The official could not confirm the details of what Obama would sign, but advisers had previously said he favored lifting the eight-year limitation on funding of human
embryonic stem cell research imposed by his predecessor, President George W. Bush.
The issue is controversial because some people believe the destruction of any human embryo is wrong.
The official also said Obama would make an announcement about a broader initiative to restore scientific integrity to government processes.
Other government officials, who asked not to be named, have said Obama could take several different routes to lifting the Bush limits on
stem cell research. These include an executive order, a simple statement of policy, or some kind of joint action with Congress.
Obama has made clear since before he ran for president that he supports federal spending on human
embryonic stem cell research.
Stem cells are the body's master cells, the source of all cells and tissue, like brain, blood, heart, bones and muscles.
Embryonic stem cells come from days-old embryos and many scientists consider them the most powerful because they can transform into any type of cell in the body.
Doctors hope to harness the transformational qualities of
stem cells to treat a variety of diseases, including brain cells for Parkinson's disease, pancreatic cells for diabetes and nerve cells for spinal-cord injuries.
Scientists have complained that the eight years of limitations placed by Bush have held up research, while opponents of human
embryonic stem cell research say scientists can be working with other types of
stem cells that do not come from embryos.
DICKEY AMENDMENTU.S. legislation called the Dickey Amendment forbids the use of federal funds for the creation or destruction of
human embryos for research.
In 1998, soon after
human embryonic stem cells were discovered, the Health and Human Services Department determined that the
Dickey Amendment did not apply to researchers working with
human stem cells, so long as they did not get the cells themselves from embryos.
But in August 2001, Bush declared otherwise and limited the use of federal funds to
human embryonic stem cell lines, or batches, that existed as of that moment. He vetoed congressional attempts to override this decision.
Several members of Congress who oppose abortion rights have supported broader federal funding of human embryonic
stem cell research, and the issue crosses the political divide.
Even many abortion opponents say they support the use of
stem cells from embryos created in fertility clinics -- embryos that would otherwise be discarded.
Critics of the Bush administration accused it of inserting ideology into the scientific process -- from the stem cell issue to climate change and even contraception. The Obama administration has been working to overturn these policies.
On Friday, the Health and Human Services Department moved to rescind a controversial rule, made final just before Obama took office, that would allow healthcare workers to invoke their consciences in refusing to provide health services or information to patients.
"From the day I took office, I knew that solving this crisis would not be easy, nor would it happen overnight, and we will continue to face difficult days in the months ahead," he said in his weekly radio address.
"My administration is committed to doing all that's necessary to address this crisis and lead us to a better day."
While touting his stimulus bill and measures to prevent home foreclosures, the president also previewed a potential fight over his $3.5 trillion budget for fiscal year 2010.
"Like every family going through hard times, our country must make tough choices," he said. "In order to pay for the things we need -- we cannot waste money on the things we don't."
Obama, a Democrat, made clear one thing the country needed was healthcare reform, saying that process would help reduce the massive budget deficit and spur economic growth.
The White House hosted a summit on Thursday to kick-start the process of reducing healthcare costs and expanding coverage to uninsured Americans. U.S. healthcare costs have grown to $2.5 trillion annually and the ranks of the uninsured have swollen to 46 million people.
Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri, in the weekly Republican radio address, warned of too much government involvement in the healthcare system.
"Some people are spending a lot of time talking about how to spend more of your money on bigger government run programs," Blunt said. "I'm concerned that if the government steps in it will eventually push out the private health care plans millions of Americans enjoy today."
Obama's budget, released last month, includes a 10-year $634 billion reserve fund to help pay for his healthcare reforms.
In his radio address, Obama linked budgeting procedures under previous administrations to callous behavior on Wall Street that helped cause the financial and economic crises.
"We've inherited a budgeting process as irresponsible as it is unsustainable. For years, as Wall Street used accounting tricks to conceal costs and avoid responsibility, Washington did, too," he said.
"These kinds of irresponsible budgets -- and inexcusable practices -- are now in the past."
Grose is in firm crisis-control mode now as he tries to stem the public anger caused by the e-mail. The mayor has sent an apology for the e-mail to the Los Alamitos City Council and to Keyanus Price, a black businesswoman and community activist, who said she was appalled when she received the e-mail from the mayor saw the image and so took her concerns to The Orange County Register. The apology was also sent to Ms. Price's boss, who is an apparent valued member of the city's business community.
The mayor did not return two calls for comment from Raw Story on the source of the image in his e-mail.
"The mayor said he was unaware of the racial stereotype that African Americans like watermelons," reported The Orange County Register.
In his apology letter for the e-mail the mayor wrote, "I am deeply embarrassed... It was poor judgement on my part and was never intended to be offensive to Ms. Price, your company or anyone in the African American Community.... You can be assured that I will not allow this to happen again. I in no way was representing the City of Los Alamitos, or my role as a council member in sending this out and it went via my private business email. That doesn't justify the fact that it was sent, however, we gratefully appreciate the contributions that your company makes to our community and I wish to publicly apologize to anyone within the firm or organization that may have been offended."
