Ed. note: The application for the Fall 2012 White House Internship Program is now open. This blog post introduces readers to Amanda Ota, a former intern who worked in the Office of Presidential Correspondence in the summer of 2011. When asked about her internship experience, Amanda writes:

You think that the moment you’re accepted to the White House Internship Program is the most thrilling moment of your life – and then you start your internship. 

Every day at the White House is even more exciting than the one before.  The White House Internship Program is an incredible opportunity to take the skills you’ve developed throughout your education and apply them in a fast-paced environment.  When you’re working in the White House you have the opportunity to work beside some of the most committed public servants in the country, and there is no better way to prepare yourself for a future in public service than to learn from these incredible individuals first-hand. 

As an intern in the Office of Presidential Correspondence, no matter what project I was working on, I always knew that the work I contributed was helping to achieve the Administration’s larger goal of maintaining the most accessible presidency in history. 

Ed note: This post originally appeared on the OMB blog

The Obama Administration has adopted a number of initiatives to promote smart, cost-justified regulation. On January 18, 2011, the President ordered an unprecedented government-review of existing rules. After a period of public comment, over two dozen agencies released ambitious reform plans, outlining hundreds of cost-saving reforms. A small fraction of those reforms, already finalized or formally proposed to the public, will save more than $10 billion over the next five years.

As the plans are implemented, far higher savings are anticipated. Just today, the Federal Register has on display a final rule from the Department of Labor that will bring our warning labels for hazardous chemicals in line with those of other nations. This rule will save employers a lot of money on training and updating of materials; improve safety and health protections for American workers; and reduce trade barriers for chemical manufacturers that sell their products abroad. The overall five-year savings will be in excess of $2.5 billion, most of it in the form of savings for employers. (Stay tuned; significant announcements from other agencies are expected in the near future.)

Today, we are taking another major step toward improving our regulatory system and eliminating unjustified costs. In some cases, the addition of new rules and requirements has unfortunate cumulative effects. Taken in isolation, a new rule may seem perfectly sensible, but it may overlap with existing requirements. The sheer accumulation of regulations can cause real harm, especially for small businesses and startups. As the President said last January, agencies must take into account “the costs of cumulative regulations.”

Vanessa Mishkit, a nurse in Tampa, knows firsthand what it’s like to go up against insurance companies on behalf of her child. 

Her son was born with birth defects: developmentally delayed, legally blind, and near deaf. And even though Vanessa had health insurance through work at Tampa General Hospital, she was constantly fighting for her son’s coverage: He was born with a pre-existing condition.

“I had what I thought was excellent health insurance, and then after David was born we received notification that he had met his million-dollar limit and he wouldn’t be eligible for coverage,” Vanessa says. 

“There are thousands and thousands of families” who are in similar situations, she says. “They can’t advocate for themselves at this time because they’re caught up in day-to-day survival.” Vanessa points out that the Affordable Care Act now prevents insurance companies from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions. “We fought a huge battle and now with health care reform” other families won’t have to fight just to keep their keep their children well, she says.

In 2014, insurance companies will be barred from discriminating against anyone with pre-existing conditions. Additionally, the health reform law bars low annual and lifetime caps on claims, a way that insurance companies have used to avoid paying claims.

David “has a heart of gold and now I’m looking at him and he’s 23 years old. He is learning how to take as well care of himself as he possibly can within his limitations. I’m very proud of him,” Vanessa says.

The Affordable Care Act is designed to give hard working families the peace of mind they deserve in meeting their health care needs.

If you have a story like Vanessa’s, share it at Healthcare.gov/MyCare.

President Obama’s health reform law requires that new health insurance plans cover preventive services with no co-pay or deductible. In the last 18 months, approximately 20.4 million women with private health insurance have received preventive health services such as mammograms and pap smears at no additional cost because of this provision in the Affordable Care Act.

Besides improving access to services that help women stay healthy and detect health problems early on, health reform helps women in many other ways. For example, insurance companies are banned from imposing a limit on the amount of care they’ll cover over a woman’s lifetime, and are now required to spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on care—not overhead.

Women who have been unable to purchase health insurance because of a pre-existing condition such as cancer or having been pregnant now have an option to obtain the insurance they need through the new Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan.

Today, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney announced the return of First Question, an online engagement series that utilizes social media to answer questions from people across the country. On a regular basis, the Press Secretary takes questions from the press – via First Question, he adds questions from citizens to that mix.

Through Twitter and the White House Google+ page, hundreds of people submitted their questions for Jay. He responded to questions on gas prices, tax breaks for oil companies and the Supreme Court and the Affordable Care Act. Check out the full video, or use the links below to jump to a specific question.

