The White House Blog

Ray Bradbury, the legendary novelist whose writing career stretched out over the course of 70 years, died on Tuesday in Los Angeles. The author, whose works included "Fahrenheit 451" and "The Martian Chronicles," was 91.

"His gift for storytelling reshaped our culture and expanded our world," said President Obama. Here's the full statement:

For many Americans, the news of Ray Bradbury's death immediately brought to mind images from his work, imprinted in our minds, often from a young age.  His gift for storytelling reshaped our culture and expanded our world.  But Ray also understood that our imaginations could be used as a tool for better understanding, a vehicle for change, and an expression of our most cherished values.  There is no doubt that Ray will continue to inspire many more generations with his writing, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.

Equal pay for women is about more than just fairness. Women are breadwinners in more than 50 percent of American households, and if they're making less than men do for the same work, families have to get with less money for childcare and tuition and rent, and small businesses have fewer customers. Everybody suffers. 

President Obama supports passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act, a comprehensive and commonsense bill that updates and strengthens the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which made it illegal for employers to pay unequal wages to men and women who perform substantially equal work. Following Congress's failure to act on this bill today, the President released the following statement:

This afternoon, Senate Republicans refused to allow an up-or-down vote on the Paycheck Fairness Act, a commonsense piece of legislation that would strengthen the Equal Pay Act and give women more tools to fight pay discrimination. It is incredibly disappointing that in this make-or-break moment for the middle class, Senate Republicans put partisan politics ahead of American women and their families. Despite the progress that has been made over the years, women continue to earn substantially less than men for performing the same work. My Administration will continue to fight for a woman’s right for equal pay for equal work, as we rebuild our economy so that hard work pays off, responsibility is rewarded, and every American gets a fair shot to succeed.

 

Learn more about wage inequality and its effects on American families here

The White House would like to congratulate the finalists dedicated to providing resources to our homeless veterans. On March 19, 2012, the VA Innovation Initiative (VAi2) launched Project REACH (Real-time Electronic Access for Caregivers and the Homeless), which involved public and nonprofit collaboration between the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, and the Jon Bon Jovi (JBJ) Soul Foundation.

VA Deputy Secretary W. Scott Gould, Mr. Bon Jovi, and HUD Deputy Secretary Maurice Jones announced the finalists today at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Health Data Initiative Forum in Washington D.C., and each finalist received a $10,000 prize.

Project REACH challenges the nation’s developers to create a convenient mobile application so that local resources are available to those who need them most – our homeless veterans. The ultimate goal is to create a national platform that allows for identifying available services such as health clinics, food kitchens, housing services, and shelters at any location around the country.

Last week, I had the pleasure of kicking off the first ever Department of Education National Transition Conference. More than 700 students, educators, advocates and other leaders came together to work on improving transition services for students with disabilities.  

This conference, part of a Department of Education initiative called “The Year of College and Careers,” will help young people with disabilities reach their full potential. It will forge new partnerships among federal, state and local officials, as well as private entities and community leaders. Over the next year, the Department of Education and partner agencies will be providing more information and making announcements regarding this new effort.

The President is fully committed to this endeavor because he understands that supporting Americans with disabilities is not just about a set of principles or a set of programs. This is about people. 

As part of our focus on women’s health, the White House and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would like to invite you to participate online in a Women’s Health Town Hall on Thursday, June 7, 2012. The event will be streamed live from the White House and the HHS websites from 10 am to 11:30 am ET. 

The event will be an interactive, open dialogue about how the health care law, the Affordable Care Act, is improving the health of women and their families. 

Do you know how the law affects you, your mother, and your daughter? Here are some highlights:

• The law requires insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions, and means the end of women being denied or charged more for coverage just because they’re women.
• It also zeroes in on ensuring access to preventive services like mammograms and blood pressure screenings by making them available without a co-pay.
• It strengthens the Medicare program by cracking down on fraud, waste and abuse and closing the prescription drug gap known as the “donut hole,” which means lower prescription drug costs for all seniors.

The gender wage gap puts women at a career-long disadvantage. In 2011, a typical 25-year-old woman working full-time all year earned $5,000 less than a typical 25-year-old man. In just 10 years, her cumulative lost wages will reach $34,000. If that earnings gap is not corrected, by the age of 65 years, she will have lost $431,000 over her working lifetime. 

