DAILY SNAPSHOT
Saturday, August 22, 2015

Weekly Address: It's Time for Congress to Pass a Responsible Budget

In this week's address, the President spoke to the economic progress that our country has made -- from 13 million new jobs created over the past five and a half years, to 17 states raising the minimum wage. Congress needs to do its part to continue to help grow the economy, but instead left town last month with a great deal undone.

Congress failed to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank, which enjoys bipartisan support and is tasked solely with creating American jobs by growing exports. And most pressingly, the Republican Congress failed to uphold their most basic responsibility to fund the government, leaving them only a few weeks once they return to pass a budget, or shut down the government for the second time in two years.

The President made clear that Congress needs to get to work on behalf of the American people and reach a budget agreement that relieves the harmful sequester cuts and keeps our economy growing.

Watch the President's Weekly Address here.

"Letters to President Obama"

This week, we launched a new Tumblr account called "Letters to President Obama," highlighting some of the letters that people across America have written to the President.

A letter from Natoma Canfield, a woman from Ohio that President Barack Obama met who didn’t have health insurance, hangs on the wall in the hall between the Oval Office and the President's Private Office in the West Wing. June 28, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

Every day, the Office of Presidential Correspondence receives thousands of letters, and every night the President personally reads 10 of them. By letter and by email, Americans write in about the issues that affect them and their families.

It's one of the ways the President can hear directly from Americans about their lives, and it's one of the ways that the stories and voices of Americans across the country directly inform policymaking by the President and the White House.

FOLLOW ALONG

Meet the Presidential Innovation Fellows

This week, with an Executive Order, President Obama made the Presidential Innovation Fellows Program a permanent part of the federal government.

The initiative brings entrepreneurs, executives, technologists, designers, and other innovators into government, and teams them up with federal employees to improve programs that serve more than 150 million Americans.

READ MORE

Memo: How We're Using Data to Benefit the American People

Six months ago, Dr. DJ Patil joined the federal government as the first-ever U.S. Chief Data Scientist.

This week, he wrote a memo detailing how his team is helping federal departments and agencies to use data to benefit all Americans -- in areas ranging from precision medicine to criminal justice -- and to use data responsibly.

A student helps New Orleans Police Superintendent Michael Harrison write his first line of code. (Photo by Tyler Gamble of the New Orleans Police Department)

READ MORE

To get an exclusive preview of the upcoming events on the President's schedule, watch the latest edition of "West Wing Week."