Politics. On Point.

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON THE PASSING OF U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE ANTONIN SCALIA For almost 30 years, Justice Antonin “Nino” Scalia was a larger-than-life presence on the bench -- a brilliant legal mind with an energetic style, incisive wit, and colorful opinions.     U.S. Supreme Court Judge Antonin Scalia.  He influenced a generation of judges, lawyers, and students, and profoundly shaped the legal landscape.  He will no doubt be remembered as one of the most consequential judges and thinkers to serve on the Supreme Court.  Justice Scalia dedicated his life to the cornerstone of our democracy:  The rule of law.  Tonight, we honor his extraordinary service to our nation and remember one of the towering legal figures of our time.      Antonin Scalia was born in Trenton, New Jersey to an Italian immigrant family.  After graduating from Georgetown University and Harvard Law School, he worked at a law firm and taug...

(Politics. On Point) - Vice President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that he will not run in the 2016 presidential campaign. Said Biden, "As my family and I have worked through the grieving process, I’ve said all along what I've said time and again to others, that it may very well be that that process, by the time we get through it, closes the window on mounting a realistic campaign for President, that it might close.  I've concluded it has closed", he said. Vice President Biden, along with President Obama and wife Dr. Jill Biden, in the Rose Garden of the White House Wednesday as Biden announces he is not running for president. Photo/CD Brown The Bidens lost their son Beau earlier this year, an event that some said would be reason the vice president would run for president, but the vice president made his position, and decison, clear. "Unfortunately, I believe we're out of time -- the time necessary to mount a winning campaign for the nomination...

From the White Press Office NEW YORK, NY – Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch today announced $41 million in grant awards to 20 jurisdictions to eliminate or reduce the number of untested sexual assault kits across the country.  Today’s announcement is being announced as part of an unprecedented partnership with the New York County District Attorney’s Office (DANY) – whose own grant program is contributing $38 million to the cause for a total of $79 million to eliminate the backlog reaching 43 jurisdictions in 27 states across the country. “Rape kits are an essential tool in modern crime fighting — not only for the victim, but, for the entire community. Studies show we solve up to 50 percent of previously unsolved rapes when these kits are tested. When we solve these cases, we get rapists off the streets. For most survivors, seeing their rapists brought to justice, and knowing that they will not return, brings peace of mind and a sense of clos...

From the White House press office. The sixth of nine new manufacturing institutes brings $610 million in public-private investment to next-generation photonics manufacturing, fostering American manufacturing innovation to transform digital communications and high-performance computing Vice President Biden will announce today that the Research Foundation for the State University of New York (RF SUNY) will lead a new Manufacturing Innovation Institute to secure U.S. leadership in manufacturing integrated photonics. These emerging technologies have the potential to transform many industries—from creating “needleless” tests for medical conditions like diabetes, to increasing the carrying capacity of broadband communications ten times over. The Manufacturing Innovation Institute for Integrated Photonics is the sixth of nine such public-private partnerships to boost advanced manufacturing, foster American innovation, and attract and create jobs that strengthen the middle cla...

It's no secret that second lady Dr. Jill Biden is a community college professor (George Mason), and that both the president and the vice president have touted community colleges for years.  "We know, for example, that in the coming years, jobs requiring at least an associate’s degree are going to grow twice as fast as jobs that don’t require college. We will not fill those jobs or keep those jobs on our shores without community colleges", explained the president. Dr. Biden in 2009 told an audience, "For more and more people, community colleges are the way to the future", said Biden.  "They’re giving real opportunity to students who otherwise wouldn’t have it.  They’re giving hope to families who thought the American Dream was slipping away.  They are equipping Americans with the skills and expertise that are relevant to the emerging jobs of the future.  They’re opening doors for the middle class at a time when the middle class has seen so many doors cl...

Vice President Biden will be in Poland the week of March 17-19, the White House is reporting.  He will also travel to Lithuania where he will  meet with regional partners to discuss events in Ukraine and other regional issues.  I n Warsaw and Vilnius, the Vice President will meet with the President and Prime Minister of Poland and the Presidents of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.  During his meetings, the Vice President will consult on steps to support Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and affirm our collective defense commitments under the North Atlantic Treaty and our enduring support for all of our allies and partners in Europe.

  The Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden will travel to the Republic of Chile and the Dominican Republic in the second week of March.      In Chile, the Vice President will lead the U.S. delegation to the Inauguration of Her Excellency Michelle Bachelet.  In Santo Domingo, the Vice President will meet with President Danilo Medina to discuss a broad range of bilateral issues, as well as regional cooperation.   Related Vice President Biden To Make a 2016 Presidential Bid ?  

Vice President Biden's efforts dedicated to bringing awareness to violence against women, and holding perpetrators accountable helped launched the Violence Against Women Act  of 1994. The VAWA legislation is expected to do the following: • Hold rapists accountable for their crimes by strengthening federal penalties for repeat sex offenders and creating a federal "rape shield law," which is intended to prevent offenders from using victims’ past sexual conduct against them during a rape trial; • mandating that victims, no matter their income levels, are not forced to bear the expense of their own rape exams or for service of a protection order; • keeping victims safe by requiring that a victim’s protection order will be recognized and enforced in all state, tribal, and territorial jurisdictions within the United States; • increasing rates of prosecution, conviction, and sentencing of offenders by helping communities develop dedicated law enforcement and pros...

  Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden will travel to India and Singapore in late July 2013.  In India, the Vice President will meet with key leaders to discuss the full range of bilateral, regional and global issues, with a focus on advancing the prosperity, security, and shared values of our two countries.    The Vice President and Dr. Biden look forward to opportunities to engage with India’s people, including leaders in business and civil society.  In Singapore, the Vice President will consult with leaders on a range of shared priorities, including implementing the Asia-Pacific rebalance, and highlight America’s continued engagement with a key partner in Southeast Asia.   The First Family will begin their travel to South Africa, visiting Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania later this week.   Per the White House, this is the President’s second trip to sub-Saharan Africa .  He previously went to Ghana in his first term....

12 Cities and Counties Receive Grants as Part of New Evidence-Based Prevention Initiative Riding on last week's presidential signing of the Violence Againist Women Act, Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder announced grants to twelve programs across the country to target the urgent need to reduce domestic violence homicides. On average, three women a day die as a result of domestic violence. In total, the Department of Justice will award $2.3 million to twelve sites across the country as part of the new Domestic Violence Homicide Prevention Demonstration Initiative (DVHP Initiative). The DVHP Initiative, created by the Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), helps state and local jurisdictions reduce domestic violence homicides by effectively identifying potential victims and monitoring high-risk offenders. The DVHP Initiative is modeled after programs in Massachusetts and Maryland, where the use of coordinated teams of law enforce...

The Department of Justice is seeking to learn how the credit reports and several pieces of personal information belonging to several staff members of the Obama administration, and several celebrity icons, were posted online.  The Atlanta Journal   reported that the Justice Department said the FBI was also investigating how the Social Security number, address and a credit report of FBI Director Robert Mueller ended up on the site. The site also posted information about Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck . doxxing . v. the process of obtaining or deducing information about a person based on a limited set of initial information. In addition to celebrities that include Jay-Z and Mel Gibson , Beyonce , Ashton Kutcher , Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton , info was also posted about  First Lady Michelle Obama , Vice President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton . Although Clinton's information did not include her cre...

President Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in today for a second term as President of the United States. The entire oath ceremony, which took place in the Blue Room of the White House, lasted about one minute. