We just uploaded to the White House Flickr photostream 79 new pictures from the busy month of November. I thought you might find it interesting if I explained my thought process on a couple of the photographs.

The President makes a lot of phone calls from the Oval Office, including this one to Jalal Talabani of Iraq. Because the Vice President and others were also in the office, I wanted to include them in my frame. The Vice President kept moving about the Oval Office throughout the phone call and thus I was constantly changing my angle to keep him in the background. There were many photographs to choose from, but this seemed to be the best one because of the framing: the Vice President looking out the window in the background and his national security advisor, Tony Blinken, looking towards the President as he spoke on the phone.

President Barack Obama talks on the phone with President Jalal Talabani of Iraq while Vice President Joe Biden, his National Security Advisor Tony Blinken, and Puneet Talwar, Senior Director for Iraq, Iran and the Gulf States wait nearby in the Oval Office, Nov. 4, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) (Official White House Photo)

The majority of the photographs presented in the Flickr photostream are from behind-the-situations that only I have access to. This picture falls into the category where press photographers were present but I had a different angle than they did. Since I was much closer to the President than the press photographers, I was able to use a wider lens and incorporate more in the background. I framed it purposely to include the Japanese writings and signs, and caught a moment as the President–with his green tea ice-cream bar in hand–leaned into the woman who had just given him a tour of the Great Buddha.

President Barack Obama eats a green tea ice cream bar during his visit to the Great Buddha of Kamakura at the Kotoku-in Temple in Kamakura, Japan, Nov. 14, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

 You can see the rest of the photostream below.

President Obama was joined by President Clinton in urging Congress to pass the compromise framework on tax cuts, unemployment insurance and job growth.  Watch the full video below:

President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton make statements and answer questions from the press corps in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, December 10, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton appear together in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House for statements and to answer questions from the media, December 10, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

Ed. Note: This is the first in a series of posts from top Administration Officials on the importance of the DREAM Act.

Now is the time to press on with our full support for the DREAM Act.  We’re closer than we’ve ever been and we’re not giving up.

The President, myself, and many of my Cabinet colleagues have held conference calls, talked to the press, and written op-eds and letters of support.  We will keep doing whatever it takes to make this happen for thousands of hard-working, patriotic young people who are leaders in their communities and who are looking for an opportunity to attend college or serve our country in the military, but who can’t, through no fault of their own.  The Senate has the chance to offer them and our nation a brighter future by coming together in a bipartisan way to pass the DREAM Act.

Today, we got some good news about how the Affordable Care Act is already making a difference in people’s lives across the country.  The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), which provides retirement and health benefits to more than 1.6 million people and their families, sent me a letter detailing how the new law has already helped them improve benefits and keep down costs for thousands of retirees and their family members.

One of the new law’s key first-year provisions allows most children who don’t get health coverage from their jobs to stay on their parents’ plans until they turn 26.  CalPERS reports that under this provision, 27,000 young adults will get coverage by the beginning of next year.  That’s not only good news for those young people, but imagine what a relief it is to their parents and other family members who worried that their sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters were going to be uninsured.  Instead, thousands of families will have new peace of mind next year.

According to the letter, another of the Affordable Care Act’s provisions CalPERS is making a big dent in the cost of insurance.  The new law created the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program to help plan sponsors like CalPERS maintain health coverage for early retirees and their families, for whom premiums have skyrocketed in recent years.  So far, approximately 4,700 employers and unions have signed up, including CalPERS.

In its letter, CalPERS explained that by factoring the new program into its 2011 health plans, it was able to provide approximately $200 million in premium savings to 115,000 early retirees and their families.  That makes a huge difference at a time when many families are struggling to pay their bills and make ends meet.

This letter is good news for California families, and we’re seeing similar signs of progress across the country.  Just nine months after it was signed into law, the Affordable Care Act is already fulfilling its promise to help working Americans get and keep insurance, and to slow rising costs for those who have coverage, while ending some of the worst practices of the insurance industry with a new Patient’s Bill of Rights.  And in the months to come, we look forward to working with CalPERS and employers across the country to implement this new law and make sure all Americans can get the care they need.

Kathleen Sebelius is Secretary of Health and Human Services

Ed. Note: Watch the full National Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony and show with musical performances by B.B. King, Sara Bareilles, Common, Maroon 5 and more at www.thenationaltree.org.

Last night, the First Family continued a proud holiday tradition – lighting the National Christmas Tree for the 88th time. View photos from the event and watch a video of the President's remarks, the tree lighting ceremony, and a reading of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" by the First Lady.

