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Across the United States, immigrants are starting and building successful businesses that create good American jobs and promote our country’s economic growth. These businesses form the fabric of our communities, and are part of our uniquely American heritage as a nation of immigrants and innovators.
To accelerate our nation’s economic momentum, we need an immigration system that works for America’s entrepreneurs and small business owners--a system that allows us to leverage the creativity and diversity of immigrant entrepreneurs to better compete in the global economy.
Earlier today, I had the opportunity to meet with local business owners and leaders from the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce to discuss how commonsense immigration reform will help foster entrepreneurship and create jobs for workers, not only in New York, but across America.
Commonsense immigration reform has three pillars: smarter enforcement and continued border security; a path to citizenship for those who work hard and play by the rules; and an updated legal system that allows us to attract and retain entrepreneurs from around the world.
We know that immigrants over-index in entrepreneurship. In 2011 alone, immigrants started 28 percent of all new U.S. businesses, despite accounting for only 13 percent of the U.S. population. And between 2006 and 2012, 44 percent of new tech startups in Silicon Valley had at least one immigrant founder.
Immigrant-owned businesses foster vitality, creativity and diversity in our entrepreneurial ecosystem. And, in addition to creating jobs here at home, they are helping to increase America’s global competitiveness by exporting and opening up markets around the world. Immigrants or their children also founded more than 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies, which collectively employ over 10 million people and generate annual revenue of $4.2 trillion.
Commonsense immigration reform expands on the successes of the business leaders who came to our country to build a better life and encourages the type of high-growth entrepreneurship that contributes to our long-term economic strength.
The bipartisan Senate immigration reform bill, which New York’s Senator Schumer championed along with Arizona Senator John McCain and others Democrats, Republicans and Independents in the Senate, makes meaningful improvements to the existing employment-based green card system and creates a new “startup visa” for immigrant entrepreneurs. This important tool would allow entrepreneurs like these who meet a threshold level of financing from U.S. investors or revenue from U.S. customers to start businesses in the United States, and remain permanently if their companies grow and create jobs for American workers.
America is a nation of immigrants and a nation of entrepreneurs, and the Obama Administration is committed to honoring the legacy of innovation and competitiveness that has helped to make our country great. Passage by the House of Representatives of a balanced, comprehensive immigration reform bill is the next step forward in ensuring that America continues to attract the world’s best and brightest to start new businesses, create good jobs and help grow America’s middle class.
To learn more about the economic benefits of immigration reform in your state, click here.
Karen Mills is the Administrator of the Small Business Administration.
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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.”
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President Barack Obama participates in an interview with Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Zillow, at the Hilton Woodland Hills/Los Angeles hotel in Woodland Hills, Calif., Aug. 7, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Today in Los Angeles President Obama sat down with Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff to answer questions about housing from Americans all over the country.
As President Obama explained yesterday in Phoenix, having the chance to own your home is a cornerstone of what it means to be middle class in America. And while our housing market is beginning to heal from the 2008 collapse – home prices are rising and sales are up – there’s still more work to do.
“We’ve got to give more hardworking Americans the chance to buy their first home. We have to help more responsible homeowners refinance their mortgages,” President Obama said. “And we’ve got to turn the page on this kind of bubble-and-bust mentality that helped to create this mess in the first place.”
Homeowners, renters and prospective buyers submitted questions via social media about issues like mortgage interest rates, access to refinancing, help for neighborhoods hit hard by the housing crisis, and President Obama’s plan for reforming the housing finance market. Watch the full interview, or jump to selected questions from the list below.
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August 07, 2013
10:27 AM EDTYesterday 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.
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Ed. note: On Wednesday, August 7th at 1:00 p.m. ET, the President is answering questions submitted by homeowners, renters, and prospective buyers in a conversation with Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff. Find out how you can ask a question here.
