Health care reform Once the stimulus bill was enacted in February 2009, health care reform became Obama's top domestic priority, and the 111th Congress passed a major bill that eventually became widely known as "
Obamacare".
Health care reform had long been a top priority of the Democratic Party, and Democrats were eager to implement a new plan that would lower costs and increase coverage. In contrast to
Bill Clinton's
1993 plan to reform health care, Obama adopted a strategy of letting Congress drive the process, with the House and Senate writing their own bills. even though the Republican senators involved with the crafting of the bill ultimately came to oppose it. In November 2009, the House passed the
Affordable Health Care for America Act on a 220–215 vote, with only one Republican voting for the bill. In December 2009, the Senate passed its own health care reform bill, the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or ACA), on a party-line, 60–39 vote. Both bills expanded
Medicaid and provided health care subsidies; they also established an
individual mandate,
health insurance exchanges, and a ban on denying coverage based on
pre-existing conditions. However, the House bill included a tax increase on families making more than $1 million per year and a
public health insurance option, while the Senate plan included an
excise tax on
high-cost health plans. The White House and House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi engaged in an extensive campaign to convince both centrists and liberals in the House to pass the Senate's health care bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. the House passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The bill, which had passed the Senate in December 2009, did not receive a single Republican vote in either house.
The New York Times described the PPACA as "the most expansive social legislation enacted in decades," The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act became widely known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or "Obamacare". ) The Affordable Care Act faced considerable challenges and opposition after its passage, and Republicans continually attempted to repeal the law. The law also survived two major challenges that went to the Supreme Court. In
National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, a 5–4 majority upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, even though it made state
Medicaid expansion voluntary. In
King v. Burwell, a 6–3 majority allowed the use of
tax credits in state-operated exchanges. The October 2013 launch of
HealthCare.gov, a health insurance exchange website created under the provisions of the ACA, was widely criticized, even though many of the problems were fixed by the end of the year. The number of
uninsured Americans dropped from 20.2% of the population in 2010 to 13.3% of the population in 2015, though Republicans continued to oppose Obamacare as an unwelcome expansion of government. Many liberals continued to push for a
single-payer healthcare system or a public option, and Obama endorsed the latter proposal, as well as an expansion of health insurance tax credits, in 2016.
Wall Street reform Risky practices among the major financial institutions on
Wall Street were widely seen as contributing to the
subprime mortgage crisis, the
2008 financial crisis, and the subsequent
Great Recession, so Obama made
Wall Street reform a priority in his first term. On July 21, 2010, Obama signed the
Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the largest financial regulatory overhaul since the
New Deal. The act increased regulation and reporting requirements on
derivatives (particularly
credit default swaps), and took steps to limit
systemic risks to the US economy with policies such as higher
capital requirements, the creation of the
Orderly Liquidation Authority to help wind down large, failing financial institutions, and the creation of the
Financial Stability Oversight Council to monitor systemic risks. Dodd-Frank also established the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was charged with protecting consumers against abusive financial practices. On signing the bill, Obama stated that the bill would "empower consumers and investors," "bring the shadowy deals that caused the crisis to the light of day," and "put a stop to taxpayer bailouts once and for all." Some liberals were disappointed that the law did not break up the country's largest banks or reinstate the
Glass-Steagall Act, while many conservatives criticized the bill as a government overreach that could make the country less competitive. Obama called for further Wall Street reform after the passage of Dodd-Frank, saying that banks should have a smaller role in the economy and less incentive to make risky trades. Obama also signed the
Credit CARD Act of 2009, which created new rules for credit card companies.
