Protecting the Middle Class News

Training Workers with the Skills Employers Need

Vice President Joe Biden, Dr. Jill Biden, and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis make remarks at Davidson County Community College, in Thomasville, North Carolina, February 24, 2012. The Vice President Joined Dr. Biden and Secretary Solis for the last stop of their community college tour to announce the availability of $500 million to fund partnerships between community colleges and businesses to train workers with skills employers need. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

Last Friday, Vice President Biden joined Dr. Jill Biden and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis at Davidson County Community College in Thomasville, North Carolina to discuss the importance of training workers with the skills employers need right now. This visit was the final leg of a five-state, three-day Community College to Career Bus Tour that Dr. Biden and Secretary Solis took to highlight the $8 billion Community College to Career Fund recently proposed as part of the President’s FY 2013 Budget.

Speaking to over 300 faculty, students, and other members of the Davidson community, the Vice President argued that America’s skilled workforce is one of our greatest economic assets.  But now that many American manufacturers and other businesses are growing again, too many are having trouble finding workers with the exact skills they need.  That’s why it’s so important to forge partnerships between community colleges and businesses to train workers with the skills that employers need for jobs that are open right now.  On Friday, the Vice President announced that the Administration is taking further steps to do exactly that by making available another $500 million to create and expand these partnerships as part of the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) Community College and Career Training grant program. 

The Administration’s efforts to create and expand these training partnerships are already showing results at places like Davidson County Community College (DCCC).  Thanks to a grant they received in the first round of this program, DCCC has been able to expand their partnerships with local companies to train workers with the skills they need—companies like Ingersoll Rand, which is working with DCCC to train workers with computer numerically controlled manufacturing skills, or Unilin Flooring, which is training workers in electronics engineering.  And these programs are working—in fact, every single graduate of the electronics engineering program at Davidson County Community College has been able to secure a job, many of them at companies like Unilin.  

We Can’t Wait: Obama Administration Calls for A Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights for the Digital Age

Today at the White House, the Obama Administration unveiled a blueprint for a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights to protect consumers online. As the President wrote in his cover letter to the report: 

“Never has privacy been more important than today, in the age of the Internet, the World Wide Web and smart phones.  In just the last decade, the Internet has enabled a renewal of direct political engagement by citizens around the globe and an explosion of commerce and innovation creating jobs of the future. Much of this innovation is enabled by novel uses of personal information. So, it is incumbent on us to do what we have done throughout history: apply our timeless privacy values to the new technologies and circumstances of our times.”

In a related announcement, leading Internet companies and online advertising networks in the Digital Advertising Alliance came to the White House to commit to using Do Not Track technology now available in most major web browsers to make it easier for users to control online tracking.   

The White House has proposed a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights as part of a strategy to improve consumers’ privacy protections and to ensure that the Internet remains an engine for innovation and economic growth.  These rights give consumers clear guidance on what they should expect from those who handle their personal information, and set expectations for companies that use personal data. With the Internet as a leading engine for economic growth, the Administration is committed to building consumer trust in a rapidly changing digital environment.    

Report from the Road: An Ambitious Plan to Train Ohio Workers for New Jobs

Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis and Dr. Jill Biden visit DG Medical on the Community College to Career Tour (CC2C). They will be stopping at locations in Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina to highlight the importance of community colleges in fostering careers.22 February 2012

Dr. Jill Biden and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis today kicked off a three-day “Community College to Career” bus tour to highlight the unique role community colleges play in developing a flexible, highly-skilled 21^st-century workforce to meet emerging regional business needs.  Secretary Solis is writing updates on the trip from the road.

Dr. Biden and I just visited DG Medical in Centerville, Ohio, to hear about the incredible BioOhio Workforce development partnership that is helping community colleges like Sinclair Community College prepare Ohioans for jobs in the growing biomedical manufacturing industry.

Sinclair is working with former GM/Delphi employees and other dislocated workers to get retraining to perform jobs making medical devices and life-saving drugs. They are part of a BioOhio partnership that has brought together industry leaders and six Ohio community colleges to match workforce needs with course offerings.

The ambitious goal is to graduate 700 Ohioans and place them in biosciences jobs as clean technicians, shipping clerks, packaging experts, manufacturing technicians and test engineers.  More than half of existing program graduates already have found good-paying jobs in this field. Also, incumbent workers are being trained to move up the career ladder to become team leaders and front-line supervisors.

Watching this unique partnership at work illustrates why health care industry job growth continues to help drive our recovery forward.

Want to join the conversation by sharing how community colleges and industry partners are working together in your community?  Share your story at http://www.whitehouse.gov/communitycollege/tour and follow and engage with the tour on Twitter with the hashtag #CCtour.

You can see more of Secretary Solis' posts at Work in Progress, the Department of Labor's official blog.

