Posted by Norm Eisen Because our rules are so tough, they occasionally yield unintended consequences. We attempt to take a common-sense approach to those situations, as we did this week in authorizing the National Security Advisor, General James Jones, to give very brief remarks introducing President Clinton at an Atlantic Council event. The Atlantic Council is [...]
Posted by Todd Park The Affordable Care Act has a number of important measures to promote more consumer choice and control when it comes to health insurance options. A big part of that will be a web portal that offers American consumers and small businesses the ability to find health coverage options in their states through a [...]
Posted by Norm Eisen In September, 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 January 2010. Today’s release also includes several visitor records created prior to September 16, 2009 that were requested by [...]
Posted by Shama Hussain Two volunteers watch as First Lady Michelle Obama paints a butterfly on a wall mural at the Marie Reed Community Learning Center in Washington, DC, April 29, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton) Yesterday the First Lady added some color to the walls of Marie Reed Community Learning Center during [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee Earlier today, President Obama delivered remarks on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico before talking about the economy. He explained that while BP is ultimately responsible for the costs of cleanup operations, the government has been discussing the response effort with BP and is prepared to help affected communities. He announced [...]
Posted by Jen Psaki First they said the Wall Street Reform bill was a “bailout.” They thought they’d found the winning strategy to kill reform. But there was one problem: it wasn’t true. And with all the facts against them, there was only so long they could use that argument as an excuse for delay. Now, [...]
Posted by Heather Higginbottom Over the past few days, more than 170,000 people weighed in on the six finalists in the White House Race to the Top Commencement Challenge. The race was neck and neck with all of the schools finishing within half a point of one another. The top three finalists, in no particular order [...]
Posted by Beth Noveck Ed. note: Beth Noveck and staff from the Office of Science and Technology Policy will be live-blogging from the Promoting Innovation: Prizes, Challenges and Open Grantmaking summit all day on theOpen Government Blog. Last month, the Administration issued its Guidance on the Use of Challenges and Prizes to Promote Open Government. The Guidance provides [...]
Posted by Robert Gibbs Ed. Note: This post was updated at 3:45PM. The response to the BP Oil Spill began as an emergency search and rescue mission by the U.S. Coast Guard and other partners on April 20. Concurrently, command center operations were stood up immediately in the Gulf Coast to begin also addressing the environmental [...]
Posted by Christina Romer Today’s GDP report shows important signs of continued recovery. Real GDP grew at a solid 3.2 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2010. This is the third consecutive quarter of positive growth. To put the rate of growth into perspective, real GDP fell at a 6.4 percent rate in the [...]
Posted by Nancy-Ann DeParle Just over a month ago, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law. This landmark legislation gives the American people the control over their own health insurance they need and deserve — by holding insurance companies accountable, bringing down costs and giving all Americans more insurance choices. The day of that [...]
Posted by Arun Chaudhary Thanks for checking out the West Wing Week, your guide to everything that’s happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. This week, walk step-by-step with the President as he attends a naturalization ceremony for some members of the Armed Forces, delivers a eulogy for West Virginia miners, welcomes the World Series Champion New York [...]
Posted by Sarah Brown Wessling Sarah Brown Wessling, a high school English teacher at Johnston High School in Johnston, Iowa, accepts the 2010 National Teacher of the Year Award from President Barack Obama during a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House, April 29, 2010. April 29, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete [...]
Posted by Lauren Paige Have you rated the six finalists yet? There are just a few hours left to help the President decide which of the six final high schools he’ll visit and deliver the commencement address at later this spring. Public rating will close at 11:59 PM EDT tonight. Tomorrow morning, we’ll announce via blog post [...]
Posted by Valerie Jarrett President Barack Obama delivers the eulogy at Dr. Dorothy Height’s funeral at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., April 29, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy) During Women’s History Month this year, President Obama recognized Dr. Height for her life’s work by including her in the proclamation declaring the annual [...]
Posted by Rashad Hussain We just spent two great days at A New Beginning: Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship. Joined by over 250 participants from over fifty countries, the Summit highlighted the importance of social and economic entrepreneurship and strengthened mutually-beneficial relationships with entrepreneurs in Muslim-majority countries and Muslim communities around the world. We were also joined by Secretary [...]
Posted by Secretary Tom Vilsack Recently, I had the privilege of accompanying President Obama on his White House to Main Street Tour to visit towns in Missouri, Illinois and my home state of Iowa. Coming home to small towns in the Midwest reminds me of what terrific places they are to live – but also of [...]
Posted by Dr. Jill Biden Yesterday, the Vice President and I were honored to kick off the Wounded Warrior Soldier Ride here at the White House, speaking to 28 incredible Americans who will spend three days riding on bicycles and wheelchairs to Annapolis. Their service, courage, and sacrifice for the good of this nation make each [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee The President started his daily intelligence briefing in the Oval Office today with an update on the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico: President Barack Obama meets with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and senior administration officials, including National Security Advisor Gen. James Jones, left, in the Oval Office, [...]
Posted by Secretary Steven Chu Revving up the great American innovation machine is critical to promoting economic growth and finding solutions to our energy and climate challenges. At the Department of Energy, we are working to accelerate game-changing energy breakthroughs. One of our most exciting new efforts is ARPA-E – the Advanced Research Projects Agency for [...]
