Ed. Note: For more information on federal response resources, volunteer opportunities, and assistance for those in affected areas visit WhiteHouse.gov/Deepwater-BP-Oil-Spill.

Below is the latest in the ongoing Administration-wide response provided by the Joint Information Center.  

Heidi Avery is White House Deputy Homeland Security Advisor

This afternoon the President  met with Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona in the Oval Office -- here's the official readout from the White House:

The President had a good meeting with Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona at the White House today to discuss a range of critical issues of mutual interest, including the President’s comprehensive plan to secure the Southwest border and the unprecedented resources his Administration has devoted to that effort. The President and Governor Brewer also discussed the President’s decision to deploy up to an additional 1,200 requirements-based National Guard troops to the border and his upcoming request to Congress of $500 million in supplemental funds for enhanced border protection and law enforcement activities as part of that integrated strategy.  The President listened to Governor Brewer’s concerns, and noted that the Administration’s ongoing border protection and security efforts have increased pressure on illegal trafficking organizations through record seizures of illegal weapons and bulk cash transiting from the United States to Mexico, resulted in significant seizures of illegal drugs headed into the United States, lowered the average violent crime statistics in states along the Southwest Border, and reduced illegal immigration into the United States.

Despite the significant improvements, the President acknowledged the understandable frustration that all Americans share about the broken immigration system, and the President and Governor agreed that the lack of action to fix the broken system at the federal level is unacceptable.  As he did at the recent meeting with Senate Republicans, the President underscored that security measures alone won’t fix the broken borders, there needs to be comprehensive immigration reform that includes:  lasting and dedicated resources by which to secure our borders and make our communities safer; holding unscrupulous employers accountable who hire workers illegally and exploit them and providing clear guidance for the many employers who want to play by the rules; and requiring those who have come here illegally to pay a fine, pay back taxes, learn English, and get right with the law.  The President urged Governor Brewer to be his partner in working in a bipartisan manner on comprehensive immigration reform to implement the type of smart, sensible, and effective solutions the American people expect and deserve from their federal government. Regarding Arizona law SB1070, the President reiterated his concern with the measure, including that a patchwork of different state immigration regulations around the country would interfere with the federal government’s responsibility to set and enforce immigration policy.

President Barack Obama meets with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer in the Oval Office, June 3, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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If you’ve ever looked back at the old black and white photos of America being built, with hard-working men and women creating the infrastructure and fueling the economy that made our country what it is today, you may have stumbled across pictures like this where workers scaled dizzying heights to put the finishing touches on the Brooklyn Bridge back in 1881:

Over the past year and half, the Recovery Act has put hundreds of thousands of hard-working men and women to work on the same kind of projects for the 21st Century -- once again fueling America’s economy by repairing, rejuvenating, improving and advancing much of same infrastructure that was first created back then.

During a visit to New York City yesterday, Vice President Biden stopped by the Brooklyn Bridge where Recovery Act dollars are at work making a contribution to New York City's locally-funded effort to repair, upgrade, and preserve one of America’s most historic crossings.

Vice President Joe Biden tours a construction site underneath the Brooklyn Bridge that is partially funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, in New York City, New York, 6/2/10 (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

After touring the construction site alongside Mayor Bloomberg, Vice President Biden spoke about how the $508 million project, which is funded in-part by the Recovery Act, will bring the Brooklyn Bridge into a state of good repair and improve traffic flow for the more than 120,000 vehicles, 4,000 pedestrians, and 2,600 bicyclists that cross every day.  

“It’s great to see men and women back on the job, completing work on one of the truly, treasured landmarks this country possesses,” the Vice President told a crowd of about 40 construction workers near the Manhattan-side entrance to the bridge.

Vice President Joe Biden talks to construction workers during an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act event at the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, New York, 6/2/10 (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

New York City says the Recovery Act’s $30 million investment in the project will create 150 jobs, generate economic activity and allow New York City to fund other critical infrastructure projects they otherwise would have eliminated or postponed. For the Brooklyn Bridge, it means a reconstructed roadway surface, rehabilitated and retrofitted steel support structures, expanded entrance ramps, and repainting to prevent corrosion.
 
As Vice President Biden noted, the Recovery Act has funded nearly 1,300 bridge projects and 14,000 transportation across the United States to-date.

Vice President Joe Biden speaks in front of the Brooklyn Bridge during an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act event, in New York City, New York, 6/2/10 (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

Liz Oxhorn is the Recovery Act Communications Director

“America does not stand still.  We move forward.”  -- this was a recurring theme in the President’s speech at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, harkening back to one of the most sweeping speeches of his presidency.

