Discussing Wall Street executives' reaction to his proposed new fees on major banks, the President delivered a simple message: "Instead of sending a phalanx of lobbyists to fight this proposal, or employing an army of lawyers and accountants to help evade the fee, I suggest you might want to consider simply meeting your responsibilities."

Specifically, the President was announcing a proposal for a new Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee to be imposed on the debt of the largest financial firms until the American people are fully compensated for the extraordinary assistance they provided to Wall Street -- read the full fact sheet.  Describing TARP as "a distasteful but necessary thing to do," the President explained that despite many dire predictions, most of that money has been recouped – but that "most" is not enough:

My commitment is to recover every single dime the American people are owed.  And my determination to achieve this goal is only heightened when I see reports of massive profits and obscene bonuses at some of the very firms who owe their continued existence to the American people -- folks who have not been made whole, and who continue to face real hardship in this recession. 

We want our money back, and we're going to get it.  And that's why I'm proposing a Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee to be imposed on major financial firms until the American people are fully compensated for the extraordinary assistance they provided to Wall Street.  If these companies are in good enough shape to afford massive bonuses, they are surely in good enough shape to afford paying back every penny to taxpayers. 

He explained that the new fee would only affect the largest firms, those with more than $50 billion in assets, but that it would be in place as long as it takes to make the money back.

He also explained how this fee ties into the larger new foundation he seeks to establish for our economy:

We cannot go back to business as usual.  And when we see reports of firms once again engaging in risky bets to reap quick rewards, when we see a return to compensation practices that seem not to reflect what the country has been through, all that looks like business as usual to me.  The financial industry has even launched a massive lobbying campaign, locking arms with the opposition party, to stand in the way of reforms to prevent another crisis.  That, too, unfortunately, is business as usual.  And we're already hearing a hue and cry from Wall Street suggesting that this proposed fee is not only unwelcome but unfair -- that by some twisted logic it is more appropriate for the American people to bear the costs of the bailout, rather than the industry that benefited from it, even though these executives are out there giving themselves huge bonuses.

He closed on an underlying principle: "Ultimately, it is by taking responsibility -- on Wall Street, here in Washington, all the way to Main Street -- that we're going to move past this period of turmoil."

Ed. Note: We regret that Secretary had to cancel her chat yesterday due to an extended health reform meeting, but thank her for agreeing to draft a post summing up the year in health care from an HHS perspective:

Last January, President Obama set a clear course for his administration when he said "we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin the work of remaking America." A year later, there’s a lot of work left to be done. But as we look back at last year, we can be encouraged by the significant steps we took to improve America’s health and strengthen opportunity for the people who need it most.

Here are nine ways the Obama administration kept Americans healthy, delivered critical services, and began the work of remaking America in 2009.

We brought the voices of everyday Americans to the health care reform debate.

From the regional forums we held across the country last spring to our new website healthreform.gov, the administration reached out to tens of thousands of Americans over the last year to get their questions, concerns, and ideas about how to fix our health care system. Whether it was the man who told us health care costs were a "noose" around the neck of his small business, or the father who explained that he was paying over $30,000 a year for health care because his son had a preexisting condition, these voices propelled historic health reform legislation through both houses of Congress.

We helped contain the H1N1 flu pandemic.

As soon as the H1N1 flu was identified in April, we sprang into action. We developed a safe, effective vaccine in six months – three months less than it usually takes. Working with state and local partners, we were able to vaccinate more than 60 million Americans in the three months after the first dose of vaccine came off the production line, the vast majority of them in high-priority, at-risk groups. We also launched an aggressive outreach campaign, using television, radio, print, and web communications to educate Americans about how to prevent the spread of H1N1. Last Sunday, we kicked off National Influenza Vaccination Week – and with more than 135 million doses of vaccine available across the country, we’re encouraging all Americans to go get vaccinated and help us save lives as we approach the worst months of flu season. To find out where vaccine is available in your neighborhood, visit www.flu.gov.

