Photo: President Obama Greets the Oldest Living WWII Veteran
President Barack Obama greets Richard Overton, with Earlene Love-Karo, in the Blue Room of the White House, Nov. 11, 2013. Mr. Overton,107 years old and the oldest living World War II veteran, attended the Veteran’s Day Breakfast at the White House. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
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| President Obama Commemorates Veterans DayThis Veterans Day, the President honored those, past and present, who put on the uniform and put their lives on the line.
State Department Works to Bring Relief to Typhoon Victims Secretary John Kerry discusses the effort being made by the State Department to work jointly with the Philippines Typhoon Disaster Relief to bring aide to the countless victims of the super storm. ‘Joining Forces’ with you on Veterans Day First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden published an op-ed this weekend in multiple military news websites jointly discussing the efforts being made by their Joining Forces team to help veterans with employment, wellness, and education efforts. |
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Shining a Light on our Researchers, Doctors, Nurses, and Caregivers
Friends,
This has been an important week in a number of key policy areas that impact women, including immigration reform and healthcare.
Earlier this week, Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to President Obama and Chair of the White House Council on Women & Girls, joined the President Obama, Vice President Biden and Senior Administration officials for a meeting with business leaders on immigration reform.
In addition to this meeting, White House Advisor on Violence Against Women, Lynn Rosenthal authored a piece on the importance of immigration reform in protecting victims of domestic violence.
On Tuesday, Vice President Biden and Dr. Jill Biden hosted the 2nd Annual Breast Cancer Awareness Reception. They were joined by survivors, caregivers, families, doctors, researchers, and advocates who have all been touched by breast cancer.
And earlier this week, Katherine Archuleta was sworn in as the first Latina Director of the Office of Personnel Management. Please read below to learn more about Katherine and the responsibilities of her new position.
In case you missed it, First Lady Michelle Obama celebrated Diwali at the White House. She joined students for a Bollywood Dance Clinic in the State Dining Room of the White House. Be sure to read below for more on their great visit.
Thank you for all that you do!
The White House Council on Women & Girls
The Time is Now: President Obama Meets with Business Leaders on Immigration Reform
Reflecting on a meeting with business leaders on immigration reform, Valerie Jarrett posted a blog about her experience:
Today, I joined the President, Vice President and senior Administration officials for a meeting at the White House with a group of top U.S. business leaders to discuss the importance of commonsense immigration reform to bolster U.S. economic growth, and improve the climate for business, and job creation. These leaders shared with the President their desire to see our broken immigration system fixed, both because it is the right thing to do, and because it will be good for the U.S. economy.
Read the full post from Valerie Jarrett here.
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden meet with business leaders to discuss immigration reform to bolster U.S. economic growth, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Nov. 5, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Comprehensive Immigration Reform: Survivors Can’t Afford to Wait
Domestic Violence Awareness Month may have ended, but our work to end abuse continues. Today, in this country, women and children continue to suffer from unspeakable violence because they are afraid to seek help without legal status. When immigrant survivors of abuse without legal status are, according to one study, half as likely to call the police to seek the help they need, we must act.
Since it was first signed into law in 1994, the Violence Against Women Act or VAWA has recognized the need for special protections for immigrant survivors of abuse, including self-petitions and categories of visas for victims of violent crimes and human trafficking. But while VAWA includes key provisions to help immigrant survivors, it is not enough.
Now, Congress has the opportunity to take an important step towards protecting victims, and supporting law enforcement to create safer communities for all Americans. Commonsense immigration reform would significantly benefit immigrant women all over the country. The Senate has already passed an immigration reform bill by a wide, bipartisan majority. And Democratic leaders have introduced a bill in the House that’s similar to the bipartisan Senate bill. So it’s up to Republicans in the House to decide whether to move forward with immigration reform. Unlike many other issues in Washington, immigration reform is one that both parties can agree on. Congress must finish the job on commonsense immigration reform.
Read more here.
Shining a Light on our Researchers, Doctors, Nurses, and Caregivers
Earlier this week, the Vice President and Dr. Biden hosted their 2nd Annual Breast Cancer Awareness Reception. They were joined by survivors, caregivers, families, doctors, researchers, and advocates who have all been touched by breast cancer.
As Dr. Biden wrote:
Each year, this reception is one of the most inspiring events that we hold at our home, and this year was no different. As I embraced both old and new friends, I was reminded of the bravery of the survivors and their loved ones. I saw the hope in their eyes, their unwavering spirit, and their determination to continue pushing forward.
