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What’s it like to attend a state dinner at the White House? Or see Marine One land on the South Lawn?

From hosting festivals on the South Lawn to allowing people to explore its rooms via Google Street View, President Obama has used traditional events and new technology to open up the doors of the White House to more Americans than ever before.

Today, we’re excited to share a new way for you to experience 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue -- and all you need is a smartphone and a dollar bill.

Check it out now: Download the app, point your smartphone camera at a dollar bill, and you’ll see an interactive, 3D video of White House pop up – narrated by yours truly.

As you experience a year at the White House – from the Easter Egg Roll to a State Arrival Ceremony – you’ll see that even as seasons and people change, the White House endures as an institution of American democracy. That’s why we teamed up with the White House Historical Association and Nexus Studios to create this augmented reality experience – to educate and inspire Americans to learn all about what the People’s House stands for.

Whether it’s seen on a teacher's desk or around a dining room table, we hope you enjoy and share this new way of taking a peek inside the White House.

So, give it a try: If you have an iPhone or iPad, you can download 1600 here. Or if you have an Android phone or Android tablet, you can get it here.

Check it out!

This week, the President vetoed a resolution championed by Republicans in Congress to roll back critical protections for Americans doing the hard work of savings for retirement.

Believe it or not, the rules of the road that have been in place for decades have not ensured that financial advisers act in their clients’ best interest when they give retirement investment advice. Instead, some firms incentivize advisers to steer clients into products that may have higher fees and lower returns. These conflicts of interest in retirement advice cost America’s families an estimated $17 billion a year. As the President has said, “a lifetime of hard work and responsibility should be rewarded with a shot at a secure dignified retirement.” That’s why the Department of Labor recently finalized a new rule to crack down on these conflicts of interest and to require that families get advice that’s truly in their best interest, better enabling them to protect and grow their savings.

If that sounds like common sense, that’s because it is. And the Department of Labor worked hard to get the rule right. The final rule reflects extensive feedback from industry, advocates, and Members of Congress. Through a careful, thoughtful process, it was streamlined to ensure continued access to good retirement advice, while maintaining an enforceable best-interest standard that protects consumers

But Wall Street and its Republican allies in Congress continue to stand in the way of these important protections, putting advisers’ profits over families’ savings.

This resolution was just the latest futile attempt by Republicans to roll back important protections for consumers, workers, and the environment. Republicans in Congress have relentlessly fought to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, trying to turn back the clock to when 20 million fewer Americans had health insurance. And just these past few months, Republicans have wasted time trying to block rules that would cut carbon emissions and improve public health, protect workers’ right to organize, and ensure Americans working extra hours get the extra pay they deserve.

These efforts won’t become law, and everyone knows it. So, Congressional Republicans are wasting time trying to undo important progress instead of finding bipartisan solutions to some of the biggest issues facing our country. And you might be wondering, don’t they have anything better to do? Here are a few ideas of what Congress could be spending its time on if it weren’t dead set on undermining retirement security:

• Providing $1.9 billion in funding that our public health experts say we need to fight Zika
• Holding a hearing and a vote for a Supreme Court nominee that has more federal judicial experience than any other in history
• Curbing a prescription opioid abuse and heroin epidemic that is claiming tens of thousands of American lives each year by investing $1.1 billion in treatment
• Confirming a nominee to the Export-Import Bank Board, so the Bank has a quorum and can get back up to full strength supporting Made-in-America exports and American jobs
• Raising the minimum wage so hard work pays off
• Reforming our broken criminal justice system
• Preparing for consideration of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a high-standard trade agreement with the Asia-Pacific that will support good, American jobs
• Investing in our infrastructure to create well-paying jobs and enhance our competitiveness

The list could go on much, much longer. So, instead of letting Congress undo important rules that protect retirement savers (or working families, or Americans with preexisting conditions, or kids with asthma), the President and the entire Administration are committed to making whatever progress we can on these important priorities with the time we have left. Let’s hope Congress takes us up on that.

The Ethics in Government Act of 1978 requires high-level federal officials to publicly disclose their personal financial interests. The public filing system serves to prevent financial conflicts of interest by providing for a systematic review of the finances of government officials. Those finances are set forth in annual disclosures which are reviewed and certified by ethics officials. Neither the President nor the Vice President have any conflicts of interest, and their reports have been reviewed and certified by the independent Office of Government Ethics. We are continuing this Administration's practice of posting these forms online here in the interest of transparency:

View the President's 2015 financial disclosure report (pdf)

View the Vice President's 2015 financial disclosure report (pdf)

White House staff are also completing their forms and we anticipate they will be available here next month, also in electronic form.

Last month, the President and Vice President released their 2015 federal and state income tax returns, as they have every year since they entered the White House. The tax returns are available for download here.

For more information: 

• See the 2014 financial disclosure reports
• See the 2013 financial disclosure reports
• See the 2012 financial disclosure reports
• See the 2011 financial disclosure reports
• See the 2010 financial disclosure reports

The President and First Lady also reported donating $64,066 – or about 14.7 percent of their adjusted gross income – to 34 different charities. The largest reported gift to charity was $9,066 to the Fisher House Foundation.

The President signed into law legislation that extended tax cuts to middle class and working families while helping improve the country’s fiscal health by requiring a greater contribution from the wealthiest Americans. In 2015, as a result of his policies, the President was subject to limitations in tax preferences for high income earners.

While we’ve made progress toward ensuring that the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share, there is more work to do. We need to close special tax loopholes for millionaires and billionaires, and invest in the middle class. The tax policies proposed in the President’s Budget would make paychecks go further in covering the cost of child care, college, and a secure retirement, and would strengthen tax credits that support and reward work.

The President and First Lady also released their Illinois income tax return and reported paying $16,017 in state income tax.

Download the Obamas' tax returns here.

The Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden also released their 2015 federal income tax returns, as well as state income tax returns for both Delaware and Virginia. The Bidens filed joint federal and combined Delaware income tax returns. Dr. Biden filed a separate non-resident Virginia tax return. Together, they reported adjusted gross income of $392,233. The Bidens paid $91,546 in total federal tax for 2015, amounting to an effective tax rate of 23.3%. They also paid $13,729 in Delaware income tax and Dr. Biden paid $3,882 in Virginia income tax. The Bidens contributed $6,620 to charity in 2015.

Download the Bidens' tax returns here.

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"We will rebuild. We will recover. And the United States of America will emerge stronger than before."
--President Obama, February 24, 2009

That's what President Obama said in his first address to Congress in 2009. Our nation was in midst of what we now know was the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Our economy was shrinking, our businesses were shedding jobs each month, and our auto industry had flatlined. Americans across the country were faced with the worrying threat of losing the stability they had worked to build their whole lives for themselves and their families.

Through the years, the President has worked with the American people to rebuild and strengthen our economy, our security, and our leadership in the world. Each year, in every one of his State of the Union addresses, you can see the progress we've made together.

So -- to commemorate his final address this Tuesday -- we've put together something special:

We've assembled all of the President's addresses to Congress on Whitehouse.gov using Genius, adding line-by-line annotations that offer more context on specific proposals he made and a behind-the-scenes look at how these speeches came together.

Take a look:

In each year since 2009, the President's State of the Union addresses have bookmarked pivotal moments in the story of our nation: from expanding universal, affordable health care to securing the the most ambitious global agreement ever to combat climate change.

Check out each speech -- complete with videos, graphics, and stories from the staffers behind the policies.

Have thoughts on remarks? Share your thoughts and reactions with the White House right in the speech. Some submissions may be highlighted by the White House.

Then, make sure you RSVP to watch President Obama's final State of the Union speech next Tuesday at 9:00pm ET. You won't want to miss what the President has planned for the year ahead.

Thanks,

Josh

Josh Earnest
Press Secretary
The White House
@PressSec

See more on this year's State of the Union:

• Watch President Obama preview his final State of the Union address.
• Watch this video to see how far our economy has come since 2009.

That’s why, yesterday President Obama announced steps that the Administration is taking to reduce gun violence and make our communities safer. Building on the significant steps that have already been taken over the past several years, the President discussed a series of commonsense executive actions designed to keep guns out of the wrong hands through background checks, make our communities safer from gun violence, increase mental health treatment and reporting to the background check system, and shape the future of gun safety technology.

While some of the gaps in our country’s gun laws can only be fixed through legislation, which is why the President continues to call on Congress to pass the kind of commonsense gun safety reforms supported by a majority of the American people, the President is committed to using every tool at the Administration’s proposal to reduce gun violence.

In the face of such alarming statistics, why hasn't Congress acted to #StopGunViolence? https://t.co/GPx0BsueIN

— J Earnest (Archived) (@PressSec44) January 4, 2016

Here is a sample of what editorial boards across the country are saying about the President’s executive actions to reduce gun violence:

California – Los Angeles Times (Editorial): “With gun epidemic raging, Obama finally bypasses Congress”

Polls regularly find that a wide majority of Americans — including gun owners — support mandatory background checks for all gun purchases…The core issues here are national in scope and require a reasoned national approach. How to get there is one of the most vexing political issues of our time. And it is one with a grotesque human cost, with more than 30,000 people killed each year in gun-related suicides, homicides and accidental shootings. At some point, the American people need to inform their leaders that this price is just too high to pay.

California – Sacramento Bee (Editorial): “A passionate president crusades against gun violence”

It’s not every day we see a president cry in public, particularly the cool and calm Barack Obama…For his last year in office, Obama could hardly take on a more important – and controversial – crusade than America’s epidemic of gun violence…And for all the bluster about the constitutional right to bear arms, Obama pointed out that shooting victims had their rights violated…We’re still waiting for the president’s foes to explain why the rights of gun owners are somehow more important.

California – San Diego Union-Tribune (Editorial): “More background checks a wise step”

We share his concern about the extreme prevalence of gun violence in the U.S. and think it’s wise to reduce loopholes that prevent some purchasers from being subject to background checks.

California – San Jose Mercury News (Editorial): “Obama's executive order on guns came only after Congress failed to act”

President Obama gave Congress every opportunity to do something to curb gun violence. Lawmakers' utter failure -- cowering before the National Rifle Association -- left the president no choice but to use his executive authority. The common-sense measures he is pursuing will at least help keep guns out of the hands of people just about everyone believes shouldn't have them.

Colorado – Aurora Sentinel (Editorial): “Partisan sniping at Obama’s gun control plea glances into Aurora, Sandy Hook broken hearts”

Few places such as Aurora and Newtown, Conn., can appreciate President Barack Obama’s emotional response Tuesday to the tragedy of gun violence and the need to do something as a society to keep others from suffering our unenviable fate…The notion that there can be no regulation of the Second Amendment is not only laughably erroneous, it’s repugnant and spurious. Like all rights, these can and must be tempered with common sense and reality.

Florida – Miami Herald (Editorial): “Congress Idle While Obama Acts”

Mr. Obama deserves credit for doing what little he can on his own to confront rampant gun violence, given Congress’ abysmal failure to do anything whatsoever…The howls of protests from some arms enthusiasts notwithstanding, nothing announced by a tearful President Obama on Tuesday will change any laws or restrict the rights of law-abiding gun owners…All of these are commendable steps… Mr. Obama had no choice except to do what he could by executive action.  Poll after poll shows that Americans are totally on board if lawmakers approve more restrictive background check laws. An October Gallup poll found 86 percent of Americans favored ‘a law which would require universal background checks for all gun purchases in the U.S.’

Florida – Tampa Bay Times (Editorial): “Obama's modest gun control efforts”

The president's incremental steps at least recognize the urgent need to make changes that can be strengthened when Congress finally finds the backbone to act…Obama's plan is not a solution, but it moves public safety in the right direction and should build pressure on Congress to finally act.

Illinois – Chicago Tribune (Editorial): “Obama gun control proposal a sensible step”

This step appears to be a reasonable adjustment of regulations in order to fulfill the purpose of an existing statute…It's not a cure-all — just a rational attempt to make it harder for people who are barred from owning guns to buy guns. And it's long overdue.

Iowa – Des Moines Register (Editorial): “Obama leads on gun reform after lawmakers refuse”

Though Obama’s authority is limited, his proposals are a good start. And they provide an example for lawmakers to build on — assuming they ever muster the courage.

Maryland – Baltimore Sun (Editorial): “Obama and guns”

Mr. Obama seems determined to go out swinging on the issue…Mr. Obama may be limited in what he can do on his own to change that — what he can achieve is by no means the extent of what's necessary — but it would be unconscionable for him not to use every power at his disposal to try.

Michigan – Detroit Free Press (Editorial): “Obama's action on gun control necessary”

There is nothing inherent in Obama's executive orders that bars the U.S. Congress from acting…During the winter of 2012, it seemed, for a brief moment, as though we might, at long, last act. Twenty kindergartners had been murdered in Newtown, Conn., by a well-armed madman, a crime so obscene that even, it seemed, the most committed gun enthusiasts accepted that something about the way we live has gone horribly awry. But we didn't act. Now the president has. That's something.

Minnesota – Minneapolis Star-Tribune (Editorial): “Gun control: Breaking beyond gridlock”

What activists seem to ignore is that the majority of Americans support at least some modest attempts to stop the mounting toll of bloodshed in a country awash in guns…If 2016 is anything like 2015, it will bring more mass shootings, in homes, shopping malls, schools and workplaces. The problem must be tackled on many fronts, but the president's initiative is as good a place as any to start.

Missouri – Kansas City Star (Editorial): “Proposals to reduce gun violence are sensible”

President Barack Obama on Tuesday revealed a restrained and reasonable set of new efforts aimed at reducing this country’s out-of-control problem with gun violence…America can and must do more to rein in gun violence and upgrade access to mental health care. Obama’s plans set forth sensible ways to pursue those positive outcomes.

New Jersey – Bergen Record (Editorial): “Obama's tears”

Background checks, as the president reiterated, are no infringement on the constitutional right "to bear arms." A national Quinnipiac poll in September found that 93 percent of Americans favored "requiring background checks for all gun buyers…” Obama, in this last full year of his presidency, is using the powers of his office to try to slow the rate of gun deaths in the United States, a rate that has no parallel anywhere in the world.

New York – Buffalo News (Editorial): “Gun debate moves to other areas of government as congressional inaction wears thin”

What is more important to the country than to inject a little sanity into the argument about gun violence?...Why would any thinking person object to ensuring that guns aren’t sold to people prohibited from owning them?

North Carolina – Charlotte Observer (Editorial): “On guns, Obama decides (again) not to wait”

But also, gun control isn’t realistically about preventing all shootings big and small. It’s about doing common sense things – like expanding background checks – so that it’s harder for people who shouldn’t have guns to get them. Americans have largely been split on stricter gun laws in general, but overwhelmingly in favor of some measures, including expanded background checks. While we’re still uncomfortable when the president acts without Congress, he is far from acting alone.

North Carolina – Raleigh News & Observer (Editorial): “Obama moves on gun violence”

If it was not an eloquent president’s finest hour, it was close, this Tuesday in the East Room of the White House. The president, surrounded by those who have been victims of gun violence…was passionate and emotional, unafraid to shed tears over deaths that might have been prevented with stronger gun laws on the books…Gun control is not, contrary to what opponents say, about destroying the 2nd Amendment or taking guns away from law-abiding citizens, and it never has been. It’s about reason. It’s about safety.

Pennsylvania – Philadelphia Inquirer (Editorial): “Put focus on gun sales”

Congress again and again has failed to place reasonable limits on gun sales that could help stem the daily gun carnage across America… Having addressed the American public following mass shootings eight times as president, Obama decided to bypass Congress and do what he could within the limits of presidential authority…In the final year of his presidency, Obama is determined to reduce the 30,000 deaths a year that result from gun violence, including suicides and accidents. "Somehow we've become numb to it, and we start thinking that this is normal," he said. Unfortunately, it has become normal for Congress to oppose any response to the violence.

Texas – Dallas Morning News (Editorial): “Obama’s reasonable steps on guns are small but significant”

President Barack Obama has once again used his pen to make changes in an area where Congress has refused to act…It should surprise no one that in the face of congressional opposition, the president is seeking to make what changes he can under authority of the laws already on the books.

