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From Work to Home: A Week of Conversations with Working Americans

April 17, 2015 at 12:48 PM ET by Chris Evans
Summary: 
From the size of your paychecks to the duration of your paid leave to the amount you pay in taxes, this was a week of conversation about key issues facing American families.

From the size of your paychecks to the duration of your paid leave to the amount you pay in taxes, this was a week of conversation about key issues facing American families. President Obama traveled to Charlotte to hold a town hall with working women, honored leading advocates as Champions of Change at the White House, spoke about the importance of making sure a woman receives the same pay as a man for working the same job, and highlighted how his tax plan supports 44 million middle-class families.

In case you missed it, here are a couple highlights from the week.

The President Holds a Town Hall with Working Women:

President Obama traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina on Wednesday for a special conversation with working women, co-hosted with leading women's sites BlogHer and SheKnows. He took questions both from those in the audience -- as well as from people asking questions online using the hashtag #ObamaTownHall.

The President made clear that more hardworking and middle-class Americans deserve the chance to get ahead -- and that the way to do it is to expand access to child care, make higher education more affordable, cut taxes for middle-class families, and ensure women and men receive equal pay for doing the same job.

See what else President Obama said at Wednesday’s town hall, and hear what people from across the country told the President.

Watch on YouTube

Celebrating Champions of Change from Communities Around the Country:

Yesterday, President Obama and Secretary of Labor Tom Perez celebrated 12 Champions of Change -- incredible changemakers who are standing up and taking action to help working families succeed at their businesses and in their communities.

These Champions have helped advance policies including paid sick days, higher minimum wage, equal pay, and affordable quality child care. They are proving that these kinds of policies are not only beneficial for families, but also for businesses and our economy. That’s why the President reiterated his commitment to "middle class economics" -- or the idea that the economy works best when it’s working for everyone.

Watch the President’s remarks and hear what these Champions are doing to stand up for working families.

Watch on YouTube

It’s Time for Equal Pay:

Tuesday was Equal Pay Day -- the date that marks how many days into 2015 the average woman would have to work to make what the average man did in the previous year. Despite women’s gains, a large gender pay gap still exists.

In 2013, the median woman working full-time all year earned 78 percent of what the median man working full-time all year earned. This means that the average American woman will have lost $420,000 over her lifetime because of the earnings gap.

We put together an explainer video that's been shared more than 25,000 times. Take a look:

Watch on YouTube

Two Drastically Different Tax Plans:

President Obama's budget helps working families make ends meet: plain and simple. This is an essential part of middle-class economics -- the idea that the economy works best when it's working for everyone. Unfortunately, House Republicans have a different idea for America. Their budget gives an average tax cut of more than $3 million to 5,400 of America's wealthiest households -- costing taxpayers $270 billion over the next 10 years. Under the President's budget, 44 million middle-class families would get an average tax cut of nearly $600.

Check out our interactive map and see how these drastically different plans would impact people in your state.

For more of the week's highlights, watch the latest edition of West Wing Week:

Watch on YouTube

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