EXECUTIVE WATCH

Tuesday, June 9

• The President delegated to the Secretary of State certain duties under the Naval Vessel Transfer Act of 2008. The delegated powers require the President to produce an assessment of Israel’s qualitative military edge over threats. The initial report is due by June 30, 2009.

Wednesday, June 10

• The White House announced new measures designed to prevent excessive salaries for corporate executives. The President will appoint a “special master” in charge of setting executive compensation for companies receiving Troubled Asset Recovery Program (TARP) funds. Treasury Secretary Geithner released a statement outlining several additional proposals for executive compensation reform. The statement calls on Congress to pass “say-on-pay” legislation that would give shareholders the right to vote on the salaries of their corporation’s executives.

Thursday, June 11

• President Obama visited Green Bay, Wisconsin, to attend a town hall meeting on health care reform. The President reiterated his commitment to a public insurance option as an element of his health care reform proposal. The public option remains a controversial element of the plan, with some members of Congress proposing federally-funded health care cooperatives as an alternative.
• A federal district judge has denied the government’s motion to restrict access to the files being compiled in the Obama administration’s review of Guantanamo Bay detentions. Detainee lawyers want access to the information for use in habeas proceedings. The government had argued that the flood of requests from detainee lawyers would unnecessarily delay the review process.
• The United States released four Guantanamo Bay detainees in Bermuda. The government determined four years ago that the men, Chinese Uighurs, were not “enemy combatants.” The Chinese government is demanding the return of the detainees, whom it considers terrorists.
• The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has stayed an order for the release of detainee abuse photos in ACLU v. Department of Defense. The stay gives the Obama administration the opportunity to appeal to the Supreme Court. The Senate removed language that would have blocked the release from a supplemental war spending bill after President Obama sent a letter assuring Senators that he would appeal. Senator John McCain proposed that the President classify the photographs in order to prevent their release.
• The White House announced that President Obama intends to fire the inspector general of the AmeriCorps program. The President must give Congress thirty-days notice of his intent to fire the inspector general. The administration did not give the reason for the dismissal, and Senator Chuck Grassley has pointed out that the President is required by law to give Congress his reasons for firing an inspector general. Other members of Congress are calling on President Obama to clarify his reasons for terminating the inspector general.

Friday, June 12

• President Obama notified Congress that he would extend sanctions on Belarus. The sanctions, in place since 2006, prevent Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and others from accessing financial services in the United States. President Obama noted “some positive developments” in Belarus, but found that the overall political situation in that country still represented an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the United States that required the continuation of sanctions.
• The President also determined that Laos and Cambodia are no longer “Marxist-Leninist countries” for the purposes of the Import-Export Bank Act. This decision allows the Import-Export Bank to issue loans to businesses operating in the two countries. These loans are now available to businesses operating in every country except Cuba, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.
• The government on Friday asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to review an April decision limiting the scope of the state secrets privilege. That ruling, in Mohamed v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc., held that the state secrets privilege applies only to individual pieces of evidence. That conflicts with the Fourth Circuit’s interpretation in El-Masri v. United States, which held cases cannot go forward if the program in question is secret.

Saturday, June 13

• The President used his weekly address to outline his proposals for a $313 billion reduction in Medicare and Medicaid spending over the next decade. This savings would combine with the $635 billion already budgeted to pay the estimated $1 trillion cost of health care reform. The American Hospital Association opposes the changes and is urging hospitals that treat low-income patients “to push back against the proposed cuts.”

Monday, June 15

• At a press conference, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he does not plan to introduce a bill to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. The policy, codified in 10 U.S.C. § 654, prevents homosexuals from serving openly in the armed forces. Senator Reid instead expressed hope that the President could change the policy through an executive order. However, the White House has said it does not believe the President has the authority to unilaterally change “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” because it is statutory law rather than administrative policy.
• President Obama spoke at the annual meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA) in Chicago. He emphasized the need for a public insurance option, but stressed that he did not intend to create “government-run health care.” The President expressed his desire to work with the AMA to find ways of reducing the burden created by medical malpractice suits, but also said that he did not favor a cap on malpractice awards.
• The President met with Prime Minister Berlusconi of Italy on Monday. After the meeting, President Obama announced that Italy has agreed to accept three Guantanamo Bay detainees. This follows a joint U.S.-E.U. statement on Guantanamo in which both entities express their determination to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility by January 22, 2010. To that end, certain E.U. member states have agreed to assist with the resettlement of detainees on a case-by-case basis. The United States has agreed to share all relevant intelligence on released detainees and will consider contributing to the costs of resettling detainees.
• Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Chairman Lawrence Summers have outlined the administration’s proposals for financial regulation reform in a Washington Post op-ed. The measures include higher liquidity and capital requirements for financial institutions, regulation of asset-backed securities, and increased consumer protection. The Washington Post reports that the President will formally announce the proposed reforms on Wednesday.

Tuesday, June 16

• MSNBC reports that the White House has denied their request for access to the visitor logs kept by the Secret Service. The network had filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act for the logs of all visitors to the White House since January 20. The Obama administration maintains that these logs are presidential records, which are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. The Secret Service has indicated that it will continue to pursue appeals to two judicial decisions ordering the release of the logs.