The President discusses the benefits of health reform that Americans will receive in the first year, and how reform will help build a new foundation for American families.

Ed. Note: The sign-up period for community job forums has come to a close, look for the final report synthesizing the feedback we got in the coming weeks.

In 1993, Kevin Kline starred in a movie titled "Dave," the story of a temporary employment agency owner and presidential doppelganger who finds himself substituting as the President.

Despite its comedic wrapper, the movie's theme emphasized that Kline’s character Dave Kovic was a man who believed in the dignity of work, whether finding people jobs from his storefront office or from the Oval Office.

Kovic, the temp agency owner, would beg and cajole his contacts to hire people, and when successful, would exclaim, “It’s Monday. Everybody works on Monday.”

Kovic, as the President, was poignant, but no less emphatic.

"If you've ever seen the look on somebody's face the day they finally get a job… they look like they could fly. And it's not about the paycheck, it's about respect, it's about looking in the mirror and knowing that you've done something valuable with your day. And if one person could start to feel this way, and then another person, and then another person, soon all these other problems may not seem so impossible. You don't really know how much you can do until you stand up and decide to try."

President Roosevelt understood that very notion in 1935 when the Federal Work Progress Administration was formed to provide jobs to unemployed Americans.

I don’t disagree. As a legislator whose background is rooted in education and job training, I believe creating jobs is the single most important effort this nation can put forth if we are to move forward as a country and a world economy.

President Obama put the issue of jobs at the forefront of his domestic agenda with a White House Summit, a visit to Allentown, Pennsylvania and new federal job creation strategies. His call for smaller summits across the country is the catalyst for raising the level of dialogue and stimulating public discourse at the grass roots level.

In Philadelphia, we answered the President's call when more than 100 people gathered for a Regional Jobs Summit to talk about creating jobs in Southeastern Pennsylvania. The participants represented business, industry, labor, education, and government.

I am encouraged so many citizens embraced this exercise and the discussions continue in Philadelphia, in other regions of the state, and most importantly, at the State Capitol in Harrisburg where my committee will hold a statewide Jobs Summit on February 28.

Business organizations are conducting their own meetings, as are local development agencies. Executives are talking to each other about fostering entrepreneurship and increasing access to capital. And we’re all wrestling with corporate and public policy ideas that will help us grow the economy and businesses so jobs will be plentiful.

As the conversation gets louder across the state, my hope is that we build on the key themes that emerged from the Philadelphia Regional Jobs Forum.  Foremost is the need to be active, not passive. America’s financial crisis is as much of a civic crisis as it is an economic crisis. The collective willpower of government, business, industry, education, labor and our civic institutions must work together as we forge a new path to prosperity. This is a community conversation.

We can't operate in a vacuum. Business and industry need to work in tandem with our educational institutions to insure the pool of applicants is appropriately skilled for the jobs that are created. In our region, the manufacturing jobs of yesterday have given way to the hospitality and bio-medical jobs of tomorrow and our training programs need to reflect this new reality.

Finally, we all need to understand that government cannot create jobs, but it can create policies – for example government backed loans – that take the pressure off banks and encourage small business to keep workers and add more. We must learn to support entrepreneurs by creating an environment that rewards risk and innovation.

It will be a challenge, no doubt.  But we really don't know what we can do until we stand up and try.

Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia, is Chairman of the Pennsylvania State House Appropriations Committee

Today the President is awarding $2.3 billion in Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits  – another key component of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act  that included historic investments designed to foster job creation and growth in the clean energy sector.

The investment tax credits, worth up to thirty percent of each planned project, will leverage private capital for a total investment of nearly $7.7 billion in high-tech manufacturing in the United States.

One hundred eighty three projects in 43 states will create tens of thousands of high quality clean energy jobs and the domestic manufacturing of advanced clean energy technologies including solar, wind and efficiency and energy management technologies.

As the President has stated before, the country that leads the way in harnessing clean, renewable energy will lead the 21st century. It’s no surprise that countries around the world are taking charge in this effort. China is making record investments in energy efficiency. American innovation pioneered solar technology, but we’ve fallen behind countries like Germany and Japan in producing it. 