President Barack Obama delivers remarks on housing and home ownership at Desert Vista High School in Phoenix, Ariz., Aug. 6, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Today, I joined President Obama in visiting Phoenix, where he laid out his vision for a housing system that promotes the American dream of homeownership.
For years, owning a home was a symbol of responsibility and a source of security for millions of middle-class families across the country. But the financial crisis in 2008 put that all at risk, and by the time President Obama took office, the housing market was in free fall. Home values were plummeting and foreclosures were at record highs.
This Administration immediately took a number of steps to heal the market that helped millions of Americans stay in their homes, save money on their mortgages and turn their communities around.
Today, the market is coming back. Thanks to reforms of the financial system that cracked down on the most reckless practices that led to the housing crisis, responsible Americans can feel more confident and secure when they borrow money to purchase their own home.
President Barack Obama and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan tour Erickson Construction, a housing construction company, in Chandler, Ariz., Aug. 6, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
But, as President Obama made clear today, there is more work to do. It’s time to turn the page on an era of housing bubbles and taxpayer bailouts, and build a new housing finance system that will provide secure homeownership for responsible middle class families.
We see this as critically important, not only because housing and home ownership are one of the bedrock cornerstones of the middle class – but also because it is so connected to the other ones. How do most families pay for their kids to go to college, to start small businesses, to save for retirement? It's through the savings in their homes. If we can't protect American families from this kind of crisis again, if we can't build safe, stable investment in housing and home ownership, we also cut out the rungs in the ladder to opportunity for so many families in other areas as well.
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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.
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August 06, 2013
01:41 PM EDTEd. note: This event has concluded. Watch the full hangout below.
“As president, I believe that robotics can inspire young people to pursue science and engineering. And I also want to keep an eye on those robots in case they try anything.”
- President Barack Obama at the launch of his Educate to Innovate Campaign
Here at the White House, we’re hard at work keeping our eye on the robots, and as we celebrate one car-sized robotic rover’s 1st year on Mars, we wanted to update you on the state of American robotics and the possibilities for robots to improve life on Earth.
Join us on Friday, August 9th, at 2:00 pm EDT for a “We the Geeks” Google+ Hangout on “Robots” – where pioneering scientists will discuss how robots can help transform everything from school classrooms to the factory floor and operating rooms to the way we explore the Solar System.
You’ll meet American inventors giving robots incredible new capabilities in manufacturing and medicine. You’ll also hear how the Obama Administration’s National Robotics Initiative is accelerating innovations that will expand the horizons of human capacity and potentially add over $100 billion to the American economy in the next decade.
The Hangout will be moderated by Vijay Kumar, Assistant Director for Robotics and Cyberphysical Systems, and Tom Kalil, Deputy Director for Technology and Innovation at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. John Green, best selling author and popular video blogger, will join the discussion and curate questions for a panel of these leading experts:
- Rodney Brooks, President, Rethink Robotics, with Humanoid Robot, Baxter
- Daniela Rus, Director of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, MIT
- Matthew Mason, Director, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University
- Robin Murphy, Director of the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue, Texas A&M University
- Allison Okamura, Principal Investigator, Collaborative Haptics and Robotics in Medicine Lab, Stanford University
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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.
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Ed. note: This is cross-posted from energy.gov. See the original post here.
Today, the Energy Department released two new reports highlighting record highs for U.S. wind energy production and manufacturing and demonstrating America’s continued leadership in this rapidly growing global industry. Wind energy is now the fastest growing source of power in the United States – representing 43 percent of all new U.S. electric generation capacity in 2012 and $25 billion in new investment. The reports were prepared in partnership with the Department’s Lawrence Berkeley and Pacific Northwest National Laboratories.
In the first four years of the Obama Administration, American electricity generation from wind and solar power more than doubled. President Obama’s Climate Action Plan makes clear that the growth of clean, renewable wind energy remains a critical part of an all-of-the-above energy strategy that cuts carbon pollution, diversifies our energy economy and brings the next generation of American-made clean energy technologies to market. The Administration has committed once again to doubling renewable electricity generation from energy resources like wind power.
