What Did You Say?

Podesta last month announced the establishment of a new group, the Washington  Center for Equitable Growth, that will work within his Center for American  Progress. The new center bills itself as a research and grant-making  organization founded to accelerate the closing of what it calls the income gap  in the U.S. by fighting so-called income inequality.

The Times reported Podesta will help the White House on “matters related to  the health care law, administration organization and executive actions,” with  particular focus on so-called climate change issues, according to a person  familiar with the plans.

Podesta is a long-time champion of the use of executive powers, including  bypassing the legislative branch to enact progressive change.

In November 2010, he co-authored a 48-page Center for American Progress paper  titled “The  Power of the President: Recommendations to Advance Progressive Change.”

“The U.S. Constitution and the laws of our nation grant the president  significant authority to make and implement policy,” wrote Podesta in the  paper’s introduction.

“These authorities can be used to ensure positive progress on many of the key  issues facing the country through executive orders, rulemaking, agency  management, convening and creating public-private partnerships, commanding the  armed forces … diplomacy.”

Podesta stressed: “The ability of President Obama to accomplish important  change through these powers should not be underestimated.”

In a conference call to reporters after the release of the paper on executive  authority, Podesta recalled that after Democrats lost control of Congress in  1994, President  Clinton utilized his executive privileges to enact progressive change without  the help of Congress.

Podesta’s paper details how Obama can push executive change on a host of  issues.

The paper states that on energy and environmental arena, the president  can:

• Reduce oil imports and make progress toward energy independence.
• Progress toward reducing greenhouse gas pollution by 17 percent by  2020.
• Conserve federal lands for future generations.
• Manage public lands to support a balanced energy strategy.
• Convene and engage hunters and anglers in the development of a fish and  wildlife climate adaptation plan.
• Generate solar energy on U.S. Air Force hangar roofs.On the domestic  economic policy front, Podesta usges Obama to:
• Direct an assessment, strategy, and new policy development to promote U.S.  competitiveness.
• Launch the new consumer financial protection bureau with an aggressive  agenda to protect and empower consumers.
• Increase the capacity of small businesses to expand hiring and purchases by  accelerating the implementation of the Small Business Jobs Act.
• Promote automatic mediation to avoid foreclosure where possible and speed  resolution.
• Create a Web portal to empower housing counselors, reduce burdens on lenders  and speed up home mortgage modifications.
• Help stabilize home values and communities by turning “shadow REO” housing  inventory into “scattered site” rental housing.
• Promote practices that support working families.

On the domestic policy front, Podesta’s paper recommends that Obama:

• Partner with the private sector in health care payment reform.
• Focus on health care prevention in implementing the Affordable Care  Act.
• Streamline and simplify access to federal antipoverty programs.
• Replace costly, inhumane immigration detention policies with equally  effective measures.

Regarding education policy, the paper states the president can:

• Launch an “educational productivity” initiative to help school districts  spend every dollar wisely to best prepare our children for the 21st  century.
• Ensure students can compare financial aid offers from different  postsecondary institutions.
• Improve the quality, standards and productivity of postsecondary  education.

With regard to “improving the performance of the federal government,” the  president can:

• Scrutinize federal spending programs and tax expenditures to achieve greater  returns on public investment.
• Build the next-generation Recovery.gov website to track all public  expenditures and performance in real time.
• Use new information technology for faster, more transparent freedom of  information.
• Create a virtual U.S. statistical agency.
• Collect data on lesbian ,gay, bisexual and transgender Americans in federal  data surveys.

And in the foreign policy and national security arena, the president and his  administration can:

• Rebalance Afghanistan strategy with greater emphasis on political and  diplomatic progress.
• Promote domestic revenue generation in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
• Appoint a special envoy for the Horn of Africa and the southwest Arabian  Peninsula region.
• Appoint a special commission to assess contracting practices in national  security and foreign affairs.
• Redouble support for Palestinian state- and institution-building  efforts.
• Pursue dual-track policy on Iran while sharpening focus on Iranian human  rights issues.
• Reinvigorate the U.S.-Turkey strategic alliance. Develop a comprehensive  policy on the Russia-Georgia conflict.

In 2008, Podesta served as co-director of Obama’s transition into the White  House.

A Time magazine article profiled the influence of Podesta’s Center for  American Progress in the formation of the Obama administration, stating that “not since the Heritage Foundation helped guide Ronald Reagan’s transition in  1981 has a single outside group held so much sway.”

The center is funded by billionaire George Soros. Its board includes Van  Jones, Obama’s former “green jobs” czar, who resigned in September 2009 after it  was exposed he founded a communist revolutionary organization.

With additional research by Brenda J. Elliott.