Mediaboss Marketing

Barack Obama and Tom Perez / Getty Images

BY: Susan Crabtree July 24, 2017 5:00 am

A whistleblower is making some of the same complaints against the Obama administration over its record of providing congressionally mandated payouts to nuclear workers as Barack Obama did about the George W. Bush administration's.

Obama, when he was a senator in the middle of his White House bid, admonished the Bush Labor Department over complaints of bureaucratic bungling and intentional efforts to deny or drag out payouts to workers who lost their health building the nation's Cold War nuclear arsenal.

"There is no question that when it comes to this program, this administration has been more than willing to ignore the law when it disagrees with Congress' intent," Obama, who repeatedly tried to advocate on behalf of sick workers in his home state of Illinois, told the Rocky Mountain News in 2008.

"It must be remembered that these laws were passed by a Republican majority in Congress," Obama continued. "While many workers or their families have been compensated, there is no doubt that what Congress intended when it created this program simply has not materialized, and as a result, many deserving workers have been left out by the current legislation."

Obama went on to say in the interview that he found it "deeply troubling" that the Bush administration would "assume that these workers are lying about their work conditions and their illnesses."

"The great irony of the situation is that this program was created because the government misled these workers for so many years" about the toxicity of work conditions at nuclear weapons facilities.

The program, which Congress created in 2000 and the Bush administration had the job of implementing, had a rough early history.

Beset by administrative cost run-ups while compensating a paltry number of workers in its first years, lawmakers in 2004 moved the program, the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program, from the Energy Department to the Labor Department and installed an ombudsman to oversee complaints and report them to Congress.

Compensation awards sharply increased, but complaints persisted that Labor officials were narrowly interpreting the law to deliberately deny awards to workers who Congress intended to cover or dragging out the process until workers simply died. A bipartisan group of critics on Capitol Hill held a series of hearings and pressed the Bush administration to make changes to ensure the program was more claimant-friendly.

After Obama was elected president, Democrats predicted the incoming Obama administration would be a lot more "sympathetic" to the plight of the nuclear workers and help make the program more responsive with faster compensation awards.

Sen. Mark Udall (D., Colo.), one of the program's top champions along with Sen. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.), said in January 2009 he had met with Hilda Solis, Obama's choice for his first Labor secretary, and had put the problems with the compensation program "at the top of my list" of discussion items.

"I believe this administration will be a lot more sympathetic to these Cold War warriors," Udall said at the time.

Nine years later, an internal Labor Department whistleblower is voicing many of the same complaints against the Obama administration and its record of administering the compensation program for nuclear workers and their survivors.

Stephen Silbiger, a senior attorney at the Labor Department, told the Washington Free Beacon that Labor Secretary Tom Perez ignored years of his complaints about the open "hostility" he said some officials exhibited toward claimants, many of whom are too poor and sick to fight the agencys denials and red tape in federal court.

Additionally, he and other critics have said government officials are often purposely thwarting workers' attempts to seek the compensation by writing regulations that made qualification much more stringent to than Congress intended, failing to disclose the application rules, changing eligibility rules midstream, and delaying compensation for years until the sick workers died.

Silbiger takes exception to Perez's argument earlier this year that Republicans are repealing Obamacare because they don't "give a shit about people."

In fact, he says that quip contradicts what he saw at the Labor Department during Perez's and Solis's time running the agency.

Silbiger, an attorney in the Labor Department's Solicitor's Office, said another department lawyer seemed intent on denying some claimants their benefits and narrowly interpreting the statute governing the program to do so. On several occasions during staff meetings over the last several years, Silbiger said an attorney in the Solicitor's Office expressed disdain for some claimants and said he hoped they would never receive their benefits.

He also cited a ruling by a federal judge in New Mexicolast year that overturneda Labor Department's denial of compensation to a nuclear worker's widow as proof that the attorneys were narrowly interpreting the law in order to deny awards.