As the graphic above illustrates, America’s wind industry is booming. In 2012, over 13 gigawatts of new wind power capacity was added to the U.S. grid – nearly double the wind capacity deployed in 2011. This tremendous growth helped us surpass 60 gigawatts of total capacity at the end of 2012 – enough capacity to power all the homes in California and Washington State combined. As energy production goes, so does manufacturing. The 2012 Wind Technologies Market Report estimates that 72 percent of the wind turbine equipment – including towers, blades and gears – installed in the U.S. last year was made in America. This growth in domestic wind manufacturing is creating thousands of new jobs across the country. Industry estimates the wind sector employs more than 80,000 American workers across a variety of sectors, including finance, engineering, construction and project development .
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August 05, 2013
11:30 AM EDTEd 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.
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President Obama is traveling to Phoenix, Arizona on Tuesday to lay out his plan to continue helping responsible homeowners and those who seek to own their own homes as the next cornerstone of a strong middle class in America. The day after the speech, the President is sitting down to answer your questions about his plan during a live online event hosted by Zillow, the online real estate market place, with media partner Yahoo!.
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August 04, 2013
10:00 AM EDTPresident Obama celebrates his 52nd birthday today. In honor of the occasion, we’re sharing 52 of our favorite photos of the President taken in the last year.
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In this week’s address, President Obama tells the American people that his plan for creating a better bargain for the middle class builds on the progress we’ve made, fighting our way back from the worst economic recession of our lifetimes.
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August 02, 2013
06:15 PM EDTThis week, Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Representatives Tom Reed (R-NY) and Joe Kennedy (D-MA) took action that’ll bolster the manufacturing sector, strengthen the economy, and help create a better bargain for middle class families. The bipartisan Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act of 2013, introduced yesterday in the Senate and today in the House, calls for the creation of a Network for Manufacturing Innovation, expanding our ability to compete for advanced manufacturing jobs by investing in manufacturing technologies and capabilities.
The Act calls for resources to create a network of manufacturing innovation institutes, based on the pilot institute in Youngstown, Ohio launched by President Obama last year, and the efforts under way by the Administration to launch three new institutes this year. The Act builds on the President’s past and current proposals for a National Network for Manufacturing Innovation with a goal of up to 45 institutes over the next decade. These institutes bring together companies and universities, supported by Federal agencies, to co-invest in world-leading manufacturing technologies and workforce capabilities, giving our workers and firms the tools they need to compete.
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August 02, 2013
05:50 PM EDTWatch the West Wing Week here.
Korean War Veterans: Speaking from the National Mall, President Obama honored veterans and commemorated the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean War on Saturday. The President praised the men and women for their sacrifices, saying,
Veterans of the Korean War -- in the spring of your youth you learned how short and precious life can be. And because of you, millions of people can keep on living it, in freedom and in peace. Your lives are an inspiration. Your service will never be forgotten. You have the thanks of a grateful nation. And your shining deeds will live -- now and forever.
Voting Rights: Following last month’s Supreme Court decision overturning the Voting Rights Act, President Obama met with civil rights leaders and elected officials on Monday. While at the White House, the President expressed his disappointment in the ruling and the group discussed ways to ensure every American has the right to vote.
San Francisco Giants: The San Francisco Giants visited the White House on Monday to celebrate their 2012 World Series championship. President Obama congratulated the team on their win and highlighted the steps they’re taking toward improving their neighborhoods by stressing the importance of healthy eating and supporting the LGBT community.
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While more work remains to be done, today’s employment report provides further confirmation that the U.S. economy is continuing to recover from the worst downturn since the Great Depression. It is critical that we remain focused on pursuing policies to speed job creation and expand the middle class, as we continue to dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began in December 2007.
Today’s report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicates that the unemployment rate declined from 7.6 percent to 7.4 percent in July, reaching its lowest level since December 2008. The unemployment rate for African Americans fell from 13.7 percent to 12.6 percent, also its lowest level since December 2008. The unemployment rate for women fell from 7.3 percent to 7.0 percent, its lowest level since January 2009, and from 7.8 percent to 7.7 percent for men.
The establishment survey showed that private sector employers added 161,000 jobs last month (see chart below). Total non-farm payroll employment rose by 162,000 jobs in July. The economy has now added private sector jobs for 41 consecutive months, and a total of 7.3 million jobs have been added over that period. So far this year, 1.4 million private sector jobs have been added.
With the recovery entering its fifth year, we need to build on the progress we have made so far and now is not the time for Washington to impose self-inflicted wounds. The across-the-board budget cuts known as the sequester continue to be a drag on the economy now and in the future. The Administration continues to urge Congress to replace the sequester with balanced deficit reduction, and promote the investments our economy needs to put more Americans back to work, such as by rebuilding our roads and bridges.
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This week, the Vice President and Dr. Biden wrapped up a trip to India and Singapore, the President announced a bargain for middle class jobs, welcomed the Huskies and the Giants, the American Legion, Girls & Boys Nation, the President of Yemen, and civil rights leaders to the White House, and marked the 60th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice.
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Yesterday, I joined eleven Champions of Change at the White House to honor their achievements toward making science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) industries more inclusive for underrepresented communities.
The Champions of Change are an amazing group of ordinary citizens doing extraordinary things. They are sparking imaginations, and captivating young minds, all across the country.
From teaching computer science to high school students, to encouraging young women, and urban teens to code, to writing children’s books, to providing low-income students with programming classes—they are doing phenomenal work for our country’s youth, and their futures.
President Obama cares deeply about making sure that our young people have the opportunity to dream big. Whatever their background, our children deserve the chance to reach for the sky, pursue whatever they put their minds to, and live up to their fullest potential—including working in STEM.
I saw this potential firsthand in April, when I had the opportunity to visit the White House Science Fair. What an experience that was—I visited several of the 30 exhibits, and spoke with students about their projects—they were so excited to be in the White House, and I learned a lot too.
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As we implement the Affordable Care Act, we continue listening to the needs of the business community. Based on our many conversations with leaders of our nation’s businesses, large and small, today we are launching Business.USA.gov/healthcare, a one-stop-shop where employers of all sizes can go for information on the Affordable Care Act.
The new site includes a web-based tool that allows employers to get tailored information on how the health law may affect them based on their business’ size, location, and plans for offering health benefits to their workers next year. From tax credits for small businesses to help make coverage affordable, to measures to help slow the growth of health care costs, there are a variety of ways that the Affordable Care Act can help businesses expand health care coverage and compete.
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America has always been a nation of immigrants, and throughout the nation’s history, immigrants 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. But our nation’s immigration system is broken and has not kept pace with changing times. Today, too many employers game the system by hiring undocumented workers and there are 11 million people living and working in the shadow economy. Neither is good for the U.S. economy or American families.
Commonsense immigration reform will strengthen the U.S. economy and create jobs. Independent studies affirm that commonsense immigration reform will increase economic growth by adding more high-demand workers to the labor force, increasing capital investment and overall productivity, and leading to greater numbers of entrepreneurs starting companies in the U.S.
Economists, business leaders, and American workers agree – and it’s why a bipartisan, diverse coalition of stakeholders have come together to urge Congress to act now to fix the broken immigration system in a way that requires responsibility from everyone —both from unauthorized workers and from those who hire them—and guarantees that everyone is playing by the same rules. The Senate recently passed a bipartisan, commonsense immigration reform bill would do just that – and it’s time for the House of Representations to join them in taking action to make sure that commonsense immigration reform becomes a reality as soon as possible.
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