On Year Later We The People Petitioners have Mixed reviews

As it approaches its one-year anniversary, the White House website that invites people to petition the government and promises to respond to the most popular appeals is getting mixed reviews from users.

Kathleen Summers credited We the People with bringing greater public attention to animal mistreatment by commercial dog breeders. Summers’ petition asking the government to better regulate commercial breeders received 32,000 signatures and led to a proposed new regulation from the Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The majority of the 82 petition responses the White House has issued so far have been restatements of administration policy or explanations for why the it can’t comment or doesn’t have jurisdiction in the matter. That has alienated many petitioners. Three petitioners who crossed We the People’s initial threshold of 5,000 signatures for an administration response during the site’s first few weeks are still awaiting a response one year later.