The Obameter: Tracking Obama's Campaign Promises

The Promise:

Barack Obama would increase U.S. non-military aid to Afghanistan by an additional $1 billion to $3 billion. "This aid would fund reconstruction, police and army training, embassy operations, and local projects including efforts to impact the lives of ordinary Afghans and to give farmers alternatives to growing opium poppies. The aid would also be tied to better performance by the Afghan national government, including anti-corruption initiatives and efforts to extend the rule of law across the country."

Update May 15th, 2012:

Administration meets goal of boosting non-military funding in Afghanistan

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The Promise:

"Will address the infrastructure challenge by creating a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank to expand and enhance, not supplant, existing federal transportation investments. This independent entity will be directed to invest in our nation's most challenging transportation infrastructure needs. The Bank will receive an infusion of federal money, $60 billion over 10 years, to provide financing to transportation infrastructure projects across the nation. These projects will create up to two million new direct and indirect jobs and stimulate approximately $35 billion per year in new economic activity."

Update May 7th, 2012:

Road bank didn't get much traction

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The Promise:

"Will fight to increase funding for the Conservation Security Program and the major set-aside programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program, Wetlands Reserve Program, and Grasslands Reserve Program, so that rental rates can compete with rising commodity prices; will direct the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior to place a special emphasis on restoration of habitat for important game species associated with specific regions of the United States, such as bobwhite quail and Eastern and Osceola turkey habitat in the South, ruffed grouse habitat in the Northeast, and sage grouse and pronghorn antelope habitat in the West;" and will support the use of tax incentives and other financial mechanisms to encourage private landowners to restore and protect habitat."

Update May 7th, 2012:

Sage grouse has nothing to grouse about

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The Promise:

"Barack Obama believes that the first place to look to strengthen Social Security is the payroll tax system. Obama believes that one strong option is increasing the maximum amount of earnings covered by Social Security by lifting the payroll tax cap on only earnings above $250,000."

Update April 30th, 2012:

Payroll tax cap unchanged

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The Promise:

A tax credit for retirement savings up to $500 (couples) or $250 (singles). Phases out when incomes exceed $65,000 (couples) or $32,500 (single). Indexed for inflation.

Update April 30th, 2012:

New retirement savings credit is a no-go

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The Promise:

"Require providers to report preventable medical errors, and support hospital and physician practice improvement to prevent future errors."

Update April 30th, 2012:

Affordable Care Act encourages health providers to report ‘hospital acquired conditions’

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The Promise:

"Require hospitals and providers to collect and publicly report measures of health care costs and quality, including data on preventable medical errors, nurse staffing ratios, hospital-acquired infections, and disparities in care and costs."

Update April 30th, 2012:

Affordable Care Act ramps up carrots and sticks for health providers to collect, report data

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The Promise:

Create a refundable tax credit equal to 10 percent of mortgage interest for nonitemizers, up to a maximum credit of $800.

Update April 27th, 2012:

Still no mechanism for non-itemizers

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The Promise:

"Will create a federal program to support 'innovation clusters' – regional centers of innovation and next-generation industries. This innovation clusters program will provide $200 million in planning and matching grants for regional business, government and university leaders to collaborate on leveraging a region's existing assets – from transportation infrastructure to universities – to enhance long-term regional growth. Planning grants will be used to help seed local discussions about developing innovation clusters, and matching grants will help assist states with a variety of activities needed to build successful innovation clusters, including building research parks, workforce attraction efforts, supporting regional transportation projects tied to developing clusters, and bolstering local job training." (Editor's note: We've read this a bunch of times and still aren't sure what he means, but we're including it while we try to decipher it.)

Update April 27th, 2012:

Cluster spending exceeds Obama's goal

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The Promise:

Will direct the Internal Revenue Service to "give taxpayers the option of a pre-filled tax form to verify, sign and return to the IRS or online. This will eliminate the need for Americans to hire expensive tax preparers and to gather information that the federal government already has on file."

Update April 25th, 2012:

No movement on bill to create form

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The Promise:

"Allow Medicare to negotiate for cheaper drug prices."

Update April 25th, 2012:

Action unlikely before end of administration

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The Promise:

"Establish regularity in deployments: so that active duty and reserves know what they must expect, rather than the current trend of changing the deployment schedules after they have left home, which harms the morale of troops and their families."

Update April 25th, 2012:

Deployment has become more standardized

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The Promise:

Will "get true broadband to every community in America through a combination of reform of the Universal Service Fund, better use of the nation's wireless spectrum, promotion of next-generation facilities, technologies and applications, and new tax and loan incentives."

Update April 23rd, 2012:

Expansion, but not yet to every community

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The Promise:

"Will reinvigorate the drinking water standards that have been weakened under the Bush administration and update them to address new threats. Will help communities by restoring better federal financing for water and wastewater treatment infrastructure, and will continue leadership in protecting national treasures like the Great Lakes from threats such as industrial pollution, water diversion, and invasive species. And will establish policies to help high-growth regions with the challenges of managing their water supplies."

Update April 18th, 2012:

Stimulus money pays for water programs

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The Promise:

"Will improve science and math education in K through 12, to prepare more students for these studies in college. They will work to increase our number of science and engineering graduates and encourage undergraduates studying math and science to pursue graduate studies. They will also work to increase the representation of minorities and women in the science and technology pipeline, tapping the diversity of America to meet the increasing demand for a skilled workforce. The challenges of the 21st century can only be met by combining many skills from people with many backgrounds."

Update April 18th, 2012:

Lots of programs from Race to the Top

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