From the President’s Office – 1/16/09

This is certainly an exciting time to be in the Nation’s Capitol, and I am sure that I will be sharing that excitement with several million people during the Inauguration on Capitol Hill next week!  Meanwhile, there has been a tremendous amount of activity in Washington in preparation for the next administration.

The Joint Ocean Commission Initiative held a priority setting meeting in Annapolis this week to help the broad ocean community that included representatives from the science community, environmental organizations, industry, and the states.  I believe we made some good progress in finding some consensus on immediate actions and will continue to refine the science priorities over the coming weeks.

The early days of the 111th Congress have also been busy with the House Appropriations Committee unveiling a $825 billion stimulus package this week that includes huge investments in science (see story below).  If this comes to fruition, it will have a major positive impact on ocean sciences research. The Senate is taking up their requests so we should hear from them soon. Also, this week the Senate passed a package of lands bills, which included five ocean bills (see story below), that Ocean Leadership has been supporting for the past several years.  The House is expected to approve the package soon and send it to the President to be signed into law.  This will be a very positive milestone. The Senate has also begun handling its responsibilities for confirming members of the Administration through the confirmation process (see story below).

We were also delighted to hear that the JOIDES Resolution successfully passed its initial sea trials last weekend. Baring any major last minute problems, the ship is expected to leave Singapore on January 25th to transit to Guam and then on to Hawaii to begin resuming scientific ocean drilling. This is definitely wonderful news.

I look forward to seeing many of you on the Mall on Tuesday!

Related Posts:

• Obama’s Call to Create, Not Just Consume
• Obama Nominates Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute CEO to Run USGS
• Scientific Drilling Vessel Returns to Work After Major Overhaul – JOIDES Resolution Currently on Expedition in Pacific
• Ocean Leadership to Host Annual Public Policy Forum: March 5, 2009
• From the President’s Office – 1/23/09