“I know that towns like Racine are still hurting from this recession,” said the President at a town hall in Wisconsin today.  “This city has the second-highest unemployment rate in the state, and I can only imagine how much pain that’s caused and how many lives have been upended.”  It was something he hears about all the time, he said, and something he still thinks about when he’s not hearing about it.

He made clear though the Recovery Act saved or created as many as 2.8 million jobs, and even though the economy is growing again, that’s little comfort for those still hurting and that’s no reason for him to rest:

And that’s why I’ve been fighting, in addition to everything we’ve done, for additional steps to speed up this recovery and keep the economy growing.  We want an extension of unemployment benefits for workers who lost their job through no fault of their own.  (Applause.)  We want to help small business owners get the loans they need to keep their doors open and hire more workers.  (Applause.)  We want relief for struggling states so they don’t have to lay off thousands of teachers and firefighters and police officers.  (Applause.)

President Barack Obama delivers remarks during a town hall meeting on the economy at Racine Memorial Hall in Racine, Wisconsin June 30, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

He went on to put the truth on the table about who’s been helping, and who’s been hurting in the effort to get our economy right:

This week New York City hosted the 2010 National Conference on Volunteering and Service: It’s Up to YOU! Over 5,000 service leaders convened to discuss how to create greater impact and effectiveness in meeting social needs through service and volunteering. The National Conference on Volunteering and Service is the world’s largest gathering of service and civic engagement leaders. This conference is hosted by the Corporation for National and Community Service, our federal agency home for service, and the Points of Light Institute.

I was pleased to deliver the opening remarks to frame the President’s and First Lady's vision and commitment to service as well as to meet with a broad cross-section of service leaders from the nonprofit, public, private, and philanthropic sectors.

As you well know, our nation faces a daunting set of challenges. But, from day one, the President has acted on the principle that “service is a solution” – that service is a critical tool as we address our national priorities.

That’s why one of the President’s top priorities in his first 100 days was to sign the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. We worked with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle in Congress and with service and community leaders across the country to give the American people more opportunities to serve.

Today marks another step toward greater transparency in the DOE's Recovery Act activities. It's not due to any one financial milestone or project groundbreaking, but it’s another step to shed light on the ARRA projects across the country and show you, the taxpayers, how we're spending your hard earned tax dollars to create jobs and stimulate economic growth. I'm proud to announce that the Recovery Act page on energy.gov has been restructured to provide you a snapshot of what your tax dollars are doing in each of the 50 states and 6 territories.

We are excited to share Energy’s recovery story with you and I hope you’ll continue to follow our progress on these projects by visiting www.energy.gov/recovery.

Matt Rogers is Senior Advisor to Secretary of Energy Steven Chu for Recovery Act Implementation

While yesterday’s time in the Judiciary Committee for the confirmation hearings of Elena Kagan did see attacks from some quarters as we predicted, it was also noteworthy the praise she received. Chairman Senator Patrick Leahy  told her, “I can't remember anybody that's been asked such a wide variety of questions or answered them as forthrightly as you have” – a point echoed by Republican Senator John Cornyn when he congratulated on her testimony and said “I think you've done a good job of explaining from the witness chair how you would decide cases.” Senator Arlen Specter, a long time veteran of Supreme Court nomination. also praised her after the hearings, saying “she's been a lot more forthcoming than most” – and applauded her for her support of televised proceeding in the Supreme Court as a sign of her openness. Senator Whitehouse said she had been “candid”; Senator Cardin gave her “a high grade for being responsive to the questions”;  Senator Schumer called her “thoughtful and practical”; and Senator Klobuchar found her exactly as we expected: “incredibly charming and smart throughout… really never stumped once.”

