My immigrant parents taught me that there is no surer pathway to success than a good education. I am grateful that, by coming to the United States, they made this opportunity available to me; it’s a privilege to be working in the White House to make higher education available to every American willing to work for it. And as I am about to have two daughters in college at the same time, it’s clear to me that if a college degree is really going to be available to all families, we must make sure students and their families don’t leave college saddled with a mountain of debt.

This afternoon, President Obama made an important step toward that promise by signing into law the bipartisan student loan interest rate compromise, which advances our nation's commitment to students by cutting rates on nearly all new loans this year – saving a typical undergraduate student $1,500 over the life of his or her loans. This legislation allows borrowers to benefit from the low interest rates currently available in the marketplace, guarantees that borrowers are able to lock in these rates over the life of their loans, and protects future borrowers by capping how high rates can rise.

The signing of this legislation is a key victory for students, one in which Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle came together around the important mission of keeping college affordable for American students and their families.

Ed. note: This is cross-posted from hhs.gov. See the original post here.

More than three years ago, the most important women’s health legislation in my lifetime was passed into law — the Affordable Care Act. This law lowers the costs of health care for women, increases access to quality health care, and pays attention to the distinct health needs of women and families. As women, we often make health care decisions for ourselves and for our families, so it is important that we know how the health care law benefits us.

Women have often been charged more than men for the exact same health coverage. We have paid higher premiums and out-of-pocket costs. We also tend to make less than men and have a harder time paying for health care costs. As a result, women have not always had access to the health care they needed or the freedom to make the best health care choices for themselves and their families.

But that’s all changing. The new health care law already requires most health plans and insurance policies to cover recommended preventive services at no additional cost. This means that, each year, a woman can have a well-woman visit with her doctor at no cost to her. It also means we can get free screenings for breast and cervical cancer; FDA-approved contraception; breastfeeding support and equipment; screening and counseling for domestic violence; smoking cessation medications and services; and more. Furthermore, more low-income women will be eligible for Medicaid in 2014 even if they do not have children.

President Barack Obama joins Jay Leno for a taping of the “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” at the NBC Studios in Burbank, Calif., Aug. 6, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama stopped by The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Tuesday, part of his two-day West Coast trip to discuss housing and the economy.

The President discussed the improvement in the housing market and the shrinking deficit, but acknowledged that Americans all over the country are still struggling and that we still have a lot of work to do. “Wages and salaries haven’t gone up,” President Obama said. “Middle-class families are still struggling to make sure they can pay for their kids’ college education. They're still concerned about whether they can retire.”

And what Washington should be thinking about every single day is how do we make sure we’ve got an economy where if folks work hard, they can find a good job that pays a decent wage; they can send their kids to college; they've got health care they can count on; they can retire even if they don't get rich -- or even if they're not rich; and that we’re creating these ladders of opportunities for people to get into the middle class.

Watch the full interview from The Tonight Show night here. 

Earlier on Tuesday, President Obama was in Phoenix, where he laid out his vision for a housing system that promotes the American dream of homeownership. On Wednesday, the President answered questions from homeowners, renters, and prospective buyers in an interview with Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff.

Ed. note: This is cross-posted from hhs.gov. See the original post here.

As a mother and grandmother, I know how a mom’s voice is critical to maintaining the health of her family—and that’s true even after her kids have grown up into young adults. And as a trusted voice in the lives of their children, moms can play a vital role in getting the word out about the exciting new options for affordable, quality health coverage becoming available this fall for their children and other families in their communities.

Starting October 1, people who either do not have insurance or who buy their own but are looking for new options will be able to sign up for the Health Insurance Marketplace at HealthCare.gov. There, they will be able to compare easy-to-understand plans and choose the one that best suits their needs and budget for coverage that will start January 1^st, 2014. Many families, including young adults, will also be eligible for tax credits that can help lower the cost of their premiums.

All of the plans must cover a set of essential benefits, such as maternity and newborn care, doctor visits, emergency care, prescription drugs, and mental health services. Insurers will be barred from discriminating against anyone because of their gender or a pre-existing condition, like breast cancer, asthma, or diabetes. That also means it will be illegal to deny women coverage or charge them more simply because of their sex—being a woman will finally no longer be a pre-existing condition.

But just because people have the opportunity to get new coverage doesn’t mean they know about it. And for too many Americans, quality, affordable health insurance has been out of reach for so long that they don’t believe it’s a possibility for them.

President Barack Obama delivers remarks to troops during a rally at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., Aug. 7, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama traveled to Camp Pendleton today to visit with troops and their families and thank them for their extraordinary service to our nation.

“I’m here because, for more than a decade, you -— and all our men and women in uniform -— have borne the burden in this time of war,” President Obama said.

After our nation was attacked, you were some of the very first conventional forces in Afghanistan -— racing in, hundreds of miles by helicopter, toppling that regime and driving al Qaeda from its camps. Then when the fight shifted to Iraq, you were there -— racing toward Baghdad and deposing a dictator. And through years of combat -— in Tikrit, Fallujah and Ramadi -— your courage added to the glories of the Marines’ long and illustrious history.

President Obama also called on Congress to agree on a responsible plan that reduces our deficits but also keeps our military strong, which includes caring for wounded warriors, military families, and service members who transition to civilian life.

