The White House Blog. US

Meeting with Arizona's Governor

2010-06-03T17:03:00.000-07:00

Meeting with Arizona's Governor
Posted by Jesse Lee on June 03, 2010 at 03:47 PM EDT
This afternoon the President met with Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona in the Oval Office -- here's the official readout from the White House:

The President had a good meeting with Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona at the White House today to discuss a range of critical issues of mutual interest, including the President’s comprehensive plan to secure the Southwest border and the unprecedented resources his Administration has devoted to that effort. The President and Governor Brewer also discussed the President’s decision to deploy up to an additional 1,200 requirements-based National Guard troops to the border and his upcoming request to Congress of $500 million in supplemental funds for enhanced border protection and law enforcement activities as part of that integrated strategy. The President listened to Governor Brewer’s concerns, and noted that the Administration’s ongoing border protection and security efforts have increased pressure on illegal trafficking organizations through record seizures of illegal weapons and bulk cash transiting from the United States to Mexico, resulted in significant seizures of illegal drugs headed into the United States, lowered the average violent crime statistics in states along the Southwest Border, and reduced illegal immigration into the United States.

Despite the significant improvements, the President acknowledged the understandable frustration that all Americans share about the broken immigration system, and the President and Governor agreed that the lack of action to fix the broken system at the federal level is unacceptable. As he did at the recent meeting with Senate Republicans, the President underscored that security measures alone won’t fix the broken borders, there needs to be comprehensive immigration reform that includes: lasting and dedicated resources by which to secure our borders and make our communities safer; holding unscrupulous employers accountable who hire workers illegally and exploit them and providing clear guidance for the many employers who want to play by the rules; and requiring those who have come here illegally to pay a fine, pay back taxes, learn English, and get right with the law. The President urged Governor Brewer to be his partner in working in a bipartisan manner on comprehensive immigration reform to implement the type of smart, sensible, and effective solutions the American people expect and deserve from their federal government. Regarding Arizona law SB1070, the President reiterated his concern with the measure, including that a patchwork of different state immigration regulations around the country would interfere with the federal government’s responsibility to set and enforce immigration policy.

President Barack Obama meets with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer in the Oval Office, June 3, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Honoring Sir Paul McCartney

2010-06-03T16:56:00.000-07:00

Honoring Sir Paul McCartney
Posted by Kori Schulman on June 03, 2010 at 03:29 PM EDT
Last night, President Obama presented America’s highest award for popular music − the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song − to Sir Paul McCartney in the East Room of the White House. Watch a video of the award presentation:

Artists from all genres and backgrounds joined the President and First Lady to honor Paul McCartney, including Stevie Wonder, the Jonas Brothers, Faith Hill, Emmylou Harris, Lang Lang, Herbie Hancock, Elvis Costello, Jack White, Corinne Bailey Rae, David Grohl, and Jerry Seinfeld. As they gathered to present the annual award for extraordinary contributions to American music and culture, in his remarks, the President took a moment to address the challenges Americans face and the value of music in tough times:

We've gone through a difficult year and a half, and right now our thoughts and our prayers are with friends in another part of the country that is so rich in musical heritage -- the people of the Gulf Coast who are dealing with something that we simply had not seen before. And it’s heartbreaking. And we reaffirm, I think together, our commitment to see to it that their lives and their communities are made whole again.

But part of what gets us through tough times is music, the arts, the ability to capture that essential kernel of ourselves, that part of us that sings even when times are hard. And it’s fitting that the Library has chosen to present this year’s Gershwin Prize for Popular Song to a man whose father played Gershwin compositions for him on the piano; a man who grew up to become the most successful songwriter in history -– Sir Paul McCartney.

The concert will be broadcast on PBS stations nationwide on Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 8:00 PM EDT as “In Performance at the White House Celebrating the Music of Paul McCartney: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize.”

Paul McCartney, recipient of the Gershwin prize, performs in the East Room of the White House. June 2, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)

Corinne Bailey Rae performs at a concert honoring Paul McCartney, recipient of the Gershwin prize, in the East Room of the White House. June 2, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder perform "Ebony and Ivory" at a concert honoring McCartney, recipient of the Gershwin prize, in the East Room of the White House. June 2, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)
Last year, the President presented Stevie Wonder with the 2nd Annual Library of Congress Gershwin Prize. The prize commemorates George and Ira Gershwin, the legendary American songwriting team whose extensive manuscript collections reside in the Library of Congress. The prize is awarded to musicians whose lifetime contributions in the field of popular song exemplify the standard of excellence associated with the Gershwins.

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The Brooklyn Bridge & the Story of American Workers

2010-06-03T16:49:00.001-07:00

The Brooklyn Bridge & the Story of American Workers
Posted by Liz Oxhorn on June 03, 2010 at 12:33 PM EDT
If you’ve ever looked back at the old black and white photos of America being built, with hard-working men and women creating the infrastructure and fueling the economy that made our country what it is today, you may have stumbled across pictures like this where workers scaled dizzying heights to put the finishing touches on the Brooklyn Bridge back in 1881:

Over the past year and half, the Recovery Act has put hundreds of thousands of hard-working men and women to work on the same kind of projects for the 21st Century -- once again fueling America’s economy by repairing, rejuvenating, improving and advancing much of same infrastructure that was first created back then.

During a visit to New York City yesterday, Vice President Biden stopped by the Brooklyn Bridge where Recovery Act dollars are at work making a contribution to New York City's locally-funded effort to repair, upgrade, and preserve one of America’s most historic crossings.

Vice President Joe Biden tours a construction site underneath the Brooklyn Bridge that is partially funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, in New York City, New York, 6/2/10
After touring the construction site alongside Mayor Bloomberg, Vice President Biden spoke about how the $508 million project, which is funded in-part by the Recovery Act, will bring the Brooklyn Bridge into a state of good repair and improve traffic flow for the more than 120,000 vehicles, 4,000 pedestrians, and 2,600 bicyclists that cross every day.

“It’s great to see men and women back on the job, completing work on one of the truly, treasured landmarks this country possesses,” the Vice President told a crowd of about 40 construction workers near the Manhattan-side entrance to the bridge.

Vice President Joe Biden talks to construction workers during an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act event at the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, New York, 6/2/10
New York City says the Recovery Act’s $30 million investment in the project will create 150 jobs, generate economic activity and allow New York City to fund other critical infrastructure projects they otherwise would have eliminated or postponed. For the Brooklyn Bridge, it means a reconstructed roadway surface, rehabilitated and retrofitted steel support structures, expanded entrance ramps, and repainting to prevent corrosion.

As Vice President Biden noted, the Recovery Act has funded nearly 1,300 bridge projects and 14,000 transportation across the United States to-date.

Vice President Joe Biden speaks in front of the Brooklyn Bridge during an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act event, in New York City, New York, 6/2/10
Liz Oxhorn is the Recovery Act Communications Director

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Let's Move Outside! at Red Rock Canyon

2010-06-03T16:44:00.000-07:00

Let's Move Outside! at Red Rock Canyon
Posted by Assistant Secretary Rhea Suh on June 02, 2010 at 04:59 PM EDT

First Lady Michelle Obama launches her "Let's Move Outside" component of her "Let's Move" initiative at Red Rock Canyon with Senator Harry Reid in Las Vegas, Nevada. June 1, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)

Yesterday, I was fortunate to join First Lady Michelle Obama, Representative Dina Titus and Senator Harry Reid at the launch of Let’s Move Outside! in the spectacular Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area of Southern Nevada. The Canyon is just a short drive from the bustle of the Las Vegas Strip; this 197,000 acre property takes you to another time and with its solitude, wide open vistas and soaring red sandstone cliffs. Red Rock Canyon is one of only sixteen National Landscape Conservation Areas in the country, managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

This amazing backdrop was the perfect setting for the First Lady's to announce a new component of her Let’s Move! campaign -- Let's Move Outside! As the first lady said in her remarks:

Our overall goal for “Let’s Move Outside” is to really get our kids active so that they make it a habit of moving around and seeing the activity they need not as a chore but as a fun way to explore our country and to do some things they haven’t done.

Doctors, teachers, and other professionals agree that outdoor activity is one of the easiest and most fun ways to get – and stay – fit. And boy, did we have fun!

First Lady Michelle Obama launches her "Let's Move Outside" component of her "Let's Move" initiative at Red Rock Canyon with Senator Harry Reid in Las Vegas, Nevada. June 1, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)

Twenty energetic kids from nearby elementary schools joined us for the afternoon’s activities. The First Lady and Senator Reid led the group in a series of geology stretches. Then, we all hiked over to a sandstone slope, where we watched some able rangers guide kids on a “rock scramble.” Even though it was a steep climb, the pay-off at the top was terrific — a panoramic view of the canyon as far as the eye could see. Finally, children were sworn in by First Lady Michelle Obama as official Let’s Move Outside! Junior Rangers, capping off an afternoon of adventure, exercise, and good cheer.

There are no better places for America’s children to get moving than in the parks, trails, and waters in all of our communities. Whether you are walking, hiking, swimming, horseback riding, or mountain biking --America’s public lands have a wide range of affordable activities and adventures for every family. These lands are America’s backyard—they are owned by everyone in this country and provide opportunities to get outside in every state, county, and city in the country.

The Department of Interior and the U.S. Forest Service will be hosting Let’s Move Outside! events across the country during the summer months. We will engage partners across the public and private sectors to expand access to these places and connect American families to our great big collective backyard. Check out the Let's Move! website to find opportunities to get outside and have fun today!

Rhea Suh is Department of the Interior Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management & Budget

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Moving Forward on the New Foundation

2010-06-03T16:40:00.000-07:00

Moving Forward on the New Foundation
Posted by Jesse Lee on June 02, 2010 at 03:48 PM EDT
“America does not stand still. We move forward.” -- this was a recurring theme in the President’s speech at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, harkening back to one of the most sweeping speeches of his presidency.

On April 14th of last year, the President spoke at Georgetown University on his vision to restore the economy not just in the short term, but for generations to come. In the time since then, the economy has turned from hemorrhaging hundreds of thousands of jobs, to some of the strongest job growth we’ve seen in years over the past months – although for millions of Americans times are still tough. But in that same time, much progress has also been made on what the President called the “New Foundation” a year ago:

It's a foundation built upon five pillars that will grow our economy and make this new century another American century: Number one, new rules for Wall Street that will reward drive and innovation, not reckless risk-taking -- (applause); number two, new investments in education that will make our workforce more skilled and competitive -- (applause); number three, new investments in renewable energy and technology that will create new jobs and new industries -- (applause); number four, new investments in health care that will cut costs for families and businesses; and number five, new savings in our federal budget that will bring down the debt for future generations. (Applause.)

The President noted that “for a lot of middle-class families -- for entire communities, in some case -- a sense of economic security has been missing since long before the recession began,” and that this problem is what the New Foundation is meant to address. As such, he chastised the Republican Party for the fact that “most have sat on the sidelines and shouted from the bleachers” rather than offer real help. He gave a recap of the progress made on each pillar, making clear while some may argue we need to move backward towards the broken status quo, he will continue to push forward:

On Wall Street Reform, which has passed both the House and Senate:

To start with, we can't compete as a nation if the irresponsibility of a few folks on Wall Street can bring our entire economy to its knees. That's why we're on the verge of passing the most sweeping financial reform since the Great Depression. It’s a reform that will help prevent another AIG. It will end taxpayer-funded bank bailouts. It contains the strongest consumer protections in history -- protections that will empower Americans with the clear and concise information they need before signing up for a credit card or taking out a mortgage.

On education, which has remained a consistent top priority of the President’s even as other issues dominated the headlines:

You know, if you’re a family who’s tightening your belt, you will definitely sacrifice going out to dinner, but you’re not going to sacrifice saving for your child’s college education. It’s precisely our investments in education and innovation that will make America more competitive in the 21st century. And we can’t go back; we’ve got to move forward. (Applause.)

That’s why I’ve made education reform a top priority -- because countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow. And so we want every citizen to have the skills and training they need in a global economy -- from the day that you’re born through whatever career you may choose.

Last year, we launched a national competition to improve our schools based on a simple idea: Instead of funding the status quo, we will only invest in reform -- reform that raises student achievement, that inspires students to excel in math and science, and turns around failing schools that steal the future of too many young Americans.

On the deficit, which was put on a disastrous course in previous years, and was made worse by the recession that “put a $3 trillion hole in our budget before I even walked in the door”:

The third component is the belt-tightening steps I’ve already outlined to reduce our deficit by $1 trillion.

Starting in 2011, we will enact a three-year freeze on all discretionary spending outside of national security -- something that was never enacted in the last administration. We will allow the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to expire. We’ve gone through the budget, line by line, and identified more than 120 programs for elimination. We’ve restored a simple budgeting rule that every family and business understands called pay-as-you-go. And we will charge the largest Wall Street firms a fee to repay the American people for rescuing them during the financial crisis -- a fee that will bring down the deficit by $90 billion -- (applause) -- a fee that will bring down the deficit by $90 billion over the next decade. By the way, that $90 billion represents about one-eighth of the amount these banks will pay out in bonuses over the same time period in time.

On reforming our broken health insurance system, now the law of the land, with new benefits kicking in virtually every month:

We also know we can’t compete in a global economy if our citizens are forced to spend more and more of their income on medical bills; if our businesses are forced to choose between health care and hiring; if state and federal budgets are weighed down with skyrocketing health care costs. That’s why we finally passed health insurance reform.

Now, let’s be clear. The costs of health care are not going to come down overnight just because legislation passed, and in an ever-changing industry like health care, we’re going to continuously need to apply more cost-cutting measures as the years go by. But once this reform is in full effect, middle-class families will pay less for their health care, and the worst practices of the insurance industry will end. People with preexisting medical conditions will no longer be excluded from coverage. People who become seriously ill will no longer be thrown off their coverage for reasons contrived by the insurance company. Taxpayers will no longer have to pay -- in the form of higher premiums -- for trips to the ER by uninsured Americans. Businesses will get help with their health care costs. In fact, small businesses are already learning they’re eligible for tax credits to cover their workers this year. And with less waste and greater efficiency in the system, this reform will do more to bring down the deficit than any step we have taken in more than a decade.

The other party has staked their claim this November on repealing these health insurance reforms instead of making them work. They want to go back. We need to move forward.

The President saved the clean energy economy for last, which got its biggest investment in history from the Recovery Act, but which still lacks a comprehensive energy bill out of the Senate:

Now, this brings me to an issue that’s on everybody’s minds right now -- namely, what kind of energy future can ensure our long-term prosperity. The catastrophe unfolding in the Gulf right now may prove to be a result of human error, or of corporations taking dangerous shortcuts to compromise safety, or a combination of both. And I’ve launched a National Commission so that the American people will have answers on exactly what happened. But we have to acknowledge that there are inherent risks to drilling four miles beneath the surface of the Earth, and these are risks -- (applause) -- these are risks that are bound to increase the harder oil extraction becomes. We also have to acknowledge that an America run solely on fossil fuels should not be the vision we have for our children and our grandchildren. (Applause.)

We consume more than 20 percent of the world’s oil, but have less than 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves. So without a major change in our energy policy, our dependence on oil means that we will continue to send billions of dollars of our hard-earned wealth to other countries every month -- including countries in dangerous and unstable regions. In other words, our continued dependence on fossil fuels will jeopardize our national security. It will smother our planet. And it will continue to put our economy and our environment at risk.

Now, I understand that we can’t end our dependence on fossil fuels overnight. That’s why I supported a careful plan of offshore oil production as one part of our overall energy strategy. But we can pursue such production only if it’s safe, and only if it’s used as a short-term solution while we transition to a clean energy economy.

And the time has come to aggressively accelerate that transition. The time has come, once and for all, for this nation to fully embrace a clean energy future. (Applause.) Now, that means continuing our unprecedented effort to make everything from our homes and businesses to our cars and trucks more energy-efficient. It means tapping into our natural gas reserves, and moving ahead with our plan to expand our nation’s fleet of nuclear power plants. It means rolling back billions of dollars of tax breaks to oil companies so we can prioritize investments in clean energy research and development.

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The Affordable Care Act and the Deficit

2010-06-03T16:38:00.000-07:00

The Affordable Care Act and the Deficit
Posted by OMB Director Peter Orszag on June 02, 2010 at 02:01 PM EDT
Cross-posted from the OMB blog.

CBO Director Doug Elmendorf recently gave a presentation on health costs and the fiscal outlook. Doug concludes that the federal budget remains on an unsustainable course even after enactment of the Affordable Care Act, and I wholly agree with him.

There should be no ambiguity about whether we face unsustainably large deficits over the medium- and long-term. We do. That is why the Administration’s Budget proposes significant additional deficit reduction and that is also why the President has formed a bi-partisan Fiscal Commission charged with recommending measures to achieve medium term fiscal sustainability and to meaningfully improve the long-run fiscal outlook.

The fact that more action must be taken on the deficit even after enactment of the Affordable Care Act, however, is a distinct question from whether the health legislation helps to improve our fiscal course — which it does.

In particular, CBO estimates that the Act will reduce the deficit by more than $100 billion over the next ten years and more than $1 trillion in the ten years after that. That’s more deficit reduction than has been enacted in over a decade.

Perhaps more importantly, the Act has the potential to fundamentally transform our health system into one that delivers better care at lower cost. This potential isn’t fully captured in CBO’s numbers, and that’s appropriate. CBO produces its estimates based on what has happened in the past, and we have never enacted such a fundamental transformation.

The new law incorporates the most promising ideas from economists and leaders from across the political spectrum to control health care costs. As I have written before, this includes the vast majority of the options CBO itself suggested for reducing long-term health care cost growth. And we now have a variety of new institutions that will be devoted to guiding policy toward higher-quality and lower-cost outcomes.

The bottom line is that we are on a long journey toward fiscal sustainability — but that should not diminish the importance and potential of the Affordable Care Act.

Peter R. Orszag is the Director of the Office of Management and Budget

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Weekly Address

2010-05-29T16:24:00.000-07:00

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release May 29, 2010 WEEKLY ADDRESS: President Obama Invites All Americans to Honor America’s Fallen Heroes this Memorial Day
WASHINGTON – In this week’s address, President Barack Obama asked all Americans to join him in remembering and honoring our men and women in uniform who have died in service to the country. The commitment these heroes have demonstrated – the willingness to lay down their lives so the rest of us might inherit the blessings of this nation – has helped make America the most prosperous, most powerful nation on earth and it is what we honor on Memorial Day.

The full audio of the address is HERE. The video can be viewed online at www.whitehouse.gov.

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Weekly Address
Washington, DC

This weekend, as we celebrate Memorial Day, families across America will gather in backyards and front porches, fire up the barbeque, kick back with friends, and spend time with people they care about. That is as it should be. But I also hope that as you do so, you’ll take some time to reflect on what Memorial Day is all about; on why we set this day aside as a time of national remembrance.

It’s fitting every day to pay tribute to the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States of America. Still, there are certain days that have been set aside for all of us to do so. Veterans Day is one such day – when we are called to honor Americans who’ve fought under our country’s flag.

Our calling on Memorial Day is different. On this day, we honor not just those who’ve worn this country’s uniform, but the men and women who’ve died in its service; who’ve laid down their lives in defense of their fellow citizens; who’ve given their last full measure of devotion to protect the United States of America. These are the men and women I will be honoring this weekend, and I know many of you are doing the same.

There are any number of reasons America emerged from its humble beginnings as a cluster of colonies to become the most prosperous, most powerful nation on earth. There is the hard work, the resilience, and the character of our people. There is the ingenuity and enterprising spirit of our entrepreneurs and innovators. There are the ideals of opportunity, equality, and freedom that have not only inspired our people to perfect our own union, but inspired others to perfect theirs as well.

But from the very start, there was also something more. A steadfast commitment to serve, to fight, and if necessary, to die, to preserve America and advance the ideals we cherish. It’s a commitment witnessed at each defining moment along the journey of this country. It’s what led a rag-tag militia to face British soldiers at Lexington and Concord. It’s what led young men, in a country divided half slave and half free, to take up arms to save our union. It’s what led patriots in each generation to sacrifice their own lives to secure the life of our nation, from the trenches of World War I to the battles of World War II, from Inchon and Khe Sanh, from Mosul to Marjah.

That commitment – that willingness to lay down their lives so we might inherit the blessings of this nation – is what we honor today. But on this Memorial Day, as on every day, we are called to honor their ultimate sacrifice with more than words. We are called to honor them with deeds.

We are called to honor them by doing our part for the loved ones our fallen heroes have left behind and looking after our military families. By making sure the men and women serving this country around the world have the support they need to achieve their missions and come home safely. By making sure veterans have the care and assistance they need. In short, by serving all those who have ever worn the uniform of this country – and their families – as well as they have served us.

On April 25, 1866, about a year after the Civil War ended, a group of women visited a cemetery in Columbus, Mississippi, to place flowers by the graves of Confederate soldiers who had fallen at Shiloh. As they did, they noticed other graves nearby, belonging to Union dead. But no one had come to visit those graves, or place a flower there. So they decided to lay a few stems for those men too, in recognition not of a fallen Confederate or a fallen Union soldier, but a fallen American.

A few years later, an organization of Civil War veterans established what became Memorial Day, selecting a date that coincided with the time when flowers were in bloom. So this weekend, as we commemorate Memorial Day, I ask you to hold all our fallen heroes in your hearts, and if you can, to lay a flower where they have come to rest.

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Deepwater BP Oil Spill

2010-05-29T16:19:00.000-07:00

Deepwater BP Oil Spill
"We're going to do everything in our power to protect our natural resources, compensate those who have been harmed, rebuild what has been damaged, and help this region persevere like it has done so many times before."

-- President Barack Obama, Venice, Louisiana

Information on Spill-Related Damages and Claims
Fishermen and those affected by the BP Oil Spill who wish to contact BP about a claim should call 1-800-440-0858. For those who have already pursued the BP claims process and are not satisfied with BP’s resolution, can call the Coast Guard at 1-800-280-7118. For more information on assistance for small business owners and others in affected areas, visit DisasterAssistance.gov.

What You Can Do
•Request volunteer information and register to volunteer: (866)-448-5816
•Submit your vessel as a vessel of opportunity skimming system or submit alternative response technology, services or products:
(281) 366-5511
•Report oiled or injured wildlife: 1-866-557-1401
•Report oil on land: 1-866-448-5816
State specific volunteer opportunities:

•Louisiana
•Mississippi
•Florida
•Alabama
Federal Response Resources
Check out the links below to find out how federal departments and agencies are responding to the Deepwater BP Oil Spill:

Joint Information Center
At the beginning of the event, the Coast Guard elevated the response and established a Regional Command Center and Joint Information Center in Robert, La., inviting all partners in the response to join. Get the latest updates from the partners on the ground in the Gulf Coast: http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com

•Facebook
•Flickr
•Twitter
•YouTube
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Since the moments after the oil rig explosion on the night of April 20, DHS has played a lead role in federal response efforts—deploying the U.S. Coast Guard to search and rescue the 126 people aboard the rig, and quickly leading efforts to establish a command center on the Gulf Coast to address the potential environmental impact of the event and to coordinate with all state and local governments. Secretary Napolitano leads the National Response Team, an organization of 16 federal departments and agencies responsible for coordinating emergency preparedness and response to oil and hazardous substance pollution events.

U.S. Coast Guard
The Coast Guard has played a major role from the very beginning, when it responded to the explosion on a search and rescue mission to save lives. Pursuant to the National Contingency Plan, Rear Admiral Mary Landry was named the Federal On-Scene Coordinator to lead a Regional Response Team which was stood up that included DHS, DOC/NOAA, DOI and the EPA, as well as state and local representatives. As the event escalated, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen was announced as the National Incident Commander for the administration’s continued, coordinated response—providing additional coordinated oversight in leveraging every available resource to respond to the BP oil spill and minimize the associated environmental risks.

