Posted by Jesse Lee The President offers his best wishes for the New Year, recorded on December 22nd before he left Washington: Good evening. Tonight, as Americans across the country gather with family and friends, I want to wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year. This is always a hopeful time, as we celebrate [...]
Posted by Norm Eisen We are posting our written authorization and waiver under the ethics rules to John Brennan to participate in the reviews of the attempted bombing of Northwest flight 253. John is the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism. By virtue of his long experience in government and the private [...]
Posted by Dan Pfeiffer There has been a lot of discussion online and in the mainstream media about our response to various critics of the President, specifically former Vice President Cheney, who have been coming out of the woodwork since the incident on Christmas Day. I think we all agree that there should be honest [...]
Posted by Norm Eisen President Obama ordered earlier this year that in December the White House would — for the first time in history — begin posting White House visitor records as provided in our new voluntary disclosure policy. Today we are delivering on that commitment by posting more than 25,000 records created between Sept [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee Ever since the President’s Jobs Forum on December 3rd, and his tour of Allentown, PA the next day, we’ve been hearing back from local officials and citizens who signed up to host community jobs forums all over the country. You can still sign up and hold your own by January 7th [...]
Posted by Dan Pfeiffer Yesterday POLITICO reported that, before it even becomes law, opponents of health care reform – including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich – are already talking about repealing it. Certainly there is a fundamental disagreement here, since many opponents of reform – again including Gingrich – appear to think that insurance companies [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee Speaking at Kaneohe Bay Marine Base in Kaneohe, Hawaii, the President gave an update on the latest findings regarding the incident on the Christmas Day flight from Amsterdam to Detroit: THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Yesterday I updated the American people on the immediate steps we took — the increased screening and [...]
Posted by William H. Leary President Obama has issued a new executive order on “Classified National Security Information” (the Order) that addresses the problem of over-classification in numerous ways and will allow researchers to gain timelier access to formerly classified records. Among the major changes are the following: It establishes a National Declassification Center at [...]
Posted by Jen Cannistra About a year ago, those of us working on the Presidential Transition were taking the first steps on the road towards reforming our health care system under the Obama Administration. We knew that this wasn’t an academic issue or an issue just for the political scoreboards – we had to hear [...]
Posted by Nancy Fichtner My invitation to the White House became the adventure of my life. I felt like a character out of the Mrs. Pollifax books. With DC airports shutting down and December 21st being declared a snow day for Federal employees we had our challenges, but everyone pulled together and come Monday morning [...]
Posted by Macon Phillips Earlier today, the President addressed the public on the recent attempted terrorist attack: Good morning, everybody. I wanted to take just a few minutes to update the American people on the attempted terrorist attack that occurred on Christmas Day and the steps we’re taking to ensure the safety and security of [...]
Posted by Macon Phillips A violent Iranian government crackdown on protesters this weekend has reportedly resulted in multiple deaths, as well as the arrests of hundreds of demonstrators, including several political figures and human rights activists. The continued government suppression since the contested June presidential elections has drawn sharp international criticism. The United States will [...]
Posted by Jason Djang When I first started work at the White House last January, there were countless reminders that I was in a whole new world. Whether the oversized hallways and doors of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building or your boss coming and going in a massive helicopter in his backyard, this was unlike [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee For the first time in a weekly address, the President is joined by the First Lady as they celebrate Christmas. They both honor those serving overseas, those who have sacrificed for their country, and the families that stand by them. Find ways to lend our troops and their families a home [...]
Posted by Dan Pfeiffer Today’s Republican talking point of the day is that the historic health reform bill passed today represents the first major piece of social legislation to be passed without a single vote from across the aisle. Well that may be true. But it’s not a commentary on this bill. It’s a commentary [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee Speaking in the State Dining Room, the President, joined by Vice President Biden, congratulated the Senate on its historic vote to pass health insurance reform. The full transcript of the President’s remarks is below: Good morning, everybody. In a historic vote that took place this morning members of the Senate joined their [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee First Lady Michelle Obama visits the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington D.C. to read “The Night Before Christmas.” Joined by daughters Malia and Sasha, along with dog Bo, the First Lady continues this tradition of visiting with patients which dates back to Bess Truman. First Lady Michelle Obama talks with a [...]
Posted by Kalpen Modi As President Obama called world leaders back to the table in Copenhagen to work on an agreement, the White House Offices of Energy and Climate Change and Public Engagement helped facilitate a meeting between White House aides and young environmental leaders from the United States and Kenya. The American coalition hand-delivered [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee Before we get into the national round-up, we wanted to highlight one particularly action-packed story out of Minnesota. The headline from the Star-Tribune is ‘Energy squads’ find and stop waste”: As the biggest storm of the season so far descends on the Twin Cities, some lucky homeowners are getting expert help battening [...]
Posted by Kori Schulman Holiday season at the White House began with a very simple idea: to include as many people, in as many places, in as many ways as possible. In this spirit, we posted a video tour of this year’s decorations and the making of the gingerbread White House; now see the holidays [...]
