Campaign Promises

Departments -> Commerce -> Other Programs


ItemCommerce
Other ProgramsGrade
CO-4 The Promise: "...will invest $250 million per year to increase the number and size of incubators in disadvantaged communities throughout the country."
When/Where: Plan for America: "Blueprint for Change," dated 10/09/08
Source: https://www.documentcloud.org/ Obama and Biden's documents/550007-barack-obama-2008-blueprint-for-change.html
Status:Business incubators help entrepreneurial companies survive and grow during the start-up period. There are currently over 1,250 business incubator programs in the United States.

Business incubators are funded in large part under the Public Works (PW) and Economic Adjustment Assistance (EAA) portions of the Department of Commerce's Economic Development Assistance Program (EDAP).

Appropriations for the above two organizations during most of President Obama's two terms in office were as follows:
FY.............PW..............EAA
2010........$133.2M.....$38.6M
2011........$163.3M.....$43.6M
2012........$111.6M.....$50.0M
2013..........$77.2M.....$48.0M
2014..........$96.0M.....$42.0M
2015..........$99.0M.....$35.0M

The totality of funds appropriated to PW and EAA in each of the years reflected above came nowhere close to the promised $250.0M per annum. And business incubators received only a fraction of the amounts reflected above.

This promise was not fulfilled.
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CO-5 The Promise: "Institute a common standard for securing such data across industries and protect the rights of individuals in the information age."
When/Where: Obama-Biden Plan: "Protecting Our Information Networks," 11/16/08.
Source: http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20090429184932/http://change.gov/agenda/homeland_security_agenda/
Status:This promise refers to personal data.

The development of a national "identity ecosystem" and standards was still in the works as of end-CY2016. The first meeting of the Identity Ecosystem Steering Group (IDESG) took place in 08/12, nearly a year and a half after the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) was unveiled.

In 10/15, more than three years later, the IDESG delivered version 1 of the Identity Ecosystem Framework (IDEF), which is now a final public document.

As of end-CY2016, there were already numerous federal privacy-related laws that regulated the collection/use of personal data. Some applied to specific categories of information, such as financial or health information, or electronic communications. Others applied to activities that use personal information, such as telemarketing and commercial e-mail. Further, there were broad consumer protection laws that are not privacy laws as such, but have been used to prohibit unfair/deceptive practices involving the disclosure of personal information.

But there was no common standard applicable across all industries.

This promise was not fulfilled.
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CO-6 The Promise: "...will create a federal program to support 'innovation clusters' -- regional centers of innovation and next-generation industries. This innovation clusters program will provide $200 million in planning and matching grants for regional business, government and university leaders to collaborate on leveraging a region's existing assets -- from transportation infrastructure to universities -- to enhance long-term regional growth."
When/Where: Obama-Biden Plan: "Supporting Urban Prosperity" dated 09/11/08.
Source: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/550008/barack-obama-2008-supporting-urban-prosperity.pdf
Status:The America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (H.R. 5116) was introduced by Congressman Barton Gordon (D-TN) on 04/22/10 and signed into law by President Obama on 01/04/11 (P.L. 111-358). Section 27 of this act directs the Secretary of Commerce to "establish a regional innovation program to encourage and support the development of regional innovation strategies, including regional innovation clusters and science and research parks."

In advance of the above, here are examples of what was being done during President Obama's first term in support of this promise:

- Led by the Department of Energy (DOE), seven organizations (Departments of Energy, Commerce, Education and Labor, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, the Small Business Administration, and the National Science Foundation) issued a joint 5-year $129.7M funding opportunity on 02/12/10 to promote an Energy Regional Innovation Cluster (E-RIC) to improve the design of energy-efficient buildings.

- $30M was provided in FY2010 to Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri for worker training in "green" jobs as an attempt to motivate the region's innovative cluster initiative.

- The FY2011 budget submissions from the following organizations include line items for regional innovation ecosystems/clusters in the reflected amounts: Economic Development Administration (EDA) ($100M), Departments of Agriculture ($136.4M) and Labor ($108M), and the National Science Foundation ($12M).

The FY2011 budget proposals made it through the appropriation/enactment process, satisfying Obama's promised funding level of $200M.

Support of Regional Innovation Clusters program has been sustained for FY2012 through FY2016.

This promise was fulfilled.
1.00
CO-7 The Promise: "Partner with industry and our citizens to secure personal data stored on government and private systems."
When/Where: Obama-Biden Plan: "Protecting Our Information Networks," 11/16/08.
Source: http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20090429184932/http://change.gov/agenda/homeland_security_agenda/
Status:Identity theft is defined as the unauthorized use or attempted misuse of an existing credit card or other existing account, the misuse of personal information to open a new account or for another fraudulent purpose, or a combination of these types of misuse.

The following represents the trends in identity theft since President Obama's first term in office:
Year...Number of Victims...Estimated Cost
CY2009.........11.1M.......................$54B
CY2010.........10.2M.......................$23B
CY2011.........11.6M.......................$18B
CY2012.........12.6M.......................$21B
CY2013.........13.1M.......................$19B
CY2014.........12.7M.......................$16B
CY2015.........13.1M.......................$15B
CY2016.........15.4M.......................$16B

On 04/14/11, DOC unveiled its National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) that includes a national cyber-identity system -- an optional single, secure password and identity for all of a consumer's digital transactions. This system could be accessed via smart card, cell phone, or other website access method.

This promise was fulfilled.
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