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Watch the West Wing Week here.

Obama Cares: On the Friday before Mother’s Day, President Obama explained how the Affordable Care Act is helping women. For example, the law prevents insurance companies from charging women more than men and requires insurance companies to cover preventive services like mammograms free of charge.

Thanks to the women in this room and people all across the country, we worked really hard -- and it’s now been more than three years since Congress passed the Affordable Care Act and I signed it into law. It’s been nearly a year since the Supreme Court upheld the law under the Constitution. And, by the way, six months ago, the American people went to the polls and decided to keep going in this direction. So the law is here to stay.

The President asked Americans to learn the facts about the Affordable Care Act and the wide array of benefits the law is already providing. You can visit WhiteHouse.gov/HealthReform and HealthCare.gov to see what the law does for your family.

Make sure you know what the actual facts are, because you stand to benefit if you’re not already benefiting from this thing. Don’t let people confuse you. Don’t let them run the okiedoke on you. Don’t be bamboozled.

The nearly 85% of Americans who have health insurance are already benefiting from the Affordable Care Act. Now the White House is asking Americans from across the country to speak now in support of health care reform. Lend your name, share your story, and be part of making the law a success here.

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On March 22, 2012, the President issued an Executive Order launching a government-wide initiative to improve the efficiency of federal review and permitting of infrastructure projects. Since then, agencies have expedited the review and permitting of 50 major projects, including bridges, transit , railways, waterways, roads, and renewable energy projects.  

Federal agencies have also identified a set of best practices for efficient review and permitting. Those range from expanding information technology (IT) tools to strategies - like simultaneous review - for improving collaboration. Today’s Presidential Memorandum directs all relevant agencies to put these best practices into effect.

Cutting red tape and streamlining the process for making permitting decisions will help us meet the President’s goal of cutting in half the timelines for major infrastructure projects, while creating better outcomes for our communities and for the environment.

The President’s initiative is already showing real results. For example, this afternoon, President Obama and Deputy Transportation Secretary John Porcari will visit Baltimore, where we sped up the approval process for the city’s Red Line rail transit corridor by six months.

We also recently expedited Federal approval for the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project in New York. By speeding up the approval process, Federal agencies trimmed up to three years off the timeline for this multi-billion dollar project that will help put Americans back to work.

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Watch the video below to learn more about what he’ll be doing in Baltimore, and check back on this post for updates from the trip – we’ll post them all here together. 

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On May 16th, the White House is kicking off “We the Geeks,” a new series of Google+ Hangouts to highlight the future of science, technology, and innovation here in the United States. Topics such as commercial space exploration, science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, turning science fiction to science fact, and others will be discussed with Administration officials and key private sector contributors.

The first "We the Geeks" Hangout will focus on Grand Challenges, ambitious goals on a national or global scale that capture the imagination and demand advances in innovation and breakthroughs in science and technology. Grand Challenges are an important element of President Obama’s Strategy for American Innovation. On April 2nd, the President called on companies, research universities, foundations, and philanthropists to join with him in identifying and pursuing the Grand Challenges of the 21st century.

An example of a past Grand Challenge was the sequencing of the entire human genome that, according to one recent study, has contributed to the U.S. economy more than $140 for every $1 invested by the Federal government. President Obama just announced the BRAIN Initiative, a bold new research effort to revolutionize our understanding of the human mind and uncover new ways to treat, prevent, and cure brain disorders like Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, autism, epilepsy, and traumatic brain injury.  The Department of Energy is leading the way in Clean Energy Grand Challenges with SunShot, an initiative to make solar energy as cheap as coal, and EV Everywhere, an initiative announced by President Obama to make electric vehicles as affordable and convenient to own as today’s gasoline-powered vehicles.  

The Obama Administration supports the identification and pursuit of Grand Challenges because the approach can:

• help solve important economic and societal problems;
• serve as a “North Star” for high-impact, multi-disciplinary collaborations among government, industry, universities, non-profits, and philanthropists;
• create a foundation for industries and jobs of the future;
• capture public imagination and increase support for public policies that foster science, technology, and innovation; and
• inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs.

