Despite receiving much fanfare in January 2011 for creating the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, President Obama chose not to renew the council at the end of last month after its two-year mandate expired, The New York Times and The Washington Post report. Critics like House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) argue that President Obama’s decision to dissolve the group, coupled with the fact that he only held a total of four meetings of the group — none of which took place during the past year — is evidence of his “disinterest in learning lessons from actual job creators,” The Washington Post reports.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney disputed this claim, noting that the president did act on some proposals by the council, saying that “[w]hile the president didn’t agree with all of its recommendations, he agreed with many of them and acted on a number of them,” The New York Times reports. The council, which succeeded an earlier effort, the Economic Recovery Advisory Board, “provided counsel as the Obama administration responded to the global financial collapse,” The Washington Post reported. For more, read The New York Times story and The Washington Post story.