We helped Americans weather the worst recession in 70 years.

When President Obama took office, foreclosures were skyrocketing, credit markets were frozen, and the economy was shedding 700,000 jobs a month.  As America’s families have struggled to get back on their feet, HHS has reached out to give them a hand. Under the Recovery Act, we made almost $44 billion in enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentage funding available so that qualified Americans could keep essential health services. And as part of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, we released more than $2.6 billion to help low-income Americans pay their heating bills. 

We began the transformation to a high-quality, evidence-based, patient-centered health care system.

It’s been said before, but it’s worth saying again: we spend twice as much per person on health care as other wealthy countries but only get average health results. In 2009, our department supported a range of reforms that will help Americans get more bang for their health care buck. For example, we invested $80 million to reduce healthcare-associated infections, the infections you get once you’re already in the hospital that kill tens of thousands of Americans a year. We also announced two new “medical homes” demonstration projects that will support the kind of coordinated care models where patients are treated by teams of health care providers. Doctors are more satisfied, patients get better care, and costs go down. Our goal is to spread these successes.

We got serious about Medicare fraud.

With more than a billion claims totaling $425 billion paid out each year, Medicare is an inviting target for criminals.   In 2009, HHS and the Justice Department created a new partnership dedicated to protecting our health care dollars: the Healthcare Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team or HEAT. Under HEAT, we’re attacking fraud with new resources, a new spirit of collaboration, new high-tech approaches, and most important, new urgency. We’ve also more than tripled the number of Medicare fraud Strike Forces around the country from two to seven. Later this month, our department and Department of Justice will host the first-ever national healthcare fraud summit in Washington, DC, a gathering that will bring together federal and state officials, private sector executives, and law enforcement leaders to share ideas about the best ways to keep our health care dollars safe.

We focused on health outside the doctor's office.

How healthy we are depends on more than the care we get from doctors and nurses. It also depends on the food we eat, the air we breathe, the neighborhood we live in, and how much exercise we get. Last year, our department got serious about promoting health outside the health care system. Under the Recovery Act, we invested $650 million that will support the most proven strategies for reducing obesity and smoking in communities around the country. To help consumers, we developed a new food-labeling initiative that makes it easier for shoppers to get quick information about how healthy a product is. And building off the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which President Obama signed in June, we’re establishing a comprehensive tobacco regulation program.

We put kids first.

One of the first bills President Obama signed after he took office was the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act.  It gave more than four million previously uninsured children access to affordable health insurance.  But expanding access to insurance was just the first step. Since then, we’ve invested $40 million to reach out to eligible children and their parents and make sure they’re enrolled in CHIP or Medicaid, and have access to the care they need.  To give families relief, we also invested $2 billion to help states increase their number of child care slots.

We made investments to create jobs today – and tomorrow.

When President Obama signed the Recovery Act, he said there were two goals: to help America recover from the current economic crisis and to lay the foundation for future growth. Last year, we made several investments that served both purposes. For example, we invested over $1 billion in Recovery Act funds to help doctors around the country adopt electronic health records, which can reduce paperwork, medical errors, and health care costs. We also gave out more than $5 billion in new NIH grants to help bring us closer to the cures and treatments of the future for diseases from cancer to autism. And we invested more than $1 billion to expand community health centers around the country, add new services and providers, and give millions more Americans access to high-quality primary care.

We found new partners inside the Cabinet.

The President's Cabinet has 15 separate departments, but our country’s challenges can often only be addressed by partnerships. That's why in 2009, we made an unprecedented effort to build new, interdepartmental relationships that help us do our job more effectively. One example is our antifraud partnership with the Department of Justice. Another is the new Food Safety Working Group I co-chair with Agriculture Secretary Vilsack, which is updating the rules that keep our food supply safe. A third is the early education initiative we launched with the Department of Education that will allow us to coordinate early childhood services across the federal government and make sure our kids get all the support they need during their most formative years.

