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In a blog post on this site yesterday, we noted that if Congressman Boehner really wants to end the stimulus, then he really wants thousands of Ohioans to lose their jobs.
In response, the Congressman was quoted as saying that our administration owed his constituents “…an explanation of how raising taxes on small businesses will do anything but further hinder job creation in Ohio and across the country.”
Again, Congressman Boehner is confused. So we thought we’d take him up on the invitation to explain to the people of Ohio who has been fighting for small businesses here in Washington and who’s been obstructing that fight.
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Yesterday, the New York Times reported on a Joint Committee on Taxation study of “President Obama’s proposal to let the Bush tax cuts expire for the wealthy but to extend them for everyone else.”
The study found that “taxpayers with income of more than $1 million for 2011 would still receive on average a tax cut of about $6,300” from those in effect during the Clinton Administration, while those “with taxable income of $500,000 to $1 million would still get on average a tax cut of $6,700.”
You would think that rolling the Bush tax cuts back to these levels would be universally accepted---especially given the long term fiscal challenges our country is facing.
Not so fast…
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Last week I took part in an American tradition: visiting the Wisconsin State Fair. The Wisconsin State Fair and state fairs throughout the country are a cherished summertime experience for rural America - a place where old friends and old traditions go hand-in-hand with the latest innovations. In a solar powered building, I sampled my first cheese curds. I visited Senator Herb Kohl's family's flavored milk stand and had some of the Fair's famous cream puffs. And I saw the Fair's "solar panel on a stick" - a rotating solar panel that follows the sun - an investment that has already paid for itself in utility savings.
Something else was on display as well: the value that our great outdoors and green spaces have for millions of Americans. The environment is the foundation of the economy for the farmers and ranchers I met at the fair, the people who live off the land. It's part of the culture for the women and men who love to fish and hunt. And it's a way of life for the 60 million Americans living in small towns and rural areas throughout the country. Though they may not call themselves "environmentalists," these Americans are playing an important part in protecting critical natural resources, using sustainable techniques to preserve our environment, and leading the way in innovative clean energy technology.
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Before signing the Manufacturing Enhancement Act, the President took a step back to talk about his vision and commitment to American manufacturing. That commitment has helped manufacturing become one of the surprisingly bright spots of the economic recovery. A sector that lost 3,864,000 between 2000 and 2008 has turned around and gained 183,000 jobs so far this year:
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Following the historic confirmation of Elena Kagan, the White House Council on Women and Girls asked you to tell us about other path-breaking women. In collaboration with GOOD, we asked: How do the women you know continue to break barriers?
Here's what some of our Twitter and Facebook fans had to say:
Katy Ferry My mother, Andrea Pennington, was the first female judge in Mobile County, AL.
Kittura Dior The late Dr. C. DeLores Tucker was the first African American woman to serve as Secretary of State (under Governor Milton Shapp) of PA in the 1970s. She was also my great-aunt.
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As the end of combat operations in Iraq approaches, and the massive drawdown of troops continues, a photo of the President and his national security team meeting on Iraq in the Situation Room:
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden meet with the national security team on Iraq in the Situation Room of the White House, Aug. 11, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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From the beginning, the Obama administration’s highest priority has been to rescue and rebuild the economy. Few areas were hit as hard as manufacturing – not just in this downturn, but going back years. Investing in 21st century manufacturing has been a cornerstone of the President’s plan to rebuild the economy stronger than before. And in the past seven months, we’ve seen the strongest manufacturing job growth in more than a decade -- adding 183,000 jobs so far this year.
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John Boehner wants a lot of people to lose their jobs.
We were awfully surprised to hear Rep. Boehner come out for killing jobs en masse in his own state and district by stopping the Recovery Act on last Sunday’s news shows.