Department of the Interior (DOI)
The morning after the explosion, Secretary of the Interior deployed Deputy Secretary David J. Hayes to the Gulf Coast to assist with coordination and response to the event, and provide hourly reports back to the administration. Since then, DOI has played a vital role in overseeing BP’s response efforts while—at the President’s request—working to deliver a report with recommendations on what, if any, additional safety measures should be required for offshore operations. Secretary Salazar has announced that inspections of all deepwater rigs and platforms are underway.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Since the BP Oil Spill, EPA has provided full support to the U.S. Coast Guard and is monitoring and responding to potential public health and environmental concerns. Environmental data, including air quality and water samples, will be posted and frequently updated on this site as it is collected and validated by EPA’s response teams along the impacted coastlines. This data is meant to determine potential risks to public health and the environment: http://www.epa.gov/bpspill

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
As the nation’s leading scientific resource for oil spills, NOAA has been on the scene of the Deepwater Horizon spill from the start, providing coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations: http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/deepwaterhorizon
Weather Forecast: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lix/

Small Business Administration
SBA is making low-interest loans available to small businesses in the Gulf Coast regions of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi suffering financial losses following the April 20 Deepwater BP oil spill that shut down commercial and recreational fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) are available immediately in designated counties and parishes of each of the four states to help meet the financial needs of qualifying small businesses following the oil spill: http://www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance/

Department of Defense (DOD)
DOD continues to support the ongoing response effort by lending Naval and Air Force bases to provide vital staging areas for boom deployments and other activities, and providing C-130 aircraft equipped with Modular Aerial Spray Systems, which dispense chemical dispersant—capable of covering up to 250 acres per flight. DOD also plays a significant role in the National Response Team, helping to lead the coordination of response actions for the federal government. Secretary of Defense Gates has authorized use of Title 32 status for up to 17,500 National Guard members in four states: Alabama (3,000), Florida (2,500), Louisiana (6,000) and Mississippi (6,000).

Department of the Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service
The Fish and Wildlife Service continues to support the joint agency response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico with experienced specialists, land managers, and support personnel. Booms to capture and deflect anticipated oil are being deployed at Breton National Wildlife Refuge, where thousands of brown pelicans and shorebirds are currently nesting. The Service also is initiating Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration activities in this incident to assess and address the long-term damage to impacted resources: http://www.fws.gov/home/dhoilspill

Department of the Interior’s National Park Service
The National Park Service is focused on human safety and resource protection in eight national parks in the Gulf area. These parks are working to assess resources, collect baseline data, coordinate boom placements, plan for responsible cleanup, install barriers for shore bird and turtle nest protection, and plan for potential park closures, if necessary: http://www.nps.gov/aboutus/oil-spill-response.htm

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Oil spill response workers may be exposed to many different chemical, physical, biological, and psychological hazards. These hazards vary depending on the type and location of the oil spill, type and stage of response, degree of coordination between entities involved in response and recovery, and the workers’ specific tasks. Therefore, occupational and environmental hazards need to be identified, assessed, and monitored in each oil spill response: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/oilspillresponse

Daily Updates
A chronology of the ongoing administration-wide response to the Deepwater BP Oil Spill, beginning on April 20, is available here.

Information on Air, Food, and Water Safety
Air: With the prevalence of vapor concerns from oil near the Gulf coast and the controlled burning to help contain the spread of oil, air quality is a health concern. EPA has initiated an air monitoring effort to ensure the safety of local residents and track any developing air quality changes.

Food: Although crude oil has the potential to taint seafood with flavors and odors caused by exposure to hydrocarbon chemicals, the public should not be concerned about the safety of seafood in stores at this time. There is no reason to believe that any contaminated product has made its way to the market.

Water: NOAA is restricting fishing for a minimum of ten days in federal waters most affected by the BP oil spill, largely between Louisiana state waters at the mouth of the Mississippi River to waters off Florida’s Pensacola Bay. The closure is effective immediately. Fishermen who wish to contact BP about a claim should call 1-800-440-0858.

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More than 350,000 White House Visitor Records Online

2010-05-29T16:15:00.000-07:00

More than 350,000 White House Visitor Records Online
Posted by Norm Eisen on May 28, 2010 at 06:16 PM EDT
In September 2009, the President announced that – for the first time in history – the White House would routinely release visitor records. Today, the White House releases visitor records that were created in February 2010. Today’s release also includes several visitor records created prior to September 16, 2009 that were requested by members of the public during April 2010 pursuant to the White House voluntary disclosure policy. This release brings the grand total of records that this White House has released to well over 350,000 records. You can view them all in our Disclosures section.

Norm Eisen is Special Counsel to the President for Ethics and Government Reform

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"You Are Part of a Long Continuum"

2010-05-29T16:11:00.001-07:00

"You Are Part of a Long Continuum"
Posted by Jesse Lee on May 28, 2010 at 06:01 PM EDT

Vice President Joe Biden delivers the commencement address at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, May 28, 2010. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)
This afternoon the Vice President gave the commencement address at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, and spoke with awe of the tradition the graduates in the audience were becoming a part of:

You all possess traits that Secretary Bancroft knew were necessary when he set up this Academy 165 years ago. But you all also possess skills, talents, and capacity that are beyond -- far beyond anything -- anything Secretary Bancroft could have thought of 165 years ago.

But notwithstanding that, you are part of a long continuum. You're writing a new chapter in a long history of a strong tradition of this great Naval Academy. You’re all going to be part of a fraternity that goes back 165 years and binds you together like little I have seen in my experience. No matter how long you serve in uniform, even when you’re out of uniform, you will come across fellow Annapolis graduates, share sea stories, discuss those “Four years by the Bay” -- and know -- and know like few others in the nation can know that wherever you go there is somebody who will have your back, even though they don't know you personally.

That’s an awesome sense of pride and patriotism. And it’s an awesome sense of pride and patriotism that comes over you all when you sing “Navy Blue and Gold.” It’s a feeling that few have a right to share like all of you. This place is special, even to those of us who didn’t attend it. This place is special. And you’ve had a special experience that has given you a bond that’s going to last you a lifetime. You will be amazed how tight that bond is and how long it will last.

Vice President Joe Biden greets newly commissioned Second Lieutenant Huy Truong who he mentioned during his commencement address at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, May 28, 2010. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)
.To be clear though, he made clear that he was in awe of the graduates on their own merits as well:

You know, for four long years now, you’ve looked forward to this moment -- they’ve looked forward to it, as well -- to watch you walk across this stage: Marines, aviators, SWOs, SEALs, E.O.D., submariners -- and there may be just a special bit of pride for the families of the 11 -- the 11 who will be the first Naval Academy women to serve on submarines.

Ladies and gentlemen, for all of you, the breadth of the assignments you’ve taken on is matched only by the depth of the skill you’ll leave this field with. You’ve been trained by the very best. And you leave here with an astounding capacity to lead.

Newly commissioned Ensigns take the Oath of Office after Vice President Joe Biden delivered the commencement address at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, May 28, 2010. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

"The Largest Cleanup Effort in U.S. History"

2010-05-29T16:05:00.000-07:00

"The Largest Cleanup Effort in U.S. History"
Posted by Jesse Lee on May 28, 2010 at 04:47 PM EDT
Following up on his press conference discussing the BP oil spill, the President travelled to the Gulf Coast to get another first-hand look at the progress and to be briefed by those on the ground. At the U.S. Coast Guard Station in Grande Isle, Louisiana, the President spoke to the frustration those in the local community and across America feel watching the BP oil leak:

Understandably, the feelings of frustration and anger, the sense that any response is inadequate -- we expect that frustration and anger to continue until we actually solve this problem. But in the meantime, we’ve got to make sure that everybody is working in concert, that everybody is moving in the same direction. And I want everybody to know that everybody here -- at every level -- is working night and day to end this crisis. We’re considering every single idea out there, especially from folks who know these communities best.

The President commended those in the area who have “rolled up their sleeves” to help with the clean up, saying that “we’re in this together.” He warned that as frustrating as it is now, the clean-up will be a monumental and lengthy process, but he pledged to ensure that BP compensates those whose livelihoods have suffered and directed small business owners and others in need of help to the resources here at WhiteHouse.gov.
Gulf CoastShow Gallery Info.
President Barack Obama tours Fourchon Beach on the Louisiana coast to talk firsthand with those engaged in the effort to plug the BP oil leak and mitigate the damage it is causing, Friday, May 28, 2010.M

He spoke extensively of what he saw touring the tragedy this morning:

And our response treats this event for what it is: It’s an assault on our shores, on our people, on the regional economy, and on communities like this one. This isn’t just a mess that we’ve got to mop up. People are watching their livelihoods wash up on the beach. Parents are worried about the implications for their children’s health. Every resident of this community has watched this nightmare threaten the dreams that they’ve worked so hard to build. And they want it made right, and they want to make it right now.

I just had a chance to listen to Mayor David Carmadelle of Grande Isle, our host here, telling us heartbreaking stories about fishermen who are trying to figure out where the next paycheck is going to come from, how are they going to pay a mortgage or a note on their boat. And he is having to dig into his pocket at this point to make sure that some of them are able to deal with the economic impact. So this is something that has to be dealt with immediately, not sometime later. And that’s everybody’s driving focus -- everybody who is standing behind me. This is our highest priority and it deserves a response that is equal to the task.

That’s why this has already been the largest cleanup effort in U.S. history. On the day this disaster began, even as we launched a search and rescue effort for workers on the drilling rig, we were already staging equipment in the event of a larger-scale spill. By the time we discovered the third breach, a week after the Deepwater Horizon platform sank, we had already stationed more than 70 vessels and hundreds of thousands of feet of protective boom on site.

Today, there are more than 20,000 people in the region working around the clock to contain and clean up this spill. We’ve activated about 1,400 members of the National Guard across four states. Nearly 1,400 vessels are aiding in the containment and cleanup effort. And we deployed more than 3 million feet of hard and sorbent boom, including an additional 100,000 just yesterday for these parishes in Louisiana that face the greatest threat.

Now, I’ve made clear to Admiral Allen and I did so again today that he should get whatever he needs to deal with this crisis. Whatever he needs, he will get.

Right now, we’re still within the window where we don’t yet know the outcome of the highly complex top kill procedure that the federal government authorized BP to use to try to stop the leak. If it is successful, it would obviously be welcome news. If it’s not, a team of some of the world’s top scientists, engineers and experts, led by our Energy Secretary and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu, has for some time being -- has for some time been exploring any and all reasonable contingency plans.

But our response will continue with its full force regardless of the outcome of the top kill approach -- because even if the leak was stopped today it wouldn’t change the fact that these waters still contain oil from what is now the largest spill in American history. And more of it will come ashore.

To ensure that we’re fully prepared for that, and in accordance with input from folks down here, I’ve directed Secretary Napolitano and Admiral Allen to triple the manpower in places where oil has hit the shore or is within 24 hours of impact. This increase will allow us to further intensify this already historic response, contain and remove oil more quickly, and help minimize the time that any oil comes into contact with our coastline. That means deploying more boom, cleaning more beaches, performing more monitoring of wildlife and impact to this ecosystem.

We’re also going to continue to do whatever it takes to help Americans whose livelihoods have been upended by this spill. Gulf Coast residents should know that we’ve gathered all pertinent information regarding available assistance and the federal response in one place at whitehouse.gov.

We have ordered BP to pay economic injury claims, and we will make sure they deliver. And the parish presidents and governors here in Louisiana were already giving us some sense of some of the bureaucratic problems that we’re going to have to cut through, but we are going to cut through them. And for those who are in economic distress, if you’ve already filed a claim and you’re not satisfied with the resolution, then whitehouse.gov will point you in the right direction.

As I said yesterday, the Small Business Administration has stepped in to help businesses by approving loans, but also as important, allowing many to defer existing loan payments. A lot of folks are still loaded up with loans that they had from Katrina and other natural disasters down here, so they may need some additional help.

If you’re a small business owner and you weren’t aware of some of the programs that have been put in place or haven’t participated, then, again, the White House website will connect you to the resources you need. And we are making sure that all the parish presidents know, and folks like the mayor, other local officials are going to be aware of how they can get immediate help from us.

What’s more, we’ve stationed doctors and scientists across the five Gulf States to look out for people’s health and then to monitor any ill effects felt by cleanup workers and local residents. And we’ve begun setting up a system to track these efforts -- excuse me, to track these effects -- and ensure folks get the care that they need. And we’ve told BP that we expect them to pay for that, too.

As I’ve said before, BP is the responsible party for this disaster. What that means is they’re legally responsible for stopping the leak and they’re financially responsible for the enormous damage that they’ve created. And we’re going to hold them accountable, along with any other party responsible for the initial explosion and loss of life on that platform.

But as I said yesterday, and as I repeated in the meeting that we just left, I ultimately take responsibility for solving this crisis. I’m the President and the buck stops with me. So I give the people of this community and the entire Gulf my word that we’re going to hold ourselves accountable to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to stop this catastrophe, to defend our natural resources, to repair the damage, and to keep this region on its feet. Justice will be done for those whose lives have been upended by this disaster, for the families of those whose lives have been lost -- that is a solemn pledge that I am making.

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The Long Gray Line

2010-05-24T16:34:00.000-07:00

The Long Gray Line
Posted by Katelyn Sabochik on May 24, 2010 at 11:36 AM EDT

On Saturday, President Obama delivered the commencement address at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. This year one thousand and two cadets entered into the “Long Gray Line” of West Point graduates.

The class of 2010 is the ninth consecutive class to graduate while our nation is at war. Last year, President Obama visited West Point to his strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan. During the commencement address the President reflected on the changing nature of the war over the past nine years: .

We face a tough fight in Afghanistan. Any insurgency that is confronted with a direct challenge will turn to new tactics. And from Marja to Kandahar, that is what the Taliban has done through assassination and indiscriminate killing and intimidation. Moreover, any country that has known decades of war will be tested in finding political solutions to its problems, and providing governance that can sustain progress and serve the needs of its people.

So this war has changed over the last nine years, but it’s no less important than it was in those days after 9/11. We toppled the Taliban regime -- now we must break the momentum of a Taliban insurgency and train Afghan security forces. We have supported the election of a sovereign government -- now we must strengthen its capacities. We’ve brought hope to the Afghan people -- now we must see that their country does not fall prey to our common enemies. Cadets, there will be difficult days ahead. We will adapt, we will persist, and I have no doubt that together with our Afghan and international partners, we will succeed in Afghanistan.

The President stressed the importance of looking beyond the immediate task at hand to building a more prosperous and peaceful future for our country and the international community.

Now even as we fight the wars in front of us, we also have to see the horizon beyond these wars -- because unlike a terrorist whose goal is to destroy, our future will be defined by what we build. We have to see that horizon, and to get there we must pursue a strategy of national renewal and global leadership. We have to build the sources of America’s strength and influence, and shape a world that’s more peaceful and more prosperous.

Time and again, Americans have risen to meet and to shape moments of change. This is one of those moments -- an era of economic transformation and individual empowerment; of ancient hatreds and new dangers; of emerging powers and new global challenges. And we’re going to need all of you to help meet these challenges. You’ve answered the call. You, and all who wear America’s uniform, remain the cornerstone of our national defense, the anchor of global security. And through a period when too many of our institutions have acted irresponsibly, the American military has set a standard of service and sacrifice that is as great as any in this nation’s history.

The President also noted that “burdens of this century cannot fall on our soldiers alone.” All of us must play a part in securing our nation’s future:

Now the rest of us -- the rest of us must do our part. And to do so, we must first recognize that our strength and influence abroad begins with steps we take at home. We must educate our children to compete in an age where knowledge is capital, and the marketplace is global. We must develop clean energy that can power new industry and unbound us from foreign oil and preserve our planet. We have to pursue science and research that unlocks wonders as unforeseen to us today as the microchip and the surface of the moon were a century ago.

Simply put, American innovation must be the foundation of American power -- because at no time in human history has a nation of diminished economic vitality maintained its military and political primacy. And so that means that the civilians among us, as parents and community leaders, elected officials, business leaders, we have a role to play. We cannot leave it to those in uniform to defend this country -- we have to make sure that America is building on its strengths.

The President concluded his remarks by noting that America’s campaign to defeat al Queda was “necessary and just,” it "is not an end in itself.”

America does not fight for the sake of fighting. We abhor war. As one who has never experienced the field of battle -- and I say that with humility, knowing, as General MacArthur said, “the soldier above all others prays for peace” -- we fight because we must. We fight to keep our families and communities safe. We fight for the security of our allies and partners, because America believes that we will be safer when our friends are safer; that we will be stronger when the world is more just.

From the birth of our existence, America has had a faith in the future -- a belief that where we’re going is better than where we’ve been, even when the path ahead is uncertain. To fulfill that promise, generations of Americans have built upon the foundation of our forefathers -- finding opportunity, fighting injustice, forging a more perfect union. Our achievement would not be possible without the Long Grey Line that has sacrificed for duty, for honor, for country.

Another Step Towards Securing Our Future in Energy

2010-05-21T19:26:00.000-07:00

Another Step Towards Securing Our Future in Energy
Posted by Jesse Lee on May 21, 2010 at 02:25 PM EDT

This morning, President Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum on fuel efficiency standards, an initiative that will build on his goal to move towards improved fuel economy for vehicles. The signing comes a year after he made a historic agreement to break America’s dependence on foreign oil and create clean energy jobs.

The President explained that one year later, we are already beginning to see the results of that goal. The Presidential Memorandum signed today will take another step forward by proposing the development of a national standard for larger heavy-duty trucks. The Memorandum directs the Department of Transportion and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to create a first-ever National Policy to increase fuel efficiency and decrease greenhouse gas pollution from medium- and heavy-duty trucks for Model Years 2014-2018. Trucks consume more than two million barrels of ail every day and emit 20% of all transportation related greenhouse gas pollution, and the new standard is expected to bring down costs for transporting goods while reducing pollution and spurring growth in the clean energy sector.

The President explained that this is a matter of global importance:

We know how important that is. We know that our dependence on foreign oil endangers our security and our economy. We know that climate change poses a threat to our way of life -– in fact we’re already seeing some of the profound and costly impacts. And the disaster in the Gulf only underscores that even as we pursue domestic production to reduce our reliance on imported oil, our long-term security depends on the development of alternative sources of fuel and new transportation technologies.

But we also know that our economic future depends on our leadership in the industries of the future. Around the globe, countries are seeking an advantage in the global marketplace by investing in new ways of producing and saving energy. From China to Germany, these countries recognize that the nation that leads in the clean energy economy will lead the global economy. And I want America to be that nation.

President Barack Obama delivers remarks in the Rose Garden of the White House before signing a Presidential Memorandum outlining the next steps in his vision for cleaner, more efficient vehicles, May 21, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

New Tax Credit Will Support Groundbreaking Research, Create Jobs, and Bring Down Costs

2010-05-21T19:22:00.000-07:00

New Tax Credit Will Support Groundbreaking Research, Create Jobs, and Bring Down Costs
Posted by Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on May 21, 2010 at 12:44 PM EDT
As a former Governor, I know that economic growth often starts with small businesses that have big ideas. As Secretary of Health and Human Services, I’ve seen how a breakthrough in a lab can lead to a life-saving medication in medicine chests across America.

Today, my colleagues Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins made an announcement that brings these forces together. As part of the Affordable Care Act, we’re creating a new tax credit for biotechnology research that will create jobs, save lives, and bring down health care costs.

The tax credit will be available to the small biotech firms around the country whose research has been judged by our NIH experts to hold great promise to lead to new therapies and medical innovation. Our goal is to make targeted investments so that encouraging leads that otherwise might have been set aside can now be vigorously pursued by some of our best scientists.

Over the last few decades, breakthroughs in biotechnology have improved the health of millions of Americans – dramatically reducing the mortality rates for many diseases and health conditions. At the same time, the biotech industry has become a key driver of our high-tech economy, supporting 1.3 million high-quality jobs.

Put simply, today’s announcement equals more cures and more jobs.

To learn more about how this announcement achieves some of the Affordable Care Act’s key goals like supporting American businesses, promoting health care innovation, and helping Americans live healthier lives, you can read a fact sheet here and the full IRS Notice on the tax credit here.

Kathleen Sebelius is Secretary of Health and Human Services

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Weekly Address: Health Reform Starts to Kick In

2010-05-08T16:11:00.000-07:00

Weekly Address: Health Reform Starts to Kick In
Posted by Jesse Lee on May 08, 2010 at 06:00 AM EDT
The President goes through the benefits in health insurance reform that are already kicking in for young adults, retirees, and families, and says more benefits are coming down the pike.

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On the Ground, Updating President Obama on the Floods in Tennessee

2010-05-08T16:08:00.000-07:00

On the Ground, Updating President Obama on the Floods in Tennessee
Posted by Craig Fugate on May 07, 2010 at 06:37 PM EDT
At the request of the President, I’m in Tennessee for the second time this week to meet with local officials and assess the damage from the severe weather and subsequent flooding that swept through this state and other parts of the Southeast this week, and to ensure that all the needs of the state and local governments – as well as communities and individuals – are being met. I met with Governor Phil Bredesen and Nashville Mayor Karl Dean yesterday and reiterated our commitment to bring every federal resource to bear in response to this – as Governor Bredesen described – “unprecedented” storm. FEMA was on the ground from the beginning and is leaning forward to ensure a swift federal response to this disaster.

We’ve been engaged with the affected states since last Saturday when the rain began to fall, and currently have representatives on the ground in Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Louisiana to measure the damage and provide federal assistance where needed.

On Monday night I met with Governor Bredesen of Tennessee, and on Tuesday, the Governor requested, and the President signed, a federal disaster declaration for the state, standing up federal assistance by way of temporary housing and home repair grants, loans to cover losses from uninsured property, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover. The President signed a similar declaration for Alabama the day before.

To date in Tennessee:

•27 counties have been declared as federal disaster areas;
•Approximately 12,000 individuals have registered for FEMA assistance;
•FEMA has approved over $1.5 million in federal assistance for housing and other needs.
We’re working to make sure that every request is processed rapidly, and that individuals and business owners in the affected areas have all the information and resources they need to quickly recover from these storms.

I’ll join Secretary Napolitano tomorrow in Nashville, where we’ll meet with state and local officials and receive briefings on the coordinated federal, state, and local response efforts underway.

Individuals who live in the affected area can register for federal assistance by calling the FEMA hotline at 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or by visiting www.disasterassistance.gov. You can also visit the fema.gov from your mobile device for more information at http://m.fema.gov/.

Individuals should always be prepared for a disaster like this. Visit ready.gov for information to prepare for the unexpected.

Craig Fugate is the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

More information and resources on the floods and severe weather in the Southeast:

•Statement by the President on Severe Weather and Flooding in the Southeast
•Statement by the White House Press Secretary on the President's Southeastern Flooding Briefing
•President Obama Signs Tennessee Disaster Declaration
•President Obama Signs Alabama Disaster Declaration
•Conference Call on the Flooding in Tennessee with FEMA Administrator Fugate, Governor Phil Bredesen, Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, SVP American Red Cross Joe Becker
•Read out of the President's Calls with Tennessee Governor
•White House Press Secretary on the Response to the Southeastern Flooding and Severe Weather
•Senior Administration Officials Visit Tennessee to Support Response and Recovery Efforts
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"All of the Extraordinary Women in Our Lives"

2010-05-08T15:58:00.000-07:00

"All of the Extraordinary Women in Our Lives"
Posted by Shama Hussain on May 07, 2010 at 05:52 PM EDT

In honor of Mother’s Day, the First Lady hosted an event at the White House this afternoon, joined by Dr. Jill Biden and Former First Lady Rosalyn Carter. She also recognized that today is Military Spouses Appreciation Day and told the spouses and mothers of service members that “we are forever grateful for your service and inspired by your strength.”

Talking about the love and care that mother figures give every day, she said that there is no way to quantify how important mothers are in our lives, asking, “Do 15 or 20 sleepless nights during high school equal a bouquet of flowers?” The First Lady was joined by her own mother, who she described as her “rock.”