Climate change and the environment During his presidency, Obama described
global warming as the greatest
long-term threat facing the world. Obama took several steps to combat global warming, but was unable to pass a major bill addressing the issue, in part because many Republicans and some Democrats
questioned whether global warming is occurring and whether human activity contributes to it. Following his inauguration, Obama asked that Congress pass a bill to put a
cap on domestic carbon emissions. The legislation would have required the US to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent by 2020 and by 83 percent by the middle of the 21st century. ever came up for a vote in the Senate. In 2013, Obama announced that he would bypass Congress by ordering the
EPA to implement new carbon emissions limits. The
Clean Power Plan, unveiled in 2015, seeks to reduce US greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 percent by 2025. Obama also imposed regulations on soot, sulfur, and mercury that encouraged a transition away from
coal as an energy source, but the falling price of wind, solar, and
natural gas energy sources also contributed to coal's decline. Obama's campaign to fight global warming found more success at the international level than in Congress. Obama attended the
2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, which drafted the non-binding
Copenhagen Accord as a successor to the
Kyoto Protocol. The deal provided for the
monitoring of
carbon emissions among
developing countries, but it did not include Obama's proposal to commit to cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050. In 2014, Obama reached an agreement with China in which China pledged to reach peak carbon emission levels by 2030, while the US pledged to cut its emissions by 26–28 percent compared to its 2005 levels. The deal provided momentum for a potential multilateral global warming agreement among the world's largest carbon emitters. Many Republicans criticized Obama's climate goals as a potential drain on the economy. At the
2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, nearly every country in the world agreed to a landmark climate deal in which each nation committed lowering their greenhouse gas emissions. The
Paris Agreement created a universal accounting system for emissions, required each country to monitor its emissions, and required each country to create a plan to reduce its emissions. Several climate negotiators noted that the US-China climate deal and the EPA's emission limits helped make the deal possible. From the beginning of his presidency, Obama took several actions to raise
vehicle fuel efficiency in the United States. In 2009, Obama announced a plan to increase the
Corporate Average Fuel Economy to ], a 40 percent increase from 2009 levels. Both environmentalists and auto industry officials largely welcomed the move, as the plan raised national emission standards but provided the single national efficiency standard that auto industry officials group had long desired. Obama also signed the
"cash-for-clunkers" bill, which provided incentives to consumers to trade in older, less fuel-efficient cars for more efficient cars. The
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provided $54 billion in funds to encourage domestic
renewable energy production, make federal buildings more energy-efficient, improve the
electricity grid, repair public housing, and weatherize modest-income homes. Obama also promoted the use of
plug-in electric vehicles, and 400,000 electric cars had been sold by the end of 2015. According to a report by The American Lung Association, there was a "major improvement" in air quality under Obama.
Economy Upon entering office, Obama focused on handling the
2008 financial crisis and the subsequent
Great Recession that had begun before his election, which was generally regarded as the worst economic downturn since the
Great Depression. On February 17, 2009, Obama signed into law a $787 billion
economic stimulus bill that included spending for health care, infrastructure, education, various tax breaks and
incentives, and direct assistance to individuals. The tax provisions of the law, including a $116 billion income tax cut, temporarily reduced taxes for 98% of taxpayers, bringing tax rates to their lowest levels in 60 years. The Obama administration would later argue that the stimulus saved the United States from a "double-dip" recession. Obama asked for a second major stimulus package in December 2009, but no major second stimulus bill passed. Obama also launched a
second bailout of US automakers, possibly saving
General Motors and
Chrysler from bankruptcy at the cost of $9.3 billion. For homeowners in danger of defaulting on their
mortgage due to the
subprime mortgage crisis, Obama launched several programs, including
HARP and
HAMP. Obama re-appointed
Ben Bernanke as Chair of the
Federal Reserve Board in 2009, and appointed
Janet Yellen to succeed Bernanke in 2013. Short-term
interest rates remained
near zero for much of Obama's presidency, and the Federal Reserve did not raise interest rates during Obama's presidency until December 2015. There was a
sustained increase of the US unemployment rate during the early months of the administration, as multi-year economic stimulus efforts continued. The unemployment rate reached a peak in October 2009 at 10.0%. However, the economy added non-farm jobs for a record 75 straight months between October 2010 and December 2016, and the unemployment rate fell to 4.7% in December 2016. The recovery from the Great Recession was marked by a lower labor force participation rate, some economists attributing the lower participation rate partially to an aging population and people staying in school longer, as well as long-term structural demographic changes. The recovery also laid bare the growing
income inequality in the United States, which the Obama administration highlighted as a major problem. The
federal minimum wage increased during Obama's presidency to $7.25 per hour; in his second term, Obama advocated for another increase to $12 per hour. and Senior Advisor
Valerie Jarrett about job creation in July 2010 GDP growth returned in the third quarter of 2009, expanding at a 1.6% pace, followed by a 5.0% increase in the fourth quarter. Growth continued in 2010, posting an increase of 3.7% in the first quarter, with lesser gains throughout the rest of the year. In the aftermath of the recession, median household income (adjusted for inflation) declined during Obama's first term, before recovering to a new record high in his final year. The
poverty rate peaked at 15.1% in 2010 but declined to 12.7% in 2016, which was still higher than the 12.5% pre-recession figure of 2007. The relatively small GDP growth rates in the United States and other
developed countries following the Great Recession left economists and others wondering whether US growth rates would ever return to the levels seen in the second half of the twentieth century.
