Posted by Valerie Jarrett President Barack Obama, surrounded by the family of Cesar Chavez and leaders of the United Farm Workers that Chavez co-founded, signs a proclamation in the Oval Office designating March 31, 2010, which would have been his 83rd birthday, as Cesar Chavez Day. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) Today, I joined [...]
Posted by Cecilia Rouse As part of the White House Forum for Workplace Flexibility, the CEA released a report today presenting an economic perspective on flexible workplace policies and practices. Work-Life Balance and the Economics of Workplace Flexibility (pdf) highlights changes in American society over the past half century, including the increased number of women entering [...]
Posted by Shama Hussain In a unique event, the White House Council on Women and Girls will be hosting a Forum on Workplace Flexibility, opened by the First Lady. Both the First Lady and the President, who will speak at the forum later in the day, will discuss the importance of creating a work environment that allows men and women [...]
Posted by Linda Douglass For months, independent analysts have consistently debunked health insurance industry-funded studies claiming that health reform would lead to large price increases for people seeking insurance. The core flaw in these so-called studies - exposed again and again – is that they single out one aspect of reform and paint alarmist conclusions while ignoring all [...]
Posted by Macon Phillips I wanted to point out something different we are trying out: an effort to connect with college newspapers across the country and get questions directly from students about the Obama Administration’s higher-ed agenda. Next week, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and the chair of the President’s Domestic Policy Council, will answer questions in [...]
Posted by Karen Mills After a year of intense debate and nearly a century of trying, President Obama signed into law a bill guaranteeing that all Americans have access to quality and affordable health care for the first time in our country’s history. But our job in government is not over. As the President reminded us, [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee Today at Northern Virginia Community College, President Obama signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, the last step on health reform that provided fixes for some elements and which improved upon the core health reforms by increasing tax credits for the middle class, investing in community health centers, and strengthening efforts to fight [...]
Posted by Kalpen Modi The President believes that for America to compete in the 21st century, we’ll need a highly educated workforce that is second to none. But one of the things holding us back from this achievement is soaring tuition costs at colleges and universities around the country. Too many students and families struggle to [...]
Posted by Sonal Shah The US Government this week launched Global Pulse 2010. Global Pulse is a way to reach out to those affected by US policies and ask key questions and get ideas that will help us better shape these policies to improve lives around the world. Between now and Wednesday, thousands of people from over [...]
Posted by Aneesh Chopra Last January, I was privileged to participate in the White House Forum on Modernizing Government. The Forum brought together more than 50 CEOs from the nation’s leading organizations, deputy secretaries from cabinet agencies, labor union leadership, and senior White House Staff to discuss ideas for how government can use technology to save money [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee That’s Lisa Kohnke of the Office of Public Engagement to the President’s right at the table, and Deputy Communications Director Jen Psaki to his left, who you may know from such White House blogs as this one. President Barack Obama and the First Family mark the beginning of Passover with a Seder with friends [...]
Posted by Secretary Arne Duncan Today, I made a historic announcement. Delaware and Tennessee have won grants in the first phase of Race to the Top. We received many strong proposals from states all across America, but two applications stood out above all others: Delaware and Tennessee. These states received the two highest scores in the [...]
Posted by Rev. E. Terri LeVelle Last Thursday, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships and the Office of Public Engagement co-hosted a regional Fatherhood Forum near Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, NC as a part of the President’s National Conversation on Responsible Fatherhood. This event focused on how we can support [...]
Posted by Terrell McSweeny As frequent readers of this blog know, the Middle Class Task Force developed a new Caregiver Initiative in the FY 2011 Budget to address the needs of the estimated 65 million Americans that provide unpaid care to seniors or people with disabilities. The historic health care legislation signed by the President last [...]
Posted by Valerie Jarrett Today, the White House Council on Women and Girls and the US Department of Treasury hosts a “Women in Finance” Symposium at the Treasury Department. In the spirit of Women’s History Month, this event features discussions with prominent women who have risen to the top in what many still consider a predominantly male [...]
Posted by Jason Djang At 10:55 am ET (7:25 pm local), Air Force One touched down under the shroud of nightfall at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. President Obama had just made an unannounced 12 hour, 46 minute journey to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. He would take a short flight aboard Marine One [...]
Posted by Jen Psaki 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 [...]
Posted by Sam Kass 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 [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee 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.
Posted by Norm Eisen 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 [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee 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 [...]
Posted by Jason Djang 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 [...]
Posted by Secretary Gary Locke 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 [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee 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 [...]
Posted by Dan Pfeiffer 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 [...]
Posted by Kori Schulman 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 [...]
Posted by Lisa Brown 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 [...]
Posted by Shama Hussain 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 [...]
Posted by Jared Bernstein 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 [...]
Posted by Lynn Rosenthal 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 [...]
Posted by Macon Phillips 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; [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee This morning the President made it official: things are going to change quite a bit between Americans and their health insurance companies. The President signed health reform into law, with a package of fixes not far behind, and in the process created a future for the country in which Americans and small [...]
Posted by Kori Schulman This afternoon President Obama will sign the most significant health insurance reform bill this country has seen in decades, expanding coverage to millions of Americans and putting an end to the worst practices of insurance companies. Watch it live on WhiteHouse.gov: 11:15 AM EDT President Obama Signs the Health Insurance Reform Bill [...]
Posted by Macon Phillips Thanks in large part to tax benefits in the Recovery Act, taxpayers are seeing larger refunds from their 2009 tax returns this season — according to the IRS, average tax returns are up by almost 10 percent this year. While these tax return averages are interesting … the question you’re probably asking is “Do [...]
Posted by Dan Pfeiffer After more than a year of extensive debate, the House voted last night to pass the most significant health reform legislation this country has seen in decades. It was a historic victory for the American people. And now, millions of Americans – workers, families, seniors, small business owners – stand to benefit from [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee After a historical vote in the House to send health reform to the President, he speaks to all Americans on the change they will finally see as they are given back control over their own health care: Good evening, everybody. Tonight, after nearly 100 years of talk and frustration, after decades of [...]
Posted by Dan Pfeiffer Today, the President announced that he will be issuing an executive order after the passage of the health insurance reform law that will reaffirm its consistency with longstanding restrictions on the use of federal funds for abortion. While the legislation as written maintains current law, the executive order provides additional safeguards [...]
Posted by OMB Director Peter Orszag We are mere feet from the finish line to passing into law historic, fiscally responsible health insurance reform that will give more choice and security to those with health insurance, provide access to coverage to those without, improve the quality of health care for us all, and provide the [...]
Posted by Tammy Duckworth [Update from Matt Flavin, who completed deployments to Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq and serves as Director of Veterans and Wounded Warrior Policy: As a proud VFW member, I want to underscore that the health reform legislation being voted on today will not adversely impact our nation’s veterans. In fact, during his [...]
Posted by Macon Phillips Increasingly desperate opponents of health reform continue their effort to shift the debate from the popular aspects of reform, such as more consumer protections for people, competitive marketplaces that offer small businesses health insurance at reasonable rates, and the reduction of overall health care costs over time. Instead, opponents of reform [...]
