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Highlights: The Week That Was

Source: White House Blog Highlights.

The Week Behind
West Wing Week: 5/4/12 or "Out of Many, We are One."
This week, the President traveled to Afghanistan to sign an historic Strategic Partnership Agreement, visit with our troops, and address the American people about responsibly ending the war. The President also traveled to Fort Stewart to sign an Executive Order to protect service members and their families from deceptive marketing practices, spoke at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner, welcomed the Prime Minister of Japan, and spoke at the Building and Construction Trades conference.

On Afghanistan/Anniversary of Bin Laden Raid
President Obama on Ending the War in Afghanistan
This week, President Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan -- to meet with President Hamid Karzai and sign a strategic partnership agreement that will help to guide our future relationship with the country.

·       Photo Gallery: President Obama Travels to Afghanistan


On the Economy/Jobs
The Employment Situation in April
Today’s employment report provides further evidence that the economy is continuing to heal from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, but much more remains to be done to repair the damage caused by the financial crisis and the deep recession.  It is critical that we continue the economic policies that are helping us dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began at the end of 2007.  President Obama has said that prosperity in America has always come from a strong and growing middle class.  He has made clear that getting back to where we were is not enough. We need to do more, which is why the President has laid out his blueprint for an American economy that is built to last and will continue to urge Congress to act to do more to grow the economy and create jobs.

On Summer Jobs+
Innovative Summer Jobs+ Apps Announced
Four weeks ago we launched the first-ever White House Code Sprint, challenging app developers to build job search apps using the opportunities found in the Summer Jobs+ bank. The Summer Jobs+ initiative is a new call-to-action for businesses, non-profits, and government to provide pathways to employment for low-income and disconnected youth in the summer of 2012. Today we are excited to highlight six apps that were created on platforms including Facebook, Android, the iPhone, Windows Phone, and Web browsers.

On ACA/Healthcare
New Report: Health Care Law Makes Community Health Centers Stronger
The President's health care law gives hard working, middle-class families the security they deserve. The Affordable Care Act forces insurance companies to play by a new set of common sense rules, prohibiting them from dropping your coverage if you get sick, billing you into bankruptcy through annual or lifetime limits, and, soon, discriminating against anyone with a pre-existing condition.

White House Office Hours: National Nurses Week
This is National Nurses Week, when we recognize the significant contributions that nurses make to keeping America healthy. It’s also a time to celebrate the ways the new health care law, the Affordable Care Act, is helping invest in nurses. To talk about National Nurses Week and what the health law means for nurses, we’ll be hosting a session of Office Hours on Monday, May 7th at 3:30 pm EDT with Mary Wakefield, a Registered Nurse and Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, which runs many of the programs that help train and support nurses.

On ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ Anniversary
Screening "To Kill A Mockingbird" at the White House
Art has helped create the America that we know and love today. And at its best, film allows us a window into our own lives and gets a chance to see the world through someone else's eyes. One of the heroes of American cinema, Atticus Finch, said that "you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it."

Watch: President Obama at the 2012 White House Correspondents’ Dinner
On Saturday night, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attended the White House Correspondent's Dinner, which was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. The annual event, which has been held since 1920, honors the work of the journalists who report on the Administration and the dinner raises money that is used to grant scholarships to journalism students. The dinner is one of Washington, DC's most anticipated social events of the year, and the President's speech, which pokes fun at himself and the coverage he has received from the reporters in attendance, is the evening's highlight.

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