Taxation Obama's presidency saw an extended battle over taxes that ultimately led to the permanent extension of most of the
Bush tax cuts, which had been enacted between 2001 and 2003. Those tax cuts were set to expire during Obama's presidency since they were originally passed using a Congressional maneuver known as
reconciliation, and had to fulfill the long-term deficit requirements of the "Byrd rule". During the
lame duck session of the
111th Congress, Obama and Republicans wrangled over the ultimate fate of the cuts. Obama wanted to extend the tax cuts for taxpayers making less than $250,000 a year, while Congressional Republicans wanted a total extension of the tax cuts, and refused to support any bill that did not extend tax cuts for top earners. Obama and the Republican Congressional leadership reached a deal that included a two-year extension of all the tax cuts, a 13-month extension of
unemployment insurance, a one-year reduction in the
FICA payroll tax, and other measures. Obama ultimately persuaded many wary Democrats to support the bill, though
Bernie Sanders and others continued to oppose it. The $858 billion
Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 passed with bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress and was signed into law by Obama on December 17, 2010. Shortly after Obama's 2012 re-election, Congressional Republicans and Obama again
faced off over the final fate of the Bush tax cuts. Republicans sought to make all tax cuts permanent, while Obama sought to extend the tax cuts only for those making under $250,000. The deal also permanently indexed the
alternative minimum tax for inflation, limited
deductions for individuals making more than $250,000 ($300,000 for couples), permanently set the
estate tax exemption at $5.12 million (indexed to inflation), and increased the top estate tax rate from 35% to 40%.
Budget and debt ceiling of Ohio was the powerful
Speaker of the House in 2011–2015.
US government debt grew substantially during the
Great Recession, as government revenues fell. Obama largely rejected the austerity policies followed by many European countries. US government debt grew from 52% of GDP when Obama took office in 2009 to 74% in 2014, with most of the growth in debt coming between 2009 and 2012. The commission ultimately released a report that called for a mix of spending cuts and tax increases. After taking control of the House in the
2010 elections, Congressional Republicans
demanded spending cuts in return for raising the
United States debt ceiling, the statutory limit on the total amount of debt that the
Treasury Department can issue. The
2011 debt-ceiling crisis developed as Obama and Congressional Democrats demanded a "clean" debt-ceiling increase that did not include spending cuts. Though some Democrats argued that Obama could unilaterally raise the debt ceiling under the terms of the
Fourteenth Amendment, Obama chose to negotiate with Congressional Republicans. Obama and Speaker of the House
John Boehner attempted to negotiate a "
grand bargain" to cut the deficit, reform
entitlement programs, and re-write the tax code, but the negotiations eventually collapsed due to ideological differences between the Democratic and Republican leaders. Congress instead passed the
Budget Control Act of 2011, which raised the debt ceiling, provided for domestic and military spending cuts, and established the bipartisan
Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to propose further spending cuts. As the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction failed to reach an agreement on further cuts, domestic and military spending cuts known as the
"sequester" took effect starting in 2013. In October 2013, the government
shut down for two weeks as Republicans and Democrats were unable to agree on a budget. House Republicans passed a
budget that would defund
Obamacare, but Senate Democrats refused to pass any budget that defunded Obamacare. Meanwhile, the country faced another
debt ceiling crisis. Ultimately the two sides agreed to a
continuing resolution that re-opened the government and suspended the debt ceiling. Months after passing the continuing resolution, Congress passed the
Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 and an
omnibus spending bill to fund the government through 2014. In 2015, after John Boehner announced that he would
resign as Speaker of the House, Congress passed a bill that set government spending targets and suspended the
debt limit until after Obama left office.
