During Tuesday Talks this week, David Axelrod, Senior Advisor to the President, answered your questions in a live video chat on WhiteHouse.gov and Facebook. He covered a range of topics, from the President's commitment to end "Don’t Ask Don’t Tell" to working across the aisle to promote the interests of the American people.

Use the links below to jump directly to the questions that you're interested in or watch the full video of the chat.

Last week, as special interest billionaires continued to pour secret donations of millions of dollars each into front groups supporting Republicans, we asked the obvious question: "What do they expect in return?"

Today we found out they're already drawing up the plans. Washington lobbyists are lining up cash to help Republicans in Congress repeal Wall Street reform, repeal health care reform and go back to the same policies that led to this mess.  The New York Times describes the blitz of meetings between Republicans in Congress and Washington lobbyists:

But there is nothing mysterious for the lobbyists and corporate executives writing most of these checks. Mr. Camp is slated to take over the powerful, tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee if Republicans win the majority next week, transforming this low-key conservative Republican almost overnight into one of the most powerful men in town.

Across Washington, lobbyists have been working behind the scenes now for months to prepare for this possible power shift. Former aides to Mr. Camp, who now work as lobbyists, are checking in with their onetime boss, chatting with him and his aides about staff appointments he might make when he takes over the Ways and Means Committee, and what tax or health care issues will be at the top of his agenda. Other lobbyists have gone to his staff to try to get to the head of the line in presenting proposed tax changes that will benefit their clients.

“You don’t wait until Nov. 3 and say, ‘What is the plan,’ ” said Jennifer Bell, a former aide to Mr. Camp who is now a health care lobbyist. She flew to Michigan last month in part to catch up with Mr. Camp while he was in his district. “Obviously, it is the majority that sets the agenda.”

This should come as no surprise given the track record of Congressional Republicans over the past two years.  Rather than listen to the American people, Congressional Republicans have repeatedly  shown their loyalty to these special interests by retreating behind closed doors to strategize with their lobbyists on the most critical issues for the American people. 

On Wall Street reform, Congressional Republicans didn’t listen to the millions of Americans who lost their homes and savings as a result of the financial crisis.   Instead, House Republicans teamed up with Wall Street lobbyists to try to defeat the bill, and Senate Republicans leaders traveled to New York City to meet with Wall Street executives and hedge fund managers to discuss their opposition to the legislation and solicit campaign contributions.   In fact, right after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell got back from that trip, he announced that Senate Republicans would not support the bill providing the toughest consumer financial protections in history.

On health insurance reform, Congressional Republicans didn’t listen to the stories of Americans who cannot afford insurance or have been denied coverage for pre-existing conditions.  Instead, House Republicans introduced an “alternative”  bill that borrowed proposals from health insurance companies, and before any of the Senate committees had even begun working on health reform legislation, Senate Republican leaders met with health care lobbyists in an effort to “recruit stakeholders to oppose” important Democratic proposals.

And when Senate Democrats brought an important jobs bill to the floor earlier this year, their colleagues across the aisle didn’t listen to unemployed Americans looking for work.  Instead, they held a strategy session with lobbyists.

In fact, Congressional Republicans have made clear that lobbyists have a seat at the table even when they are formulating their party’s broader strategy and governing vision.  When House Republicans put together their “Pledge to America,” they invited a group of high-powered lobbyists and corporate insiders to help them craft their agenda at a secret, closed-door meeting – opening it up to the public only after the invitation was leaked to the press.   Then, on the day House Republicans released their agenda, we learned that they had quietly put a former lobbyist for Big Oil and other special interests in charge of putting the “Pledge” together.

Dan Pfeiffer is White House Communications Director

The estimated number of jobs created or saved through USDA Recovery Act investments in rural America continues to grow.  Today, I am in Ohio, where USDA has provided over $59.5 million in loan guarantees to help rural businesses grow, innovate and create jobs.  You can see economic activity everywhere.

For example, consider Pride of the Hills Manufacturing, Inc., a company that supports the natural gas industry.  Pride of the Hills was awarded $1,940,000 in financing through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act), directed through USDA Rural Development’s Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan Program. The company will use the money to modernize equipment, improve operational efficiency and add 49 new jobs.

Ed. note: This post has been bumped to the top of the blog.

David Axelrod, Senior Advisor to the President, is answering your questions in a live video chat on WhiteHouse.gov on Tuesday, October 26th at 1:00 p.m. EDT

Axelrod has been with the President in the White House since day one and knows his perspective on major policy issues across the board. Ask Axe your questions about the economy, health care, energy -- or whatever else is on your mind.

Join us for a talk with David Axelrod on Tuesday, October 26th at 1:00 p.m. EDT.

Here's how you can participate:

• Ask your questions in advance on Facebook
• Join the discussion live through the White House Facebook application
• Watch the chat through WhiteHouse.gov/live

Pete Souza, Chief Official White House Photographer and Director of the White House Photography Office, has access unlike any other. Camera in tow, Souza travels alongside President Obama to visually document each meeting, trip and encounter for historical record. Check out his work on the White House Flickr photo stream and in the photo galleries on WhiteHouse.gov.

Don't miss the live Open for Questions event with Pete Souza on Thursday, October 28^that 7:00 p.m. EDT. He’ll be answering your questions -- from Flickr and Facebook -- about White House photography, his position, specific photos, and whatever else you come up with in a live video chat. 

Here's how you can participate:

• Ask your questions in advance on Flickr
• Ask your questions in advance on Facebook
• Join the discussion live through the White House Facebook application
• Watch the chat through WhiteHouse.gov/live

On the one year anniversary of the Photo of the Day on WhiteHouse.gov, Pete Souza chose his ten favorite photos. Read his blog post and see his top picks here.

This afternoon the President toured American Cord & Webbing in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.  It was the kind of business the President thought about as he was cutting taxes for small business 16 times, and making sure health reform made it easier and more affordable to cover their employees.  Most recently, it was the kind of business he was thinking of when he signed the Small Business Jobs Act, which he discussed with workers afterwards:

And last month, after plenty of political obstacles, after months in which thousands of small business owners across America were waiting for the loans and tax cuts they badly needed to grow their business and hire new employees, I signed into law the Small Business Jobs Act.

Now, that act extended provisions that helped support tens of thousands of new SBA loans under the Recovery Act, and it waived fees on those loans to save owners money on their payments -– something that saved this particular company more than $9,000.

In less than a month since that new law took effect, more than 3,600 small business owners have already received more than $1.4 billion worth of new loans, with more to come -- and the SBA has already begun offering larger loans for small business owners who need them.

The law also accelerates $55 billion in new tax cuts for businesses both large and small that make job-creating investments over the next year.  It eliminates capital gains taxes on key new investments made in small businesses until the end of this year.  It dramatically increases the amount small businesses can write off on new equipment investments -- and we want to do more, so that you can write it all off.  These are tax cuts that can help America -- help businesses like American Cord and Webbing that are making new investments right now.  And it can help create jobs.

Finally, the law that we signed creates new initiatives to increase lending to small businesses. It strengthens state programs that spur private sector lending, and that’s a step that will support $15 billion in new small business loans across the country.  And it sets up a new Small Business Lending Fund that will support Main Street banks that lend to Main Street businesses.

The President also explained why it was so tough to get through:

Today, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and I proposed the first national standards for greenhouse gas emissions and fuel efficiency for medium and heavy-duty trucks, vans, and buses.

This is a historic first step to address categories of vehicles previously excluded from America's corporate average fuel economy guidelines. Currently, the vehicles we propose covering account for 20% of the transportation sector's carbon emissions. So reducing those emissions and improving fuel efficiency for these vehicles is certainly a win for the environment.

But the new standards are also a win for energy independence and the economy. We're talking about saving 500 million barrels of oil and cutting emissions by nearly 250 million metric tons over the life of model year 2014 to 2018 vehicles covered by our proposals.

Pointing to the foreclosure crisis and the economy, the President cites passage of Wall Street Reform over the ferocious lobbying of Wall Street banks as a pivotal acheivement -- and condemns Republicans in Congress for vowing to repeal it.

Ever since the Citizens United ruling opened the floodgates to unlimited and undisclosed special interest and corporate spending in our elections, President Obama has repeatedly warned that these undisclosed contributions will give special interests even more power over politicians. And, with that power, they plan to return to the days when lobbyists wrote the laws in Washington to benefit special interests at the expense of the American people.

The President fought hard to block this troubling development by repeatedly calling on Congress to pass the DISCLOSE Act -- legislation that would establish the strongest-ever disclosure requirements for election-related spending by special interests. But Congressional Republicans blocked every attempt we made to put our democracy back where it belongs -- in the hands of the American people. Their opposition wasn’t rooted in policy differences, because they’ve supported this type of legislation in the past. Rather, it was a cynical decision based on electoral considerations. And now, thanks to aggressive investigative reporting, we are getting a glimpse of the consequences lax disclosure rules have on our political process.