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West Wing Update from the White House | Office of Public Engagement (Hispanic edition?)
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Friends-
Another very busy week at the White House. Below please find updates on the immigration meeting at the White House, the new tax reciept calculator, the President’s Facebook Townhall and meet Assistant Secretary for Policy and Planning at the VA, Raul Perea-Henze and of course, this week’s edition of The West Wing Week. Have a great weekend!
Immigration Reform for the 21st Century
On Tuesday, the President held a meeting with stakeholders from across the political spectrum – from the Latino and immigration advocacy community to faith leaders, law enforcement and business leaders – to hear their ideas and suggestions on how to tackle our shared challenge of fixing our nation’s broken immigration system in order to meet our 21st century economic and security needs. This is a critical piece to helping our nation win the future. For more information click here and check out the blog post from White House Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes.
President Barack Obama meets with a group of business, law enforcement, faith, and current and former elected leaders to discuss immigration, in the State Dining Room of the White House, April 19, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Because you deserve to know exactly how and where your tax dollars are being spent….
For the first time ever, American taxpayers would be able to go online and see exactly how their federal tax dollars are spent. Now you can visit this website and take a look yourself. Just enter a few pieces of information about your taxes, and the taxpayer receipt will give you a breakdown of how your tax dollars are spent on priorities like education, veteran’s benefits, or health care.
Shared Responsibility and Shared Prosperity Townhalls
If you didn’t have an opportunity to watch the President’s speech on his vision for fiscal policy last week, I highly encourage you to do so. This week the President will did a series of townhall events on “Shared Responsibility and Shared Prosperity” in Northern Virginia, Palo Alto California, and Reno, Nevada to talk his vision for fiscal responsibility.
In the Facebook townhall President Obama did earlier this week, two students at a youth roundtable at the University of Florida asked the President, “Mr. President, in your deficit reduction speech last week you spoke of the need to not only reduce government spending but to also increase federal revenue. In light of our nation’s budget challenges, will your administration consider revisiting policies such as the DREAM Act, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates will reduce the deficit by $1.4 billion and increase the government revenue by $2.3 billion over the next 10 years?”
Meet Raul Perea-Henze, Assistant Secretary for Policy and Planning, Department of Veterans Affairs
This week is our second week in a series of interviews with Hispanic Administration officials who are not only examples of how much the Obama Administration reflects America’s great diversity, but who are also carrying out work that is vital to the Hispanic community and to all Americans. This week we are interviewing Raul Perea-Henze, Assistant Secreatary for Policy and Planning at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Check it out here. www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/04/19/meet-raul-perea-henze
First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden Launch Military Families Initiative and Embark on National Tour
The First Lady and Dr. Biden have had the privilege of meeting military families, learning about their successes and challenges, and have made it their priority to support them. Joining Forces is a comprehensive national initiative to mobilize all sectors of society to give our service members and their families the opportunities and support they have earned. In this ongoing effort, they’re highlighting issues that are of special importance to the military families they have met with across the country, including the areas of employment, education, and wellness. Take a moment to find out more info and how you can play a part.
U.S. – Panama Trade Promotion Agreement
President Obama is committed to pursuing an ambitious trade agenda that will help grow our economy and support good jobs for U.S. workers by opening new markets. Yesterday, a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) went into effect between the United States and Panama. The TIEA will permit the two countries to improve their tax information exchange transparency networks globally. Panama is one of the fastest growing economies in Latin America, expanding 6.2 percent in 2010, with similar annual growth forecast through 2015. The U.S.-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement will support American jobs, expand markets, and enhance U.S. competitiveness by eliminating tariffs and other barriers to U.S. exports and expanding trade between our two countries. Click here for fact sheets and more information.
Do You have the White House app for your phone?
This week, we announced two new developments for the White House’s mobile apps. Now, with the newly upgraded White House iPhone app, you can get an alert that President Obama is about to speak, then watch it live, right in the palm of your hand. Over 400,000 people have already downloaded the app, so if you don’t already have it make sure you do. That’s not all. When we first released the iPhone app, we heard from a lot of Android owners who wanted something for their devices, too. So we’re excited to announce the White House’s new official mobile app for the Android operating system. With both of these mobile apps, Americans can get alerts directly from the White House, check out behind-the-scenes photos and videos, and read the latest news from the blog or the Briefing Room. As a reminder, WhiteHouse.gov is also optimized for any mobile phone’s browser. Take a look at m.whitehouse.gov/ to check it out. According to the numbers, more and more of you are using mobile devices to access content on WhiteHouse.gov. In the last two months, 6.6% of visits to WhiteHouse.gov came from the iOS or Android operating system – nearly double the share of visits over the same period last year (3.6%). We’re constantly working to make it easier for the American public to connect with the Administration. Please give us feedback on these new apps, the mobile website or anything else related to the White House online program’s technology.
West Wing Week
For more info on what else happened at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue this week, check out the latest installment of West Wing Week: “My Old Number, Twenty Three”
Posted on: April 22nd, 2011Curation from Tomás
Filed Under: needs curation