She has pulled me up when I’ve stumbled. She’s pulled me back when I’ve run out of line, talking a little too much. She’ll snap me up. She really does push me to be the best woman that I can be, truly, as a professional, and as a mother, and as a friend. And she has always, always, always been there for me. And as our family have grown, she’s managed to expand her love for all of us.

And raising our girls in the White House with my mom -- oh, not going to do this -- (laughter) -- is a beautiful experience. And the opportunity to have three generations living in the White House, it’s beautiful. And I’m pretty sure the President is happy about it, too. In this world there is so much going on, we know that we’re blessed, the Obamas.

First Lady Michelle Obama leans over to kiss her mother, Marian Robinson, while hosting a Mother's Day Tea with White House Mentees, their mothers, and former First Family guests in the State Dining Room of the White House, May 7, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)

The First Lady also discussed the White House Leadership and Mentoring Initiative, which she said was created because she believes “in the importance of giving our young mentees a piece of ourselves.” She explained that the program is about helping women realize that they can be leaders and create their own opportunities, recognizing that the room was filled by women who had done just that. “[T]here are so many of these stories right here in this room. Now, they may have different characters and soundtracks, right, but whether you grew up on Bing Crosby, Aretha Franklin or Beyonce, each story here is important,” she said.

She described Mother's Day as “a day to enjoy one another,” and closed by telling her mother, “Thank you, Mommy. I love you.”

First Lady Michelle Obama talks with guests while hosting a Mother's Day Tea with White House Mentees, their mothers, and former First Family guests in the State Dining Room of the White House, May 7, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)

First Lady Barack Obama hosts a Mothers Day Tea in the State Dining Room of the White House, May 7, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
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Why are BP and the US Administration not taking every action they might in the Gulf of Mexico

2010-05-04T02:00:00.000-07:00

This process and treatment is not a panacea to the problems of what might be the biggest environmental disaster for ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico by the hand of man ‘SO FAR’ in our short history. But are all efforts and actions that might be made; being taken? If not, we might ask why not?

Thanks for watching - considering; and taking action.

For more information and to contact CRESTLINE INDUSTRIESINC CLICK HERE

Sneak Peek of the Commencement Challenge Finalists

2010-04-24T14:27:00.000-07:00

Sneak Peek of the Commencement Challenge Finalists
Posted by Lauren Paige on April 24, 2010 at 01:09 PM EDT
Starting on Monday the public will have a chance to weigh in on the six finalists in the Race to the Top Commencement Challenge, but we wanted to give you a sneak peek of the schools today.

Over the past few weeks students from the six finalist schools worked with Get Schooled to create a short three minute video demonstrating how their school best meets the criteria of the Commencement Challenge. We’ll debut those videos and a short essay by each school on Monday morning on WhiteHouse.gov/Commencement. Visitors to the site will have a chance to rate each finalist on a scale of 1-5 and President Obama will choose one of the top three highest rated schools to visit and deliver the commencement address. Be sure to check back Monday morning to weigh in on the finalists!

Lauren Paige is Director of Special Projects for White House Communications.

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Weekly Address: Good News from the Auto Industry

2010-04-24T14:21:00.000-07:00

Weekly Address: Good News from the Auto Industry
Posted by Jesse Lee on April 24, 2010 at 06:00 AM EDT
As the auto industry and financial markets begin to stabilize, the President says the government’s emergency interventions are now winding down. He pledges that real reform, particularly on Wall Street, must now begin.

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Navy’s Green Initiatives Take Flight on Earth Day

2010-04-23T16:36:00.000-07:00

Navy’s Green Initiatives Take Flight on Earth Day
Posted by Tony Russell on April 23, 2010 at 05:24 PM EDT
Yesterday, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and hundreds of other onlookers witnessed a major step forward in the Navy’s initiatives to improve our energy independence and safeguard our environment. In honor of Earth Day, the Navy conducted a test flight of the Green Hornet, an F/A-18 Super Hornet multirole fighter jet powered by a biofuel blend. Check out video of the flight on Navy.mil.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus noted the Navy’s commitment to exploring alternative energy solutions:

The alternative fuels test program is a significant milestone in the certification and ultimate operational use of biofuels by the Navy and Marine Corps. It's important to emphasize, especially on Earth Day, the Navy's commitment to reducing dependence on foreign oil as well as safeguarding our environment. Our Navy, alongside industry, the other services and federal agency partners, will continue to be an early adopter of alternative energy sources.

This is the latest sign of progress in the work taking place across the Administration to encourage the development of advanced biofuels. These efforts simultaneously strengthen the economic recovery in rural America and enhance our national security by decreasing our dependence on foreign oil and addressing the challenge of climate change.

PATUXENT RIVER, Md. (April 22, 2010) The Navy celebrates Earth Day by showcasing a supersonic flight test of the "Green Hornet," an F/A-18 Super Hornet strike fighter jet powered by a 50/50 biofuel blend. The test, conducted at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., drew hundreds of onlookers that included Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, who has made research, development, and increased use of alternative fuels a priority for the Department of the Navy. April 22, 2010. (by U.S. Navy photo by Kelly Schindler/Released)
Tony Russell is Communication Advisor for the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change.

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TIME’s Take on the Actuary’s Report

2010-04-23T16:34:00.000-07:00

TIME’s Take on the Actuary’s Report
Posted by Dan Pfeiffer on April 23, 2010 at 05:15 PM EDT
You may have seen an Associated Press story published this morning about the new report from the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services. The AP took a decidedly breathless tack in describing the report – and of course their story is now popping up in some familiar outlets that always opposed reform.

In reality, the Actuary’s report is little changed from a previous report issued months ago by the same office, and it underscores many of the major strengths of the new health reform legislation, as we noted here.

If you haven’t already seen it, here’s a piece from TIME Magazine on the same report. It offers a lot more context on the report itself, and should help put to rest some of the concerns kicked up by the AP’s coverage.

"Another Critical Health Reform Report," Kate Pickert Friday, April 23, 2010

Health reform proponents got another round of bad headlines today, as the chief actuary for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released a report saying that the new law will increase costs. According to an AP story by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, the report is "a worrisome assessment for Democrats," showing that while cost savings could come sometime after 2020, there is little hope of reducing spending in the next ten years. This sounds pretty bad, right?

Well, it is - if you consider it in a vacuum. The truth is the actuary who wrote the report, Richard S. Foster, authored a nearly identical report released January 8, 2010. Some of his figures changed in the interim - he wrote about the Senate bill in January and this week's report includes changes made by the reconciliation package that altered the Senate bill - but overall, Foster's assessment is the same.

The health reform law will increase overall spending in the near future because more people will have insurance and therefore access to medical care. Those who are now going without care because of cost will, post-implementation of reform, seek care, insurance or Medicaid card in hand. Reductions in Medicare reimbursements to providers may cause some to limit the Medicare patients they accept; future cuts to Medicare reimbursements called for in the bill may never happen due to political pressure; the long-term care insurance program created by the law may be unsustainable. This is all important, truthful information and provides a worthy counter-balance to those celebrating the health reform law's less contentious implications. But it's worth stressing what this report is not - surprising new information that was kept under wraps during the health reform debate. For instance, I wrote a story back in December about the potential pitfalls of the long-term care program.

Ezra Klein, who supports health reform, says he thinks "the report makes health-care reform look pretty good." I don't know if I'd go that far, but Klein does point out a few more things to consider when evaluating Foster's report - and news coverage of it:

The Congressional Budget Office's estimates look at the deficit. CMS is looking at total national health expenditures. This often confuses people into thinking that there's conflict between the two sets of numbers when there isn't: CBO says that federal spending is going to go up to pay for the coverage expansion, but that savings and revenue will go up by even more, leading to a net reduction in the federal deficit.

CMS is looking only at the spending side. And here's what it finds: In 2019, implementation of the Affordable Care Act will reduce the ranks of the uninsured by 34 million people and increase nation health expenditures by 1 percent.

One percent.

And that 1 percent is actually 1 percent and falling: When the legislation is fully implemented in 2016, the spending increase will be 2 percent. But cost controls kick in over those years and bring it down to 1 percent. Assuming the trend holds, the second decade will see national health expenditures fall below what spending would've been if the bill hadn't passed. So that's the bottom line of the report: We're covering 34 million people and come 2019, spending is expected to be one percentage point -- and falling -- above what it would've been if we'd done nothing.

The bottom line is that no one knows for sure if health reform will "bend the curve" of increasing medical spending. The law will experiment with cost controls that economists and health policy experts think could curb spending, but there's little certainty and a lot of politics likely to interfere while reform is being implemented and tweaked. Here's what Karen and I wrote recently about cost controls called for in the law.

Dan Pfeiffer is White House Communications Director

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24 Service Members Who Became Americans Today

2010-04-23T16:29:00.000-07:00

24 Service Members Who Became Americans Today
Posted by Secretary Janet Napolitano on April 23, 2010 at 04:23 PM EDT

Today, I was humbled to join the President at the White House to administer the oath of allegiance to 24 American service members as they became citizens of our nation. These men and women were born in 16 different countries, but they came to the United States sharing a common purpose, and chose to defend their adopted country even before they became citizens.

These men and women are shining examples of the energy, talent, and commitment that immigrants have always brought to our country. I am proud to call each of them fellow Americans.

President Barack Obama, lower left, looks on as 24 active duty service members raise their right hands during a naturalization ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House, April 23, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
All of today's new citizens joined or reenlisted in the military after 9/11, and made a commitment to defend America and its ideals even though they could be deployed to a hostile combat zone. But they stepped forward anyway to defend America’s safety and our nation’s ideals. For some of them, this meant serving three tours of duty in Iraq, or celebrating Mother’s Day with their children over videoconference.

While the sacrifice that these men and women have given – even while noncitizens – is extraordinary, their stories are not unique. Since 9/11, 58,000 members of our Armed Forces have become American citizens, oftentimes taking the oath of allegiance while deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan.

President Barack Obama presents Marine Sgt. Ledum Ndaanee, originally from Nigeria, the Outstanding American by Choice award during a naturalization ceremony for active duty service members in the Rose Garden of the White House. Ndaanee served two tours in Iraq where he was wounded by an IED in 2007. April 23, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
Americans are born in every part of the world, yet – like these men and women who became citizens today – they come to America because of their commitment to our ideals and their belief in the American Dream. Many of them risk their lives for their country even before they officially become citizens. The 24 service members who became Americans today remind us that immigrants like them have always been a tremendous strength of our country. This is a strength that we must continue to foster in the 21st century.

Janet Napolitano is Secretary of Homeland Security
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A New Beginning: Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship

2010-04-23T16:27:00.000-07:00

A New Beginning: Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship
Posted by Jenny Urizar on April 23, 2010 at 02:15 PM EDT
In his June 4th, 2009 address in Cairo, President Obama announced that the U.S. would host a Summit on Entrepreneurship to identify how we can deepen ties between business leaders, foundations, and entrepreneurs in the United States and Muslim communities around the world. The Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship will be held this coming Monday and Tuesday, April 26-27th at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C.

Co-hosted by the Departments of State and Commerce, the Summit will bring together more than 275 participants from over 50 countries around the world – from Morocco to Indonesia, Uganda to Kazakhstan, France to India. They include men and women from many different walks of life – business leaders from diverse sectors, educators, community organizers, and social entrepreneurs among others. With attendance by the President and various Cabinet Secretaries and senior U.S. Government officials, this Summit is meant to highlight the importance of entrepreneurship to fostering economic opportunity and community development. And, as the President said in Cairo almost one year ago, education and innovation will be the currency of the 21st century, and the Summit will help build relationships that lead to greater opportunity at home and abroad.

We have some amazing participants from all around the world attending the Summit. They’re here to identify ways to advance economic and social entrepreneurship, build networks among stakeholders in entrepreneurship, and provide an opportunity to establish partnerships that advance entrepreneurship. Check out some great coverage of the participants here and get additional information at www.entrepreneurship.gov/summit.

We want you to be able to participate in this discussion, too. At the Summit on Entrepreneurship, GOOD, an independent media platform and community for the globally-conscious people, businesses, and NGOs will interview featured entrepreneurs to capture their perspectives on how to advance entrepreneurship around the world. You can also watch the President’s remarks here on whitehouse.gov/live.

Jenny Urizar is Director for Global Engagement at the National Security Council
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Another Perspective on the Actuary's Report on Health Reform

2010-04-23T16:26:00.001-07:00

Another Perspective on the Actuary's Report on Health Reform
Posted by Nancy-Ann DeParle on April 23, 2010 at 01:00 PM EDT
Yesterday, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of the Actuary released its analysis of the Affordable Care Act. The analysis was requested by Congressional Republicans and is largely similar to previous analyses done by the Actuary. This report examines features in the new law that will help strengthen our health care system and found that under reform, Medicare will be stronger, with premiums decreasing by nearly $200 per person per year by 2018 and that the life of the Medicare Trust fund is extended by an additional 12 years. The Actuary also noted that an additional 34 million Americans will gain health insurance by 2019.

But there are some areas where we disagree with the Actuary, particularly when it comes to the new law and the growth of health care costs. Even the Actuary states that its predictions aren’t set in stone, and notes that the estimates are “subject to much greater uncertainty than normal.” And as a former CMS Administrator, I helped implement the Balanced Budget Act and saw how both the Office of the Actuary and the Congressional Budget Office substantially underestimated the savings that were achieved.

Most importantly, the analysis discounts proposals that other independent experts credit with getting at the root causes of health care cost growth. The Affordable Care Act, for example:

•Creates a health insurance exchange that will demand accountability from insurers and set up a competition choice system that would pressure insurers to lower premiums.
•Establishes ways for Medicare to adopt cutting-edge payment reforms, such as the new Innovation Center that will transform Medicare payment policies, whose benefits will spill over to the private sector.
•Creates Accountable Care Organizations and other ways to promote value – so that beneficiaries are getting better care not just expensive care. The plan gives health care providers incentives to coordinate care to improve the quality of care as well as efficiency.
Health policy experts and economists who have studied the bill have agreed that the new law will help bring down health care costs, and that it utilizes almost all the possible tools to reduce health care costs. In fact, a broad coalition of economists wrote to President Obama and Congress calling for reform, precisely because it will help bring down health care costs.

The analysis also raises questions about whether reform will lead to a shortage of doctors and hospitals for Medicare patients. But contrary to the Actuary’s speculation, there is no evidence that providers would not continue to serve Medicare patients, and the report ignores key provisions that will strengthen our health care workforce. And when the Actuary raised similar concerns months ago, hospital leaders reaffirmed their commitment to serving America’s seniors. Moreover, organizations like the American Hospital Association and American Medical Association supported reform and would have been unlikely to back the law if they believed it would hurt their own viability.

Now, the President and his administration are fully focused on the next challenge: making sure the law is implemented quickly and effectively. As we continue this important work, we will be answering your questions about the new law. Yesterday, leaders from AARP and the Department of Health and Human Services took your questions in a live town hall and we’ll continue to providing important information about the benefits of reform for all Americans.

Nancy-Ann DeParle is Director of the White House Office of Health Reform
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A Practice That Will Soon Be Illegal

2010-04-23T16:24:00.001-07:00

A Practice That Will Soon Be Illegal
Posted by Dan Pfeiffer on April 23, 2010 at 11:45 AM EDT
Just yesterday, we read with great alarm a news report that WellPoint, one of the country’s largest health insurers, is routinely dropping coverage for women that are diagnosed with breast cancer.

These are the kinds of scenarios that motivated the President to work so long and so hard to pass health reform. And because of the health reform legislation passed last month, the worst excesses and abuses of the insurance industry – including what WellPoint is said to have done -- will soon be reined in by new tough consumer protections.

Yesterday, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wrote a letter to WellPoint’s CEO urging her company to immediately end this harmful practice:

April 22, 2010

[To: Angela Braly, WellPoint]

Dear Ms. Braly:

I was surprised and disappointed to read media accounts indicating that WellPoint routinely rescinds health insurance coverage from women recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Today’s report from Reuters indicating that your company “has specifically targeted women with breast cancer for aggressive investigation with the intent to cancel their policies” is disturbing, and this practice is deplorable.

As you know, the practice described in this article will soon be illegal. The Affordable Care Act specifically prohibits insurance companies from rescinding policies, except in cases of fraud or intentional misrepresentation of material fact.

WellPoint should not wait to end the unconscionable practice of deliberately working to deny health insurance coverage to women diagnosed with breast cancer. I urge you to immediately cease these practices and abandon your efforts to rescind health insurance coverage from patients who need it most.

Breast cancer is the second-leading type of cancer among women, has touched millions of families, and will affect one in eight American women during their lifetime. This year alone, an estimated 192,000 American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer.

I hope you will consider these women and their families as you work to end this harmful practice.

Sincerely,

Kathleen Sebelius

Dan Pfeiffer is White House Communications Director

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Earth Day Round Up from Across the Administration

2010-04-23T16:21:00.000-07:00

Earth Day Round Up from Across the Administration
Posted by Katelyn Sabochik on April 22, 2010 at 07:15 PM EDT

It’s been a busy Earth Day here at the White House and around the Administration. Yesterday Vice President Biden kicked off the Administration’s Earth Day Celebration by announcing $452 million in Recovery Act funding to support a “Retrofit Ramp-Up.” This program will create thousands of jobs and allow these communities to retrofit hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses while testing out innovative strategies that can be adopted all over the country. President Obama also issued a Presidential Proclamation on Earth Day calling on Americans to join in the spirit of the first Earth Day forty years ago to take action in their communities to make our planet cleaner and healthier.

This afternoon, Carol Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, hosted a live chat on WhiteHouse.gov to answer your questions about how the Administration is working to improve the environment and build a clean energy economy that supports the jobs of the future. This evening, the President hosted an Earth Day reception in the Rose Garden at the White House where he discussed some of the challenges that lie ahead in achieving a clean energy economy:

I think we all understand that the task ahead is daunting; that the work ahead will not be easy and it’s not going to happen overnight. It’s going to take your leadership. It’s going to take all of your ideas. And it will take all of us coming together in the spirit of Earth Day -- not only on Earth Day but every day -- to make the dream of a clean energy economy and a clean world a reality.

Over on the Social Innovation and Civic Participation blog, guest blogger and former Peace Corps volunteer Kelly McCormack shares here story about a community solution to an environmental problem in Gautemala.

Finally, President Obama’s cabinet and other senior government officials fanned out across the country as part of the Administration’s 5-day celebration of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. From live chats, to announcing major investments in renewable energy, to appearing on the David Letterman show - all-in-all a busy day!

•Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson
Both EPA and Earth Day celebrate their 40th birthdays this year! On Earth Day, Administrator Jackson joined Green For All at the Grant Houses Community Garden in Manhattan to take a tour of the garden, deliver remarks to students and volunteers and participate in a planting activity with volunteers. Later tonight catch her on the David Letterman Show to talk about the 40th anniversary of Earth Day and the President’s clean energy and green jobs agenda. Check out EPA’s Earth Day website to learn more about what they are doing to celebrate 40 years of going green!
•Energy Secretary Steven Chu
On the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that the Department will invest more than $200 million over five years to expand and accelerate the development, commercialization, and use of solar and water power technologies throughout the United States.

•Commerce Secretary Gary Locke
Secretary Locke spoke in Jersey City, N.J., at the Lincoln Park restoration project that is turning a landfill into a healthy wetland. NOAA funded this habitat restoration project through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

•White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley
Chair Sutley will deliver remarks at the Earth Day Network’s 40th Anniversary of Earth Day festivities on the National Mall this Sunday. Today she shared her personal reflections on Earth Day on the White House blog.

•Labor Secretary Hilda Solis
Earlier today Secretary Solis hosted a webchat to discuss issues and opportunities related to Earth Day. The Department of Labor also issued a report detailing green job training opportunities made available over the past year, including $490 million in Recovery Act funding for green jobs training.

•Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki
Secretary Shinseki awarded $20.2 million to install solar energy systems at 18 VA medical centers through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

•Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus celebrated Earth Day by attending a flight test of the "Green Hornet," an F/A-18 Super Hornet multirole fighter jet powered by a biofuel blend. Secretary Mabus has made the exploration and adoption of alternative fuels a priority for the Navy and Marine Corps.

•Interior Secretary Ken Salazar
Secretary Salazar joined hundreds of children on the National Mall for a Buddy the Bison Hike sponsored by the National Park Service. Later he joined the Earth Day Network event on the mall to talk the need to address urgent environmental crises such as climate change.

•Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood
Secretary LaHood celebrated Earth Day at a rally in Chicago with Mayor Daley and the Chicago Climate Action Plan. You can read more about his day on his blog Fastlane.

•Education Secretary Arne Duncan
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan delivered remarks at a ceremony commemorating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day Thursday at the National Mall in Washington.

•Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad Allen
Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen reflected on his blog "iCommandant" on the Coast Guard’s mission of saving lives and saving the planet by helping to protect and preserve marine life and habitats.

•Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John Holdren
OSTP Director John Holdren hosted a free, public, evening lecture on the topic of: “Science and Technology for Sustainable Well-Being: Priorities and Policies in the Obama Administration” at Sibley Auditorium in the Bechtel Engineering Center at the University of California, Berkeley. He also engaged in a number of Earth Day activities during the day arranged with UCB’s Energy and Resources Group, an interdisciplinary graduate degree-granting arm of the University.
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West Wing Week: “Competing the Old-Fashioned Way”

2010-04-23T16:17:00.000-07:00

West Wing Week: “Competing the Old-Fashioned Way”
Posted by Arun Chaudhary on April 23, 2010 at 06:00 AM EDT
Thanks so much for checking out the West Wing Week, your guide to all things 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. This installment takes you step-by-step with the President as he hosts the Great Outdoors Conference, holds a meeting of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, meets with his Special Envoy to the Sudan, discusses Supreme Court nominations with congressional leadership, travels to New York City to talk Wall Street Reform, and celebrates the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day in the White House Rose Garden.

We also pulled out a clip from a Martin Luther King Jr. Day discussion that President Obama held in the Roosevelt Room. One of those present was Dr. Dorothy Height who passed away last week at the age of 98, a hero of the civil rights movement and an inspiration to all Americans.

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Making Healthy Decisions for Myself and My Family

2010-04-22T15:25:00.000-07:00

Making Healthy Decisions for Myself and My Family
Posted by Noelle Pikus-Pace on April 22, 2010 at 04:13 PM EDT
As an Olympic athlete I had the opportunity to visit the White House yesterday and meet President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, as well as Vice President Biden and his wife Jill Biden. I was impressed by the gratitude that they shared with us for representing our country in the Olympic Winter Games as well as the architecture and the history within the White House. What an amazing experience.

I chose to participate in the First Lady's Let's Move! initiative to combat childhood obesity from the moment that I heard about it. As an athlete, moving around and staying fit is critical to my performance. Just as importantly, as a mom, I move around and stay active not only for myself, but also to be an example to my daughter Lacee. It is so important for her to move around now, at 2 years of age, in order to form healthy, lifelong habits that will help to prevent childhood obesity in her life. Along with moving around, as an athlete, mom, and individual, it is very important to make healthy food choices. The choices that I make may impact Lacee's life for better or worse.

Everyday as an athlete I wake up and decide to either make good healthy decisions that will lead me toward my goals or I can choose to make poor decisions that will lead me away from my goals. Athletes are not the only ones faced with these health-wise decisions. Everyone of us has a choice to make everyday. We need to make good choices not only for ourselves, but to be examples of healthy living for kids as well so that they we can teach them the importance of moving around and eating healthy foods.

Noelle Pikus-Pace is a 2010 Winter Olympian, Skeleton

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Take Your Child to Work Day

2010-04-22T15:21:00.000-07:00

Take Your Child to Work Day
Posted by Kori Schulman on April 22, 2010 at 03:38 PM EDT
Today the First Lady welcomed children of Executive Office employees to the White House for the annual “Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day” event. In a question and answer session in the East Room, the First Lady fielded the children’s questions with Bo at her side.