The United States once led the way on these technologies.  And because of steps like the one we’re taking today, the U.S. can lead again: we’re beginning to produce more of the batteries we use to power our hybrid cards and trucks at home; once-shuttered factories are beginning to spring back to life manufacturing materials that make our buildings and homes more efficient; and in 2008 we generated more total wind power than any other nation on Earth.

This is only the beginning and the global competition is fierce.

Programs like the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits reveal the immense power of American innovation and ingenuity to create good jobs, and the vibrant workforce that has carried our nation to great heights before. This particular program in the Recovery Act was oversubscribed by a ratio of more than 3 to 1, reflecting a deep pipeline of high quality clean energy manufacturing opportunities in America. That is why President Obama has already called on Congress to provide an additional $5 billion to expand the program.

The President knows that these are the companies that will lead the 21st century and help America take control of our energy future to build a more secure, energy independent and prosperous nation.

Check out the map below to see where many of the tomorrow’s clean energy jobs will be created:

Carol Browner is Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate

As CEA Chair Christina Romer explained this morning, while the latest jobs numbers are setback from the November numbers, the vast improvement over a year ago remains an encouraging sign that we are headed back towards the right track.  But as focused as the Obama Administration has been on turning around the job situation in the short term, there has also been a focus in setting out a "new foundation" for the American economy in the long term.

That's where health reform comes in.  A new study from Harvard University and USC economists estimates that somewhere around 2.5 to 4 million jobs could be created over the next decade if reform is passed.

Healthcare overhaul could save money and boost jobs, researchers say
Duke Helfand, Los Angeles Times - January 8, 2010

National healthcare legislation in Congress could slow the growth of medical costs, allowing employers to create 250,000 to 400,000 new jobs a year over the next decade, economists from Harvard University and USC are predicting.

Wading into the hotly debated issue of whether the legislation is a job creator or a job killer, researchers from the two universities say that the reforms under consideration would slow the rate of cost increases and free up money for companies to raise wages and hire more workers.

Specifically, healthcare savings could be achieved through proposals for greater competition in insurance markets, better coordination of care and shrinking administrative expenses, they said in a report to be released today. With those changes, employers could then reallocate money now spent on ever-growing premiums to other business priorities.

"We could achieve huge productivity gains," said Harvard economist David Cutler, one of the study's authors and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.

Read the full report (pdf). 

Today’s employment report, though a setback from November, is consistent with the gradual labor market stabilization we have been seeing over the last several months.
 
Payroll employment declined 85,000 in December.  To put this number in perspective, employment declined 139,000 in September and 127,000 in October.  So, in a broad sense the trend toward moderating job loss is continuing.  This trend is particularly obvious in the quarterly pattern:  average monthly job loss was 691,000 in the first quarter of 2009, 428,000 in the second quarter, 199,000 in the third quarter, and 69,000 in the fourth quarter.

Revised data now show that employment increased 4,000 in November.  This is obviously welcome news and the first employment increase in 23 months.  Compared with the unexpectedly good report for November, December’s job loss is a slight setback.  Two industries where employment declined significantly were construction (-53,000) and wholesale and retail trade (-28,400).  One continuing sign of labor market healing was that temporary help services, which is often a leading indicator of labor demand, added 46,500 jobs in December.  Both the work week and aggregate hours remained stable, maintaining the significant improvement that occurred in November.

The unemployment rate remained at 10.0 percent in December.  This level reflected a proportional decline in the number of people unemployed and the number of people in the labor force.  The unemployment rate remains unacceptably high, which underscores the need for responsible actions to jumpstart private-sector job creation.

As the President has said for a year, the road to recovery will not be a straight line.  The monthly employment and unemployment numbers are volatile and subject to substantial revision.  Therefore, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report, positive or negative.  It is essential that we continue our efforts to move in the right direction and replace job losses with robust job gains.

Christina Romer is Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers

The review of our security and intelligence systems following the attempted terrorist attack on Christmas Day has been completed.  The President spoke two days ago about "the urgency of getting this right," and the identification of failures in this review, along with the immediate ordering of reforms and corrective steps both today and in the days since this incident, are a recognition of that urgency.  This review is also a recognition that while there is no place for partisanship and the old Washington blame game in dealing with Al Qaeda and the threat they represent, keeping American safe depends on honest and direct accountability.

• Read the summary of the security review (pdf).
• Read the President's Directive on corrective actions (pdf).

UPDATE: 

Read the President's remarks.

