From talking to the White House, I know that they are taking a great interest in this particular petition. They are looking to see how much public support there

From talking to the White House, I know that they are taking a great interest in this particular petition. They are looking to see how much public support there is for free public access to taxpayer-funded research. It is only with a public mandate that they will be able to push through open access legislation against the objections of the journal industry. There is a very direct relationship between how much support this petition gets, and how willing the White House, and members of Congress, will be, in the short term, to push through open access legislation.