LGBT rights lit with the LGBT rainbow flag celebrating the Supreme Court's decision in
Obergefell v. Hodges, legalizing same-sex marriage in the United States, June 26, 2015 During his presidency, Obama, Congress, and the Supreme Court all contributed to a major expansion of
LGBT rights. In 2009, Obama signed the
Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which expanded
hate crime laws to cover crimes committed because of the victim's sexual orientation. In December 2010, Obama signed the
Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, which ended the military's
policy of disallowing openly gay and lesbian people from openly serving in the
United States Armed Forces. Obama also supported the passage of
ENDA, which would ban discrimination against employees on the basis of gender or sexual identity for all companies with 15 or more employees, and the similar but more comprehensive
Equality Act. Neither bill passed Congress. In May 2012, Obama became the first sitting president to support
same-sex marriage, shortly after Vice President
Joe Biden had also expressed support for the institution. The following year, Obama appointed
Todd M. Hughes to the
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, making Hughes the first openly gay federal judge in US history. In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution guarantees same-sex couples the right to marry in the case of
Obergefell v. Hodges. The Obama Administration filed an amicus brief in support of gay marriage and Obama personally congratulated the plaintiff. Obama also issued dozens of executive orders intended to help LGBT Americans, including a 2010 order that extended full benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. In 2015, Secretary of Defense
Ash Carter ended the ban on
women in combat roles, and in 2016, he ended the ban on
transgender individuals openly serving in the military. On the international stage, Obama advocated for gay rights, particularly in Africa.
Education The Great Recession of 2008–09 caused a sharp decline in tax revenues in all cities and states. The response was to cut education budgets. Obama's $800 billion stimulus package included $100 billion for public schools, which every state used to protect its educational budget. However, in terms of sponsoring innovation, Obama and his Education Secretary
Arne Duncan pursued K-12 education reform through the
Race to the Top grant program. With over $15 billion of grants at stake, 34 states quickly revised their education laws according to the proposals of advanced educational reformers. In the competition points were awarded for allowing charter schools to multiply, for compensating teachers on a merit basis including student test scores, and for adopting higher educational standards. There were incentives for states to establish college and career-ready standards, which in practice meant adopting the
Common Core State Standards Initiative that had been developed on a bipartisan basis by the
National Governors Association, and the
Council of Chief State School Officers. The criteria were not mandatory, they were incentives to improve opportunities to get a grant. Most states revised their laws accordingly, even though they realized it was unlikely they would when a highly competitive new grant. Race to the Top had strong bipartisan support, with centrist elements from both parties. It was opposed by the left wing of the Democratic Party, and by the right wing of the Republican Party, and criticized for centralizing too much power in Washington. Complaints also came from middle-class families, who were annoyed at the increasing emphasis on teaching to the test, rather than encouraging teachers to show creativity and stimulating students' imagination. Obama also advocated for universal
pre-kindergarten programs, and two free years of community college for everyone. Through her
Let's Move program and advocacy of healthier school lunches, First Lady Michelle Obama focused attention on
childhood obesity, which was three times higher in 2008 than it had been in 1974. In December 2015, Obama signed the
Every Student Succeeds Act, a bipartisan bill that reauthorized federally mandated testing but shrank the federal government's role in education, especially with regard to troubled schools. The law also ended the use of waivers by the Education Secretary. created a new income-based loan repayment plan known as
Pay as You Earn, and increased the amount of
Pell Grant awards given each year. He also instituted new regulations on
for-profit colleges, including a "gainful employment" rule that restricted federal funding from colleges that failed to adequately prepare graduates for careers.
