By CAP Action War Room

President Obama Is Moving Forward On Executive Action That Could Halt 5 Million Deportations

President Obama will disregard Republican complaints and sign an executive action that could shield up to five million immigrants from deportation, the New York Times reports. The official announcement would “significantly refocus the activities of the government’s 12,000 immigration agents,” and could be made as early as next week.

The first piece of the order, according to White House officials, will be to protect the parents of children who are American citizens or legal residents from deportation by allowing them to obtain legal work permits. Depending on whether the order is limited to parents who have been undocumented and living in the United States for five years or for ten years, it could affect between 2.5 million and 3.3 million people. The President is reported to be considering a second piece to extend protections to immigrants who came here as children, and to their parents. This could affect up to one million or more additional undocumented immigrants.

The action will also clarify who should be high priority and low priority for deportation, in order to focus enforcement on violent criminals instead of breaking up families. Finally, it will also enhance border security and expand opportunities for immigrants with high-tech skills.

It’s not the comprehensive immigration reform that the Senate passed and the American people support, but it’s a very important step. And it upholds President Obama’s promise last week after the midterms that he won’t “just wait” for Republicans to stop stalling on the issue.

BOTTOM LINE: President Obama’s commitment to move forward with an executive action to halt deportations is an important step toward helping to fix our broken immigration system. But it does not remove the pressure from Congressional Republicans to do what the American people want and pass comprehensive immigration reform.

 The White House

As we move into the fall, we have been quite busy here at the White House. President Obama is traveling in Asia this week. On Tuesday, he and President Xi Jinping of China jointly announced a plan to cooperate on climate change and clean energy. Combined, the U.S. and China account for more than one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. Going forward, both countries agreed to set aggressive targets to reduce emissions, marking the first time China has agreed to cap its CO2 emissions. Read the fact sheet and joint announcement on climate change.

Earlier this week, the U.S. and China also agreed to increase the validity of short-term tourist and business visas issued to each other’s citizens. With 1.8 million Chinese travelers visiting the United States annually, China is the fastest-growing outbound tourism market in the world. Tourist activity from China contributes roughly $21.1 billion to the U.S. economy and supports more than 109,000 American jobs. This week’s agreement will provide a significant boost to these numbers and the travel and tourism industry overall.

Finally, on Monday, the President made an important announcement regarding net neutrality, urging the FCC to implement the strongest possible rules to safeguard the Internet.

You can read more about these issues below. As always, please don’t hesitate to be in touch with any questions or concerns at Business@who.eop.gov.

The White House Business Team,

Ari, Nate, Sam, and Quinn

U.S.-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change and Clean Energy Cooperation

Building on strong progress during the first six years of the Administration, President Obama announced a new target on Tuesday to cut net greenhouse gas emissions 26-28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. At the same time, President Xi Jinping of China announced targets to peak CO2 emissions around 2030, with the intention to try to peak early, and to increase the non-fossil fuel share of all energy to around 20 percent by 2030.

Together, the U.S. and China account for more than one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. Tuesday’s joint announcement, the culmination of months of bilateral dialogue, highlights the critical role the two countries must play in addressing climate change. The actions they announced are part of the longer-range effort to achieve the deep decarbonization of the global economy over time. These actions will also inject momentum into the global climate negotiations on the road to reaching a successful new climate agreement next year in Paris.

See the fact sheet, and read the joint announcement from President Obama and President Xi.

President Obama Urges the FCC to Implement Stronger Net Neutrality Rules

On Monday, President Obama asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to take up the strongest possible rules to protect net neutrality, the principle that says Internet service providers (ISPs) should treat all Internet traffic equally.

The President has been a strong and consistent advocate of net neutrality throughout his Presidency. His plan would reclassify consumer broadband services under what’s known as Title II of the Telecommunications Act. It would serve as a “basic acknowledgement of the services ISPs provide to American homes and businesses, and the straightforward obligations necessary to ensure the network works for everyone — not just one or two companies.”

Read the full plan, and watch President Obama explain why these steps are so important.

Supporting American Job Growth and Strengthening Ties by Extending U.S.-China Visa Validity for Tourists, Business Travelers, and Students

On Monday, President Obama announced that the U.S. and China are concluding a reciprocal visa validity arrangement during his visit that will strengthen our ever-broadening economic and people-to-people ties. Both countries have agreed to increase the validity of short-term tourist and business visas issued to each other’s citizens from one to ten years — the longest validity possible under U.S. law — and increase the validity of student and exchange visas from one to five years. The United States began issuing visas in accordance with the new reciprocal agreement yesterday.

This arrangement will improve trade, investment, and business ties by facilitating travel and offering easier access to both economies. Extended validity visas for students and exchange visitors will boost the bonds between our two peoples and facilitate travel for outstanding students from around the world who attend U.S. institutions of higher education. As a result of this arrangement, the United States hopes to welcome a growing share of eligible Chinese travelers, inject billions in the U.S. economy and create enough demand to support hundreds of thousands of additional U.S. jobs. Travelers will continue to be subject to all the same legal and security reviews that currently apply to visa applicants.

See the fact sheet here.

Supporting Economic Growth at Home and Abroad by Eliminating Trade Barriers on Information Technology Products

At the APEC leaders meeting on Monday, President Obama announced that the U.S. and China had reached an understanding on a bilateral agreement on expanding the scope of goods covered by the Information Technology Agreement (ITA). This agreement paves the way for the resumption and swift conclusion of the first major tariff-cutting deal at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 17 years, and promises a major boost to U.S. technology exports and the jobs that support them.

In remarks at the APEC plenary session, President Obama praised the agreement as an important step in completing the final ITA agreement:

It was APEC’s work that led to the Information Technology Agreement, which we are now negotiating to expand. So, it is fitting that we are here with our APEC colleagues to share the news that the United States and China have reached an understanding that we hope will contribute to a rapid conclusion of the broader negotiations in Geneva.

See the fact sheet here.

Accelerating Advanced Manufacturing in America

The President recently participated in a meeting with his American Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) Steering Committee. AMP — led by its co-chairs, Dow’s Andrew Liveris and MIT’s Rafael Reif — presented its final report with a set of new recommendations. In addition to discussing the recommendations, the meeting was an opportunity for the President and AMP Steering Committee members to discuss the additional policy steps the President is taking to respond to them. Read the fact sheet on new actions taken to further strengthen manufacturing here.

The President created AMP — a working group of 19 leaders in industry, academia, and labor — in June 2011 as part of his continuing effort to maintain the competitive edge on emerging technologies and invest in the future of our manufacturing sector. We’ve come a long way since then, and the policies fueled by AMP’s recommendations have been a big contributor to that progress.

Read the rest of the article by Secretary Pritzker to see the progress we’ve made.

The U.S. and China #ActOnClimate

Last night in Beijing, President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping made a historic joint announcement on the United States’ and China’s new targets to reduce carbon pollution.

As the world’s two largest economies — and the world’s two biggest carbon emitters — the announcement is a unique development in the U.S.-China relationship. Both countries have joined together to demonstrate leadership on an issue that touches the entire world.

“There’s one issue that will define the contours of this century more dramatically than any other,” President Obama said earlier this year. “And that is the urgent and growing threat of a changing climate.”

Find out more about the historic new actions to reduce carbon pollution here.

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