These are nine highlights from 2009, but it’s just the beginning of the list of investments and initiatives we began last year. Among other achievements, we taught Elmo how to sneeze, introduced the country to a rapping doc, and helped our Olympic athletes get ready for the Vancouver Games. And that’s just from our work on one issue.

As we look forward to President Obama’s second year, we’re humbled by the significant challenges that remain for our country. But we’re also excited to build on the progress we made in 2010.

Kathleen Sebelius is Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services

Cross-posted from the OMB Blog.

In May, we released our Terminations, Reductions, and Savings volume. It put forward more than 120 cuts and reductions, totaling $17 billion, to programs that were duplicative, ineffective, or outdated. At the time, cynics said that we’d never be able to eliminate these programs – some of which had been around for decades. And it’s true that every one of the programs has a supporter, and there have been – and will continue to be – vocal and powerful interests that oppose almost any budget cut.

But with the 2010 appropriations process now over, the Washington Times ran the numbers and came away impressed with what the Administration was able to accomplish: "President Obama notched substantial successes in spending cuts last year, winning 60 percent of his proposed cuts and managing to get Congress to ax several programs that bedeviled President George W. Bush for years."

Citing data from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the newspaper noted that the 60 percent success rate was better than the prior administration’s best year (40 percent in Fiscal Year 2006), and well ahead of the under 15 percent success rate in 2007 and 2008.

I'm proud of what we were able to accomplish in conjunction with the Congress, but it's just a start in what we need to do to streamline programs that work, end those that don’t, and make government more efficient and effective. That’s why this fall we ran the SAVE Award contest, receiving more than 38,000 ideas from frontline workers on how to save money. We undertook contracting reforms that will save $19 billion this year, and $40 billion by next year. We’ve put forward an ambitious effort to reduce the $100 billion in improper payments – money that the government pays out by mistake – each year. And we initiated a rigorous process of evaluating program effectiveness – including funding whole new studies – so that we can find out what works and what doesn’t, and make budget decisions accordingly.

In a few weeks, we will release the President’s Fiscal Year 2011 Budget. There will be more proposals for terminations, and we will hear the complaints from the special interests. But programs that are unnecessary, duplicative, or ineffective should not continue, and we look forward to building on the successes from last year in ending programs that don’t make sense.

Peter Orszag is Director of the Office of Management and Budget

We hear a lot about Nobel Prize-winning scientists, and there are kudos galore for those august winners of the National Medal of Science and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, such as those honored by President Obama in October. But where do these great innovators come from? How did they get to their vaunted stations in life?

President Barack Obama talks with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) winners in the East Room of the White House, Jan. 13, 2010. January 13, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

That’s the focus of a prestigious Presidential award that was in the spotlight Wednesday in the East Room of the White House, when the President honored 100 winners of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest award bestowed by the U.S. Government upon scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers.

The President’s meeting with the PECASE winners showcased this Administration’s recognition that America’s global leadership in science and technology is not automatic, but depends on constantly cultivating new generations of ambitious and dedicated explorers in the sciences and engineering. And of course that national nourishing of curiosity starts even earlier than that, in the way we teach children about science, technology, engineering and mathematics. That’s why this event resonates strongly with those of last week, when the President announced an expansion of the “Educate to Innovate” campaign to encourage and inspire young students to pursue studies in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Nine Federal departments and agencies join together annually to nominate the most meritorious young scientists and engineers for PECASE -- researchers whose early accomplishments show the greatest promise for strengthening America’s leadership in science and technology and contributing to the awarding agencies' missions. The awards are coordinated by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, with awardees selected on the basis of two criteria: Pursuit of innovative research at the frontiers of science and technology and a commitment to community service, as demonstrated through scientific leadership, public education, or community outreach. Winners receive up to a five-year research grant to further their study in support of critical government missions.

