President Barack Obama addresses a crowd gathered at the Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C., to discuss infrastructure spending as part of the American Recovery and Investment Act, as Vice President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood listen.(White House photo 3/3/09 by Pete Souza)

“Thanks in large part to Joe Biden….and because of all the governors and mayors, county and city officials who are helping implement this plan, I can say that 14 days after I signed our Recovery Act into law, we are seeing shovels hit the ground,” President Obama said in remarks at the Department of Transportation today, announcing the apportionment of $26.6 billion of a total $28 billion in infrastructure spending.

“Two weeks ago, I signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the most sweeping economic recovery plan in history,” he said. “And already, its impact is being felt across this nation. Hardworking families can now worry a little less about next month’s bills because of the tax cut they’ll soon find in the mail. Renewable energy companies that were once downsizing are now finding ways to expand. And transportation projects that were once on hold are now starting up again — as part of the largest new investment in America’s infrastructure since President Eisenhower built the Interstate Highway System.”

Just prior to the President’s remarks, Secretary LaHood announced the first project  will be in Montgomery County, Md., on State Route 650. Learn more about how the funds are going to be spent, including state-by-state and urban-suburban-rural breakdowns, at Recovery.gov.

The Middle Class Task Force came to Philadelphia with a clear mission — figure out how to make sure that our recovery from the current economic crisis benefits the middle class.

Over the course of the Task Force’s first meeting last Friday — which we liveblogged, every step of the way — we heard architects talk about how to build green jobs while building green buildings, labor leaders talk about how to make sure green jobs are good jobs, and policy experts talk about how to make sure Washington focuses on green jobs.

You can read the Task Force’s first full report, detailing how Green Jobs can serve as a pathway to a strong middle class, or view images from the slideshow below.

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Overhauling our health care system is going to take the will to fight entrenched special interests and lobbyists, the patience to work across party lines, and a little Kansas common sense.

“Kathleen Sebelius has a remarkable intellect, unquestioned integrity, and the kind of pragmatic wisdom you’ll tend to find in a Kansan,” President Obama said as he announced the Kansas Governor as his choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. “I know she will bring some much-needed grace and good humor to Washington, and she will be a tremendous asset to my cabinet.”

The governor of Kansas since 2003, Secretary-designate Sebelius has a reputation for reaching across the aisle to work with Democrats and Republicans alike, while standing firm for what she believes in the face of pressure from special interests. And before being elected governor, she served as Kansas Insurance Commissioner from 1994-2002 — so she knows her stuff.

That’s also true of Nancy Ann DeParle, the President’s choice to lead the White House Office of Health Reform and one of the nation’s top health care experts. She learned firsthand how our broken health care system can impact workers and families as Tennessee’s commissioner of the Department of Human Services. And she saw the big picture in the Clinton administration, where she handled health care budget issues and managed Medicare and Medicaid.

Along with these announcements, President Obama also said today that $155M from the Recovery Act will go toward supporting 126 new health centers across the country, providing care to 750,000 Americans and creating 5,000 jobs. (Get a state-by-state breakdown of how many patients will benefit from the Recovery Act funding for community health care centers.)

It’s just an early step in a major undertaking to lower costs and expand care that isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s absolutely necessary.

“If we are going to help families, save businesses, and improve the long-term economic health of our nation, we must realize that fixing what’s wrong with our health care system is no longer just a moral imperative, but a fiscal imperative,” the President said today. “Health care reform that reduces costs while expanding coverage is no longer just a dream we hope to achieve – it’s a necessity we have to achieve.”

John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, passed along this update about the ongoing review of our nation’s communications and information infrastructure.

In response to President Obama’s direction, the National Security Council and Homeland Security Council are presently conducting a 60-day review of the plans, programs, and activities underway throughout the government that address our communications and information infrastructure (i.e., cyberspace). The purpose of the review is to develop a strategic framework to ensure that our initiatives in this area are appropriately integrated, resourced and coordinated both within the Executive Branch and with Congress and the private sector.

Our nation’s security and economic prosperity depend on the security, stability, and integrity of communications and information infrastructure that are largely privately-owned and globally-operated. Safeguarding these important interests will require balanced decision making that integrates and harmonizes our national and economic security objectives with enduring respect for the rule of law. Guided by this principle, the review will build upon existing policies and structures to formulate a new vision for a national public-private partnership and an action plan to: enhance economic prosperity and facilitate market leadership for the U.S. information and communications industry; deter, prevent, detect, defend against, respond to, and remediate disruptions and damage to U.S. communications and information infrastructure; ensure U.S. capabilities to operate in cyberspace in support of national goals; and safeguard the privacy rights and civil liberties of our citizens.

The review will be completed by the end of April 2009. At that time, the review team will present its recommendations to the President regarding an optimal White House organizational construct to address issues related to U.S. and global information and communications infrastructure and capabilities. The recommendations also will include an action plan on identifying and prioritizing further work in this area.

Learn more about the administration’s Homeland Security priorities.

In the Weekly Address this morning, President Obama explains how the budget he sent to Congress will fulfill the promises he made as a candidate.  On fiscal responsibility, a fair tax code, a clean energy economy, real health care reform, and education, this budget sets out a new vision for our country.

But having put his priorities on paper and having stood behind them, the President recognizes that there are those who will fight against change every step of the way.

Watch the full address and read the transcript below.

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Two years ago, we set out on a journey to change the way that Washington works.

We sought a government that served not the interests of powerful lobbyists or the wealthiest few, but the middle-class Americans I met every day in every community along the campaign trail – responsible men and women who are working harder than ever, worrying about their jobs, and struggling to raise their families.  In so many town halls and backyards, they spoke of their hopes for a government that finally confronts the challenges that their families face every day; a government that treats their tax dollars as responsibly as they treat their own hard-earned paychecks.

That is the change I promised as a candidate for president.  It is the change the American people voted for in November.  And it is the change represented by the budget I sent to Congress this week.

During the campaign, I promised a fair and balanced tax code that would cut taxes for 95% of working Americans, roll back the tax breaks for those making over $250,000 a year, and end the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas.  This budget does that.

I promised an economy run on clean, renewable energy that will create new American jobs, new American industries, and free us from the dangerous grip of foreign oil.  This budget puts us on that path, through a market-based cap on carbon pollution that will make renewable energy the profitable kind of energy; through investments in wind power and solar power; advanced biofuels, clean coal, and more fuel-efficient American cars and American trucks.

I promised to bring down the crushing cost of health care – a cost that bankrupts one American every thirty seconds, forces small businesses to close their doors, and saddles our government with more debt.  This budget keeps that promise, with a historic commitment to reform that will lead to lower costs and quality, affordable health care for every American.

I promised an education system that will prepare every American to compete, so Americans can win in a global economy.  This budget will help us meet that goal, with new incentives for teacher performance and pathways for advancement; new tax credits that will make college more affordable for all who want to go; and new support to ensure that those who do go finish their degree.

This budget also reflects the stark reality of what we’ve inherited – a trillion dollar deficit, a financial crisis, and a costly recession.  Given this reality, we’ll have to be more vigilant than ever in eliminating the programs we don’t need in order to make room for the investments we do need.  I promised to do this by going through the federal budget page by page, and line by line.  That is a process we have already begun, and I am pleased to say that we’ve already identified two trillion dollars worth of deficit-reductions over the next decade.  We’ve also restored a sense of honesty and transparency to our budget, which is why this one accounts for spending that was hidden or left out under the old rules.

I realize that passing this budget won’t be easy.  Because it represents real and dramatic change, it also represents a threat to the status quo in Washington.  I know that the insurance industry won’t like the idea that they’ll have to bid competitively to continue offering Medicare coverage, but that’s how we’ll help preserve and protect Medicare and lower health care costs for American families.  I know that banks and big student lenders won’t like the idea that we’re ending their huge taxpayer subsidies, but that’s how we’ll save taxpayers nearly $50 billion and make college more affordable.  I know that oil and gas companies won’t like us ending nearly $30 billion in tax breaks, but that’s how we’ll help fund a renewable energy economy that will create new jobs and new industries.   In other words, I know these steps won’t sit well with the special interests and lobbyists who are invested in the old way of doing business, and I know they’re gearing up for a fight as we speak.  My message to them is this:

So am I.