The world’s superpowers as well as the world’s nuclear experts agree that this deal shuts down Iran’s pathways to a nuclear weapon. If it didn’t, the United States wouldn’t have agreed to it – and neither would Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, or China. The deal demonstrates that American diplomacy can bring about real and meaningful change that makes our country, and the world, safer and more secure.  

Still, we’ve already heard a great deal of partisan talking points and overheated rhetoric out of Washington about the deal – often without even reading the document, which is posted online for everyone to see.

But across the country, something different is happening – those looking at the details of the deal are expressing support for it.

Here’s what they are saying:

The Ethics in Government Act of 1978 requires high-level federal officials to publicly disclose their personal financial interests. The public filing system serves to prevent financial conflicts of interest by providing for a systematic review of the finances of government officials. Those finances are set forth in annual disclosures which are reviewed and certified by ethics officials. Neither the President nor the Vice President have any conflicts of interest, and their reports have been reviewed and certified by the independent Office of Government Ethics. We are continuing this Administration's practice of posting these forms online here in the interests of transparency:

View the President's 2014 financial disclosure report

View the Vice President's 2014 financial disclosure report

White House staff are also completing their forms and we anticipate they will be available here next month, also in electronic form.

For more information: 

• See the 2013 financial disclosure reports
• See the 2012 financial disclosure reports
• See the 2011 financial disclosure reports
• See the 2010 financial disclosure reports

The President and First Lady also reported donating $70,712 – or about 14.8 percent of their adjusted gross income – to 33 different charities. The largest reported gift to charity was $22,012 to the Fisher House Foundation. The President’s effective federal income tax rate is 19.6 percent.

In January 2013, the President signed into law legislation that extended tax cuts to middle-class and working families and helped improve the country’s fiscal health by asking the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share. In 2014, as a result of his policies, the President was subject to limitations in tax preferences for high-income earners, as well as additional Medicare and investment income taxes.

While we’ve made progress in ensuring that the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share by raising their tax rate to the level it was under President Clinton, there is more work to do. We need to close special tax loopholes for millionaires and billionaires, and invest in the middle class. The tax policies proposed in the President’s Budget would make paychecks go further in covering the cost of child care, college, and a secure retirement, and would create and expand tax credits that support and reward work.

The President and First Lady also released their Illinois income tax return and reported paying $22,640 in state income tax.

Download the Obamas' tax returns here.

The Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden also released their 2014 federal income tax returns, as well as state income tax returns for both Delaware and Virginia. The Bidens filed joint federal and combined Delaware income tax returns. Dr. Biden filed a separate non-resident Virginia tax return. Together, they reported adjusted gross income of $388,844. The Bidens paid $90,506 in total federal tax for 2014, amounting to an effective tax rate of 23.3%. They also paid $13,661 in Delaware income tax and Dr. Biden paid $3,777 in Virginia income tax. The Bidens contributed $7,380 to charity in 2014, including contributing the royalties received from Dr. Biden’s children’s book, net of taxes, to the United Service Organizations, Inc. (USO).

Download the Bidens' tax returns here.

Many Americans – whether they agree with the President’s policies or not – expressed outrage, disbelief, and disappointment at the Senators’ actions. 

Here is a small sample of the coverage that this partisan effort has generated across the country:

AL – Anniston Star Editorial: “Editorial: An Ignoble Letter From 47 Senators.” “An open letter to the 47 U.S. senators who signed a letter addressed to Iran’s political leaders: We are struck by your letter that condescendingly attempts to lecture Iran’s leadership on the fine points of the U.S. Constitution while at the same time blatantly trampled on the constitutionally defined roles in foreign affairs of presidents and members of Congress. In short, the chief executive negotiates and the Senate ratifies, or not, as the case may be. Yet, your letter is a clear attempt to preemptively wreck the president’s attempts at a settlement to put Iran’s nuclear ambitions in check. And this provocative letter is well beyond the protocol for how the U.S. government negotiates international treaties.”

AZ – AZ Republic: Editorial: “47 Senators Stomp On The Constitution.” “While their concerns may be valid, it is no business of senators to interfere with the negotiations of the elected official with the authority to barter with Iran, the president … If that is the best argument Republicans can make for inserting themselves in sensitive foreign-policy negotiations, they are effectively declaring a congressional right to conduct subversive, foreign-policy proxy wars with the president, with threats to blow up agreement negotiations as their weapon of choice … Show us where that is to be found in the U.S. Constitution. McCain of all people should know better … Even Iranian mullahs likely know that Republicans disapprove of Obama's conduct of negotiations with them. No doubt they, too, saw the Bibi speech. They know where the American opposition to Obama stands. But, in the end, that is just one more reason not to have sent the letter.”

CA – LA Times Editorial: “Republican Senators Go Nuclear With Missive To Iran.” “But this week, when they wrote an open letter to the ‘leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran’ warning in effect that any deal negotiated by the Obama administration might not be adhered to by subsequent presidents if it were not approved by Congress, 47 Republican senators moved beyond principled opposition to outright interference.  The letter, drafted by freshman Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, begins with the insulting observation that ‘you may not fully understand our constitutional system’ and then says that, unless an agreement were approved by Congress, the signers would regard it as ‘nothing more than an agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei’ that could be revoked by a future president ‘with a stroke of a pen.’…But this letter is an exponentially more offensive encroachment on presidential authority.  If an agreement is reached and the terms aren't to Congress' liking, members will have opportunities to express their concern and to seek to undo it. But negotiating with foreign nations is the president's job. The Republican senators' meddling in that responsibility is outrageous.”

CA – Sacramento Bee Editorial: “GOP Senators Need A Civics Lesson And Should Stop Meddling In Iran Nuclear Deal.” “It’s one thing for Republicans in Congress to invite an ally to criticize a potential nuclear deal with Iran, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did last week.  But it’s beyond the pale to write to the leaders of a potential enemy to sabotage the negotiations, as 47 GOP senators did Monday.  Does their enmity toward President Barack Obama run so deep that in hopes of embarrassing him and denying him a legacy, they’re willing to blow up very sensitive talks on a matter of national security?”

CA – San Francisco Chronicle Editorial: “GOP Senators Try A Reckless Move To Stop Iran Nuclear Talks." “Washington’s unrelenting partisanship is hitting an all-time low. Senate Republicans are brazenly undermining White House talks with Iran over nuclear weapons by warning Tehran that any deal won’t stick with the next president."

CO – Denver Post Editorial: “Grandstanding On Iran In The U.S. Senate.” “Do you get the feeling that Republican members of Congress really, really don't like the deal the Obama administration is negotiating with Iran?  First there was the rapturous reception for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who denounced the possible deal. And now 47 GOP senators — including Colorado's Cory Gardner — have sent a letter to Iran instructing the regime that a purely ‘executive agreement’ could be revoked by the next president. As if the Iranians wouldn't already know that.  The reality is that if the agreement actually serves America's interest, even a Republican president would be unlikely to revoke it in 2017, given the race for a nuclear bomb that would likely follow."

FL – Miami Herald Editorial: “Letter Of Intent.” “The open letter to Iran by 47 Republican senators questioning the value of any agreement to freeze its nuclear program is another troubling break with precedent that threatens to undermine the president’s ability to conduct foreign policy. The letter is little more than a mischievous attempt to throw a monkey wrench into a years-long, multinational effort to obtain a secure, verifiable agreement with Iran to stop its nuclear-weapons program through diplomacy, rather than war. It’s hard to see how Republicans can reject a deal when they know little more than the outline of the proposal that is still being worked out, especially since they have no reasonable alternative to offer…The senators signing the letter blatantly violated a principle that well served this country throughout the Cold War: Politics stops at the water’s edge."

KY – The Courier Journal Editorial: “Senate Saboteurs.” “Has Congress gone crazy?…A blatant attempt to sabotage the discussions to limit Iran’s nuclear capacity, the letter is signed by by 47 GOP senators, aligning themselves — President Obama noted ironically — with hardliners in Iran who oppose any deal with the United States."

MA – Boston Globe Editorial: “GOP Letter To Iran Is A Reckless Intrusion Into Nuclear Talks.” “Winning sympathy for the renegade Islamic Republic of Iran is no easy trick. But Republicans in the US Senate seem to be accomplishing it with their breathtakingly reckless intrusion into international diplomacy. Under the guise of an American civics lesson pointedly but also pointlessly aimed at Iran’s already isolated, mistrustful, hostile-to-the-United States leadership, Senate Republicans may sabotage highly delicate negotiations to persuade Tehran to curb its nuclear development program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions….The letter not only undercuts the president’s traditional authority to oversee the shaping of foreign policy but badly undermines America’s credibility in the international community.”

MA – Springfield Republican Editorial: “Republican Letter To Iran Puts Politics Above Nation: Editorial.” “Before Democrats and their left-leaning allies across the land get even more riled up about a letter sent to Iranian leaders by 47 Senate Republicans, they may wish to take a moment to recall a time when members of their own party did much the same to a Republican president. Oh, no, wait a minute – that didn't happen…When Republicans won control of the Senate last November, GOP leaders were thrilled to have been given an opportunity to show the nation that they could be taken seriously as a governing party. They would do more, they said, than merely oppose Obama. Yeah, right. Their letter is the clearest example of exactly the opposite. It shows rank petulance, not seriousness. Just seven of 54 GOP senators had the good sense not to sign the letter. The others acted rashly and allowed their passions to rule the day. They imprudently and shamefully put politics above our national interest, damaging our standing. Our nation will recover, but it shouldn't have to.”


MI – Detroit Free Press Editorial: “GOP Letter To Iran Disgraces America.” “At minimum, signing such a letter should disqualify each man from holding the high office they seek to degrade. At worst? Well, it's unlikely that, as some have suggested, this letter rises to the level of treason or violates the Logan Act, which bars unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign powers. But it certainly betrays a deep misunderstanding of our governmental structure, and a profound and dismaying disrespect for the office of the presidency, as well as its incumbent occupant. To disagree with a sitting president is one thing, even if that disagreement is loud, even if it is raucous. A deliberate attempt to undermine a sitting president's efforts to discharge his constitutional obligations is something else entirely…But the Republicans who dispatched this letter have done more than embarrass a president they dislike. They have also disgraced themselves and undermined the credibility of the nation whose constitution they took an oath to uphold.”

MD – Baltimore Sun Editorial: “The GOP's Poison Pen Note.” “Congress has a long history of criticizing the White House's handling of foreign policy, but the letter sent by 47 Republican senators to Iran's leaders this week was virtually unprecedented…The poison pen note was a shocking example of just how far President Barack Obama's GOP critics in Congress are willing to go in an effort to undercut his foreign policy goals…We would add to that a reckless disregard for the national security interests of the country that calls into question Republicans' claims that their party can be trusted to govern.”

NH – Concord Monitor Editorial: “Editorial: Ayotte Signs Up For A Dangerous Political Game.” “Sen. Kelly Ayotte’s name is easy to spot. It is in the left column, between the blue scrawl of Sens. Rand Paul and Orrin Hatch. Unlike the thousands of other times she has signed her name, Ayotte will remember this signature. How could she forget? It’s not every day that a United States senator attempts to undermine U.S. foreign policy and weaken the nation in one cursive swoop."

NJ – The Record Editorial: “Outrageous Senators.” “Republicans can disagree with the president, but he is still the president until January 2017. Elections matter — the ones held and the one to come. In a sign of arrogance and disrespect to the Founders, the 47 senators signed a letter telling Iranian leaders that while the president would no longer be in office in 2017, ‘most of [them] will remain in office well beyond then — perhaps decades.’ Unless the senators intend to change U.S. law, they serve only six-year terms. They are not guaranteed their Senate seats in perpetuity.”

NJ – Star Ledger Editorial: “GOP's Political Posturing On Iran Could Ostracize The U.S.” “The concept of Congressional oversight has many virtues, but clarity and keen judgment aren't always amongthem.  The latest example is the supercilious letter sent by 47 Republican senators to Iran, a shallow effort to derail the negotiation over its nuclear program that devolved into another partisan agitprop from the circular firing squad known as the GOP.  And clearly, this is one time when the Senate would be best advised to zip it until it sees something that actually represents an enforceable agreement, rather than engage in the usual Obamaphobia…The amateurish missive succeeded in doing little but giving the hardliners in Tehran hope that the negotiations will crumble, as their chief argument is that the United States cannot be trusted.” 

NY – Albany Times Union: “Editorial: A Badly Timed Partisan Slap.” “The Republicans who signed this foolish letter should listen to their own members who chose not to participate in this partisan attack on a sitting president. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said it would be appropriate for senators to give advice to the president and Secretary Kerry instead of going directly to Tehran. Rather than listening to their reasonable colleagues, the Republicans who signed this letter are merely continuing to try to undermine President Obama at every turn. Their actions risk undoing years of high-stakes negotiations and threaten the stability of the Mideast, all for the sake of scoring some partisan political points.”

NY – Newsday Editorial: “The Real Key To Any Nuclear Deal With Iran.” “Did Republican senators really think Iranian leaders needed a primer on how the U.S. government works? The open letter they sent to the leaders of Iran Monday was an unnecessary partisan stunt that detracts from what matters most…The risk, however, is sabotaging the multination negotiations and leaving Iran unrestrained in building nuclear weapons. That's a bad path that could lead to use of military force to stop Iran's pursuit of a bomb.”

OH – Cleveland Plain Dealer Editorial: “A Deeply Misguided Senate Letter To The Leaders Of Iran: Editorial.” “The decision by 47 Republican senators to sign a patronizing open letter to the leaders of Iran seeking to instruct them on how the U.S. constitutional system works -- and, by the way, to upend talks closing in on a nuclear weapons deal -- is as depressingly partisan as it is shortsighted…But the magnitude of this disgraceful decision -- only seven sitting Republican senators declined to sign the letter -- shows the degree to which partisanship has gobbled up rationality on foreign policy. This letter was a stunt that grossly oversteps the bounds of what is proper and wise.” 

PA – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Editorial: “Hate Mail: Senators Seek To Sabotage Obama’s Foreign Policy.” “The letter sent Monday by 47 Republican senators to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warning him not to sign an agreement with major nations limiting his country’s nuclear program, was damaging to America’s role in the world. This was the second venture in six days into foreign affairs by Republicans in Congress, which is distinguishing itself as the most dysfunctional branch of the U.S. government. The previous ploy was the March 3 address to Congress by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Likud party will be a contestant in Israeli elections on March 17. Mr. Netanyahu’s appearance was set up by an invitation from House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio…The senators who signed the letter should be ashamed."

UT – Salt Lake Tribune Editorial:“Editorial: Utah Senators Increase Risk Of War.” “It will be up to history to judge whether the latest partisan stunt joined by Utah Sens. Mike Lee and Orrin Hatch amounts to an act of End Times warmongering or merely another bit of cringe-worthy buffoonery on the global stage."

The GOP plan would roll back the enforcement priorities DHS has put in place to ensure that our nation’s law enforcement priorities are focused on felons, not families. House Republicans should not be playing politics with funding for DHS, an agency whose mission is focused on protecting our nation from dangerous criminals, as well as national security and terrorist threats.

Instead of proposing new ideas for how to address our broken immigration system, House Republicans are playing games with the resources we need to protect our country. They are keeping us from moving forward on critical investments in cybersecurity, disaster recovery, counterterrorism efforts, and incident response. And they are only perpetuating the current broken immigration system that everyone agrees must be fixed.

The President’s immigration accountability executive actions are well within his executive authority and are in line with our values as a nation of laws and of immigrants. For the past half century, every president — Democratic or Republican — has used his legal authority to act on immigration. President Obama is now taking another common-sense step. The President’s executive actions will strengthen our border security, hold potentially millions of undocumented immigrants accountable by requiring them to pass background checks and pay taxes, and ensure that everyone plays by the same set of rules. And they are also good for the economy. According to an analysis by the President’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), the President’s executive actions on immigration would boost economic output by an estimated 0.4 to 0.9 percent over 10 years, corresponding to increases in GDP of $90 billion to $210 billion in 2024.         

The President has a broad coalition of support for the actions he took. Leaders and organizations, including law enforcement, faith, labor and business groups, strongly support the kind of common-sense reform that the President is advancing. Just this week, 27 police chiefs, sheriffs, and national law enforcement associations signed on to an amicus brief supporting the President’s executive actions because they understand that these actions “help local law enforcement keep communities safer” and better enable them “to effectively do their jobs.” Twelve states and the District of Columbia also filed a brief opposing the Texas-led lawsuit arguing that the President’s actions are legal.