Kicking Off the Community College to Career Bus Tour

Tomorrow, Dr. Jill Biden and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis will embark on a three-day “Community College to Career” bus tour to highlight innovative industry initiativesthat are helping train students with the skills they need to meet area workforce needs. 

President Obama recently announced an $8 billion Community College to Career Fund, co-administered by the Department of Labor and Department of Education,which will help forge new partnerships between community colleges and businesses to train two million workers with skills that will lead directly to jobs.

During the tour, Dr. Biden and Secretary Solis will visit several community colleges to learn about model industry partnerships, but we know there are many more success stories around the country (check out the full schedule below). We want to hear from community college faculty, students, business and community leaders about how these partnerships have benefited you and your community.

Check out this video from Secretary Solis asking for community college faculty, students and industry partners to share their stories.  Got a story to share? Head over to WhiteHouse.gov/CommunityCollege/Tour to tell us about it or share your story on Twitter using the hashtag #CCtour.

Here’s the full schedule for the bus tour.

Last Year, 54 Million Americans Received Free Preventive Services Thanks to Health Care Reform

Each day, more and more Americans are taking advantage of the new free preventive services provided through the health care law. People of all ages can now get the preventive services they need, like mammograms and the new Annual Wellness Visit, free of charge. With more people taking advantage of these benefits, more lives can be saved, and costly, and often burdensome, chronic diseases can be prevented or caught earlier.

A new report shows that approximately 54 million Americans were provided with at least one new free preventive service in 2011 through their private health insurance plans, thanks to the Affordable Care Act. And an estimated 32.5 million people with Medicare received at least one free preventive benefit in 2011, including the new Annual Wellness Visit, since the health reform law was enacted in 2010.

Together, this means an estimated 86 million Americans have already been helped by the health care law’s prevention coverage improvements.

What’s more, many minority populations are also receiving expanded preventive benefits as a result of the law, including an estimated 6.1 million Latinos, 5.5 million Blacks, 2.7 million Asian Americans and 300,000 Native Americans with private insurance. These benefits are particularly important for these Americans who often see higher rates of disease and reduced access to care. Better access to preventive services can help reduce these health disparities.

$40 Means an Inhaler for My Little Girl

President Obama yesterday asked Americans to share their stories, and tell him what losing $40 per paycheck would mean to their family. Of the thousands that responded, many were single moms, who sent us photos, tweets, and emails that illustrate just how important decisions made in Washington are to regular people across the country.

At the end of this month, a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut will expire. If Congress doesn't act, taxes will go up on 160 million hardworking Americans. For a family making about $50,000 a year, the payroll tax cut amounts to about $1,000 a year, or about $40 in every paycheck.  It may not seem like a lot of money to some people, but for single moms who wrote to us today, that money can make a big difference. Here are some of their stories:

I'm a single mom and $40.00 means an inhaler for my little girl! She suffers from asthma and her insurance only covers (with co-payment) one inhaler a month and sometimes I have to purchase 2 - 3 a month. So, $40 may not be much for some but it means I can provide for my kid's well being. -- Kathy from Florida

$40 a month helps me pay for the things my daughter needs to play for her high school softball team. Her sports drinks, her cleats, or gloves or whatever it may be that she needs. I am a single mom trying to give my daughter things my parents couldn't afford. Please don't take those $40 a pay away -- Annette from New Jersey

I am a single mom and I have one son still at home.  He is 14 and injured his knee in October, and $40 a month means I can afford the $30 co-pay for the orthopedic surgeon visits or the out-of-pocket deductible for his physical therapy. But more than that, if he hadn't had this injury, that $40 a paycheck would still mean a lot to both of us. It might mean he and I could go to the movies and get burgers afterwards, or I could buy him a pair of jeans, or a tank of gas for our car. It would mean we could have a little bit more and that has been nice. I have so very much appreciated the tax relief and the extra money this bill has provided and I know millions of others Americans like me feel the same -- Deborah from Ohio

$40 dollars puts one tank of gas in my economy car.  It gives me the gas money I need to drive my son to school. When you are a single mother trying to send a child through college every penny counts   -- Marie from New Mexico

More voices:

• $40 Means No Extras for My Students
• $40 Could Be the Difference Between Eating or Not Eating
• Why Your Voice Matters

Americans Tell President Obama What $40 Means

President Obama today asked Americans to share their stories, and tell him what losing $40 per paycheck would mean to their family. Thousands responded, sending us photos, tweets, and emails that illustrate just how important decisions made in Washington are to regular people across the country.

