Protecting the Middle Class News

White House White Board: President Obama's Plan for Refinancing

The financial crisis and the recession both began when the housing bubble burst. Since then, home prices have plummeted, and today, millions of American families with little to no equity in their homes remain locked in mortgages at high interest rates. Despite staying current with payments, they can't refinance at today's historically low interest rates.

President Obama has already worked to help make sure that more responsible homeowners with mortgages backed by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have a chance to save money each month by allowing them to refinance their mortgages at today’s low rates.  

In his State of the Union Address, President Obama called on Congress to pass a plan that would allow millions of additional homeowners with Fannie and Freddie loans, as well as those whose loans don’t happen to be backed by the government, finally access streamlined refinancing -- save $3,000 a year or more.

We've put together a short video that helps to explain the steps that President Obama has introduced to reduce the barriers to refinancing that are preventing responsible homeowners from saving money on their mortgages each month. Check it out and learn why refinancing is good for homeowners, neighborhoods and our economy.

Learn more:

• Everything You Need to Know: President Obama's Plan to Expand Access to Refinancing and Help Our Housing Market

Securing Equal Pay

Today – Tuesday, April 17 – is Equal Pay Day, which marks the fact that, nearly 50 years since President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the average woman still has to work well into the calendar year to earn what the average man earned last year. According to the latest U.S. Census statistics, on average, full-time working women earned 77 cents to every dollar earned by men, and the gap is significantly more for women of color. This substantial gap is more than a mere statistic.  It has real-life consequences.  Women, who compose nearly half of the workforce, are bringing home 23 percent less than their male counterparts – which means less for families’ everyday needs, less for investments in our children’s futures, and, when added up over a lifetime of work, substantially less for retirement. 

President Obama understands how much this issue impacts our nation’s economic well-being, and that’s why, from his earliest days in office, he has been committed to closing the pay gap.  Today, in conjunction with Equal Pay Day, we are proud to announce the following additional initiatives: 

• First, the White House released the Equal Pay Task Force Accomplishments Report:  Fighting for Fair Pay in the Workplace. The Equal Pay Task Force (“Task Force”), which the President established in 2010, brings together the best expertise of professionals at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Department of Justice, the Department of Labor and the Office of Personnel Management, who work daily to combat pay discrimination in the workplace. Since the Task Force’s creation, enforcement actions have increased; the government has recovered unprecedented monetary recoveries for women seeking their fair share for performing the same work as men; and investments in outreach to both employers and employees are paying big dividends. The report details the significant progress that the Task Force has made to fight pay discrimination – including improving inter-agency coordination and collaboration to ensure that the full weight of the federal government is focused on closing the gender pay gap once and for all.  I commend the professionals who represent the member agencies on the Task Force for the extraordinary work they and their teams undertake each day to realize the President’s directive. 
• Second, Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis today announced the winners of the “Equal Pay App Challenge.”  In January of this year, the Department of Labor, in conjunction with the Equal Pay Task Force, launched this challenge – inviting software developers to use publicly available data and resources to create applications that provide greater access to pay data organized by gender, race, and ethnicity; provide interactive tools for early career coaching or online mentoring; or provide data to help inform pay negotiations.  A solution to the pay gap has been elusive, in part because access to basic information – e.g., typical salary ranges and skill level requirements for particular positions, advice on how to negotiate appropriate pay – is limited.  Because of the enthusiastic response to the “Equal Pay App Challenge” and the creative apps that were developed, anyone with a smartphone, tablet or computer can access answers to these basic, but important, questions.  This challenge represents just one more way that women can empower themselves with the tools they need to make sure they get equal pay for equal work.   
• Finally, in our ongoing effort to educate employees and employers about their rights and responsibilities under our nation’s equal pay laws, the Department of Labor today published two brochures that will educate employees regarding their rights under the existing equal pay laws and enable employers to understand their obligations.

