White House Officials: DREAM Act Is Good For U.S.

By Ji Hyun Yoo

Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Cecilia Munoz, and three college administrators held a conference call Friday to discuss about needs for DREAM Act to be passed. 

“DREAM Act is priority for Obama Administration and it’s incredibly important piece of legislation,” reported the White House official during a conference call. 

“DREAM Act is not only just an important opportunity for the students who would likely to affected by DREAM Act if we can get is passed, it’s also in the economic interested of the country,” Cecilia Munoz added. 

Gary Locke, Secretary of Commerce, urged Congress to take an action for DREAM Act which is not only good for young students who don’t have legal citizenship status but also for the nation itself. Gary also talked about how U.S. is wasting ‘hard earned investment’ by not allowing students the great opportunities DREAM Act would provide for them.

“It’s good for them and it’s good for America. That’s why the DREAM Act has bipartisan support in the Congress and the support of University, business, and education leaders all across America. It’s time for Congress to act,” U.S. Secretary Commerce said Friday during a conference call.

Obama Administration Commits $154 Million To Restoring U.S. Coast Line

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced Tuesday that the Obama administration will be allocating $154 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the $787 billion dollar piece of legislation aimed at stimulating the U.S. economy over the next two years, towards coastal restoration.

“These projects are an investment in American workers and in stronger and healthier coastal environments and economies,” said Locke during a conference call with reporters.

Locke explained that the projects will have a vital impact on the U.S. economy, stressing that this is an opportunity for job creation and preservation.

“Our coasts are tremendous economic resources. They support millions of jobs...Commercial and recreational fishing alone employs 1 million people either directly or indirectly and they contribute more than $100 billion to our economy each year.”

The funding will go towards 50 restoration projects across 22 states and 2 American territories. According to Locke, these 50 were chosen from over 800 requests with the help of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.

Today At TRNS

White House Correspondent Victoria Jones will be attending today's White House briefing with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

Legal Affairs Correspondent Jay Goodman Tamboli will be covering decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court

The Washington, D.C. Bureau will be covering the following:

-A discussion on "World at Risk: Preventing Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism."
with Former Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla.; former Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo.; and Peter Brookes, senior fellow in national security affairs and fellow in policy studies at the Heritage Foundation's Asian Studies Center

-A press conference for the new Accountability for Torture Campaign to file formal complaints against government lawyers.

-An event to announce the launch of the International Green Construction Code Initiative, to increase energy efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint of new and existing, traditional and high-performance commercial buildings.

-A rally in front of the Supreme Court by the the Abolitionist Action Committee to mark historic Supreme Court decisions on various death penalty cases.

- A briefing with The Center for American Progress and the American Constitution Society to discuss "The Ricci Case and its Implications."

"We Are Eating The Seed Corn"

Coffee Brown, University of New Mexico, Talk Radio News

“We are eating the seed-corn of the investments we made in the 1960’s” in roads and other components of distribution infrastructure, says Sen. Mark Warner, (D-Va.).

Funding is the big issue, and it doesn’t help that congress traditionally divides the distribution into sector into pieces: rail, road, waterways, air, etc, as well as geographic divisions. What’s needed, he said, is greater “multimodal integration.”

All of the speakers at The Council on Competitiveness Seminar on "Is America's Transportation Infrastructure Ready for Global Trade?" echoed that point over the course of their talks.

Four of America’s five major economic sectors depend on the fifth, transportation and distribution, which provides 11 million jobs. Domestic, internal, transport accounts for 85 percent of all commercial transport in the U.S. This “logistic structure” is valued at 10 percent of GDP, according to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, and that’s the lowest in the world, meaning one of the most efficient.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the U.S. moves 50 million tons of goods per day, and our supply lines have helped America to remain competitive for 250 years, but now urban congestion and neglected infrastructure are compromising supply line efficiency.

“It’s about more than asphalt,” Warner said. “Supply is about moving goods, but it’s also about moving ideas.” Warner, whose business is telecommunication, advocates including broadband conduits into all new roads in order to extend the broadband infrastructure as inclusively and proactively as possible. “We’re still 15th in the world in terms of broadband environment,” he finished.

Council on Competitiveness President Deborah Wince-Smith extended the topic back to a global scale. “Sales from foreign affiliates of U.S. companies are three times total domestic sales,” she said, and therefore supply line efficiency is important to international competitiveness.

Douglas Oberhelman, Group President, Caterpillar, Said he sometimes can get shipments from Hong Kong faster than he can get them from an American port to their final destination within the U.S.

Overall the diverse group of speakers highlighted that global competitiveness requires:
1. Renovation and expansion of the infrastructure of roads and highways.
2. Smart distribution systems, in the form of information technology and associated technologies like RFID and sensors.
3. A return to education, science, and engineering as national values.
4. integrated, consistent, standardized, stable policies across modalities, regions, tax policy, energy policy and broadband information technology.