The White House Blog

What a year it’s been!  Since that first exciting day, we’ve opened up seven more code repositories on GitHub (usually called “repos”), as well as several projects on Drupal.org too. In addition to the software for We The People, we’ve open sourced the White House’s official mobile apps, several Drupal modules, and even our API standards documentation. 

Of course one of the great things about open-source software is that anyone who wants to build something similar, or improve an existing application, can make a copy for themselves (known as “forking”) and even send us their improvements (called a “pull request”). And we really hope you’ll take advantage of that.

Get started at our developers page, where you can get information on how you can take part in all of our open source and open data initiatives.

And you won’t be alone. Over the past year, our repos have been forked more than 500 times, and we’ve taken nearly a dozen pull requests as we continuously work on improving the quality and re-usability of these applications as publicly and transparently as we can. In fact we’ve even hosted a couple of hackathons right here at The White House (hint: Follow @WHWeb on twitter to find out about future events like these).

President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York, during the college affordability bus tour in Buffalo, N.Y., Aug. 22, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Today, President Obama traveled to the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York to announce his plan to combat the soaring costs of higher education. The speech, the first stop on a two-day college affordability bus tour, is a part of his broader initiative to secure a better bargain for middle class families.

In his remarks, the President Obama laid out three steps to ensure that college remains within reach for all young people: connect financial aid to school performance, support academic innovation and competition, and make college affordable. President Obama said: 

At a time when a higher education has never been more important or more expensive, too many students are facing a choice that they should never have to make:  Either they say no to college and pay the price for not getting a degree -- and that's a price that lasts a lifetime -- or you do what it takes to go to college, but then you run the risk that you won’t be able to pay it off because you've got so much debt.

In his speech, President Obama said we need to start rating colleges on their value to students. “It is time to stop subsidizing schools that are not producing good results, and reward schools that deliver for American students and our future,” he said.

President Barack Obama delivers remarks on interest rates on student loans at the University of Colorado Coors Event Center in Boulder, Colo., April 24, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

Ed. Note: At 11:05 a.m. ET tomorrow, the President will discuss his plan to make college more affordable at the University at Buffalo. You can watch his remarks live at wh.gov/a-better-bargain.

A college education continues to be the ticket to the middle class. More and more, well-paying jobs require education or training after high school. But, despite President Obama's historic investments in college affordability since taking office, the cost of college has been growing out of reach for decades, and students and their families are taking on more of the costs.

This week, President Obama will be on the road to talk about an ambitious new agenda to make college more affordable, tackle rising costs, and improve value for students and their families. Back at the White House, senior staff will be on hand to answer your questions on Twitter.

Have questions about the President's plan? Tomorrow, Thursday, August 22nd at 1:00 p.m. ET join us for a session of White House Office Hours with Deputy Communications Director Katie Beirne-Fallon and Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council James Kvaal. During a live Q&A on Twitter they will answer your questions about President Obama's plan to keep the cost of college within reach for middle-class families.

Here are the details:

• Ask your questions now and during the live event on Twitter with the hashtag #WHChat
• Follow the Q&A live through the @WHLive and @Katie44 Twitter accounts
• If you miss the live Q&A, the full session will be posted on WhiteHouse.gov and Storify.com/WhiteHouse

Take a few minutes to learn more about the President's plan, and then join us for Office Hours on Twitter with Katie Beirne-Fallon and James Kvaal on Thursday, August 22nd at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Ed. note: This is crossposted from hhs.gov/healthcare. See the original post here.

Recently, I traveled to Oakland, California, to participate in a town hall about how the Affordable Care Act is improving health and strengthening communities - especially communities of color that have long faced disparities in health and health care.

As the event was coming to a close, a woman in the audience stood up and asked if she could read a letter from her daughter. Her daughter hadn't been able to attend the event, she told us, but wanted to share her story with everyone.

She had started college a few years later than most, at the age of 22. During her freshman year, she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis - a devastating discovery. But there was one source of relief: thanks to the health care law's provision enabling young people to stay on their parents' health insurance until the age of 26, she was able to stay on her parents' health plan, access the treatment that she needed, and continue her studies. And even though she has since turned 26, the opening of the new Health Insurance Marketplace - and the law's ban on discrimination due to pre-existing conditions - will provide her with new opportunities to secure affordable coverage.

President Barack Obama delivers remarks during a ceremony honoring the 1972 Super Bowl Champion Miami Dolphins in the East Room of the White House, Aug. 20, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

When the Miami Dolphins took to the field at the Los Angeles Coliseum on January 14, 1973, history was on the line. After winning every game so far in the season, that Super Bowl Sunday, the Dolphins swept past the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII with a 14-7 victory to clinch the championship. With two touchdowns and extra point conversions, the Dolphins became the first team in the NFL to have a perfect season. Now, 40 years after the Dolphins first donned their Super Bowl rings, they remain the only undefeated team in NFL history.

Today in the East Room, President Obama welcomed the 1973 Super Bowl Champion Miami Dolphins to the White House to celebrate their accomplishment. It did not become common practice for Super Bowl champions to visit the White House until after 1980, and President Obama was able to take advantage of past presidents’ missed opportunity.

America has always been a nation of immigrants, and throughout the nation’s history, immigrants and visitors from around the globe have kept our workforce vibrant, our businesses on the cutting edge, and helped to build the greatest economic engine in the world. However, America’s immigration system is broken and has not kept pace with changing times. Our outdated immigration system has hindered our ability to attract legitimate international travelers and the best foreign workers. This isn’t good for the economy or the country. This is why Congress needs to pass comprehensive reform to fix our broken immigration system: doing so would go a long way to grow our economy, create jobs and improve America’s ability to compete for the best global talent. 

Today, we are highlighting another economic benefit of commonsense immigration reform: a boost to U.S. travel and tourism.

Travel and tourism, which is the number one service that we export and a key source of job creation, is reliant on a modern immigration system that allows us to efficiently welcome legitimate international visitors to America.

In 2012, international travel and tourism resulted in $165.6 billion in exports and the entire U.S. tourism and travel industry accounted for $1.4 trillion in economic activity and supported nearly 8 million jobs. That’s a contribution to the U.S. GDP and the job force that we should make every effort to grow.

In fact, this momentum has continued, the leisure and hospitality sector has created more than 450,000 jobs in the past twelve months. And tourism spending continues to be a key driver of economic growth for a number of regions throughout the country.

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

From New Orleans to Cedar Rapids to Tuscaloosa to Minot – I have walked the streets and looked in the eyes of families whose lives have come crashing down around them under nature’s wrath.

But nothing prepared me to come back home to New York City last October and look in the eyes of my friend who lost his daughter to Hurricane Sandy.  Nothing prepared me to see neighborhoods—many of which had served as the backdrop of my childhood—completely unrecognizable.

This was all due to the devastating storm that hit our shores in the fall with a power and a fury unlike anything most of us had ever seen before. Entire neighborhoods were flooded. Families and small business owners lost everything in a single night. Infrastructure was torn apart.  In short, it was one of the most painful chapters in the region’s history and the Obama administration has been committed to helping communities turn the page.

We have worked closely with State and Local governments up and down the East Coast to help prepare for and respond to the storm.  Within a week of Sandy making landfall we had 17,000 federal responders on the ground, helping displaced families find shelter and getting communities back on their feet.

President Barack Obama tapes the Weekly Address in the State Dining Room of the White House Aug. 9, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

President Obama says we are on the way to fully implementing the Affordable Care Act and helping millions of Americans.  

Transcript | Download mp4 | Download mp3

This week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, U.S. Trade Representative Mike Froman and senior members of the President’s economic team joined trade ministers, civil society, and business leaders from across sub-Saharan Africa to focus on “Sustainable Growth through Trade and Technology” at the African Growth and Opportunity Act Forum. The Forum also kicked off the process leading to AGOA’s renewal in 2015.

As the President highlighted on his trip to Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania this summer, Africa is experiencing historic growth. Six of the ten fastest growing economies in the world are in Africa. The continent has enormous economic potential, and it’s in our interest to help African countries expand trade and investment to fuel their development.

AGOA has transformed the way the United States and Africa interact on trade and economic issues. Since 2001 – the first full year of AGOA trade -- U.S. total trade with sub-Saharan Africa has more than doubled, from $28.2 billion to $72.3 billion in 2012. AGOA enabled U.S. exports to the region to more than triple from $6.9 billion in 2001 to $22.6 billion in 2012. At the same time, AGOA imports (including GSP) to the United States have climbed to $34.9 billion in 2012, more than four times the amount in 2001. That increase in trade has created thousands of new jobs in Africa.