This year, we asked all of the survivors to invite someone who was important to them during their course of treatment. Joe and I know that the fight against breast cancer is not only limited to what the patient endures, but also extends to the family members, the caregivers, the doctors, and researchers who work day in and day out to save lives and support those that they love.
Read more here.
Dr. Jill Biden gives remarks at a breast cancer awareness month reception with Vice President Joe Biden, in the living room at the Naval Observatory Residence in Washington, D.C., Nov. 5, 2013. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)
President Obama to Dallas Health Care Volunteers: “Nothing Is Going to Stop Us from Getting This Done.”
The President joined canvassers and navigators who are part of the community’s most active group of volunteers working to enroll their neighbors in quality, affordable coverage through the Marketplace. He personally thanked them for their work, calling out the fact that ultimately, “all the politics, all the chatter sometimes leaves out the fact that the system we had — the status quo — just wasn’t working for too many people.”
President Barack Obama delivers remarks at an Affordable Care Act event at Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, Texas, Nov. 6, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
At a time when 24 states — Texas included — have neglected to take advantage of the Medicaid expansion available to working families in their states under the Affordable Care Act, the President acknowledged that 133,000 Texans in Dallas alone would immediately have coverage if Texas decided to expand the program.
You can read the President’s full remarks here.
The Truth About Artificial Trans Fats
For decades Americans have been trying to reduce their consumption of artificial trans fats. Parents check the food labels when grocery shopping for their families and consumers are making better choices when eating out. Companies like McDonalds and Subway stepped up and made it easier by removing all artificial trans fats from their products. And Wal-Mart has pledged to no longer have artificial trans fat on their store shelves by 2015.
But there is still more to be done by government, industry and consumers to make sure that we have the tools we need to keep unsafe foods off our tables.
Partially Hydrogenated Oils (PHO), are an artificial substance that is formed by adding hydrogen to vegetable oil during processing to make it more solid. PHOs are the leading source of artificial trans fat; they cause plaque buildup in the arteries, are a contributing factor to heart attacks, and for too many, an early death. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that a further reduction of artificial trans fat in the food supply can prevent up to 7,000 deaths from heart disease each year and as many as 20,000 heart attacks each year.
Thursday, in keeping with their mission to keep the American food supply safe, the FDA released for public comment its preliminary determination, consistent with science, thatPHOs are no longer “generally recognized as safe.” FDA is seeking public comment on this finding as well as input on the amount of time that would potentially be needed for food manufacturers to reformulate products that currently contain artificial trans fat should this determination be finalized.
The good news is that many food manufacturers have already taken this on—it is becoming easier to find foods without trans fats. FDA’s action could make it easier still. Today’s action is an important step in a direction that America has already begun to move in, which will keep us healthier while enjoying the foods we love.
Read more here.
Welcoming Katherine Archuleta, the First Latina Director of the Office of Personnel Management
Monday, Katherine Archuleta was sworn-in as the 10th Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and will serve as the Federal government’s personnel chief. She will be the first Latina to hold this position. Katherine shares President Obama’s vision for diversity and inclusion in the federal workforce, which the President said helps “create more effective policymaking and better decision-making [for me], because it brings different perspectives to the table.”
OPM is uniquely positioned to have a significant influence on the face of the federal government, welcoming people from all backgrounds and utilizing their talents to have a positive impact on our communities. When we draw on the wisdom of a workforce that reflects the population we serve, we are better able to understand and meet the needs of our customers-the American people.
Read more here.
First Lady Michelle Obama Celebrates Diwali at the White House
On Tuesday, First Lady Michelle Obama welcomed guests to the White House for a Diwali celebration. The celebration started with the First Lady surprising local students at a Bollywood dance clinic and trying out some moves herself.
Then the First Lady spoke in the East Room:
“We’ve celebrated this holiday here at the White House every year since Barack took office. And there’s a reason why we’ve done that,” she said.
When we say that we want to make the White House the “people’s house,” we mean all people. We mean that we want to honor and embrace all of the many cultures and faith traditions that make us who we are as Americans. And Diwali is very much one of those traditions.
Read more here.
First Lady Michelle Obama joins students for a Bollywood Dance Clinic in the State Dining Room of the White House, Nov. 5, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
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how we can win back the House …Mo Elleithee, Democrats.org
We defied some pretty big trends in this past election:
- For the first time in almost four decades, the winning candidate in Virginia’s governor’s race is from the same party as the president.