Do you have a question for the White House Press Secretary? Follow Jay on Twitter @PressSec, @WhiteHouse and the White House on Google+ for upcoming chances to ask your question.

Last week I was in Atlanta, on the campus of Georgia Tech for a “Day of Engineering” Facebook pep rally to kick off the President’s new Stay With It campaign devoted to recruiting, retaining and graduating 10,000 engineers each year to maintain America’s competitive edge. Corporate leaders, educators and students have gathered for dialog and panel discussions on the dire need to increase the number of American engineers. Fourteen universities from across the nation are participating via Facebook viewing parties. Spearheaded by Intel President & CEO, Paul Otellini, who is also a member of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, the Stay With It campaign will provide mentors and other supports to increase the number of American engineering graduates which has fallen woefully behind other surging economies and has led to a shortage of skilled workers for American jobs. 

More than 65 companies have already committed to doubling their 2012 summer engineering internships, including Intel, GE and DuPont – making an overall $70 million investment in giving students valuable hands-on experience. In addition, engineering deans from some of the nation’s top universities – including Georgia Tech – have developed a gold seal standard of excellence for colleges and universities focused on improved retention and graduation rates. 

The participation of NASA and Intel is particularly important because aerospace and computer technology are clearly the growth industries of the future; but the only way to ensure that growth is by maintaining a constant pipeline of qualified workers. The centerpiece of our efforts to close the skills gap is the engagement of more students in the study of science, technology, engineering and math or the STEM disciplines.

NASA is now embarking on ambitious agenda of deep space exploration that will carry our astronauts to places where we have never been, including an asteroid and eventually Mars. We need engineers to help us design the new rockets and capsules that will carry us there. We need scientists and researchers to help us develop materials to withstand the stresses of deep space exploration, to sustain humans for long-duration stays in space, to make air transportation quicker, safer and more efficient and to aid us in our quest to unravel the mysteries of the cosmos and improve life here on Earth.

Joining Forces in Ft Hood Texas (by Christie Vanover (Chief, Command Information III Corps and Fort Hood Public Affairs))

Earlier this month, I joined with a company called Orion International and 12 private sector companies in Ft Hood, Texas, one of America’s largest military bases, for one reason: to hire American Soldiers transitioning out of the world’s greatest Army.

These companies included: Allied Wire, HESS, Kansas City Southern Railway, Schlumberger, NOV, US Bank, USES, Dollar General, Honeywell, Siemens, Marathon and McCormick.

The event was full of excitement, education – and “win-win” opportunities for both the companies involved, as well as transitioning soldiers, some of whom were just weeks away from leaving the Army after having served our nation during a time of war.

With America hiring once again, events such as these are being seen more and more around the country – and for good reason: employers recognize the value of hiring veterans. 

As Dave Ebbrecht, Executive Vice President for Kansas City Southern Railway, put it:  “It was an absolutely great event with very good candidates, in every rank … capable of filling a variety of different positions for our company, and we ended up hiring 22 veterans from this event.”

That’s 22 Soldiers hired by one company… in one day… and 35 Soldiers have already been offered jobs. More than 100 soldiers are in some phase of an interview process.

The President put it best when he said, “Americans with disabilities are Americans first and foremost, and like all Americans are entitled to not only full participation in our society, but also full opportunity in our society.” And, the truth is that Americans with disabilities can’t fully participate and will not have the full opportunity to do so unless they have access to the technology that is so critical to that participation and those opportunities.  That’s why, at the President’s direction, his Administration has focused on enhancing our commitment to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, so that Americans outside the government can access information about their government and those working inside the government can be productive employees.

Over the past few years, we have taken several affirmative steps regarding Section 508.  For the first time, the Chief Information Officer Council and the Chief Acquisition Officer Council now jointly chair the Chief Information Officers Accessibility Committee.  Following that creation, in July 2010, OMB issued a memorandum, Improving the Accessibility of Government Information to set forth additional steps. This memo focused on (1) increasing awareness of responsibilities and requirements associated with Section 508, (2) improving agency accountability and accessibility performance, and (3) improving outreach and communication. It also included a requirement to host listening sessions with the community across the nation to gather input on Federal implementation of Section 508. 

Recognizing that we still needed to do more, in July 2011, the President announced an effort to develop a strategic plan for Section 508 and the intent to share the strategy with the public. To support development of this plan, senior officials and staff from across the Executive Office of the President have met with advocacy groups, Section 508 coordinators, the CIOC Accessibility Committee, the Access Board, the General Services Administration, and other key stakeholders inside and outside the government.  We have taken the information from the listening sessions as well as all the input received through various stakeholder meetings and pulled together a framework for the next phase in our efforts to improve Section 508 management.