Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake says the country needs the American Jobs Act in order to “grow out of this great recession.”  As an older city, Baltimore has tremendous infrastructure needs and its mayor believes the $50 billion investment in rebuilding that is a core component of the Jobs Act will make the streets and schools of her city “safer for generations to come.” Rawlings-Blake also applauds the Jobs Act’s focus on offering relief to small business owners, who she says are the “backbone” of Baltimore's economy.

See how other mayors say the American Jobs Act will impact their cities:

Mayor Dayne Walling of Flint, Michigan
Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, California
Mayor Michael Hancock of Denver, Colorado
Mayor Mark Mallory of Cincinnati, Ohio
Mayor Greg Fischer of Louisville, Kentucky
Mayor Sly James of Kansas City
Mayor Phil Gordon of Phoenix, Arizona

Here's what happened this week on WhiteHouse.gov:

We the People: President Obama released the U.S.’s Open Government National Action Plan, and a highlight of that plan is We the People, a new platform that gives all Americans a way to petition the Obama Administration to take action on a range of important issues facing our country. In the first days following the launch, numerous Americans have created petitions and are currently collecting signatures.

Promoting World Peace: The President spent two days in New York City for the 66^th session of United Nations General Assembly. While there, he held numerous meetings with world leaders and addressed the General Assembly speaking about the remarkable year we have had around the world and also the many challenges that stand in the way of a lasting peace. He also attended the Clinton Global Initiative, where he talked about the positive impact the American Jobs Act will have on the global economy.

Rebuilding America: President Obama visited the Ohio River’s Brent Spence Bridge, a functionally obsolete crossing on one of North America’s busiest trucking routes that connects Cincinnati, Ohio with Kentucky. The President spoke about the pressing need to improve our national infrastructure, and detailed the provisions in the American Jobs Act that will rebuild our country and put ironworkers, construction workers and carpenters back to work.  

Creating a Fair Tax System: The President laid out a balanced plan to get our fiscal house in order, based on the values of shared responsibility and shared sacrifice.  The President is calling on Congress to undertake comprehensive tax reform to simplify the system, make it more fair and efficient, and lay a stronger foundation for economic growth.  The plan details how to pay for the American Jobs Act, while also paying down our debt over time.

Improving our Education System: President Obama and representatives from the education community gathered at the White House to announce that it’s time to take action and build a world class education system. In exchange for a real commitment to undertake education reform, the Administration will enable states to request flexibility from specific mandates under No Child Left Behind.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: The country marked an important milestone this week when the era of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” officially came to an end. The law that was signed in December 2010 by President Obama allows people of the LGBT community to serve openly in the military.

President Obama today gathered representatives from the education community to announce that it’s time to take action and build a world class education system. The United States is 16^th in the proportion of young people with a college degree, in a world where 60% of new jobs will require more than a high school diploma. Our students are being outperformed by their peers around the globe. A quarter of American students aren’t finishing high school. As the President said today in the East Room, we have to improve our schools if we want to rebuild our economy:

And what this means is if we’re serious about building an economy that lasts –- an economy in which hard work pays off with the opportunity for solid middle-class jobs -– we’ve got to get serious about education.  We are going to have to pick up our games and raise our standards. 

Improving our education means giving our kids the resources they need to learn. That’s why the American Jobs Act would put thousands of teachers back to work all across the country, and modernize at least 35,000 schools. But money alone won’t solve our education problems. As the President said today, creating standards can’t be a top down process created in Washington:

 That’s why instead of just pouring money into the system that’s not working, we launched a competition called Race to the Top. And to all 50 states -- to governors, to schools districts -- we said, show us the most innovative plans to improve teacher quality and student achievement; we’ll show you the money. We want to provide you more resources, but there’s also got to be a commitment on your part to make the changes that are necessary so that we can see actual results.

And, by the way, these standards that we’re talking about -- these high standards that we’re talking about were not developed here in Washington. They were developed by Republican and Democratic governors throughout the country --  essentially as a peer group, a peer review system where everybody traded best practices and said, here’s what seems to work, and let’s hold all of our schools to these high standards. And since that Race to the Top has been launched, we’ve seen what’s possible when reform isn’t just a top-down mandate but the work of local teachers and principals and school boards and communities working together to develop better standards.

