Striking early to set a new tone at the White House, President Obama Wednesday announced new administration ethics guidelines and froze salaries for his senior staff.
“These steps are aimed at establishing firm rules of the road for my administration and all who serve in it, and to help restore faith in government,” Obama said.
The new president’s first full day in office started with a visit to the Oval Office shortly after 8:30 a.m., where he read the private note left for him by President Bush left in an envelope marked “To: #44, From: #43.”
Obama attended the customary National Prayer Service at Washington’s National Cathedral and later a swearing in for White House staff and closed meetings with economic and military advisers.
Administration officials circulated a draft proposal to close Guantanamo Bay Detention Center within a year, a move that would satisfy a key Obama campaign promise. About 245 prisoners remain at the facility, which was opened after the 2001 war in Afghanistan.
“The key question is, where do you put these terrorists?” House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio said. “There are important questions that must be answered before the terrorist detainee facility at Guantanamo Bay can be closed.”
Workers on Pennsylvania Avenue began breaking down the bleachers and presidential viewing stand from Tuesday’s inauguration. Inside the White House, low-grade chaos was the rule of the day as incoming staffers came to grips with phones, computers and unfamiliar protocols.
Describing his new ethics measures as “a clean break from business as usual,” Obama imposed new rules through executive order restricting the influence of lobbyists in his administration, and eased the use of executive privilege, potentially making more White House information public.
White House employees making $100,000 or more will have their salaries frozen, Obama said, as a signal of shared commitment to easing the nation’s economic woes.
He also effectively rescinded a 2001 memorandum by former Attorney General John Ashcroft that curtailed public access to federal government records under the Freedom of Information Act.
“For a long time now there’s been too much secrecy in this city,” Obama said. “The old rules said that if there was a defensible argument for not disclosing something to the American people, then it should not be disclosed. That era is now over.”
During the prior administration, President Bush was criticized for his frequent use of executive privilege, which is an exemption cited by presidents to avoid publicly disclosing certain records.
Obama’s revised rules, however, require him only to have his own claims for executive privilege reviewed by White House counsel and the attorney general for review — far short of independent consideration.
Late in the afternoon, Obama returned to the mansion from the West Wing to join first lady Michelle Obama in greeting 200 visitors who won passes from the transition office for rare public open house at the White House.
“Welcome, enjoy yourself,” Obama told a young visitor, as excited guests lined up to shake the president’s hand. “Roam around. Don’t break anything.”
