President Barack Obama said he backs the idea of merity pay the best school teachers, a position that his union supporters have fought. Here, the full text of his prepared remarks: Every so often, throughout our history, a generation of Americans bears the responsibility of seeing this country throu...

Vice President Joe Biden appeared before the annual conference of the AFL-CIO executive council today – and seemed to relish every minute. “All kidding aside,” he said as he recalled the chill between the Bush administration and organized labor. “I was told by [AFL-CIO] President John Sweeney th...

Remarks by President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown after their meeting in the Oval Office. PRESIDENT OBAMA: Hello, everybody. Good to see you. Where are the Brits? They’re over there. PRIME MINISTER BROWN: In fact, they’re everywhere. (Laughter.) PRESIDENT OBAMA: A...

Henry J. Pulizzi reports on the White House. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the Obama administration will do whatever it takes to avoid a collapse of the financial system but hopes American International Group Inc. won’t need more government lifelines beyond Monday’s $30 billion...

Remarks of President Barack Obama – As Prepared for Delivery Responsibly Ending the War in Iraq Camp Lejeune, North Carolina Friday, February 27, 2009 Good morning Marines. Good morning Camp Lejeune. Good morning Jacksonville. Thank you for that outstanding welcome. I want to thank Lieutenant Gener...

President Barack Obama offered the following remarks this morning on the release of the Fiscal Year 2010 Budget: Before I begin, I have some good news to report. Starting today, the recently unemployed will benefit from a COBRA subsidy that will make health care affordable. At a time when health car...

Remarks of President Barack Obama – As Prepared for Delivery Address to Joint Session of Congress Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 Madame Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, and the First Lady of the United States: I’ve come here tonight not only to address the distinguished men and wome...

THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 24, 2009 Excerpts of the PresidentÂ’s address to the joint session of Congress tonight: We have lived through an era where too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity; where we failed to look beyond th...

Naftali Bendavid reports on Congress. As they had during President Barack Obama’s speech, Republicans afterwards sought to strike a balance between expressing support for the president and criticizing any suggestion of raising taxes or expanding government spending. “He was right on target in...

Brad Haynes reports on politics. President Barack ObamaÂ’s speech tonight wasnÂ’t technically a State of the Union address, but viewers sitting through persistent applause might easily have been mistaken. Over the course of the presidentÂ’s 50-minute address before Congress, he was interrupted nearl...