The system we have now might work for the powerful and well-connected interests that have run Washington for far too long, but I don’t.  I work for the American people.  I didn’t come here to do the same thing we’ve been doing or to take small steps forward, I came to provide the sweeping change that this country demanded when it went to the polls in November.  That is the change this budget starts to make, and that is the change I’ll be fighting for in the weeks ahead – change that will grow our economy, expand our middle-class, and keep the American Dream alive for all those men and women who have believed in this journey from the day it began.

Thanks for listening.

“Let me say this as plainly as I can: by August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end,” the President said today at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

“I want to be very clear,” the President said. “We sent our troops to Iraq to do away with Saddam Hussein’s regime – and you got the job done. We kept our troops in Iraq to help establish a sovereign government – and you got the job done. And we will leave the Iraqi people with a hard-earned opportunity to live a better life – that is your achievement; that is the prospect that you have made possible.”

Though he and the nation’s civilian and uniformed leaders have established a clear timeline for withdrawal, the President emphasized that many challenges remain:

But let there be no doubt: Iraq is not yet secure, and there will be difficult days ahead. Violence will continue to be a part of life in Iraq. Too many fundamental political questions about Iraq’s future remain unresolved. Too many Iraqis are still displaced or destitute. Declining oil revenues will put an added strain on a government that has had difficulty delivering basic services. Not all of Iraq’s neighbors are contributing to its security. Some are working at times to undermine it. And even as Iraq’s government is on a surer footing, it is not yet a full partner – politically and economically – in the region, or with the international community.

The President ordered the review that led to this decision on his first day in office, and considered options for moving forward that reflected input from military commanders, the Joint Chiefs, Secretary Gates, and his national security team. Read the entire speech to see the details of the plan.

The Vice President and his team are in Philadelphia this morning for the first meeting of the Middle Class Task Force, and it’s all about how green jobs — jobs that help us move towards a growing, greener, cleaner economy — can be an aid to the middle class.

He makes the case in an op-ed appearing this morning in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Today’s event should be really interesting. The Task Force is going to be meeting with the people who know this field the best — the policy makers and entrepeneurs and advocates who are working together to figure out how to grow our economy and do what’s right for the environment at the same time, while making sure the middle class benefits.

We’re going to be liveblogging the event over at AStrongMiddleClass.gov — thanks to Greg Nelson from the Office of Public Liaison, who’s attending the meeting — so check back throughout the day.

The Vice President and his team are in Philadelphia this morning for the first meeting of the Middle Class Task Force, with a focus on a green jobs as a pathway to a strong middle class. Greg Nelson from the White House Office of Public Liaison is attending the meeting and will be filing updates throughout the day.

11:25 a.m.: The event site in Philly is hopping. We just arrived, and students and attendees greeted the motorcade with lots of excitement. The crowd arrived early and is starting to file in, a beautiful mix of community members, labor members, small business and green business owners, and environmental groups.

11:53 a.m.: The line is reaching way out the door, giving folks a chance to meet each other and tell their stories. Just met Jim Bauer, who is the local United Steelworkers (USW) President at the Gamesa Wind Turbine facility in Fairless Hills, PA. Jim worked for US Steel at the same site for 25 years, but the plant closed. When it opened up three years ago making turbines, Jim returned to the facility and joined the machine shop. They’ve cranked out 509 turbines so far. Jim says optimism has returned because of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

12:08 p.m.: We’re just about ready to get started here. Amazing stories at every turn — people are hurting, but the optimism around green jobs is everywhere. Dave Johnson of the Laborers Union has been working with Newark community groups on a pilot project to help train community members to weatherize local homes. It is a win, win, win — better, healthier homes for the homeowner, long-term skills and careers for residents, and reduced energy use and carbon for the world.

(12:21 p.m.: Ed. note: The Task Force has just made public its first staff report, “Green Jobs: A Pathway to a Strong Middle Class,” which you can read in full.)