Link:
Obama Faulted the Bush Administration for Failing Nuclear Workers in 2008 - Washington Free Beacon

Kansas City Star (blog)

The millennials who voted Obama, then snubbed Clinton Kansas City Star (blog) And for Cornell Belcher, the president of Brilliant Corners Research & Strategies, who was the pollster for the Democratic National Committee under then-Chairman Howard Dean and for both of Barack Obama's campaigns for the White House, this makes ... and more »

See the original post here:
The millennials who voted Obama, then snubbed Clinton - Kansas City Star (blog)

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: June 10, 2008 - Barack Obama ended his campaign swing through St. Louis on Tuesday after attending a fundraiser in downtown and visiting a hospital. The visit was part of a Midwestern trip that is expected to take him toWisconsin on Thursday. A trip to Iowa on Wednesday was canceled due to flooding.

His visit to Missouri was the second in a month, underscoring the importance of this state to Obama's hopes for the November election. Last month, he visited Cape Girardeau, Mo., a Republican stronghold.

At Barnes-Jewish Hospital, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate chatted with several nurses about medical procedures and talked with some patients about their health insurance coverage. Among the patients was Raymond Bisher, 52, who retired as a St. John police officer after being diagnosed with congestive heart failure in 1998.

In a lengthy conversation, Bisher told Obama how Bisher's wife worked two jobs in spite of suffering from rheumatoid arthritis herself. One of Bisher's four sons is a soldier in Iraq.

Obama paid special attention when Bisher said his wife's weekly medical treatment consists of weekly shots costing $1,500 a piece.

Obama responded, "That's $6,000 a month. Wow." He then promised Bisher that health care would be a "big priority" if he's elected president. As he departed, he told Bisher, "Your wife sounds like a good woman... You tell your son we're thinking of him and praying for him in Iraq."

At the Democratic fundraiser the night before at St. Louis' Renaissance Hotel, Obama was greeted by a variety of his supporters for himself as well as rival Hillary Rodham Clinton's supporters. To underscore the importance of unity in the campaign, Rachel Storch, who headed the Clinton campaign drive in Missouri, introduced him.

The message from Storch and Obama was that Democrats have put any animosity from the presidential primaries behind them and were united to win the White House in November.

At the fundraiser, Obama paid tribute to Clinton and thanked backers who had supported his candidacy from the beginning. He called Sen. Claire McCaskill, one of his strongest supporters, "somebody you want in a foxhole." She and Rep. William Lacy Clay did not attend the fundraiser, but sent family members.

According to some reports, the $500 a ticket general reception and the $2,300 VIP reception were expected to generate about $1 million for Obama's campaign.

See the original post:
Obama talks health care with St. Louis patients, nurses - St. Louis Public Radio

When ISIS first began its first acts of terrorism, President Obama called ISIS a "JV Team" and told the world there was nothing to be concerned about. Since then the world has found out just how very wrong Obama was in his description of ISIS. Since then, thousands of innocent people, even children, have lost their lives because of these terrorists Obama described as a "JV Team"! Only time itself will tell the truth about why Obama described this group as unimportant. The question is, was Obama so ignorant of this situation that he did not see or understand the danger this group presented to the world, or was this simply his way of removing attention from ISIS long enough for them to organize and spread unnoticed around the world! How could anyone, much less a president of the United States, call this group a "JV Team" that required no attention? Well, at least President Obama was correct when he called ISIS a "Team"! We will probably never know the answer to that question, but what we do know is that the whole world is now feeling the results of it. ISIS has now become the main topic of terrorist concerns around the world! Instead of killing the people, ISIS instead drove the people from their lands, so that ISIS could infiltrate them unnoticed as they passed into other countries, across once secure borders unnoticed. I also find it very strange that America's once secure Mexican border, all of a sudden, became "unattended' by both the Bush Administration and the Obama Administration.

Both Bush and Obama refused to enforce existing immigration laws that has since resulted in millions of "unknowns" to enter America, along with tons of mind destroying cheap drugs that has now destroyed the minds of an American generation. Never in the history of America has any president of the United States refused to enforce existing immigration laws, designed to prevent exactly what has now happened! The first immediate concern for America's safety today is the elimination of ISIS. You remember, Obama's "JV Team"! The second greatest concern is for the safety of the whole world, concerning Iran's growing nuclear capabilities, and guess what - President Obama was the main player in the development of both these safety concerns!