Posted by Bill Yosses Each year, the White House Pastry Team comes together with other members of the White House staff to work on a favorite holiday tradition: The White House Gingerbread House. Because this project requires so much space, the gingerbread house is usually assembled in the China Room of the Residence instead of [...]
Posted by Macon Phillips Today the White House announced the President’s new White House Cybersecurity Coordinator, Howard Schmidt. President Barack Obama greets his new White House Cyber Security Chief Howard A. Schmidt in the Cross Hall of the White House. December 17, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson) With some forty years of [...]
Posted by Cammie Croft As part of her ongoing commitment to community service, First Lady Michelle Obama spearheaded an effort among White House staff this holiday season to support Toy for Tots, a program that donates toys to children for Christmas. Just last week, she visited the Quantico Toys for Tots warehouse in Stafford, VA [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee A White House nurse prepares to administer the H1N1 vaccine to President Barack Obama at the White House December 20, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) In an interview today with American Urban Radio Networks in the Oval Office, the President made clear that the time for adults to [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee The President made clear early on that part of the way he intended to change the way Washington does business is by looking in every nook and cranny of government both for waste and abuse, and for ideas on how to root it out. Speaking in the Diplomatic room today, he [...]
Posted by Lawrence E. Strickling Last week, I had the opportunity to join Vice President Biden and Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue in Dawsonville, Georgia for the announcement of the first $183 million in Recovery Act funding for projects to bring broadband service to communities where it is lacking. These projects can help companies like Impulse Manufacturing, [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee The popular blogging community focused on women, BlogHer, has been collecting questions over the weekend from their readers for HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and today the Secretary answers some of those questions live. Last week HHS released a new report documenting in detail the extensive benefits reform will hold for families. [...]
Posted by Aneesh Chopra To emerge from the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression, we are depending on entrepreneurs and start-ups — young and small businesses — to do what they have historically done for the United States: fuel economic growth by creating a disproportionate share of the new jobs we need. As [...]
Posted by Nancy-Ann DeParle Congress has been working hard for months to shape health insurance reform legislation that will bring down costs, expand coverage, increase accountability for insurers, and attack our mounting deficit. We got good news today on all those fronts, as fresh statements of support from the Small Business Majority, the American Cancer [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee The President looks back to the bipartisan Patient’s Bill of Rights, a bill that was defeated in Congress at the hands of special interests and their supporters, and notes that health insurance reform covers the same ground and much more in terms of giving the consumers the upper hand over their [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee In a much-anticipated United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, the President arrived after nearly two weeks of work with the firm intention of seizing the opportunity to get something solid done. And as he explained in remarks at the end of the day, defying many expectations, the world will [...]
Posted by Jason Djang There was a time that the Situation Room was known not as Wolf Blitzer’s evening newscast, but a nerve-center of information for the President of the United States. Created by the Kennedy Administration in 1961, the “Sit Room” serves as a conference facility, a processing center for secure communications, a hub [...]
Posted by Julie Fosbender Visitors who camp in National Forest Campgrounds are required to pay a fee to cover the costs of the services (toilets, trash removal, etc) they receive while camping. If a Forest Ranger isn’t present to collect these fees in person, campers are directed to deposit their fee into a fee tube. [...]
Posted by Cammie Croft While President Obama and key members of his Administration work to address global climate change issues in Copenhagen, here at home the Recovery Act is funding a wide array of projects to increase energy efficiency, develop new clean energy technologies, and train workers for the green jobs of the future. The [...]
Posted by Dan Pfeiffer When President Obama first took on health insurance reform, he made it clear he hoped to reach out across the aisle to produce a bipartisan plan. He even kicked off the health reform effort by bringing a wide array of folks from across the political spectrum to the White House to [...]
Posted by Jake Levine Ed. Note: See previous installments from Interior Secretary Salazar, EPA Administrator Jackson and Assistant Secretary of Energy Sandalow, Secretary of Commerce Locke, Secretary of Energy Chu, and Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack. With the President’s arrival, a quick look back at what’s been going on. Secretary of State Clinton arrived in Copenhagen [...]
Posted by Huston Prescott Back in September when I submitted an idea for the SAVE Award program, I never thought that I would be selected as one of four finalists. I honestly didn’t expect it to be forwarded for someone to actually read. Imagine my surprise when I received a phone call in early December [...]
Posted by Emanuel Pleitez Starting at 2:00 PM EST today, the subcommittee on tax reform for the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board (PERAB) will hold its next public meeting. Listen to the meeting live at www.whitehouse.gov/live. The speakers today include: IRS Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (read the panel’s public response to PERAB’s Request for Public Comment [...]
Posted by Jason Djang Nearly every day this month, streams of visitors pass through the White House doors to get a firsthand glimpse of the holiday decorations dressing the Executive Residence. By the end of the holiday season, some 100,000 guests will have visited the White house to see the 27 trees, 61 wreaths, and [...]
Posted by Eddie Lee The U.S. Department of Education announced this week that the following students are winners of its “I Am What I Learn” video contest: Rene Harris, Alex Hughes and Jordan Lederman. Watch the web chat between Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and the winners below: The contest, launched Sept. 21, asked students [...]
