate a little more densely, which puts us at a disadvantage in the House.  Obviously, the nature of the Senate means that California has the same number of Senate seats as Wyoming.  That puts us at a disadvantage.  Gerrymandering in many of these states puts us at a disadvantage.

So there are some structural reasons why, despite the fact that Republican ideas are largely rejected by the public, it’s still hard for us to break through.  But the second reason is we have a congenital disease, which is we don’t like voting in midterms.  Our voters are younger, more minorities, more single women, more working-class folks who are busy and trying to get to work, trying to find work.  And oftentimes we opt out during midterms.  If we had the same turnout in 2012 that we had had in 2010, I might have lost.  Instead, of course, we had a very significant and solid victory.

So this is pretty straightforward -- I need more votes.  I need more people voting to reflect our values and what we care about and our stance on the issues, which, in turn, leads to senators and congressman who then vote on behalf of actually getting stuff done.  A bunch of you, because you’ve known me for a long time, came up and commiserated while we were taking pictures -- oh, these folks are so mean and there’s always slinging and hurling stones and arrows at you, and all this.  And I said, you know what, it turns out -- maybe I’m from Chicago -- I’m a tough guy.  It doesn’t really bother me too much. 

There is one thing that bothers me, which is when I hear folks saying, oh, you know, if you just play golf with John Boehner more -- (laughter) -- and we’re just trying harder to be more bipartisan, then we’d get more stuff done.  That’s not the problem.  (Laughter.)  On every issue we are more than happy to sit down in reasonable fashion and compromise.  The problem is not that we’re too mean or we’re too partisan.  The problem is I don’t have enough votes -- full stop. 

The first two years, when we had a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate, we had the most productive legislature since the 1960s, since Lyndon Johnson -- more significant, meaningful domestic legislation than any time since Medicare was passed.  House Republicans take over and we now have -- you remember Harry Truman with the do-nothing Congress?  This is a less productive Congress than the do-nothing Congress.  (Laughter.)  This Congress makes the do-nothing Congress look like the New Deal.  (Laughter.) 

So I need everybody to feel a sense of urgency.  That’s what we’re here tonight to talk about.  And whatever else I say, whatever issues you are concerned about, ultimately it translates into math -- are we turning out voters who, in turn, produce majorities that allow us to advance the values that we care about.  Everything else is just talk.  And if we don’t feel that sense of urgency in this election, we’re going to have problems.  And if we do, then in the next two and half years we can make as much progress as we did the first two years I was in office.

All right.  Thank you very much, everybody.  Thank you.  (Applause.)

END
8:32 P.M. CDT

Remarks by National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice at the Chicago Council Global Food Security Conference

Good afternoon everybody.  I want to begin by thanking my good friend, Ivo, for that very kind introduction.  Ivo and I have had the opportunity to work together in various different capacities inside government and outside government--and in every circumstance, it has been a great pleasure and an intellectual challenge, and I want to thank you for continuing your very good work on complex global issues now with the Chicago Council.  I also want to thank Doug Bereuter, Dan Glickman, and everyone at the Chicago Council for inviting me to join you today. 

Throughout human history, the world has struggled with hunger and famine.  For as long as mankind has cultivated crops, we’ve contended with drought and blight.  But, in the past few decades, we’ve gained the tools to write a different future for humanity.  At the World Food Congress in 1963, President Kennedy stated the cause very clearly:  “As members of the human race, we have the means, we have the capacity to eliminate hunger from the face of the earth in our lifetime. We need only the will.” 

Since then, we’ve turned our will to reshaping our planet.  The scientific achievements of the Green Revolution averted mass famines and saved more than a billion people from starvation.  By adopting new seeds and agricultural techniques, countries that once relied on aid can now feed themselves.  It’s a compelling reminder of just how much we can accomplish with focus, ingenuity, and the will to get things done.  So many of you here today have been instrumental in this progress, and I want to thank all of you for your extraordinary contributions.  

I’m here because I want you to know that you have an enduring partner in President Obama and this administration.  Not only Administrator Shah and Secretary Vilsack, whom you’ll hear from later, but our food security team includes Tjada McKenna of USAID, Jonathan Shrier from State, Suzanne Palmieri from USDA, and many, many other dedicated public servants.  [Applause]

They know, and you know, that ending food insecurity is profoundly in the interests of the United States.  It’s an outrage when children starve or when hard-working families can’t afford to fill their most basic nutritional needs. We’ve seen what can happen when a spike in food prices plunges tens of millions of people into poverty—riots break out; conflicts for scarce resources cost lives; economies falter; instability increases.  On the other hand, investing in agriculture is one of the surest ways to reduce poverty, expand economic activity, and grow the middle class.  And that’s why President Obama has made food security a top priority in our global development efforts. 