The President can’t fix the immigration system entirely on his own. But since the House failed to move forward on legislative solutions, he took decisive action to fix as much of our broken immigration system as possible within the scope of his existing legal authority.

These are common-sense steps, but only Congress can finish the job. As the President acts, he’ll continue to work with Congress on a comprehensive, bipartisan bill — like the one passed by the Senate more than a year and a half ago — that can replace these actions and fix our broken system. 

On November 20^th, President Obama announced immigration accountability executive actions that will better secure our border, hold potentially more than 4 million undocumented immigrants accountable, and ensure that everyone plays by the same rules and pays their fair share of taxes.  These actions will allow undocumented immigrants who have resided in the United States for at least five years, are parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents, and are non-priorities for removal to seek temporary immigration relief, on a case-by-case basis, by registering, passing background checks, and getting right with the law.  These actions would also give additional DREAMers the opportunity to request immigration relief through the existing Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy. 

There is a long history of Presidents – both Democrats and Republicans – taking necessary executive actions to improve our immigration system.  Every president since President Eisenhower has taken action to address immigrations issues.  As a result, many more immigrants have come, stayed, and contributed to the strength of the United States.  Since the founding of our nation, the strength of America draws from generations of immigrants is a fact that’s woven deeply into the fabric of history. 

The President stands strongly opposed this bill that would separate families, hurt DREAMers, and weaken the safety of our nation.  President Obama believes in fixing our immigration system with Congressional action by creating comprehensive, commonsense immigration reform. But until Congress is ready to step up and take action, the President will fix the immigration system within the limits of his authority by securing our border, holding immigrants accountable, and ensuring everyone plays by the same rule.

The President doesn’t stand alone.  A broad coalition of leaders and organizations, including faith, labor, Latino, and domestic violence groups, strongly oppose the proposal and continue to call on Congress to enact commonsense immigration reform. 

·         Bishop Elizondo, Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Migration

“The proposed bill could have unintended consequences by unreasonably limiting the ability of this and future Administrations to enforce immigration law efficiently and to ensure public safety….Rather than attempting to rescind the Administration’s recent executive actions on immigration, the U.S. House of Representatives should act on a comprehensive and permanent solution to our immigration challenges by passing comprehensive immigration reform legislation that addresses all aspects of our immigration system.”

·         William Samuel, Director, Government Affairs Department, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)

“In the sixteen months since a bipartisan majority of the Senate passed S. 744, Republican Leadership has failed to schedule a vote or move any comprehensive immigration reform bill, like H.R. 15, through any House committee. This failure to act, combined with increased enforcement efforts, has created a crisis in our nation’s immigrant communities and in workplaces across the country. Rather than providing a solution, the Republican Leadership is advancing a bill that will deny millions of aspiring Americans the opportunity to live and work without fear.”

·         Margaret Moran, President, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)

“The Latino community sees this bill, and the anti-immigrant rhetoric used by some Representatives who support it, as a political attack against Latino immigrants designed to appeal to a small but vocal group of ethnocentric white voters. It is extreme and unnecessary and does nothing to fix our broken immigration system…If the House of Representatives prefers Congressional over Presidential action as we do, then you should pass a bill such as H.R. 15 which would supersede the President’s actions, fix our broken immigration laws and provide needed relief to millions of people who are Americans in spirit if not yet on paper.”

·         National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women

“This fall we are celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the bipartisan Violence Against Women Act (“VAWA”), which has, since it was first enacted, included critical protections for immigrant victims of domestic and sexual violence. Congressman Yoho’s amendment undermines protections from removal for victims of domestic and sexual violence, dating violence, stalking, trafficking, and child abuse, and undermines the purpose and spirit of VAWA.”

We need to spend our time in Washington, DC working to pursue commonsense solutions to the nation’s most pressing problems.  This include fixing the broken immigration system.  The President supported the bipartisan Senate bill last year and will work with anyone in Congress that wants to make the immigration system better, not worse.

President Barack Obama delivers remarks on immigration reform at Del Sol High School in Las Vegas, NV. January 29, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Our immigration system has been broken for decades -- and every minute we fail to act, millions of people who live in the shadows but want to play by the rules and pay taxes have no way to live right by the law and contribute to our country.

So tomorrow night, President Obama will address the nation to lay out the executive actions he’s taking to fix our broken immigration system. You can watch the President live tomorrow night at 8 p.m. ET at WhiteHouse.gov/Live.

This is a step forward in the President’s plan to work with Congress on passing common-sense, comprehensive immigration reform. He laid out his principles for that reform two years ago in Del Sol High School in Las Vegas -- and that’s where he’ll return on Friday to discuss why he is using his executive authority now, and why Republicans in Congress must act to pass a long-term solution to immigration reform. 

President Barack Obama delivers remarks on immigration reform at Del Sol High School in Las Vegas, NV. January 29, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

The Senate passed a bipartisan bill more than 500 days ago, and while the country waits for House Republicans to vote, the President will act -- like the Presidents before him -- to fix our immigration system in the ways that he can. 

So tune in tomorrow night at 8 p.m. ET to learn what the President is doing to ensure that America will continue to be what it has always been: a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. 

While the chances of a serious outbreak in America are very low, we are doing everything we can to ensure our hospitals and health care workers are fully prepared to effectively treat any cases of Ebola while protecting public safety.

Every American should know exactly what we’re doing right now to keep everyone safe. So here are a few answers to some questions that many may be asking when it comes to the U.S. response to Ebola:

Q: What do Americans need to know about Ebola, and does it pose a real threat to the United States?

A: The most important thing to know about Ebola is that it is not transmissible like the flu, and the risk of a widespread outbreak in the U.S. is extraordinarily low. Remember, as public health officials have said, you can only contract Ebola if you touch the blood or bodily fluids of a person who is sick with or has died from Ebola; if you touch contaminated objects, like needles; or if you touch infected animals. Specifically, only mammals (for example, humans, bats, monkeys, and apes) have shown the ability to become infected with and spread Ebola virus.

Ebola continues to be a public health and national security priority, and all of us in the administration continue to take aggressive measures to respond both at home and abroad. There is no country that is better prepared to confront the challenge Ebola poses than the United States.

Get the latest updates on our response to Ebola from the CDC and call 1-800-CDC INFO (1-800-232-4636) for additional inquiries.

Q: What has the Administration done so far to respond to the Ebola crisis?

A: The best way to protect the American people is to stop the Ebola outbreak at its source in West Africa. That is why we have surged resources to West Africa since the outbreak began earlier this year, while enhancing our preparedness here at home. In addition to the continued coordination across federal agencies and international partners that is part of our response efforts, here are a few more initial steps that are being taken at the President’s direction:

• Sending Additional Personnel to Dallas: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has dispatched a second team of 16 personnel to Dallas, where they will train and assist the hospital in infection control procedures as well as contact tracing. This team includes experts who have extensive experience stopping Ebola. Today the administration also announced that, in order to continue to ensure strong coordination with state and local officials on the ground in Dallas, it was designating several additional coordinators, including: a Dallas-based liaison to support state and local officials on the ground and make sure they have all the federal sources they need; a Texas coordinator appointed by Governor Perry to ensure we adequately leverage state-level assets; and a FEMA Coordinator to serve as that official’s counterpart and ensure all federal assistance is meeting needs on the ground.
• Taking Immediate Action in Response to the Investigation: The CDC team is making specific improvements in the areas of personal protective equipment, oversight and monitoring of care, and enhanced training.
• Creating a dedicated CDC Rapid Response Team: The CDC is setting up a dedicated CDC Response Team, or an Ebola "SWAT" team, that could be on the ground within a few hours at any hospital that receives a confirmed patient with Ebola. The team would provide in-person, expert support and training on infection control, healthcare safety, medical treatment, contact tracing, waste and decontamination, public education and other issues. They would help ensure that clinicians along with state and local public health practitioners consistently follow strict standards of protocol to ensure safety of the patient, the healthcare workers, and the public. 
• Ensuring nationwide preparedness through communication and training: The CDC is providing more opportunities for U.S. healthcare providers to receive additional training and to get their questions answered from CDC experts.

Q: Why hasn’t the President called for a travel ban from afflicted countries in West Africa?

A: Our top priority is the health and safety of the American people, and our key focus right now is reducing the risk of public exposure to the Ebola virus. That’s why, right now, travelers from those countries are subjected to screening prior to departure from West Africa. They are also subjected to additional, enhanced screening upon arrival in one of the five major U.S. air hubs that receive 94% of travelers to the United States from the affected countries. 

The President has made clear that he will not hesitate to do what is necessary to maximize the chances that we avoid an outbreak here in the United States. But as public health and medical experts have said, a travel ban is less effective than the measures we currently have in place, including screening passengers. Imposing a ban would give travelers an incentive to evade detection, conceal their travel history, and therefore, make it much harder for us to ensure they are screened before they enter the U.S.

So while a travel ban may sound like a good idea, it could actually make the most effective and necessary protocols much harder to enforce.

The only way we can truly eliminate the risk of Ebola to the American people is to stop the outbreak at its source. That means we need to surge resources to West Africa – imposing a travel ban would only make it more difficult to move critically needed personnel and supplies to the countries that need it most. 

Go here to learn more about the airport screening protocols that are currently in place to help stop the spread of Ebola.

Q: Who is the Ebola Response Coordinator and what will he be doing?

A: The President has asked Ron Klain to coordinate the Administration’s whole-of-government response to Ebola. As a former chief of staff to two Vice Presidents, Klain has extensive managerial experience and has taken a lead role in coordinating large, complex efforts – including helping to oversee the implementation of the Recovery Act, a major interagency and intergovernmental project. He will report directly to the President’s Homeland Security Advisor Lisa Monaco and his National Security Advisor Susan Rice in his work on our coordinated efforts to detect, isolate, and treat Ebola patients while protecting public safety.

As the President said, Monaco, Rice, Dr. Frieden and others have done outstanding work in confronting this challenge so far, and Klain will provide additional resources and bandwidth to enhance the government’s Ebola response.

Q: What is the Executive Order that the President just issued about the National Guard?

A: The President signed an executive order that authorizes the activation of Reserve Component personnel as part of the U.S. military's humanitarian assistance and consequence management support related to the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa. These reservists are being mobilized for deployment in support of Operation United Assistance. They are members of an engineering unit with specialized skills that will augment the active-duty force in our operations there.

Learn More:

• Visit WhiteHouse.gov/Ebola-Response for more on the Administration's response

Under the Affordable Care Act, states had the opportunity to expand Medicaid coverage to give citizens in their states access to affordable health care, and in return receive 100 percent of federal funding to cover those costs for the first three years and no less than 90 percent federal support in the years ahead.

A number of governors and legislators in both parties decided to put people over politics by expanding Medicaid in their states. To date, 26 states have chosen to do the right thing by expanding coverage, and in those states, 5.2 million Americans have gained access to affordable health care through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Unfortunately, some governors and legislators are still holding hostage a Medicaid expansion that we know would help thousands of their residents, reduce the rate of uninsured, and could have significant economic benefits for their states. 

And now, in this report, we can see the opportunities that these states are missing out on.

Here is a small sample of the coverage that the report has received across the country:

Arkansas – Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Wire): "Medicaid expansion aided state"

Medicaid expansion generated jobs and increased the number of people receiving preventive care in Arkansas and 25 other states that took part in the program, President Barack Obama's administration says.

Florida – Tampa Bay Times (Leary): "White House to Rick Scott: Medicaid expansion would create 63k jobs"

The White House has a Medicaid expansion argument for Gov. Rick Scott and Florida Republicans: It creates jobs. A state-by-state report to be released Wednesday (an advance copy was provided to the Tampa Bay Times) estimates that Florida would generate 63,800 jobs, mainly in health care, from 2014-2017. That’s the three years that the federal government would have paid the entire cost of providing health care to 848,000 people. The study by the Council of Economic Advisers – titled "Missed Opportunities" – is part of an ongoing push by the Obama administration on a central part of the Affordable Care Act. It makes a number of other claims evaluating states that have expanded and Florida and 23 others that have not.

Illinois – Chicago Sun-Times (Thomas): "Illinois benefitted from expanding Medicaid: White House"

More Illinois residents will have health insurance by 2016, jobs and be screened for conditions such as heart disease, because Illinois chose to expand Medicaid. That comes from an analysis of all states released today by the White House, in an attempt to get more states to expand Medicaid.  The study was done by the Council of Economic Advisers, which is an agency of the president’s executive office. Among other things, the study found that if all the states expanded Medicaid, 10 million more Americans would have health insurance by 2016.

Louisiana – The Times-Picayune (Alpert): "New White House report: 5.7 million people losing out on health care because 24 states won’t expand Medicaid"

Louisiana and 23 other states that have opted not to accept federal funding to expand Medicaid will deprive 5.7 million people of health coverage in 2016, according to a report being released Wednesday by the White House Council of Economic Advisers. The report said if Louisiana reverses course and accepts the Medicaid expansion, 265,000 residents could gain health coverage in 2016. The federal government is picking up 100 percent of the cost for the expansion through 2017, and, after that, no less than 90 percent, as part of the 2010 health care law, known as the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare.

Ohio – Columbus Dispatch (Candisky): "White House report touts Medicaid expansion in Ohio"

Ohio’s decision to expand Medicaid has led to a decline in the number of uninsured, added jobs and improved access to cholesterol screenings, mammograms and other preventive care, a new report says. The benefits for states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act were laid out in a report released today by the White House Council of Economic Advisers, six months after Medicaid expansion took effect. The report estimates that more than 4.3 million people will gain health coverage by 2016 in the 26 states where Medicaid was expanded.

Oklahoma – Oklahoman (Casteel): "White House argues for Medicaid expansion"

Oklahoma and other states that have refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act are denying health care and economic benefits to citizens because of short-term political considerations, a White House official said in a new report Wednesday. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said much of the debate over allowing more people on the Medicaid rolls “has gotten bound up in politics,” including the assertion by some governors that states would be on the hook for major spending increases in the future.

Pennsylvania – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Mauriello, Giammarise): "White House begins new push for Medicaid expansion"

So far, 26 states and the District of Columbia have agreed to expand Medicaid coverage, providing coverage to 5.2 million more people. But 5.7 million more people could be receiving the coverage in states that are forgoing the expansion and missing out on a combined $88 billion in federal funding through 2016. Pennsylvania is among them, and the White House says its residents are suffering physically and economically because of it. The administration today begins a new push to get more states to expand their programs. It makes its case with a new report showing how states that expanded their programs are benefiting from a surge of federal money that goes along with the expansion.

Tennessee – The Memphis Commercial Appeal, Knoxville News Sentinel (Collins): "Report: Medicaid expansion would benefit thousands in Tennessee"

Thousands of Tennesseans would have better access to potentially lifesaving health care and would no longer have to worry about getting hit with crippling medical bills if the state expanded its Medicaid coverage, according to a new White House report. At least 234,000 people across the state would have health insurance by 2016, and more than 57,000 would be able to take advantage of preventive health care such as cholesterol screenings, mammograms and Pap smears, said the report, which looks at the consequences of states’ refusal to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

Texas – Dallas News (Landers): "White House touts Medicaid expansion for Texas"

The Obama administration Wednesday lamented the refusal of Texas and 23 other states to participate in Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid. A report from President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors (“Missed Opportunities: The Consequences of State Decisions Not to Expand Medicaid”) found the state would miss out on $13.73 billion in federal funds over the next three years, and Medicaid coverage for another 1.2 million people, if it continues to refuse to participate.

Wisconsin – USA Today/Gannett (Slack): "White House: Walker Medicaid decision hurting Wisconsinites"

President Barack Obama has not given up on trying to coax Wisconsin into reversing course and expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. The White House Council of Economic Advisers is slated to issue a 40-page report today outlining what it says are the consequences of the decision by Gov. Scott Walker — and 23 other states — not to expand the health insurance program for the poor. For starters, the report says, 120,000 more Wisconsinites would have health insurance, 5,400 fewer would face catastrophic, out-of-pocket medical costs annually, and some 11,200 jobs would have been created in the state in the next three years. Federal spending in Wisconsin would have increased by an estimated $2.6 billion between now and 2016, according to the report.