This year’s recipients were first announced over the summer and received their awards and met with the President Wednesday.  Their names and Federal Departments and Agencies can be seen in the official White House press release.

Rick Weiss is Director of Strategic Communications and a Senior Policy Analyst at the Office of Science and Technology Policy

Ed. Note: We're happy to host Norm Eisen and Aneesh Chopra in a live video chat at 11:30 AM EST, watch at WhiteHouse.gov/live or join the discussion through Facebook.

Americans chose Barack Obama to be President of the United States to change the way Washington works. To do just that, on his first full day in office, the President signed two critical documents that have shaped the Administration: the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government and the Executive Order on Ethics. As a result of the Memorandum on Transparency, we have since Day One, worked to empower the public – through greater openness and new technologies – to influence the decisions that affect their lives. And as a result of the Ethics Order, we have since that same day worked to reduce special interest and lobbyist influence in Washington so the voices of the American people can be heard. 

The results have made history. Don’t just take our word for it--earlier this week, respected independent government reform groups issued a report card that deemed this Administration’s work the “strongest and most comprehensive lobbying, ethics, and transparency rules and policies ever established by an Administration.”   You can read the report card here. You can also learn more about our efforts over the past year in these critical areas by exploring our Open Government Initiative website, and by reading our recently released Progress Report to the American People.

Here are just a few examples of the Administration's progress to date:

Reducing Special Interest Influence

Closing the Revolving Door: President Obama has prohibited former lobbyists from joining the government and working in agencies they lobbied or on the issues they lobbied about. And when members of his Administration leave government, they cannot lobby the government for as long as he is in office. These are by far the toughest rules of their kind ever adopted and earned an “A” grade from the outside experts in their report card. 

Removing Lobbyists from Government Boards and Commissions: The White House informed executive agencies and departments of our aspiration that registered lobbyists should no longer be appointed to agency advisory boards and commissions. These appointees to boards and commissions advise the federal government and shape policy in a wide variety of areas. We have actively recruited average folks from across America to replace the lobbyists on these boards – a dramatic change in the way business is done in Washington.

Opening Up the People's House: For the first time ever, the White House began publishing the names of those who visit the White House—registered lobbyists, unregistered lobbyists, and everyone else. Each month, tens of thousands of records of visitors from the previous 90-120 days are now made available online. This gives the public an unprecedented look at whose voices are being heard in the policymaking process.

Tracking Taxpayer Dollars: Mitigating the risk of fraud, waste, and abuse, the Administration is tracking how the government uses the moneywith which the people have entrusted it with easy-to-understand websites like Recovery.gov, USASpending.gov, and the IT Dashboard. These websites allow American taxpayers to see precisely what entities receive federal money in addition to how and where the money is spent.

Listening to the Public's Voice and Serving Their Interests

Instructing all Agencies to Open Up to the American People: In December 2009, the White House issued an historic Open Government Directive, instructing every agency to take immediate, specific steps to open their operations up to the public. The product of an unprecedented outreach effort to tap the public’s ideas, the Directive instructs agencies to place high-value information to the public online in open, accessible, machine-readable formats. It also aims to instill the values of transparency, participation, and collaboration into the culture of every agency by requiring each agency to formulate - in consultation with the American people - an Open Government Plan and website. 

Tapping the Expertise of the Public and Front-Line Workers: As knowledge is widely dispersed in society, the President has called on agencies to offer Americans increased opportunities to participate in policymaking to enhance the Government’s effectiveness and improve the quality of its decisions.   For example:

• Education Secretary Arne Duncan embarked on a Listening and Learning Tour to hear ideas on how to strengthen schools.
• The VBA Innovative Initiative enabled 19,000 employees of the Veteran Benefits Administration (VBA) to submit ideas, through a web-based “idea management tool,” on how to better serve the nation’s veterans. Thousands of ideas were vetted and over ten were selected by Secretary Shinseki to help those who defended our freedom.
• The Health IT Online Forum drew on the expertise of health-care stakeholders to uncover new strategies to accelerate the adop­tion of Health IT and bend the healthcare cost curve.
• Using the same free software behind Wikipedia, the Wikified Army Field Guidehas invited military personnel– from the privates to the generals - to collaboratively update the Army Field Manuals in real time so our servicepeople have access to the best possible information when they need it most.