Here are a few of highlights, or read the full remarks here.

Q Do you like living in the White House?

MRS. OBAMA: The question is: Do I like living in the White House? And yes, it’s fun living in the White House.

(Bo barks.) (Laughter.) Bo likes it, too. Bo likes living in the White House, too. Some of the most fun parts about living in the White House is getting to share the house with so many people. I mean, we have thousands of people who come here every month just to visit, and it’s really fun to meet a lot of people and to make sure that they feel like this house is special for them, and to share it with everybody else. So it’s been a lot of fun. There are a lot of good things about it.

Q What inspired you to become so involved in child obesity?

MRS. OBAMA: You know, it was just watching how children’s diets and habits change. Then I saw it in my household, just how easy it was with schedules being as busy as they are, and parents working a lot of hours. And we get into the habit of giving you guys what’s easy sometimes, Mac and Cheese every night, and driving through the drive-thru a little bit too much. And time is just short.

And I noticed it in my own household. And I thought, well, if I’m having these kind of challenges, it must be hard for the average family who doesn’t have a lot of resources and things like that.
Q How is the obesity cure going?

MRS. OBAMA: How’s that going, that cure thing? (Laughter.) Yeah, yeah, well, we haven’t quite solved it yet -- (laughter) -- but we’re on our way.

There are some people who think that -- some scientists who say that the link to obesity is genetic, like it’s something that you’re born with. But what we’re trying to figure out is how do we change behavior, particularly in kids, to just teach them different habits, right?

So my theory is that kids can learn to love vegetables just as much as they can learn to love the taste of candy. I truly believe that. You may not agree, but I think that if you guys are eating healthy things on a regular basis, you start to like them, and you start making choices about a snack so that instead of a snack being a piece of candy, a good snack could be a nice bunch of grapes. Right? How many people like grapes?

So that’s one of those learned things. So instead of saying, Mom, Mom, I’m hungry, can I have a bag of chips? You’ll say, Mom, Mom, I’m hungry, can I have a bunch of grapes? And if you say that I guarantee you she’ll say yes every single time, and they’ll be just as good.

So if we start teaching different habits, if you guys ask for different things, then eventually that will help with your health. And if you’re moving and exercising, that will make you healthy and that will help cure the -- solve the problem of obesity. But we’ve got a lot of work to do and we’re going to need all of you to help us do it.

Q What is your favorite part about being the First Lady and having the power to change like the world and stuff?

MRS. OBAMA: Oh, did you hear that? I have the power to change things.

Q Yeah.

MRS. OBAMA: Yeah, yeah. My favorite thing is, you know, the feeling that with even small gestures you can impact people’s lives in ways -- I mean, sometimes it’s not even doing anything, but the fact that I can go to a school just for a visit and bring attention to what they’re doing just by coming to visit. I can use this platform to highlight issues that are important and to point out people that are already doing really good things.

So it’s not always anything that I can do, but it’s helping other people get the attention around the good things that they’re already doing -- hard work and sacrifice, people who are doing things for their families. It’s an exciting opportunity to be able to shine the light.

Like, today we’re getting to see how smart you guys are, the whole country is getting to see just how bright and engaging you guys are and how eager you are to ask questions and to learn. And that’s important for us to remember every day, just how important our young people are and just how curious and ready to do anything you all are. So that’s fun.

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The President Speaks to Wall Street, Republicans, and All of America

2010-04-22T15:16:00.000-07:00

The President Speaks to Wall Street, Republicans, and All of America
Posted by Jesse Lee on April 22, 2010 at 01:23 PM EDT
Ed. Note: Austan Goolsbee of the Council of Economic Advisers will take your questions following up on the President's speech in a live video discussion Friday at 2:00PM EDT. Watch at WhiteHouse.gov/live or join the conversation via UStream.

At noon today the President spoke to an audience that included many from the financial sector at Cooper Union in New York City, a place where he spoke about reforming Wall Street and financial institutions two years ago:

As I said on this stage two years ago, I believe in the power of the free market. I believe in a strong financial sector that helps people to raise capital and get loans and invest their savings. That’s part of what has made America what it is. But a free market was never meant to be a free license to take whatever you can get, however you can get it. That’s what happened too often in the years leading up to this crisis. Some -- and let me be clear, not all -- but some on Wall Street forgot that behind every dollar traded or leveraged there’s family looking to buy a house, or pay for an education, open a business, save for retirement. What happens on Wall Street has real consequences across the country, across our economy.

The President applauded the House for having passed reforms, and the Senate for working through their own version, despite “the furious effort of industry lobbyists to shape this legislation to their special interests.” He then spoke directly to those in the audience and the area who might be paying those lobbyists:

And for those of you in the financial sector I'm sure that some of these lobbyists work for you and they’re doing what they are being paid to do. But I’m here today specifically -- when I speak to the titans of industry here -- because I want to urge you to join us, instead of fighting us in this effort. (Applause.) I’m here because I believe that these reforms are, in the end, not only in the best interest of our country, but in the best interest of the financial sector. And I’m here to explain what reform will look like, and why it matters.

President Barack Obama delivers remarks on Wall Street reform at the Cooper Union in New York, New York, April 22, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
The President focused on four key elements of his plan for reform:

Now, first, the bill being considered in the Senate would create what we did not have before, and that is a way to protect the financial system and the broader economy and American taxpayers in the event that a large financial firm begins to fail. If there’s a Lehmans or an AIG, how can we respond in a way that doesn’t force taxpayers to pick up the tab or, alternatively, could bring down the whole system.

He acknowledged that there might be legitimate debate about the best way to approach that issue, but made clear that he had no patience for those making the false claim that somehow reform would lead to more bailouts: “In other words, a vote for reform is a vote to put a stop to taxpayer-funded bailouts. That’s the truth. End of story. And nobody should be fooled in this debate.” He then moved on to the second component:

Number two, reform would bring new transparency to many financial markets. As you know, part of what led to this crisis was firms like AIG and others who were making huge and risky bets, using derivatives and other complicated financial instruments, in ways that defied accountability, or even common sense. In fact, many practices were so opaque, so confusing, so complex that the people inside the firms didn’t understand them, much less those who were charged with overseeing them. They weren’t fully aware of the massive bets that were being placed. That’s what led Warren Buffett to describe derivatives that were bought and sold with little oversight as “financial weapons of mass destruction.” That’s what he called them. And that’s why reform will rein in excess and help ensure that these kinds of transactions take place in the light of day.

The President applauded the Republican Senator who crossed the aisle to support Democratic efforts on reining in derivatives, and moved on to the third major priority in reform:

Third, this plan would enact the strongest consumer financial protections ever. (Applause.) And that's absolutely necessary because this financial crisis wasn’t just the result of decisions made in the executive suites on Wall Street; it was also the result of decisions made around kitchen tables across America, by folks who took on mortgages and credit cards and auto loans. And while it’s true that many Americans took on financial obligations that they knew or should have known they could not have afforded, millions of others were, frankly, duped. They were misled by deceptive terms and conditions, buried deep in the fine print.

Speaking on the fourth and final main component, the President addressed one of the biggest sources of anger across the country over the past years:

Number four, the last key component of reform. These Wall Street reforms will give shareholders new power in the financial system. They will get what we call a say on pay, a voice with respect to the salaries and bonuses awarded to top executives. And the SEC will have the authority to give shareholders more say in corporate elections, so that investors and pension holders have a stronger role in determining who manages the company in which they’ve placed their savings.

Now, Americans don’t begrudge anybody for success when that success is earned. But when we read in the past, and sometimes in the present, about enormous executive bonuses at firms -- even as they’re relying on assistance from taxpayers or they’re taking huge risks that threaten the system as a whole or their company is doing badly -- it offends our fundamental values.

Not only that, some of the salaries and bonuses that we’ve seen creates perverse incentives to take reckless risks that contributed to the crisis. It’s what helped lead to a relentless focus on a company’s next quarter, to the detriment of its next year or its next decade. And it led to a situation in which folks with the most to lose -- stock and pension holders -- had the least to say in the process. And that has to change. (Applause.)

The President urged the audience to recognize that there are legitimate issues at hand, even if all parties will not always agree on everything, and to join him in supporting commonsense reforms.

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Title IX: Giving Girls a Sporting Chance

2010-04-22T15:04:00.000-07:00

Title IX: Giving Girls a Sporting Chance
Posted by Valerie Jarrett on April 22, 2010 at 01:00 PM EDT
As Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls, I was honored and excited to join world-class women athletes, the Vice President, and the Secretary of Education in a Title IX Announcement event Tuesday afternoon at George Washington University.

Vice President Joe Biden delivers remarks on Title IX at George Washington University in Washington DC, April 20, 2010. Also present are Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, and former intern Joy Cheek. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)
.Title IX was enacted in 1972 and mandates that all educational institutions receiving federal funding create equal opportunities, for both boys and girls, in both academics and all other school activities. The announcement by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan enhances and strengthens the standards for Title IX compliance.

In the 38 years since enactment, we have seen how Title IX has helped women compete at all levels, producing real benefits for them later in life. For example, Title IX has been critical in improving the health of women and girls. New economic research has found that the increase in girls' athletic participation caused by Title IX was associated with a seven percent lower risk of obesity for those girls 20 to 25 years later. No other public health program can claim similar success. Title IX has also contributed to improving the economic well-being of women and girls. A recent study by the Wharton Business School shows that being a high school athlete is associated with 14 percent higher wages for women. Learn more about Title IX and the strengthened standards by reading Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights Russlynn Ali's blog post.

At the event highlighting Title IX and women's athletics, girls participate in sports clinics with collegiate and professional athletes. (Photo by Joshua Hoover, U.S. Department of Education)
.But there is perhaps no better evidence of the benefits of Title IX than seeing young girls interact with the WNBA players, the members of the Silver Medal-winning USA Women's Olympic Hockey Team, and the many skilled collegiate athletes who participated in Tuesday's event. These all-star women shot hoops and practiced their volleyball serves in clinics during the program, and in doing so, may have inspired the next great WNBA player or Olympian.

This event was not only a reminder as to why Title IX is important, but more broadly, it was a reminder as to why the Council's work through the agencies remains relevant and continues to make a difference in the lives of women and girls.

Valerie Jarrett is a Senior Advisor to the President and Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls

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Happy Earth Day!

2010-04-22T15:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Earth Day!
Posted by Nancy Sutley on April 22, 2010 at 10:52 AM EDT
Today, as we celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, I find myself thinking about some of my favorite childhood places, and how they continue to inspire me to work toward a healthier planet.

Many of my fondest memories took place outside. I recall playing in my small backyard in Queens, NY, and sledding with friends in our many neighborhood parks. I also remember my family’s annual vacations to the beach or the mountains, and how I marveled at their beauty. Our outdoor spaces provide a sense of peace and add immeasurably to our quality of life. They give us a chance to experience nature and to be around wildlife, and they fuel our imaginations and our spirits. These places and experiences embolden our sense of duty to protect the environment and our planet from the threat of pollution.

The Obama Administration has taken great strides to keep our air and water clean, and understands that a healthy environment and a healthy economy go hand in hand. We have made a historic investment through the Recovery Act in clean energy that will create the jobs of tomorrow and lay the foundation for long-term economic growth. In March 2009, the President signed the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, the most extensive expansion of land and water conservation in more than a generation. And just last Friday, the President signed a Presidential Memorandum establishing the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative to promote and support innovative community-level efforts that will help us build a community-centered 21st century conservation agenda that protects the many beautiful places and outdoor traditions of our great Nation from the ground up. We are developing recommendations for a national ocean policy to protect our oceans, coasts, and the Great Lakes; we are working to protect and restore Louisiana and Mississippi coastal ecosystems; we have renewed our commitment to restore the California Bay Delta and to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes.

And that’s just a snapshot of our efforts. But, while the Federal Government must and will play a role, we also need Americans to help lead. The story of the last four decades is about innovation. It’s about the American spirit of ingenuity that we called upon to answer the environmental and public health challenges of 40 years ago, and that will also meet the challenges of today.

This Earth Day, we can all learn about the environmental issues of today, and how to take action in our own homes or communities. www.whitehouse.gov/earthday is a valuable resource where you can begin. Happy Earth Day!

Nancy Sutley is the Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality

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Bringing Down Health Care Costs for America’s Businesses and Seniors

2010-04-22T14:57:00.000-07:00

Bringing Down Health Care Costs for America’s Businesses and Seniors
Posted by Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on April 22, 2010 at 10:27 AM EDT
For too many older Americans, early retirement has meant losing access to affordable care and the peace of mind that comes with quality, affordable health insurance. When retirees try to purchase coverage on their own, they are left with plans that are prohibitively expensive with astronomical out of pocket costs. Some go without insurance, leaving them at a higher risk of contracting a chronic disease that can be expensive to treat. Others delay retirement, just to keep their health insurance.

Businesses suffer too. Employers across the country want to provide their retirees with health benefits, but skyrocketing health care costs have forced many to curtail or eliminate benefits for their retirees altogether.

One of our major goals in enacting health reform was to help lower costs for families and businesses and ensure everyone -- including retirees -- has access to care. Now, thanks to the new Affordable Care Act, many older Americans who have stayed awake nights worrying about losing benefits and many employers who are trying to help provide security for their work forces can breathe a sigh of relief. Help is on the way.

The new law provides help for many older Americans over the age of fifty-five through an early retiree reinsurance program available to businesses starting this June and some critical resources for employer-based plans.

Here is how it works. The early retiree reinsurance program created in the new law provides $5 billion for temporary financial help for employer plans to continue to provide valuable coverage to certain retirees. For more details, including what types of employer-sponsored plans are eligible and how payments will be made, check out this fact sheet.

Reinsurance programs have a proven track record of helping lower health care costs for businesses. Reinsurance has been successfully used by a number of states to lower premiums for small businesses. It is an idea that has been advocated by large businesses, who wanted it to be part of the Affordable Care Act because they believe it will defray the high and often unpredictable cost of early retirees, helping them to maintain retiree benefits at affordable levels.

This program will provide many employers with the assistance they need and will help ensure they can continue to cover their retirees, and it's one of many benefits of the new law that I will discuss today at 1:00pm EDT during a special online web chat that you can watch live at www.hhs.gov/live. Health experts from HHS and AARP answer your questions about the benefits health reform brings for America’s seniors, so send your questions about the early retiree reinsurance program or any other questions you have to healthreform@hhs.gov and we’ll do our best to answer them during the chat.

Kathleen Sebelius is the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

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Building a New Foundation for Energy and the Environment

2010-04-13T15:23:00.000-07:00

Building a New Foundation for Energy and the Environment
Posted by Anthony Russell on April 13, 2010 at 05:34 PM EDT
In the last 15 months, President Obama and his Administration have made significant progress in changing the way America thinks about energy and the environment, making the vision of a 21st century clean energy economy a reality. From historic investments in clean energy infrastructure and technology; improved efficiency for buildings, appliances and automobiles; more diverse energy production from domestic and renewable sources; and reduced emissions that contribute to climate change – the President’s comprehensive strategy has put Americans back in control of their energy future, created new jobs and laid the foundation for long-term economic security, and led by example in exercising good stewardship of our environment.

To continue the progress, we need your help. President Obama believes, "...that change won’t come from Washington alone. It will come from Americans across the country who take steps in their own homes and their own communities to make that change happen." So today, in honor of the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, President Obama is challenging Americans to take action to change our nation’s energy and environmental future.

Visit WhiteHouse.gov/earthday to learn more about what you can do in your homes, communities, schools and businesses to answer the President’s call-to-action to help lay a new foundation for energy and the environment.

Anthony Russell is the Communication Advisor for the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change

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Health Reform and the Recovery Act: Unprecedented Tax Cuts for the Middle Class

2010-04-13T15:20:00.001-07:00

Health Reform and the Recovery Act: Unprecedented Tax Cuts for the Middle Class
Posted by Dan Pfeiffer on April 13, 2010 at 04:20 PM EDT
It’s that time of year where we’re all filling out our tax forms to get them in under the deadline, so we thought it would be worth taking a step back and looking over how two of the President’s top priorities – health reform and the Recovery Act – are helping to give a little relief to middle class families. While some critics and media outlets may want to mislead the public, or cherry-pick provisions to give another impression, there is no debating the fact that making the tax code more fair for the middle class, and helping working families get through these tough economic times has been the central plank of the President’s agenda.

Health Reform: The health reform legislation signed into law by President Obama includes the largest health care tax cut in history for middle class families, helping to make insurance much more affordable for millions of families. Here’s a more extensive list of how health reform helps ease the financial burden on the middle class:

The largest health care tax cut in history for middle class families.
Americans buying the same coverage they have today in the individual market will see premiums fall by 14 to 20 percent compared to what they would pay without health insurance reform and by as much as 3% for those who get coverage through their employers.
The Small Business Health Care Tax Credit can cover up to 35 percent of the premiums a small business pays to cover its workers. In 2014, the rate will increase to 50 percent
Reduces out-of-pocket expenses so insurance doesn’t still leave families holding the bag
Bans lifetime limits on coverage
The Recovery Act: As the President noted in his last Weekly Address, you can get a good handle on how the Recovery Act might help you out on your taxes through our Tax Savings Tool. Here’s a glance at how the numbers break down nationwide:

Over $160 Billion - Tax relief provided through the Recovery Act so far to families and businesses.
Nearly $3,000 - The record average tax refund taxpayers are seeing this tax season, something the IRS says is largely due to the Recovery Act.
Nearly 10% - The percentage average tax refunds are up this year - something the IRS says is largely due to Recovery Act tax credits.
95% - The percentage of working families benefiting from the Recovery Act's Making Work Pay tax credit, making it the broadest tax credit in the history of the country.
$800 - The amount most married couples are collecting through their paychecks this year thanks to the Recovery Act's Making Work Pay tax credit. Individuals collected $400 this year thanks to Making Work Pay.
Up to $2,500 - The expanded amount eligible taxpayers can collect with the American Opportunity Credit to help cover college expanses thanks to the Recovery Act.
Up to $8,000 - The amount new homebuyers can collect this year for purchasing their first home thanks to the Recovery Act's expansion of the First-Time Homebuyers Tax Credit.
Up to $1,500 - The amount homeowners can collect this year on improvements made to their homes like energy-efficient windows, doors and insulation thanks to Recovery Act tax credits.
65% - The amount by which the Recovery Act cut the cost of COBRA health insurance premiums for unemployed workers last year through an up-front tax credit.
Dan Pfeiffer is White House Communications Director

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False Criticisms to Obscure Clear Choices

2010-04-13T15:18:00.001-07:00

False Criticisms to Obscure Clear Choices
Posted by Jen Psaki on April 13, 2010 at 04:15 PM EDT
As we continue to work toward reforming Wall Street and making it accountable, we’re going to see the usual suspects try to misrepresent the legislation.

These same opponents of reform are pushing for loopholes and carve-outs in the bill large enough to drive a truck through.

The reality is that there’s a clear choice in this debate: to stand with American families or stand on the side of the big Wall Street banks and their lobbyists who are defending the status quo. Opponents of reform are protecting the big banks at the expense of American families -- so they’re going to do whatever they can to keep the present system in place and leave the American taxpayer with the bill.

One false criticism we’re hearing is this: that the Senate bill will allow endless taxpayer-funded bailouts of financial firms. What they won’t tell you is that they are taking their marching orders from a partisan political consultant who has told them that the best way to oppose real reform is to link it to the bank bailouts. In fact, the polling memo they’re working from explicitly states that “the best way to kill any legislation is to link it to the Big Bank Bailout.” No matter what the bill actually does, they’re going to call it a bailout because that’s what the polls tell them to do.

Here are the facts: this bill does the exact opposite of what these critics say it does. The Senate bill explicitly mandates that a large financial firm that faces failure will be allowed to fail, and it explicitly prohibits the use of any funds to “bail out” a failing firm. Under the Senate bill, large financial firms facing insolvency in times of crisis will be shut down or broken apart. Management will be replaced. Creditors will suffer losses. Equity holders will be wiped out. And large financial firms, not taxpayers, will be required to bear the costs. Under the Senate bill, the taxpayers will never be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street’s irresponsibility.

President Obama has been committed to enacting real Wall Street reform since well before taking office, and he believes that momentum is on the side of greater accountability for Wall Street and strong protections for consumers. The idea that we would walk away learning no lessons from this financial crisis – after over 8 million Americans lost their jobs and trillions in household wealth disappeared – is simply unacceptable. It’s time to set new rules of the road to fix the behavior that led to this crisis, because the American people have suffered too much to enact reform that does too little. Inaction is simply not an option.

Jen Psaki is Deputy Communications Director

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"An Opportunity -- Not Simply to Talk, But to Act"

2010-04-13T15:15:00.000-07:00

"An Opportunity -- Not Simply to Talk, But to Act"
Posted by Jesse Lee on April 13, 2010 at 01:53 PM EDT

Today the President and delegations from 46 other nations are working to address the most dire threat of our time: nuclear terrorism. It is the second day of the Nuclear Security Summit, following a first day during which several nations made significant commitments which will strengthen the global effort to maintain nuclear security and nonproliferation. For instance:

Chile has shipped its highly enriched uranium to the United States; Ukraine has agreed to ship its highly enriched uranium out of the country within two years; and Canada has agreed to ship its used highly enriched uranium to the United States.
The United States and Russia have reached an agreement on plutonium disposal, a deal that has been stalled since 2000, and which commits both countries to eliminate enough total plutonium for approximately 17,000 nuclear weapons.
Recognizing the importance of this summit, and that its goals require a long-term commitment, South Korea has agreed to host the next Nuclear Security Summit in 2012.
And of course this summit follows two major steps on the issues of nuclear security, non-proliferation, and the threat of nuclear terrorism: the release of the Nuclear Posture Review and the signing of the New START Treaty with Russia. This morning the President addressed the first of two major Plenary Sessions, offering his condolences to the people of Poland for their recent losses, and once again laying out the scope of the threat before closing on his vision for progress.

So today is an opportunity -- not simply to talk, but to act. Not simply to make pledges, but to make real progress on the security of our people. All this, in turn, requires something else, which is something more fundamental. It will require a new mindset -- that we summon the will, as nations and as partners, to do what this moment in history demands.

I believe strongly that the problems of the 21st century cannot be solved by any one nation acting in isolation. They must be solved by all of us coming together.

At the dawn of the nuclear age that he helped to unleash, Albert Einstein said: “Now everything has changed…” And he warned: “We are drifting towards a catastrophe beyond comparison. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive.”

That truth endures today. For the sake of our common security, for the sake of our survival, we cannot drift. We need a new manner of thinking -- and action. That is the challenge before us. And I thank all of you for being here to confront that challenge together, in partnership.

And with that, I’m going to ask that we take a few moments to allow the press to exit before our first session.

UPDATE: From the course of the day, read the President's statement on Russia shutting down its final plutonium reactor, as well as the Trilateral Announcement Between Mexico, the United States, and Canada on Nuclear Security.

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First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden visit Haiti

2010-04-13T15:13:00.001-07:00

First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden visit Haiti
Posted by Katie McCormick Lelyveld on April 13, 2010 at 12:00 PM EDT
Moments ago First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden landed in Port-au-Prince, Haiti – a visit to underscore to the Haitian people and the Haitian government the enduring U.S. commitment to help recover and rebuild, especially as we enter the rainy and hurricane seasons. Mrs. Obama and Dr. Biden will thank the women and men across the whole of the U.S. government for their extraordinary efforts in Haiti during the past three months and reach out to the UN and international relief communities in recognition of the truly global effort underway to help Haiti.

Check back later tonight for photo and video updates from the trip.