Read the transcript of the press briefing with Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano, Assistant to the President for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security Brennan, and Press Secretary Gibbs.

Today the President spoke on an issue that has been one of his top priorities, albeit one that might get less attention from cable news and those looking for controversy.  For the President, educating our kids is something for which every element of our country and society has a responsibility, as he made clear in honoring educators from across the country for awards received for excellence in mathematics and science teaching and mentoring in his second "Educate to Innovate" Campaign event :

We are here today to honor teachers and mentors like Barb who are upholding their responsibility not just to the young people who they teach but to our country by inspiring and educating a new generation in math and science.  But we're also here because this responsibility can't be theirs alone.  All of us have a role to play in building an education system that is worthy of our children and ready to help us seize the opportunities and meet the challenges of the 21st century. 

President Barack Obama talks with Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching winners in the State Dining of the White House January 6, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

He started with a the role of the federal government and the news of the day:

To reach this goal, we've paid particular attention to how we can better prepare and support, reward and retain, good teachers.  So the Recovery Act included the largest investment in education by the federal government in history while preventing more than 300,000 teachers and school workers from being fired because of state budget shortfalls.  The Department of Education will be announcing an additional $10* million in grants for innovative programs to train new teachers, whether a young person embarking on his or her first career, or a scientist or engineer starting his or her second.  

And under the outstanding leadership of Arne Duncan, we've launched a $4 billion Race to the Top fund, one of the largest investments in education reform in history.  Through the Race to the Top, states are competing for funding -- and producing the most innovative programs in science and math will be an advantage in this competition, as will allowing scientists and statisticians and engineers to more easily become teachers.  We want states and school districts to start being more creative about how they can attract more science and math teachers.

We're also pursuing reforms to better serve America's math and science teachers so that each and every one can be as effective as the educators that we honor today.  So we're challenging states to raise standards, to use data to better inform decisions, to recruit and retain more good teachers, and to promote stronger curricula that encourage young people to not only learn the facts in a textbook, but to explore and discover the world around them. 

For private business:

Now, as important as this will be, the success we seek is not going to be attained by government alone.  And that's why I've challenged the scientific community to think of new and creative ways to engage young people in their fields.  That's why we launched the "Educate to Innovate" campaign -- a nationwide effort by citizens, non-for-profits, universities, and companies from across America to help us move to the top of the pack in math and science education. 

And today, we're expanding this campaign.  Several new public-private partnerships are going to offer additional training to more than 100,000 teachers and prepare more than 10,000 new teachers in the next five years alone.  And through the partnerships we are announcing today, support for the "Educate to Innovate" campaign has doubled to more than half a billion dollars in private funding -- that's a figure that we only expect to grow. 

For every citizen:

And just because you aren't a teacher that doesn't mean you can't help educate our young people.  We need to look no further than the mentors that we honor here today.  I'm calling on all 200,000 scientists who work for the federal government to do their part in their communities:  to speak at schools, to create hands-on learning opportunities through efforts like National Lab Day, and to help stoke that same curiosity in students which perhaps led them to pursue a career in science in the first place.  NASA will also be launching an enrichment program to bring their scientists and engineers to students in the classroom and to bring students to NASA, so that they might experience that same sense of wonder and excitement while maybe learning a little bit at the same time. 

And for himself:

And, finally, as President, I'm going to try to do my part.  We've held science-themed events like Astronomy Night here at the White House.  That was very fun, by the way.  (Laughter.)  We're planning an annual science fair to honor the student winners of national science and technology competitions.  Secretary Duncan and I will be working to promote the teaching profession to show young people that teaching is one of the best and most rewarding ways to serve our country.  And we are of course recognizing the folks in this room with awards for excellence in teaching and mentoring.

Vice President Joe Biden and wife DR. Jill Biden listen to remarks as President Barack Obama addresses Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching winners during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House January 6, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Learn more in the White House background.

[Ed. Note: The following blog is from 6th grade teacher Barbara Stoflet who is introducing the President at today’s White House event congratulating the winners of Presidential awards for science, math, and engineering teaching and mentoring. Watch it live at 1:35pm ET. You can also learn more about the Educate to Innovate campaign.]