Immigration From the beginning of his presidency, Obama supported comprehensive immigration reform, including a pathway to citizenship for many immigrants illegally residing in the United States. However, Congress did not pass a comprehensive immigration bill during Obama's tenure, and Obama turned to executive actions. In the 2010 lame-duck session, Obama supported passage of the
DREAM Act, which passed the House but failed to overcome a Senate filibuster in a 55–41 vote in favor of the bill. In 2013, the Senate passed
an immigration bill with a path to citizenship, but the House did not vote on the bill. In 2012, Obama implemented the
DACA policy, which protected roughly 700,000 illegal immigrants from deportation; the policy applies only to those who were brought to the United States before their 16th birthday. In 2014, Obama announced a
new executive order that would have protected another four million illegal immigrants from deportation, but the order was blocked by the Supreme Court in a
4–4 tie vote that upheld a lower court's ruling. Despite executive actions to protect some individuals, deportations of illegal immigrants continued under Obama. A record high of 400,000 deportations occurred in 2012, though the number of deportations fell during Obama's second term. In continuation of a trend that began with the passage of the
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the percentage of foreign-born people living in the United States reached 13.7% in 2015, higher than at any point since the early 20th century. After having risen since 1990, the number of illegal immigrants living in the United States stabilized at around 11.5 million individuals during Obama's presidency, down from a peak of 12.2 million in 2007. The nation's
immigrant population hit a record 42.2 million in 2014. In November 2015, Obama announced a plan to resettle at least 10,000
Syrian refugees in the United States.
Energy . Energy production boomed during the Obama administration. An increase in oil production was driven largely by a
fracking boom spurred by private investment on private land, and the Obama administration played only a small role in this development. and
solar power generation tripled during Obama's presidency. Obama also issued numerous energy efficiency standards, contributing to a flattening of growth of the total US energy demand. In May 2010, Obama extended a moratorium on offshore drilling permits after the 2010
Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which was the worst oil spill in US history. In December 2016, President Obama invoked the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to ban offshore oil and gas exploration in large parts of the
Arctic and Atlantic Oceans. During Obama's tenure, the battle over the
Keystone XL Pipeline became a major issue, with advocates arguing that it would contribute to economic growth and environmentalists arguing that its approval would contribute to global warming. President Obama vetoed a bill to construct the
Keystone Pipeline in February 2015, arguing that the decision of approval should rest with the executive branch. It was the first major veto of his presidency, and Congress was unable to override it. In November 2015, Obama announced that he would not approve of the construction of the pipeline. and Obama was the first president since the 1960s to preside over a reduction in the federal prison population. Obama's tenure also saw a continued decline of the
national violent crime rate from its peak in 1991, though there was an uptick in the violent crime rate in 2015. In October 2009, the US Department of Justice issued a directive to federal prosecutors in states with
medical marijuana laws not to investigate or prosecute cases of marijuana use or production done in compliance with those laws. In 2009, President Obama signed the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, which repealed a 21-year-old ban on federal funding of
needle exchange programs. In August 2010, Obama signed the
Fair Sentencing Act, which reduced the sentencing disparity between
crack cocaine and powder
cocaine. In 2012, Colorado and Washington became the first states to
legalize non-medical
marijuana, and six more states legalized recreational marijuana by the time Obama left office. Though any use of marijuana
remained illegal under
federal law, the Obama administration generally chose not to prosecute those who used marijuana in states that chose to legalize it. In 2016, Obama announced that the federal government would phase out the use of
private prisons. Obama
commuted the sentences of over 1,000 individuals, a higher number of commutations than any other president, and most of Obama's commutations went to nonviolent drug offenders. During Obama's presidency, there was a
sharp rise in opioid mortality. Many of the deaths – then and now – result from
fentanyl consumption where an overdose is more likely than with
heroin consumption. And many people died because they were not aware of this difference or thought that they would administer themselves heroin or a drug mixture but actually used pure fentanyl. Health experts criticized the government's response as slow and weak.
