The “We the People” website was launched by President Obama in 2011 as part of its “Digital Democracy” initiative. The Obama administration said at the time the platform “gives all Americans a way to create and sign petitions on a range of issues affecting our nation.”
The way the website worked was simple – If a petition gathered 100,000 or more signatures within 30 days, the White House would respond to the petition.
However, since Trump has taken office, not a single one of the 17 petitions meeting the criteria (having 100,000 signatures within 30 days), have been answered. The petitions include one calling for the president to resign and another urging him to release his tax returns, according to the Huffington Post.
The Trump administration told the Associated Press the website has been used “extensively by critics, and less frequently by allies,” and will be removed at midnight Tuesday, supposedly to be returning in late January as a new and better site.
All the petitions and responses are also supposed to be returned to the site next year when petitions reaching the required number of signatures will be answered.
The BBC is reporting the White House says it can save the American taxpayers $1.3 million annually when it initiates its “new platform.” The 2018 budget for the White House is $55 million with its Information Technology budget set at $4.94 million.
It should be noted that the move by the White House may be in response to the president’s signing of the Modernizing Government Technology Act on December 12 when he signed the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act. The IT legislation was attached as an amendment to the defense authorization bill.