At the end of this month, a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut will expire. If Congress doesn't act, taxes will go up on 160 million hardworking Americans. For a family making about $50,000 a year, the payroll tax cut amounts to about $1,000 a year, or about $40 in every paycheck.  It may not seem like a lot of money to some people, but for the people who wrote to us today, that money can make a big difference. Here are some of their stories:

Please, consider that many people like my family live by paycheck only, we cannot even have extra money for emergencies, because living life in this country is so expensive that our paycheck goes to pay rent, bills, and food, and sometimes we don't even have for food. So, please DO NOT take that extra $40.00 taxes cut from our paycheck. -- Brenda from California

To me and my family, $40 is the difference between opportunity and misfortune. When you include registration fees, uniforms, and expenses for equipment, travel and food, extracurricular activities alone can exceed $40 a paycheck (particularly if that money is divided over more than one child). Activities like baseball, martial arts, or community theater are far too important to children's health, development, and well-being to not be apart of their lives. But when it comes down to paying bills and for essentials or extracurricular activities, all one can say is "sorry kids, no baseball this year"! -- Eric from South Carolina

With my paycheck being the sole source of income for our family, $40 means EVERYTHING to us.  Having $40 means we can afford groceries in those last few days before my next paycheck so we won't go hungry.  It means I can put a FEW gallons of gas in my car to make it to work for the next few days. It means I can afford a copay should my son need to see a doctor.  It means we MAY be able to afford a prescription should we be prescribed one.  We have done a short sale on our home, cut our budgets back to bare minimum, have relinquished all luxuries in our life but, yet still get up each day with the hope of something better. So, what does $40 mean to me?  It means the difference between a healthy happy family that can sleep at night with a full stomach or having to tell my son that we may all have to go to bed hungry. -- Amanda from Virginia

$40.00 means the world to my family and I. When the paycheck ends before the second week has begun, $40 is the difference between paying the mortgage or the light bill.  We don't live beyond our means, our cars are paid for. We remodel our home, and maintain the cars ourselves and we work hard for what we have.  For Thanksgiving we hosted over 40 friends and relatives.  Not because we had that luxury, but because we invited everyone to bring a dish because we knew they couldn't afford the entire meal.  We never thought we would get so many.  Too many of our friends and family members have been devastated by the current economic downfall of this country.  Many own/owned their own business and all are hard working decent Americans.  Many, like myself, worked or were/are affiliated with both state and federal government agencies.  We know all too well about politics and government spending.  Some of our friends and associates  are very wealthy and continue to be compensated far too well.  $40 for us, that's $960 for the year or groceries for three months, five months of electric bills.  When you're financially capable, $40 dollars is a night out at the movies, but for us and too many Americans, it is groceries for three months.  

Now with 10 grandchildren, our 6 kids still respectfully rely on our support from time to time.  We remember when we could hand them $40 each to go to the movies with high school friends on a Saturday.  Now, $40 assists them with groceries for the week. We continue to motivate them, and we try to keep everyone's spirits high with "it will get better if we just stick together until it gets better".   -- Michael from Maryland

Read more stories:

• $40 Means No Extras for My Students
• $40 Could Be the Difference Between Eating or Not Eating

David Plouffe: "Here we go again"

This morning, David Plouffe, Senior Advisor to President Obama, sent the message below to the White House email list, asking people to tell us what it would mean to lose $40 with every paycheck if the payroll tax cut expires at the end of the month. If you didn't get the email, be sure to sign up.

Good morning,

Do you remember the "40 dollars" stories back in December? Congress was about to let a tax cut for millions of middle class families expire.

Then you shared your stories. You talked about how a little extra money goes to help pay for medicine for a sick spouse, gas money to get to work, or school books for a child. Thousands of Americans from different circumstances all spoke out with the same voice, and it was undeniably powerful. Congress extended the tax cut, along with unemployment insurance, but only for two months.

So here we are in mid-February, the deadline only a few days away. And once again, if Congress doesn't act, working families will receive about $40 less with each paycheck.

So help us to highlight again how Congress's inaction would affect everyday families outside of Washington.

Watch this message from the President. Then share your story.

And this time, we want to put a face to your voice. So take a minute to snap a photo. And if you can, show us what you'll have to give up without that extra money in your paycheck. We'll use images from Americans around the country on WhiteHouse.gov to show how the payroll tax cut helps real people.

Share your picture and story today:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/40dollars

Thanks,
David Plouffe
Senior Advisor to the President

 

Learn more

• Read about the full range of ways to join the discussion on the payroll tax cut from White House Communiations Director Dan Pfeiffer
• See the faces of some of those who benefit from an extra $40 with every paycheck.

Weekly Address: Extending the Payroll Tax Cut for the Middle Class

President Obama urges Congress to extend the payroll tax cut to prevent a tax hike on 160 million hardworking Americans.

 
 Transcript | Download mp4 | Download mp3

Tell us what $40 means to you and your family. What would you have to go without or give up if Congress doesn’t act?