President Barack Obama, with mother-in-law Marian Robinson, daughters Sasha and Malia, and First Lady MIchelle Obama, react as they push to button to light the National Christmas Tree during a ceremony on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., Dec. 9, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

President Barack Obama addresses the crowd as he and the First Family attend the National Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., Dec. 9, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

President Barack Obama and First Family listen to the program at the National Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., Dec. 9, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

This week, President Obama laid out an agreement on tax cuts and Unemployment Insurance that directly benefits women, mothers and working families. The agreement not only secures vital tax relief and investments in America’s workers that will create jobs and accelerate economic growth, it also contains specific policies that provide targeted support for working families, particularly women and mothers.

The agreement will extend key provisions including the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC) that disproportionately benefit women and working families. The American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) is an additional benefit which gives working families and students a $2,500 per year partially refundable tax credit to help students and their families cover the cost of college tuition. Together, these credits will get women and their families on the road to economic recovery.

A closer look at the framework shows that women represent about 60 percent of the parents who will benefit from the EITC and CTC expansions in the agreement. Families headed by single mothers are among the most economically at risk in our fragile recovery, and this extension of the EITC and CTC would direct substantial resources to these families. In fact, an estimated 4 million of the families who will gain from this agreement are headed by a single mother – that’s one out of every three families who will gain from the extension of these credits.

A tangible example of someone who would benefit from the framework agreement on tax cuts and Unemployment Insurance highlights the importance of moving forward. In Columbus, Ohio, a single mother working as a cashier with two children aged 5 and 8 has an income of $16,900, the median salary in her profession in Ohio. The middle class tax cuts renewed under the framework provide this family with a tax cut of $620. In addition, due to priorities the Administration insisted on in the package, the framework provides the family with about $1,720 in further tax relief:

• Expanded Child Tax Credit: Under the agreement, she would receive $2,000 in child tax credits, compared to about $620 if only the 2001/2003 tax cuts were extended – an increase of about $1,380.
• A new 2% payroll tax cut: Due to the about 2% payroll tax cut for employees included in the agreement, this family would receive about $340 in tax relief.

As you can see, this isn’t just a theoretical debate.  This tax plan will have a direct impact on the lives of Americans across this country every day.  President Obama has stood with the middle class his entire career and this bill is just one more example of his commitment.

For more information on framework tax agreement, please read How the Tax Deal Benefits Women and Families.

Valerie Jarrett is Senior Advisor to the President and Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls

Welcome to the West Wing Week, your guide to everything that's happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Walk step by step with the President as he visits Afghanistan to celebrate the holidays with our men and women in uniform, announces a free trade agreement with South Korea, attends a series of meetings at the White House and holds a press conference to answer questions about the tax cut compromise, signs the Claims Resolution Act of 2010, and more…

December 3^rd, 2010

• A Surprise Visit to the Troops in Afghanistan

December 6^th, 2010

• President Obama in North Carolina: “Our Generation’s Sputnik Moment is Now”

December 7^th, 2010

• President Obama on Tax Cuts and Unemployment Extension: "The Right Thing to Do"

December 8^th, 2010

• President Obama on the Middle Class Tax Cuts and Unemployment Insurance Agreement: "A Good Deal For The American People"
• President Obama Holds a Cabinet Meeting - In Photos
• President Obama Signs the Claims Resolution Act of 2010

This morning the President met with his Export Council to continue work on his goal of doubling our exports for goods and services over five years and creating millions of jobs in the process.  But as he continues to pursure this medium-term goal, he took a moment in his opening remarks to make clear there is a much more urgent and time-senstive matter at hand:

Now, everyone in this room is committed to promoting a strong and growing economy -- one that’s creating jobs, fostering a thriving middle class, and extending opportunity for all who are willing to work for it.

And as we meet here, there is an important debate I think most of you are aware of on Capitol Hill that will determine, in part, whether our economy moves forward or backward.  The bipartisan framework that we’ve forged on taxes will not only protect working Americans from seeing a major tax increase on January 1st; it will provide businesses incentives to invest, grow and hire.  And every economist that I’ve talked to or that I’ve read over the last couple of days acknowledges that this agreement would boost economic growth in the coming years and has the potential to create millions of jobs.  The average American family will start 2011 knowing that there will be more money to pay the bills each month, more money to pay for tuition, more money to raise their children.

But if this framework fails, the reverse is true.  Americans would see it in smaller paychecks that would have the effect of fewer jobs. 

So as we meet here today to talk about one important facet of our economic strategy for the future, I urge members of Congress to move forward on this essential priority.

A chart from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, via Ezra Klein, demonstrates just how much of this package goes to middle class and working families:

In this edition of White House White Board, Austan Goolsbee, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, discusses the President’s compromise framework on tax cuts, unemployment insurance & job creation.

• See previous White Board videos.