Democratizing Data to Improve the Lives of Everyday Americans: We launched Data.gov in May with 47 data sets but ended the year with over 118,000 – all freely available in machine-readable format. For example, by making nutritional information available, the Administration empowered parents to plan smarter meals for their families. By making information on the status and causes of airport delays available, the government enabled travelers to better plan their days. By making workplace safety information available, we helped employers keep America’s workers out of harms way.

These are just a few examples drawn from what has been a very busy first year for all of us who are privileged to work in government at this historic time. We know we are just getting started in the fight to promote the public interest. We very much welcome your continued help this year and in the years to come to continue to make the promise of change a reality. 

Norm Eisen is Special Counsel to the President for Ethics and Government Reform, Aneesh Chopra is U.S. Chief Technology Officer

The President has been receiving updates on the urgent situation in Haiti late into last night and throughout the day, and top members of his team have been convening to formulate the government response.  

You can also help immediately by donating to the Red Cross to assist the relief effort. Contribute online to the Red Cross, or donate $10 to be charged to your cell phone bill by texting "HAITI" to "90999."  Find more ways to help through the Center for International Disaster Information.

Families of Americans living in Haiti are encouraged to contact the State Department at 888-407-4747.

Update: Watch the President's remarks from Wednesday morning below, or read the transcript.

Update II: Read the President's remarks from Thursday morning.

A new report today confirms one of Washington's worst-kept secrets – that big insurance companies are fighting tooth and nail to kill health reform that will wrest power from their hands and give it to American families.

According to the National Journal, the nation's largest insurers funneled between $10 million and $20 million dollars through the Chamber of Commerce to fund television ads perpetuating their favorite scary myths about health insurance reform.

The article also exposes that the effort was well underway – and carefully planned to avoid detection – even as the insurance companies were publicly claiming to support reform:

In late October, [insurance lobby President Karen] Ignagni wrote in a letter to the Washington Post defending a health insurer-funded study critical of congressional cost estimates, "Let me be clear and direct, health plans continue to strongly support reform." However, by that time money was already flowing through AHIP to the chamber to fund its negative ads.

The fund raising started last September and continued through December using AHIP as a conduit to avoid a repeat of the political flack that hit the insurance industry after it famously ran its multi-million dollar "Harry and Louise" ads to help kill health care reforms during the Clinton administration.

"AHIP wanted to do this through a third party because of what happened with the Harry and Louise ads," said a lobbying source. "The goal was to get a message out there to make sure the public understood the serious shortcomings of the legislative proposals."

It’s no surprise that the insurance companies who profit from the broken status quo would oppose fixing the system.  After all, reform will end insurance industry practices like denying coverage based on preexisting conditions, capping total benefits, and dropping coverage when you get sick and need it most.  But this article should serve as an important reminder of the powerful forces standing in the way of change and of whose bidding opponents of reform are doing.

Read the full article.

Dan Pfeiffer is White House Communications Director

Ed. Note: Join Ben Rhodes for the next in our series of online video chats, which will be at 3:00 PM EST today. Watch the chats here at WhiteHouse.gov/Live, or join the discussion through Facebook.

President Obama inherited unprecedented challenges at home and abroad. Facing a global economic crisis, two wars, and diminished American standing in the world, the President immediately went to work refocusing our efforts against al Qaeda, restoring our alliances, renewing our moral leadership, and reinvigorating our efforts to address challenges like nuclear proliferation and climate change.

A year later, America is stronger because of the President’s leadership. The global economy has been pulled back from the brink of catastrophe. We are responsibly winding down the war in Iraq, and increasing our focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan. We have increased the pressure on al Qaeda and struck blows against its leaders and affiliates. The world is more united in addressing the threat from nuclear proliferation, including Iran and North Korea. Important progress has been made in enlisting nations to address the threat of climate change. And the President has strengthened our armed forces, our enduring alliances and our standing in the world.

There is much more work to be done. Difficult challenges remain, and many of the initiatives that have been launched will take years to fulfill. But we have moved forward on a number of fronts since January 20, 2009, and are poised to make more progress in the years to come.

The Global Economy

The President has played a leading role in securing unprecedented global coordination through the G-20, which has helped pull the global economy back from the brink of catastrophe. At Summits in London and Pittsburgh, he worked together with other nations to provide stimulus to the global economy; to coordinate efforts to prevent another crisis from occurring again; and to lay the groundwork for job-creating growth that can be balanced and sustained. And to ensure that there is a broader base for prosperity and development, the United States has helped launch an ambitious new food security initiative that helps combat hunger abroad, while giving people around the world the increased capacity to feed themselves over time.

Iraq

As a candidate, President Obama pledged to responsibly end the war in Iraq. Shortly after taking office, he put forward a plan to remove our combat brigades from Iraq by the end of August 2010, while transitioning responsibility to the Iraqis for security and governance. That plan is being implemented, with US troops already pulled back from Iraqi cities, a reduction in the total number of US troops in the country, and preparations that are in place for Iraqi elections early this year. There is much work to be done in Iraq, and there will be difficult days ahead. But thanks to the extraordinary service of our troops and civilians, we are leaving Iraq to its people.

Afghanistan and Pakistan

When the President took office, the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan had grown increasingly perilous. Despite being the launching point for the 9/11 attacks, our effort had been under-resourced, and al Qaeda and its extremist allies posed a growing threat. The President’s review of our policy resulted in a new strategy with the goal of disrupting, dismantling and defeating al Qaeda and its extremist allies. The President recently ordered the deployment of 30,000 troops to Afghanistan who will target the insurgency, break its momentum, train Afghan Security Forces, and begin a transition to the Afghans in July 2011. The President has also reached out to our NATO allies, who have provided more than 7,000 additional troops to support this international effort. In Pakistan, we have strengthened our partnership with the Pakistani people and government, which recently launched its biggest offensive against the violent extremists within its borders in years. Huge challenges remain, and our troops are bearing a remarkable burden. But we have a strategy in place that provides the resources that this urgent challenge demands.

Pressuring Al Qaeda Worldwide

President Obama has also intensified our efforts against al Qaeda worldwide. Our increased partnerships in South Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, and Africa have degraded al Qaeda’s leadership. By prohibiting torture and working to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, we are denying al Qaeda a recruiting tool. At home, thanks to the work of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies, plots have been disrupted and terrorists have been apprehended. Yet as we learned over Christmas, more work has to be done. And in the wake of the recent attempted attack over Detroit, the President has ordered specific improvements to strengthen intelligence and aviation security, and he has made it clear that he will insist upon accountability.

Non-proliferation

President Obama has reinvigorated global efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, and to prevent them from being used by terrorists. In April, the President delivered a landmark speech in Prague where he stated America's commitment to seek the security of a world without nuclear weapons. He has restored a relationship with Russia that had become adrift, and signed a Framework Understanding with President Medvedev to reach a new treaty to reduce our nuclear stockpiles and delivery vehicles. As the first American president to chair a meeting of the UN Security Council, his leadership resulted in a unanimous resolution to take a range of steps to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. And he has taken action to meet the ambitious goal of securing all loose nuclear materials around the world within four years, so they cannot fall into the hands of terrorists.

