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Later today, Vice President Biden will return from Brazil, the final stop on a three-country trip focused on reinforcing partnerships in the Americas.

During his visit, he delivered a speech in Rio de Janeiro about the promise of a strong U.S.-Brazil partnership. “President Obama and I believe that the times present an incredible opportunity for a new era of relations between the United States and the Americas,” the Vice President explained. “But none -- no partner is more significant in this endeavor than Brazil.”

The United States and Brazil represent two of the largest, most innovative, dynamic economies in the world today. It is true both of us can continue to prosper whether or not we deepen our economic relations. But imagine, just imagine what these two dynamic economies could do with greater trade and investment for our people, for the hemisphere, for the world. 

In addition to strengthening the economic relationship between our two countries, the Vice President also discussed other areas where we can work together, including energy, global development and people-to-people ties.

In September 2009, the President announced that—for the first time in history—White House visitor records would be made available to the public on an ongoing basis. Today’s release includes visitor records generated during the month of Feburary 2013. This release brings the total number of records made public by this White House to more than 3.2 million—all of which can be viewed in our Disclosures section.

Ed. note: For more information, check out Ethics.gov.

Today, the Medicare Trustees reported some good news for seniors and taxpayers: The Medicare program will be solvent through 2026, nearly a decade longer than projected at the time of passage of the Affordable Care Act. This is 2 years longer than projected last year. Their annual report also shows that the long run actuarial deficit in the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund – a measure of its long-term fiscal health – has been cut by more than 70 percent since enactment of the health care law. The long-run Medicare deficit has fallen from 3.88 percent of taxable payroll in the 2009 Trustees Report to 1.11 percent in this report.

These long-run gains are matched by short-term relief: the Trustees also project that the Part B premium will not increase between 2013 and 2014, keeping out-of-pocket costs for beneficiaries down. Medicare cost growth has remained at historically low levels over the past three years even as new benefits for preventive care and prescription drugs have helped tens of millions of beneficiaries access care at lower cost. The law reduces prescription drug costs by closing the donut hole, a policy that has already saved more than 6 million seniors more than $700 each. And more than 32 million seniors have accessed a free preventive service under the law, helping them stay healthy and avoid future illness.

Today, many Americans who buy health insurance on the individual market have only a few options to choose from when selecting an insurance company.  

In fact, in 2012 just one or two different insurance companies dominated the individual insurance market in most states -- in 29 states, one insurer covered more than 50% of all enrollees in the individual insurance market.  In 11 states, the largest two issuers covered 85% or more of the individual market.

But here’s the good news: the Affordable Care Act is helping to drive competition and choices for consumers by creating a Health Insurance Marketplace that offers people more choice and control over their insurance choices.

A memo released today shows that, based on early reports, the Marketplace is attracting new insurance choices and increasing competition for consumers, all across the country.  In the states with early data, an estimated 80 percent of the people who will enroll in the Marketplace will have five or more different insurance companies to choose from, instead of just one or two.  On average, issuers plan to offer more than 15 qualified health plans per state, according to early reports.

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After stopping in Colombia on his three-country trip to reinforce partnerships in the Americas, Vice President Biden traveled to Trinidad and Tobago, where he met with President Carmona and Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar and participated in a meeting and working lunch with a number of other Caribbean leaders.

In that series of meetings, leaders discussed regional efforts to promote economic growth, citizen security and energy, among other issues.

“I'm here because President Obama wanted me to have an opportunity to dialogue with all of you and because our country is deeply invested and wants to become more deeply invested in a partnership with all the nations of the Caribbean,” the Vice President explained.

Our search for growth, jobs and affordable supplies of energy, our fight against transnational crime, and the protection of our climate and our environment -- all of these issues, all of these issues have no respect for borders and they affect all of our borders. They directly affect the people of my country and each and every one of yours.