While Obama was president, he not only eliminated the restrictions that was created to slow down Iran's nuclear development capabilities, he also released Iranian prisoners that were important to Iran's nuclear process. Obama also gave Iran millions of American dollars, some in secrecy in the middle of the night, all of which has resulted in the financing and advancement of Iran's nuclear development and capabilities, that now threatens the safety of the whole world and what appears in the headlines of today's American newspapers - Possibie connection between Donald Trump and the Russians." Go figure! This is what happens when "We The People" refuse to enforce the laws of our Constitution that was given to us for the purpose of limiting the government to control of national defense only. This is what happens when we allow the government to take total control over our entire education system! It not only removes the intelligence from the minds of America's students, it eliminates their ability to even know that it is gone!

Charlie Dunn,Dinwiddie County

Continued here:
Obama's JV Team - Progress Index

More than a year after President Barack Obamas transportation secretary appointed a trio of safety experts to Metros governing panel, the Trump administration will replace two of them with its own appointees this week.

The incoming members whose names could not be learned Sunday will take the place of Carol Carmody and David L. Strickland, the federal governments voting representatives on Metros board of directors, according to multiple board members with knowledge of the decision.

Carmody, a former vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, presided over the panels safety committee. Strickland, the former administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, headed the real estate committee, but was frequently absent over the past year because of health issues.

The third person appointed by then-transportation secretary Anthony Foxx, alternate member Robert C. Lauby, is expected to remain in his role.

[Foxx, saying no more excuses for Metro, replaces 3 board members]

The new appointees were expected to be announced as soon as Monday, those with knowledge of the decision said, and to take office as early as Thursday, when the full board will meet and consider key changes to its governing structure, which has come under scrutiny in recent years as the transit system has struggled with major financial and operational problems.

Board Chairman Jack Evans confirmed that he had been informed of the upcoming appointments over the weekend, but he declined to elaborate. The U.S. Department of Transportation declined requests for additional information.

The 16-member board consists of eight voting and eight alternate directors, with two votes each from the District, Maryland, Virginia and the federal government. Passing a resolution requires a yes vote by at least one director from each jurisdiction.

There is also the possibility of a jurisdictional veto, when both voting members from a single jurisdiction including the federal government align with no votes.

Board members from the deep-blue Washington region tend to be Democrats, and in some cases they have pressed for increased funding for Metro. The Republican presidents transportation agenda, in contrast, seeks a decrease in federal spending, with a larger reliance on private investment and potential public-private partnerships.

[On Metro board, another dispute, more strong words, and a rare veto]

Board members said they were not surprised that Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao would want to make her own appointments to the Metro board, even so soon into the current directors terms. Carmody was a year into a four-year appointment, while Strickland had two years remaining in his three-year term, Carmody said.

Im sorry to leave, Carmody said in an interview Sunday. But elections have consequences, as the saying goes, and if the new secretary wants to replace these jobs, she certainly has the right to.

Carmody said she had been informed that the replacements had already been selected and would be joining the board very soon. Until then, Lauby and alternate member Anthony E. Costa will vote on behalf of the federal government.

We have turned some corners as a board and made some big decisions and tough choices, Carmody said. Its a very good board, and over the past year, I think weve really come together and worked well together through a lot of soul-searching.

Stricklands tenure was marked by repeated absences, which he attributed in an interview last week to illnesses: his wifes battle with breast cancer and a life-threatening infection he had.

Strickland said he has made an effort to be physically present, adding that his fellow board members, including Evans, had been updated on the reasons behind his absence.

I have a full appreciation for the responsibilities of the board, he said last week. I plan to serve my term as long as the president has made the decision to allow me to stay.

According to public minutes of Metro board meetings, Strickland missed six out of the 12 board meetings since his appointment. Of the six he attended, one was by phone. He did not attend a special meeting of the board last month.

He attended four out of nine meetings of the Capital Program, Planning and Real Estate Committee, which he chairs.

Continued here:
Trump administration to replace Obama-era picks on Metro board - Washington Post