Gun control Upon taking office in 2009, Obama expressed support for reinstating the
Federal Assault Weapons Ban; but did not make a strong push to pass it-or any new gun control legislation early on in his presidency. During his first year in office, Obama signed into law two bills containing amendments reducing restrictions on gun owners, one which permitted guns to be transported in checked baggage on Amtrak trains and another allowing the concealed carry of loaded firearms in
National Parks, located in states where
concealed carry was permitted. Following the December 2012
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Obama outlined a series of sweeping gun control proposals, urging Congress to reintroduce an expired ban on "military-style"
assault weapons, impose limits on
ammunition magazines to 10 rounds, require universal
background checks for all domestic gun sales, ban the possession and sale of
armor-piercing bullets and introduce harsher penalties for gun-traffickers.
Cybersecurity Cybersecurity emerged as an important issue during Obama's presidency. In 2009, the Obama administration established
United States Cyber Command, an armed forces sub-unified command charged with defending the military against cyber attacks.
Sony Pictures suffered a
major hack in 2014, which the US government alleges originated from
North Korea in retaliation for the release of the film
The Interview. In 2015, Obama declared cyber-attacks on the US a national emergency. Later that year, Obama signed the
Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act into law. In 2016, the
Democratic National Committee and other US organizations were
hacked, and the FBI and CIA concluded that Russia sponsored the hacking in hopes of helping Donald Trump win the 2016 presidential election. The
email accounts of other prominent individuals, including former secretary of state
Colin Powell and CIA director
John O. Brennan, were also hacked, leading to new fears about the confidentiality of emails.
Racial issues In his speeches as president, Obama did not make more overt references to race relations than his predecessors, but according to one study, he implemented stronger policy action on behalf of African-Americans than any president since the Nixon era. Following Obama's election, many pondered the existence of a "postracial America". However, lingering racial tensions quickly became apparent, and many African-Americans expressed outrage over what they saw as "racial venom" directed at Obama's presidency. In July 2009, prominent African-American
Harvard professor
Henry Louis Gates Jr., was arrested at his
Cambridge, Massachusetts home by a local police officer, sparking a
controversy after Obama stated that the police acted "stupidly" in handling the incident. To reduce tensions, Obama invited Gates and the police officer to the White House in what became known as the "Beer Summit". Several other incidents during Obama's presidency sparked outrage in the
African-American community or the law enforcement community, and Obama sought to build trust between law enforcement officials and civil rights activists. The
acquittal of
George Zimmerman following the
killing of Trayvon Martin sparked national outrage, leading to Obama giving a speech in which he noted that "Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago." The shooting of
Michael Brown in
Ferguson, Missouri sparked a wave of protests. These and other events led to the birth of the
Black Lives Matter movement, which campaigns against violence and
systemic racism toward
black people. In a March 2016 Gallup poll, nearly one third of Americans said they worried "a great deal" about race relations, a higher figure than in any previous
Gallup poll since 2001.
NASA space policy , April 15, 2010. In July 2009, Obama appointed
Charles Bolden, a former astronaut, as
NASA Administrator. That same year, Obama set up the
Augustine panel to review the
Constellation program. In February 2010, Obama announced that he was cutting the program from the
2011 United States federal budget, describing it as "over budget, behind schedule, and lacking in innovation." After the decision drew criticism in the United States, a new "Flexible path to
Mars" plan was unveiled at a space conference in April 2010. and Obama pushed programs to extend
broadband internet to lower income Americans. Over the opposition of many Republicans, the
Federal Communications Commission began regulating
internet providers as
public utilities, with the goal of protecting "
net neutrality". Obama launched
18F and the
United States Digital Service, two organizations devoted to modernizing government
information technology. The stimulus package included money to build
high-speed rail networks such as the proposed
Florida High Speed Corridor, but political resistance and funding problems stymied those efforts. In January 2016, Obama announced a plan to invest $4 billion in the development of
self-driving cars, as well as an initiative by the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to develop regulations for self-driving cars. That same month, Obama called for a national effort led by Vice President Biden to develop a
cure for
cancer. On October 19, 2016, Biden spoke at the
Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate at the
University of Massachusetts Boston to speak about the administration's cancer initiative. A 2020 study in the
American Economic Review found that the decision by the Obama administration to issue press releases that named and shamed facilities that violated OSHA safety and health regulations led other facilities to increase their compliance and to experience fewer workplace injuries. The study estimated that each press release had the same effect on compliance as 210 inspections. ==Foreign affairs==