When the President spoke here two years ago, he stated his conviction that the United States has “a moral obligation to lead the fight against hunger and malnutrition.”  That means it’s not enough to simply keep responding to crises after they happen.  We need to break the cycle of hunger by empowering more people to feed themselves. 

And that’s why President Obama put food security high on the world’s agenda.  In his first months in office, he announced a global food security initiative at the G-20 in London.  In his first meeting with the G8 at L’Aquila, he galvanized an international commitment that put billions of dollars into the cause and outlined a new set of core principles for fostering greater food security.  At every step, he has ensured America’s commitments are matched by support from partner nations, from private sector entities, and from the public.  Already the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, which President Obama announced two years ago, has grown to include ten African countries. It has united more than 160 companies and yielded more than $7 billion in responsible, planned investments in African agriculture. 

At the President’s direction, we have centered our signature, interagency development initiative—Feed the Future—around smallholder farmers, particularly women.  Our commitments build on the leadership of African nations that have pledged to increase their agricultural spending and develop comprehensive, country-led food security strategies.  And, through all of our joint efforts to increase production, improve farmers’ access to markets, and bolster natural resource management, we’re relying on data to determine what works. 

In just the past year, we helped 6.8 million more farmers put new technologies or management practices to work, up 30 percent from 2012.  That translates to more than 4 million hectares of land—an area greater than the size of Massachusetts and New Jersey combined—are now benefiting from new seeds or increased soil fertility.  Thanks to these improvements, farmers saw more than $50 million in new horticultural sales.  And, last year, with our partners, we helped more than 12.5 million children under the age of 5 to get the nourishment that they need. 

Our government-wide investments in agricultural productivity are helping create economies that work.  The Millennium Challenge Corporation is working with other agencies to develop compacts with countries that invest in agriculture, land tenure, and road development.  The Peace Corps has fielded more than 1,200 enthusiastic Feed the Future volunteers to help people make sustainable changes in how they--those folks who are in developing countries--cultivate crops, address water shortages, and feed their families. 

And today, I’m pleased to announce that we’ve completed a new USAID nutrition strategy.  It’s a 360-degree approach that brings together our work on food security, health, water, hygiene and sanitation into an ambitious plan to reduce child stunting by 20 percent over five years—that’s 2 million more children who will get a stronger, healthier start in life.  

And yet, as you know well, for all our progress, there are still millions who go to bed hungry, millions more scrabbling to sustain daily life.  So, our next challenge is taking these promising beginnings and knitting them together to achieve a sustainable, food-secure future.  Our aim is nothing short of bringing about a total transformation.   

What will it take to achieve food security on a global scale?  Our answer cannot just be more money or more aid—focusing on more won’t get us where we need to be.  We need to do better.  In addition to making sure that agricultural innovations like drought-resistant seeds and fertilizers are widespread, we must ensure that better practices become routine.  Farmers should have better information about which seeds are best suited to their soil.  Mothers should be able to grow and purchase nutrient-rich foods to feed their children.  For agricultural workers, earning a living wage should be the rule rather than the exception.  So today, I’d like to suggest four areas that need our focus, if we are to achieve food security on a global scale.      

First, we have to get our collective house in order.  With Feed the Future, the United States made a commitment to change the way we do business—bringing together expertise from across the government; building on the leadership of countries that invest in their own food security; and partnering with anyone doing meaningful work to defeat hunger.  We need to apply that same cooperative approach across the board.  The private sector, academia, and NGOs should be collaborating more—both with each other and with governments—to unite our efforts and close gaps in the food security architecture.

The truth is, we already have much of what we need to reach our goal.  Between us, we’ve got pipelines and distribution networks that circle the world.  We’ve got experts in every subject.  We just need to connect them.  Everyone comes at food security through their own lens, but we’re all working on aspects of the very same problem, and we’ll certainly be more effective if we are working together.  And that’s why the Obama administration has put such an emphasis on building partnerships.  And, I want to thank Interaction and the civil society groups who recently added another $500 million to their pledge to advance food security in cooperation with Feed the Future.  [Applause]

So these innovative partnerships, especially public-private partnerships, are essential to the future of food security.  I know some have raised questions about private sector involvement.  But, we won’t improve food security on a global scale without the innovation, expertise, and reach that only the private sector can bring to sustainable agricultural productivity.  Just ask any one of the 2.6 million smallholder formers who benefited from the services, training, and production contracts the New Alliance and the Grow Africa partnership brought to Africa last year. 

A second area where we can make an outsized impact is by stepping up our efforts to collect and share data.  In the United States, farmers employ micro-level data on how the soil and weather differs between furrows even in the same field in order to optimize their crop production.  In much of the world, however, we lack even the most basic information.     