Katie McCormick Lelyveld is Press Secretary to First Lady Michelle Obama

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Grand Challenges of the 21st Century -- Your Ideas Welcome

2010-04-13T15:11:00.001-07:00

Grand Challenges of the 21st Century -- Your Ideas Welcome
Posted by Thomas Kalil on April 13, 2010 at 10:14 AM EDT
One of the goals of President Obama's Strategy for American Innovation is to harness science and technology to address the "grand challenges" of the 21st century in areas such as health, clean energy, national security, and education and life-long learning. Grand challenges are important national goals like putting a man on the Moon or sequencing the human genome that require advances in science and technology to achieve. They also have the potential to drive sustainable economic growth and the creation of quality jobs.

Examples of specific goals that have been previously articulated by the President and others include early detection of dozens of diseases from a saliva sample, solar cells as cheap as paint, and educational software that is as compelling as the best video game and effective as a personal tutor.

In February 2010, the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Economic Council released a "Request for Information" to collect input from the public regarding the grand challenges identified in the President's innovation strategy, other possible grand challenges, and the partners (e.g. companies, universities, non-profit organizations) that would need to collaboration to achieve these ambitious goals. The deadline for responses is Thursday, April 15th.

Harnessing the expertise of the American people is a key element of President Obama's open government agenda.

I'm delighted that Expert Labs, a project of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, has developed some great tools to help the government (and anyone else, for that matter) capture the ideas and insights of participants in social networks. For example, you can send your idea via twitter by replying to @whitehouse and including the #whgc hashtag (a tip: check out other ideas with this search).

You can also email your ideas to challenge@ostp.gov.

We are really looking forward to reviewing your ideas, and to sharing the progress that we make in the weeks and months ahead to reach these ambitious goals.

Thomas Kalil is Deputy Director for Policy for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

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Nuclear Security Summit Day 2: Taking Your Questions

2010-04-13T15:09:00.000-07:00

Nuclear Security Summit Day 2: Taking Your Questions
Posted by Jesse Lee on April 13, 2010 at 09:44 AM EDT
[UPDATE: This event has now concluded.]

After a series of productive bilateral meetings and a working dinner yesterday, the Nuclear Security Summit continues today with the two major Plenary Sessions. The first day saw significant progress, including work towards consensus on Iran and Ukraine’s landmark decision to get rid of all of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium -- a goal for the United States going back 10 years -- by the time of the next Nuclear Security Summit in 2012.

At 1:00PM EDT today we want to give you a chance to engage on these issues of nuclear security, non-proliferation, and the threat of nuclear terrorism. Join Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communication, in a live video discussion directly from the Summit itself.

Watch the chat at WhiteHouse.gov/live
Join the discussion and ask your questions through Facebook
Join the discussion and ask your questions through UStream

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Vice President Biden Discusses the Historic Opportunity to Create a Better, Safer World

2010-04-12T21:25:00.000-07:00

Vice President Biden Discusses the Historic Opportunity to Create a Better, Safer World
Posted by Jesse Lee on April 12, 2010 at 05:18 PM EDT
Before a lunch meeting with foreign leaders and dignitaries, Vice President Biden delivered remarks about the significance of the Nuclear Security Summit and the “historic task of creating a better and a safer world for all our peoples.” He discussed the goal of reducing the number of nuclear weapons arsenals worldwide and the importance of controlling nuclear materials to prevent extremists groups from gaining access to them. He also talked about the United States’ support for peaceful benefits of nuclear power and technology.

The United States of America stands fully committed to supporting the promotion of peaceful benefits of nuclear power, in the context though -- in the context of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. But, again, here we can all agree that those who have developed nuclear technology should do so -- are going to develop a peaceful nuclear technology must do so wisely, with a proper attention to security, good governance, and as safely as it can possibly be done.

As countries seeking to develop your nuclear sectors, we stand ready to support you, to share our experience with you.

And we recognize that it is not a problem for governments alone to control this fissile material, it requires good regulations and public-private partnerships to get it right.

More than half the world’s dangerous nuclear materials are owned not by governments but by industry. And we will work with them, as we will work with you, to address our common concerns.

Later this week, the Vice President will host a roundtable discussion with leading nuclear industries to talk about forming partnerships and working to guarantee safety and security. Today, the President is holding several bilateral discussions with world leaders at the Nuclear Security Summit.

President Barack Obama participates in an expanded bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Mohamed Najib Abdul Razak of Malaysia, during the Nuclear Security Summit at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., April 12, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Expanding the Effort to Achieve Nuclear Security

2010-04-12T20:38:00.000-07:00

Expanding the Effort to Achieve Nuclear Security
Posted by Jesse Lee on April 12, 2010 at 12:13 PM EDT
Last week saw marked progress on one of the President's key long-term foreign policy objectives to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, and to secure vulnerable nuclear materials. On April 8th, President Obama signed the New START Treaty which will require the United States and Russia to reduce -- by 30 percent below the levels in a treaty signed in 2002 -- the number of nuclear warheads they have deployed on intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-based ballistic missiles, and bombers. A year in the making, this treaty marked an important step towards the goal of eliminating the threat of nuclear weapons to humanity, a goal the President recognizes may not be reached in his lifetime but which will never happen if we do not strive for it. The New Start Treaty was signed two days after the Department of Defense released the new Nuclear Posture Review, which establishes as a goal of America's foreign policy "to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy and focus on reducing the nuclear dangers of the 21st century, while sustaining a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent for the United States and our allies and partners as long as nuclear weapons exist," as the President put it in his statement.

This morning the President arrived at the Nuclear Security Summit with leaders from around the world to pursue a comprehensive nuclear security agenda to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials around the world within four years. As Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes explained in previewing the summit, "Obviously no one nation is capable of taking the actions necessary to secure vulnerable nuclear materials that are in many different countries and in many different regions of the world. Similarly, no one nation is capable of pursuing the kind of nuclear security measures that can prevent the transit, illicit transit, of those types of materials." The summit will focus on collective action to achieve these goals, and as the largest gathering of countries by an American President dedicated to a specific issue in decades, it represents a recognition by the President and so many other leaders of the seriousness of the threat posed by nuclear terrorism.

President Barack Obama meets with King Abdullah II of Jordan at the Nuclear Security Summit at the Washington Convention Center April 12, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

The work of the summit began yesterday with a number of bilateral meetings, with more scheduled today with King Abdullah of Jordan, Prime Minister Mohamed Najib Abdul Razak of Malaysia, President Serzh Sargsian of Armenia, and President Hu Jintao of China. The President will welcome each head of delegation late this afternoon, and the summit will begin in earnest with a working dinner tonight to be followed with much more tomorrow.

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A Tragic Loss for Poland

2010-04-10T15:40:00.000-07:00

A Tragic Loss for Poland
Posted by Ben Rhodes on April 10, 2010 at 12:48 PM EDT
In a terrible accident, President Lech Kaczynski of Poland was killed in a plane crash along with his wife, and an extraordinary and distinguished delegation of Polish civilian and military leaders. This morning, President Obama called Prime Minister Tusk of Poland to express his deepest condolences for the tragic loss suffered by the Polish people. President Obama expressed the full and strong support of the American people for our close friend and ally Poland, and he released the following statement.

Today, I called Polish Prime Minister Tusk to express Michelle's and my deepest condolences to the people of Poland on the tragic deaths this morning of President Lech Kaczynski, First Lady Maria Kaczynski, and all who were traveling with them to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Kaczynski family, the loved ones of those killed in this tragic plane crash, and the Polish nation.

Today’s loss is devastating to Poland, to the United States, and to the world. President Kaczynski was a distinguished statesman who played a key role in the Solidarity movement, and he was widely admired in the United States as a leader dedicated to advancing freedom and human dignity. With him were many of Poland’s most distinguished civilian and military leaders who have helped to shape Poland’s inspiring democratic transformation. We join all the people of Poland in mourning their passing.

Today, there are heavy hearts across America. The United States cherishes its deep and abiding bonds with the people of Poland. Those bonds are represented in the strength of our alliance, the friendships among our people, and the extraordinary contributions of Polish-Americans who have helped to shape our nation.

It is a testament to the strength of the Polish people that those who were lost were travelling to commemorate a devastating massacre of World War II as the leaders of a strong, vibrant, and free Poland. That strength will ensure that Poland emerges from the depths of this unthinkable tragedy, and that the legacy of the leaders who died today will be a light that continues to guide Poland – and the world – in the direction of human progress.

Ben Rhodes is Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications
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Following Up on the Childhood Obesity Meeting

2010-04-10T15:37:00.000-07:00

Following Up on the Childhood Obesity Meeting
Posted by Melody Barnes on April 10, 2010 at 12:38 PM EDT
We had a great meeting yesterday! We had teachers and child advocates, doctors and nurses, business leaders and public servants, researchers and health experts talking together about what we can do to solve the problem of childhood obesity. Cabinet officials – Education Secretary Duncan, Interior Secretary Salazar, and Office of Management and Budget Director Orszag – along with the Surgeon General and others talked about what this epidemic could cost us in the long run, how we can make our schools healthier, and how to get kids moving after school and in their communities. We then broke up into smaller groups so the participants could share their thoughts on the most important steps we can take together to combat childhood obesity. Here are some of their thoughts:

Parents should be able to raise their kids in an environment that empowers them to make healthy choices. That includes the messages they’re receiving from advertising and marketing and the labels on the food they’re buying. Parents and other caregivers also need clear, consistent messages about the simple steps they can take to build a healthy life for their kids from day one.
The food supply coming into schools must be improved, and we need everyone from the person working on the lunch line every day to the superintendent engaged in making sure that schools are healthy places. Kids also need to be involved in the process, and actively learning about healthy eating.
Improving access to healthy, affordable food is a complex task, but key elements include tailoring strategies to local communities (for example, bringing mobile grocery stores to rural areas that don’t have the population to support a supermarket); expanding access to nutrition assistance programs, since hunger and obesity often co-exist; and remembering that breast milk is the first healthy food that we can provide to our children.
We can get our children physically active by building that opportunity into the structure of the school day; through better land use planning so that children have safe routes to a playgrounds and parks; and by putting the fun back in physical activity for all of us, parents and children.
In the meantime, you were listening at home and weighing in on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We asked you to tell us your ideas to end childhood obesity within a generation and we heard from thousands of you. Here are some of the things we heard:

“Use school as the springboard. Have kids taste and appreciate different foods in class.”
“Educate parents. Children make the choices they are given. If the parents do not eat well, neither will the child.”
“The Presidential Fitness Program really needs to make a comeback.”
Our report detailing an action plan to solve this problem is due to the President in about a month. We’re going to take all this feedback and, together with all the expertise around the federal government, turn it into a roadmap for how we can move in the right direction together.

P.S. We’ve been reading through the thousands of written comments we got back from a few weeks ago and people sent in some great information. For instance, we heard from children in a 2nd grade class in California who plant their own fruits and vegetables, and then host a monthly harvest where they learn about the nutrients in these healthy foods and then get to snack away on them. Stay engaged – it’s stories like this that we all like to hear and that spark our imagination.

Melody Barnes is Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy

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Weekly Address: Relief for the Middle Class at Tax Time

2010-04-10T15:32:00.000-07:00

Weekly Address: Relief for the Middle Class at Tax Time
Posted by Jesse Lee on April 10, 2010 at 06:00 AM EDT
As April 15th approaches, the President discusses several of the tax breaks for middle class families he has signed into law. Find out more about the Making Work Pay tax credit, breaks for first-time homebuyers, rewards for making your home more energy efficient and more through our Tax Savings Tool.

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Addressing Childhood Obesity: "We Are Going to Need All of You"

2010-04-09T17:11:00.000-07:00

Addressing Childhood Obesity: "We Are Going to Need All of You"
Posted by Shama Hussain on April 09, 2010 at 05:29 PM EDT
The White House held a Child Obesity Summit this afternoon, attended by food experts, industry leaders, and people from different communities to share and discuss ideas on how to create a healthier environment to combat childhood obesity.

The First Lady, who launched her Let’s Move campaign to address the growing epidemic, gave the opening remarks at the summit, saying that “we all need to do our parts as well, because the fact is, is that our kids didn’t do this to themselves.” At the summit, the First Lady discussed the goals of her childhood obesity initiative and the significance of getting everyone's input to create a nationwide response to the problem:

We’re working with the private sector to reach a very ambitious goal, and that is to completely eliminate food deserts in this country.

And finally, there is much, much more that we can do to help kids stay physically active, not just in school but outside of school as well.

And if we can make real progress in these four areas, then there’s so much more else we can do. But these four areas, as a country, we can reach our ultimate goal, and the ultimate goal for “Let’s Move” is to solve the problem of childhood obesity in a generation so that children born today grow up at a healthy weight with better notions of what is healthy, with better habits, who are incorporating exercise into their lives on a more regular basis, so there are more kids like the ones that Melody described, who know what it even means to eat healthy. That's our goal.

And to achieve this goal, we are going to need all of you. We’re going to need all of you -- your insight, your experience, your guidance. And that’s why we are so excited about this gathering here today, because you all know this issue better than just about anyone. So many of you have dedicated your lives to fighting this battle, and many of you have just -- are just thankful that there’s someone else shining the spotlight on what you have known for a long, long time.

This -- folks in this room, all of you working together, can do more than just about anyone to help us tackle this issue. What we have done is started a national conversation. We’ve started an important national conversation. But we need your help to propel that conversation into a national response.

First Lady Michelle Obama participates in the Childhood Obesity Summit in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building April 9, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Drew Angerer)

The forum’s overall goal was to brainstorm ways to provide healthier choices for children in schools and access to healthy, affordable foods in local communities. The separate sessions focused on ways to empower parents and caregivers, serve healthier food in schools, provide access to healthier foods, and increase opportunities for physical activities. Many ideas were shared, including suggestions to change children's ways of thinking, begin urban gardening, and provide incentives for people to purchase fruits and vegetables.

To learn more about childhood obesity and how the Administration is working to raise a healthier generation of kids, visit LetsMove.gov.

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Race to the Top Commencement Challenge Finalists Announced

2010-04-09T17:08:00.000-07:00

Race to the Top Commencement Challenge Finalists Announced
Posted by Cammie Croft on April 09, 2010 at 05:16 PM EDT
Drum roll please …

This afternoon, we announced, in coordination with the Department of Education, the top six finalists for the first annual Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge:

Blue Valley Northwest High School (Overland Park, Kansas)
Clark Montessori Junior High and High School (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Denver School of Science and Technology (Denver, Colorado)
Environmental Charter High School (Lawndale, California)
Kalamazoo Central High School (Kalamazoo, Michigan)
MAST Academy (Miami, Florida)
We launched the Commencement Challenge this past February -- inviting high schools across the country to compete to have President Obama speak at their graduation. Today’s finalists were chosen for best demonstrating their dedication to academic excellence and preparing students to graduate ready for college and career choices.

Yesterday afternoon, I watched my colleagues Lauren Paige and Laura Schifter call each of the six finalists to share the good news. Take a look at some of their – let’s say – more than enthusiastic responses:

As part of today’s announcement, President Obama gave special thanks to all the high schools that submitted applications:

I thank all of the schools that submitted applications for the first Commencement Challenge and I congratulate the six finalists for demonstrating effective approaches to teaching, learning and preparing students to graduate ready for college and a career. The quality of the applications we received is a testament to the exciting work happening in schools throughout the country, and I look forward to visiting and speaking at the winning school later this spring.

So, what happens next? You get to vote. In the coming weeks, we’ll feature the six finalists on WhiteHouse.gov and let you vote for your favorites. The top three schools will then be sent to the President for the final selection.

Stay tuned to WhiteHouse.gov so you can help choose the winning high school.

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President Obama Recognizes Justice Stevens' Lifetime of Service and Offers Condolences to Families in West Virginia

2010-04-09T17:06:00.001-07:00

President Obama Recognizes Justice Stevens' Lifetime of Service and Offers Condolences to Families in West Virginia
Posted by Jesse Lee on April 09, 2010 at 03:40 PM EDT

This afternoon, President Obama commented on the news of Justice John Paul Stevens' retirement before he addressed the recent tragedy in West Virginia. The President recognized Justice Stevens as an "impartial guardian of the law" who served his tenure with "honor and humility." Stating that he views the process of selecting a Supreme Court nominee as one of his “most serious responsibilities as President,” he expressed his hopes that the Senate will “move quickly in the coming weeks” to confirm the nominee to be seated in time for the fall term.

As Justice Stevens expressed to me in the letter announcing his retirement, it is in the best interests of the Supreme Court to have a successor appointed and confirmed before the next term begins. And so I will move quickly to name a nominee, as I did with Justice Sotomayor.

Once again, I view the process of selecting a Supreme Court nominee as among my most serious responsibilities as President. And while we cannot replace Justice Stevens’ experience or wisdom, I will seek someone in the coming weeks with similar qualities -- an independent mind, a record of excellence and integrity, a fierce dedication to the rule of law, and a keen understanding of how the law affects the daily lives of the American people. It will also be someone who, like Justice Stevens, knows that in a democracy, powerful interests must not be allowed to drown out the voices of ordinary citizens. Much like they did with Justice Sotomayor, I hope the Senate will move quickly in the coming weeks to debate and then confirm my nominee so that the new Justice is seated in time for the fall term.

The President then offered his condolences to the family and friends of those who lost their lives in the mine devastation, acknowledging the dangers that workers in mines and their families face every day.

Because mining is a tradition that’s often passed down through generations, it’s not uncommon to see an entire family choose this line of work. And sadly, when a tragedy like this occurs, it’s also not uncommon to lose almost an entire family all at once.

I spoke to some surviving members of one such family on Wednesday. This week, Tim Davis, and two of his nephews, Josh, age 25, and Cory, age 20, were killed in the explosion in the Upper Big Branch mine.

Rescuers have reported that Tim and his two nephews were all found together. Two other members of their families that worked in the mine were able to escape unharmed.

Before he left for the mine on Monday, Josh wrote a letter for his girlfriend and young daughter. And in it, he said, “If anything happens to me, I’ll be looking down from heaven at you all. I love you. Take care of my baby. Tell her that daddy loves her, she’s beautiful, she’s funny. Just take care of my baby girl.”

Reflecting on that letter, and the losses she endured in just one week, Josh’s mother Pam simply said, “It is just West Virginia. When something bad happens, we come together.” When something bad happens, we come together.

Through tragedy and heartache, that’s the spirit that has sustained this community, and this country, for over 200 years. And as we pray for the souls of those we’ve lost, and the safe return of those who are missing, we are also sustained by the words of the Psalm that are particularly poignant right now. Those words read: “You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.” Thank you very much.

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American busmaker Gillig and its workers, a stimulus success story

2010-04-09T16:57:00.000-07:00

American busmaker Gillig and its workers, a stimulus success story
Posted by Secretary Ray LaHood on April 09, 2010 at 01:54 PM EDT
Cross-posted from the DOT Blog.

The other day, I heard a great success story from a man who thanked me for the work DOT's Recovery Act grants had stimulated. He had in mind, specifically, our Federal Transit Administration grants that have allowed local and regional transit districts to upgrade and expand their fleets in times of strapped budgets.

Because of the Obama Administration's stimulus, he said, the Gillig Corporation, a 100% American bus manufacturer in California, had not only been able to retain its workforce in threatening times, but had added workers and was even working a shift on Saturdays.

The first of 14 new Gillig-made buses for the Whatcom Transportation Authority (WA) April 9, 2010.

Now, I've heard a lot of anecdotes like this in the past 14 months. Recovery Act grants have allowed transit agencies to purchase over 12,000 new buses, rail cars, and paratransit vans. In Tennessee, for example, a grant to the Memphis Area Transit Authority allowed them to order 26 new vehicles from Gillig.

So we decided to follow up on this story by calling Gillig and chatting with their President, Denny Howard. Here's what he had to say:

"I've been with Gillig for 32 years, so I've been watching the transit industry for decades. I meet with managers from transit agencies every day, and I have never seen the local funding in such desperate straits as today.

"A typical year industry-wide, agencies buy about 5,000 buses a year. With the stimulus, it's up to 7,000 for last year, this year, and next year. But, if the stimulus hadn't come through, the market would have dropped 40% to 3,000 buses a year for last year, this year, and at least through next year.

This Gillig hybrid-electric rolls for the Redwood Transit System, April 9, 2010.

"That would have devastated our employees. I've heard the talk about the stimulus not creating enough jobs, but you never read a statistic about the number of jobs saved. We would have had to lay off 175 workers--more than 25% of our people.

"And there's a multiplier effect, too. Every base manufacturing job is worth five jobs down the supply chain. You can imagine how that would have knocked our suppliers.

"So even if we hadn't added workers, I'd call the Recovery Act a success. But we did. We added 40 people last year, and we know we're keeping them through at least 2011. And that has the same multiplier effect with our suppliers, but in a positive direction.

"Typically, we produce 25 vehicles a week. With the stimulus, we're up to more like 30. Without it, we'd be down to 20. There's a big difference between 20 and 30, a big difference.

"There's not a worker in our plant who doesn't know someone who's been laid-off. The fact that our people are not only secure but getting the opportunity to work some overtime on Saturdays is just phenomenal. I mean, they are eager to come to work on a Saturday.

The interior of a Gillig Bus, April 9, 2010.

"The stimulus has been just a tremendous success. We're one of the last made-in-America busmakers, we've been in business since we started making buggies and carriages in 1890, and we've had a great cooperative relationship with our workers.

"You can't imagine how this industry would have been decimated without that stimulus. It would have jeopardized everything we've worked to build in the last 120 years.

"Instead, we're stronger, we've added jobs, and America gets a better, safer fleet of buses."
Thank you, Denny Howard and Gillig, for doing your part and sharing your story.

After listening to Mr. Howard, we also talked to Rome Aloise, Western Regional Vice President for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and he confirmed everything we had heard.

"I travel around to transit districts, urging them to buy American," said Aloise, "because there's a ton of competition from foreign manufacturers. Having a partner like Gillig really makes that job easier for me."

"And the Recovery Act does, too," he added. "It offers cash-strapped agencies the incentive they need to upgrade their fleets. Until now, it's been the only thing standing between us and complete disaster. Going forward, it will ensure employment."

As I said, I've heard a lot of these anecdotes, but it's great to talk at length with industry people to get the real scoop on the Recovery Act's effectiveness. And it inspires all of us at DOT as we continue working hard to create more good jobs for American workers.

Ray LaHood is Secretary of Transportation
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The White House Asks: What are Your Ideas to End Childhood Obesity within a Generation?

2010-04-09T16:55:00.001-07:00

The White House Asks: What are Your Ideas to End Childhood Obesity within a Generation?
Posted by Kori Schulman on April 09, 2010 at 01:17 PM EDT
Today the White House will host a meeting on childhood obesity, bringing together experts and industry leaders from across the country to discuss ways to combat the growing health epidemic. First Lady Michelle Obama, Administration officials and Childhood Obesity Task Force members will discuss healthier food in schools, access to healthy, affordable food, empowering parents and more.

We want to hear from you too. Today the White House is collaborating with GOOD to ask:
What are your ideas to end childhood obesity within a generation?
Tell us your ideas on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. We look forward to hearing from you will feature some of the most interesting responses on the blog.
Please note that the username, personal identifier or icon affiliated with responses may be posted.
Tune in to a livestream of the Childhood Obesity Forum today on WhiteHouse.gov/live

1:30 PM EDT: Opening Session with First Lady Michelle Obama

2:30 PM EDT: Breakout Sessions:

Empowering Parents and Caregivers
Healthier Food in Schools
Access to Healthy, Affordable Food
Increased Opportunities for Physical Activities
4:15 PM EDT: Closing Session with Melody Barnes, President’s Domestic Policy Council

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ONAP Releases Report of Community Recommendations for the National HIV/AIDS Strategy

2010-04-09T16:53:00.000-07:00

ONAP Releases Report of Community Recommendations for the National HIV/AIDS Strategy
Posted by GMillett on April 09, 2010 at 01:00 PM EDT
Last fall, the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) asked Americans to give us their input for the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, which will be released in the coming months. From the beginning, ONAP recognized that community feedback would be invaluable to our National HIV/AIDS Strategy development so we hosted 14 community discussions and meetings throughout the United States, in addition to launching an online portal for Americans to send their comments directly to the White House. In the end, we received over 1000 written responses from nearly every state and U.S. territory, from people affected by or living with HIV, from men, women, and transgender individuals, from young and old, and from respondents of various ethnicities, racial backgrounds and sexual orientation.