This substantial gap is more than a statistic -- it has real life consequences. When women, who make up nearly half the workforce, bring home less money each day, it means they have less for the everyday needs of their families, and over a lifetime of work, far less savings for retirement.

President Obama supports passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which Congress puts to a vote on June 5. This comprehensive and common sense bill updates and strengthens the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which made it illegal for employers to pay unequal wages to men and women who perform substantially equal work.  

On a call today, the President talked about the impact of paycheck inequality on American families: “We've got to understand this is more than just about fairness.  Women are the breadwinners for a lot of families, and if they're making less than men do for the same work, families are going to have to get by for less money for childcare and tuition and rent, small businesses have fewer customers.  Everybody suffers.  .”

You can learn more about the Paycheck Fairness Act, and check out some e-cards that explain how income inequality affects American families here.

Ed Note: This post is updated with a correction on HUD borrower savings as those figures have not yet been finalized.

President Obama is committed to a regulatory approach that protects public safety and welfare while also promoting economic growth and job creation. In January 2011, the President issued a historic Executive Order, setting forth new cost-saving, burden-reducing requirements for federal regulations, and requiring an ambitious government-wide “lookback” at existing regulations. In response to that requirement, over two dozen agencies identified more than 500 reforms. Agencies have already proposed or finalized more than 100 of them.

On May 10, we announced a series of final rules that will save nearly $6 billion over the next five years. Other rules, now proposed or finalized, will produce billions of dollars in additional savings, producing total savings in excess of $10 billion from just a small fraction of the reform initiatives.

Also on May10, the President institutionalized his regulatory lookback with an historic Executive Order requiring federal agencies to continue to scrutinize rules on the books to see if they really make sense. That Executive Order takes three new steps. To promote priority-setting, the Order requires agencies to identify reforms that will produce significant quantifiable savings, especially (but not only) for small business. To promote accountability, the Order requires agencies to report to the public regularly on their past efforts and their future plans -- with details and deadlines. To promote public participation, the Order directs agencies to obtain public comments to see which rules should be simplified, improved or repealed.

Here's a quick glimpse at this week on WhiteHouse.gov:

The Nation’s Heroes: This Monday the President, Vice President, First Lady, and Dr. Biden traveled to the Arlington National Cemetery where the President laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. He then spoke to the families gathered there, asking that we remember the fallen soldiers for the people they really were, “One thing we can do is remember these heroes as you remember them -- not just as a rank, or a number, or a name on a headstone, but as Americans, often far too young, who were guided by a deep and abiding love for their families, for each other, and for this country.”

The President then made his way to the Vietnam Veterans memorial to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam  War. There he spoke of the service that the veterans undertook for America, both in war and once they returned home, “Like generations before you, you took off the uniform, but you never stopped serving.  You became teachers and police officers and nurses -- the folks we count on every single day.  You became entrepreneurs, running companies and pioneering industries that changed the world.  You became leaders and public servants, from town halls to Capitol Hill -- lifting up our communities, our states, our nation. You reminded us what it was like to serve, what it meant to serve. “

Extraordinary People: On Tuesday the President awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, to 13 extraordinary individuals. These people came from all walks in life, ranging from a doctor to a musician, the President said that each has made his or her mark on America, “Together, the honorees on this stage, and the ones who couldn’t be here, have moved us with their words; they have inspired us with their actions.  They’ve enriched our lives and they’ve changed our lives for the better.  Some of them are household names; others have labored quietly out of the public eye.  Most of them may never fully appreciate the difference they’ve made or the influence that they’ve had, but that’s where our job comes in.”

The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression didn’t develop overnight, and it won’t be solved overnight. But while we have a long way to go, over the past 27 months, American companies have added more than 4.3 million jobs. Behind that number are countless small businesses – entrepreneurs with bold ideas and a willingness to dream big. 

President Obama knows that small business owners are the engines of our economy. That’s why he has signed 18 new small business tax cuts into law. As our country continues to recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression, we must continue to support and celebrate America’s job creators. 

That’s why StartUp America, the Council on Women and Girls and the White House Business Council have put together an interactive tool to introduce you to some of the women entrepreneurs who are helping our country succeed. Some of these small business owners are on the cutting edge of social media, advanced manufacturing and biotechnology. Others have opened traditional “main street” establishments, such as stores and restaurants. All of them have created jobs, and made their communities better places to work and live.