The White House Blog

In this week’s address, President Obama urges Congress to act now on one thing that everyone agrees on -- ensuring that taxes don’t go up on 98 percent of all Americans and 97 percent of small businesses at the end of the year. On Friday, the President had a constructive meeting with Congressional leaders on finding ways to reduce our deficit in a way that strengthens our economy and protects our middle class, and he looks forward to working together to get this done.

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Learn more about President Obama's plan to extend the middle class tax cuts

The White House is always looking for new ways to help Americans engage with President Obama and the rest of his administration, so we're excited to launch our official presence on SoundCloud -- a social platform devoted to sharing sounds, including recorded speeches and music.

We record thousands of hours of audio here, and while many speeches and recordings are already on WhiteHouse.gov and our YouTube channel, we're excited to have a new way to share those recordings with the American people.

SoundCloud allows us to embed those sound files right on WhiteHouse.gov, and users on SoundCloud can leave time-specific comments right in the waveform (the visual representation of the sound file). Here are President Obama's remarks from last week on moving the country forward and keeping taxes low for the middle class:

Make sure you visit soundcloud.com/WhiteHouse, where we've posted some of the President's most well-known speeches in an easy-to-download format. We've even gone back to some of the President's speeches and re-encoded them in higher quality using the original recordings.

Here's what you can find on our SoundCloud page right now:

• The President's Weekly Addresses
• President Obama's inaugural address
• All of President Obama's speeches to Congress
• The President's 10 most-watched speeches
• The First Lady and Dr. Biden's speeches for Let's Move and Joining Forces

Check it out, and be sure to follow us.

Follow the White House on Facebook and Twitter. Learn more about ways to engage with the White House at WhiteHouse.gov/Engage.

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden meet with the bipartisan, bicameral leadership of Congress to discuss the fiscal cliff and a balanced approach to the debt limit and deficit reduction, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Nov. 16, 2012. Participants included: House Speaker John Boehner at left, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at right, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Chief of Staff Jack Lew, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, and National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama today hosted the Democratic and Republican leaders from both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate at the White House for talks on the economy -- and how to prevent a tax increase on the middle class.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker John Boehner, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell met with the President for more than an hour and emerged optimistic about the potential for agreement.

"Our challenge is to make sure that we are able to cooperate together, work together, find some common ground, make some tough compromises, build some consensus to do the people’s business," President Obama said. "And what folks are looking for -- and I think all of us agree on this -- is action. They want to see that we are focused on them, not focused on our politics here in Washington."

Before the meeting, the President also took a moment to mark Speaker Boehner's birthday.

"We didn't make him a cake because we didn't know how many candles we'd need," President Obama told reporters.

"Yeah, right," Speaker Boehner replied to laughter as the two men shook hands.

Watch the full video here:

Welcome to the West Wing Week, your guide to everything that's happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. This week, the President invited fourteen middle-class Americans to stand with him as he spoke on next steps for our continued economic recovery, honored Veteran's Day with veterans, service members and their families at Arlington National Cemetery, held a news conference in the East Room and traveled to New York to continue to work on recovery efforts from Hurricane Sandy.

President Barack Obama gives a press conference in the East Room of the White House, Nov. 14, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

Today, President Obama held a news conference to answer questions about his plans for the next four years. He made one thing clear: his job is to help American families and small businesses get ahead in the wake of the recession.

I’ve got a mandate to help middle-class families and families that are working hard to try to get into the middle class. That’s my mandate. That’s what the American people said. They said: Work really hard to help us. Don’t worry about the politics of it; don’t worry about the party interests; don’t worry about the special interests. Just work really hard to see if you can help us get ahead -- because we’re working really hard out here and we’re still struggling, a lot of us.

The most immediate issue facing President Obama and lawmakers here in Washington is a year-end deadline that will require some big decisions on jobs, taxes and deficits -- and have a real effect on families all over the country.

The President said there's one thing we can do right now to provide a foundation for a solution that helps the economy and gives middle-class families more certainty in the coming weeks. And it's something that everyone agrees on: pass a law that would prevent any tax hike whatsoever on the first $250,000 of everybody’s income.

"That means every American, including the wealthiest Americans, get a tax cut," he said. "It means that 98 percent of all Americans, and 97 percent of all small businesses won’t see their taxes go up a single dime." 

President Barack Obama delivers a statement to the press on the economy, in the East Room of the White House, Nov. 9, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Sonya N. Hebert)

On Friday, President Obama laid out his strategy for moving our country forward and reducing our deficit in a balanced way.

Speaking from the East Room of the White House, the President was joined by Vice President Joe Biden – and 14 others stood behind him at the podium.

