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Obama Freezes Pay, Toughens Ethics and Lobbying Rules By Roger Runningen
Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said he’s freezing the pay of senior White House staff employees who make more than $100,000 a year and imposing new ethics rules designed to diminish the influence of lobbyists.
Obama also said he is ordering federal agencies to make it easier for the public to get documents and information from the government.
“We are here as public servants, and public service is a privilege,” Obama said, addressing his White House staff and Cabinet on his first full day in office. “It’s not about advancing yourself or your corporate clients.”
The president’s directives were among his first official acts and preceded meetings with his top advisers on the two major challenges facing his administration: the faltering economy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In all, Obama signed two executive orders and three presidential directives aimed at making government more open and accountable and taking steps toward fulfilling some of his campaign promises.
The president said that when top White House aides leave government, they are barred from lobbying “for as long as I am president, and there will be a ban on gifts by lobbyists to anyone serving in the administration.”
Lobbying Limits
A lobbyist who joins the Obama administration also is forbidden from working on issues they previously were involved with, he said. Any person who leaves the administration will be barred from lobbying the government for two years.
“We need to close the revolving door that lets lobbyists come into government freely and lets them use their time in public service” to promote their own interests when they leave, the president said.
Regarding the pay freeze, Obama said he is acting because “families are tightening their belts and so should Washington.”
There are more than 100 White House staff positions under the office of the president that pay more than $100,000 annually, including chief of staff, White House counsel and chief speechwriter.
Disclosure
To promote transparency in government, Obama said federal agencies and departments should err on the side of disclosing information rather than keeping it from the public when responding to Freedom of Information Act requests.
“For a long time there has been too much secrecy in this city, the old rules said that if there was a defensible argument for not disclosing something to the American people, then it should not be disclosed,” Obama said. “That era is now over.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=azQJo_wu7f64&refer=home
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