obama transition

The Senate on Wednesday reached an agreement on a massive government stimulus bill that includes tens of billions of dollars for energy through direct government investments and tax incentives.

The Senate pared down the package to $790 billion from the House's $820 billion version, but the majority of energy-related infrastructure spending and incentives remain in the compromise bill. Final votes on the bill, called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, in both houses could happen on Friday.

Overall, there is $50 billion for energy programs, much of it focused on energy efficiency and renewable energy, and $20 … Read more

Five years after a Netroots candidacy didn't quite get him into the White House, online support for Howard Dean is back.

Fans of the former Vermont governor and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate are turning to Facebook and online liberal mainstays like FireDogLake to make the case for why President Obama should nominate Dean to run the Health and Human Services Department.

After Obama's first choice for the job, former senator Tom Daschle, withdrew his nomination because of tax problems, the Obama administration told The New York Times that "there was no Plan B." Yet online, the … Read more

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu plans to dispense tens of billions of dollars in loans in the next year in an effort to stimulate the economy and shortcut bureaucracy at the Department of Energy.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Friday, Chu said that the goal is to spend about half of the roughly $37 billion set aside for clean-energy projects in the coming year.

The clean-energy provisions are a central piece of the government stimulus package, which was passed by the House earlier this week. The Senate late Friday reached an agreement on the spending bill … Read more

The massive government economic stimulus plan now in Congress would reduce pollution that causes global warming and lower energy bills for many Americans, according to an analysis published on Thursday by environmental watchdog Greenpeace.

The primary purpose of the stimulus package--said to be in the range of $825 billion to $900 billion in government spending and tax cuts--is to jump-start the ailing U.S. economy.

Greenpeace commissioned climate change consulting firm ICF International to analyze the environmental benefits from the energy and transportation portions of the bill. Overall, the report concludes that, from an environmental perspective, "it's … Read more

President Obama is continuing to fill the senior ranks of the U.S. Department of Justice with the copyright industry's favorite lawyers.

Donald Verrilli announced Wednesday that he had been named associate deputy attorney general. Verrilli is the lawyer who pulled the plug on Grokster, sued Google on behalf of Viacom, and represented the Recording Industry Association of America against a Minnesota woman named Jammie Thomas who's accused of illicit file sharing.

This follows a string of other pro-copyright industry picks that Obama has made. Last month, there was Obama's selection last month of a top RIAA … Read more

Republican senator Judd Gregg on Tuesday officially became President Obama's nominee for secretary of commerce, bringing a pro-business and pro-law enforcement record to a cabinet position with significant influence over the new administration's technology policies.

In remarks at the White House, Obama called the New Hampshire senator "an outstanding addition to the depth and experience of my economic team, a trusted voice in my Cabinet, and an able and persuasive ambassador for industry who makes it known to the world that America is open for business."

A review of Gregg's actions as senator shows that … Read more

During the Bush/Cheney administration, aerial views of the White House and vice president's residence, the United State Naval Observatory, were obscured in Google Earth and Google Maps. The outlines of the White House were visible, but the roof of it and of the nearby Old Executive Office Building were replaced with featureless gray slabs. The grounds of the VP's house were even more obscured: pixelated so much you couldn't really tell what you were looking at.

Under the Obama administration, clarity and openness has returned to these buildings in Google Earth and Google Maps. The White … Read more

Updated at 3 p.m. PST with quotes from White House spokesman Bill Burton.

The Obama administration may be considered tech-savvy, but that didn't do much good Monday when the White House was hit with a daylong "server outage."

Most White House aides, the first lady's office, and other executive offices were without e-mail for the day, The Washington Post reported, after the outage blocked all incoming and outgoing messages beginning around 10 a.m. EST.

As of Tuesday morning, the White House was once again sending its regular slew of e-mails.

Press secretary Robert Gibbs … Read more

In signing two executive orders on Monday, President Barack Obama made the first moves in a bold multi-pronged strategy to reshape energy policy and spur technology innovation.

At a press conference, the president ordered the Department of Transportation to establish rules by 2011 to raise fuel efficiency to an average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020.

He also ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to immediately review the denial of a waiver that would allow California and other states to set limits on tailpipe emissions.

In Washington, D.C., the moves signal a sharp change in direction from the Bush … Read more