Wyoming – Casper Star-Tribune (Graff): "White House says Medicaid expansion would cover 16K Wyoming residents"

A new report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers released Wednesday found more than 16,000 Wyoming residents would gain coverage if the state were to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. The White House report utilized data from the Urban Institute, a nonprofit social and economic policy research group, and a study of the Oregon Medicaid expansion conducted by the National Bureau of Economics. The report lauds the 26 states that have already elected to expand Medicaid and argues that choice improved access to care, boosted job creation and state economic activity.

It’s fascinating and important stuff.  But we were also struck by the way in which local press stepped back and saw the even bigger story – that day after day, month after month, more and more of our friends and neighbors in every part of the country are getting the security and peace of mind of affordable coverage.  Reading the headlines below, it was a bright, shining reminder of one of the big reasons the President fought so hard to pass the Affordable Care Act in the first place.

• Associated Press: “Health care enrollment spikes in Utah in December” 
• Detroit Free Press: “Health insurance enrollment takes off in Michigan, nation for coverage under ACA”
• Detroit News: “Feds: Michigan experiences 11-fold increase in health care sign-ups”
• MLive: “Obamacare signups in Michigan spike in December; see demographic breakdown”
• Sun-Sentinel:  “Obamacare enrollment gains traction in Florida”
• Stevens Point Journal: “Obamacare enrollment soars in Wisconsin”
• Palm Beach Post: “Florida’s Obamacare enrollment surges, as does the nation's”
• Albuquerque Business First: “New Mexico’s Healthcare.gov enrollment soars”
• Bellingham Herald: “Wash. one of top states in health care enrollment”
• WSFA: “More Alabamians signing up for health insurance”
• Capital New York: “Strong Obamacare numbers from NY exchange director”
• Gannett: “More Hoosiers joined health exchange in December”
• Des Moines Register: “7,500 Iowans have signed up for private insurance on healthcare.gov, compared to 757 a month ago”
• The Gazette: “Colorado health insurance enrollments continue at steady pace”
• WRAL: “North Carolina fifth nationally in enrollment under health law”
• Boise State Public Radio: “Idaho’s Health Insurance Exchange Enrollment Increases 1,000 Percent”
• WLTX: “Health Insurance Enrollment Spikes in South Carolina”
• Billings Gazette: “Montana sign-ups for Obamacare policies surge in December”

This leaves state officials facing a critical decision: play political games and continue to block Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act or put partisanship aside and bring in much needed funds to allow millions of citizens access to healthcare. It should not be a difficult choice. Now is the time for elected officials to follow the example of Governor John Kasich in Ohio and Governor Jan Brewer in Arizona to put politics aside and expand Medicaid.

As Nebraska State Senator Jeremy Nordquist said:

“It’s often overlooked that Nebraska has a high number of uninsured in rural counties.  Without expansion, rural hospitals will face growing financial challenges, which will undoubtedly lead to a reduction in the services they provide and – we are hearing – a real risk of these critical hospital closing their doors. The good news is that the Nebraska Legislature is unique.  We are nonpartisan, unicameral and constantly find ways to work together to move our state forward.  On this issue, there is a strong bipartisan majority that supports expanding Medicaid.  Providing access to quality, affordable health care should be a priority for all of us who represent the ‘good life’ in Nebraska.  If all legislators and our Governor truly care about growing our economy and strengthening our health care system, we will pass Medicaid expansion in 2014.”

Here’s a sample of some coverage from the last week about local leaders and organizations across the country encouraging leaders to put politics aside, and improve access to quality healthcare by expanding Medicaid:

Washington Times: White House PR blitz hits states that rejected Medicaid expansion The Obama administration’s all-out public relations push to sell its health care reform law increasingly is targeting individual governors, who will bear much of the blame, the White House says, if millions of poor Americans remain uninsured.  Administration officials Monday joined with state and local Democratic leaders in North Carolina to put pressure on Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, to expand Medicaid eligibility under Obamacare.  Under Mr. McCrory, North Carolina is one of two dozen states that so far have opted out of that expansion, a crucial building block of the Affordable Care Act but one that became voluntary as a result of a Supreme Court decision last year. LINK 

McClatchy: White House, N.C. Democrats press state to expand Medicaid The White House enlisted two top North Carolina Democrats on Monday to urge Gov. Pat McCrory and the legislature to reconsider their opposition to Medicaid expansion under Obamacare. “Medicaid expansion is a smart choice for states,” White House Spokesman Josh Earnest said during a telephone news conference along with Durham Democrats, Mayor Bill Bell and state Sen. Floyd McKissick.  Earnest said that states would save money “over and above the expense of expanding Medicaid.”  Bell said that in Durham, the state’s fourth largest city, 61,000 people would get insurance if the expansion went through. LINK

Deseret News: My view: Utah needs to expand Medicaid Sarah and Valerie are two next-door neighbors. They share a lot, go to the same church, watch each other’s kids — two apiece — and the families often have barbecues together — there’s no fence between their yards. Their children play together and go to the same school. Both families are considered middle-income and both pay their fair share of taxes. What these two families don't share is similar health care coverage. Neither of the families has health insurance through an employer — Sarah’s husband’s health benefits were dropped by his employer last year. Sarah is a stay-at-home mom, and her husband is a maintenance worker. Their income is $35,000, which is 149 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) for a family of four in Utah. Sarah’s family purchases health coverage on the new health insurance marketplace. Their annual premium for health insurance, $6,088, is offset by a tax credit of $4,716 under the Affordable Care Act, so their family’s share of the premium is $1,373, a price they can well afford. LINK

Salt Lake Tribune: Utah should expand Medicaid for a lot of reasons Health care reform is a topic that continues to dominate the headlines in Utah and across the U.S. Whether it’s a conversation about the recent government shutdown, signing up for health care insurance through the government website or tuning in to the ongoing debate about whether Utah should expand its Medicaid program — health care is the issue of the day. And it will likely continue on that trajectory in the coming months as Gov. Gary Herbert decides what Utah’s future Medicaid landscape will look like. The governor’s decision is an important one for all Utahns. Why? The Affordable Health Care Act, also known as Obamacare, requires people in the U.S. to get health insurance by 2014 through private insurance from their employer or self-purchased, or through public programs like Medicaid, for those eligible. LINK

NOLA: Be sensible, Gov. Jindal, take the Medicaid money: Editorial Gov. Bobby Jindal's decision to reject the expansion of Medicaid looks worse and worse. A new study by the Commonwealth Fund shows that Louisiana will lose out on $1.65 billion in federal dollars in 2022 alone. The federal government will be paying 90 percent of the cost of the Medicaid expansion that year. If the state agreed to the expansion, its share for the year would be $280 million. The governor has said that Louisiana can't afford even that much. But the co-pay for Medicaid is a small fraction of the $2.2 billion Louisiana is projected to spend on incentives to attract private business in 2022, according the study. And the additional Medicaid money would dwarf the $902 million the state is projected to get in federal transportation funds that year. LINK

Bangor Daily News: Why does the Bangor Chamber of Commerce, like other business groups, support Medicaid expansion? Medicaid expansion was designed to be one of the pillars of the Affordable Care Act. But then the Supreme Court decided that states could decide whether to expand. When states decide against expanding, there’s a big coverage gap, between the lowest income individuals and families who receive Medicaid, and those who can buy insurance through the marketplace and receive subsidies to lower the cost of their premiums. In that coverage gap fall millions of Americans who work for a living but don’t make much money. The politics of Medicaid expansion has been contentious in some states, but business groups are weighing in. Bangor’s Chamber of Commerce is just one of many business groups that want to see an expansion of Medicaid. LINK

Indiana Public Media: Up To 400,000 Hoosiers Fall Into Medicaid Coverage Gap The irony, if you make above the 100 percent of federal poverty then you can buy insurance on the exchanges and get a subsidy to help pay for your premiums but if you fall below 100 percent of poverty then you’re too poor and you don’t get any help at all,” says Dr. Rob Stone, the founder of Hoosiers for a Commonsense Healthcare Plan. As many as 400,000 Hoosiers are in the same boat as Laracuente. How The Healthy Indiana Plan Plays Into Medicaid Expansion The  Affordable Care Act allowed states to expand Medicaid to 138-percent of the poverty level, but Indiana Governor Mike Pence said no.  And he wanted to expand the system using the Health Indiana Plan Model. In August he announced the state had gotten a  waiver from the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary to continue the program through 2014. But after 2014 it’s up in the air. LINK

Texas Burnt Orange Report: Refusing to Expand Medicaid Will Cost Texas $9 Billion A new study by the Commonwealth Fund, "How States Stand to Gain or Lose Federal Funds by Opting In or Out of the Medicaid Expansion," shows that Texas clearly stands to lose the most of any state. Because of Rick Perry's refusal to expand Medicaid, Texas will forego over $9 billion in federal funds while Perry holds out for a Medicaid block grant that he'll never get.  We've known all along that Texas was walking away from billions of dollars - not to mention the thousands of residents who could have been insured. But this report synthesizes data from a variety of sources to provide new estimates of what exactly the impact on each state would be.  LINK

Herald Sun: Bell, McKissick call for Medicaid expansion Two prominent Durham Democrats joined White House spokesmen on Monday in urging Gov. Pat McCrory and the N.C. General Assembly to reconsider their opposition to expanding Medicaid. “Our residents are really missing out on opportunity here,” Mayor Bill Bell said, adding later that opponents of the expansion may well “see repercussions” at the ballot box in 2014.Sen. Floyd McKissick joined Bell on the White House-organized conference call, and likewise criticized state leaders for rejecting expansion subsidies. He said the decisions will burden small hospitals that cannot afford to offer more care to the indigent. LINK

Sioux Falls Argus Leader: S.D. lawmakers will be urged to expand Medicaid Some lawmakers and health care groups plan to ask the South Dakota Legislature next month to expand the state’s Medicaid program to cover the medical costs of 48,000 more poor people, despite resistance from Gov. Dennis Daugaard. Daugaard last week told state lawmakers he is not recommending the Medicaid expansion, available to states as an option under the federal health care overhaul, as part of next year’s state budget. He said the federal government is having trouble putting the entire overhaul into effect. He also wonders whether the federal government can meet its pledge to pay most of the cost of the expansion. “I have continuing doubts about the federal government’s ability to deliver on its promises,” the Republican governor said. But supporters said an expansion is needed to improve health care for poor people who now wait until they are seriously ill before seeking medical care. They said hospitals are not paid for that emergency care and cover the loss by boosting charges to patients with private insurance. LINK

Dallas FortWorth Healthcare Daily: The Big Money Behind Texas’ Fight Against Medicaid Expansion It’s not news that many conservative Republicans in Texas have lobbied and fought against the expansion of Medicaid in Texas. What is news is the coordinated attack that preceded that fight. New documents—obtained by The Guardian and shared with the Texas Observer—show how the right-wing think tank Texas Public Policy Foundation and another conservative group, the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute, combined their attacks with a nationwide network of conservative organizations and funders. The documents contain 40 funding proposals from 34 states; the proposals were to be funded by the Searle Freedom Trust, a private foundation. From the Observer: The documents include a TPPF grant request to Searle to fund continuing attacks on Medicaid. LINK

Wyoming Star Tribune: What‘s your health care solution, Wyo. leaders? Gov. Matt Mead again said no to accepting the Medicaid expansion available from the federal government in his Nov. 29 budget message. And again we say, “Fine, but what’s your solution? The people most interested in the answer could be the more than 16,000 Wyoming residents who do not receive health insurance because the state rejected Medicaid expansion. It was a requirement of the Affordable Care Act until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could choose whether or not to accept expanding coverage. The affected people are those without children earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Wyoming hospitals also keenly follow the debate. When Wyoming first rejected the Medicaid expansion earlier this year, the Wyoming Hospital Association President Dan Perdue said, “We’re concerned that a lot of people who don’t have insurance will continue to use the emergency rooms for their primary care.” LINK

Cincinnati Enquirer: Medicaid online enrollment begins today in Ohio Ohioans eligible for Medicaid coverage can apply for benefits online starting today at the newly launched web site, benefits.ohio.gov. Online enrollment will be a first for Medicaid in Ohio. Currently, to enroll in the program, a person needs the approval of a caseworker at a county Jobs and Family Services office. Enrollment will be open to an additional 275,000 adults who qualify under Ohio’s expansion of the joint state and federal tax-funded health-insurance program. Ohio’s Medicaid program  covers 2.4 million low-income and disabled Ohioans. Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, about 600,000 more residents are expected to sign up for coverage by July 1, 2015. About half became eligible in October when Ohio’s Controlling Board voted to accept billions of federal dollars to extend coverage to residents earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, or about bout $15,860 for an individual. LINK

Michigan Daily News: A healthier transition In 2014, the Affordable Care Act will expand Medicaid to cover all adults earning less than 38-percent above the federal poverty level; a large portion of these beneficiaries will be former prison inmates and detainees. Michigan will expand its Medicaid program to help cover the healthcare costs of released offenders and current inmates who require long-term hospitalization or other specialized care outside of prison. This expansion of Medicaid will be financially beneficial to the state. Furthermore, the new benefits available may help former inmates adjust to independent living and could be a way to curb recidivism and improve the lives of former prisoners. LINK

Vanderbilt Research News: Tennessee voters want Medicaid expansion, but many still don’t like ACA, Vanderbilt Poll shows  A substantial majority of Tennessee voters want state lawmakers to accept federal money that has been offered to expand Medicaid, according to the new Vanderbilt Poll.  In a survey taken Nov. 20 to Dec. 5, 2013, of 860 registered voters by landlines and cell phones, 63 percent said they supported the expansion of Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act. Thirty-four percent were against the expansion and 3 percent said they didn’t know. “The decision as to whether the state should expand Medicaid as provided by the Affordable Care Act is obviously an important issue in the state, and the Vanderbilt Poll provides important information about what the public thinks. Hopefully, this will help ensure that the discussion is not just driven by engaged activists on both sides of the issue, as this is not the first time Tennesseans have expressed their approval of Medicaid expansion,” said Josh Clinton, associate professor of political science and co-director of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions at Vanderbilt. LINK

As you can see from the media coverage in states around the country, these types of primary care investments are critical for families who need care. Here’s just a sample of the coverage:

AZ – Arizona Daily Star: New U.S. grant to pay for Sierra Vista community health care A new community health clinic will be operating in Sierra Vista by February, due to an unexpected federal grant of nearly $1 million. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Director Kathleen Sebelius announced Thursday that $150 million in Affordable Care Act funds will be going to 236 health programs in 43 states. LINK

CA – Recordnet.com: Grants awarded for health center The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday awarded a $691,667 grant to Community Medical Centers Inc. to help it establish a new health center service delivery site. LINK

CA – San Jose Mercury News: HHS awards Affordable Care Act funds to expand access to care Three Bay Area groups were among 46 California health centers awarded a total $30.6 million in grants Thursday from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to help care for additional patients under the new federal health care law. LINK

CO – The Gazette: Peak Vista gets $758,000 federal grant Peak Vista Community Health Centers' patient wait list is on track to be eliminated, and officials say a new federal grant could help keep it that way. The nonprofit organization expects to treat about 7,000 new patients during the next two years after being awarded a $758,333 grant on Thursday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services LINK

FL – Sunshine State News: Florida Health Centers Awarded $8.3 million from Obamacare Sixteen community health centers in Florida will share more than $8.3 million in new grants from the Affordable Care Act, federal health officials announced Thursday. More than half of the grants are for amounts exceeding $500,000. LINK

FL – Tampa Bay Times: Feds give state $8.3 million to expand care to uninsured More than a dozen Florida community health centers — including seven in Miami-Dade County — were awarded $8.3 million in grants Thursday to expand their practices and hire more physicians, nurses, dentists, psychologists and other providers in an effort to increase Americans’ access to healthcare under the Affordable Care Act, federal officials announced. LINK

FL - Miami Herald: Miami-Dade community health centers win government grants More than a dozen Florida community health centers — including seven in Miami-Dade County — were awarded $8.3 million in grants Thursday to expand their practices and hire more physicians, nurses, dentists, psychologists and other providers in an effort to increase Americans’ access to healthcare under the Affordable Care Act, federal officials announced. The grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are part of a national effort by the federal government, which awarded about $150 million to 236 health centers in 43 states, including 16 centers in Florida. LINK