Despite the diversity in setting and respondents, a core set of common themes emerged across all of the recommendations. Today, we are releasing a report of the major themes that we heard from the public .

Throughout this process we heard that people want to bring the issue of HIV/AIDS back into the forefront of the American psyche through efforts such as social marketing campaigns and comprehensive HIV prevention and education for youth, injection drug users, communities of color, and gay and bisexual men. Access to care was also commonly discussed. Specifically, expanding support services for people living with HIV and the need to diagnose and treat co-occurring conditions such as Hepatitis, substance use, mental health, and markers of economic instability (e.g. housing, joblessness).

Even when access to treatment is available, the stigma surrounding an HIV diagnosis may be too great for people to get tested or enroll in care. We heard from many people living with HIV who spoke about the stigma associated with being HIV-positive and its effect on their daily lives. Many people discussed the ways in which stigma and discrimination contributed to HIV-related racial, geographic, and gender disparities. People also described personal accounts of discrimination and stigma from providers and difficulties in accessing a range of services, including dental care and prenatal care.

Last, many expressed the importance of coordinating HIV prevention and treatment activities across the Federal government. Many also expressed the importance of evaluating current HIV prevention and care efforts and making sure that these evaluation activities help guide Federal, state and local activities and funding.

These recommendations are only a subset of the input that we had received and many more recommendations for the National HIV/AIDS Strategy are detailed in the community discussions report. Not all of the recommendations, however, will appear in the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. To be effective, the strategy must include a small number of high payoff items that will address the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States. Nevertheless, we intend for this community report to provide a baseline for the status of the domestic epidemic and serve as a planning tool and resource for Federal, State and local agencies. We are grateful for the many Americans who helped make this report possible and for the many insightful recommendations that will go a long way in ensuring that the National HIV/AIDS Strategy is a success.

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World Health Day: Healthy Cities, Healthy People

2010-04-09T16:51:00.000-07:00

World Health Day: Healthy Cities, Healthy People
Posted by Adolfo Carrion, Jr. on April 09, 2010 at 11:19 AM EDT
Bravo to the World Health Organization (WHO) for focusing global attention on the impact of urbanization on health. On April 7th the WHO recognized World Health Day 2010 with the "1000 Cities - 1000 Lives" campaign, calling on cities around the world to hold events that open up streets for activities promoting health and wellness.

Smart investment in the built environment is the foundation of a healthy community. The location of your parks, supermarket, and schools (among other things) directly affect the health of an individual. And as people gravitate toward urban areas across the globe, we see increased demand on infrastructure, housing, and services. Global urbanization magnifies the responsibility of planners, governments and communities to develop more livable, walkable and active environments.

Our Administration is working each day to bring federal agencies together to promote comprehensive investments in communities that enhance health and quality of life. The Sustainable Communities Partnership with Housing & Urban Development, Transportation and Environmental Protection is an interagency effort to support community plans that will reduce vehicle miles traveled; connect green, safe, and affordable housing options to transportation; and create inclusive and inspiring community spaces. We are aligning housing, education, safety and health and human service policies such that every child grows up in a rich and nurturing community.

World Health Day also speaks to the key role urban leaders can play in a cultural shift toward healthy living. The First Lady’s Let’s Move! Initiative is an example of such an effort here in the US. The WHO’s “1000 Cities Initiative” urges cities across the world to do the same. This weekend I plan a long bike ride with the kids in support of global health and wellness.

Are you ready? Let’s Move!

Adolfo Carrión, Jr. is the Director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs

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Your West Wing Week

2010-04-09T16:46:00.000-07:00

Your West Wing Week
Posted by Arun Chaudhary on April 09, 2010 at 07:36 AM EDT

This morning’s West Wing Week was uploaded to you from location in Prague, Czech Republic, specifically from the American Ambassador's residence where the President hosted a dinner for a dozen regional allies. Since this event happened concurrently with uploading WWW, it will not be a part of this video.

Even though this event came after a very long day of bilateral meetings and treaty ceremonies (following an exhausting overnight plane flight), President Obama personally met each leader at their motorcade and escorted them into the residence where they enjoyed dinner and open conversation. They discussed the mutual interests America shares with the nations of Central and Eastern Europe. After another meeting in the morning the President will return to Washington, DC, and the rest will be the subject of next week’s West Wing Week.

Here is a rundown of links from West Wing Week – April 9

Friday, April 2nd

North Carolina
Saturday April 3rd and Sunday April 4th

Easter/Passover Message
Monday, April 5th

Easter Egg Roll
Nationals First Pitch + POTUS playing POTUS with Clark Kellogg

Tuesday, April 6th

West Virginia Condolences / Easter Prayer Breakfast
Easter Prayer Breakfast (video only)
VPOTUS Recovery Act
Wednesday, April 7th

Preparing for Prague – reflecting on Last Year’s Trip
Thursday, April 8th

Information on New START treaty
Arun Chaudhary is the official White House videographer

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Open Government Plans: A Tour of the Horizon

2010-04-09T16:42:00.000-07:00

Open Government Plans: A Tour of the Horizon
Posted by Beth Noveck on April 08, 2010 at 05:49 PM EDT
Yesterday President Obama hailed the release of the open government plans by all Cabinet agencies. The President recognized that innovation flourishes in an open environment, where we work collaboratively to share new ideas and ingenuity from a wide array of contributors for the betterment of our nation.

These plans are the agencies’ strategic roadmap for making openness -- transparency, citizen participation, and collaboration -- part of the way that the federal government works. Aneesh Chopra and Norm Eisen posted the announcement yesterday. Today we want to tell you more about what you will find in these Open Government Plans that are nothing short of an historic effort by the Executive Branch to change the culture of Washington for the better by inviting the American people into a collaboration: government of, for, by and now with the people.

The plans are chock full of examples of concrete efforts -- not lip service -- to making open government happen in practice and creating genuine opportunity for meaningful and practical civic engagement.

Transparency
Transparency is one of the core principles of democracy. By communicating what we do and how we do it, we can foster accountability and trust in government. This is why it is exciting that Housing and Urban Development is recording all public events and making them available online. The Department of Education is publishing Secretary Arne Duncan’s schedule for all to see. Social Security is unveiling new tools on its website to help people (including Spanish speakers) more easily find information and services on the web and, in the event they aren’t web-literate to schedule an in-office appointment.

The agencies have also been tasked with making the data and information they hold available online in open formats. The Department of Labor announced the release of its new Online Enforcement Database – making all workplace safety data searchable and available in one place and, perhaps more important, a schedule with accountable milestones for identifying and posting even more data. Health and Human Services is publishing a large-scale community health data set -- a wealth of easily accessible, downloadable information data on community health care costs, quality, access, and public health.

Department of Justice is building a “Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Dashboard” to “shine a light” on the government’s compliance with FOIA. Not only will this visual report promote transparency, it should encourage Departments to compete to improve their FOIA compliance. Already two more Departments -- Health and Human Services and Department of Energy -- announced new FOIA programs in their plans to ensure that the public gets the information they request faster.

Participation
The agency open government plans also detail how government officials (without the need for legislation, regulation, or new budgets) are breaking down barriers between government and the public and inviting greater public participation in agency decisionmaking. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency is making citizen participation in its work the hallmark of its plan. Planned community engagement projects include everything from urban waters to solid waste and emergency response. U.S. Department of Agriculture is also ramping up its participation efforts in connection with the rules by which the nation plans its national forests. Department of Energy is creating the first ever open energy information platform that not only provisions government data about energy but invites the public to participate and share its data in an effort to create more informed energy usage and promote energy savings. The National Science Foundation’s flagship is to invest in studying citizen participation best practices and thereby help every agency do more participation better!

Collaboration
Working together within departments, across agencies and with private sector partners is a fundament of the open government initiative, which looks for strategies to generate creative thinking and new ideas to address complex problems. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), where I am at home, created a new physical office space -- we’ve gotten rid of walls and cubes -- and work in a collaborative physical environment to foster collaboration within OSTP. Department of Housing and Urban Development has committed to a collaborative effort across federal, state, and local government to share information and thereby prevent the spread of homelessness. NASA has created the contributor license agreement, a special contract to encourage software developers to contribute to ongoing NASA projects and, in turn, have the benefit of access to NASA technologies. This is just one part of NASA’s participatory space exploration efforts that engage the public in the work and the fun of space activities. GSA is making a lot of this collaboration possible by supplying web-based collaboration platforms to every agency that wants one.

This is just a handful of the many and varied projects underway. Because each agency is doing its own plan, we will get the benefit of distributed innovation. One will try webcasting and another a data transparency initiative and then be able to learn from one another.

So please dig in! Adopt a plan. Read it. And tell us how we can do things better. In the process, we hope to reinvigorate a shared sense of civic virtue born out of a common love for this democracy.

To find a list of all the plans go to: http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/around
To read highlights of the plans go to: http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/documents/flagship-initiatives

Beth Noveck is United States Deputy Chief Technology Officer and Director of the White House Open Government Initiative

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Tune in to Friday’s White House Childhood Obesity Meeting

2010-04-08T14:48:00.001-07:00

Tune in to Friday’s White House Childhood Obesity Meeting
Posted by Melody Barnes on April 08, 2010 at 04:03 PM EDT
As you know, on February 9th the President created a new interagency Childhood Obesity Task Force. The task force is working right now on an action plan for solving the problem of childhood obesity in a generation. (You can see the full Presidential Memorandum creating the Task Force and requesting the action plan within 90 days here.)

We want to receive the best ideas from around the country about what this action plan should look like and what the most important steps are that we can all take to achieve this goal. That’s why we asked everyone to submit written comments a few weeks ago, and the response was overwhelming. We received over 2500 comments not just from researchers and experts but also from parents, teachers, and people from all walks of life who have a stake in our children’s future.

And now we want to hear from people in person. This Friday we’ve invited a broad array of experts, industry leaders, and people who work on these issues every day in their communities to come to a meeting at the White House to share with us their specific ideas about how to empower parents to make healthy choices for their children, provide healthy food at schools, improve access to healthy, affordable food in local communities, and get kids more physically active.

You can watch tomorrow’s discussion live on WhiteHouse.gov/live. We’ll be meeting from 1:30-5:00PM EDT and we’d love for you to listen in. We need everybody thinking about what we can do together to solve this problem.

Melody Barnes is Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy

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Making Government Accountable for Openness

2010-04-08T14:44:00.000-07:00

Making Government Accountable for Openness
Posted by Aneesh Chopra on April 08, 2010 at 02:39 PM EDT
Yesterday, all cabinet agencies, and others including my home, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, reported to the American people detailed plans on how they would demonstrate the President’s vision for a Washington that works -- a government that is more transparent, participatory and collaborative.

We began this journey on the President’s first full day in office when he signed a Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government. By December, following an unprecedented dialogue with the American people in crafting recommendations, Peter Orszag, OMB Director, issued an Open Government Directive directing agencies to reflect the President’s vision in their own words.

The Directive demanded action measured in weeks, not years. It tasked me, along with my colleague, Federal CIO Vivek Kundra, with holding agencies accountable through the publication of an online dashboard. While today marks the final set of deliverables formally outlined in the Directive, Vivek and I view it as the beginning of our journey to instill these values into the culture of Washington.

Here’s our plan to do so:

First, Vivek and I, along with others in the White House, will assess agency Open Government plans against the criteria contained within the Open Government Directive and will publish our findings on the dashboard.

The results of this assessment will be released by no later than May 1st. Watch this blog for interim updates as we proceed with the evaluation.

Second, we also invite you to be a part of the feedback process to the agencies. We hope and trust that independent experts, stakeholders and the American people will review and comment on the plans, including how they can improve as they are revised moving forward Please share your thoughts on each agency’s Open Government Plan by visiting the agency websites and providing your comments. Each agency designed their plan to reflect its approach to openness and they and we will actively seek your input as we deliver on the President’s promise to change the way Washington works.

Third, we and our colleagues will review agency nominations for achievement of leading practices to celebrate outstanding efforts that will inspire others through a “race to the top” among government agencies in the practice of openness.

As background, a group of agency leaders within the Open Government Working Group, led by Todd Park, the Chief Technology Officer for the Department of Health and Human Services, after consultation with outside experts, developed an aspirational set of Open Government Leading Practices. They focused on four major categories:

Leadership, Governance and Culture Change
Transparency
Participation and Collaboration
Flagship Initiative
By April 19th, agencies will be eligible to nominate specific initiatives within their plan for recognition under Leading Practices. By May 1st, we will recognize agencies on the Open Government Dashboard.

Thanks, in advance, for your participation. You can always send us e-mail at opengov@ostp.gov.
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Orlando Goes Green

2010-04-08T14:39:00.000-07:00

Orlando Goes Green
Posted by Nancy Sutley on April 08, 2010 at 11:01 AM EDT
Earlier this week I had the opportunity to visit Orlando to see first-hand some of the sustainability initiatives the city has underway through the Green Works Orlando program. Green Works Orlando is a citywide plan to promote environmental conservation and stewardship, energy efficiency in homes and businesses, and outdoor green spaces. Like Orlando, cities across the country are doing exciting and innovative things to make their communities greener and more sustainable.

My first stop was at one of Orlando's six LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified fire stations. With a focus on energy efficiency and sustainability, the fire station has employed innovative techniques to save energy and conserve water. For example, the lighting and hot water are powered through rooftop solar panels, a cistern system collects rain water for use in the station's toilets, and native plant species, which require less water, are planted around the fire station -- including on the green roof.

Nancy Sutley visits Fire Station 1, one of Orlando's six LEED certified fire stations.

In the afternoon, I toured the Iron Bridge Regional Water Reclamation Facility, where the city is testing technology for an innovative process to reuse water. It also creates byproducts, such as clean sand and recovered metals, which can then possibly be sold in established markets. Additionally, the process generates a significant amount of heat energy, which can be captured and used to generate electricity.

Good ideas about sustainability are popping up everywhere, and the Federal Government must do its part and lead by example. As the owner or occupier of 500,000 buildings, operating more than 600,000 vehicles, employing more than 1.8 million civilians, and purchasing more than $500 billion per year in goods and services, we have a lot of work ahead!

Under President Obama's Executive Order 13514 on Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance, we will improve energy efficiency, conserve water, reduce waste, use less petroleum in our vehicle fleets, and leverage Federal purchasing power to promote environmentally-responsible products and technologies.

Over the past 15 months, I've had the chance to travel coast to coast seeing first-hand how the United States is building a greener future. Communities across the nation are planting the seeds of a new prosperity -- one that is based on the promise of good, high-paying, American clean energy jobs. Together, with the hard work and innovation that have always defined Americans, we are on our way to a healthier, more prosperous future.

Nancy Sutley is the Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality

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The New START Treaty and Protocol

2010-04-08T14:36:00.000-07:00

The New START Treaty and Protocol
Posted by Macon Phillips on April 08, 2010 at 10:17 AM EDT
Earlier today, President Obama and President Medvedev of Russia signed the New START treaty and its protocol. PDF versions of these documents are available here:

New START Treaty Show Gallery Info
A behind the scenes look at one year of negotiations between President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev leading up to the signing of a strategic arms reduction pact.

An excerpt of President Obama's opening remarks is below:

Finally, this day demonstrates the determination of the United States and Russia -- the two nations that hold over 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons -- to pursue responsible global leadership. Together, we are keeping our commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which must be the foundation for global non-proliferation.

While the New START treaty is an important first step forward, it is just one step on a longer journey. As I said last year in Prague, this treaty will set the stage for further cuts. And going forward, we hope to pursue discussions with Russia on reducing both our strategic and tactical weapons, including non-deployed weapons.

President Medvedev and I have also agreed to expand our discussions on missile defense. This will include regular exchanges of information about our threat assessments, as well as the completion of a joint assessment of emerging ballistic missiles. And as these assessments are completed, I look forward to launching a serious dialogue about Russian-American cooperation on missile defense.

But nuclear weapons are not simply an issue for the United States and Russia -- they threaten the common security of all nations. A nuclear weapon in the hands of a terrorist is a danger to people everywhere -- from Moscow to New York; from the cities of Europe to South Asia. So next week, 47 nations will come together in Washington to discuss concrete steps that can be taken to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials around the world in four years.

And the spread of nuclear weapons to more states is also an unacceptable risk to global security -- raising the specter of arms races from the Middle East to East Asia. Earlier this week, the United States formally changed our policy to make it clear that those [non]-nuclear weapons states that are in compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and their non-proliferation obligations will not be threatened by America’s nuclear arsenal. This demonstrates, once more, America’s commitment to the NPT as a cornerstone of our security strategy. Those nations that follow the rules will find greater security and opportunity. Those nations that refuse to meet their obligations will be isolated, and denied the opportunity that comes with international recognition.

That includes accountability for those that break the rules -- otherwise the NPT is just words on a page. That’s why the United States and Russia are part of a coalition of nations insisting that the Islamic Republic of Iran face consequences, because they have continually failed to meet their obligations. We are working together at the United Nations Security Council to pass strong sanctions on Iran. And we will not tolerate actions that flout the NPT, risk an arms race in a vital region, and threaten the credibility of the international community and our collective security.

While these issues are a top priority, they are only one part of the U.S.-Russia relationship. Today, I again expressed my deepest condolences for the terrible loss of Russian life in recent terrorist attacks, and we will remain steadfast partners in combating violent extremism. We also discussed the potential to expand our cooperation on behalf of economic growth, trade and investment, as well as technological innovation, and I look forward to discussing these issues further when President Medvedev visits the United States later this year, because there is much we can do on behalf of our security and prosperity if we continue to work together.

When one surveys the many challenges that we face around the world, it’s easy to grow complacent, or to abandon the notion that progress can be shared. But I want to repeat what I said last year in Prague: When nations and peoples allow themselves to be defined by their differences, the gulf between them widens. When we fail to pursue peace, then it stays forever beyond our grasp.

Updated: For even more information, a series of fact sheets on individual aspects of the New START Treaty are included after the break.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Table of Contents

The New START Treaty at a glance
New START and U.S. National Security Interests
Senate consideration of treaties - a primer
The New START – Limits
The New START - Verification
The Triad/U.S. Nuclear Force Structure
Missile Defense Fact Sheet

1. THE NEW START TREATY AT A GLANCE

Treaty Structure: The New START Treaty is organized in three tiers of increasing level of detail. The first tier is the Treaty text itself. The second tier consists of a Protocol to the Treaty, which contains additional rights and obligations associated with Treaty provisions. The basic rights and obligations are contained in these two documents. The third tier consists of Technical Annexes to the Protocol. All three tiers will be legally binding, and all three tiers will be submitted to the U.S. Senate for its advice and consent to ratification.

Strategic Offensive Reductions: Under the Treaty, the U.S. and Russia will be limited to significantly fewer strategic arms within seven years from the date the Treaty enters into force. Each Party has the flexibility to determine for itself the structure of its strategic forces within the aggregate limits of the Treaty. These limits are based on a rigorous analysis conducted by Department of Defense planners in support of the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review.

Aggregate limits:

1,550 warheads. Warheads on deployed ICBMs and deployed SLBMs count toward this limit and each deployed heavy bomber equipped for nuclear armaments counts as one warhead toward this limit. This limit is 74% lower than the limit of the 1991 START Treaty and 30% lower than the deployed strategic warhead limit of the 2002 Moscow Treaty.
A combined limit of 800 deployed and non-deployed ICBM launchers, SLBM launchers, and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments.
A separate limit of 700 deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs, and deployed heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments. This limit is less than half the corresponding strategic nuclear delivery vehicle limit of the START Treaty.
Verification and Transparency: The Treaty has a verification regime that combines the appropriate elements of the 1991 START Treaty with new elements tailored to the limitations of the Treaty. Measures under the Treaty include on-site inspections and exhibitions, data exchanges and notifications related to strategic offensive arms and facilities covered by the Treaty, and provisions to facilitate the use of national technical means for treaty monitoring. To increase confidence and transparency, the Treaty also provides for the exchange of telemetry.

Treaty Terms: The Treaty’s duration will be ten years, unless superseded by a subsequent agreement. The Parties may agree to extend the Treaty for a period of no more than five years. The Treaty includes a withdrawal clause that is standard in arms control agreements. The 2002 Moscow Treaty terminates upon entry into force of the New START Treaty. The U.S. Senate and the Russian legislature must approve the Treaty before it can enter into force.

No Constraints on Missile Defense and Conventional Strike: The Treaty does not contain any constraints on testing, development or deployment of current or planned U.S. missile defense programs or current or planned United States long-range conventional strike capabilities.

2. NEW START TREATY AND U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY INTERESTS

The New START Treaty makes America more secure.

The New START Treaty will enhance U.S. national security by stabilizing the strategic balance between the United States and the Russian Federation at lower levels of nuclear forces. The Treaty will establish lower limits for U.S. and Russian nuclear forces of 1,550 deployed strategic warheads and 700 deployed ICBMs, SLBMs, and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments. It also will limit to 800 the total number of deployed and non-deployed ICBM and SLBM launchers and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments.

The Treaty’s lower strategic force limits were validated through rigorous analysis conducted by Department of Defense Planners in support of the Nuclear Posture Review. The New START Treaty allows the United States to determine our own force structure, giving us the flexibility to deploy and maintain our strategic nuclear forces in a way that best serves U.S. national security interests. As long as nuclear weapons exist, the United States will maintain a safe, secure, and effective arsenal to deter any adversary and protect our allies.

The New START Treaty’s verification provisions provide visibility into Russia’s nuclear forces and thereby help to mitigate the risks of surprises, mistrust, and miscalculations that can result from excessive secrecy or decisions based on worst-case assumptions. The Treaty will give us a vital window into the Russian strategic arsenal. This goal is achieved through a verification regime that is adapted from START, but is simplified, less costly to implement, and tailored to the specific provisions of the new Treaty, as well as transparency measures such as the exchange of telemetry on flight tests.

3. Senate Consideration of Treaties – A Primer

Under Article II of the Constitution, the President “makes” treaties, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Approval of a treaty requires a supermajority of two-thirds of the senators present (assuming all 100 senators are present, 67 votes are required for approval).
After signature of the New START Treaty on April 8, the U.S. and Russian negotiators will complete their work on several technical annexes. Only then will the President be able to submit the treaty to the Senate (expected to be later this spring). In addition to the text of the treaty, protocol and annexes, the President will submit to the Senate a detailed analysis of the treaty.
The treaty will be referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations, which under the Senate rules has exclusive jurisdiction over treaties. If past practice on major arms control treaties is a guide, the Foreign Relations Committee will likely conduct several hearings on the New START Treaty. The Committee held four hearings on the last such treaty, the Moscow Treaty, in 2002.
Similarly, past practice suggests that other Senate committees, such as the Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, may also conduct hearings and report their views to the Foreign Relations Committee, but the treaty would not be formally referred to those committees.
Once the Foreign Relations Committee has completed its review of the treaty, it would draft its recommendations for a resolution of advice and consent, which is the document by which the Senate approves treaties, and vote in a formal markup session. Then it would file a detailed report with the Senate analyzing the treaty and the Committee’s findings resulting from its review.
Once the Committee reports the treaty to the Senate, it is placed on the Senate’s Executive Calendar. Unlike bills, the decision of the Senate to begin consideration of a treaty (the motion to proceed) is not subject to a filibuster.
The Senate typically takes at least two or three days to consider a major treaty, and to vote on amendments to the resolution of advice and consent.
If approved, the treaty is then returned to the President, for the formal act of ratification. Specifically, he will sign an instrument of ratification.
The treaty must also be approved by the Russian parliament, or Duma. If both the Senate and the Duma approve the New START Treaty, it will enter into force on the date that the United States and Russia exchange the instruments of ratification.
Senate votes on recent major strategic arms control treaties:
Moscow Treaty (approved 2003): 95-0
START II (1996): 87-4
START I (1992): 93-6
On Ratification

Secretary of State Clinton: “Some of the time that had to be taken in order to really get the point where we both felt like we had the package necessary to go to our legislative bodies.”

