The White House Blog

Nearly 2 million companies that make new hires or increase wages would receive a tax credit under the small business hiring income tax credit President Obama is calling on Congress to pass.

The tax credit, the third item on President Obama’s job-creating To-Do List for Congress, would encourage more than $200 billion in new hiring and pay raises by providing a 10 percent income tax credit on wages added in 2012. The credit would be available to all companies, but would be capped at $500,000 per business to specifically spur small business hiring. And, companies that claim the credit would be able to do so on a quarterly basis, which means businesses would see tax relief sooner rather than later after making new hires.

By providing targeted tax relief to the businesses that are expanding and making investments in their workforce, the Small Business Hiring Credit will grow the economy, create jobs, and strengthen the recovery. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office recently found that this type of targeted credit is the single most effective business tax option for boosting hiring and spurring economic growth.

President Barack Obama welcomes Major League Soccer champions, the LA Galaxy, to honor their 2011 season and their MLS Cup victory, to the East Room of the White House, May 15, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

President Obama welcomed the LA Galaxy to the White House this afternoon to congratulate the team on its 2011 Major League Soccer Cup Championship.

The team, which has three of soccer’s biggest stars on its roster-- David Beckham, Landon Donovan, and Robbie Keane--won a tough championship match after going undefeated at home all season long.

“So everyone who's a part of this club -- the staff, the players, the fans back in L.A. -- together you pulled off one of the toughest feats in team sports:  You lived up to the hype.  You combined star power, hard work; it paid off,” President Obama said.

After the ceremony in the East Room, the team took questions from young soccer players as part of a Let’s Move! event encouraging kids to take up sports as part of a healthy, active lifestyle.

As we celebrate Armed Forces Week, this is a particularly important time to pay tribute to the men and women who serve our country and safeguard our freedom.  

Today, just one percent of Americans are fighting our wars, but we need 100% of Americans to be supporting our troops and their families –not just during Armed Forces Week, but all year long. That’s why we launched the Joining Forces Initiative last year to encourage all Americans to find ways to honor, recognize and support our veterans and military families.  

Today, we are pleased to announce that we have a new way to thank those who serve their country in the military. 

Starting on Armed Forces Day, this Saturday, May 19, we will be offering all active duty military a free annual pass that will grant access to service members and their dependents, to more than 2,000 sites across the country, including National Parks. 

The annual pass will be accepted at all public land sites that charge entrance or standard amenity fees, including those managed by the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Army Corps. 

Vice President Joe Biden, with son Hunter Biden, and granddaughters Naomi, Finnegan, and Maisy Biden, on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, July 27, 2010. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

From Yosemite to Acadia to the Grand Canyon, we are putting out a welcome mat for our military families at America’s most beautiful and storied sites.  

Ed note: This was originally published on tradeology, the official blog of the International Trade Administration

Today more than 80 percent of U.S. exports of consumer and industrial products to Colombia become duty-free as part of the U.S. – Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement. This includes agricultural and construction equipment, building products, aircraft and parts, fertilizers, information technology equipment, medical scientific equipment, and wood. Also, more than half of U.S. exports of agricultural commodities to Colombia become duty-free, including wheat, barley, soybeans, high-quality beef, bacon, and almost all fruit and vegetable products.

The agreement also provides significant new access to Colombia’s $180 billion services market, supporting increased opportunities for U.S. service providers. For example, Colombia agreed to eliminate measures that prevented firms from hiring U.S. professionals, and to phase-out market restrictions in cable television.

Prior to the enactment of this agreement, the average tariff that U.S. manufactured goods faced entering Colombia was 10.8 percent. With entry into force today, Colombia’s average tariff rate for manufactured goods from the United States has been reduced to 4 percent.

True to his roots as a frontier farm boy, on May 15, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed legislation to create the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Over the next two months - in the midst of the Civil War - he signed additional legislation that expanded and transformed American farming, including the Homestead Act, and the establishment of the Land Grant agricultural university system.

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee approved legislation to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994, but failed to include critical provisions that would ensure that all victims of domestic violence can access vital services and protections.  Victims are victims, and, if you have been battered, stalked or otherwise threatened with violence, you should not be turned away by a shelter or denied the assistance you need merely because the aggressor is the same sex as you or because you are transgender.  Yet, the legislation approved by the House Judiciary Committee and being considered this week on the House floor would allow just that.

