2010 State of the Union address: on Government Reform

Barack Obama: Post all earmark request online before each vote

Barack Obama: Freeze discretionary government spending for 3 years

Starting in 2011, we are prepared to freeze government spending for three years. Spending related to our national security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will not be affected. But all other discretionary government programs will. Like any cash-strapped family, we will work within a budget to invest in what we need and sacrifice what we don't. And if I have to enforce this discipline by veto, I will.

We will continue to go through the budget, line by line, page by page, to eliminate programs that we can't afford and don't work. We've already identified $20 billion in savings for next year.

Barack Obama: We face a deficit of trust, not just a budget deficit

That's what I came to Washington to do. That's why--for the first time in history--my administration posts on our White House visitors online. That's why we've excluded lobbyists from policymaking jobs, or seats on federal boards and commissions.

But we can't stop there. It's time to require lobbyists to disclose each contact they make on behalf of a client with my administration or with Congress. It's time to put strict limits on the contributions that lobbyists give to candidates for federal office.

Barack Obama: FactCheck: Yes, set up first reverse-revolving door policy

Obama, by executive order last January, did put in place the federal government's first-ever reverse-revolving door policy, which says that anyone who has lobbied within the previous two years can't join a part of the administration that he or she lobbied.

The order allows for waivers, however, and several have been granted. For instance, former Raytheon lobbyist William Lynn became deputy secretary of defense. Obama might have been trying to leave himself some wiggle room when he specified "policymaking jobs." But Lynn's job sounds to us like it involves policymaking. And it's hard to claim that Ron Kirk, the United States trade representative, doesn't have a policymaking role. Kirk didn't need a waiver because he was a lobbyist--for Merrill Lynch and others--in Texas, not Washington, but Obama made no such distinction.

Bob McDonnell: Replace one-size-fits-all with free choice in a free market