When we do have data, often we don’t share it broadly enough.  Sometimes, that’s because data is proprietary.  More often, it’s because we simply haven’t aggregated what we know.  In both cases, our ability to innovate and to address global agricultural challenges is thus limited.  Imagine the benefit to a farmer in Southeast Asia if she could use her phone to determine which crops would be most profitable.  To do that, she needs data about the soil, the weather, seeds and appropriate fertilizers, as well as data about regional market demands—and she needs it to be available so a technology designer can build an app to translate that information into clear-cut recommendations. 

And that’s why the USDA has taken the lead in releasing genetic and genomic data for the new seeds we’ve developed such as drought-tolerant maize, rust-resistant wheat, and high-yielding rice.  Last October, the United States also helped launch the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition Initiative to help make critical data available for unrestricted use worldwide.  I hope all of you will join with us in this effort—by contributing your own data, by using it to improve your projects, and by encouraging others to make open data the new norm. 

As we focus on these organizational challenges, we also need to tackle the toughest issues in the hardest places.  So, the third area we must focus on is making an impact in fragile and conflict-affected states, where poverty and hunger are most extreme and populations are most vulnerable.     

The U.S. and other donors spend much, much more money responding to humanitarian disasters than we do in investing in building more resilient communities.  Chronic poverty and periodic external shocks too often propel the same communities into crisis again and again.  In fact, during the past decade, almost 50 percent of international humanitarian assistance has gone to addressing crises in just nine countries—like Sudan, South Sudan, and Haiti.  The United States will continue to lead humanitarian efforts whenever disasters strike, but when we are repeatedly responding to the same problems, in the same places, we have do more than stop the bleeding.  We have to start healing the deeper wound.          

And, that’s why USAID is working with its counterparts to change the way we approach crisis relief.  Rather than walling off our humanitarian assistance from our development programming, we’re bringing them together to help countries become more resilient—so they can recover from crises and emerge all the stronger.  Most of this work is still in the early stages, but it’s already having an impact.  In Ethiopia, we’ve invested in the government’s social safety net to help it quickly scale-up food distribution in crises.  When indicators of drought emerged in early 2011, the government added more than 3 million citizens to the safety net so that people could feed themselves until the November harvest.  This fast intervention helped ensure that communities did not respond to drought in ways that could make future crises more likely, such as selling off land or livestock to buy food.  

Finally, we have to confront the growing impacts of climate change on our ability to feed ourselves.  For agricultural societies, even small changes in climate matter a great deal.  Crop yields are extremely sensitive to changing rainfall patterns, the intensity of storms, and temperature extremes.  In fragile states, climate change only amplifies existing stresses and puts additional pressure on scarce resources.      

The latest IPCC report, the recently released U.S. National Climate Action Assessment, and today’s report from the Chicago Council all say the same thing.  Climate change affects every aspect of food security, from production to pricing.  Climate change is not some distant threat.  We’re already dealing with its impacts.  Globally, the 14 warmest years on record have all been since 1998.  Droughts and wildfires have become more frequent and more intense in some regions, while flooding has intensified in others.  Deserts are expanding.  Water quality and quantity are being affected by changes in precipitation and runoff.  Sea level rise is now increasing at about twice the average rate it was in the 20^th century. 

These are the facts.  Observable, undeniable facts.  And, President Obama is taking action to combat climate change by reducing carbon emissions and increasing our use of renewable and clean energy resources.    

In the near-term, we have to compensate for the impact climate changes are having on our ability to feed a population—a  global population—that is expected to break 9 billion by 2050.  Already we’ve launched seven new “climate hubs” to help farmers and ranchers across the United States adapt, and Feed the Future is helping food producers around the world to adjust their practices.  For example, USAID has helped farmers on the storm-prone coast of Bangladesh to adopt higher-yielding varietals of rice that were also salt- and flood-tolerant.  These farmers increased their crop by about 20 percent, all while using less fertilizer and pesticide. 

Our Climate and Clean Air Coalition is promoting better ways to manage manure from livestock to reduce methane emissions and boost incomes.  The United States is also working with our partners to launch an international Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture, which will help farmers increase their productivity and income while simultaneously building resilience to climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  But, as you know all too well, there is much more to do, and the Chicago Council’s report offers several recommendations to keep us moving in the right direction.  

The good news is:  we know we can make a difference.  We already have.  I think of those heart-breaking stories from 2008, during the food crisis, when hunger ran rampant, and children in places like Haiti ate mudcakes to quiet their bellies.  Today, Haiti’s farmers have doubled their harvest of rice and beans; corn production is up more than 300 percent; and acute malnutrition has been cut in half.  It didn’t happen overnight.  It took strategic investments and sustained partnerships.  And, slowly but surely, we’ve proved that progress is possible.