The guiding principle behind VAWA and each of its subsequent reauthorizations has been an unyielding commitment to the notion that no sexual assault or domestic violence victim should be beaten, hurt or killed because they could not access the support, assistance and protection that they need.  In enacting VAWA in 1994, Congress acknowledged that the criminal justice system chronically failed to respond to the crimes of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking, too often blaming victims and refusing to hold offenders accountable as violent criminals.  In reauthorizing VAWA in 2000, Congress included new VAWA programs and provisions to help particularly vulnerable populations, including younger victims, immigrant victims, the elderly, and persons with disabilities.  In the 2005 reauthorization, Congress once again strengthened the Act to improve the health care response to domestic violence, to include a new focus on prevention, and to expand protections for children exposed to violence. 

This year, the VAWA reauthorization bill passed by the Senate in April would remove barriers faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) victims, whose needs often are overlooked by law enforcement, prosecutors, courts, and victim service providers. LGBT victims experience domestic violence at roughly the same rate as the general population.  Nonetheless, recent surveys show that LGBT victims frequently are turned away when attempting to access services. For example, according to a 2010 survey by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, 45% of LGBT victims were denied services when they sought help from a domestic violence shelter, and nearly 55% were denied protection orders. 

Without LGBT-specific training, criminal justice personnel often underestimate the physical danger involved in same-sex relationships or fail to identify a primary aggressor and instead arrest both victim and perpetrator.  Even well-intentioned service providers may generate outreach materials that do not accurately or fully reflect the experience of LGBT victims, and thus inadvertently discourage individuals who have suffered abuse from seeking needed care.  In all these cases, bias or a lack of understanding contributes to an environment where the needs of LGBT victims are underserved.

President Barack Obama sits with Barnard College President Debora Spar, left, and Chairwoman Jolyne Caruso-Fitzgerald before he delivers a commencement address for Barnard College graduates at Columbia University in New York, May 14, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

This afternoon, President Obama offered some advice to the 2012 graduates of Barnard College in New York:

After decades of slow, steady, extraordinary progress, you are now poised to make this the century where women shape not only their own destiny but the destiny of this nation and of this world.

But how far your leadership takes this country, how far it takes this world -- well, that will be up to you. You’ve got to want it. It will not be handed to you. And as someone who wants that future -- that better future -- for you, and for Malia and Sasha, as somebody who’s had the good fortune of being the husband and the father and the son of some strong, remarkable women, allow me to offer just a few pieces of advice. That's obligatory. Bear with me.

My first piece of advice is this:  Don’t just get involved.  Fight for your seat at the table.  Better yet, fight for a seat at the head of the table.

Barnard is one of the famous "Seven Sisters" -- private female liberal arts colleges founded to offer first class education to women before many elite institutions allowed their admittance. It counts Maya Soetoro-Ng, President Obama's sister, among its alumni.

This was President Obama's first commencement address of 2012. You can read his full remarks here.

Last week, the House Judiciary Committee considered legislation to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).  However, the bill that came out of the House Judiciary Committee failed to include a key provision which has already been accepted by the Senate on a bipartisan basis and is essential to protecting Native American women.  

Since 1994, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) has been an essential tool in helping to protect victims of domestic and sexual violence.  Since the passage of the Act, annual incidents of domestic violence have dropped by more than 60 percent. Over the years, Congress has continued its commitment to addressing violence against women by working with advocates, law enforcement officials, court systems, and victims in order to build on what we have learned and make improvements to the Act in each subsequent reauthorization.  This was recently demonstrated by the Senate’s VAWA reauthorization bill (S. 1925), introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) which  passed last month with strong bipartisan support. 

The Leahy-Crapo VAWA reauthorization bill addresses many pressing issues facing all victims of domestic violence, including those in Indian Country.  Rates of domestic violence against Native women in Indian Country are now among the highest in the United States and the Leahy-Crapo bill directly confronts this epidemic.    

President Obama has been focused on making refinancing simpler for responsible homeowners since he took office, and in Nevada, where the President visted Friday, refinancing applications are up 237% since last November.

It began in 2009 when the administration launched the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), which helped nearly 1 million homeowners save thousands of dollars. But despite that success, the benefits from HARP have been limited because of eligibility requirements and costs associated with the program.

So last October, the President announced that Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Finance Housing Agency would work with lenders to make it easier for even more mortgage holders to refinance.

And it's having an impact: Refinancing applications have increased by 50 percent since the fall.

But the reason that President Obama is in Nevada, calling on Congress to act, is because we've reached the upward limit for what the Obama administration can do alone. As part of his To-Do List, he's calling on lawmakers to cut the red tape so that responsible homeowners across the country who have been paying their mortgage on time can feel secure in their home and refinance at today’s lower rates.