FL – Sun Sentinel: Florida gets more health centers through Obamacare Florida will get 16 new federal health centers, paid by $8.3 million of grant money, to help low-income patients, including those who sign up for health insurance under Obamacare. Health and Human Services officials said the funds, available through the Affordable Care Act, will help care for 72,999 additional Floridians by establishing new health center service delivery sites. The federal centers are a major source of health care for the uninsured. And they are on the front lines of attempts to sign up patients to meet the insurance requirement next year. LINK

GA – Health agency awards $5.3M to Georgia care centers The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Thursday that it is awarding more than $5.3 million in Affordable Care Act funding to support new health care centers in Georgia. The funding will help expand the delivery of health care services in the state and is expected to impact more than 41,800 Georgians, department Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement. The funding is expected to support 10 new health center sites in Georgia, officials said. LINK

IN – Journal Gazette: Federal grant to help fund new southeast-side clinic The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will help fund a new clinic in southeast Fort Wayne. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced nearly $151 million in grant awards Thursday for health centers to establish “new access points.” The grants, funded by the much-maligned Affordable Care Act, include $325,000 for Neighborhood Health Clinics of Fort Wayne. LINK

IN – WISHTV: 6 Indiana health centers to share nearly $4.5M The U.S. Health and Human Services has awarded nearly $4.5 million in grants to six health centers in Indiana. The department said Thursday the funds will be shared by Elkhart's Heart City Health Center, Meridian Services Corp. in Muncie, the Jane Pauley Community Health Center in Indianapolis, Southlake Community Mental Health Center in Merrillville, Wabash Valley Health Center in Terre Haute and Fort Wayne's Neighborhood Health Clinics. LINK

MA – Cape Cod Times: West Tisbury health center receives federal grants Island Health Inc. in West Tisbury has received a grant of $714,350 from the federal government to expand Martha’s Vineyard residents’ access to health care.The health center is among six in Massachusetts to receive a total of $3,489,350 in Affordable Care Act funds during the latest round of grants. LINK

MA – Mass Live: Caring Health Center in Springfield wins $441,667 federal grant to expand services US Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Thursday unveiled $150 million in grants for community health centers across the country including $441,667 for the Caring Health Center in Springfield to expand health services in the city. LINK

MI - Detroit News: U.S. gives Michigan $6.2 million to open health centers Michigan will receive $6.2 million to open nine federally funded health center sites next year, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Wednesday. The money is part of the $11 billion included in the federal Affordable Care Act to expand the nation’s capacity to provide primary care, dental and mental health services. About $2.2 billion of that total will be awarded across the country during 2014, including $150 million in grants announced Wednesday. LINK

MN – Duluth News Tribune: Health notes: Grant allows Northland health agency to expand A $1.5 million grant from the state will help a regional health agency expand its preventative health efforts over the next two years, an official said. LINK

MO – KSDK 5: 9 Missouri sites receive Affordable Care Act grants Almost $6.5 million in grants will be distributed to Missouri to support nine new health center sites, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Thursday. Two hundred and thirty six health center programs nationwide will received a combined $150 million in grant awards. LINK

MO – KMOV 4: $6.5 million distributed among 9 Missouri health centers Nearly $6.5 million in grants made available by the Affordable Care Act will be distributed to nine Missouri health center sites, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Thursday. The funds will help care for approximately almost 48,000 additional Missourians by establishing new health center service delivery sites. LINK

MT – Missoulian: $925K grant lets Partnership Health Center to Seeley Lake More than $925,000 in Affordable Care Act funds will allow Partnership Health Center to expand services to Seeley Lake. The $925,757 grant, part of $150 million worth of grants given under the ACA to support 236 new health centers nationwide, was announced Thursday by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. LINK

NC – BRCHS to open health center in Spindale Blue Ridge Community Health Services of Hendersonville will open a new health center in Rutherford County, after receiving more than $850,000 in grant funding made available by the Affordable Care Act. LINK

ND – The Modesto Bee: ND gets grant to expand health care access The federal government has given North Dakota $650,000 to expand access to health care in the state. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says the funding is being made available by the Affordable Care Act. LINK

NE – Live Well Nebraska: Community Health Clincs to open in Omaha, Grand Island Community health clinics will open next year in northwest Omaha and Grand Island with a total of $1.03 million in federal Affordable Care Act money. OneWorld Community Health Centers will receive $216,667, most of which will be used to renovate a building at a location that hasn’t been disclosed. OneWorld’s head, Andrea Skolkin, said Thursday an agreement hasn’t been finalized with the landlord. LINK

NE – NBC 5 (KHASTV): Community Health Center Grants Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today. 150 million dollars in awards under the Affordable Care Act to support 236 new health center sites across the country. LINK

NH – NECN: NH health centers get $1.2 M in grants to expand Two community health centers in New Hampshire are getting federal money to expand their services. Indian Stream Health Center in Colebrook and Mid-State Health Center in Plymouth are getting more than $1.2 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The money, which is part of the federal health care overhaul law, is expected to help the centers open new delivery sites serving an additional 13,400 patients. LINK

OH – Dayton Daily News: Dayton health centers get $775K in federal funding Dayton’s Five Rivers Health Centers received a $775,000 federal grant, the government said Thursday. The U.S. Health and Human Services Department said $6,812,233 in grants have been awarded to support 11 new health center sites in Ohio. Five Rivers Health Centers have several Dayton locations, including: center for women’s health and a pediatrics center, One Wyoming St.; family health center, 2345 Philadelphia Dr.; medical surgical health center, 725 S. Ludlow St. and 30 Apple St.; and a dental center, 30 E. Apple St. LINK

OR – OPB (NPR): Oregon Health Centers Get Federal Grants Four Oregon health centers have received a combined $2.3 million from the federal government. The money comes from the Affordable Care Act and will be used to help low-income Oregonians. LINK

PA – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Two Philadelphia health centers to receive $1.5 million in federal grants The Obama administration will announce today that it is awarding $1.5 million in grants to two new Philadelphia health center sites through the federal Affordable Care Act. The funding is part of approximately $150 million in grant awards to 236 health center programs nationwide, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency said the awards will pay for care for approximately 8,343 additional Pennsylvanians and more than 1.25 million additional patients nationwide. LINK

SD – KSFY (ABC): South Dakota awarded $1.3 million health care grant South Dakota was awarded grants to support new health center sites from the US Health and Human Services department.The $1.3 million grant will establish two new health centers, allowing more residents access to health care services. LINK

TX – KERA News: 10 Texas Health Centers To Get $6 Million In Affordable Care Act Funds The day after President Obama visited Dallas to talk health care, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced nearly $6 million in Affordable Care Act funds will go to Texas health centers to expand access to care. LINK

VA – NBC 12: 2 Va health centers get grants to expand access Two health centers in Virginia have been awarded federal grants to expand access to care. The Department of Health and Human Services awarded $775,000 to the Rockbridge Area Free Clinic in Lexington and $317,000 to the Greater Prince William Community Health Center in Woodbridge. LINK

VT – WCAX: Feds fund 3 new subsidized health centers A new round of federal grants will provide subsidies to three more health clinics in Vermont. Sen. Bernie Sanders announced Thursday that the Battenkill Valley Health Center based in Arlington, the Five-Town Health Alliance based in Bristol and clinics affiliated with Randolph's Gifford Medical Center will receive the aid. LINK

VT – Valley News: Fed Grants Boost Health Centers in VT Vermont’s federally qualified health centers, known for providing comprehensive primary care, mental health and dental services to residents, are about to grow in number from eight to 11, thanks to new funding. LINK

WI – Gazette Xtra: Two local centers receive $17,000 grants Two local centers that provide services for child victims and their families each have received $17,000 grant to help with professional development, medical consultation and service improvement. LINK

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)

Yesterday, as part of his plan to deliver a better bargain for the middle class, President Obama kicked off a two-day bus tour across New York and Pennsylvania in which he announced an ambitious agenda to tackle rising college costs, make college more affordable, and improve value for students and families.

In his first stop at the University at Buffalo, the President laid out the three key steps that we need to take to ensure that college remains affordable and a viable ladder of economic opportunity for the middle class and those working to get there. First, connect financial aid to school performance, second support academic innovation and finally, keep the cost of higher education within the reach of all young Americans.

Here is a small sample of the coverage that the President’s plan has received across the country:

AL – The Birmingham News (Underwood): New Obama college affordability plan would tie federal aid to the school’s educational value -- A new plan being proposed by President Barack Obama Thursday would rate the educational value of colleges and tie their value to federal aid offered to students, essentially paying colleges for better performance, the White House revealed Thursday. The plan would address rising college tuition costs have increased over 250 percent in the past three decades. Under the proposal, borrowers would be allowed to cap their student loan payments at 10 percent of their monthly income. The college rating system would tie aid to the college’s affordability, the number of students on Pell grants, and the college’s ability to produce outcomes, such as graduates with degrees, earnings of graduates, and other factors. LINK

CO- The Denver Post (Anthony Cotton) Local educators may play role in implementing Obama’s college plan- Colleges and universities in Colorado might already be ahead of the game when it comes to the plan proposed Thursday by President Barack Obama that aims to make college education more affordable by tying federal financial aid to new college ratings. LINK

CT – The Connecticut Mirror (Thomas): College too expensive? Obama proposes solution -- As the cost to attend college continues to spiral upward, President Barack Obama will announce Thursday a proposal to tie federal financial aid to a new college rating system and to limit how much students will need to pay each month for their student loans.   Obama, who will make the announcement at a college in Buffalo, N.Y., will need Congressional approval for both initiatives, White House officials said during a conference call with reporters Thursday. LINK

FL – Orlando Sentinel (Postal): President Obama proposes rating colleges on costs, outcomes -- President Barack Obama announced plans today for a new college rating system that could help students and their families better control rising tuition costs. The ratings aim to help American families determine which schools provide the "best value" and eventually could be tied to student financial aid offers. The proposed rating system, which the president wants in place by the 2015 school year, is part of an effort to make college more affordable and to "fundamentally rethink about how higher education is paid for in this country," the president said in an email posted on the White House website. "We've got to shake up the current system." The rating system would judge colleges and universities based on their affordability, on the access they provide to disadvantaged students and their academic outcomes, such as graduation rates and their graduates' job earnings, the White House said. LINK

LA – The Times-Picayune (Alpert): President Obama: escalating college tuition increases 'not sustainable' -- Warning that many young people are being priced out of college while others are going heavily in debt to afford tuition, President Barack Obama Thursday proposed linking some federal aid to schools that keep costs affordable and maintain solid graduation rates. He also said states need to reverse the recent trend of reducing allocations to state colleges. In the past five years, state funding for higher education in Louisiana has been cut by nearly $700 million. Seventy percent of funding now comes from tuition and fees. LINK

MA – The Boston Globe (Jan): Obama targets high cost of college -- President Obama unveiled a plan Thursday to rein in exploding college costs, drawing skepticism from some New England college presidents concerned about tying federal funding to a new performance rating system. Under Obama’s plan, the federal government would develop a report card by 2015 for all public and private colleges that would measure tuition increases, graduation rates, student debt, and even graduates’ earnings to help students pick schools that offer the best value. The White House hopes that by 2018, two years after Obama’s term ends, Congress will pass legislation that would link the ratings to how much schools will receive in federal financial aid — the controversial sticking point for some lawmakers and college leaders. “Colleges that keep their tuition down and are providing high-quality education are the ones that are going to see their taxpayer funding go up. It is time to stop subsidizing schools that are not producing good results,” Obama said in a speech at the State University of New York Buffalo. LINK

ME – The Portland Press Herald (Miller, Bouchard): Obama's college-aid plan plays well in Maine -- College administrators, students and lawmakers in Maine had largely positive reviews Thursday for a series of proposals by President Obama that essentially would grade the nation's colleges on their affordability. The president's plan would, for the first time, rate colleges on criteria such as tuition and student debt, and eventually tie federal aid to schools based on how they measure up. "I think that is a good way to hold colleges accountable for the services they provide and for how affordable they are," said Jimmy Jung, vice president for enrollment management at the University of Maine. LINK

NY – The Buffalo News (Vogel, Zremski): Obama stresses higher education as ‘pathway to middle class’ -- President Obama told an energetic crowd inside the University at Buffalo’s Alumni Arena this morning that he chose to speak in Buffalo about his goals for higher education because the university is doing “great work.” “I wanted to start here at the University at Buffalo,” Obama said, at the beginning of his remarks on the topic of higher education. Obama unveiled a set of proposals that he said would improve the ways that colleges work and make college education more affordable for families – and the process easier to understand. “Higher education cannot be a luxury,” Obama told the audience in Amherst. “It’s an economic imperative.”LINK

NY – The Journal News (Spector) Barack Obama tours upstate, offers higher-ed reforms to reduce loan burden -- President Barack Obama continues his two-day bus tour across upstate New York Friday after spending Thursday promoting new higher-education reforms. He spoke in Buffalo, ate lunch in Rochester with college students and visited a birthplace of women’s rights in Seneca Falls. He will hold a town-hall style discussion Friday at Binghamton University about college affordability. The visit is his longest in upstate New York during his presidency. Obama said he wanted to visit upstate to tout its wealth of colleges and address the cost of public and private schools. He proposed measures to boost accountability at colleges and lessen the burden of loans on graduating students. New York students leave college with an average of nearly $26,000 in loans, he said in Buffalo. LINK

NY – The Niagara Gazette (Gulley): Obama seeks 'better bargain' for college -- President Barack Obama on Thursday became the first sitting president since Millard Fillmore in 1853 to speak at the University at Buffalo, as he outlined a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s higher education system aimed at delivering “a better bargain” for the middle class. “We can’t price the middle class and everybody trying to get into the middle class out of a higher education,” he said, adding that keeping soaring tuition costs in check is an “economic imperative” that, if not addressed, could “stifle economic mobility for generations.” LINK

NY – The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (Tumulty, Goodman): Obama's college proposal received warmly by local educators -- Local educators Thursday generally praised President Barack Obama’s blueprint for making college more affordable, saying it builds on some of the innovations undertaken by the State University of New York to increase access to higher education. The president unveiled the proposal at the State University at Buffalo Thursday and will field questions about it Friday at a town hall-style setting at SUNY Binghamton. He is making a two-day bus tour of upstate New York and Pennsylvania that’s timed to coincide with college students returning to campuses for the academic year. Obama credited scholarships and loans for helping him and first lady Michelle Obama graduate from college and law school. But he said they did it “with a mountain of debt” that they didn’t finish paying off until he was in his 40s, just before he ran for the U.S. Senate. LINK

OH – Cleveland Plain Dealer (Farkas): Obama to propose a rating system for colleges, which could determine federal financial aid awards -- President Barack Obama is expected to unveil today a new plan to rate colleges based in part on affordability and the ratings may determine federal financial aid awards, according to the Associated Press. The new rating system, which could be impletemented by the 2015 school year, would evaluate colleges on a series of measures, including average tuition and student loan debt, graduation rates, and the average earning of graduates. The president will explain the proposals during a two-day bus tour through New York and Pennsylvania. LINK

OR – The Statesman Journal (Hoffman): Oregon leaders enthusiastic about Obama's higher ed plan -- President Barack Obama’s plan to improve access to higher education is closely in line with the state’s efforts, state officials said Thursday. Obama announced his plan Thursday morning. It is designed to make it easier for students to pay off debt, make college available for more people and push colleges to offer better value for the high tuition they charge. Oregon college graduates leave school with an average of $25,497 in debt, a vestige from rising education costs that have reached nearly $21,000 annually for an in-state undergraduate who lives on campus. “We are very aligned with (his plan),” said Hilda Rosselli, deputy director of college and career readiness for the Oregon Education Investment Board. “I felt sometimes like I was reading the notes from what we’ve been working on.” LINK

PA – Allentown Morning Call (Itkowitz): WH outlines higher ed plan Obama will push in Scranton -- When President Obama arrives in Scranton Friday evening he'll make his fourth sales pitch in two days for a proposal to evaluate colleges using a new rating system that will factor cost and graduation rate intended to hold schools accountable for their overall performance. The new ratings system, which Obama wants made public before the 2015 school year, would eventually tie financial aid to college's scores. Students choosing high performing schools would be eligible for more aid. Additionally, the White House will ask states to fund public colleges based on performance, and link aid to earning a degree as an incentive for students to finish school, the White House announced Thursday. LINK

PA – The Philadelphia Inquirer (Snyder): Obama seeks to control college costs -- To address the soaring cost of higher education, President Obama pledged Thursday to develop a college rating system that would tie federal financial aid to performance in areas such as tuition, graduation rates, percentage of low-income students, and debt load of graduates. Students attending better-performing colleges would receive larger federal Pell grants and more affordable student loans - a proposal that would require congressional approval. The nation awards more than $150 billion annually in student financial aid. "Not enough colleges have been working to figure out how do we control costs," Obama said Thursday morning at the University at Buffalo, the first stop on a two-day bus tour in New York state and Pennsylvania. LINK

PA – The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Mauriello): Obama plans shake-up in higher education system --  Promising to "shake up the current system," President Barack Obama on Thursday began a two-day push for an ambitious plan to direct a greater portion of federal aid to students attending the most efficient and affordable schools that produce graduates who end up in good-paying jobs. In upstate New York, on the first leg of a bus tour that will bring him to Scranton, Pa., today, Mr. Obama called for a new system to evaluate colleges on graduation rates, average salary of graduates, tuition and average student loan debt. And he wants Congress to direct a larger portion of federal aid to students attending schools with good ratings. Colleges that keep costs low are the ones that will get more federal aid, he said. "I've got confidence that our country's colleges and universities will step up to the plate if they're given the right incentives. They, too, should want to do the right thing for students," Mr. Obama told a crowd of 1,300 Thursday evening at Henninger High School in Syracuse. LINK

In June, the Senate passed historic legislation that is largely consistent with the President’s principles for commonsense immigration reform with a strong bipartisan vote. This bill would strengthen border security, while providing an earned path to citizenship for undocumented farmworkers who are vital to our nation’s agriculture industry, and a new temporary worker program negotiated by major grower associations and farmworker groups. If enacted, the Senate bill would result in undocumented workers paying a fine, their full share of taxes and is estimated to allow an estimated 1.5 million agricultural workers and their dependents to earn legal status. A diverse group of stakeholders know this: it’s a major reason why they are calling on the House to join the Senate in acting to fix our broken immigration system in a way that requires responsibility from everyone — both from workers here illegally and from those who hire them—and guarantees that everyone is playing by the same rules. 