When it did come to responding to attacks, media and legal experts applauded her there too. Here’s a sampling:

• Fox News’ Shannon Bream: Kagan “Stayed Very Calm, Cool and Collected.” [Fox News, 6/29/10]
• Washington Post’s Eva Rodriguez: “Kagan Did Well Under Sometimes Intense Questioning [Washington Post, Rodriguez Post, 6/29/10]
• Bloomberg News: Kagan’s Humor, Command of Law Deflect Republican Criticism. [Bloomberg, 6/30/10]
• SCOTUSBlog’s Tom Goldstein: “Kagan Is Displaying a Very Solid Understanding of a Range of Legal Questions; Clearly Well Prepared.” [SCOTUSBlog’s Liveblog, 6/29/10]
• The Atlantic’s Garrett Epps: “Kagan Has Been Able, Seemingly Without Trying, to Dominate a Room Full of Silver-Haired Senators. That’s an Accomplishment, Of Course: But What’s More Impressive Is That She’s Doing It Without Breaking a Sweat.” [The Atlantic, 6/29/10]
• Politics Daily’s Andrew Cohen: Kagan Established Herself “as Judicial and Judicious – Precisely What Her Supporters Had Hoped She Would Do.” [Politics Daily, 6/29/10]
• Former OLC Head Walter Dellinger Said Kagan “Had a Great Tuesday Morning, One of the Best of Any Nominee in a Long Time… I Really Believe She May Have Changed the Minds of Some Senators Who Had Been Looking for Reasons to Oppose Her.” Washington Post, Dellinger Post, 6/29/10]
• Newsweek’s Stuart Taylor: “Kagan’s Testimony Was Truthful and Precise.”  [Newsweek, Stuart Taylor Post, 6/29/10]
• AP: Republicans Have A “Tough Case To Make” On Kagan’s Opposition To DADT: “Judging By Her Own Words, Kagan Held The Military In High Regard And Stories Abound Of Her Praising And Thanking Veterans On Campus.” [AP, 6/29/10]
• WSJ’s  Nathan Koppel: Kagan Sounded “Confident And In Full Command Of The Issues.” [WSJ Law Blog, 6/29/10]
• WSJ’s Ashby Jones: “Kagan Survived The Morning Session Intact, Never Stumbling…”  [Ashby Jones, Wall Street Journal Blog, 6/29/10]
• Washington Post : Kagan “Held Forth Fluidly Throughout Her Reponses, on Several Occasions Interrupting Senators With Quips or Asides.” [Washington Post, 6/29/10]

The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart described the scene for one particularly aggressive line of questioning: 

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan endured a rather persnickety line of questioning from Sen. Jeff Sessions (R- Ala.) on the ban on military recruiting at Harvard when she was the dean of the law school. In a pointed challenge, Sessions demanded to know her stance on ‘don't ask don't tell,’ the ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the armed forces.  And without hesitation, the woman who is a bit of an enigma when it comes to her personal views, answered forcefully that the prohibition ‘was unjust. I believed it then and I believe it now.’ Kagan's principled position is in line with Secretary of Defense Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mullen. Sessions, not Kagan, is the one out of step on this issue.

Question: If you start with $1 and, with each move, you can either double your money or add another $1, what is the smallest number of moves you have to make to get to exactly $200?

Mark Sellke, an 8th grader at Klondike Middle School in West Lafayette, Indiana, correctly answered this question in less than 45 seconds this past May to become the 2010 MATHCOUNTS individual champion.

Yesterday, President Obama met with Mark, the winning MATHCOUNTS team from California, and the individual runner-up of the competition. During their visit to the White House, these elated “mathletes" talked to the President about their aspirations—including working for NASA and becoming a math professor. The President congratulated the students on their accomplishments and emphasized the importance of science and math to the Nation’s economy, security, and competiveness. He also confessed to a more parochial pleasure in getting to know them, declaring that he would be calling upon them next time Sasha or Malia stumped him with a math homework question.

Yesterday Vice President Biden travelled to Louisville, Kentucky where he visited the headquarters of GE Appliances to discuss how Recovery Act investments are creating jobs and laying a new foundation for long-term economic growth in the state.

Appliance Park is a huge industrial campus, covering more than 900 acres, employing 3,600 people, and producing approximately 3 million units a year.  You can tell that people in the community take pride in the company and the products that it makes. 

Vice President Joe Biden greets workers during a visit to the headquarters of GE Appliances & Lighting to talk about how Recovery Act investments are creating jobs and laying the foundation for long- term economic growth in Kentucky and Indiana, in Louisville, Kentucky, June 28, 2010. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

We saw it firsthand when we walked into Building 3, where they manufacture energy efficient dishwashers. The manufacturing floor was still hot from recent production and enthusiastic GE employees in their matching red and blue shirts filled the room to welcome Vice President Biden and share the good news about how business is doing. People were excited and undeniably optimistic.