On April 14th of last year, the President spoke at Georgetown University on his vision to restore the economy not just in the short term, but for generations to come.  In the time since then, the economy has turned from hemorrhaging  hundreds of thousands of jobs, to some of the strongest job growth we’ve seen in years  over the past months – although for millions of Americans times are still tough.  But in that same time, much progress has also been made on what the President called the “New Foundation” a year ago:

It's a foundation built upon five pillars that will grow our economy and make this new century another American century: Number one, new rules for Wall Street that will reward drive and innovation, not reckless risk-taking -- (applause); number two, new investments in education that will make our workforce more skilled and competitive -- (applause); number three, new investments in renewable energy and technology that will create new jobs and new industries -- (applause); number four, new investments in health care that will cut costs for families and businesses; and number five, new savings in our federal budget that will bring down the debt for future generations. (Applause.)

The President noted that “for a lot of middle-class families -- for entire communities, in some case -- a sense of economic security has been missing since long before the recession began,” and that this problem is what the New Foundation is meant to address.  As such, he chastised the Republican Party for the fact that “most have sat on the sidelines and shouted from the bleachers” rather than offer real help.  He gave a recap of the progress made on each pillar, making clear while some may argue we need to move backward towards the broken status quo, he will continue to push forward:

On Wall Street Reform, which has passed both the House and Senate:

To start with, we can't compete as a nation if the irresponsibility of a few folks on Wall Street can bring our entire economy to its knees.  That's why we're on the verge of passing the most sweeping financial reform since the Great Depression.  It’s a reform that will help prevent another AIG.  It will end taxpayer-funded bank bailouts.  It contains the strongest consumer protections in history -- protections that will empower Americans with the clear and concise information they need before signing up for a credit card or taking out a mortgage.     

On education, which has remained a consistent top priority of the President’s even as other issues dominated the headlines:

You know, if you’re a family who’s tightening your belt, you will definitely sacrifice going out to dinner, but you’re not going to sacrifice saving for your child’s college education.  It’s precisely our investments in education and innovation that will make America more competitive in the 21st century.  And we can’t go back; we’ve got to move forward.  (Applause.)

That’s why I’ve made education reform a top priority -- because countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow.  And so we want every citizen to have the skills and training they need in a global economy -- from the day that you’re born through whatever career you may choose.

Last year, we launched a national competition to improve our schools based on a simple idea:  Instead of funding the status quo, we will only invest in reform -- reform that raises student achievement, that inspires students to excel in math and science, and turns around failing schools that steal the future of too many young Americans. 

On the deficit, which was put on a disastrous course in previous years, and was made worse by the recession that “put a $3 trillion hole in our budget before I even walked in the door”:

The third component is the belt-tightening steps I’ve already outlined to reduce our deficit by $1 trillion. 

Starting in 2011, we will enact a three-year freeze on all discretionary spending outside of national security -- something that was never enacted in the last administration.  We will allow the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to expire.  We’ve gone through the budget, line by line, and identified more than 120 programs for elimination.  We’ve restored a simple budgeting rule that every family and business understands called pay-as-you-go. And we will charge the largest Wall Street firms a fee to repay the American people for rescuing them during the financial crisis -- a fee that will bring down the deficit by $90 billion -- (applause) -- a fee that will bring down the deficit by $90 billion over the next decade.  By the way, that $90 billion represents about one-eighth of the amount these banks will pay out in bonuses over the same time period in time.

On reforming our broken health insurance system, now the law of the land, with new benefits kicking in virtually every month:

We also know we can’t compete in a global economy if our citizens are forced to spend more and more of their income on medical bills; if our businesses are forced to choose between health care and hiring; if state and federal budgets are weighed down with skyrocketing health care costs.  That’s why we finally passed health insurance reform. 

Now, let’s be clear.  The costs of health care are not going to come down overnight just because legislation passed, and in an ever-changing industry like health care, we’re going to continuously need to apply more cost-cutting measures as the years go by.  But once this reform is in full effect, middle-class families will pay less for their health care, and the worst practices of the insurance industry will end.  People with preexisting medical conditions will no longer be excluded from coverage.  People who become seriously ill will no longer be thrown off their coverage for reasons contrived by the insurance company.  Taxpayers will no longer have to pay -- in the form of higher premiums -- for trips to the ER by uninsured Americans.  Businesses will get help with their health care costs.  In fact, small businesses are already learning they’re eligible for tax credits to cover their workers this year.  And with less waste and greater efficiency in the system, this reform will do more to bring down the deficit than any step we have taken in more than a decade. 