While the debate inside Washington continues, here’s a look at how this new report is getting covered outside the beltway, in many of the farm and rural communities that would benefit from commonsense immigration reform:

AZ – AZ Central (Gonzalez): Vilsack: Farmers need immigration reform  U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today made a push for comprehensive immigration reform, saying the nation’s broken immigration system is contributing to labor scarcities that are forcing some farmers to shrink operations and move crop production out of the country. “History has shown that when you have comprehensive immigration reform, when you have an immigration system that is working, the economy grows, jobs are created and working conditions improve,” Vilsack said in a telephone conference call with reporters. But “significant shortages of farm workers” exacerbated by the broken immigration system means farmers are not getting their crops harvested, Vilsack said, basing his information on discussions with farmers and farm groups. Link

CA – San Francisco Chronicle (Lochhead): White House: California could lose farms without immigration reform The White House applied pressure on rural lawmakers Monday with a report that immigration reform is necessary to keep farms from moving operations abroad. “Folks are making decisions to move their operations out of the United States,” because of a lack of workers, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a conference call. The biggest effect is in California with its $34 billion a year produce industry. Most fresh fruits and vegetables are harvested and packed by hand, mostly by immigrant workers who crossed the border illegally. Vilsack said that without better access to migrant farm workers, the state could lose between $1.7 billion and $3.1 billion a year in lost farm income. The report said 74 percent of the state’s farm labor force is non-citizen, and probably most of those are undocumented. Link

CA – ABCNews10 (Chebium): Report: 73 percent of Calif. farm jobs held by non-citizens  California agriculture would suffer unless Congress overhauls the immigration system, the Obama administration said Monday in a renewed push to lobby for a Senate-approved measure that has the support of the Golden State's farm lobby. Seventy-three percent of California's agricultural workers are non-citizens -- the highest in any state -- and a majority of them are undocumented workers, according to a White House report issued Monday. Washington state, where 60 percent of farm workers are non-citizens, and Florida, with 59 percent, round out the top three, according to the report, released the week before Congress is to leave for the summer. Link

IA – Des Moines Register (Doering): White House says U.S. agriculture would benefit from immigration reform The Obama administration made it latest push for immigration reform Monday, warning that American agriculture could experience a growing shortage of farm labor if current laws are enforced. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters that immigration reform is needed to provide employment security for farm workers, provide a fair playing field for those producers currently playing by the rules and help increase rural populations where government’s will be able to collect more income through taxes. Link

IA – Radio Iowa (Henderson): Vilsack says immigration reform crucial for ag interests  U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says the ag industry will suffer if congress fails to enact some sort of immigration reforms. “If you know what I know about the impact of the immigrant workforce on agriculture, you recognize that this is something that needs to get done,” Vilsack says. “We have had crops not harvested, crops not raised and crops actually leaving the United States and being grown elsewhere because we have a broken immigration system.”  America’s agricultural industry has been able to keep food prices low, in part, with cheap immigrant labor. In 2006, 77 percent of all agricultural workers in the United States were born in another country. Vilsack cites a recent study in the state of Georgia. Link

IN – Hoosier Ag Today (Truitt): New Report Highlights Importance of Immigration Reform to Ag U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has released a report that cites the need for immigration reform to benefit agriculture. Vilsack praised the Senate-passed comprehensive immigration reform bill and said it is now up to the House to pass a comprehensive measure or series of bills that would equate to comprehensive legislation. If the immigration system is not reformed – Vilsack said there will be reductions in agricultural production that will put the nation’s food security at risk over time. He also noted the broad coalition backing immigration reform – and said there is no excuse not to get it done. Link

KS – Wichita Eagle (Wistrom): New worker visa program could help Kansas add farm jobs, says report TOPEKA – Kansas could add 757 new farm jobs that would bolster the state’s agriculture sector and generate tax revenue for state and federal governments if Congress approves immigration reforms that include a new worker visa program, according to a new report from the Obama administration. Meanwhile, the report shows Kansas stands to lose $7.6 million to $13.7 million of agriculture production if immigrant labor were eliminated. In a conference call Monday, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the report provides new evidence of the need for comprehensive immigration reform that has been approved by the Senate but has yet to be formally debated in the House. Link

NE – Nebraska Radio Network (Kelley): USDA boss pushes for immigration reform Nebraska has the fourth largest agricultural economy in the country, but U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack says the ag industries in the state and nation will suffer if Congress fails to enact some sort of immigration reform. “If you know what I know about the impact of the immigrant workforce on agriculture, you recognize that this is something that needs to get done,” Vilsack says. “We have had crops not harvested, crops not raised and crops actually leaving the United States and being grown elsewhere because we have a broken immigration system.” Link

NE – Omaha World-Herald (Morton): Ag chief Vilsack: Farm country would get a boost from immigration overhaul  A broad immigration system overhaul would represent an economic boost for those in farm country, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Monday. It's the latest tactic in the Obama administration's efforts to persuade the GOP-controlled House to pass an immigration bill. The White House released a report Monday featuring an analysis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other sources that highlights foreign workers' importance to the agricultural sector, which has faced labor shortages in some parts of the country. “The bottom line is simply that the lack of labor will today — and will in the future if it continues — result in a decrease in agricultural production, a decrease in agricultural outputs and exports,” Vilsack said, “which obviously will cost farm income and jobs and the economy.” Link

However, as President Obama stated, climate change represents not only a challenge to America but also an opportunity for us to create sustainable employment and economic growth in the future in a vast array of fields, from building wind turbines in Iowa to designing the next generation of electric cars in California.

With so much at stake in this debate, from the strength of our economy to the type of world we leave our children, newspapers across the country reported on the President’s common-sense plan. Here’s a sample of the coverage:

CA – San Francisco Business Times (Riddell): SolarCity a big winner from Obama climate change speech Shares of SolarCity rocketed today after President Barack Obama's no-holds-barred climate change speech in which he laid out a broad series of steps to reduce pollution and save energy including upping the federal government's purchase of renewable energy to meet 20 percent of its total demand and encouraging widespread energy efficiency efforts. But the big boost to SolarCity, the San Mateo-based solar installer and project financing company, probably came from the Wal-Mart shout-out the President gave. He said more than 500 businesses, including Nike and General Motors, issued a declaration calling action on climate change "one of the greatest opportunities of the 21st century."

NY – Syracuse Post-Standard (Weiner): President Obama to propose climate action plan President Barack Obama today will unveil a sweeping climate action plan that includes the first-ever carbon dioxide limits on new and existing power plants. Obama will outline his plan in a speech this afternoon at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where aides say he will propose mandatory reductions on power plant emissions, the nation's single largest source of carbon-dioxide emissions.

MN – The Minneapolis Star-Tribune (McAuliffe): Minnesota likely out in front of carbon emissions, climate change mandates Hamilton and several others with interests in environmental issues and climate impacts on local communities praised Obama’s announcement of the effort to address climate change, mostly for its emphasis on curbing carbon pollution. Putting limits on carbon dioxide emissions, as has been done for decades on other pollutants, is long overdue, they said.

NJ – The Asbury Park Press (Moore): Obama climate plan proposes more post-Sandy protection The aftermath of superstorm Sandy shows what the United States can expect with a changing climate, and how the nation must prepare coastal communities while continuing to reduce carbon emissions and transition to cleaner energy, President Obama said Tuesday in an address outlining his administration’s climate action plan. Speaking outdoors at Georgetown University in Washington, Obama mopped his brow in the 92-degree heat, and defended his plan against critics from the right and left. He harkened back to the Clean Air Act of 1970, a measure passed with bipartisan support and signed by Republican President Richard Nixon.

NJ – The Press of Atlantic City (Watson): Some New Jersey energy goals are ahead of President Obama's President Obama’s sweeping federal policy announcements Tuesday for how the country will address climate change has cast attention on how New Jersey is handling the issues. Among the efforts Obama announced is setting limits for the first time on how much carbon power plants can release, upgrading the nation’s electric grid, doubling the amount of energy produced by alternative-energy sources by 2020 and requiring all projects built with federal money to meet standards to withstand sea-level rise and extreme weather. Some of these concepts already are in place in New Jersey, and the state intends to use its efforts to rebuild after Hurricane Sandy as a “working model” for how to fortify the coast and prepare towns for sea-level rise and severe storms, said Larry Ragonese, state Department of Environmental Protection spokesman.

FL – The Palm Beach Post (Stapleton): President urges action on climate change protection, cleaner energy production President Barack Obama declared the debate over climate change and its causes obsolete Tuesday and announced a wide-ranging plan to tackle pollution and prepare communities for global warming. During an hour-long speech at Georgetown University, Obama warned Americans of the deep and disastrous effects of climate change, urging them to take action before it’s too late. Obama announced he was directing the Environmental Protection Agency to launch first-ever federal regulations on heat-trapping gases emitted by new and existing power plants — “to put an end to the limitless dumping of carbon pollution.”

UT – The Deseret News (O’Donoghue): Obama says time to act is now on climate change President Barack Obama unveiled an ambitious plan to address climate change, building on his initiatives to embrace more dependence on renewable energy, increase fuel economy for vehicles and to cut carbon pollution from power plants. In a Tuesday speech under sweltering heat at Georgetown University, Obama declared the debate on climate change over and stressed the time for action is now. "The question is not whether we need to act," he said. "The question now is whether we will have the courage to act before it is too late."

MA – Boston Globe (Daley): Obama offers plan to fight climate dangers President Obama on Tuesday unveiled a comprehensive blueprint to combat rising seas and more frequent severe weather caused by climate change, including a long-awaited promise to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant at existing power plants. The 21-page plan would expand production of solar and wind energy and includes billions of dollars in loan guarantees to develop cleaner fossil-fuel and other energy technologies. It also funds new efforts to armor communities against flooding, wildfires, and drought, and puts more emphasis on working with countries such as India and China to jointly lower emissions of gases that warm the atmosphere.

IA – Des Moines Register (Noble): Obama climate plan could remake energy landscape in Iowa President Barack Obama’s plan for addressing climate change could remake the landscape for power generation in Iowa and reignite the state’s alternative energy industry, experts said, although to what extent remains uncertain. The “climate action plan” unveiled by the president during a speech Tuesday at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., encompasses numerous new and expanded policies, all of which Obama said could be enacted by his administration without congressional action.

CA – San Jose Mercury News (Rogers): Obama announces sweeping new global warming plan In the largest environmental initiative of his presidency, President Obama will announce this morning the nation's first mandatory restrictions on greenhouse gases from new and existing power plants.

NJ – The Newark Star-Ledger (Augenstein): Obama to unveil climate-change proposals this afternoon President Barack Obama is expected to unveil his plan to address climate change this afternoon. The president will lay out a sweeping guideline for reducing carbon emissions and other greenhouse-gas pollution this afternoon, according to a video released by the White House. “This Tuesday at Georgetown University, I’ll lay out my vision for where I believe we need to go,” the president said, citing his second-term inaugural address in January.

UT – The Desert Sun (Kaufmann): Obama’s climate change speech and solar opportunities — a bird’s-eye view What seems to be the best impetus for getting homeowners and businesses to consider solar, beyond personal politics, is its economic advantages. In the Coachella Valley, most installers will tell you, the potential for getting out from under the region’s high electric bills is solar’s strongest selling point. President Barack Obama made just that point in his speech Tuesday, outlining his plan to fight global warming. Answering the naysayers who routinely attack renewable energy and other efforts to cut carbon emissions as overly expensive job killers, the president noted that more than 500 businesses had recently signed a Climate Declaration, calling action on climate change “one of the great economic opportunities of the 21st century.”

President Barack Obama, with Vice President Joe Biden, delivers remarks unveiling new gun control proposals as part of the Administration’s response to the Newtown, Conn. shootings, and other tragedies, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Jan. 16, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Yesterday at the White House, President Obama unveiled a package of proposals to protect our children and our communities by reducing gun violence. While no law or set of laws will end gun violence, it is clear that the American people want action. Editorial pages across the country today echoed that sentiment and lauded the President’s broad approach to address this important issue now:

CA - Bakersfield Californian: Obama's plan isn't an end-all, but it's a start. President Obama put forth his long-awaited proposal to address gun violence on Wednesday -- a common-sense yet somehow controversial plan long overdue at the national level. LINK

CA - San Jose Mercury News: Obama ready for a fight on gun laws, finally. "All right, here we go." Those were President Barack Obama's words Wednesday after he signed 23 executive actions and proposed the most sweeping set of gun-reform laws in a generation. He was acknowledging the beginning of a long and difficult fight that he is finally embracing after years of inaction. LINK

CO - Denver Post: Gun laws need a push from the public. President Obama's proposals to curb gun violence are sensible, moderate, enjoy broad public support— and will have a devil of a time getting enough votes to pass Congress. LINK

CT - Connecticut Post: Welcome steps on gun safety. President Barack Obama was decisive and authoritative on Wednesday in announcing 23 executive orders aimed at curtailing gun violence. LINK

CT - Hartford Courant: Obama Throws Down Gauntlet On Guns. It's "game on" between President Barack Obama and the gun lobby. With parents of a Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victim in his audience Wednesday, Mr. Obama embraced a cause — making the nation less vulnerable to gun violence — that may prove to be the most politically difficult of his presidency. LINK

FL - Tampa Bay Times: Obama's perfectly reasonable gun proposals. Americans are about to have the most vigorous discussion on guns in decades, and it's about time. Our national conscience has been shaken by last month's massacre at a Connecticut elementary school. But gun violence and personal safety are issues everywhere, and President Barack Obama's comprehensive approach to reforming the nation's gun laws should be embraced by Congress. These are sensible proposals that would save lives without jeopardizing the constitutional rights of hunters, gun collectors and other legal gun owners. LINK

IL - Chicago Tribune: Enough talk. Time to act. President Barack Obama and the National Rifle Association do agree on something: No amount of legislation can prevent every evil act. In his remarks on gun violence Wednesday, Obama acknowledged what gun enthusiasts have been saying for decades: Cracking down on illicit access to guns won't pre-empt all such future tragedies. LINK

IL - Chicago Sun-Times: Time for gun owners to back gun limits. When it comes to guns in America, there is no slippery slope. There is no chance, and never will be, that stricter regulations on guns will lead in time to wholesale bans and confiscation. LINK

MN - Minnesota Star Tribune: A federal blueprint to curb gun deaths.The overdue changes aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of those who would harm others represent the most sweeping effort to curb gun violence in at least a generation. It's time, as Obama noted Wednesday, for Americans to stand up and say "enough." LINK

NC - Charlotte Observer: The smokescreen against gun control. What the president proposed Wednesday are reasonable measures most Americans support. They are ideas that address issues both Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, have raised regarding gun violence. They are, more than anything, an attempt not to take away Americans’ rights, but to make those rights more difficult to abuse. LINK

NY - New York Daily News: The children’s crusade. At its powerfully beating heart, the gun control program that President Obama placed at the top of the national agenda on Wednesday was about the children. The murdered children. LINK

PA - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Fatal misfire: Gun check laws are stymied for no good reason. Enforcement of existing laws is not enough to tackle the nation's gun violence epidemic, but it should be a start, in conjunction with Mr. Obama's sweeping reforms. People who should be barred from owning guns should not have such an easy time getting around background checks already on the books. LINK

UT - Salt Lake Tribune: Now is the time. President Obama’s list of executive orders and legislative proposals intended to reduce firearms deaths in the United States is reasonable, balanced and worthy of support. The program, entitled "Now Is the Time," does not, and would not, violate the Second Amendment or deny any American reasonable means of defending their persons, families and property. LINK

Learn more 

• Read President Obama's plan to curb gun violence
• Watch the President announce his plan to curb gun violence
• See a photo gallery of Vice President Biden's meetings with concerned groups
• Sign on to show your support for the President's plan

Middle class families are the heart and soul of America, and the driving force behind our economy. And today, the middle class lies at the center of the debate in Washington about jobs, taxes, and the deficit. If Congress does not act by year’s end, the typical middle class family of four will see their income taxes increase by over $2,000 - which means that much less money in a family budget for groceries for dinner, gas in the car or a holiday gift for a loved one.

