Having made 13 visits to Iraq and held steady conversation with Iraqi leaders over the past two years, the Vice President was as well qualified as just about anybody to speak to the Veterans of Foreign Wars as combat operations there draw to a close.  But there is also another reason this time is so meaningful to him:

These homecomings are something I have long looked forward to, and I know many of you have as well. The day my son Beau returned from a yearlong tour in Iraq, and I watched him embrace his wife and children, was one of the proudest and happiest moments of my life. By the end of next year—2011—our remaining troops in Iraq will have come home to their families and a grateful nation. This is only possible because of the extraordinary progress our military—the finest fighting force this planet has ever seen—has brought about, led by the great General Ray Odierno.

"President Obama laid out our plan for ending the war in Iraq responsibly, and we have followed that plan very closely," said the Vice President. "As a result, one week from tomorrow, U.S. combat forces will phase out their combat mission.... More than 140,000 troops in Iraq on Inauguration Day -- by the end of August, 50,000 remain. Our last remaining  -- applaud them, they deserve it -- our last remaining combat unit, one that I know personally well from visiting them in Fort Lewis, to be there as they mourned their dead, to being with them and in their vehicles in Iraq.  The 4th Stryker Brigade of the Army’s Second Infantry Division, that last unit across the border out of Iraq."

Later today, House Minority Leader John Boehner is slated to give a speech at the City Club of Cleveland laying out the major planks of his party’s economic agenda.  Unfortunately, families in Ohio and across the country don’t need to wait until the speech to learn about these economic policies because they’ve been living with the impact of many of these same old policies for years.  Today, Ohioans will hear an argument for a return to the economic policies that turned a surplus into record deficits and helped create the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

When it comes to the auto companies, we often focus more on the lake than the streams and rivers.

That is, much of the attention to how this critical sector is faring focuses on the end-of-the-line assembly plants, and less on the suppliers that provide the parts to be assembled. 

You might think that’s because in employment terms, the end-of-the-line is most important.  But in fact, for every worker in the assembly plant, there are three workers in the supply chain. 

So if you want to assess the health of the auto industry, you’ve got to look beyond the factories that build the cars and trucks and examine how the suppliers are doing.

With that in mind, Vice President Biden traveled to Toledo, Ohio, today to hold a Middle Class Task Force event at the Chrysler Toledo Assembly Complex.  This state-of-the-art complex houses the main assembly plant producing the Jeep Wrangler, surrounded by three of the plant’s suppliers. 

Ed. Note: Building on the President’s commitment to address issues important to rural Americans, Administration officials are visiting state fairs all summer. Check out a map of where we've been so far and hear about the latest visit, cross-posted from the Department of Transportation's blog, Fast Lane.

Like hundreds of thousands of other Illinois households, the LaHood family circles the middle of August on our calendar each year for the Illinois State Fair.

From livestock, grains, and fruit to textiles, cooking, and other handiwork, the Illinois State Fair showcases the best our state has to offer. It's a pleasure to walk around the halls, stalls and booths to see what folks have proudly displayed. For farmers, artisans, and old friends, the state fair offers Illinoisans a way of saying "This is what we've been up to for the past year."

And I was happy to let fairgoers know what we've been up to for the past year in our fight against distracted driving. So, I joined Governor Pat Quinn, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, Illinois DOT Secretary Gary Hannig, and State Police Acting Director Jonathan Monken at the kickoff celebration of Illinois' kickoff celebration of Operation Teen Safe Driving.

Operation Teen Safe Driving encourages the creativity of Illinois teens to develop programs to reduce fatalities and injuries due to traffic crashes among their peers. They've got a lot to be proud of as they have helped reduce teen fatalities in Illinois by half since 2006.

"This flooding has already affected more people than the Indian Ocean tsunami, the Haiti earthquake, and the 2005 Pakistan earthquake combined," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday during an address to the United Nations.  Over 20 million Pakistanis have been affected during this humanitarian crisis and as the rains relentlessly fall the risk of expanded flooding continues.  Shortages in food, shelter, clean drinking water, and medical supplies face families across the region and as the water continues to rise, it may get worse before it gets better.

That is why the United States Government through the Department of State created the Pakistan Relief Fund for people like you to contribute money to the ongoing relief efforts in Pakistan.  Though Secretary Clinton acknowledged that these are tough economic times and everyone has tight budgets, every dollar makes a difference in providing immediate relief and assistance to support a sustained recovery.  Five dollars can buy 50 high energy bars providing desperately needed nutrition, $10 can provide a blanket for a mother or a child, and about $40 can buy material to shelter a family of four who has lost their home in the floods.