President Barack Obama looks towards Education Secretary Arne Duncan during remarks on the need to provide states with relief from key provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, in the East Room of the White House, Sept. 23, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

While President Obama lauds the intention and goals that led to establishing No Child Left Behind, its implementation had serious flaws that are hurting our children instead of helping:

• State and local school districts are buckling under the law's mandates, and too many schools are destined to fail. 
• Teachers have been forced to teach to the test; subjects like history and science are squeezed out; and some states are actually lowering standards instead of raising them to avoid having schools labeled as “failures”.

The President knows that our children can’t wait any longer for reform:

These problems have been obvious to parents and educators all over the country for years now. I’ve urged Congress for a while now, let’s get a bipartisan effort, let’s fix this. Congress hasn’t been able to do it.  So I will. Our kids only get one shot at a decent education. They cannot afford to wait any longer. So, given that Congress cannot act, I am acting. 

Starting today, the Administration will enable states to request flexibility from specific mandates under No Child Left Behind, in exchange for a real commitment to undertake education reform. This does not mean states will be able to lower their standards or escape accountability. In fact, if states want more flexibility, they’re going to have to set a higher bar for reform and prove that they’re serious about preparing students to succeed in today’s economy.

As the President said today, this new flexibility will allow states to “come up with innovative ways to give our children the skills they need to compete for the jobs of the future” so that people like Ricky Hall, a principal of a charter school in Worcester, Massachusetts that sent every single student to college in the last three years and is ranked in the top quarter of Massachusetts schools, won’t be classified as “failing” for not meeting all the technical standards of No Child Left Behind. 

So this isn’t just the right thing to do for our kids -– it’s the right thing to do for our country. We can’t afford to wait for an education system that is not doing everything it needs to do for our kids. We can’t let another generation of young people fall behind because we didn’t have the courage to recognize what doesn’t work, admit it, and replace it with something that does.  We’ve got to act now. We’ve got to act now and harness all the good ideas coming out of our states, out of our schools. We can't be tied up with ideology. We can't be worrying about partisanship. We just have to make sure that we figure out what works, and we hold ourselves to those high standards. Because now is the time to give our children the skills that they need to compete in this global economy. 

We’ve got a couple of students up on stage who are doing outstanding work because somebody in their schools is dedicated and committed every single day to making sure that they’ve got a chance to succeed.  But I don't want them to be the exception.  I want them to be the rule.  Now is the time to make our education system the best in the world, the envy of the world. 

President Barack Obama greets Keiry Herrera, a sixth grade student at Graham Road Elementary School in Fairfax, Va., following remarks on the need to provide states with relief from key provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, in the East Room of the White House, Sept. 23, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Welcome to the West Wing Week, your guide to everything that's happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. This week, the President signed patent reform into law with the America Invents Act, spoke to the American people on his common-sense proposal for deficit reduction and traveled to New York City to meet with world leaders and address the United Nations General Assembly before visiting Cincinnati to speak on jobs.  

Yesterday morning, President Obama addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations. During his speech, which addressed topics from the change sweeping the Middle East to the challenges facing the global economy, he made sure that the world’s women and girls did not go overlooked. As he put it, “No country can realize its potential if half its population cannot reach theirs.”

The President also challenged world leaders to include women and girls at every level of society. “Next year,” he said, “we should each announce the steps we are taking to break down economic and political barriers that stop women and girls from reaching their full potential.”

As part of that effort, the United States signed a new Declaration on Women’s Participation earlier this week. We have also put together a factsheet that details the Obama Administration’s commitment to our country’s women and girls.

You can view the full factsheet here.

President Obama was in Cincinnati, Ohio today to talk about the urgent need to improve America’s infrastructure. The American Jobs Act includes a $50 billion investment in much needed infrastructure enhancements which will put people to work rebuilding America.

The President was speaking in front of the Brent Spence Bridge, which connects Ohio with Kentucky, and has been classified as “functionally obsolete.” While it is safe to drive on, the Brent Spence wasn’t designed to accommodate today’s traffic, which can stretch for a mile. Cincinnati’s mayor has said it needs to be rebuilt. And so do substandard roads and bridges all across America. As the President said today, America can do better:

We used to have the best infrastructure in the world here in America. We’re the country that built the Intercontinental Railroad, the Interstate Highway System. We built the Hoover Dam. We built the Grand Central Station. So how can we now sit back and let China build the best railroads?  And let Europe build the best highways?  And have Singapore build a nicer airport?  At a time when we've got millions of unemployed construction workers out there just ready to get on the job, ready to do the work to rebuilding America.  