Though we’re sure he didn’t know it, the Congressman is advocating to kill the expansion of the Butler County Community Health Center and bring some of the twenty-five highway projects across the district to a grinding halt. Across the state of Ohio, he said that approximately 4 million working families should get an unexpected cut in their paycheck as the Making Work Pay tax credit disappears, unemployed workers should go without unemployment benefits, and major Ohio road projects like the US-33 Nelsonville Bypass project and the Cleveland Innerbelt Modernization project should be stalled or stopped. Oh, and some of the more than 100 clean energy Recovery projects employing workers across the state should be shut down.
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In order to compete and win internationally, our nation needs a highly educated workforce that is second to none. Rising levels of education are critical to creating shared economic growth and mobility for every American. And keeping America’s teachers in our classrooms is central to that goal.
This week, President Obama visited the University of Texas to discuss the relationship between his goals for America’s higher education system and the future of the American economy. And today, the President took bold action, signing important legislation to provide urgent fiscal relief to school districts across the country to maintain our education system, and to enable 160,000 teachers to keep their jobs.
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The White House Photo Office just released a new batch of photos from second part of July on the Official White House Flickr. Where else are you going see the President take a hike along the coastline, sign the hood of a Chevy Volt and joke with the Chicago Bulls? View the July slideshow right here.
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The House of Representatives came back early from their district work sessions today to pass another important measure for the economy: support to help states stay above water during difficult times and, in particular, to prevent hundreds of thousands of teacher layoffs. All told, as many as 900,000 public and private sector jobs could have been lost if this bill weren't passed – the last thing our economy needs. Keeping these Americans at work, whether they are teachers in the classroom or police keeping our streets safe, will also help ensure that the economic recovery keeps moving forward. With the House and Senate both having passed this legislation now, the President has now signed it into law.
The Recovery Act gets a lot of attention as a centerpiece of the President’s economic agenda -- justifiably so given that it’s been responsible for about 3 million jobs -- but the legislation the House passed today is only the latest example of the President’s ongoing efforts to boost our economy. Despite the fact that most of these efforts were on issues that have had broad and bipartisan support, the use of parliamentary maneuvers from the Republican Leadership in the Senate has made it a difficult fight for every inch. Many of the President’s initiatives have still ultimately passed over this obstruction as the legislation today did, and he will continue fighting to ensure everything possible is being done to strengthen our recovery and get Americans back to work.
Working with Congress, we have made crucial progress on jobs legislation over the past months. For example:
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Cross-posted from the Department of Transportation's blog.
Yesterday, Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez went to Oakland to mark the beginning of what he called "a fascinating and critical phase" of the Caldecott Tunnel Fourth Bore project.
You may remember a blog post earlier in the year marking the launch of this important addition to the Caldecott Tunnel. Well, this week, with the groundwork complete, the crew brings out the big machine--a road header--and the actual tunnel bore begins.
If you're a fan of transportation infrastructure, you know that's when things get interesting. Because a road header is not just any machine. It's a 130-ton rock-crunching, rotating cutting head built at the end of a boom that will push it though the bedrock of the Berkeley Hills.
Administrator Mendez (right) stands beneath the road header with project manager Bill Monahan.
But, for the many workers hired to prepare the site for the tunnel bore, it's been plenty interesting since January simply because they've had jobs.
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For 40 years, the Citizens Medal has been given to men and women who have "performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens." Watch a behind the scenes video on the 2010 Medal with President Obama, the Citizens Medal recipients and Staff Secretary Lisa Brown who calls the day that these outstanding men and women were recognized "the best day [she's] ever had at the White House."
Don't miss each recipient’s remarkable story of service in the Citizens Medal video gallery and visit Serve.gov find ways to make a difference in your community.
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President Obama has often said that one of his primary goals in office is to run a government that is “more efficient and more responsive to the people it serves,” and that’s why he launched the Accountable Government Initiative to cut waste and deliver taxpayers better services for less.
Today, I went to the National Press Club to talk about how the 2010 Census was a textbook example of the president’s commitment to accountable and effective government in action.
The 2010 Census represented the largest civilian undertaking in United States history, with 565,000 census takers conducting field operations in all 50 states and the U.S. territories.
Before this Census began, experts inside and outside the government predicted that long-standing operational and fiscal problems at the U.S. Census Bureau would doom the 2010 count to cost overruns and diminished participation by the American people. In 2009, the Commerce Department’s own Inspector General, as well as the Government Accountability Office, ranked the 2010 Census as one of the federal government programs most likely to fail to achieve its mission
That did not happen.
Because of the exceptional efforts of our Census Bureau – led by Dr. Bob Groves -- and the cooperation of the American people and hundreds of thousands of Census partners, the 2010 Census is both on schedule and 22 percent under budget.
In all, we will be returning $1.6 billion in 2010 Census operational savings.
Meanwhile, the 2010 census achieved a mail-back response rate of 72 percent, which defied the predictions of experts, matched the 2000 response rate, and reversed a multi-decade decline in mail response.
There is no one silver bullet that created this success -- instead, success was based on an ethic of constant improvement and a search for efficiencies over the last 17 months.
Census Bureau professionals developed a strong operational design that included important innovations including:
- A reengineered address list;
- A short-form 10-question questionnaire; and
- Daily meetings to troubleshoot problems with the Bureau’s field operations control system – which was a high-risk software system used to manage the work of the 565,000 census takers conducting multiple field operations.
- Other innovations were more mundane – but no less impactful. For example, one of the strategies the Census Bureau took to boost mail response was to resend questionnaires to people who hadn't initially responded; with the thinking being that some people just needed a simple reminder or may have thrown out their first questionnaire.
This was a huge money saver for American taxpayers, as every one percent increase in the mail response rate saved $85 million, by reducing the number of expensive door to door follow-ups.
As the Census Bureau and Commerce Department undertook these internal management reforms, we also revamped our public outreach efforts, with:
- Additional advertising in Hard-to-Count areas that included a sophisticated tracking system that allowed us to target ads at areas with lagging response rates;
- Advertising in more languages; and a
- 4-fold increase in staff supporting the partnership program, comprised of 255,000 community based organizations ranging from nonprofit and religious groups to businesses.
All these specific measures were an outgrowth of the Commerce Department’s commitment to applying the type of core management principles that can help solve any operational challenge.
Relentless attention to detail, setting ambitious goals and creating precise metrics to measure performance – these were the principles I depended on during my time as Governor of Washington State, and they are the principles that helped make the 2010 Census a resounding success.
As I traveled the country these last few months, I repeatedly stressed the importance of the Census to local communities.
The Census determines how $400 billion in federal funds are allocated each year to local communities for everything from education and senior services to roads and police.
And the 2010 Census will also serve as the basis for the congressional redistricting that many states are doing in 2011.
The American people clearly got the message, and they help make the 2010 Census one of the most successful in modern history.
Gary Locke is Secretary of Commerce
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Speaking at the University of Texas at Austin, the President rattled off a couple campaign promises fulfilled -- like ending the War in Iraq and passing health reform – then turned to the economy:
And I said we need an economy that puts Americans back to work, an economy that’s built around three simple words -- Made in America. Because we are not playing for second place. We are the United States of America, and like the Texas Longhorns, you play for first -- we play for first.
From there he honed in even further to his primary focus for the day – education:
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On Saturday, Elena Kagan became the fourth female justice in history. "For nearly two centuries, there wasn't a single woman on the Supreme Court,” said President Obama at an event honoring her confirmation, “When Elena was a clerk, there was just one. But when she takes her seat on that bench, for the first time in history, there will be three women serving on our nation's highest court."
President Barack Obama listens as Justice Elena Kagan delivers remarks during a confirmation reception in the East Room of the White House August 6, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)
"Today is a very proud day for women and girls all across America," said Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President and Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls, in a blog post. As she explained, this is not the first time Kagan has broken a glass ceiling, "She is a trailblazer in her own right, serving as the first female Solicitor General of the United States, and before that, as the first woman Dean of Harvard Law School. Her remarkable career has earned her countless accolades from academia, the legal profession, and across the political spectrum."
