page_title: Timeline of the Barack Obama presidency (2009)
section_title: March
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline of the Barack Obama presidency (2009) / March
caption_attribution_description: President Barack Obama engages the audience at an "Open for Questions" online townhall.
context_page_description: The following is a timeline of the Presidency of Barack Obama from his inauguration as president of the United States on January 20, 2009, to December 31, 2009.
context_section_description: March 1–7 – Secretary of State Clinton leaves on her second foreign trip to Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Belgium, Switzerland, and Turkey.
  March 2 – Secretary of State Clinton pledges US$900 million of humanitarian and development aid to the Gaza Strip and West Bank at a donor conference in Sharm el-Sheik. President Obama nominates Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius to be Secretary of Health and Human Services and appoints Nancy-Ann DeParle as White House health czar.
  March 3 – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown visits President Obama at the White House. President Obama restores a provision of the Endangered Species Act requiring that federal agencies consult the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and/or the National Marine Fisheries Service before taking actions that could harm endangered species.
  March 4 – President Obama issues a memorandum limiting the possibility to grant no-bid contracts to private businesses.
  March 5 – Sanjay Gupta withdraws his name for Surgeon General. Vivek Kundra is selected by President Obama as first Federal Chief Information Officer.
  March 6 – President Obama visits Columbus, Ohio to deliver a speech at the graduation of Columbus Police Division's 114th class.
  March 9 – President Obama overturns rules limiting federal money being used for human embryonic stem cell research. The President also orders all executive officials to consult with the Attorney General before relying on any signing statement previously used to bypass a statute. The Office of Management and Budget has given the Pentagon directives to delay procurement of aerial refueling tankers by five years and cancel plans for a new long-range bomber.
  March 10 – President Obama delivers a major policy speech on education, and holds his first meeting as President with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Chas Freeman withdraws from his appointment as chairman of the National Intelligence Council.
  March 11 – The President signs the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009; on the same occasion he issues his first signing statement. Vice President Biden announces the nomination of Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske as "Drug Czar" and head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. President Obama creates (by executive order) a White House Council on Women and Girls to be chaired by Valerie Jarrett to assure cabinet-level agencies coordinate policies and programs that affect women and families. President Obama officially announces Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry and Christopher R. Hill Ambassadors respectively to Afghanistan and Iraq.
  March 12 – President Obama renews economic sanctions against Iran first imposed in 1995. Mrs. Obama visits Fort Bragg, North Carolina on her first solo trip outside of the capital as First Lady.
  March 13 – The Department of Justice outlines a new legal standard for detaining the suspected terrorists held at Guantanamo; "enemy combatant" definition is dropped, and suspects shall be detained under international law.
  March 14 – President Obama meets Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the White House. President Obama visits Rio Rancho High School (near Albuquerque, New Mexico) to discuss credit card reform. President Obama announces the nomination of Margaret A. Hamburg to become Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
  March 17 – President Obama meets with the Taoiseach Brian Cowen of Ireland, and the First Minister of Peter Robinson of Northern Ireland.
  March 18 – President Obama speaks at a town hall meeting in Costa Mesa, California. The United States Senate confirms Ron Kirk, former Mayor of Dallas, as United States Trade Representative.
  March 19 – President Obama appears on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Just before midnight President Obama releases a video message to the Iranian people and government to coincide with Nowruz.
  March 20 – President Obama and Vice President Biden meet with former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Washington.
  March 23 – Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner unveils the government's plan to help investors purchase toxic assets from banks
caption: Obama answers questions in the first online town hall meeting.
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