“I believe that a vast majority of the Senate at the end of the day will see that this is in America's interest and it goes way beyond politics.”

“I'm not going to, you know, set any timetables, but we're confident that we'll be able to make the case for ratification.”

Secretary of Defense Gates: “Let me first say a word about ratification from my perspective. There has been a very intense continuing consultation on the Hill as the negotiations have proceeded. Two of the areas that have been of concern in the Senate, among senators: Are we protecting our ability to go forward with missile defense? And are we going to make the investment in our nuclear infrastructure so that the stockpile will remain reliable and safe?”

“We have addressed both of those. Missile defense is not constrained by this -- by this treaty. And we have in our budget, the president's budget that went to the Hill for F.Y. '11, almost $5 billion for [new] investment in the nuclear infrastructure and maintaining the stockpile. So I think we have addressed the concerns that there may have been on the Hill, and so I echo the sentiments of Secretary Clinton. I think the prospects are quite good.”

4. CENTRAL WARHEAD AND DELIVERY VEHICLE LIMITS OF THE NEW START TREATY
The Treaty reduces by about 30 percent the limit on the number of Russian nuclear weapons and helps us better track the remaining ones. At the same time, the United States retains the nuclear force level we need to protect ourselves, as validated by the Defense Department’s planners through rigorous analysis in the Nuclear Posture Review.
The principal U.S. objective in bilateral strategic arms control is to increase stability in the U.S.-Russian nuclear relationship at significantly lower levels of nuclear weapons. The New START Treaty sets aggregate limits which are 56% lower than the limit for deployed strategic nuclear delivery vehicles and 74% lower than the limit for deployed warheads established in the 1991 START Treaty, which expired in December 2009. The New START Treaty limit for deployed warheads will be 30% lower than the limit for deployed strategic warheads established under the 2002 Moscow Treaty, which the New START Treaty will supersede. The New START Treaty provides the United States the flexibility to determine for ourselves the structure of our strategic forces within the aggregate limits of the Treaty.
The Central Limits of the New START Treaty are:

Deployed Warheads: 1,550
All warheads emplaced on deployed ICBMs
and SLBMs are counted under this limit
Deployed heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments
are each counted with one warhead

Deployed and Non-Deployed Launchers and Heavy Bombers: 800
Deployed and non-deployed ICBM launchers
Deployed and non-deployed SLBM launchers
Deployed and non-deployed heavy bombers
equipped for nuclear armaments

Deployed Ballistic Missiles and Heavy Bombers: 700
Deployed ICBMs
Deployed SLBMs
Deployed heavy bombers equipped for
nuclear armaments

Timetable for Limitations: Limits begin to apply seven years from the date the Treaty enters into force

Duration of Agreement: Ten years with an option to extend, if both sides agree, by no more than five years

5. Strong verification measures are built into the New START Treaty so that we monitor compliance with the Treaty.

The New START Treaty can be effectively verified with a verification regime that builds on lessons learned from 15 years of implementing START. The regime, which will be simpler and less costly to implement than START, provides for data exchange and notifications regarding strategic systems and facilities covered by the Treaty, two types of on-site inspections, exhibitions, and as a transparency measure provides for the exchange of telemetric information.

NATIONAL TECHNICAL MEANS (NTM) – The Treaty provides for the use of and non-interference with national technical means of verification (e.g. satellites). There are explicit provisions that prohibit interference with NTM and the use of concealment measures that may impede monitoring by NTM. As in the 1991 START Treaty, the prohibition against concealment measures does not apply to cover or concealment practices at ICBM bases or to the use of environmental shelters.
DATA EXCHANGE AND NOTIFICATIONS – The sides will exchange data on numbers, locations, and technical characteristics of weapons systems and facilities that are subject to the Treaty and will provide regular notifications and updates.
ON-SITE INSPECTIONS – The Treaty provides for 18 on-site inspections per year. There are two basic types of inspections. Type One inspections focus on sites with deployed and non-deployed strategic systems; Type Two inspections focus on sites with only non-deployed strategic systems. Permitted inspection activities include confirming the number of reentry vehicles on deployed ICBMs and deployed SLBMs, confirming numbers related to non-deployed launcher limits, counting nuclear weapons onboard or attached to deployed heavy bombers, confirming weapon system conversions or eliminations, and confirming facility eliminations. Each side is allowed to conduct ten Type One inspections and eight Type Two inspections annually.
UNIQUE IDENTIFIERS – Each ICBM, SLBM, and heavy bomber will be assigned a unique identifier (number), which will be included in the applicable notifications and may be confirmed during inspections.
TELEMETRIC INFORMATION – During ICBM and SLBM flight tests, measurements of various technical parameters are made to monitor missile performance. To enhance transparency and supplement verification provisions, the Parties have agreed to an annual exchange of telemetric information on a parity basis, for up to five ICBM and SLBM launches per year.
COMPLIANCE – The Treaty establishes the Bilateral Consultative Commission (BCC) as a compliance and implementation body that will meet at least twice each year, unless otherwise agreed. Compliance or implementation questions may be raised by either Party in the BCC.
6. THE TRIAD AND U.S. NUCLEAR FORCE STRUCTURE

The New START Treaty ensures our own military the flexibility to deploy and maintain our forces – including bombers, submarines, and missiles – in ways that best meet U.S. national security interests.
An early task for the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) was to develop U.S. positions for the New START negotiations. The Treaty’s lower strategic force levels are based on analysis conducted last year, at the initial phase of the 2010 NPR process, which also considered how U.S. forces should be structured at the levels established by the new agreement. The NPR reached the following conclusions:

Stable deterrence can be maintained while reducing U.S. strategic delivery vehicles by about 50 percent from the START I level and reducing deployed strategic warheads by about 30 percent from the 2002 Moscow Treaty level.
Contributions by non-nuclear systems to U.S. deterrence and reassurance goals should be preserved by avoiding limitations on missile defenses and preserving options for using heavy bombers or long-range missile systems in conventional roles.
During the ten-year duration of New START, the triad of ICBMs, SLBMs, and nuclear-capable heavy bombers will be maintained, keeping all 14 Ohio-class strategic submarines (SSBNs) in the force at least for the near term and “de-MIRVing” all Minuteman III ICBMs to a single warhead each to increase stability in a crisis. The FY 2011 budget request includes funds to sustain the Triad, including: continuing the Minuteman III life extension program; developing new technologies to replace the current fleet of Ohio-class SSBNs, which begin to retire in the 2027 timeframe; and investing over $1 billion over the next five years to support upgrades to the B-2 stealth bomber.
The New START Treaty affirms the right of the United States to determine the composition and structure of our strategic offensive arms within the Treaty’s overall limits. This allows the United States to adjust our force structure over time as appropriate to the strategic circumstances. The Treaty limitations take effect seven years after the date the Treaty enters into force.
7. Fact Sheet on U.S. Missile Defense Policy –A "Phased, Adaptive Approach" for Missile Defense in Europe

President Obama approved the recommendation of Secretary of Defense Gates and the Joint Chiefs of Staff for a phased, adaptive approach for missile defense in Europe. This approach is based on an assessment of the Iranian missile threat, and a commitment to deploy technology that is proven, cost-effective, and adaptable to an evolving security environment.

Starting around 2011, this missile defense architecture will feature deployments of increasingly-capable sea- and land-based missile interceptors, primarily upgraded versions of the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3), and a range of sensors in Europe to defend against the growing ballistic missile threat from Iran. This phased approach develops the capability to augment our current protection of the U.S. homeland against long-range ballistic missile threats, and to offer more effective defenses against more near-term ballistic missile threats. The plan provides for the defense of U.S. deployed forces, their families, and our Allies in Europe sooner and more comprehensively than the previous program, and involves more flexible and survivable systems.

The Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff recommended to the President that he revise the previous Administration’s 2007 plan for missile defense in Europe as part of an ongoing comprehensive review of our missile defenses mandated by Congress. Two major developments led to this unanimous recommended change:

New Threat Assessment: The intelligence community now assesses that the threat from Iran’s short- and medium-range ballistic missiles is developing more rapidly than previously projected, while the threat of potential Iranian intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capabilities has been slower to develop than previously estimated. In the near-term, the greatest missile threats from Iran will be to U.S. Allies and partners, as well as to U.S. deployed personnel – military and civilian –and their accompanying families in the Middle East and in Europe.

Advances in Capabilities and Technologies: Over the past several years, U.S. missile defense capabilities and technologies have advanced significantly. We expect this trend to continue. Improved interceptor capabilities, such as advanced versions of the SM-3, offer a more flexible, capable, and cost-effective architecture. Improved sensor technologies offer a variety of options to detect and track enemy missiles.

These changes in the threat as well as our capabilities and technologies underscore the need for an adaptable architecture. This architecture is responsive to the current threat, but could also incorporate relevant technologies quickly and cost-effectively to respond to evolving threats. Accordingly, the Department of Defense has developed a four-phased, adaptive approach for missile defense in Europe. While further advances of technology or future changes in the threat could modify the details or timing of later phases, current plans call for the following:

Phase One (in the 2011 timeframe) – Deploy current and proven missile defense systems available in the next two years, including the sea-based Aegis Weapon System, the SM-3 interceptor (Block IA), and sensors such as the forward-based Army Navy/Transportable Radar Surveillance system (AN/TPY-2), to address regional ballistic missile threats to Europe and our deployed personnel and their families;

Phase Two (in the 2015 timeframe) – After appropriate testing, deploy a more capable version of the SM-3 interceptor (Block IB) in both sea- and land-based configurations, and more advanced sensors, to expand the defended area against short- and medium-range missile threats;

Phase Three (in the 2018 timeframe) – After development and testing are complete, deploy the more advanced SM-3 Block IIA variant currently under development, to counter short-, medium-, and intermediate-range missile threats; and

Phase Four (in the 2020 timeframe) – After development and testing are complete, deploy the SM-3 Block IIB to help better cope with medium- and intermediate-range missiles and the potential future ICBM threat to the United States.

Throughout all four phases, the United States also will be testing and updating a range of approaches for improving our sensors for missile defense. The new distributed interceptor and sensor architecture also does not require a single, large, fixed European radar that was to be located in the Czech Republic; this approach also uses different interceptor technology than the previous program, removing the need for a single field of 10 ground-based interceptors in Poland. Therefore, the Secretary of Defense recommended that the United States no longer plan to move forward with that architecture.

The Czech Republic and Poland, as close, strategic and steadfast Allies of the United States, will be central to our continued consultations with NATO Allies on our defense against the growing ballistic missile threat.

The phased, adaptive approach for missile defense in Europe:

Sustains U.S. homeland defense against long-range ballistic missile threats. The deployment of an advanced version of the SM-3 interceptor in Phase Four of the approach would augment existing ground-based interceptors located in Alaska and California, which provide for the defense of the homeland against a potential ICBM threat.
Speeds protection of U.S. deployed forces, civilian personnel, and their accompanying families against the near-term missile threat from Iran. We would deploy current and proven technology by roughly 2011 – about six or seven years earlier than the previous plan – to help defend the regions in Europe most vulnerable to the Iranian short- and medium-range ballistic missile threat.
Ensures and enhances the protection of the territory and populations of all NATO Allies, in concert with their missile defense capabilities, against the current and growing ballistic missile threat. Starting in 2011, the phased, adaptive approach would systematically increase the defended area as the threat is expected to grow. In the 2018 timeframe, all of Europe could be protected by our collective missile defense architecture.
Deploys proven capabilities and technologies to meet current threats. SM-3 (Block 1A) interceptors are deployed on Aegis ships today, and more advanced versions are in various stages of development. Over the past four years, we have conducted a number of tests of the SM-3 IA, and it was the interceptor used in the successful engagement of a decaying satellite in February 2008. Testing in 2008 showed that sensors we plan to field bring significant capabilities to the architecture, and additional, planned research and development over the next few years offers the potential for more diverse and more capable sensors.
Provides flexibility to upgrade and adjust the architecture, and to do so in a cost-effective manner, as the threat evolves. Because of the lower per-interceptor costs and mobility of key elements of the architecture, we will be better postured to adapt this set of defenses to any changes in threat.
We will work with our Allies to integrate this architecture with NATO members’ missile defense capabilities, as well as with the emerging NATO command and control network that is under development. One benefit of the phased, adaptive approach is that there is a high degree of flexibility – in addition to sea-based assets, there are many potential locations for the architecture’s land-based elements, some of which will be re-locatable. We plan to deploy elements in northern and southern Europe and will be consulting closely at NATO with Allies on the specific deployment options.

We also welcome Russian cooperation to bring its missile defense capabilities into a broader defense of our common strategic interests. We have repeatedly made clear to Russia that missile defense in Europe poses no threat to its strategic deterrent. Rather, the purpose is to strengthen defenses against the growing Iranian missile threat. There is no substitute for Iran complying with its international obligations regarding its nuclear program. But ballistic missile defenses will address the threat from Iran’s ballistic missile programs, and diminish the coercive influence that Iran hopes to gain by continuing to develop these destabilizing capabilities.

Through the ongoing Department of Defense ballistic missile defense review, the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff will continue to provide recommendations to the President that address other aspects of our ballistic missile defense capabilities and posture around the world.

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A New START in Prague

2010-04-08T14:34:00.000-07:00

A New START in Prague
Posted by Brian McKeon on April 08, 2010 at 12:24 AM EDT
[UPDATE: The Treaty has been signed, read the text and its protocol.]

In a few hours, President Obama will arrive in Prague, Czech Republic, to sign the new strategic arms control agreement with Russia -- called the New START Treaty -- in a ceremony with President Medvedev of Russia. This comes just over a year after the President gave a speech in Prague where he stated a commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. He stated then that we may not reach this goal in his lifetime, but committed to take concrete steps toward that objective.

The treaty the President plans to sign is one important step forward. It will require the United States and Russia to reduce -- by 30 percent below the levels in a treaty signed in 2002 -- the number of nuclear warheads they have deployed on intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-based ballistic missiles, and bombers. It also provides various mechanisms to allow each side to monitor compliance with the treaty by the other country, including on-site inspections and exchanges of data about our respective nuclear arsenals. This kind of transparency promotes strategic stability between the two largest nuclear powers in the world.

Soon the treaty will go to the Senate, where it must receive support from two-thirds of the chamber before it can take effect. Even though the Senate has yet to see the treaty -- the text will be released to the public soon (The treaty and its protocol are now available.) – some issues are already being debated in Washington.

One issue relates to U.S. plans for missile defense. The Russian government made a “unilateral statement” in connection with the treaty signing that indicated that if there is a qualitative and quantitative build-up in the U.S. missile defense system, such a development would justify Russia’s withdrawal from the New START Treaty.

There is nothing particularly novel about this kind of unilateral statement. In the long history of arms control agreements between the United States and Russia (and before that the Soviet Union), dating back to the Nixon Administration, the two countries have frequently issued such statements at the end of a long treaty negotiation. Sometimes these statements would make public a political understanding between the parties. Other times they would represent one party’s view or interpretation of an issue; in many cases, the other party would respond to give its own view.

The Russian statement falls into the latter category. It is described as a “unilateral” statement for a reason – the Russian government made a statement about missile defense with which the United States did not, and does not, agree. If we had agreed to it, the issue would be put into the treaty text, or issued as a “joint” statement. In fact, the United States issued its own unilateral statement, indicating that it plans to continue to develop and deploy its missile defense systems in order to defend itself. Neither the Russian statement nor the U.S. statement is legally binding on the other party. But each side is making its intentions clear -- to the other party, and to the world.

It is worth noting that the Soviet government made a similar unilateral statement in 1991, when the predecessor START treaty was signed. At that time, the Soviet government said it would be justified in withdrawing from the START Treaty if the United States withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty). As it happened, in 2001 the United States did withdraw from the ABM Treaty. The Russian government objected, but did not withdraw from the START Treaty.

Finally, a word about withdrawal clauses in treaties. Some observers have expressed concern about a withdrawal clause in the New START Treaty; they are concerned that Russia would threaten to withdraw as a means of pressuring the United States not to continue to deploy its missile defenses. There is nothing unusual about withdrawal clauses in treaties. Most treaties that the United States enters into have one -- for the simple reason that we want an escape hatch if circumstances change that affect our national interests. In fact, most treaties have a simple withdrawal clause, allowing a country to exit the particular treaty for any reason or no reason. The withdrawal clause in the New START Treaty has a higher bar; it gives a party the right to withdraw if it decides that “extraordinary events” related to the treaty have “jeopardized its supreme interests.”

The Russian statement does no more than give the United States fair notice that it may decide to pull out of the New START Treaty if Russia believes our missile defense system affects strategic stability. We believe it doesn’t, and the President has made clear that he is committed to continuing to develop and deploy that system.

Brian McKeon is a senior adviser to the NSC and Deputy National Security Adviser to the Vice President. Prior to coming to work in the White House, he served as Chief Counsel for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee where he advised then-Senator Biden on the consideration of dozens of treaties.
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Highlights from Easter Egg Roll

2010-04-08T14:28:00.000-07:00

Highlights from Easter Egg Roll
Posted by Kori Schulman on April 07, 2010 at 06:56 PM EDT
The South Lawn was transformed into a playground for the 2010 Easter Egg Roll ealier this week. Here is a glimpse into the festivities:

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An Unprecedented Level of Obstruction

2010-03-27T14:43:00.001-07:00

An Unprecedented Level of Obstruction
Posted by Jen Psaki on March 27, 2010 at 02:55 PM EDT
Faced with an unprecedented level of obstruction in the Senate, the President announced his intention to recess appoint fifteen nominees to fill critical administration posts. While the President respects the critical role the Senate plays in the appointment process, he was no longer willing to let another month go by with key economic positions unfilled, especially at a time when our country is recovering from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Many of these fifteen individuals have enjoyed broad bipartisan support, but have found their confirmation votes delayed for reasons that have nothing to do with their qualifications. It has more to do with an obstruction-at-all-costs mentality that we’ve been faced with since the President came into office. Because of political posturing, these fifteen appointees have waited an average of 214 days for Senate confirmation.

This opposition got so out of hand at one point that one senator put a blanket hold on all of the President’s nominees in an attempt to win concessions on two projects that would benefit his state. And another nominee’s confirmation was delayed by one senator for more than eight months because of a disagreement over a proposed federal building in his home state. When that nominee was finally given the vote she deserved, she was confirmed 96 to 0. When you attempt to prevent the government from working effectively because you didn’t get your way, you’re failing to live up to your responsibilities as a public servant.

To put this in perspective, at this time in 2002, President Bush had only 5 nominees pending on the floor. By contrast, President Obama has 77 nominees currently pending on the floor, 58 of whom have been waiting for over two weeks and 44 of those have been waiting more than a month. And cloture has been filed 16 times on Obama nominees, nine of whom were subsequently confirmed with 60 or more votes or by voice vote. Cloture was not filed on a single Bush nominee in his first year. And despite facing significantly less opposition, President Bush had already made 10 recess appointments by this point in his presidency and he made another five over the spring recess.

A few more numbers to put this in perspective:

•These fifteen nominees have been waiting a total of 3,204 days or almost nine years to start their respective jobs.
•Even the most recently nominated of these fifteen individuals has been waiting 144 days or nearly five months.
•Jeffrey Goldstein was nominated to serve as the top domestic finance official at Treasury, a crucial position for fixing the economy and preventing another financial crisis. Goldstein has been waiting 248 days or over 8 months.
•Jacqueline Berrien was nominated to serve as Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC currently lacks a quorum and cannot fulfill its mandate to protect American workers from discrimination. Berrien has been waiting 254 days or over 8 months.
•Craig Becker and Mark Pearce were nominated to serve on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which protects American workers from unfair labor practices. The five member board has been trying to operate with only two members. Becker and Pearce have been waiting for 261 days or over 8 months.
The roadblocks we’ve seen in the Senate have left some government agencies like the National Labor Relations Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission impaired in fulfilling their mission. These agencies can now get back to working for the American people.

These nominees will remain pending before the Senate for what we hope will be the expeditious confirmation that candidates of their caliber deserve. But we also hope that this politically motivated gridlock comes to an end, because each day we dedicate to a strategy aimed at gumming up the works of our government is another day we aren’t doing right by the American people.

Jen Psaki is the White House's Deputy Communications Director

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Harvesting the Winter Garden

2010-03-27T14:40:00.000-07:00

Harvesting the Winter Garden
Posted by Sam Kass on March 27, 2010 at 01:00 PM EDT
After a long, and historically snowy winter here in Washington DC, we harvested our winter crop on March 10th. We have been enjoying the lettuce, spinach, turnips, carrots, and greens ever since. From the beginning, we wanted to demonstrate that a four-season garden was indeed possible even in Washington D.C. As it turned out, this winter was harsher than most and in fact more like the ones typical to Chicago, with the city experiencing over two feet of snow one week!

Farmers and gardeners around the world are extending their growing seasons through the very simple technology of hoop houses. We used a smaller version that is often referred to as high tunnels. The structures are simply a series of four or five metal bars arched over the beds about three feet high. Fixed to the bars is a simple plastic covering which traps the heat of the sun during the day to keep the plants from freezing at night.

We were cautiously optimistic that our hoop houses would protect the crops and were pleasantly surprised. All told we harvested just under 50lbs of produce. A modest harvest compared to what the summer had brought, but it is exciting to have been able to produce food during a long harsh winter. The lettuce and spinach are particularly sweet and delicious. We also learned a few things. For example, we planted our carrots a little too late. They were not as big as we had hoped, but the little things are tasty! We also discovered that the beds to the north side of the garden get considerably more sun the beds that the beds on south side. The sun is much lower in the sky and late in the day the southern beds are shadowed by surrounding trees. Next year, we will be sure to put plants that need more sun on the north side of the garden. Good lessons to learn, but all together a nice surprise.

Over the next few weeks we will be getting the garden ready for our spring planting. Seeds are being sprouted and at the First Lady’s request we have expanded the garden by 500 square feet so we can grow even more varieties of fruits and vegetables. Needless to say we are excited for Spring so stay tuned!

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Weekly Address: Two Major Reforms on Health Care & Higher Ed

2010-03-27T14:38:00.001-07:00

Weekly Address: Two Major Reforms on Health Care & Higher Ed
Posted by Jesse Lee on March 27, 2010 at 06:00 AM EDT
The President looks back on a week that saw the passage of two major sets of reforms: one putting Americans in control of their own health care, and one ensuring student loans work for students and families, not as subsidies for bankers and middlemen.

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More Than 250,000 White House Visitor Records Now Online

2010-03-26T14:52:00.000-07:00

More Than 250,000 White House Visitor Records Now Online
Posted by Norm Eisen on March 26, 2010 at 02:41 PM EDT
In September, the President announced that – for the first time in history – the White House would release visitor records. Today, the White House releases its largest set of records to date – nearly 120,000 records that were created in December 2009. This release brings the grand total of records that this White House has released to well over 250,000 records. You can view them all in our Disclosures section.