Republicans in the Senate have made no secret of their efforts to block the President’s constitutional responsibility to appoint federal judges. They have filibustered unquestionably qualified nominees, like Caitlin Halligan. And their obstruction of the confirmation process kept several nominees waiting more than a year for a vote.  In fact, on average, our judicial nominees wait more than three times as long as those of President Bush after being approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee.  And for no good reason.  Earlier this year, four Circuit Court judges were confirmed by the Senate after waiting at least 250 days – even though each one was confirmed with overwhelming bipartisan support.            

But now, Republicans are taking their attempts to manipulate the federal judiciary to an entirely new level. Right as our D.C. Circuit Court nominee Sri Srinivasan was confirmed unanimously, Republicans started pushing a proposal to reduce the number of judges on the D.C. Circuit from 11 to 8, a blatant attempt to shrink President Obama’s constitutional authority to fill this court. As President Franklin Delano Roosevelt learned when he tried to pack the Supreme Court, the three branches of government are coequal for a reason. Neither the executive branch or the legislative branch should use the third branch to a pursue a partisan agenda.

And on the merits, Senator Grassley’s “court unpacking proposal” fails to make any sense. In fact, in 2005, the Senate – including Senator Grassley – voted to confirm Judge Janice Rogers Brown to the D.C. Circuit as the tenth active judge and Judge Thomas Griffith as the eleventh active judge.  In 2006, the Senate – again, including Senator Grassley – voted to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh as the tenth active judge. Voting for judicial nominees for court seats under one president while proposing to eliminate those same seats under the president of a different political party smacks of partisan politics.

This live event has concluded. Watch the "We the Geeks" Hangout below or on YouTube and stay tuned for upcoming Hangouts. You can join the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #WeTheGeeks.

This Friday, an asteroid nearly three kilometers wide is going to pass by the Earth-Moon system. The fly-by is harmless — at its closest, the asteroid will be about 15 times farther from us than the Earth is from the Moon — but to mark the event, the White House will host the second in a series of "We the Geeks" Google+ Hangouts to talk asteroids with Bill Nye the Science Guy, former astronaut Ed Lu, NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, and more.

Earlier today, President Obama sent the message below to the White House email list, asking Americans to support the rebuilding efforts in Moore, Oklahoma. If you didn't get the email, be sure to sign up.

Good morning --

On Sunday, I was in Moore, Oklahoma. Today, I'm headed to the Jersey Shore. Those two communities are separated by half a continent but united by a common sense of purpose. Like Joplin, Tuscaloosa, and New Orleans, they are home to people who've seen nature at its worst and humanity at its best. And they're filled with those who have made the choice to rebuild after disaster, to come back stronger than ever.

The scene on the ground this weekend was one we all know too well: homes wrecked and neighborhoods devastated. But the memories I'll take away from Moore will be of people standing tall, of neighbor helping neighbor, of survivors working to ensure that no one suffers through tragedy alone. And that too, was strikingly familiar. I could have been back in Brigantine Beach after Hurricane Sandy. I could have been in Joplin in 2011.

Thomas Friedman’s New York Times column, Obamacare’s Other Surprise, highlights a rising tide of innovation that has been unleashed by the Affordable Care Act and the Administration’s health IT and data initiatives. Supported by digital data, new data-driven tools, and payment policies that reward improving the quality and value of care, doctors, hospitals, patients, and entrepreneurs across the nation are demonstrating that smarter, better, more accessible, and more proactive care is the best way to improve quality and control health care costs.   

We are witnessing the emergence of a data-powered revolution in health care. Catalyzed by the Recovery Act, adoption of electronic health records is increasing dramatically. More than half of all doctors and other eligible providers and nearly 80 percent of hospitals are using electronic health records to improve care, an increase of more than 200 percent since 2008. In addition, the Administration’s Health Data Initiative is making a growing supply of key government data on everything from hospital charges and quality to regional health care system performance statistics freely available in computer-readable, downloadable form, as fuel for innovation, entrepreneurship, and discovery.

As Friedman describes, these trends, combined with efforts under the Affordable Care Act to change how we pay health care providers to better reward improving the quality and value of care, are creating a “new marketplace and platform for innovation.” Entrepreneurs and innovators across the country are developing and deploying new data-powered IT tools to help clinicians succeed at delivering better care at lower cost.