Barack_Obama's Blog

Please join Valerie Jarrett today (Monday, Nov. 2) at 3:30pm EST for an extended online chat to discuss how health insurance reform will impact minority communities and all Americans.

Click here to join at 3:30pm EST
 

From the WhiteHouse.gov blog:

For the 14th commemoration of National HIV Testing Day, we wanted to share this video with you:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/GetTested/

One in five Americans currently living with HIV doesn't know it.  

To find a testing site near you visit http://www.hivtest.org or text KNOWIT to 566948.

And to learn more about HIV testing and what you can do to spread the message, visit cdc.gov and aids.gov.

Mitch Stewart, Director of Organizing for America, recently sent the following message:

Members of Congress will begin debating President Obama's budget this week, with a vote likely set for next week.

What you do now will decide what kind of debate they have -- one that's dominated by special interests and partisan voices intent on keeping the status quo, or one that reflects the priorities of citizens like you.

Call your elected representatives now to let them know where you stand.

• Renewable energy to reduce our dependence on foreign sources of oil
• Making health care more affordable for every American by cutting costs
• Improving education so our children are prepared for the jobs of the 21st Century

On Saturday morning President Obama touched on the agenda of his budget proposal in his weekly video address. He discussed some of the lessons learned from his time spent outside Washington recently, which only reinforced the core principles in his budget:

Last week, I spent a few days in California, talking with ordinary Americans in town halls and in the places where they work. We talked about their struggles, and we talked about their hopes. At the end of the day, these men and women weren’t as concerned with the news of the day in Washington as they were about the very real and very serious challenges their families face every day: whether they’ll have a job and a paycheck to count on; whether they’ll be able to pay their medical bills or afford college tuition; whether they’ll be able to leave their children a world that’s safer and more prosperous than the one we have now.

Those are the concerns I heard about in California. They are the concerns I’ve heard about in letters from people throughout this country for the last two years. And they are the concerns addressed in the budget I sent to Congress last month.

... These investments are not a wish list of priorities that I picked out of thin air – they are a central part of a comprehensive strategy to grow this economy by attacking the very problems that have dragged it down for too long: the high cost of health care and our dependence on foreign oil; our education deficit and our fiscal deficit. - President Barack Obama

From whitehouse.gov:

President Obama released a special video message for all those celebrating Nowruz. Translated "New Day," Nowruz marks the arrival of spring and the beginning of the New Year for millions in Iran and other communities around the world. This year, the President wanted to send a special message to the people and government of Iran on Nowruz, acknowledging the strain in our relations over the last few decades. "But at this holiday we are reminded of the common humanity that binds us together," he says.

After committing his administration to a future of honest and respectful diplomacy, he continues on to address Iran's leaders directly: "You, too, have a choice. The United States wants the Islamic Republic of Iran to take its rightful place in the community of nations. You have that right -- but it comes with real responsibilities, and that place cannot be reached through terror or arms, but rather through peaceful actions that demonstrate the true greatness of the Iranian people and civilization. And the measure of that greatness is not the capacity to destroy, it is your demonstrated ability to build and create."