What Government Did Today

On Tuesday evening, June 29, the Vice President flew to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, where he joined General David Petraeus and Mrs. Holly Petraeus for dinner at their home. General Petraeus is expected to take up his new post as commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan later this week

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PHOTO RELEASE: Vice President Biden’s Visit With General Petraeus

On Tuesday evening, June 29, the Vice President flew to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, where he joined General David Petraeus and Mrs. Holly Petraeus for dinner at their home. General Petraeus is expected to take up his new post as commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan later this week.

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PHOTO RELEASE: Vice President Biden’s Visit With General Petraeus

“This debate we’re having in Washington isn’t about big government or small government.  It’s about responsible government.  It’s about accountable government.  It’s about a government that stands on the side of the American people – a government that breaks down barriers to opportunity and prosperity.  That’s the kind of government we need.    We already tried the other side’s ideas.  We already know where their theories led us.  And now we have a choice as a nation.  We can return to the failed economic policies of the past, or we can keep building a stronger future.  We can go backward, or we can keep moving forward.    I don’t know about you, but I want to move forward.” ***    “As we speak, we’re on the verge of passing the most comprehensive financial reform since the Great Depression – reform that will prevent a crisis like this from happening again.  It’s reform that will protect our economy from the recklessness and irresponsibility of a few.  Reform that will protect consumers against the unfair practices of credit card companies and mortgage lenders.  Reform that ensures taxpayers are never again on the hook for Wall Street’s mistakes.    But most of our friends in the other party are planning on voting against this reform.  In fact, just yesterday, I was stunned to hear the leader of the Republicans in the House say that financial reform was like using a nuclear weapon to target an ant.  That’s right.  He compared the financial crisis to an ant.  The same financial crisis that led to the loss of nearly eight million jobs.  The same crisis that cost people their homes and their lives savings.    Well if the Republican leader is that out of touch with the struggles facing the American people, he should come here to Racine and ask people if they think the financial crisis was an ant.  He should ask the men and women who’ve been out of work for months at a time.  He should ask the Americans who send me letters every night that talk about how they’re barely hanging on.    These Americans don’t believe the financial crisis was an ant.  They know that it’s what led to the worst recession since the Great Depression.  And they expect their leaders in Washington to do whatever it takes to make sure a crisis like this never happens again.  The Republican leader might want to maintain a status quo on Wall Street.  But we want to move America forward.”   ***   “There are some folks in the other party who are also against raising the limit on what companies like BP have to pay for the environmental disasters they cause.  And a few Republicans have even said they’re against the $20 billion fund that will be used to compensate the workers and businesses in the Gulf whose livelihoods have been harmed by the oil spill – a fund that is paid for by BP.  The top Republican on the energy committee even had the nerve to apologize to BP for the fact that we made them set up this fund.  Apologize to BP!  He actually called the fund “a tragedy.”  A tragedy?  A tragedy is what the people of the Gulf are going through right now.  That’s the tragedy.  And our government has a responsibility to hold the corporations accountable that caused it.  They want to take us backwards.  We want to move forward.” 

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Excerpts of President Barack Obama’s Remarks at a Town Hall Meeting on the Economy in Racine, Wisconsin

Statement by NSC Spokesman Mike Hammer Today, the United States and Pakistan celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Fulbright academic exchange program and the growth of U.S. – Pakistan educational cooperation.  President Obama congratulates the bilateral U.S. – Pakistan Fulbright Program and welcomes the latest group of 158 Pakistani Fulbright students coming to study in America.  Our countries are strengthened by the people-to-people ties built by this program and the alumni of other U.S.

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Statement on the 60th Anniversary of the U.S. – Pakistan Fulbright Program

The President today declared an emergency exists in the State of Texas and ordered Federal aid to supplement State and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from Tropical Storm Alex beginning on June 27, 2010, and continuing. The President’s action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the counties of Aransas, Atascosa, Bee, Bexar, Brooks, Cameron, Comal, Duval, Guadalupe, Hidalgo, Jim Hogg, Jim Wells, Kenedy, Kleberg, Live Oak, McMullen, Medina, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, Starr, Webb, Willacy, Wilson, and Zapata

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President Obama Signs Texas Emergency Disaster Declaration

TO THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES: With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to ratification, I transmit herewith the Treaty between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Bermuda relating to Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, signed at Hamilton on January 12, 2009.  I also transmit, for the information of the Senate, the report of the Department of State with respect to the Treaty. The Treaty is one of a series of modern mutual legal assistance treaties being negotiated by the United States to more effectively counter criminal activities.  The Treaty should enhance our ability to investigate and prosecute a wide variety of crimes. The Treaty provides for a broad range of cooperation in criminal matters.  Under the Treaty, the Parties agree to assist each other by, among other things:  producing evidence (such as testimony, documents, or items) obtained voluntarily or, where necessary, by compulsion; arranging for persons, including persons in custody, to travel to the other country to provide evidence; serving documents; executing searches and seizures; locating and identifying persons or items; and freezing and forfeiting assets or property that may be the proceeds or instrumentalities of crime

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Message from the President Regarding the Treaty with Bermuda

WASHINGTON, DC–President Barack Obama today announced the designation of a Presidential Delegation to Shanghai, China to attend U.S.A. National Day at Expo 2010 Shanghai on July 2, 2010.  The Honorable Madeleine K.

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President Obama Announces Presidential Delegation to Shanghai, China to attend U.S.A. National Day at Expo 2010 Shanghai

Today, President Obama met with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus about the need to fix our nation’s broken immigration system. The President discussed his upcoming speech on comprehensive immigration reform with the members, and his desire to see a bipartisan process based on the proposal presented in the Senate and building on the Schumer-Graham framework. The President noted that the bipartisan approach in that proposal thoughtfully addresses the need to further secure our borders and demands accountability from both workers who are here illegally and unscrupulous employers who game the system.

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Readout of the President’s Meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus

WASHINGTON- On the morning of Friday, July 2, President Obama and Vice President Biden will  attend the memorial service for U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd in Charleston, West Virginia.  More details will be available in the coming days. 

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President Obama, Vice President Biden to Attend the Memorial Service for U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd

2:33 P.M. EDT PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Hello, everybody.  I want to welcome His Majesty King Abdullah to the White House, and I’m very pleased to be able to return the extraordinary hospitality that he showed me and my delegation when we visited Saudi Arabia and when we visited His Majesty’s farm. Since that historic meeting that took place 65 years ago between Franklin Delano Roosevelt and His Majesty’s father, King Abdul-Aziz, we have had a strong and strategic relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia.

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Remarks by President Obama and His Majesty King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia Before Meeting