During their visit to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden stopped by a special Operation Shower event for soon-to-be moms whose husbands are serving. The non-profit organization provides unit-wide baby showers for military families to help ease the burden of deployment.

First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden arrive at an Operation Shower baby shower for expecting military families at Ball Center in Camp Lejeune, N.C., April 13, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

The First Lady and Dr. Biden brought White House onesies and an assortment of gifts collected through an Operation Shower gift drive held at the White House. Mrs. Obama explained that Operation Shower is one example of how communities can come together to support military families, and truly what Joining Forces is all about:

It’s asking every sector of this society to step up and support you all, because you all are serving in your own way.  And the children that will be born will be serving, too.  They’re serving right now this country, because if they’re born healthy and happy, their dads who are deployed are going to be able to focus on their mission and do a better job, because they know their families are safe.

So we want to ask the rest of the nation to look at this.  This is a fun way to give back.  And we did this at the White House.  We brought you guys White House onesies and blankets.  We took up a drive.  We had boxes all over the West Wing and the East Wing.  People wrote checks.  We brought -- I mean, this was fun.  And any business, any community, any school can do this for a military family, for an expectant mom.  All you have to do is find them.  And all you all have to do is ask and reach out.

And we’re going to be making it easier for people around the country to connect.  We’ve got a new website, joiningforces.gov, where people can get online, find out what's going on in their own communities, learn more about Operation Shower and how to get involved, and how to do something like this in their own communities.

Find opportunties to get involved at JoiningForces.gov and visit OperationShower.org to learn more about supporting military families through baby showers.

Today, at 1:35pm EDT, the President will lay out his approach to long-term deficit reduction to put our nation on a more sustainable fiscal trajectory – and do so in a way that helps, rather than hinders our ability to grow the economy and create jobs.

Watch the speech live at whitehouse.gov/live and share your thoughts on CitizenTube.

Immediately after the speech, Brian Deese from the National Economic Council will address YOUR questions and ideas about the President’s fiscal framework.  We’ll select from among the most popular points here, and answer as many as we can in the time we have.

Yesterday, the President, Vice President, First Lady and Dr. Biden launched Joining Forces, an unprecedented national initiative to support and honor our military families. “This campaign is about all of us, all of us joining together, as Americans, to give back to the extraordinary military families who serve and sacrifice so much, every day, so that we can live in freedom and security,” said First Lady Michelle Obama.

Joining Forces aims to educate, challenge, and spark action from all sectors of our society – citizens, communities, businesses, non-profits, faith based institutions, philanthropic organizations, and government – to ensure military families have the support they have earned. As part of Joining Forces, businesses and organizations, including some of the best know names and brands, announced major new commitments to support military families in the areas of employment, education and public awareness.

President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Vice President Joe Biden acknowledge Dr. Jill Biden during the launch of the Joining Forces initiative to support and honor America’s service members and their families, in the East Room of the White House. April 12, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

As the First Lady said, “our motto is simple:  Everyone can do something.” Find out how you can get involved at JoiningForces.gov. Watch a video of the launch event above, read full remarks here or see excerpts below:

This afternoon, the First Lady sent this message to announce the launch of Joining Forces, a new campaign to support America’s service members and their families.

Check out the email below, and be sure to sign up for the Joining Forces email list to stay up to date on the campaign.  

Good afternoon,

I'm writing to make sure that you know about an unprecedented national campaign to support our nation's military families called Joining Forces.
 

As First Lady, I've had the privilege of meeting with Americans in uniform around the world.  These brave men and women would be the first to tell you that they don't serve alone.  Every day, they are joined in service to our country by military wives, husbands, children, siblings and parents.
 

Joining Forces is about all of us joining together, as Americans, to give back to the extraordinary military families who sacrifice so much every day. Our motto is simple — everyone can do something.  So take a moment to find out how you can play a part:

Like their loved ones, military families are proud to serve.  But that doesn't mean it’s easy. Indeed many Americans may not realize how difficult it can be to have a parent or spouse deployed overseas. 
 

 That's why Joining Forces is so important. We're going to match the unique needs and strengths of America’s military families with specific ways that Americans can offer support.
 

So on behalf of the President, as well as the Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden, proud military parents themselves, let me offer a heartfelt thanks to not only our troops and their families – but also to the rest of you for joining forces to support them.
 

Sincerely,
 

Michelle Obama

First Lady of the United States
 

P.S. We've created a special email list for more frequent updates about the Joining Forces campaign. You can sign up here: 

WhiteHouse.gov/JoiningForcesEmail

When President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law, the country was watching Lassie on television, listening to The Beatles on vinyl and paying 22 cents for a loaf of bread – a great deal has happened since the law was signed in 1963.  Women now graduate from college as often as men, work in many fields previously closed to them and occupy leadership positions across the nation’s workforce. But even with those accomplishments, we have not come far enough.  More needs to be done to ensure that our policies address persistent discriminatory employment practices, including unequal pay, so that college graduates entering today’s workforce have the pay they deserve. 

April 12 marks Equal Pay Day and, unfortunately, pay equity is still an aspiration -  not a reality.  In 1963, women earned 59 cents for every dollar earned by a man.  While that’s no longer the case, on average, women still make only about 77 cents for every dollar that men earn and are more likely than men to live in poverty. Even adjusting for variables like education level and time in the workforce, there remains a persistent wage gap between women and men, resulting in innumerable missed opportunities over the course of a woman’s lifetime. 

No two schools are the same, and in a giant and diverse state like California, you need to visit a lot of classrooms and talk to a lot of teachers, administrators, students, parents and political leaders before you can even begin to understand the public education system’s accomplishments and challenges. Last month, I returned to the Golden State for a packed two-day visit to Los Angeles, Long Beach and San Diego.

At an education summit organized by the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, I directly challenged the city’s leaders, community groups, unions, parents, educators and students. Los Angeles, I told them, is a world-class city with a second-class school system. They can use the current and very real budget crisis as an excuse to continue on the road they have been on, or they can take the road less traveled—the harder road. To paraphrase the poet Robert Frost, that road less traveled will make all the difference.

Last week, in conjunction with the release of its annual Human Rights Report, the State Department officially launched HumanRights.gov, a new central portal for international human rights-related information generated by the United States Government.  HumanRights.gov was designed in the letter and spirit of President Obama’s Open Government Directive issued in January 2009, requiring Federal agencies to take specific steps to achieve key milestones in transparency, participation, and collaboration. 

HumanRights.gov is primarily aimed at increasing the American public’s access to human rights-related information and understanding of our global engagement on these critical issues.  We hope that it proves equally valuable to citizens of other nations seeking to promote accountability and change in their own societies.

HumanRights.gov currently features content that largely comes from the U.S. Department of State.  The content will grow to include additional information from partnering Federal agencies including the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Department of Labor.  The website is easily searchable with a comprehensive archive of reports, press releases, statements, articles, and briefings generated on international human rights concerns.  We hope you find it useful and welcome your feedback, which should be sent to HumanRightsWebsite@state.gov.

Samantha Power is Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights for the National Security Staff.

After weeks of negotiations, President Obama and leaders from both the Democratic and Republican parties in Congress found common ground in an agreement about the United States' budget.  This means the government will remain open to serve the public, including small businesses who need need loans to grow, families who've applied for mortgages and others who are visiting national parks and museums.  It also means that hundreds of thousands of Americans - including brave men and women in uniform - will get paychecks on time.

In his Weekly Address, the President discusses the importance of the bipartisan budget agreement that represents both a significant investment in the United States' future - and the largest annual spending cut in our history.

Watch the President's Weekly Address here.

In case you missed it, President Obama also addressed the budget agreement in remarks delivered from the Blue Room of the White House late Friday evening.

A transcript of the Weekly Address is below:

Your quick look at the week that was on WhiteHouse.gov.

America's Secure Energy Future: President Obama continued his focus on building a clean energy economy with events throughout the week. He toured a shipping facility in Maryland with Energy Secretary Chu and Transportation Secretary LaHood to highlight his Green Fleet Initiative, then traveled to Philadelphia for a town hall at Gamesa Technology, a wind turbine manufacturer. Back at the White House, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar sat down with students to discuss development of clean, American-made energy sources. The Department of Energy blogged about Philadelphia's efforts to install energy efficient lighting.