February
- February 3 – Obama nominates Senator Judd Gregg to be Secretary of Commerce, after Bill Richardson withdrew his nomination. Tom Daschle withdraws his nomination for Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Nancy Killefer withdraws her nomination as Chief Performance Officer, both citing tax problems. Obama grants five television interviews accepting responsibility for the nomination mistakes and talks about the economic stimulus bill.
- February 4 – Obama announces that companies receiving large amounts of federal bailout money through the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) must cap top executive pay at US$500,000. Obama signs the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 reauthorizing and expanding the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar cancels 77 leases sold by the previous administration to oil and gas companies, while letting 39 leases stand.
- February 5 – Obama speaks at the National Prayer Breakfast. The Washington Post publishes an op-ed by Obama entitled "The Action Americans Need", which deals with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. He also takes his first trip as president on Air Force One to Williamsburg, Virginia. Obama overhauls the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, renaming it the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
- February 6 – Obama announces the creation of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Obama also issues an executive order backing the use of union labor for large-scale federal construction projects.
- February 7 – Joe Biden makes the administration's first major foreign policy speech at the Munich Security Conference. Barack, Michelle, Malia and Sasha Obama make their first trip to Camp David.
- February 9 – Obama travels to Elkhart, Indiana to discuss the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and returns to the White House to give his first nationally-televised press conference.
- February 10 – Obama travels to Fort Myers, Florida to discuss the Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the area's unemployment problems, and is joined by Governor Charlie Crist. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar temporarily halts a Bush midnight regulation that opens the Outer Continental Shelf to offshore drilling for oil and gas.
- February 12 – Obama travels to Springfield, Illinois to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of President Abraham Lincoln, and speaks at a Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration. Judd Gregg, Obama's nominee for the office of Commerce Secretary withdraws his nomination for that office.
- February 13 – The First Family spends a weekend in their former home of Chicago, Illinois.
- February 15–22 – Hillary Clinton travels to Asia on her first trip abroad as Secretary of State, visiting Tokyo, Jakarta, Seoul, and Beijing.
- February 17 – The White House launches Recovery.gov to explain the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, including a video address from President Obama. Obama signs into law the $787 billion Recovery and Reinvestment Act in Denver, Colorado. He also approves a deployment of 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan.
| Obama addresses the 111th United States Congress |
Address Before a Joint Session of Congress (February 24, 2009)
Barack Obama's February 24, 2009 Address Before a Joint Session of Congress Read more about this topic: Timeline Of The Presidency Of Barack Obama (2009) Famous quotes containing the word february:“In my experience, if you have to keep the lavatory door shut by extending your left leg, it’s modern architecture.” “If a man is a good lawyer, a good physician, a good engineer ... he may be a fool in every other capacity. But no deficiency or mistake of judgment is forgiven to a woman ... and should she fail anywhere, if she has any scientific attainment, or artistic faculty, instead of standing her interest as an excuse, it is censured as an aggravation and offence.” |