Today the White House is collaborating with GOOD to ask you:
How do the women you know continue to break barriers?
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August 09, 2010
02:24 PM EDTToday President Obama is traveling to the University of Texas at Austin to discuss what the Administration is doing to meet his goal of having the highest proportion of college graduates by 2020. Thousands of college students will be heading back to school in the next few weeks, so here’s a list of the top five things you need to know before you head back to school:
- Many students' wallets are going to be a little heavier. The President has invested more than $40 billion in Pell Grants and provided support to help these scholarships keep pace with inflation in the coming years. The great thing about Pell Grants is that they are free and clear – they don’t have to be paid back if your family qualifies. Since taking office, the President has helped grow the maximum Pell Grant scholarship by $800. This is real money that students and families can use to pay for tuition and fees.
- If you don’t have a job after graduation lined up and are stressed about health insurance, don’t worry. If you’re under 26 years of age, may be already be able to get on a parent’s health insurance plan – and all plans will allow this in September.
- Not ready for a 4 year institution? Community colleges are a great alternative, and they will receive an extra $2 billion over the next four years to invest in degree and training programs that will prepare you for the jobs of the future.
- If you attend one of America’s 105 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) or 225 Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), your school might get a cut of $2.55 billion in coming years. That means better courses, facilities, and programs for you.
- Interested in pursuing a career in math or science? The Department of Energy, in partnership with the National Science Foundation, will dedicate $19 million in funds for its undergraduate and graduate fellowship, scholarship, and traineeship programs.
Click here for more information on President Obama's agenda for higher education.
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Having the Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints here at the White House this morning, there was a sense of hope and almost lightheartedness – nobody forgot that Louisiana is still in the midst of yet another tragedy, but it was reminder that New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast has seen the worst before and come out fighting.
The President gave a few remarks on why so many Americans had a soft spot for the Saints:
So this was an unbelievable season. After decades of frustration, the Saints finally won the big one. The “ain’ts” and the “sad sacks” gave way to the “Who Dats.” Local musicians even gave a jazz funeral to retire the “ain’ts” nickname. But I think we all know that this season meant far more than that to the City of New Orleans -– and to all Americans, really.
Look, I’m a Bears fan. I’m not going to lie. (Laughter.) But this was a big win for the country -- not just for New Orleans -- because five years ago, this team played its entire season on the road. It didn’t have a home field. The Superdome had been ruined by Hurricane Katrina. The heartbreaking tragedies that unfolded there when it was used as a shelter from that terrible storm lingered all too fresh in a lot of people’s minds.
And back then, people didn’t even know if the team was coming back. People didn’t know if the city was coming back. Not only did the team come back – it took its city’s hands and helped its city back on its feet. This team took the hopes and the dreams of a shattered city and placed them squarely on its shoulders.
And so these guys became more than leaders in the locker room -– they became leaders of an entire region. And the victory parade that we saw earlier this year made one thing perfectly clear, that New Orleans and the New Orleans Saints are here to stay.
Te President also spoke about the team's commitment to their community, and the government’s commitment to keep doing everything necessary for as long as it takes in the wake of the Deepwater BP oil spill:
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The President discusses a new Medicare Trustees report showing Medicare to be on much stronger footing as a result of the reforms in the Affordable Care Act. In addition, seniors are also already getting help with prescription drug costs when they fall into the infamous “donut hole.”
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“This is a good day,” said the President this afternoon. And it was, especially for Elena Kagan, who was being congratulated on her on confirmation as the next Supreme Court Justice. He thanked the other Justices in attendance for coming, and thanked the Senate – in particular Judiciary Chairman Leahy – for their work in the process.
The President noted the bipartisanship in the final vote and recounted the broad support her nomination received across the ideological spectrum:
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