Posted by Dr. David Michaels Each day 14 workers die in our country from traumatic injuries. That means more than 5,000 people are killed on the job every year. Tens of thousands more die each year of work related diseases. In addition, more than 4.6 million are seriously injured. While those numbers are alarming enough, what [...]
Posted by Phil Larson President Obama’s commitment to improving the Nation’s education system, especially in science, technology, engineering, and math, can be seen in the wide array of events and initiatives the President has taken part in, including Astronomy Night at the White House, the launch of the Educate to Innovate campaign, and bringing science into this year’s White [...]
Posted by Jared Bernstein Yesterday, Vice President Biden and Treasury Secretary Geithner traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for a Middle Class Task Force (MCTF) meeting about the need for Wall Street reform. Why, you might, would the VP’s MCTF take up the cause of reforming the way financial markets work—or don’t work? Because the outcome of this [...]
Posted by Jen Psaki As the Senate considers the Wall Street reform bill, military families are continuing to fall victim to predatory lenders and abusive auto lending practices – and lobbyists for the industry are hoping to make sure it stays that way by getting a carve-out into Wall Street reform. Military families have been a target [...]
Posted by Carol Browner Over the past two days, President Obama traveled to Iowa, Missouri and Illinois as part of his Main Street tour. He witnessed the hardships that Americans are facing from the economic crisis that plagues our nation. However, he also witnessed the possibilities and opportunities for growth that are happening all over the [...]
Posted by Dan Pfeiffer One of the most important reforms included in the Affordable Care Act is the ban on what the insurance companies call “rescissions” – cancelling your coverage when you get sick. The ban wasn’t scheduled to go into effect until September, but in a clear sign of momentum for changing the health care [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee This afternoon, President Obama visited the POET Biorefining plant in Macon, Missouri, and commended POET for helping stake America’s claim on the future in clean energy. Discussing the significance of reducing our dependence on foreign oil and creating energy security, the President said that “the country that leads the clean energy economy [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee A Recovery Act that’s put more than 2 million people to work and helped bring our economy back from the brink, and provided the single biggest investment in the clean energy economy in America’s history. Sweeping health reform that put Americans in control of their health care instead of insurance companies, that is already [...]
Posted by Lauren Paige Yesterday President Obama asked for your help to narrow down the finalists in the Race to the Top Commencement Challenge and you responded. So far, we’ve received over 125,000 votes! The race is still too close to call, and it’s not too late to weigh in. Voting closes tomorrow (April 29) at [...]
Posted by Morgan Hoenig Ed. Note: President Obama continued his White House to Main Street Tour this week with a stop in Iowa where he visited a local business. The President kicked off the White House to Main Street Tour series in December of 2009 in an effort to get out of Washington to hear directly [...]
Posted by Jen Psaki As the Senate considers the Wall Street reform bill, military families are continuing to fall victim to predatory lenders and abusive auto lending practices – and lobbyists for the industry are hoping to make sure it stays that way by getting a carve-out into Wall Street reform. Military families have been a target [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee At a town hall meeting in Ottumwa, Iowa yesterday, President Obama answered questions from audience members, but first took a moment to give a glimpse into his perspective: Now, we haven’t been perfect. That’s for sure. Michelle could have warned you, I’m not perfect. But I want — what I want [...]
Posted by Craig Fugate Today, FEMA is taking a step to put more tools in your hands by launching m.fema.gov, our new mobile website. We recognize that when it comes to disasters, many individuals are going to try to get the information they need by using their mobile device–so we’re rolling out this mobile version of [...]
Posted by Kori Schulman The President continued his series of White House to Main Street tours with stops through Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. After touring Siemens Energy, Inc. in Fort Madison, Iowa, the President made an impromptu visit to Jerry’s Family Restaurant in Mt. Pleasant where he greeted Iowans and wished 107-year-old Frances Asher a happy birthday. Watch [...]
Posted by Lauren Paige With a little over 48 hours left to weigh in on the Commencement Challenge, President Obama sent an email today asking for your help to narrow down the field: I need your help. Earlier this year, I promised to speak at a high school’s graduation somewhere in the United States. To be considered, [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee Today President Obama travelled to Iowa and visited Siemens Energy, Inc., where he received a tour of the facility and saw the creation of blades that are capable of generating enough power for hundreds of homes. The President said that each employee of Siemens “Is helping stake America’s claim on a clean-energy future.” [...]
Posted by Cecilia Rouse The Wall Street Reform that is now pending in Congress is critical to ensuring that the U.S. never again finds itself in the midst of a massive economic collapse that is in large part due to failures of the regulatory system. President Obama strongly supports this legislation because it contains four key [...]
Posted by Shama Hussain On Monday evening, Dr. Jill Biden hosted the 2010 National Teachers of the Year reception to congratulate teachers across the country for making a difference in their students’ lives. She was joined by the Department of Education’s Undersecretary Thelma Melendez and Chief of Staff Margot Rogers. Dr. Biden said being surrounded by [...]
Posted by Nancy-Ann DeParle When health insurance reform became the law of the land, we knew our work was just beginning. While passing the law was a tremendous accomplishment, the President and his Administration are now focused on the next challenge: making sure the law is implemented smoothly, quickly, and effectively. In fact, the day after [...]
Posted by Vivek Kundra and Aneesh Chopra As part of the ongoing implementation of the Open Government Plans, we have asked the Cabinet departments and other major agencies to work with us to evaluate version 1.0 of their Plans (or recent revisions) against the requirements of the Open Government Directive. The assessments show that we are off to [...]