- For the first time in more than twenty years, we elected a Democratic mayor of New York City.
- In St. Petersburg, Florida we defeated an incumbent Republican mayor, the first time that’s happened in two decades.
- In Pasco County, Florida, we won a special election for a legislative seat that had been held by Republicans for nearly twenty years.
At one point or another, the cynics and the pundits looked at all of those races, pointed to the history, and said Democrats didn’t have much of a chance. But because supporters like you stepped up, we proved them wrong.
So when people tell you that Democrats can’t take back the 17 seats that we need to win back the House, don’t get mad — get to work and prove them wrong, as well.
Chip in $3 or more and let’s go elect a Democratic House.
If you look at Tuesday’s exit polls from Virginia — a swing state — you see an electorate that looked a lot like the one that showed up to vote for President Obama in 2012. A lot of pundits were saying that would never happen, too.
Recent polling shows Democrats up in 48 congressional races that we need to win 17 of in order to take back the House. If we can do across the country what we did in Virginia — get our Democratic coalition to show up on Election Day — we could be in for a good night next November.
But that won’t happen unless we stand together to put winning plans into action.
Chip in $3 or more to help Democrats seize this moment and invest in talent, tools, and candidates who are going to keep this momentum going:
https://my.democrats.org/Seize-The-Moment
Thanks,
Mo
Mo Elleithee
Communications Director
Democratic National Committee
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Cutting our deficit in half
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900,000
GOP Crises Alone Have Killed 900,000 Jobs
After shutting down the government for over two weeks in a failed attempt to deny affordable health insurance to millions of Americans, the prospect of a catastrophic economic shutdown caused by an unprecedented default on our obligations has finally brought enough Republicans to their senses. A bipartisan deal negotiated by senators to re-open the government and avoid a default appears set to pass both the House and the Senate this evening.
President Obama and Democrats stood strong and refused to grant Republicans any of their ransom demands in exchange for Congress agreeing to simply do its job, but unfortunately the series of crises manufactured by the GOP over the past few years has already taken a terrible toll on the economy.
A new report out yesterday pins the number of jobs killed by the GOP’s government-by-crisis strategy over the past few years at 900,000.
As ThinkProgress notes, the report also finds that the painful and unnecessary austerity spending cuts (themselves largely imposed by the GOP using crises and threats) in place have cost us more than a million jobs:
The report also finds that cuts to discretionary spending from 2011 to the present have cost the country 1.2 million jobs and 0.7 percentage points of GDP growth. About three-quarters of the $2.4 trillion in total deficit reduction enacted since the fall of 2010 was in the form of spending cuts. The Peterson-commissioned estimate of what that steep reduction in government expenditures has cost is a bit more conservative than previous estimates by other economists, but only slightly less negative.
This graphic from our Center for American Progress colleagues illustrates how many more Americans would have jobs in a world without austerity:
Finally, a different report out this evening finds the current shutdown crisis pulled $24 BILLION out of the economy and will slash more than a half-percentage off GDP growth.
BOTTOM LINE: It’s time for Republicans to stop trying to govern by crisis, hostage-taking, and extortion. The fight over the debt limit is over. Period. It’s now time for us to come to a long-term agreement on the budget that gets rid of the damaging sequester cuts and is instead focused on our real problems: jobs and economic growth.
It’s also time for Speaker Boehner to abandon his failed attempts to appease the extreme Tea Party wing of the GOP and instead seek a bipartisan governing majority focused on doing what’s best for our country, including the passage of immigration reform with a pathway to earned citizenship.
Evening Brief: Important Stories That You Might’ve Missed
Houston Chronicle regrets endorsing Ted Cruz.
POLLS: Shutdown hurting GOP Senate chances, even in red states.
Right-wing group that orchestrated shutdown overt Obamacare now admits that “everybody knows” Obamacare can’t be repealed.
Ted Cruz admits the shutdown was all about building email fundraising lists.
Anti-tax crusader says defunders owe conservatives an apology.
Senate Republicans: GOP didn’t get anything out of shutdown.
Tea Party already seeking purge of non-extremists in 2014.
Tea Party congresswoman who voted to shut down the government now wants billions in disaster aid.
More than five million poor Americans won’t get health coverage because of the GOP’s refusal to expand Medicaid.
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