President Obama’s Record, Results and Agenda on Income Inequality

“This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class, and for all those who are fighting to get into the middle class. Because what’s at stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home, secure their retirement.” -- Remarks by the President on the Economy in Osawatomie, Kansas, December 6, 2011

The President has been focused on working to ensure an America that grows together, rather than one in which the gains go disproportionately to the wealthy. His policies have already made a real contribution to achieving this ideal—benefiting millions of people, principally middle-class Americans and those struggling to get into the middle class—and he continues to push tirelessly for policies, including the Buffett Rule, that will help us get closer.

The best available data on incomes refute the baseless claim recently made by some that income inequality is worse under President Obama than it was under President George W. Bush. More fundamentally, whereas the previous Administration’s policies were tilted towards the wealthiest Americans, President Obama has been focused on the middle class and those working to get into the middle class.

Inequality Was Worse Under President Bush than Under President Obama

According to the latest data from economist Emmanuel Saez, when the last economic expansion ended in 2007, the fraction of income going to the top 1 percent was the highest since 1928 and the fraction of income going to the top 0.1 percent was the highest ever recorded (the data go back to 1913). The share of income going to the very top remains high, but has come down and was lower in both 2009 and 2010 than in any year from 2005 through 2008.

It is difficult to evaluate changes in inequality over very short periods of time, especially when these coincide with a deep recession and dramatic fluctuations in equity prices. But there is no basis in the data for claiming that inequality under President Obama is greater than the historic levels reached under President Bush. Any suggestion to the contrary is based on a combination of ignoring the most obvious facts and treating the dramatic recovery of the stock market in 2009 and 2010 as if it tells a deeper structural story about the economy.

New Partnerships to Coordinate Care for Medicare Patients

Ed note: this was originally posted on the Healthcare.gov blog

The Affordable Care Act is bringing real change to a health care system that has cost us too much and could do a better job to keep Americans healthy.  As a result the law, the Department of Health and Human Services has been partnering with doctors, nurses, hospitals, and other medical providers to help patients get the best care anywhere.

Accountable Care Organizations, or ACOs, are one of these new ways for doctors, hospitals, and other providers to be rewarded based on the quality of care they provide for patients, not just on how many tests they order or how many procedures they do.

Today, HHS announced 27 new ACOs have joined this partnership – and over 150 more potential ACOs have submitted an application to begin in July.  There is enthusiasm and energy behind this program from all parts of the country, from all parts of the health care sector.

Already, 32 “Pioneer ACOs” representing health care groups with experience coordinating care for patients have been participating in a special demonstration program since the beginning of the year to improve Medicare beneficiaries’ health and experience of care, and reduce growth in health care spending.

Three Charts Illustrating Two Different Visions for Our Nation

President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the Associated Press (AP) Luncheon at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C., April 3, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

The President believes this is a make or break moment for the middle class and those working to reach it.  That’s why he has put forward a blueprint for an economy built to last - one where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules.  

Today at the Associated Press Luncheon, the President discussed how his vision differs with the radical vision laid out in the House Republican Budget: 

“This Congressional Republican budget, however, is something different altogether.  It’s a Trojan Horse.  Disguised as deficit reduction plan, it’s really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country.  It’s nothing but thinly-veiled Social Darwinism.  It’s antithetical to our entire history as a land of opportunity and upward mobility for everyone who’s willing to work for it – a place where prosperity doesn’t trickle down from the top, but grows outward from the heart of the middle class.  And by gutting the very things we need to grow an economy that’s built to last – education and training; research and development – it’s a prescription for decline.”

The President’s approach to reducing our deficit is a balanced approach that asks the wealthiest to pay their fair share, achieves significant health savings and enacts sensible spending cuts while making the investments we need to have a strong middle class.  

Take a look at how the President’s approach and the Congressional Republican policies stack up side by side: 

Side by Side - The President’s Budget vs. Republican Budget

DavidCare: Making Prescription Drugs Affordable for Seniors

David Lutz is a community pharmacist from Hummelstown, PA, and the story he tells of his customers not being able to afford their prescription medications has unfortunately been too common in communities across the nation. But the Affordable Care Act is already helping turn their difficult situation around.