Republicans, Democrats and Independents agree that the middle class should not see their income taxes rise. Yet, some Members of Congress are insisting that we hold up tax cuts for 98 percent of families in order to protect the top 2 percent of income earners in America.

Today, the White House National Economic Council released state-by-state reports about the real-life impact of these tax increases on America’s middle class families if Congress fails to act by January 1. Not only will families across the country see an increase in federal income taxes, but families stand to lose out on expansions to the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit. In addition, millions of families will no longer get help paying for college from the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which provides up to $10,000 over four years to help families afford college.  

Take this example for a typical family of four living in Texas:

A typical median-income Texas family of four: a married couple with two children earning

$65,900 would see a $2,200 tax increase.

• A tax increase of $1,000 because the Child Tax Credit will fall from $1,000 to $500 per child.
• A tax increase of $890 because of merging the 10 percent tax bracket into the 15 percent tax bracket.
• A tax increase of $310 because of the expiration of marriage penalty relief that provides a larger standard deduction for married couples.

Total Tax Increase on this Family if Congress Fails to Act = $2,200

Preventing this income tax increase on middle class families is simple. President Obama has said he is ready to sign legislation that will provide security to 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small businesses. The Senate has passed it and the House of Representatives needs to act.

Meanwhile, news is spreading across the country about what January 1^st could mean for middle class families:

LA - Times-Picayune: What happens to Louisiana taxes if Congress and President Obama don’t reach a deficit deal?

MA - Boston Globe: White House lays out impact on Massachusetts families if fiscal cliff inaction results in loss of child-tax credit and tuition credit losses

ME- Portland Press Herald: Maine’s Senators: Wealthy can wait

MI - Detroit News: Obama to discuss economy, tax cuts Monday in region

MN – Star Tribune: White House says middle-class Minnesotans could pay the price

NC – News & Observer: White House warns N.C. families of tax hikes if we go over fiscal cliff

OK – The Oklahoman: Tax credits also at stake in fiscal cliff debate, White House says

OR – The Oregonian: White House outlines consequences if Oregon falls off the fiscal cliff

RI - Providence Journal: Obama: 400,000 RI families would see tax increases if Bush tax cuts expire

TX – Dallas Morning News: Fiscal cliff: White House highlights impact on Texas middle class

TX – Houston Chronicle:White House: Texas consumer spending will drop $15.3 billion if Congress allows tax rates on all Americans to increase

WV – Charleston Gazette: Off the fiscal cliff: White House details how a dive would affect West Virginians

For a state-by-state breakdown on what these tax increases could mean for middle class families if Congress fails to act, please see:

President Barack Obama talks with participants before a meeting with small business owners to discuss a balanced approach to the debt limit and deficit reduction, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Nov. 27, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

As we move into the holiday shopping season, the President met yesterday with small business owners from across the country at the White House to discuss the importance of preventing a tax increase on small businesses before the end of the year. Given that consumer spending is roughly 70% of our economy, the President also heard directly from these local business leaders on how they would be affected by a tax increase on middle class families.

News of their visit and the important messages that these small business owners brought to the table on Tuesday was carried in their home towns from St. Louis to Jacksonville, across television, newspapers and radio.   Let’s take a look at some of the coverage of their meeting from local media outlets across the country:

Detroit News: Wayne business owner: Extend some tax cuts

Detroit News: Wayne County entrepreneur urges 'certainty' in business forum with Obama

Detroit Free Press: Owner of Detroit-area trucking firm tells Obama she's OK with higher taxes

Detroit – NBC (MI):  Andra Rush, Founder, Rush Trucking: “The president agrees with having tax cuts extended to 98% of the population and has already agreed to that, he’s cut $1.1 trillion in government spending already, and he's ready and willing to get the job done, as well as cut the red tape to help continue to create jobs and support small business. I think by having our economy sound and by having a budget that has been approved by all parties, bipartisan, what it does is it creates a certainty so consumers purchase. I'm in the auto industry, so people buying cars made in America is fantastic and that helps us create jobs right in the city of Detroit.” Read more here. 

WisBusiness (WI): In meeting with Obama, New Glarus Brewing president praises his work on health care

Green Bay – WBAY (WI): Wisconsin Beermaker to Join President Obama's Small-business Summit

St. Louis Dispatch: Vintage Vinyl Owner Meets With The President

St. Louis Public Radio: Vintage Vinyl Owner Among Small Business Leaders At White House Meeting

St. Louis Biz Journal: Vintage Vinyl’s Lew Prince talks taxes with President Obama

St. Louis – FOX 2 (MO): Co-Owner Of Vintage Vinyl Gives President Obama Economic Advice

St. Louis – KMOX-AM (MO): “Yesterday, Vintage Vinyl managing partner Lew Prince was in Washington DC talking fiscal cliff issues with President Obama.  Prince tells KMOX he joined other small business owners from around the country urging the President to allow the Bush era tax cuts on the wealthy to expire and protect the safety net and the middle-class tax cuts. ‘What drives hiring in my business and every other business is increased demand.  And anyone who owns a business knows that when demand goes up because customers have more money, you get to hire more people. It’s really that simple.’” Read more here.

Jacksonville – WJXT (FL): “Before hitting the road, the president spent some time talking to small business leaders about the fiscal cliff. The president met with 15 people from across the country including one local man. We talked with Andy Harold, owner of A. Harold + Associates about the meeting… Harold says knowing the president is committed to figuring out a plan that will keep the economy growing, will help him as he makes decisions that could help expand his business. Harold's company provides technology, education and training support services to federal, state and local governments.” Read more here.

Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, which is why President Obama has a plan to help them grow and create jobs. From the mom-and-pop storefront shops to the high-tech startups that keep America on the cutting edge, small businesses create two out of every three new private-sector jobs in America. That helps spur economic development in communities across our country and gives millions of families and individuals the opportunity to achieve the American dream. 

The President’s second term plan invests in innovation and jumpstarts small business job growth by cutting taxes for businesses who hire more workers and pay higher wages.  And his plan targets Main Street small businesses, not wealthy law partners or hedge fund managers. But before the end of the year we face a set of deadlines and Congress needs to act.  The President is working to find common ground to keep taxes keep taxes low for 97 percent of small businesses and 98 percent of American families.  By extending middle class tax cuts, every American will get a tax break on their first $250,000 of income. But if Congress fails to act, middle class families will see their income taxes go up by $2,200 in just a few short weeks. 

Everyone agrees that taxes shouldn’t go up on middle class families.  The Senate sent a bill to the House to extend middle class tax cuts. There’s no reason to wait.  The President plans to build on the 18 small business tax breaks he already signed into law during his second term, but first we need to find common ground and compromise to keep taxes from going up on 97% of small businesses on January 1, 2012. 

The link to a new White House report released this week from the National Economic Council and the Council of Economic Advisers providing new analysis on the impact to retailers and consumer spending if Congress fails to act can be found here.

Josh Earnest is Special Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy Press Secretary.

During their visit earlier this summer, the President toured the rising skyscraper, greeted construction workers and signed the steel beam. In red marker, the President wrote: "We remember. We rebuild. We come back stronger!"

President Barack Obama signs one of the final steel beams that will be installed as part of the framework of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s One World Trade Center site in New York, N.Y., June 14, 2012. First Lady Michelle Obama, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg also signed the beam. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

The beam signed by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama is installed at One World Trade Center in New York, N.Y., August 2, 2012. (The Port Authority of NY & NJ)

On April 30, 2012, One World Trade Center surpassed the Empire State Building to become the tallest skyscraper in New York City at 1,271 feet above street level. Today, One World Trade Center steel is at 1,368 feet, the height of the original World Trade Center. When One World Trade Center is completed, its spire will rise to 1,776 feet, making it the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

To get to its present height, construction workers, laboring high above the city through snow, rain and heat have installed 43,000 tons of steel and nearly 200,000 cubic yards of concrete—enough for a four-foot-wide sidewalk from New York to Chicago. The building will contain 1 million square feet of glass facade, enough to cover 20 NFL football fields.

With more than one and a half years remaining before workers complete One World Trade Center, the 3 million square foot tower is already more than 55 percent leased. The building will serve as the headquarters of Conde Nast, a world-class publisher, which has leased more than 1.2 million square feet covering 25 floors. An additional 190,000 square feet has been leased by Vantone China Center and the federal General Services Administration just last month leased 270,000 square feet.

One World Trade Center aims to be one of the most sustainable office buildings of its size and achieve LEED Gold certification standards. These standards will result in lower energy expenses, lower operating expenses, access to natural light through floor to ceiling glass windows and highly filtered air. The building will feature an iconic Observation Deck at the top of the building that will provide visitors with unrivaled views of New York City, the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Hudson and East River waterfronts.

The Durst Organization, one of the most highly respected developers in the real estate industry, manages One World Trade Center.

Visit WTCProgress.com and follow @WTCProgress on Twitter for updates on building progress. 

It’s no secret the President has gone through some soul-searching on this issue. He’s talked to the First Lady about it, like so many couples do.  He’s heard from folks—gay and lesbian friends, staff members in long-term, loving relationships, as well as brave young servicemen and women he got to know through the fight to end Don’t, Ask Don’t Tell.  

He’s sat around his kitchen table with Sasha and Malia, who have friends whose parents are same-sex couples. As the President said during the interview, “it wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently.  It doesn’t make sense to them. And frankly, that’s the kind of thing that prompts a change of perspective -- not wanting to somehow explain to your child why somebody should be treated differently when it comes to eyes of the law.”

In the end, the President said, he believes it's important to "treat others the way you would want to be treated."We need to recognize that people are going to have differing views on marriage and those views, even if we disagree strongly, should be respected.  

Newspapers across the country commented on yesterday’s news.  Let’s take a look at a few of them:

New York Times: “It Has Always Taken Strong National Leadership To Expand Equal Rights In This Country, And It Has Long Been Obvious That Marriage Rights Are No Exception. President Obama Offered Some Of That Leadership On Wednesday.” “It has always taken strong national leadership to expand equal rights in this country, and it has long been obvious that marriage rights are no exception. President Obama offered some of that leadership on Wednesday. ‘I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,’ Mr. Obama said in an interview with ABC News that the White House arranged for the purpose of giving Mr. Obama a forum to say just that….Mr. Obama consciously presented his change of position (he used to favor so-called civil unions but not marriage) as a personal journey. He said he thought about ‘members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together,’ and about ‘those soldiers or airmen or Marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage.’ That process will seem familiar to Americans of his and older generations who have reached the same place, or are still getting there. Polling shows that younger Americans have firmly supported same-sex marriage for some time. Mr. Obama said denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples ‘doesn’t make sense’ to his daughters. ‘Frankly, that’s the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective,’ he said.” [The New York Times, 5/10/12]

USA Today: “Symbolically, Obama's Comment To ABC News That ‘Same-Sex Couples Should Be Able To Get Married’ Is An Important, Even Historic, Marker Of How Far Public Opinion Has Shifted.” “Symbolically, Obama's comment to ABC News that ‘same-sex couples should be able to get married’ is an important, even historic, marker of how far public opinion has shifted. No previous president has endorsed gay marriage….To a large degree, Obama's shift on the subject exemplifies the nation's evolving views. Same-sex marriage is an idea that appears to be coming. (Support is at 71% for people ages 18-29 and just 21% for those 80 and older, Gallup found.).” [USA Today, 5/10/12]

Boston Globe: “President Obama’s Support For Gay Marriage Marks The End Of An Evolution For The President And, To An Extent, For The Country. Obama Based His Change Of Heart On Simple Fairness...His Commitment To Gay Marriage Puts Him On The Right Side Of History, And Demonstrates His Willingness To Embrace The Future.” “President Obama’s support for gay marriage marks the end of an evolution for the president and, to an extent, for the country. Obama based his change of heart on simple fairness — ‘when I think of members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think of soldiers or airmen or Marines or sailors. . .’ — and that is the crux of the matter: Respect for the principle of equal treatment, and an acknowledgment that the human yearning for love can lead to an equally human yearning for family….His commitment to gay marriage puts him on the right side of history, and demonstrates his willingness to embrace the future. It’s never too late to do the right thing, and Obama’s conversion should be a source of pride to himself and for the millions of backers of gay marriage who urged him on.” [The Boston Globe, 5/10/12]

New York Daily News: “In A National Conversation That Has Moved With Unprecedented Speed, Wednesday Was A Landmark: President Obama Pronounced Himself Personally Supportive Of Gay Marriage…Obama’s Statement, Personal Though It Is, May Move The Conversation Further.” “In a national conversation that has moved with unprecedented speed, Wednesday was a landmark: President Obama pronounced himself personally supportive of gay marriage….Now, speaking with ABC News’ Robin Roberts, he explained his shift by saying of himself and the First Lady: ‘We are both practicing Christians, and obviously this position may be considered to put us at odds with the views of others, but, you know, when we think about our faith, the thing at root that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing Himself on our behalf, but it’s also the golden rule, you know, treat others the way you would want to be treated.’ But he stopped short of declaring marriage equality a civil right — rightly leaving the issue for citizens and legislatures of states to sort out… Obama’s statement, personal though it is, may move the conversation further.” [New York Daily News, 5/10/12]

Kansas City Star: “In A National Conversation That Has Moved With Unprecedented Speed, Wednesday Was A Landmark: President Obama Pronounced Himself Personally Supportive Of Gay Marriage….The Time Is Clearly Turning. And For The First Time, The Millions Of Gay And Lesbian Americans Who Want Nothing Less Than The Full Privileges Of Citizenship Can Claim The President Of The United States As An Ally.” “In a national conversation that has moved with unprecedented speed, Wednesday was a landmark: President Obama pronounced himself personally supportive of gay marriage. In an interview with Robin Roberts of ABC News, Obama offered a well-crafted and nuanced explanation of how he transitioned from supporting legal rights and short of marriage for same-sex couples to endorsing legal nuptials….Unfortunately, 30 states, including Kansas and Missouri, have laws banning gay marriage. North Carolina joined the list on Tuesday with a public vote. But the time is clearly turning. And for the first time, the millions of gay and lesbian Americans who want nothing less than the full privileges of citizenship can claim the president of the United States as an ally.” [Kansas City Star, 5/10/12] 

Baltimore Sun: “President Barack Obama's Announcement That He Supports Gay Marriage Is A Heartening Development In The Campaign For Equality, And It Is Commendable That He Made His View Public Before The November Election Rather Than Afterward.” “President Barack Obama's announcement that he supports gay marriage is a heartening development in the campaign for equality, and it is commendable that he made his view public before the November election rather than afterward…. So far, every state that has held a vote on gay marriage has rejected it. But Maryland could be the place where that streak ends, and President Obama can help. Talking about the issue might not do much to advance his electoral prospects (though it probably wouldn't hurt them much either). But it could do a great deal to advance the cause of justice.” [Baltimore Sun, 5/10/12]

As the President told students yesterday, “You are the economy.  If you’ve got skills, if you’ve got talents, if you’re starting a business, if companies are locating here in Iowa because it’s got a well-trained workforce, that’s the economy. That’s how we’re going to compete. Making sure our next generation earns the best education possible is exactly America’s business.” 

It’s time for Congress to act. Higher education shouldn’t be a luxury, it’s an economic imperative that every family should be able to afford. 

Over the past few days Republicans started to climb on board with this idea. That’s a good sign. They still support a budget that could cut sharply the Pell Grant for millions of students, and could eliminate access to work-study job opportunities for one hundred thousand students by 2014 in order to fund tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. But, it’s good news that they’re coming around to prevent these interest rates from doubling.

Now, leaders in Washington simply need to work together to get this done in a responsible way. Students can’t afford to be saddled additional debt because their elected officials in Washington continue to fight political battles. No more games. No more political posturing. Washington needs to work together on behalf of millions of students all across the country.

Let’s take a look at today's front pages in Iowa:

Josh Earnest is the Deputy Press Secretary for the White House.

If Republicans in Congress had their way, they would actually cut funding to programs that help middle class families get back on their feet in order to provide more tax cuts to the wealthy.  That doesn’t make any sense. 

• Their proposed cuts would reduce funding for federal employment and training programs to help laid-off and out-of-work adults–eliminating services to 425,000 Americans in 2013, and nearly 1.1 million in 2014.
• Across America, in 2013 an estimated 13,000 young people and 45,000 in 2014 would also lose employment and training services, and job search assistance services would be eliminated for over 1.4 million job-seekers in 2013 and 3.5 million in 2014.

Congressional Republicans are proposing the same types of economic policies that failed us in the past. In America, prosperity has never just trickled from the top down.  Prosperity has always grown from the heart of a strong middle class – and it starts with strong manufacturing jobs in places like Elyria, Ohio.  The President will continue to fight for middle class families and create an economy that’s built to last -- economy built on investments that put America in control of its energy future, improve education and skills for American workers, and support small business and American manufacturing, so we make things the world buys.

Just take a look at some of the front pages of the newspapers across Ohio and you’ll see that this truly is a make or break moment for the middle class. With people working to get back on their feet, we can’t afford to cut funding for these critical programs just to give the wealthiest few more tax cuts.

The fact is, economic security for the middle class has been eroding for decades. Millionaires and billionaires saw their wealth skyrocket while too many Americans were struggling to get by. And in 2008, the house of cards collapsed. Mortgages were sold to folks who couldn’t afford or understand them.  In addition to the nearly eight million jobs lost, it left responsible homeowners holding the bag and badly hurt from this irresponsible behavior.  

The President refuses to stand on the sidelines and let folks fend for themselves. That’s why he laid out a plan to help responsible borrowers and relieve some of the pain caused by the financial crisis. The President knows the government can’t fix the housing market on its own, and he believes that responsible homeowners should not have to sit and wait for the market to hit bottom to get relief when there are measures at hand that can make a meaningful difference. This includes allowing these homeowners the ability to save an average of $3,000 dollars a year by refinancing at today’s low interest rates. He also put forward a single set of standards, or a Homeowner Bill of Rights, to make sure borrowers and lenders play by the same rules. 

Additionally, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, with Treasury and Housing and Urban Development, announced a pilot sale of foreclosed properties to be transitioned into rental housing.  This will help stabilize neighborhoods and improve home prices. These are just a few of the steps that’ll strengthen the housing market and help folks who are underwater on their mortgage.  

While there’s more work to be done, the President’s plan will help the housing market and have an impact on communities all over the United States. Let’s take a look at the coverage from local media outlets across the country: 

Arizona Republic: Obama unveils plan on housing 
President Barack Obama is proposing new legislation that would change the way houses are bought, sold and refinanced as an effort to stabilize the nation's ailing housing system. One immediate goal of the so-called Homeowner Bill of Rights is to enable more borrowers to refinance, reduce their monthly payments or pay off their loans sooner, rebuilding equity lost in the housing crash. 

Philadelphia Inquirer: Obama details plan to throw a line to 'underwater' homeowners 
President Obama detailed plans Wednesday to help an estimated 3.5 million homeowners refinance into lower-rate mortgages through the Federal Housing Administration and to turn hundreds of thousands of houses repossessed by lenders into rentals. 

Des Moines Register: Obama plan aims to help borrowers refinance 
President Barack Obama called Wednesday for new efforts to help homeowners refinance their mortgages, adding a new series of proposals to a growing list of initiatives intended to stimulate the nation’s troubled housing market. 

Fort Meyers – NBC (FL): President launches plan to help homeowners 
President Obama is calling on Congress to make it easier for homeowners to refinance their mortgages at lower interest rates.  The plan is called a ‘Blueprint for an America Built to Last.'  It focuses on a new type of broad based refinancing and introduces a homeowner bill of rights, but local mortgage brokers say the plan is still out of consumer's control. It's a situation that many can relate to. 

Las Vegas - CBS: President Obama Lays Out New Plan to Help Struggling Homeowners
President Obama laid out a plan Wednesday to help underwater homeowners. But the help may be too little to help a majority of Nevadans. The federal plan could save a homeowner thousands of dollars a year if they didn't buy their home during the housing peak. But many Las Vegas homeowners who've seen housing values cut in half, will not be eligible for the help. 

McClatchy/Miami Herald: Obama outlines homeowner relief plan, which faces uphill battle 
 Putting meat on the bones of a State of the Union pledge, President Barack Obama on Wednesday unveiled a controversial plan to help homeowners who are current on their mortgage payments refinance their mortgages into federally insured loans at today’s extremely low rates. 

San Jose Mercury News: More mortgage relief from the White House -- but congressional OK doubtful 
President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced a sweeping plan to help underwater homeowners refinance into lower-interest loans, but funding for the proposal must be approved by a combative Congress, lowering the possibility that it will help anyone soon. 

San Francisco Chronicle: Obama unveils details on refinancing proposal for underwater loans 
The White House today revealed details of its proposal to let homeowners with mortgages not owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac refinance into a new loan backed by the Federal Housing Administration, even if they are underwater and have low credit scores. 

Boston Herald: Prez: New bank fees to aid homeowners 
President Obama wants banks to pay as much as $10 billion in “Financial Crisis Responsibility Fees” to help millions of homeowners refinance into cheaper mortgages. But don’t bet the house on the plan becoming law. 

Press-Enterprise (CA): HOUSING: Obama rolls out foreclosure relief plan 
Underwater homeowners who are up to date on their mortgage payments could refinance their loans and take advantage of today’s bargain basement interest rates if Congress approves a relief plan President Barack Obama unveiled Wednesday. 

Oregonian: (Editorial): Roused to action on housing 
The housing crisis that has so devastated Oregon and thousands of its families over the past three years is finally beginning to get the attention it deserves. Attorney General John Kroger announced Wednesday that Oregon would join an anticipated $25 billion, multistate settlement with five major financial institutions that would provide some relief to Oregon homeowners and establish strong new loan-servicing standards. Meanwhile, in a speech Wednesday in a hard-hit area of Virginia, President Obama promoted a new plan to help homeowners with underwater mortgages to refinance, obtain new mortgages and stay in their homes. 

Merced Sun-Star (CA): Cardoza applauds Obama’s new housing initiative, says will help Valley 
Today, rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-CA) applauded President Obama’s new aggressive housing initiative.  

Lufkin Daily News (TX): (Editorial) Obama administration, Congress should quickly find a new way to help struggling homeowners 
President Barack Obama on Wednesday said his administration’s plan to help people refinance their mortgages “didn’t work at the scale we’d hoped.” That’s putting it mildly. The program has failed miserably.

He traveled down to the Magic Kingdom yesterday to deliver one message: America is open for business. 

The President wants the United States to be the number one tourist destination in the world. It’s good for businesses and it’s good for the economy as a whole. More tourists means more money spent in our cities and towns across the nation. It means more people will be renting cars, dining out, checking into hotels and checking out the sights and sounds of America.  That means more jobs. 

The President will continue to do everything he can to rebuild an economy where hard work pays off, where responsibility is rewarded, and where anyone can make it if they try. He wants to restore the economic security for the middle class and those trying to reach it. Yesterday’s announcement was an important step to put folks back to work, and he’ll keep at it and continue to do everything he can to strengthen the economy.

The President’s announcement will have an impact on communities all over the United States. Let’s take a look at the coverage from local media outlets across the country:

Orlando Sentinel – Obama at Disney: 'America is open for business'

President Barack Obama promised Florida's tourism industry Thursday that he intends to open the door wider to international tourists and was greeted with cheers in a state where increased foreign visitors are seen as one of the best hopes for future jobs.

Even Obama critic U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, welcomed the presidential directives, if only with a "what took him so long?" spin.

Arizona Republic – Obama touting tourism for jobs

President Barack Obama said Thursday that he wants to create more jobs by drawing more international tourists to the United States, a plan White House officials said would especially benefit states like Arizona, home to the Grand Canyon and other national parks.

Creating jobs has become a central part of Obama's re-election campaign. On Wednesday, Obama will visit the Valley as part of a five-state tour to build upon themes -- likely jobs and economic development -- that he will emphasize Tuesday in his annual address to Congress.

Las Vegas Review-Journal – Las Vegas Officials Welcome Obama’s Tourism Push

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Thursday unveiled a new strategy to boost foreign tourism in the U.S., telling an audience at Walt Disney World he wanted America to become the world’s top travel destination.

“America is open for business.  We want to welcome you,” Obama declared in his talk in front of the Cinderella Castle in the heart of the Magic Kingdom outside Orlando, Fla.

McClatchy/Cleveland Plain Dealer – Obama, at Disney World, unveils plan to ease tourist travel to United States

ORLANDO, Fla. -- President Barack Obama's visit to Walt Disney World on Thursday was an appeal as much to Brazilians and their dollars as to Florida voters and their jobs. But it was a brief one, highlighted by a speech that lasted just 13 minutes.

As expected, Obama announced he intends to expand the U.S. State Department's Global Entry Program for trusted international visitors; expand and accelerate visa application processing for such countries as Brazil, India and China; and attempt to add more countries to the Visa Waiver Program that allows foreigners from 36 countries to skip the visa process.

Kansas City Star – Missouri senator praises White House tourism initiatives

WASHINGTON | Sen. Roy Blunt wants to see more foreign tourists in Missouri and believes that a new White House plan that he helped write moves toward that goal.

President Barack Obama on Thursday ordered steps to ease red tape for foreign visitors in an initiative he said would create tourism jobs in the United States.

Tampa Bay Times (Editorial) – Florida tourism gets jolt from Obama

Florida is accustomed to seeing plenty of visitors in January, especially in an election year. But the visit Thursday by President Barack Obama could mark a real boost for the state's economy. The president unveiled a new strategy to attract international tourists, which could bring more cash-flush foreigners to Florida. The plan also dovetails perfectly with the push across the region to expand the global appeal of Tampa Bay.

Raleigh NBC17 – President Obama touts NC's tourism efforts

RALEIGH, N.C. -- President Obama is touting a plan to boost tourism in the United States, pointing to North Carolina as a state where eco-tourism and outdoor activities boost tourism.

Obama said he is looking at ways to expand the global entry program, which helps pre-screen international visitors at security checkpoints. That will make it easier and safer for frequent travelers to get into the U.S.

Salt Lake Tribune – Obama encourages tourism to national parks

Some of Utah’s most famous travel destinations might be a bit more crowded this summer if a new White House effort is successful.

President Barack Obama issued an executive order Thursday, aiming to boost international tourism to the United States in an effort to spur job creation. Part of the initiative seeks to promote visits to national parks, including Utah’s scenic redrock country.

Las Vegas Sun: Nevadans applaud President Obama’s tourism initiative

Tourism industry leaders from across the country applauded President Barack Obama today for signing an executive order and announcing initiatives that should increase travel to the United States.

Against the backdrop of Florida's Disney World, Obama announced his new plan to assist a fledgling renaissance in the country’s tourism sector — one that industry executives believe will also pay dividends in Las Vegas.

Honolulu Star Advertiser - Obama move called tourism boon

State and industry officials say the action will increase visitor numbers. Hawaii's economy could see gains from a national strategy that aims to better promote the United States as a tourism destination and makes it easier for foreign visitors, especially from China and Taiwan, to get visas. An executive order President Barack Obama signed Thursday marks the first time that the U.S. has rolled out a national travel strategy and is the culmination of more than a year of lobbying by politicians and travel leaders nationwide and in Hawaii.  Hawaii's economy could see gains from a national strategy that aims to better promote the United States as a tourism destination and makes it easier for foreign visitors, especially from China and Taiwan, to get visas.

Hawaii News Now – Obama signs off on new tourism measures

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Local officials are applauding an Executive Order signed by President Barack Obama on Thursday, saying it contains several new measures that will help increase travel and tourism to Hawaii.

The Executive Order establishing "Visa and Foreign Visitor Processing Goals and the Task Force on Travel and Competitiveness" stipulates that non-immigrant visa processing capacity in China and Brazil will increase by 40% in 2012 while also ensuring that 80% of non-immigrant visa applicants are interviewed within three weeks of their being received. A new website with information and statistics on visa processes will be designed to assist travelers and the tourism industry.

Sun Sentinel – Obama tourism plan aims to bring more Brazilians to Florida

Expect more high-spending Brazilian tourists in South Florida and more tourism jobs, too, now that President Barack Obama is making a push to lure more foreign travelers to the United States.

Obama's tourism plan, unveiled Thursday in Orlando, adds dozens of embassy workers to process U.S. travel visas in Brazil, where wait times for visa appointments average three months in some cities.

Dayton Beach News Journal (FL) - Locals say president's tourism plan would help

DAYTONA BEACH -- President Barack Obama visited Disney World on Thursday to announce tourism initiatives for the entire country, and local tourism experts say they could dovetail well with the area's tourism efforts already in place.

The president issued an executive order making it easier for international visitors to secure visas -- specifically visitors in China and Brazil -- and announced a national tourism task force to promote travel opportunities.

Florida News Press – Obama invite OK with Southwest Florida

Local industry experts encouraged as president tells worldwide visitors "America is open for business."

Southwest Florida tourism and hospitality leaders warmly greeted President Barack Obama’s new campaign, announced Thursday in Orlando, to make the United States the world’s top travel destination.

They liked his overtures to the Brazilian market, in particular, and his recognition of tourism as an economic engine, in general.

Central Florida News – Orlando travel experts react to Obama's focus on Brazil in new tourism push

ORLANDO – The instant local travel agent, and Brazil native Ricardo Pereira found out about President Barack Obama's "We Can't Wait" tourism plan, he knew the idea was a good one.

“Business is going to be incredible, not only for the Brazilians here, but the whole [state of] Florida,” explained Meridan Tours & Travel Owner Ricardo Pereira.

San Francisco KGO-ABC – Obama's tourism push much appreciated in SF

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- President Obama visited the happiest place on Earth Thursday to talk tourism and his announcement Thursday has implications far beyond the borders of the Magic Kingdom.

The president says his trip to Walt Disney World is the first time his daughters have envied his job.

Desert Sun (CA) – Local tourism on rise amid national push

Coachella Valley tourism leaders hailed a new travel industry report that shows yet another month of double-digit occupancy and revenue growth.

The Smith Travel Research report for December says the Palm Springs area increased its hotel occupancy levels 13.3 percent compared to the same month in 2010, and enjoyed a 19 percent gain in revenue per room.