White House wants quick jobs action by Congress

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- The White House says President Barack Obama hopes that when Congress returns this coming week from its summer break, lawmakers will share his sense of urgency in taking steps to create jobs and help the economy.

Obama plans a prime-time speech to Congress on Thursday night and is expected to propose a mix of tax credits and public works spending.

Spokesman Jay Carney says Obama will offer plans that historically have attracted bipartisan support and will, if passed, "positively affect growth and job creation."

Carney tells reporters traveling with Obama on a tour of flood damage in New Jersey that "we are at a time in our economy when we need to do something."

Carney says Obama will press lawmakers to act quickly on his ideas.White House

Answering your questions about We the People

Yesterday, we announced that we’ll be rolling out a cool new tool on WhiteHouse.gov that will change the way you engage with the Obama Administration.  It’s called We the People and it’s a platform for all Americans to create and sign petitions asking the Obama Administration to take action on a range of issues.

Since we announced that this new tool is coming soon to WhiteHouse.gov, we’ve gotten a lot of great questions and feedback, so we thought we’d take a stab at answering a few of the common questions we’ve gotten so far. In case you missed it, Macon Phillips, Director of Digital Strategy here at the White House, was fielding questions on Twitter yesterday and you can check out some of the questions and answers on Storify.

And don’t forget to sign up to be the first to know when We the People is live.

How will the White House decide which petitions to respond to?

The initial threshold for a petition to be reviewed by the White House and get a response is 5,000 signatures in 30 days.

Who will be reviewing and responding to petitions?

Petitions that meet the signature threshold will be reviewed by a standing group of White House staff, routed to any other appropriate offices and generate an official, on-the-record response. Most of the time, a response will come from a policy official at the White House or at a federal agency. From time to time, President Obama may also respond to petitions as well.

It’s our goal to respond to petitions that cross the signature threshold (initially 5,000 signatures) in as timely a manner as possible, but in some cases it may take a few weeks for us to respond.

Will the signature thresholds ever change?

This is the first time we’ve tried something like this, so we may find that we need to adjust the signature thresholds for petitions to receive a response from the White House as people start to use the tool.  If we do change the signature thresholds at any point, we’ll announce the changes publicly on the site, and any changes to signature thresholds will only apply to petitions created after we made the change.

Initially, a petition must receive 150 signatures in order to be publicly searchable on the We the People site and 5,000 signatures within 30 days in order to get a response from the White House.

When we We the People launch?

We the People will launch very soon, so start thinking about the issues that matter to you and who you’ll ask to join you.  And don’t forget to sign up to be the first to know when it is live.

Who can create or sign petitions? 

Anyone over the age of 13 can create or sign a petition through We the People.  In order to participate, users must verify their email address and create an account on WhiteHouse.gov.

President’s Jobs Council Listening and Action Sessions in Portland and Dallas

This week, the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness held Listening and Action Sessions in Portland, Oregon and Dallas, TX. The events are part of a series of regional Council Listening and Action Sessions that are taking place around the country as a result of the President’s challenge that the Council bring new voices to the table and ensure that everyone can participate and inform the Council’s work and recommendations. The ideas and information exchanged at these events will help inform the future policy work of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, which meets with President Obama each quarter to recommend critical steps that both the private and public sectors can take to create jobs and help strengthen the economy.

A 'frustrated' President Obama looks to turn things around

That was the subject line of an e-mail sent to millions of supporters late Wednesday night from President Obama's re-election campaign. It expressed his frustration with Congress' unwillingness to deal in bipartisan fashion with the country's economic problems.

While the message was aimed at Congress as Obama prepares to deliver next Thursday's speech on jobs, it just as easily could have summarized his plight during the past four months — perhaps the most frustrating of his presidency.