Vice President Joe Biden visits the headquarters of GE Appliances & Lighting to talk about how recovery act investments are creating jobs and laying the foundation for long-term economic growth in Kentucky and Indiana, in Louisville, Kentucky, June 28, 2010. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

It’s hard to imagine that in 2008 GE Appliances was up for sale and facing a financial crisis. For many workers, the future was uncertain. And yet, less than two years later, GE has experienced a dramatic turnaround thanks to their innovative spirit, local, state, and federal support, and a strengthened partnership with the union.

GE is now investing $600 million to expand manufacturing production at Appliance Park.  The investment is supported by $24.8 million in 48C Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits that GE received under the Recovery Act to retrofit and re-tool the Appliance Park facility for the manufacturing of three energy-efficient product lines:  dishwashers, clothes dryers, water heaters. With the addition of the three new product lines, they plan to add over 800 new jobs through 2013.

And these product lines are state-of-art: the water heater uses 62 percent less energy than conventional water heaters and saves the average family $320 a year. It’s also the first new product line manufactured at Appliance Park in 50 years.

The Recovery Act also included consumer incentives for energy efficient appliances, and these rebates have boosted sales of high efficiency appliances. Sales of the dishwashers being built in Building 3 have increased by 20 percent as a result of the Recovery Act consumer rebates. And sales of the clothes washers manufactured in Building 1 are up more than 100 percent. GE even had to add a second shift and hire 137 new employees to handle the increased demand.

Vice President Joe Biden greets workers during a visit to the headquarters of GE Appliances & Lighting to talk about how Recovery Act investments are creating jobs and laying the foundation for long- term economic growth in Kentucky and Indiana, in Louisville, Kentucky, June 28, 2010. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

Yesterday the Corporation for National Community Service and the Points of Light Foundation kicked off the 2010 National Conference on Volunteering and Community Service in New York City. More than 5,000 leaders of the business, nonprofit, government, and volunteer sector are on hand for the three-day event. This represents the largest gathering of service leaders in the world.

Points of Light Foundation CEO Michelle Nunn and I were honored to preside over the opening plenary at historic Radio City Music Hall. We were joined by White House Domestic Policy Director Melody Barnes, U.S. Senator Mark Warner, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and a host of other dignitaries, community leaders, and volunteers from across the country. Our emcees for the event were Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show.

Over the course of the next two days, in workshops, plenary sessions and informal meetings, the conference will focus on ways the service movement can better target resources toward pressing social problems and measure impact; expand opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to serve; build the capacity of individuals, nonprofit organizations and communities to address social challenges; and embrace innovation.

This year’s conference comes at a moment of great need and opportunity in America. We face many challenges, whether addressing our country’s high-school dropout crisis or getting Americans back to work.

Today, the Department of Health and Human Services began accepting applications for a program that provides much needed financial relief for employers – as well as unions and state and local governments – providing coverage to early retirees.

The Early Retiree Reinsurance Program will provide $5 billion in financial assistance to help maintain coverage for early retirees age 55 and older who are not yet eligible for Medicare - another example of how health care reform is, and will continue to be, good for business.

Lawrence Summers, Director of the National Economic Council, spoke today on technology policy, job creation, and economic growth – in particular the President’s move to dramatically increase the amount of federal and commercial spectrum available for smartphones and wireless Internet devices.

As our fact sheet explained, "In recent years, the amount of information flowing over some wireless networks has grown at over 250 percent per year, with some estimates indicating that the next five years will see an increase in wireless data of between 20 and 45 times 2009 levels, reflecting the increasing use of smartphones, netbooks, and other wireless devices. As the revolution in mobile broadband and related technologies unfolds, the demand for spectrum will continue to increase – leading to increasing fears of a 'spectrum crunch.'"

• Read the Presidential Memorandum: "Unleashing the Wireless Broadband Revolution"
• Read the White House fact sheet

Summers put the move into historical perspective: