Page 29 - Florida Sentinel 2-3-17

Black History: A Salute To The 44th President Barack Obama
• Let Space Shuttle Die and Killed Planned Moon Mission
Allowed the expensive ($1 billion per launch), badly de- signed, dangerous shuttle pro- gram to make its final launch on July 8, 2011. Cut off fund- ing for even more bloated and problem-plagued Bush-era Constellation program to build moon base in fa-vor of support for private-sector low-earth orbit ventures, re-search on new rocket technologies for long-distance manned flight missions, and unmanned space exploration, including the largest interplanetary rover ever launched, which will investigate Mars’s poten- tial to support life.
• Invested Heavily in Re- newable Technology
As part of the 2009 stimu- lus, invested $90 billion, more than any previous ad-minis- tration, in research on smart grids, energy efficiency, elec- tric cars, renewable electricity generation, cleaner coal, and biofuels.
• Victims of Gulf Oil Spill
Though lacking statutory power to com- pel British Petroleum to act, used moral author- ity of his office to con- vince oil company to agree in 2010 to a $20 billion fund to compen- sate victims of the Deep- water Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico; $6.5 billion already paid out without lawsuits. By com-parison, it took nearly two decades for plaintiffs in the Exxon Val-dez Alaska oil spill case to receive $1.3 billion.
• Improved School Nutrition
In coordination with Michelle Obama, signed Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2010 mandating $4.5 billion spending boost and higher nutritional and health standards for school lunches. New rules based on the law, released in January, double the amount of fruits and vegetables and require only whole grains in food served to students.
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