Ed. Note: Building on the President’s commitment to address issues important to rural Americans, Administration officials are visiting state fairs all summer. See a map of where we've been so far, and hear from SBA Deputy Administrator Johns about her recent visit to the Indian State Fair:

Having grown up in Indiana, I know firsthand that there is much debate over what a “Hoosier” is, but I can tell you for certain that there were many at the Indiana State Fair. From the young 4-H and FFA participants that I met at a pancake breakfast, to the small businesses selling their products, and the family farmers displaying their livestock, Hoosiers represent the diversity and growth of the small business community.

This afternoon, President Obama called on a partisan minority in Congress to stop blocking legislation that would make loans more available and cut taxes for small businesses.  In his remarks on the South Driveway, the President said this legislation “makes sense, and normally we would expect Democrats and Republicans to join together.”

I’ve spent the last few days here in Iowa, a state that I was honored to serve as Governor for eight years. Yesterday, I walked the grounds of the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. The fair is refreshingly the same each year, but also a snapshot of changing rural America. The food stands, midway and cattle barns are in the same place that they’ve been for years. We’ve sculpted a "Butter Cow" since the early 1900s, but now the young people all have iPods and Blackberry phones. Their parents have cell phones.

Like the state fair, rural America is changing each year in subtle ways. Many of our grandparents and great grandparents made their homes on small farmsteads and made their living directly from the land. Today, farming is more mechanized. Farms are larger, and fewer Americans call them home. Most people who live in small towns in rural America still feel connected to the land, but they don’t necessarily depend on it for their livelihood. The demands of rural America are changing, along with the drivers of the rural economy.

While at the fair, I participated in a roundtable on rural revitalization. The roundtable discussion featured some of Iowa’s top rural leaders, including Iowa Farm Bureau President Craig Lang. We discussed our vision for developing a new, strong, vibrant rural economy; one that supports food production, but also generates renewable energy while safeguarding our environmental heritage. To help drive this rural renaissance, the Obama Administration supports quality health care and educational opportunities for all Americans, availability of broadband, and safe, sanitary rural housing. It’s what rural America wants.

At USDA, we are moving forward to meet the changing demands of rural America. Yesterday, I announced a major USDA investment toward the Administration’s goal: loans and grants to allow farmers, ranchers, business owners and producers improve energy efficiency, develop renewable energy and cut costs. Today, I will join Commerce Secretary Locke in announcing additional projects to bring broadband to rural America.

While USDA is adapting to meet the expanding needs of all of rural America, our primary purpose remains the same: to help those who live there prosper. Like the Iowa State Fair’s cattle barns and butter cow, some things at USDA remain constant, but we know that to remain vital to rural residents, we need to assist them when they ask for broadband and cell phone service, too.

Tom Vilsack is Secretary of Agriculture

The Affordable Care Act is working to help bring down the cost of prescription drugs for seniors enrolled in the Medicare Part D prescription drug program and today, we got more good news for our seniors.

This afternoon, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that Medicare prescription drug plan premiums for 2011 will stay similar to rates beneficiaries are currently paying this year. The average premiums in 2010 were $29 per month -- in 2011 we expect average monthly premiums to be just a dollar more. All beneficiaries should check to make sure that the plan offerings that will be available in 2011 are right for them when information on those plans becomes available in October.

While there has been almost no change in premiums for 2011, people with Medicare will see big improvements in drug coverage next year. Under the Affordable Care Act, they will see lower prescription drug costs, if they fall into the coverage gap or "donut hole."  This year, people with Medicare who are in the donut hole are receiving one-time $250 rebate checks. Next year, they will receive 50% discounts on brand-name drugs and in each year their costs will be reduced even more until the donut hole is closed in 2020 - meaning that after 2020 there will be no more coverage gap, and people with Medicare will just pay their normal cost-sharing amount until they reach the annual out-of-pocket limit.

And just like President Obama promised -- guaranteed benefits for the seniors and persons with disabilities who rely on Medicare won't change.

The Affordable Care Act was designed to strengthen the Medicare program and ensure that it will continue to provide health security to our seniors for many years to come. Today's announcement -- just like the recent news that the Affordable Care Act will help extend the life of the trust fund by 12 additional years -- is good news for them and their children.

The Affordable Care Act also means less disruption for people with Medicare. Low-income seniors often have to change prescription drug plans every year to find a plan with no premium. Now, more beneficiaries with limited income will be able to keep their plan if they want to while continuing to have a wide range of plans to choose from if they want to change plans.

General information about premiums and benefits for each Part D and Medicare Advantage (MA) plan will be announced in September on www.cms.gov, and more detailed information to help beneficiaries review their plan options will be available in October at www.medicare.gov. In addition, each autumn, the comprehensive Medicare & You handbook and other program updates are mailed directly to beneficiaries' mailboxes with important information about health plans, prescription drug plans, and rights and protections to help people with Medicare, their families and caregivers review coverage options. And more information on how the Affordable Care Act will continue to strengthen and improve Medicare is available at www.HealthCare.gov, a new web portal.

Kathleen Sebelius is Secretary of Health and Human Services