So who were those 14 people anyway? One was Pam, a school administrator. Another, Sara, is a veteran recovering from open-heart surgery. Barry has six children and Steve is an orthopedic assistant. Estela recently became an American citizen and voted in a U.S. election for the first time on Tuesday.

What they all have in common, however, is an interest in helping find answers to some of the big questions we face as a nation. Whether it’s how to create jobs or how to help responsible homeowners or how to balance investments in our future with cutting our deficit, all of these citizens want to participate in the process of getting things done here in Washington.

Each of them had already taken the first step by speaking out about an issue that mattered to them, responding to requests for input on whitehouse.gov.  

Now, with lawmakers facing a series of deadlines that require major decisions about how to pay our deficit down, we put together an afternoon at the White House that would bring these same folks into the conversation about how those decisions will affect the middle class -- people like them. They would get the chance to stand behind the President during his remarks, and then take part in a discussion with Jason Furman, Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and the Principal Deputy Director of the National Economic Council.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published on FEMA.gov.

With so many New Yorkers facing the overwhelming and exhausting task of cleaning up after Hurricane Sandy, a group of former veterans known as Team Rubicon have become very popular. And rightly so.

“We were exhausted after the first few days,” said Rockaway homeowner Barbara Millet, “but they just showed up. My mother-in-law calls them angels.”

Founded by two former Marines following the Haitian earthquake in 2010, members of Team Rubicon use skills acquired in the military to assist people affected by disasters.  In the past 10 days, the team has deployed hundreds of volunteers to the Northeast to help Sandy survivors clean houses, remove trees, repair roofs and manage debris as they begin their road to recovery.

FEMA partners with numerous voluntary agencies to provide a wide range of crucial assistance to survivors who may have needs beyond what the state or federal assistance can provide. And this Veterans Day the agency would like to salute Team Rubicon, FEMA’s nearly 3,000 veteran employees, the thousands of veterans in the other federal agencies supporting the response and the more than 12,000 active duty, reserve and National Guard personnel who have been a part of Sandy response operations.

In honor of Veterans Day, Team Rubicon has been joined by volunteers from other veteran groups who have come together for a day of service. Some 1,000 veterans traveled to New York to support survivors as they recover from Sandy.  Representatives from Give an Hour, the 6th Branch, The Mission Continues, the Pat Tillman Foundation, the Headstrong Project, Got Your 6, Student Veterans of America, and Team Red, White, & Blue will be participating.

“A lot of times, people will see us out in the community and they will ask us how they can volunteer” says Andrew Stevens, Team Rubicon’s National Director of Field Operations. “Because of our organizational skills and experience in disaster relief, we’re able to put them to work right away.”

FEMA’s Voluntary Agency Liaison (VAL) works with state and local governments to establish volunteer reception centers. Unaffiliated volunteers who come to the centers are directed to one of the many voluntary organizations active in disaster relief efforts.  Other groups currently working with Sandy survivors in New York include the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the Southern Baptists, Adventist Community Services and other national and local voluntary organizations.

In addition to these organizations, individuals interested in volunteering time or donating money to help New Yorkers recover from Sandy can contact New York Cares at 212-228-5000 or NYC Service.

• Watch a video about Team Rubicon's disaster response and recovery efforts.

Michael Byrne is a FEMA Federal Coordinating Officer. 

President Barack Obama delivers Veterans Day remarks at the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Nov. 11, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Today is Veterans Day, and President Obama, Vice President Biden, First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden travelled to Arlington National Cemetery to honor our nation’s fallen warriors, veterans and military families. Before President Obama gave remarks, they laid a wreath to “remember every service member who has ever worn our nation’s uniform.”

The President discussed our sacred duty to care for our men and women in uniform and their families, even after their military service has concluded.  

So long after the battles end, long after our heroes come home, we stay by their side.  That’s who we are.  And that’s who we’ll be for today’s returning service members and their families.  Because no one who fights for this country overseas should ever have to fight for a job, or a roof over their head, or the care that they have earned when they come home.   

We know the most urgent task many of you face is finding a new way to serve.  That’s why we’ve made it a priority to help you find jobs worthy of your incredible skills and talents.  That’s why, thanks to the hard work of Michelle and Jill Biden, some of our most patriotic businesses have hired or trained 125,000 veterans and military spouses.  It’s why we’re transforming, for the first time in decades, how the military transitions service members from the battlefield to the workplace.  And because you deserve to share in the opportunities you defend, we are making sure that the Post-9/11 GI Bill stays strong so you can earn a college education and pursue your dreams. 

President Obama says that it’s time for Congress to pass the middle class tax cuts for 98 percent of all Americans. Both parties agree that this will give 98 percent of families and 97 percent of small businesses the certainty that will lead to growth, and so there is no reason to wait. On Tuesday, the American people voted for compromise and action, and the President calls on Congress to come together in that spirit to help create jobs and strengthen our economy.

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