Iran and North Korea

President Obama’s policy of engagement has strengthened our efforts to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, and to seek a denuclearized Korean peninsula. When he took office, the international community was not united, and Iran was in a strong position in the region. After a year of American engagement, the international community is more united than ever before in calling on Iran to live up to its obligations, while Iran is more isolated. Meanwhile, the United States secured the strongest UN Security Council Resolution to date to prevent North Korea’s proliferation activities. In both cases, President Obama continues to present a clear choice: if nations abide by their obligations, the door is open to a better relationship with the international community; if they don’t, they will be isolated.

Energy Security and Climate Change

Through the largest investment in clean and renewable energies in American history, President Obama has begun to reduce our dangerous dependence on foreign oil, while also beginning to create the clean energy jobs of tomorrow. He has also jumpstarted American leadership to confront global climate change. At the G-20, agreement was reached to phase out fossil fuel subsidies. In Copenhagen, for the first time in history, all major economies embraced their responsibility to reduce emissions, and to stand behind their commitments in a transparent manner. This breakthrough was made possible by steady diplomacy throughout the year with countries like China and India.

Restore our Alliances and Standing 

The President believes that America needs strong alliances and partnerships to meet the challenges of the 21st century. To build a new basis for cooperation that lessens the burden on the American people, he has renewed our transatlantic and Asian alliances, pursued more cooperative relations with countries like China, India and Russia, and sought new partnerships from Latin America to Africa. And to restore America’s standing, he has engaged the peoples of the world directly. In a major address in Egypt and a town hall with students in Turkey, the President advanced a new beginning with Muslim communities around the world, which has been followed up with specific partnerships to combat disease and advance opportunity. In a major speech in Ghana, he initiated a new partnership with Africa focused on strengthening African capacity. And in an unprecedented town hall in China, he took questions via the internet and promoted an open internet and society.  Around each of these stops, the Administration amplified the President’s message with technology, from online video to social networks to text messaging, connecting with people using the means of communication they use most.

This progress represents the beginning of the Administration’s efforts – not the end. For as the President often says – he has no greater responsibility than the safety and security of the American people. Each of these steps is dedicated to advancing that goal, while supporting the prosperity upon which our security depends.

Ben Rhodes is with the National Security Council

This past weekend, the President issued a proclamation identifying the week of January 10-16, 2010, as National Influenza Vaccination Week.  He encouraged Americans to observe the week by getting the H1N1 flu vaccine, if they have not yet done so, and by asking their families, friends, and co-workers to do the same. Here’s an excerpt from the proclamation:

Every American has a role to play in fighting the H1N1 flu. Expectant mothers, children, young adults, and all those under the age of 65 with chronic health conditions are at high risk for H1N1 flu-related complications and should get the vaccine as soon as possible. Those not at high risk can protect themselves and prevent the virus from spreading to more vulnerable members of their families and communities by getting vaccinated as well.

This week presents a window of opportunity for us to prevent a possible third wave of H1N1 flu in the United States. I strongly encourage those who have not yet received the H1N1 flu vaccine to do so. Visit flu.gov to find vaccination sites in communities across our country and to stay informed. Together, we can all fight the H1N1 flu and help protect our families, friends, and neighbors.

Read the full proclamation.

In support of National Influenza Vaccination Week, there are a number of national and regional vaccination activities happening this week, including: school-based H1N1 vaccination clinics in Alabama; a day-long vaccination event for the Navajo Division of Health employees in Arizona; a "Spread the Word, Not the Flu" media campaign in Florida; Medical Reserve Corps volunteers coordinating with local health departments, town emergency planners, local police, and emergency medical technicians to provide vaccinations in Massachusetts; free immunizations for children without health insurance in Washington; and a live appearance by the ‘Flu Bug’ at a vaccination clinic in Wyoming.

With so many ongoing activities, it is easy to get involved.  Read the blog post from HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for additional details about National Influenza Vaccination Week and visit Flu.gov to locate a vaccination clinic in your area, learn more about this week’s events, list your community event, or access online tools and a media kit.