Confronting entrenched poverty in fragile states and meeting the challenges of climate change is necessarily work that must continue over generations, just as we are carrying forward the task that President Kennedy set for us 50 years ago.  We have the means.  We have the capacity.  And, I can assure you, on behalf of President Obama, we have the will.  Our commitment will endure. 

The United States will continue to lead the rest of the world toward the food-secure future we all seek.  We’ll continue to work with partners who are stepping up to address food security in their own countries.  We’ll keep bringing nations and organizations together so that millions more people can benefit from agricultural adaptations. We’ll continue to seek new ways to withstand extreme weather and climate change.  As President Obama announced in March during his visit to Italy, the United States will sponsor a pavilion at the Milan Expo next year to raise awareness about food security and nutrition.  And, as we work toward a post-2015 development agenda to replace the Millennium Development Goals, we will ensure that all these issues—including boosting climate resilience, improving environmental sustainability, and ending extreme poverty—remain a global priority.  And, as we do, we will make sure the world’s most vulnerable populations are not left behind. 

In all our efforts, those of us in government will look to all of you.  Yours are the passionate hands that will remake the world.  And, the United States will always be a reliable and steady partner to you in our common cause.  

Together, we can imagine the day when the farmer who toils in the field has plenty—both to feed his family and to sell at the market.  We can imagine when those who herd flocks or fish the sea won’t have to wonder about their next meal.  When mothers can regularly feed their children nutritious food that will help their family grow strong and healthy.  That’s the future we’ll continue to seek, through every challenge and every obstacle:  the day when the scourge of hunger and malnutrition is finally and forever banished from the earth.  

Thank you very, very much. 

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:

·       Bruce H. Andrews – Deputy Secretary, Department of Commerce

·       Marcia Stephens Bloom Bernicat – Ambassador to the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Department of State

·       Marcus D. Jadotte – Assistant Secretary for Industry and Analysis, Department of Commerce

·       James D. Pettit – Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova, Department of State

·       Laura S. Wertheimer – Inspector General, Federal Housing Finance Agency

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

·       Caitlin K. Cahow – Member, President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition

·       Steven Croley – Member, Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States

·       Jane Jelenko – Member, United States Holocaust Memorial Council

·       Brig. Gen. John S. Kem, USA – Commissioner, Mississippi River Commission

·       George A. Elmaraghy – Commissioner, Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission

·       Tom FitzGerald – Commissioner, Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission

·       Susan Hedman – Commissioner, Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission

President Obama said, “I am honored that these talented individuals have decided to join this Administration and serve our country. I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come.”

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

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

Caitlin K. Cahow, Appointee for Member, President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition

Caitlin K. Cahow was a member of the United States Women’s National Ice Hockey Team from 2005 to 2013.  The Team won a silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada and a bronze medal at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy.  She was Captain of the Boston Blades in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL), and has served on the CWHL board of directors since her retirement in 2013.  She was the Captain of the U.S. Under-22 Select Team in 2006.  Ms. Cahow won gold medals with the U.S. Women’s National Team at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Women’s Championship in 2008, 2009, and 2011. She received the 2008 USA Hockey Women’s Player of the Year award.  In February 2014, she served on the Presidential Delegation to the Opening Ceremony of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games.  She is an active advisor to the You Can Play Team.  She received the Shannon McLaughlin Advocacy Award from the Boston College Lambda Law Students Association and the Avian Soifer Award for Public Service Achievement and Leadership from Boston College Law School.  Ms. Cahow received a A.B. from Harvard University and a J.D. from Boston College Law School.

Dr. Steven Croley, Appointee for Member, Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States
Dr. Steven Croley is General Counsel of the Department of Energy. Prior to this, he was Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Counsel to the President in the Office of the White House Counsel from 2012 to 2014.  Previously, he served as Senior Counsel to the President in the Office of the White House Counsel from 2011 to 2012 and Special Assistant to the President for Justice and Regulatory Policy at the White House Domestic Policy Council from 2010 to 2011.  Since 2010, Dr. Croley has been on leave from the University of Michigan Law School where he is the Harry Burns Hutchins Collegiate Professor of Law.  From 2006 to 2010, he served as a Special Assistant to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.  Dr. Croley was Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Michigan Law School from 2003 to 2006.  He served as a Research Consultant to the Michigan Law Revision Commission from 1996 to 1999, and previously as a Research Consultant to the Administrative Conference of the United States and the U.S. Department of Labor from 1994 to 1995.  He began his teaching career as an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School in 1993 before becoming a Professor of Law in 1998.  Dr. Croley served as a Law Clerk for Judge Stephen Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 1991 to 1992.  Dr. Croley received an A.B. from the University of Michigan, a J.D. from Yale Law School, and a Ph.D. from Princeton University.