For years, David says, many of his customers have come in and asked him which of their prescriptions they could skip or which pills they could cut in half. They needed to make tough choices to save money on prescription drug costs. This was especially true for seniors on fixed incomes and unable to keep up with rising health care costs. Some of them were choosing between their rent and their medicines.

“They were splitting pills, taking doses every other day, missing doses, stretching their medications,” he says, noting that not taking their medications as prescribed was not good for their health.

But, according to David, this has begun to change since the passage of the Affordable Care Act. The new health care law provides important relief to seniors, including a 50 percent discount on brand-name prescription drugs for those in the coverage gap known as the “donut hole.” The donut hole will be closed for good by 2020.

Building the Workforce of the Future at Community Colleges

Dr. Jill Biden was at the Mercer County Community College in New Jersey this morning, the latest stop in her “Community College to Career” tour. Last month, Dr. Biden and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis hit the road for a bus tour through Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia where they visited community colleges that have formed innovative partnerships with local business leaders to train students with the skills they need to join the area workforce.

Employers today are looking for skilled, educated workers, and they should be able to find those workers right here in the United States. Adam Dalton, a machine shop instructor at the Tennessee Technology Center in Harriman, Tennessee, said that “I have people calling me every week saying ‘I need guys and gals with this skillset, and we need them now.’”

Secretary Solis said that community colleges are becoming more adept and more agile at listening to the needs of local businesses, and are helping pair trained workers who need jobs with the employers who are looking to hire.

By the Numbers: 100 Percent

Before the Affordable Care Act was signed into law, insurance companies had free rein to deny coverage or charge higher rates to anyone who had what they considered to be a “pre-existing condition.”  These conditions include everything from asthma to high-blood pressure to cancer—some plans even consider pregnancy to be pre-existing. Today, however, insurers are banned from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions, and beginning in 2014, that ban will prevent insurers from discriminating against anyone based on their medical history.

Until that piece of President Obama’s health reform law takes effect, the Affordable Care Act established a temporary Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, which give people are uninsured because of pre-existing conditions access to coverage. More than 50,000 people have obtained coverage through that plan, like James from Katy, Texas, who found himself with no health insurance after being diagnosed with brain cancer.

For more information:

• See how health reform is helping people in your state
• MarkCare: How health reform is making health insurance more affordable for small businesss
• StevenCare: How health reform enables Steven, a 23-year-old, two-time cancer survivor, to keep the insurance he needs
• HelenCare: How health reform is giving Helen, a senior from Philadephia, peace of mind and more money in her pocket
• VanessaCare: How health reform is helping Vanessa and her family

President Obama and the Buckeye Bullet

President Barack Obama looks at the Buckeye Bullet, a high speed electric land speed race car, during a tour of the Center for Automotive Research at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, March 22, 2012. An earlier version of the Buckeye Bullet holds the U.S. electric land speed record at 314.958 mph. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

The Ohio State University in Columbus was President Obama's final stop on this week's energy tour. It's home to the Center for Automotive Research, a hotbed of innovation in the fields of energy production and advanced vehicles.

There, President Obama had a chance to see the Buckeye Bullet -- an electric car that has already traveled at speeds in excess of 300 miles per hour. Engineers at the school told him that they're now aiming to design the vehicle so that it's capable of going more than 400 miles per hour.

Today, Buckeye Bullet is already the fastest electric car in the world, and at OSU, they're aiming to make it even faster. President Obama said that kind of ingenuity is "essential to American leadership."

He told the Columbus crowd:

[As] long as I’m President, we are going to keep on making those investments. I am not going to cede the wind and solar and advanced battery industries to countries like China and Germany that are making those investments. I want those technologies developed and manufactured here in Ohio, here in the Midwest, here in America. By American workers. That's the future we want.

As for the Buckeye Bullet, the President also promised that his daughter Malia, who will turn16 in a couple of years, will never drive 300 miles per hour, despite the vehicle's impressive success.

Learn more:

• Read about President Obama's all-of-the-above energy strategy.
• The President discusses oil and gas infrastructure in Oklahoma
• The President discusses domestic energy production in New Mexico
• The President visits the largest solar power plant in the United States.