In addition to Federal investments, there are a growing number of companies, foundations, philanthropists, and research universities that are interested in pursuing Grand Challenges. During this Thursday’s "We the Geeks" Hangout, I'll join White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s Deputy Director for Technology and Innovation Tom Kalil and an extraordinary panel of innovators from around the country to discuss the elements of an "all hands on deck" effort to pursue Grand Challenges. Participants include:

• Matt Grob, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., to discuss the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE and other bold research initiatives at Qualcomm
• Rob High, IBM Fellow, Vice President, and Chief Technology Officer, IBM Watson Solutions, to discuss what’s next for Watson and the field of cognitive computing
• Kathryn Latham, recent graduate from Duke University with a degree in engineering and participant in the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenge Scholars Program
• Sebastian Thrun, a research professor at Stanford, a Google Fellow, and a co-founder of Udacity, to discuss Google’s self-driving car and Google X

So tune in Thursday, May 16, at 2:00 p.m. EDT on WhiteHouse.gov and on the White House Google+ page, as we begin a new series of future-focused Hangouts from the White House.

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Watch the West Wing Week here.

Launching the Jobs & Opportunity Tour: On Thursday, the President was in Austin to launch his Middle Class Jobs & Opportunity Tour. Austin is leading the nation in manufacturing and tech job growth and is a benchmark for “a thriving, rising middle class and a dynamic, cutting-edge economy.” The President met with high school students, local residents, and entrepreneurs as he toured the city.

The President also announced two executive actions to help make America a magnet for jobs and manufacturing. The Administration is launching competitions to create three new manufacturing innovation institutes and is also requiring government data to be more open and accessible to fuel entrepreneurship and economic growth.

• A Plan to Revitalize American Manufacturing
• Manufacturing Innovation Institutes Explained in 60 Seconds
• Learn more about the Administration’s open data efforts
• Landmark Steps to Liberate Open Data

President Park of South Korea Visit: On Tuesday, President Obama was joined by South Korean President Park Geun-hye for a joint press conference. Park is South Korea’s first female president and the visit was her first foreign trip as head of her nation. The visit marked the 60th anniversary of our alliance, and both leaders made it clear they will not tolerate North Korea’s threats and provocations.

The United States and the Republic of Korea are as united as ever. And faced with new international sanctions, North Korea is more isolated than ever. In short, the days when North Korea could create a crisis and elicit concessions -- those days are over.

South Korea has been a strong economic partner, and in part due to the the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, American automobile exports are up almost 50 percent. The agreement is projected to boost U.S. exports by $10 billion and support tens of thousands of American jobs, while also creating jobs in Korea.

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In the report, Wan noted, “We believe 51job, a leading online recruiting player in China with ~40% market share, should continue

The first stop on today’s tour was Manor New Tech High School, where students are learning the real-world skills they need to fill jobs that are available right now. Watch the President’s remarks at the school here.

President Barack Obama has lunch and talks with local residents at Stubb’s BBQ in Austin, Texas, May 9, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Next, President Obama sat down for lunch (Texas barbecue, of course) with local residents to discuss his vision for making sure that hard work leads to a decent living. He also met with technology entrepreneurs who showed him some of the tools and products they are developing that will drive America’s long-term economic growth.

President Barack Obama listens to a presentation about a new car that you can drive a wheelchair into, at Capital Factory in Austin, Texas, May 9, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Today, following through on a promise he made in his State of the Union, the President rolled out the first piece of that agenda, announcing competitions to establish three new Manufacturing Innovation Institutes. These new institutes, partnerships among business, universities and community colleges, and government, will develop and build manufacturing technologies and capabilities to help U.S.-based businesses and workers create good jobs. 

We asked Gene Sperling, Director of the National Economic Council, to explain in 60 seconds or less why these institutes are an important part of the President’s strategy to invest in manufacturing. Hear what he had to say below.

Watch this video on YouTube

For more information:

• President Obama's plan for investing in manufacturing
• Learn more about today's announcement

Tomorrow, the President is making his first stop on a series of Middle Class Jobs and Opportunity Tours, traveling to Austin, Texas to learn more about what's being done there to create stable and well-paying jobs that can support a middle-class family. He'll visit a high school where  students are learning real-world skills for today's jobs and meet technology entrepreneurs who are creating the tools and products that will drive America's long-term economic growth.

We checked in with Todd Park, the United States Chief Technology Officer, to find out more about the President's trip. Hear what he had to say below.