White House launches site on economic effort

The White House has launched a Web site for a newly created task force aimed at improving the living standards of middle-class, working families. The site at www.AStrongMiddleClass.gov, established Jan. 30, will contain materials from meetings, reports and video presentations to provide information about the work of the White House Task Force on Middle Class Working Families. It allows members of the public to volunteer their ideas.

The site is the second online address that the White House launched in a week to follow through on President Barack Obama’s pledge to govern with more transparency. The other site at www.recovery.gov would publicly track how funds to implement the economic stimulus package are spent. Obama has said the site would help make his administration more accountable for the plan’s results.

The new task force would act to expand education, restore labor standards and help to protect working family incomes and retirement security, the White House said. It plans to work with agencies that have responsibility for issues facing working families, accelerate administrative reforms, propose executive orders and develop legislative and policy proposals, according to a White House statement.

Obama also said he would reverse many of the Bush administration’s policies toward organized labor.

“I do not view the labor movement as part of the problem; to me, it's part of the solution,” he said.

In addition to announcing the task force, Obama signed executive orders designed to prevent agencies from reimbursing federal contractors who spend money trying to influence the formation of unions, require that contractors inform their employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act and allow qualified employees to keep their jobs after contracts change hands.