So, Cincinnati, we are better than that. We're smarter than that. And that’s why I sent Congress the American Jobs Act 10 days ago. This bill is not that complicated. It's a bill that would put people back to work rebuilding America -- repairing our roads, repairing our bridges, repairing our schools. It would lead to jobs for concrete workers like the ones here at Hilltop; jobs for construction workers and masons, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, architects, engineers, ironworkers -- put folks back to work. 

President Obama is heading to Cincinnati, Ohio today to talk about the American Jobs Act -- a program the mayor of that city says will benefit Cincinnati. Mayor Mark Mallory said that he -- and the citizens of his city -- are "very excited" about the possibility of the Jobs Act because the President's plan will enable Cincinnati to keep firefighters and police officers on the job.p>

Mallory specifically refers to the provisions in the Act that provide funds for infrastructure, and says Cincinnati's "very large, very old"  Brent Spence Bridge needs to be replaced.

 See how other mayors say the American Jobs Act will impact their cities:

Mayor Dayne Walling of Flint, Michigan
Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, California
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake of Baltimore, Maryland
Mayor Michael Hancock of Denver, Colorado
Mayor Greg Fischer of Louisville, Kentucky
Mayor Sly James of Kansas City
Mayor Phil Gordon of Phoenix, Arizona

Update: The signatures threshold for petitions on the We the People platform to receive an official response from the White House has changed since this blog post was published.  See the latest signature thresholds.

Today, we launched We the People on WhiteHouse.gov– a new platform that gives all Americans a way to create and sign petitions on a range of issues affecting our nation.  And if a petition gathers enough online signatures, it will be reviewed by policy experts and you’ll receive an official response.

Throughout our history, Americans have used petitions as a way to join together around issues they care about.  We the People brings that uniquely American tradition into the 21^st century. 

 Here’s how it works:

1.  Create or Sign a Petition:  Anyone 13 or older can create a WhiteHouse.gov account and create or sign a petition on WhiteHouse.gov asking the Obama Administration to take action on a range issues.
2. Build Support and Gather Signatures for your Petition: It’s up to you to build support for a petition. Use email, Facebook, Twitter and word of mouth to tell your friends, family and coworkers about the petitions you care about.
3. The White House Reviews and Responds:  If a petition reaches a certain threshold (initially 5,000 signatures within 30 days), it will be reviewed by policy officials in the Administration and an official response will be issued.

 We put together a short video to walk you through We the People.  Check it out:

On Monday, the President proposed the Buffett Rule as one of five principles for comprehensive tax reform. This is a rule of simple fairness—no household making over $1 million annually should pay less in federal taxes than middle-class families pay. Contrary to some misconceptions, the Buffett Rule is not designed as the sole or main source of raising new revenues, but one of five principles that should be achieved by tax reform:

1. Cut rates
2. Cut inefficient and unfair tax breaks
3. Cut the deficit by $1.5 trillion over 10 years
4. Increase investment and growth in the United States 
5. Observe the “Buffett rule.”

Of these principles — all of which we believe are key to reform — the Buffett rule has received the most attention. It has been attacked with claims of “class warfare” that are completely without merit. How can it be class warfare to ensure that there is greater parity between the taxes paid by the most well-off and those paid by tens of millions of hardworking families? Still, since not all of the reports about the Buffett Rule have been accurate, I want to clarify what we mean – and why the President believes this is an important principle.So let’s look at what this rule is and is not:

Claim: This rule would raise taxes while the economy is weak.  

Fact: The President’s plan does not raise anyone’s taxes in 2011 or 2012. The President believes that the most well-off Americans should contribute to deficit reduction by paying more, but under the President’s plan, all measures to raise additional revenue — including fundamental tax reform — are effective starting in 2013. 

In fact, the American Jobs Act calls for $245 billion in immediate tax relief, providing a tax cut for both workers and small businesses in 2012 by cutting the payroll taxes that both pay. This builds on the President’s record of cutting taxes for the middle class and small business.