As I prepared for this time in Washington DC, I was beside myself with the anticipation of everything I would be able to bring back to my students.  I brought three cameras and was hoping to use at least one of them to capture a photo of President Obama. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be offered the incredible honor of introducing the President.  I wish I could be two places at once so I could observe my students as they watch everything unfold on their laptops!  We’ll have SO many brilliant discussions when I return!  I was able to email my students before school started today so I know this will be a top dinner table topic tonight!

Here are the remarks I prepared for today’s introduction:

I can’t contemplate my career as a teacher without reflecting on my dad’s years in school. Although, naturally I wasn’t born when he was a student, his marginal education helped form my teaching.
 
He was from a very poor farm family. Although his parents loved him very much, they worried more about how they were going to feed and clothe him than they did about whether he could read or write.  His educators’ expectations were low, and he met that low standard. 
 
When the energy crisis hit in the 70’s, my dad tackled it as a real life math problem, but instead of picking up a paper and pencil he talked his way through it.  He thought outside the box. He modeled his thinking.  He built an electric car out of used Volkswagen parts and powered our house with a wind generator built from scratch.  He was able to do these things in spite of the fact that he hadn’t learned how to do them in school.
 
In some ways, the disconnect between what my dad needed at home, and the skill set he was asked to learn at school, lives on in classrooms across America.  As teachers in the 21st century we are experiencing a paradigm shift as we consider whether what we teach is relevant and if how we’re teaching it is engaging.  Our focus is shifting to bringing out the true learner in our students, because within their lifetimes their ability to “learn” will surpass their need to “know”.
 
Although many aspects of our profession are changing, many remain the same.  Each day we’re called upon to be actor, coach, finder of lost articles, psychologist, substitute parent, sales professional, and keeper of the faith.  We are the most fortunate of all who labor. 
 
Each day parents entrust us with their greatest gift, their children.  As teachers we have a past that is rich in memory.  A present that is rewarding, adventurous, fun and challenging, because we spend our days with the future.
 
And now it is with great honor that I introduce to you a man whose lessons extend far beyond the walls of a classroom, who is writing history, modeling a present that is challenging and adventurous, but also hopefully rewarding and fun, who is helping to shape the future for all of us, President Barack Obama. 

Barbara Stoflet is a sixth grade math teacher at Gatewood Elementary School in Minnetonka, MN and is being honored today with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching

This afternoon the President met with relevant agency heads to discuss the ongoing reviews of the attempted terrorist attack on Christmas Day and move forward on rectifying the problems that were exhibited that day.  Afterwards he spoke to the press and the American people about what he and his Administration is doing to keep America safe:

THE PRESIDENT:  Good afternoon, everybody.  I just concluded a meeting with members of my national security team, including those from our intelligence, homeland security and law enforcement agencies involved in the security reviews that I ordered after the failed attack on Christmas Day.
    
     I called these leaders to the White House because we face a challenge of the utmost urgency.  As we saw on Christmas, al Qaeda and its extremist allies will stop at nothing in their efforts to kill Americans.  And we are determined not only to thwart those plans, but to disrupt, dismantle and defeat their networks once and for all. 
    
     Indeed, over the past year, we've taken the fight to al Qaeda and its allies wherever they plot and train, be it in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in Yemen and Somalia, or in other countries around the world. 

Here at home, our intelligence, homeland security and law enforcement agencies have worked together with considerable success:  gathering intelligence, stitching it together, and making arrests -- from Denver to Texas, from Illinois to New York -- disrupting plots and saving American lives.  And these successes have not come without a price, as we saw last week in the loss of our courageous CIA officers in Afghanistan.
 
     But when a suspected terrorist is able to board a plane with explosives on Christmas Day the system has failed in a potentially disastrous way.  And it's my responsibility to find out why, and to correct that failure so that we can prevent such attacks in the future.

     And that's why, shortly after the attempted bombing over Detroit, I ordered two reviews.  I directed Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to review aviation screening, technology and procedures.  She briefed me on her initial findings today, and I'm pleased that this review is drawing on the best science and technology, including the expertise of Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and his department.
     
     I also directed my counterterrorism and homeland security advisor John Brennan to lead a thorough review into our terrorist watch-listing system so we can fix what went wrong.  As we discussed today, this ongoing review continues to reveal more about the human and systemic failures that almost cost nearly 300 lives.  We will make a summary of this preliminary report public within the next few days, but let me share some of what we know so far.