12:37 p.m.: And we’re underway. Vice President Biden kicked things off with a rundown of why this is so important — in many states, green companies are some of the few that are hiring. We need to create more of these opportunuities, and — reflected by the breadth of the audience today, people are hungry for it. Electeds, business leaders, labor members, community members, students, faculty, all wanting to get to work to make this happen.

12:44 p.m.: Just as impressive as the crowd is the panel — the VP, 6 cabinet secretaries (including newly confirmed Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, the author of the Green Jobs Act), and senior White House staff. Lots of praise for Senator Specter (R-PA) for making so many green job opportunities possible with his vote on the recovery act. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA) is talking about the importance of the energy efficiency components of the recovery act, and how that will help cities like Philadelphia.

12:46 p.m.: VP Biden just plugged the AStrongMiddleClass.gov and invited attendees to make sure they participate and contribute to the conversation even after today.

12:50 p.m.: First presentation is from John Podesta from the Center of American Progress, then it will be Fred Krupp from the Environmental Defense Fund and Van Jones from Green for All. You can check out Krupp’s presentation and handout, as well as a video from Jones.

1:01 p.m.: Van’s message is about providing opportunity and hope, and the moral responsibility to make sure this green wave is one that lifts all boats — “a green economy that MLK would be proud of.” The way to do that, he says, is to make sure green jobs crop up not just in rural and suburban areas, but in urban areas, too. To great applause: “There is a moral principle to green the ghetto first … to give young people the chance to put down that handgun and pick up a caulking gun.”

1:05 p.m.: Van is describing the impact of opportunity and inspiration. The green dollars in the opportunity act are ‘the hardest working dollars the federal government has ever spent….We need a new commitment, we need a new math, and we need a new ethic. And that’s how we fight poverty and pollution at the same time.” And for his own inspiration and push for opportunity, Van gets a standing ovation.

1:20 p.m.: “when I see less carbon, I also see more jobs.” That’s from Fred Krupp, President of the Environmental Defense Fund, which has invested a lot of time and energy into the details of how to make green jobs a reality. Fred is taking the remarkable vision of Van, and breaking it down step-by-step back through the supply chain: from end products (like solar panels or efficient windows or LEDs) to the components to the original raw materials. Where and how those supply chains get developed — and the jobs each step in the supply chain represents — is what will determine how well we can live this vision.

1:27 p.m.: Members of the Task Force are now asking questions. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis asked about gender in green jobs.Van answered by talking about where green jobs are headed: not just solar panel installations, but also managerial jobs, IT jobs, marketing jobs, and education jobs. Agriculture Secretary Vilsack mentioned the USDA programs supporting green jobs, and how popular and effective it is. He then asked about mayors, and what we can ask of mayors to help get this done. John Podesta answered: it’s about scale. We need to create markets that can build and support this massive task and opportunity ahead of us.

1:38 p.m.: Energy Secretary Chu asked: with all the energy efficiency money in the ARRA, how do we help spend it in a way that greats good jobs? Van: The moment is now. The money is here. Now it is about doing it right. Because we could do this poorly and wrong. But let’s do it well and right, by:

1. Using our existing workforce development mechanisms, community colleges, and labor apprenticeship programs.
2. Sticking to High standards. The best trained workers in this area are our labor members. Help them bring it to fruition.

Podesta added that we also need to leverage private financing, especially to reach neighborhoods and homes.

1:44 p.m.: HUD Secretary Donovan: Part of the new math is about how we can leverage energy savings to help finance energy efficiency for individual homeowners. Where can we get the best data and thinking? Van: Great work at MIT. They’ve been working with unions, labor, and other partners on a program called Emerald Cities.

1:48 p.m.: Education Secretary Duncan: How do we systemically give opportunities to students who need them? Too often, it seems like it relies on a remarkable social entrepreneur or non-profit to open those eyes and those doors. Van: starts early, in the curriculum. The greener, the more successful.