“That’s what you deserve,” President Obama said. “That’s what your families deserve. That's what I’m fighting for and that is my commitment to you.”

Yesterday in Phoenix, President Obama laid out his plan to create a better bargain for responsible, middle-class homeowners. And today, the President will answer questions submitted by homeowners, renters, and prospective buyers during a live conversation with the real estate site Zillow.

For most Americans, buying a home is the largest purchase of their lives. That’s where a company like Zillow comes in -- helping families make informed decisions about buying a home and where to raise a family. Zillow is powered, in part, by open government data – including freely available data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Housing Finance Agency, and the Census Bureau. Zillow uses these data sets to do things like help home buyers in a given region understand the point in years at which buying a home is more financially advantageous than renting the same home.

Making government data resources publicly available in machine-readable form as fuel for new private-sector products and businesses is one example of how the President is working to make government smarter and more innovative for the American people.

In May, the President issued a landmark Executive Order, Making Open and Machine Readable the New Default for Government Information, and took historic steps to make large-scale additional government data resources publicly accessible, findable and usable. As the President said, “That’s going to help launch more start-ups. It’s going to help launch more businesses. It’s going to help more entrepreneurs come up with products and services that we haven’t even imagined yet.”

We’re excited about what innovative companies like Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia, Estately, Redfin, and others have done and can do with open government data to help people looking for the right homes for their families This is innovation born of the potent combination of open data and private sector entrepreneurship – innovation that helps Americans and creates jobs. 

Check out the President’s answers to your housing questions right here at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Todd Park, U.S. CTO and Assistant to the President. Steven VanRoekel, U.S. CIO and Acting Deputy Director of Management.

Before taking the stage in Phoenix today, President Obama took a minute to remind Americans that he’ll be answering your questions about housing tomorrow, August 7th at 1:00 p.m. ET during a live online event moderated by the real estate market place, Zillow. Watch his first Instagram video here and then be sure to submit your housing question to the President through Vine, Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, or Facebook using #AskObamaHousing.

The systems that run our nation’s critical infrastructure such as the electric grid, our drinking water, our trains, and other transportation are increasingly networked. As with any networked system, these systems are potentially vulnerable to a wide range of threats, and protecting this critical infrastructure from cyber threats is among our highest security priorities. That is why, earlier this year, the President signed an Executive Order designed to increase the level of core capabilities for our critical infrastructure to manage cyber risk. The Order does this by focusing on three key areas: information sharing, privacy, and adoption of cybersecurity practices.

To promote cybersecurity practices and develop these core capabilities, we are working with critical infrastructure owners and operators to create a Cybersecurity Framework – a set of core practices to develop capabilities to manage cybersecurity risk. These are the known practices that many firms already do, in part or across the enterprise and across a wide range of sectors. The draft Framework will be complete in October. After a final Framework is released in February 2014, we will create a Voluntary Program to help encourage critical infrastructure companies to adopt the Framework. 

While this effort is underway, work on how to incentivize companies to join a Program is also under consideration. While the set of core practices have been known for years, barriers to adoption exist, such as the challenge of clearly identifying the benefits of making certain cybersecurity investments. As directed in the EO, the Departments of Homeland Security, Commerce, and Treasury have identified potential incentives and provided their recommendations to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism and the Assistant to the President for Economic Affairs.

Over the next few months, agencies will examine these options in detail to determine which ones to adopt and how, based substantially on input from critical infrastructure stakeholders. We believe that sharing the findings and our plans for continued work will promote transparency and sustain a public conversation about the recommendations. Publishing these agency reports is therefore an interim step and does not indicate the Administration’s final policy position on the recommend actions. 

The recommendations were developed in a relatively short time frame and with the understanding that the Cybersecurity Framework and Voluntary Program are still under development. Yet, they incorporate significant feedback from many of our stakeholders, including the critical infrastructure community, through the DHS-led existing public-private partnerships with critical infrastructure, and a Notice of Inquiry issued by the Commerce Department. Although each agency prepared separate reports, these reports are complementary. Taken as a whole, the reports point to eight areas where the agencies recommend action to establish incentives to support voluntary adoption of the Cybersecurity Framework. 

Ed Note: This is a cross post from fema.gov. You can find the original post here.

Crowdsourcing disasters. New social media sites. Centralized places to get info. Our digital team at FEMA has been busy launching a number of new tools to help the public and our partners to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters. Here’s a quick rundown of the new resources:

• FEMA App with the Disaster Reporter feature
• FEMA’s Social Hub
• FEMA LinkedIn
• U.S. Fire Administration Facebook

How does this help you be a part of the emergency management team? Watch this demo from Administrator Fugate as he walks through all the new tools and resources you can take advantage of:

Before a disaster, you can download the FEMA App and use the interactive emergency kit checklist and learn what to do during specific hazards. And if you find yourself in a situation, where you need a refresher, you can still pull up the safety info in the app, even if you don’t have a cellular or wifi connection.

After a disaster, if you’re not placing yourself in harm’s way, you can use the Disaster Reporter feature in the FEMA App and take a photo of the disaster area and upload it to us (just make sure the GPS function is turned on). This includes all types of disasters, not just Federal disasters.

We’ll review the photo submissions to ensure: (1) it is disaster-related, (2) not spam, and (3) there are no privacy issues. And then all approved content is posted on a public map. It’s pretty simple.