Norm Eisen is Special Counsel to the President for Ethics and Government Reform

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President Obama Announces the New START Treaty

2010-03-26T14:49:00.000-07:00

President Obama Announces the New START Treaty
Posted by Jesse Lee on March 26, 2010 at 12:30 PM EDT

After concluding a phone call with Russian President Medvedev, President Obama announced the new START treaty during a press briefing Secretary of State Clinton, Secretary of Defense Gates, and Admiral Mullen. The new Treaty, which he called “the most comprehensive arms control agreement in nearly two decades,” is a major step to reduce the number and role of nuclear weapons and to set the stage for further reductions in global nuclear stockpiles and materials. The President has made the pledge to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons worldwide a key goal of his foreign policy approach, including a major speech in Prague laying out his vision during his first trip to Europe

President Obama explained the significance of the new agreement:

In many ways, nuclear weapons represent both the darkest days of the Cold War, and the most troubling threats of our time. Today, we’ve taken another step forward by -- in leaving behind the legacy of the 20th century while building a more secure future for our children. We’ve turned words into action. We’ve made progress that is clear and concrete. And we’ve demonstrated the importance of American leadership -- and American partnership -- on behalf of our own security, and the world’s.

Broadly speaking, the new START treaty makes progress in several areas. It cuts -- by about a third -- the nuclear weapons that the United States and Russia will deploy. It significantly reduces missiles and launchers. It puts in place a strong and effective verification regime. And it maintains the flexibility that we need to protect and advance our national security, and to guarantee our unwavering commitment to the security of our allies.

With this agreement, the United States and Russia -- the two largest nuclear powers in the world -- also send a clear signal that we intend to lead. By upholding our own commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, we strengthen our global efforts to stop the spread of these weapons, and to ensure that other nations meet their own responsibilities.

Specifically, the new START Treaty will specify limits of:

•1,550 deployed warheads, which is about 30% lower than the upper warhead limit of the Moscow Treaty;
•800 deployed and non-deployed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launchers, submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM) launchers, and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear weapons; and
•700 for deployed ICBMs, SLBMs, and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear weapons.

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That Syncing Feeling

2010-03-26T14:46:00.000-07:00

That Syncing Feeling
Posted by Jason Djang on March 26, 2010 at 09:39 AM EDT
Just a quick update. The White House now offers, count'm, seven podcast feeds. We've just added a feed for First Lady Michelle Obama and Music & the Arts, an exclusive collection of performances at the White House.

If you weren't aware that we even offered podcasts, now you know. So if searching and downloading video and audio every day sounds like too much work, simply subscribe to a feed and sync up your iPod, Zune, or Acme media player. You can have Press Secretary Robert Gibbs' daily press briefings delivered to you automagically or keep up with the President's agenda with his weekly addresses released every Saturday.

Here's the complete list of our podcasts, most of which are available as either video or audio streams:

•Your Weekly Address - Stay in tune with the President's agenda with his weekly addresses released at the end of every week.
•Press Briefings - This feed will include occasional briefings by the President and other administration officials.
•Speeches & Events - Keep up with all of President Obama's remarks, town halls, and press conferences in this comprehensive podcast.
•Features - Learn more about the ins and outs of the White House with this select mix of feature videos.
•Open for Questions - Open for Questions is a series of live chats with White House officials and the general public covering a wide scope of topics.
•The First Lady - Keep up with First Lady Michelle Obama’s activities and initiatives.
•Music & the Arts - Remarkable performances by great talent are a long-standing tradition at the White House.

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Health Reform and America’s Businesses: The Bottom Line

2010-03-25T15:11:00.001-07:00

Health Reform and America’s Businesses: The Bottom Line
Posted by Secretary Gary Locke on March 25, 2010 at 05:35 PM EDT
Throughout the course of the health reform debate, amongst the President’s top concerns has been how the sky-rocketing costs of health care affect America’s businesses and the economy. The final health reform legislation is a reflection of that, and will help contain the costs that threatened to swallow up the budgets of businesses across the country. That is why the independent Congressional Budget Office confirmed that the bill would lower health insurance premiums and why the Business Roundtable estimated that provisions to help bend the health care cost curve like those in the bill could save $3,000 per person in health costs.

In the last few days, though, we have seen a couple of companies imply that reform will raise costs for them. Let’s look more closely at what they’re referring to:

•The concern stems from a corporate loophole that was created as part of the Medicare Part D prescription drug bill that passed in 2004. Under that bill, businesses were provided a 28% subsidy to help cover the cost of providing prescription drug coverage to their retirees.
•But a loophole in the law allowed businesses to deduct the value of that subsidy twice – they can exclude the 28% from their income and at the same time deduct the 28% from their income for tax purposes.
•The health reform legislation closes this loophole by allowing businesses to deduct this money once rather than getting a double deduction on taxpayer dollars. These businesses will still get a generous subsidy to help them cover retiree prescription drug costs and they still get to exclude that benefit from their income – they just don’t get a double deduction on taxpayer dollars.
•The President supports this subsidy to help seniors and believes that a change in its tax treatment won’t negatively affect seniors. But to be clear, this change doesn’t even go into effect until 2013, and while some companies may make accounting changes to book these changes now, the provision was delayed two years from the original Senate bill specifically to give companies time to adapt.
Perhaps most importantly, though, is that this change is part of an overall reform package that will provide substantial benefits to employers and their employees. Consider just a few of the provisions that will directly benefit firms:

•Reinsurance for early retirees starting in 90 days: The bill invests $5 billion in a new reinsurance program for early retirees starting this year that will directly reduce health premiums for large employers who offer coverage to retirees between the ages of 55-64. This provision is estimated to reduce retiree premiums by as much as $1,200, helping to ensure these plans remain affordable for businesses and their retirees.
•Reducing the hidden tax: By reducing the number of uninsured, the bill will reduce the hidden tax of about $1,000 per person that those with insurance pay to cover the cost of the uninsured who rely on emergency rooms to get their care.
•“Gamechangers” that will bend the health care cost curve: The bill includes several reforms that independent health experts agree will help slow the long-term growth rate of health costs. These provisions that create market forces that lead to more efficient care, like a fee on insurance companies’ most expensive plans, research into what works and what doesn’t, an independent commission to make sure Medicare costs grow more slowly, and other measures to reward quality of care.
•Tax credits to make health care affordable: the bill includes $40 billion in new tax credits for small businesses to help cover the cost of health coverage for their employees. According to the council of economic advisers, about 4 million small businesses will be eligible for these new tax credits, which will help not only reduce the cost of coverage but increase the competitiveness of America’s small firms.
When taken as a whole, the bill will reduce premiums and increase business competitiveness in the U.S. That is why the Congressional Budget Office projects that it will lower premiums for employer-sponsored insurance by zero to three percent, which using the midpoint of this range works out to about $10 billion per year in savings for large firms and their employees. That’s the bottom line.

Gary Locke is Secretary of Commerce

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The President in Iowa City: "We're Not Going Back, This Country's Moving Forward"

2010-03-25T15:08:00.001-07:00

The President in Iowa City: "We're Not Going Back, This Country's Moving Forward"
Posted by Jesse Lee on March 25, 2010 at 05:15 PM EDT
This afternoon the President was in Iowa City, the place where he first announced his plan for health reform back in May of 2007.

THE PRESIDENT: …On Tuesday, after a year of debate, a century of trying, after so many of you shared your stories and your heartaches and your hopes, that promise was finally fulfilled. (Applause.) And today, health insurance reform is the law of the land all across America. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE: Yes we did! Yes we did! Yes we did! Yes we did! Yes we did! Yes we did! Yes we did!

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, we did. Yes, we did. Just like the campaign that led us here, this historic change didn’t start in Washington. It began in places like Iowa City, places just like this, with Americans just like you.
It began when people had the courage to stand up in town hall meetings and talk about how insurance companies were denying their families coverage because of a preexisting condition.

It began when folks wrote letters about how premium hikes of 40 and 50 and a hundred percent were forcing them to give up their insurance.

It began when countless small business owners and families and doctors shared stories about a health care system that works better for the insurance industry than it does for the American people.

So this is your victory, because when the special interests sent an army of lobbyists to Congress, they blanketed the airwaves with millions of dollars of negative ads, you mobilized and you organized and you refused to give up. And when the pundits were obsessing over who was up and who was down and how is this affecting the Obama administration and what’s going on over in the House, you never lost sight of what was right and what was wrong. You knew this was not about the fortunes of one party -- this was about the future of our country. (Applause.) And today, because of what you did, that future looks stronger and more hopeful and brighter than it has in some time -- because of you. (Applause.)

President Barack Obama shakes hands along the ropeline after speaking at a health insurance reform rally at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa March 25, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Souza)
He went on to single out people in the audience, and people he had met along the way who reminded him why reform was so desperately needed. He talked about Darlyne Neff, a breast cancer survivor, and about Lauren Gallagher, whose father couldn’t get covered after her mother lost her job. And he gave a message to those talking about "repeal" of reform:

This is the reform that some folks in Washington are still hollering about, still shouting about. Now that they passed it -- now that we passed it, they’re already promising to repeal it. They’re actually going to run on a platform of repeal in November. You’ve been hearing that. And my attitude is: Go for it. (Applause.)

If these congressmen in Washington want to come here in Iowa and tell small business owners that they plan to take away their tax credits and essentially raise their taxes, be my guest. If they want to look Lauren Gallagher in the eye and tell her they plan to take away her father’s health insurance, that’s their right. If they want to make Darlyne Neff pay more money for her check-ups, her mammograms, they can run on that platform. If this young man out here thinks this is a bad bill, he can run to repeal it. If they want to have that fight, we can have it. Because I don’t believe that the American people are going to put the insurance industry back in the driver’s seat. We’ve already been there. We're not going back. This country is moving forward. (Applause.)

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What "Repeal" Would Do Away With

2010-03-25T15:06:00.001-07:00

What "Repeal" Would Do Away With
Posted by Dan Pfeiffer on March 25, 2010 at 04:17 PM EDT
Today in an opinion piece in the Des Moines Register, the House Minority Leader recycles the same tired, discredited rhetorical arguments about health care reform to try to make his case for eliminating the landmark benefits the President signed into law for American families this week. His op-ed runs the gamut of misleading rhetoric crafted to protect the insurance companies, who have spent tens of millions of dollars fighting reform: he calls health reform a “government takeover,” suggests there will be doctor shortages, and misconstrues analysis from the Congressional Budget Office.

Here are the facts: Health care reform ends the worst practices of insurance companies, brings down costs for families and small businesses, and expands coverage to 32 million Americans who are currently uninsured. It provides new investments to increase the number of primary care practitioners, including doctors and nurses. It provides tax credits of up to 50 35 percent of employer premium contributions to help small businesses afford coverage for their employees. And the CBO has confirmed that health reform reduces the deficit by more than $100 billion over the first decade, and more than $1 trillion in the decade after that.

Once you peel away the layers of false rhetoric, the bottom line is that the Minority Leader and opponents of reform are fighting to repeal critical benefits for American families and small businesses. So, let’s take a closer look at some of the specific benefits they want to do away with:

Starting this year as a result of health reform, children with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied health insurance coverage. Health reform outlaws that practice for new health plans as well as grandfathered group plans. Moving forward, no insurance company can deny anyone coverage based on his or her health.
Starting this year, new health care plans and certain current plans will allow young people to remain on their parents’ insurance policy up until their 26th birthday. That means that young adults will enjoy the security of knowing they’re covered as they start their lives and careers.

Under health reform, starting this year, small businesses that choose to offer coverage will begin to receive tax credits of up to 35 percent of their premium contributions to help make employee coverage more affordable. Adults who are uninsured because of pre-existing conditions will have access to affordable insurance through a temporary subsidized high-risk pool. And starting this year, insurance companies will be banned from dropping people from coverage when they get sick or placing lifetime limits on coverage. Under health reform, Americans will be ensured access to the care they need. The list goes on.

So, the next time you see opponents of reform out talking about repeal, ask yourself: why are they so eager to do away with these benefits? And why are they standing with the insurance companies to protect the status quo?

Dan Pfeiffer is White House Communications Director

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Live from Iowa City

2010-03-25T15:05:00.001-07:00

Live from Iowa City
Posted by Kori Schulman on March 25, 2010 at 01:32 PM EDT
Today the President is traveling to Iowa City to talk about how health insurance reform will lower costs for small businesses and American families and give them more control over their health care.

Watch the event live at 2:00 PM EDT on WhiteHouse.gov

Iowa City holds a special meaning as the place where the President first announced his health care plan in May of 2007, launching a grassroots campaign for reform that led directly to the legislation passed earlier this week.

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22 Pens

2010-03-25T15:02:00.000-07:00

22 Pens
Posted by Lisa Brown on March 25, 2010 at 12:07 PM EDT

On Tuesday, the President signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, one of the most significant bills signed into law in the last several decades. Among the many stories generated by the passing of this landmark health reform bill were several that focused on the President using 22 pens to sign the bill into law. The fact that the Staff Secretary handles such bill signings has led a number of people to ask exactly what the Staff Secretary does. While the Staff Secretary can play a public role at the signing of a major bill, Executive Order or international agreement, the lion’s share of the office’s work is invisible to the public.

All of the paper that goes to the President (including, with rare exception, classified memos from the National Security Advisor), goes through the Staff Secretary’s Office. Working with staff throughout the White House, the Office compiles the President’s daily briefing book; reviews and edits briefing and decision memos, circulating them within the White House for input before they go to the President; handles executive orders and bills; and organizes the letters and background reading sent to the President.

The role of the Staff Secretary is often described as the last substantive control point before papers reach the Oval Office.” Does a memo merit the President’s attention given the demands on his time? Does a memo provide the President with the information he needs for a meeting? Are the various aspects of an issue clearly presented for the President’s decision? Are all the relevant views of the President’s senior advisors reflected so he can make a fully informed decision? The Staff Secretary serves as the “honest broker,” ensuring that the paper going to the President is ready for prime time and that no one who should be in the loop is cut out of the process.

The paper ranges from the mundane to the momentous. As of yesterday, President Obama has signed 147 bills into law. While each has significance in its own right, none matches the import of the health reform bill for Americans across the country. As the President said, “this is what change looks like,” and it is why I work for President Obama and why it is an honor to work in this office.

Lisa Brown is Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary

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Summer Jobs for Recovery

2010-03-24T16:27:00.001-07:00

Summer Jobs for Recovery
Posted by Shama Hussain on March 24, 2010 at 04:56 PM EDT
Today the White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) supporting the inclusion of $600 million for summer employment programs for youth in the House passage of the Disaster Relief and Summer Jobs Act of 2010, saying that in addition to essential help in keeping America prepared for natural disasters, “It also takes another important step forward in the ongoing effort to help put Americans back to work through the expansion of a youth summer jobs program and offers continued support to America’s small businesses, which are the backbone of the American economy.”

From the SAP:

Summer Employment Programs for Youth

The Administration supports the inclusion of $600 million for the Workforce Investment Act youth program for summer employment opportunities for disadvantaged youth. This funding will create hundreds of thousands of jobs and help young people open the door to future opportunities, while enabling them to generate additional income during these difficult economic times.

The Administration has long recognized the importance of putting youth to work as a way of developing the next generation and strengthening the nation’s economy. The Recovery Act also aimed to create over a hundred thousand summer youth jobs to provide young people with meaningful work experience.

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Recovery Act in Action #4: A 48C Story

2010-03-24T16:21:00.001-07:00

Recovery Act in Action #4: A 48C Story
Posted by Jared Bernstein on March 24, 2010 at 01:33 PM EDT
Editor's Note: In case you missed them, read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Today’s Recovery Act in Action episode takes place in Durham, NC at Cree, Inc., America’s foremost producer of LED lighting. It’s a tale of many important economic advances coming together: cutting- edge energy-saving technology, export-led growth, and most importantly, good manufacturing jobs here in the US. And at the center of the story is a Recovery Act tax credit that helped to pull a lot of this together.

Cree was chosen for a $39 million tax credit through this Recovery Act program, which is called the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit, nicknamed 48C for its line in the tax code. So far, the investments they’re using the credit to make, along with the private capital they’re putting into those investments, have led to 375 new factory jobs in the last year, and they’re planning to add 300 more next year.

Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu tour Cree, with Cree CEO Charles Swoboda, Durham, North Carolina.
The 48C credit has a unique characteristic that makes it especially important in today’s economic landscape. For years, we’ve used the tax code to subsidize the generation and use of clean, renewable energy. That’s a good thing, and wholly consistent with President Obama’s environmental vision.

But another part of that vision calls for the growth of new, clean energy industries, providing American workers with the opportunities to build the equipment of the renewable revolution here in the US. The 48C tax credit incentivizes exactly that: it’s a 30% credit going to domestic companies building domestic capacity to meet this new and growing source of demand. And that means instead of importing these goods, we can build them here for our markets, and like Cree, sell them abroad into others’ markets (80% of Cree’s revenue comes from exports).

The Recovery Act included $2.3 billion for the 48C program, but we quickly got more applications than we had money for. Given that a) we have a bunch of good applications we’d like to support, and b) we want to keep planting those seeds to grow new jobs today and new industries tomorrow, the President took the logical step of calling for a $5 billion expansion of the program.

Well, it’s one thing to hang around DC and try to make the case for the extension, but we thought we should also hit the road with the Vice President’s Middle-Class Taskforce and check this Cree story out for ourselves.
The factory was incredibly impressive. They employ about 1,500 workers in their Durham headquarters, and a couple of the engineers were kind enough to show me and Ron Bloom (the Administration’s Senior Counselor for Manufacturing Policy) part of the production process, the part where they test the LED lights to make sure they’re flawless.

They’ve got multiple layers of quality control and when it’s all done, you end up with this strip of LED lights, ready to go into a huge variety on end-user products. LEDs can light up your smart phone or your parking lot, and relative to conventional lights, they can reduce energy use by more than 60%.

We spoke to Cree’s CEO about the tax credit and he stressed two points. One, it was instrumental in their decision to hire 375 new workers this year and their plans to add 300 more next year. But it was also a critical motivator in bringing in private capital from the sidelines. Once investors saw that the Federal government was serious about seeding investment in clean energy, they were ready to take the plunge themselves. This public/private partnership is essential to bringing these investments, and the jobs they create, to scale.

Cree, the Recovery Act, and 48C are a true American success story. We’re going to do all we can to keep that story going.

LED chips being made at Cree, where Vice President Joe Biden is touring, Durham, North Carolina
Jared Bernstein is Chief Economic Advisor to the Vice President

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For Victims of Domestic Violence, Health Care is a Lifeline

2010-03-24T16:17:00.001-07:00

For Victims of Domestic Violence, Health Care is a Lifeline
Posted by Lynn Rosenthal on March 23, 2010 at 05:50 PM EDT
Sunday night’s historic vote on health care reform helps women across the board.

A greater percentage of women are more likely than men to be uninsured or underinsured and to struggle to make ends meet. In addition, those women who manage to get coverage are more likely to pay higher premiums than men. Women who suffer from preexisting conditions are often denied coverage altogether.

For all women, the advent of health care reform is a victory. For domestic violence victims, it is a lifeline.

Domestic violence causes 2 million injuries and more than 1,200 deaths every year . These women are not strangers - they are our daughters, our mothers, our sisters, our co-workers, and our neighbors. For victims of domestic violence, access to health care is critical. They need treatment for immediate injuries and ongoing care for related health problems. They need to be able to talk to their health care provider about the cause of their injuries without fear of losing their health insurance. Most importantly, they need our compassion and support.

Yet until last night, insurance companies in eight states and the District of Columbia could still discriminate against victims by declaring domestic violence a preexisting condition. Domestic violence victims in those states faced the real risk of being denied health care at the very time when they needed it the most. Because of last night’s vote, domestic violence victims in those states will no longer face discrimination.

All across the country, this bill will help domestic violence victims get the health care they need. They will not face gender discrimination or lifetime caps on benefits. They will not face the struggle of paying too much for health care while trying to rebuild their lives after suffering domestic violence.

Victims of domestic violence should not have to worry about access to health care. Because of last night, we can make sure that they won’t.

Lynn Rosenthal is the White House Advisor on Violence Against Women

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What's in the Health Care Bill?

2010-03-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

What's in the Health Care Bill?
Posted by Macon Phillips on March 23, 2010 at 04:37 PM EDT
On the day that President Obama signed health insurance reform into law, a lot of Americans are researching the final legislation and how it affects them. As the President helpfully pointed out in his speech earlier today:

Go to our Web site, WhiteHouse.gov; go to the Web sites of major news outlets out there; find out how reform will affect you. And I’m confident that you will like what you see -- a common-sense approach that maintains the private insurance system but makes it work for everybody; makes it work not just for the insurance companies, but makes it work for you.

So we want to make sure you don’t miss a bunch of health care reform resources on our website:

•Frequently asked questions
•A title-by-title health care reform bill summary
•A list of all recent blog posts about health care
•Links to full text of the health care bill: H.R. 4872 - Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 and an area to submit your comment on the legislation
Today, White House Director of Health Reform Nancy-Ann DeParle sent an email update (you can sign up for them here) outlining key benefits of health reform for individual Americans that take place soon:

FROM: Nancy-Ann DeParle, The White House
SUBJECT: What Happens Next

Good afternoon,

Since the House of Representatives voted to pass health reform legislation on Sunday night, the legislative process and its political impact have been the focus of all the newspapers and cable TV pundits.

Outside of DC, however, many Americans are trying to cut through the chatter and get to the substance of reform with a simple question: "What does health insurance reform actually mean for me?" To help, we've put together a list of some key benefits every American should know.

Let's start with how health insurance reform will expand and strengthen coverage:

•This year, children with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied health insurance coverage. Once the new health insurance exchanges begin in the coming years, pre-existing condition discrimination will become a thing of the past for everyone.
•This year, health care plans will allow young people to remain on their parents' insurance policy up until their 26th birthday.
•This year, insurance companies will be banned from dropping people from coverage when they get sick, and they will be banned from implementing lifetime caps on coverage. This year, restrictive annual limits on coverage will be banned for certain plans. Under health insurance reform, Americans will be ensured access to the care they need.
•This year, adults who are uninsured because of pre-existing conditions will have access to affordable insurance through a temporary subsidized high-risk pool.
•In the next fiscal year, the bill increases funding for community health centers, so they can treat nearly double the number of patients over the next five years.
•This year, we'll also establish an independent commission to advise on how best to build the health care workforce and increase the number of nurses, doctors and other professionals to meet our country's needs. Going forward, we will provide $1.5 billion in funding to support the next generation of doctors, nurses and other primary care practitioners -- on top of a $500 million investment from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Health insurance reform will also curb some of the worst insurance industry practices and strengthen consumer protections:

•This year, this bill creates a new, independent appeals process that ensures consumers in new private plans have access to an effective process to appeal decisions made by their insurer.
•This year, discrimination based on salary will be outlawed. New group health plans will be prohibited from establishing any eligibility rules for health care coverage that discriminate in favor of higher-wage employees.
•Beginning this fiscal year, this bill provides funding to states to help establish offices of health insurance consumer assistance in order to help individuals in the process of filing complaints or appeals against insurance companies.
•Starting January 1, 2011, insurers in the individual and small group market will be required to spend 80 percent of their premium dollars on medical services. Insurers in the large group market will be required to spend 85 percent of their premium dollars on medical services. Any insurers who don't meet those thresholds will be required to provide rebates to their policyholders.
•Starting in 2011, this bill helps states require insurance companies to submit justification for requested premium increases. Any company with excessive or unjustified premium increases may not be able to participate in the new health insurance exchanges.
Reform immediately begins to lower health care costs for American families and small businesses:

•This year, small businesses that choose to offer coverage will begin to receive tax credits of up to 35 percent of premiums to help make employee coverage more affordable.
•This year, new private plans will be required to provide free preventive care: no co-payments and no deductibles for preventive services. And beginning January 1, 2011, Medicare will do the same.
•This year, this bill will provide help for early retirees by creating a temporary re-insurance program to help offset the costs of expensive premiums for employers and retirees age 55-64.
•This year, this bill starts to close the Medicare Part D 'donut hole' by providing a $250 rebate to Medicare beneficiaries who hit the gap in prescription drug coverage. And beginning in 2011, the bill institutes a 50% discount on prescription drugs in the 'donut hole.'
Thank you,

Nancy-Ann DeParle
Director, White House Office of Health Reform

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