Price told The Register she was "horrified" when she read the e-mail.
"What I'm concerned about is how can this person send an e-mail out like this and think it is OK?" Price said, adding, "He's putting the city into a bad place, and he is a liability."
The United States lost 2.6 million jobs last year, the most in any single year since World War II. Manufacturing is at a 28-year low and even Obama's economists say unemployment could top 10 per cent before the recession ends. One in 10 homeowners is at risk of foreclosure and the dollar continues its slide in value.
That harsh reality has dominated Obama's first days in office. He scheduled a meeting late Saturday morning with his economic team.
A day earlier, he invited Democratic and Republican leaders to the White House to hear their ideas on the economy. At that visit, he did not share the details he released Saturday.
Many of the goals in the speech and report were familiar from Obama's two-year campaign, such as shifting to electronic medical records and investing in preventive health care. Other parts added specifics.
It was not clear Wednesday morning when the new administration would issue an expected executive order that is to start what could be a long process of closing the detention camp, where about 245 detainees remain.
The prosecution filing Tuesday said the order came from the Secreatary of Defense, Robert M. Gates, “by order of the president.” It described the halt in all proceedings as designed “to permit the newly inaugurated president and his administration time to review the military commission process, generally, and the cases currently pending before the military commissions, specifically.”
The suspension had been expected because, as a candidate, Mr. Obama described the military commissions as a failure and suggested that he may decide to prosecute detainees in existing courts. The military commissions have been criticized as lacking in the basic protections of the American justice system and have been plagued by legal and practical difficulties since the Bush administration first announced its plan for prosecution in the months after the 2001 attacks.
Some Pentagon officials said it was not clear that the new administration would conclude that it should entirely abandon the military commission process, where 21 cases are pending and three detainees have been convicted of war crimes.
He then quoted scripture, urging Americans to "set aside childish things" and to stand together in unity.
"The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit, to choose our better history, to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness."
Obama, the 44th president of the United States, delivered his speech after accepting the oath of office on the steps of Capitol Hill.
The ceremony occurred at noon, as more than one million people watched the ceremony live or on massive projection screens in the National Mall.
Obama described America as a nation built by hard-working immigrants and those willing to die for the freedom they so strongly believed in.
But he acknowledged that the country is "in the midst of crisis," citing the war against terrorism and the "badly weakened" economy as major hurdles on the track ahead.
He said the economic recession is a "consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some," but said everyone has a share in the blame due to "our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age."
"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America."
"For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth," Obama said.
He vowed that America will overcome the obstacles on the path ahead.
"We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age."
Hundreds of thousands of people had poured into the National Mall for the ceremony, many of them after waiting for hours in the pre-dawn chill.
The crowd braved icy temperatures and snow flurries, to witness the historic swearing-in.
"People have come from all over the United States, indeed from all over the world. We've just spoken to people that have come all the way from Madagascar for this," said CTV's Lisa LaFlamme, noting that many came from warmer climates and had to purchase warm clothing for the event.
"But as the crowds move into the National Mall it becomes warmer and warmer just with the spirit of the people here," LaFlamme said.
The historic day included a massive security effort described as the largest in U.S. history. Amid the security was news Tuesday of a possible threat from an East African radical Islamic terrorist group.
Intelligence officers received information that the Somalia-based group al-Shabaab might try to disrupt the inauguration, according to a joint FBI/Homeland Security bulletin Monday night.
At 2:30 p.m. there will be a presidential inauguration parade along Pennsylvania Avenue, complete with marching bands and thousands of spectators lining the route.
Get your YES WE CAN BARACK OBAMA
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The festivities will wrap up late in the night after 10 inaugural balls that will carry on late into the night.
Hopes are high for Obama when he moves into the White House. He will do so as the first black president and at 47, the 4th youngest.
The charismatic former state senator from Illinois, a husband and father of two young girls, will come into office with great challenges ahead of him.
He follows George Bush, one of the most unpopular and divisive presidents in U.S. history, into office, and will have to deal with the baggage of two unpopular wars, Guantanamo Bay, and a limping U.S. economy.
Avis Jones-DeWeever, of the National Council of Negro Women, told Canada AM Obama has major hurdles to overcome, and change won't happen overnight.
"At times like this we need the American people to rally around each other, work together and say that we're going to pull each other up and make a better tomorrow, and I think he's exactly the leader we need to make that happen," she said in Washington, D.C.
Here is the
FULL BARACK OBAMA INAUGURATION ADDRESS TO THE NATION SPEECHMy fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and co-operation he has shown throughout this transition.
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.
For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the fire-fighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have travelled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people: "Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."
America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.
