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The White House

Office of the Vice President

For Immediate Release

October 14, 2010

Readout of Vice President Biden's Call with Ukrainian President Yanukovych

Vice President Biden spoke with President Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine today in advance of Ukraine’s local elections on October 31st. The Vice President thanked President Yanukovych for the difficult economic reforms he has pushed through so far and for his support for our common nonproliferation agenda. The Vice President underscored the importance of free and fair elections on October 31st and media freedom as signs of Ukraine’s commitment to democracy and European integration, and emphasized the Obama Administration’s support for these goals. In addition, the Vice President reinforced to President Yanukovych that the process of constitutional reform emerging from the October 1st Constitutional Court decision should include checks and balances and generate a constitution for all the people of Ukraine.

The American Opportunity Tax Credit and the President's Event Today

Posted by Brian Levine on October 13, 2010 at 04:19 PM EST

The President just finished meeting with a group of college students and their families in the Oval Office. They discussed the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC), which is worth up to $2,500 a year for four years and covers tuition, fees and textbook expenses. This credit was created by the Recovery Act but it is scheduled to expire at the end of this year. Today, President Obama called on Congress to permanently extend the AOTC. Why is this so important? Check out this Department of the Treasury report that was released today.

The report finds that more than 12.5 million students and their families benefited from a tax incentive for higher education last year, including over 8 million students who received the AOTC. They got an average tax credit of $1,700, which is about 75% more than the average recipient of college tax credits received in 2008, before our Administration established the AOTC. The AOTC replaced and expanded the Hope Scholarship credit, which had a lower maximum benefit, was only available for two years, and could not be used to cover the cost of textbooks and other course materials. Because of the AOTC, higher education tax incentives increased by 90% between 2008 and 2009 – that translates into $8.7 billion in the pockets of middle class families.

Making college more affordable is a core priority of the Middle Class Task Force and we highlighted the importance of permanently extending the AOTC in our Annual Report. We hope that Congress will heed the President’s call to action.

Brian Levine is Deputy Domestic Policy Advisor to the Vice President

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The White House

Office of the Vice President

For Immediate Release

October 08, 2010

Readout of Vice President Biden's Call with Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani

The Vice President spoke today to Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani to reiterate U.S. Government support for an inclusive Iraqi government that reflects the results of the election. The two agreed that all winning coalitions should be included in the new government and the Vice President expressed support for a meeting between the leaders of these coalitions to hammer out power-sharing arrangements in accordance with the constitution. The Vice President reiterated that the United States is not backing specific candidates and urged Barzani, as he is urging all Iraqi leaders, to expedite efforts to form an inclusive and legitimate government responsive to the needs of the Iraqi people.

The White House

Office of the Vice President

For Immediate Release

October 08, 2010

Statement by Vice President Biden on General Jim Jones and Tom Donilon

I am grateful to Jim Jones for his service to this administration – and to our nation. In a time of extraordinary challenge and change, he led our national security team with a steady hand, sound judgment and genuine decency. Jim never sought the position he is leaving; instead he answered once again the call to service. Like President Obama, I am thankful that he did.

Tom Donilon has been my friend and advisor for nearly 25 years. These past two years, he has been at the heart of our foreign and national security policies. He brings to his new responsibilities a remarkable depth of knowledge about the challenges and opportunities our country faces around the world. President Obama and I are fortunate to be able to rely on his counsel and leadership.

Delivered As Promised

Jared Bernstein

October 08, 2010
12:57 PM EST

When the Recovery Act was signed into law a year and a half ago, we moved swiftly to provide immediate relief for millions of hard-hit Americans, from tax cuts for 95% of working families to $250 emergency relief checks for seniors and people with disabilities. The deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression called for an unprecedented response to help American families stay afloat – and we delivered. Within six weeks, tax cuts were being provided in 110 million Americans’ paychecks and within three months, nearly 52 million Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries were receiving checks in the mail.

A new report out finds that over 99.8% of these checks were delivered accurately. Of the remaining 0.2% (two-tenths of one percent), more than half have already been returned, meaning the “error rate” is 0.1%. Now, we strongly believe that no inaccuracy is acceptable, but magnitude matters here. Over 51.8 million individual checks worth over $12.9 billion were swiftly and accurately delivered to eligible recipients.

Jared Bernstein is Chief Economic Advisor to the Vice President

Community Colleges: “America’s Best Kept Secret”

Katelyn Sabochik

October 05, 2010
04:03 PM EST

Download Video: mp4 (40MB)

Today, Dr. Jill Biden hosted the first ever White House Summit on Community Colleges. The summit brought together community colleges, business, philanthropy, federal and state policy leaders, faculty and students to discuss how community colleges can help meet the job training and education needs of the nation’s evolving workforce, as well as the critical role these institutions play in achieving the President’s goal to lead the world with the highest proportion of college graduates by 2020.

As Dr. Biden said in her remarks earlier today, community colleges are “one of America’s best-kept secrets,” providing affordable, quality higher education to millions of Americans each year and preparing them for the jobs of the 21^st century:

Ending Violence Against Women

Posted by Lynn Rosenthal on October 05, 2010 at 03:20 PM EST

Download Video: mp4 (50MB)

Last Friday, President Obama signed the proclamation of October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Here at the White House, we’ve already started commemorating this important month, recognizing the remarkable work being done to address domestic violence and the distance we still must travel to end it.

On September 22, Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden opened their home for a night dedicated to ending violence against women. It was a night to mark the 16th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act and to recommit ourselves to ending sexual and domestic violence. The event brought together groups from national organizations as well as groups of college students working on this issue on their campuses. Many students had the great opportunity to speak with the Vice President and Dr. Biden about what was going on in their lives and the lives of young people across the country.

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Violence Against Women: Progress and Challenges

October 05, 2010 | 3:57 | Public Domain

Vice President Joe Biden and advocates discuss the Violence Against Women Act and ongoing activities. Domestic violence causes two million injuries a year and untold amounts of human suffering.

Download mp4 (50MB)

The White House

Office of the Vice President

For Immediate Release

October 01, 2010

Vice President Biden Delivers New Report to the President on Recovery Act Progress

Ambitious Spending Targets Met; Cost-Savings Fund 3,000 Additional Job-Creating Projects

Washington, DC – As part of yesterday’s Economic Daily Briefing, Vice President Joe Biden delivered to the President a new report, “Progress Implementing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,” which finds that Recovery Act funds have been put to work on-schedule, projects have frequently come in under-budget and the program now has a lower than average rate of waste and fraud.

Early on, the Administration identified September 30th, 2010 – or the end of the 2010 fiscal year – as its target date to spend 70 percent of Recovery Act funds and the Act included a number of program-specific September 30th deadlines to award funds as well. The report not only projects that the 70 percent spending goal was met on September 30th, but also finds that every spending deadline was met on-time or ahead of schedule.

Among the key findings of the report:

On-Schedule: The Administration now projects that 70 percent of Recovery Act funds were outlayed by September 30th, with $308 billion in spending paid out and $243 billion in tax relief provided.
On-Schedule: Every spending deadline Congress set for putting Recovery Act dollars to work was met on-time and, in many cases, ahead of schedule.
Under-Budget: Cost-savings on Recovery Act projects from transportation to military facilities were so great that over 3,000 additional job-creating projects were able to be funded through the Recovery Act.
Strong Oversight: Less than 0.2 percent of all reported awards currently have active fraud investigations – far below government averages.

The report can be viewed in full HERE.

Video: The First Lady, The President and The Vice President Serve on 9/11

Kori Schulman

October 01, 2010
11:00 AM EST

On September 11, 2010, the First Lady, the President and the Vice President engaged in service activities to support our veterans, troops and military families, following remarks. Watch a video that takes you to service projects in McLean, VA, Washington, DC and New York City on the National Day of Service and Remembrance.

Download Video: mp4 (21MB)

The National Day of Service and Remembrance was developed by 9/11 families and established into law by the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which President Obama signed in April 2009. Visit Serve.gov to find volunteer opportunities in your community.