     As I described over the weekend, elements of our intelligence community knew that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had traveled to Yemen and joined up with extremists there.  It now turns out that our intelligence community knew of other red flags -- that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula sought to strike not only American targets in Yemen, but the United States itself.  And we had information that this group was working with an individual who was known -- who we now know was in fact the individual involved in the Christmas attack.

     The bottom line is this:  The U.S. government had sufficient information to have uncovered this plot and potentially disrupt the Christmas Day attack.  But our intelligence community failed to connect those dots, which would have placed the suspect on the "no fly" list.
In other words, this was not a failure to collect intelligence; it was a failure to integrate and understand the intelligence that we already had.  The information was there.  Agencies and analysts who needed it had access to it.  And our professionals were trained to look for it and to bring it all together. 

     Now, I will accept that intelligence, by its nature, is imperfect, but it is increasingly clear that intelligence was not fully analyzed or fully leveraged.  That's not acceptable, and I will not tolerate it.  Time and again, we've learned that quickly piecing together information and taking swift action is critical to staying one step ahead of a nimble adversary.

     So we have to do better -- and we will do better.  And we have to do it quickly.  American lives are on the line.  So I made it clear today to my team:  I want our initial reviews completed this week.  I want specific recommendations for corrective actions to fix what went wrong.  I want those reforms implemented immediately, so that this doesn't happen again and so we can prevent future attacks.  And I know that every member of my team that I met with today understands the urgency of getting this right.  And I appreciate that each of them took responsibility for the shortfalls within their own agencies.

     Immediately after the attack, I ordered concrete steps to protect the American people:  new screening and security for all flights, domestic and international; more explosive detection teams at airports; more air marshals on flights; and deepening cooperation with international partners.
In recent days, we've taken additional steps to improve security.  Counterterrorism officials have reviewed and updated our terrorist watch list system, including adding more individuals to the "no fly" list.  And while our review has found that our watch-listing system is not broken, the failure to add Abdulmutallab to the "no fly" list shows that this system needs to be strengthened.  

     The State Department is now requiring embassies and consulates to include current visa information in their warning on individuals with terrorist or suspected terrorist connections.  As of yesterday, the Transportation Security Administration, or TSA, is requiring enhanced screening for passengers flying into the United States from, or flying through, nations on our list of state sponsors of terrorism, or other countries of interest.  And in the days ahead, I will announce further steps to disrupt attacks, including better integration of information and enhanced passenger screening for air travel.

     Finally, some have suggested that the events on Christmas Day should cause us to revisit the decision to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay.  So let me be clear.  It was always our intent to transfer detainees to other countries only under conditions that provide assurances that our security is being protected. 

     With respect to Yemen in particular, there's an ongoing security situation which we have been confronting for some time, along with our Yemeni partner.  Given the unsettled situation, I've spoken to the Attorney General and we've agreed that we will not be transferring additional detainees back to Yemen at this time.

     But make no mistake:  We will close Guantanamo prison, which has damaged our national security interests and become a tremendous recruiting tool for al Qaeda.  In fact, that was an explicit rationale for the formation of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.  And, as I've always said, we will do so -- we will close the prison in a manner that keeps the American people safe and secure. 

Our reviews -- and the steps that we've taken and will continue to take -- go to the heart of the kind of intelligence and homeland security we need in the 21st century.  Just as al Qaeda and its allies are constantly evolving and adapting their efforts to strike us, we have to constantly adapt and evolve to defeat them, because as we saw on Christmas, the margin for error is slim and the consequences of failure can be catastrophic.

     As these violent extremists pursue new havens, we intend to target al Qaeda wherever they take root, forging new partnerships to deny them sanctuary, as we are doing currently with the government in Yemen.  As our adversaries seek new recruits, we'll constantly review and rapidly update our intelligence and our institutions.  As they refine our tactics, we'll enhance our defenses, including smarter screening and security at airports, and investing in the technologies that might have detected the kind of explosives used on Christmas.
 
     In short, we need our intelligence, homeland security and law enforcement systems -- and the people in them -- to be accountable and to work as intended:  collecting, sharing, integrating, analyzing, and acting on intelligence as quickly and effectively as possible to save innocent lives -- not just most of the time, but all the time.  That's what the American people deserve.  As President, that's exactly what I will demand. 

Thank you very much.