Page 28 - Florida Sentinel 2-3-17

Black History: A Salute To The 44th President Barack Obama
•Created Race to the Top
With funds from stimulus, started $4.35 bil- lion program of competitive grants to encour- age and re-ward states for education reform.
• Trimmed and Reoriented Missile De- fense
Cut the Reagan-era “Star Wars” missile de- fense budget, saving $1.4 bil-lion in 2010, and canceled plans to station antiballistic missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic in favor of sea-based defense plan focused on Iran and North Korea.
•Passed Fair Sentencing Act
President Barack Obama signs the Fair Sentenc- ing Act in the Oval Office, Aug. 3, 2010. Joining the President are, from left, Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Attor- ney General Eric Holder, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin, of Ill., Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC.
Signed 2010 legislation that reduces sentenc- ing disparity between crack versus powder cocaine possession from 100 to1 to 18 to1.
• Kicked Banks Out of Federal Student Loan Program, Ex- panded Pell Grant Spending
President Obama waves to an audi- ence after signing into law the final budget reconciliation bill.
As part of the 2010 health care re- form bill, signed measure ending the wasteful decades-old practice of sub- sidizing banks to provide college loans.
Starting July 2010 all students began getting their federal student loans directly from the federal gov- ernment. Treasury will save $67 bil- lion over ten years, $36 billion of which will go to expanding Pell Grants to lower-income students.
• Boosted Fuel Efficiency Standards
Released new fuel effi-ciency standards in 2011 that will nearly double the fuel economy for cars and trucks by 2025.
• Coordinated International Response to Financial Cri- sis
To keep world economy out of recession in 2009 and 2010, helped secure from G-20 nations more than $500 billion for the IMF to provide lines of credit and other support to emerging market countries, which kept them liquid and avoided crises with their currencies.
• Passed Mini Stimuli
To help families hurt by the recession and spur the economy as stimulus spending declined, signed se-ries of measures (July 22, 2010; December 17, 2010; December 23, 2011) to extend unemployment insurance and cut payroll taxes.
• Created Conditions to Begin Closing Dirtiest Power Plants
New EPA re- strictions on mer- cury and toxic pollution, is-sued in December 2011, likely to lead to the closing of between sixty-eight and 231 of the nation’s oldest and dirt- iest coal-fired power plants. Esti- mated cost to utilities: at least $11 billion by 2016. Estimated health benefits: $59 billion to $140 bil- lion. Will also significantly reduce carbon emissions and, with other regula-tions, comprises what’s been called President Obama’s “stealth climate policy.”
•Passed Credit Card Reforms
Signed the Credit Card Ac- countability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (2009), which pro- hibits credit card companies from raising rates without ad-vance no- tification, mandates a grace pe- riod on interest rate in-creases, and strictly limits overdraft and other fees.
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