The other party has staked their claim this November on repealing these health insurance reforms instead of making them work.  They want to go back.  We need to move forward.

The President saved the clean energy economy for last, which got its biggest investment in history from the Recovery Act, but which still lacks a comprehensive energy bill out of the Senate:

Now, this brings me to an issue that’s on everybody’s minds right now -- namely, what kind of energy future can ensure our long-term prosperity.  The catastrophe unfolding in the Gulf right now may prove to be a result of human error, or of corporations taking dangerous shortcuts to compromise safety, or a combination of both.  And I’ve launched a National Commission so that the American people will have answers on exactly what happened.  But we have to acknowledge that there are inherent risks to drilling four miles beneath the surface of the Earth, and these are risks -- (applause) -- these are risks that are bound to increase the harder oil extraction becomes.  We also have to acknowledge that an America run solely on fossil fuels should not be the vision we have for our children and our grandchildren.  (Applause.) 

We consume more than 20 percent of the world’s oil, but have less than 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves.  So without a major change in our energy policy, our dependence on oil means that we will continue to send billions of dollars of our hard-earned wealth to other countries every month -- including countries in dangerous and unstable regions.  In other words, our continued dependence on fossil fuels will jeopardize our national security.  It will smother our planet.  And it will continue to put our economy and our environment at risk.

Now, I understand that we can’t end our dependence on fossil fuels overnight.  That’s why I supported a careful plan of offshore oil production as one part of our overall energy strategy.  But we can pursue such production only if it’s safe, and only if it’s used as a short-term solution while we transition to a clean energy economy.

And the time has come to aggressively accelerate that transition.  The time has come, once and for all, for this nation to fully embrace a clean energy future.  (Applause.)  Now, that means continuing our unprecedented effort to make everything from our homes and businesses to our cars and trucks more energy-efficient.  It means tapping into our natural gas reserves, and moving ahead with our plan to expand our nation’s fleet of nuclear power plants.  It means rolling back billions of dollars of tax breaks to oil companies so we can prioritize investments in clean energy research and development.

Tomorrow I will travel to Hillsboro, Missouri to host the Obama Administration’s National Summit of Rural America: A Dialogue for Renewing Promise. The event will feature a broad conversation with key policymakers and community leaders to explore the priorities and policies necessary to strengthen America’s rural communities.

Rural communities, and the one-in-six Americans who live in them, are at the center of our nation’s values and prosperity. Small towns throughout the United States supply much of our food and water, and they are moving our country towards energy independence. But today, as we prepare to gather for a dialogue that will inform and highlight the Obama administration’s unprecedented commitment to revitalizing rural America, too many of our communities are struggling.

I am proud and excited at the opportunity to share the stage with panelists who are devoted to renewing America’s promise and building a better future for rural communities. Each of our guests will discuss their area of expertise, and will share ideas about how to maintain a thriving agriculture economy. A strong American economy relies on a vibrant rural America, and the assembled group will offer a terrific diversity of ideas and opinions about how to pursue both proven and new avenues to build prosperity in America’s rural communities.

Later in the day, summit participants will join in breakout sessions designed to address the big challenges facing rural America. By brainstorming ideas, sharing success stories and outlining possible solutions, these conversations will tackle a range of issues that are critical to the rural economy. The six tracks the summit attendees will explore are: Building Infrastructure for a 21st Century Rural Economy, Expanding Opportunities for Rural Businesses, Renewable Energy and Biofuels, Farm Competitiveness and Productivity, Forest Restoration, Rural Recreation and Private Land Conservation, and Regional Food Systems and Nutrition.

Tomorrow’s Summit will serve as a capstone for the Rural Tour I led last year, during which I visited 22 states – often joined by other Cabinet Secretaries – to open dialogue between myself, the Obama administration, farmers, ranchers and people who live in our rural communities. At each event we learned from the communities about how USDA and the Obama Administration are affecting the lives of rural Americans. We gathered thoughts, concerns and stories about each community’s vision for its future to help us better serve these communities.

Over the past year, USDA and the Obama administration have worked to revitalize rural communities with more than 140,000 housing loans, Recovery Act investments in broadband, libraries, schools and hospitals and support for rural entrepreneurs to create jobs. I know that this Summit will act as an additional springboard to solidify our vision for working with communities to create income opportunities, generate wealth and build a stronger, more prosperous rural America for generations to come. We know that when we meet this goal, we will ensure that rural communities across the country will remain the best places in American to live, work, and raise a family.

To watch the National Summit of Rural America: A Dialogue for Renewing Promise, tomorrow, June 3, visit http://www.usda.gov/live.

Tom Vilsack is Agriculture Secretary