Category: White House

President Obama describes the incredible opportunities to create middle-class jobs in America by deepening our economic ties and expanding trade in Latin America and discusses recent Senate bill that takes commonsense steps to fix our broken immigration system. This week, President Obama spoke at the Planned Parenthood conference and the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, met with the King of Jordan, made five personnel announcements, celebrated the sciences and the Joining Forces Initiative, and embarked on a trip to Mexico …

President Obama says that because Republicans in Congress allowed a series of harmful, automatic budget cuts—called the sequester—to take effect, important programs like Head Start are now forced to reduce their services. After travelers were stuck for hours in airports and on planes this past week, members of Congress passed a temporary band-aid measure to stop the cuts that impact airlines — but they must do more to stop cuts to vital services for the American people. That’s why it’s …

President Obama speaks to the American people about the act of terror at the Boston Marathon that wounded dozens and killed three innocent people on Monday, and says that through it all, Boston’s spirit remains undaunted and Americans have proven they refuse to be terrorized.

President Barack Obama speaks from the White House April 17, 2013, after the U.S. Senate rejected a bipartisan effort to expand federal background checks to more firearms buyers.

Following a briefing from FBI Director Mueller, Attorney General Holder, Secretary Napolitano, and homeland security advisor Lisa Monaco, President Obama went to the Brady Press Briefing Room to update Americans on developments in Boston, following two explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday afternoon: “This was a heinous and cowardly act. And given what we now know about what took place, the FBI is investigating it as an act of terrorism. Any time bombs are used …

his evening, President Obama made a statement about today’s explosions at the Boston Marathon. He explained that he had been briefed by his homeland security team, members of whom are continuing to monitor the situation as it unfolds, and that he had “directed the full resources of the federal government to help state and local authorities protect our people, increase security around the United States as necessary, and investigate what happened.” “The American people will say a prayer for Boston …

Each week, like many presidents before me, I sit down to record a short address to the nation. It’s something I take very seriously because it offers a chance to bring focus to an issue that needs to be part of the national dialogue. But today, I’ve asked someone to take my place. Francine Wheeler is a mother. She and her family live in Newtown, Connecticut. Four months ago, her six year-old son Ben was murdered in his elementary school, …

President Obama tells the American people about the budget he is sending to Congress, which makes the tough choices required to grow our economy and shrink our deficits. This week, the President spoke on the importance of investing in infrastructure at Port Miami, and on reducing gun violence while at the Denver Police Academy. He hosted the Prime Minister of Singapore and Kid President, unveiled the BRAIN initiative, and rolled, read, and relaxed with some of the thousands of visitors …

President Obama uses his weekly address to mark a sacred time for the millions of Americans celebrating Easter and Passover, and he calls on everyone to use this time to reflect on the common values we share as a nation. The President says that this is a chance to embrace loved ones, give thanks for our blessings, and help those less fortunate as we celebrate our individual traditions as well as the thread of humanity that connects us all This …

Thursday morning, President Obama talked about the tragedy in Newtown, which happened 104 days ago, and brought a room to silence with a simple point: “The entire country was shocked,” he said. “And the entire country pledged we would do something about it and that this time would be different. Shame on us if we’ve forgotten. I haven’t forgotten those kids. Shame on us if we’ve forgotten.” He was in the East Room, standing with a group of mothers who …

Three months after the tragic shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, President Obama says that the Senate has taken important steps forward to help protect our kids by reducing gun violence. The American people made their voices heard, and the Senate made progress to make it harder for criminals and people with serious mental illnesses to get guns, to crack down on anyone trying to funnel guns to criminals, and to reinstate and strengthen a ban on the sale of military-style assault …

In the first foreign trip of his second term in office, President Obama will visit Israel, the West Bank and Jordan. The trip is an important opportunity to meet with the new Israeli government and speak to the Israeli people, as well as meet with the Palestinian leadership and the King of Jordan. We asked Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications, to preview the upcoming trip and some of the issues the President would be discussing in …

President Obama discusses the need to harness American energy in order to reduce our dependence on oil and make the United States a magnet for new jobs. He highlights his all-of-the-above approach to American energy — including a proposal to establish an Energy Security Trust, which invests in research that will help shift our cars and trucks off of oil. This week, the President met with the Sultan of Brunei, his Export Council, Intel Science Fair finalists, and Israel Channel …

In his weekly address, President Obama said that businesses have created jobs every month for three years straight — nearly 6.4 million altogether, and have added 246,000 new jobs in February. We must keep this momentum going, and that’s why the President recently met with Republican leaders to discuss how we can replace the harmful, arbitrary budget cuts, called the “sequester,” with balanced deficit reduction. This week, the President urged Congress to resolve harmful budget cuts and reduce the deficit …

In his weekly address, President Obama tells the American people that a series of harmful budget cuts—called the sequester—have taken effect because Congress failed to act. Because Republicans in Congress refused to compromise to close tax loopholes for the wealthiest Americans, hundreds of thousands of Americans will lose their jobs or see their paycheck reduced, and middle class families will be hurt. Congress must join the President now to replace these cuts with a balanced approach that reduces our deficit …

National Statuary Hall inside the U.S. Capitol was once the meeting place of the House of Representatives. Now it’s home to a collection of statues and monuments — two from each state — representing some of the defining figures in our nation’s history. Today those sculptures were joined by that of a civil rights icon. One hundred years after she was born and 58 years after she refused to give up her seat on an Alabama city bus, Rosa Parks …

In less than a week, harmful automatic cuts — known as the sequester — take effect, threatening hundreds of thousands of jobs, and cutting vital services for children, seniors, people with mental illness and our men and women in uniform. To prevent a costly, self-inflicted wound to our economy and middle class families, President Obama put forward a plan to avoid these cuts and reduce the deficit by cutting spending and closing tax loopholes. Now it’s up to Congress to …