1:54 p.m.: Moving on to panel 2. Coming to the mics are: Governor Rendell (D-PA), Mayor Nutter (D-PA), Leo Gerard (United Steelworkers), Mark Edlin (President, Gerding-Edlin), Cecilia Estolano (CEO of the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Authority)

2:02 p.m.: After a quick break, the Task Force jumps right back into some heavy content. Gov. Rendell leads off. As a Governor, he makes the important note that much of the innovation in this area has been in the States. Rendell has 3 points he suggests the panel address:

1. create markets through renewable portfolio standards
2. direct incentives and support
3. use the power of the government as a consumer to make change

2:16 p.m.: And we finally get to hear from the host — a city that Nutter himself called “stimulus-ready.” Nutter is making green jobs a major focus in his economic development work in Philly. As he said in his testimony, whether you have a GED or a PHD, we’ve got a green job for you in Philly.

A bit of news: the Knight Foundation is granting $1.1 million to the city’s Energy Coordinating Agency (ECA) to train workers for green jobs, in collaboration with the mayor’s office.

2:20 p.m.: Nutter: “‘Philadelphia was the first capital of the United States, and we plan to be the first capital of green jobs.”

2:30 p.m.: One of the key partners in making green jobs a reality has been Labor, in particular the United Steelworkers of America. USW President Leo Gerard has been a visionary on this issue, and has been building coalitions with enviro groups for years — he’s a founder of the Apollo Alliance and the Blue Green Alliance. President Gerard’s members are truly the engine behind green jobs — 2700 people showed up at the Good Jobs Green Jobs conference this month. They are the machinists at Gamesa’s wind turbine facilities, the glassmakers in window factories, and the line workers in battery manufacturing. And right now, some of those jobs are in danger because the markets have dried up. But the Recovery Act has a chance to change that. Let’s make it count.

He’s also make a big commitment; that the Blue Green Alliance is going to develop a Green Jobs scorecard to help evaluate the impact of projects paid for by the Recovery Bill. A great addition. (Check out President Gerard’s presentation.)

2:42 p.m.: Cecilia Estolano is talking about the work that she and Mayor Villaraigosa have been doing in Los Angeles — alongside now CEQ Chair Nancy Sutley (and LA’s Vice Mayor for Energy and Environment). LA has been at the forefront of many of these conversations, with real results. Estolano ended by saying: ‘Thank you, Mr. Vice President, it is so nice to — finally — have a partner in the White House.”

2:50 p.m.: One of the healthiest (and at times very funny) undercurrents of today’s event has been each speaker claiming that his home town or state is the greenest. It came to a head with Mark Edlen (of Gerding Edlen’s), who claimed Portland and Oregon are the greenest — highest rate of renewables, highest hybrid car ratio, etc. That prompted Estalano to stand up for LA, Nutter for Philly, and Rendell for PA. VP Biden finally brokered a truce by calling the competition “healthy” but maybe best left for after the meeting.

2:54 p.m.: Mark Edlen talking now. He and his company — Portland, OR-based architecture firm Gerding-Edlen — in a lot of ways created an industry and market for green city living. He believes they can go further — zero impact buildings. Gerding-Edlin just completed a 400-thousand square foot building that is off the sewer grid, and in fact puts water back into the system.

Mark also talked about a new initiative by Governor Ted Kulongoski (D-OR) called The Oregon Way. Gov K has brought together a public-private board to evaluate potential projects to be paid for by recovery funding — and to rate them based on their impact in jobs and sustainability.

3:14 p.m. – Biden wrapping up now. In addition to running the Middle Class Task Force, he’s also the lead for Recovery Act Implementation, and he drew an important connection between green jobs, the middle class, and the Recovery Act. The act has tons of opportunity, he says, but a lot of hard work lies ahead in execution: openness, transparency, and impact — it can be either a “platform or a tombstone.” So let’s get it right.

Paraphrasing: Green jobs are not autonmatically good jobs without fair pay and strong standards…So let’s be level-headed about this, and make sure we do it right, while making sure we acheive our first goal of directly impacting the economy. And do it with openness, transparency, and with accountability.

4:21 p.m. – (Ed. Note: Other big news today: Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan and Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced a major partnership between their departments that will use $16 billion in funds from the ARRA to help create green jobs. The high-level interagency task force will “make it much easier for families to weatherize their homes and spur a new home energy efficiency industry that could create tens of thousands of jobs.”)

4:50 p.m. — (Ed.Note: The Vice President’s full remarks from the opening of the meeting are now available.)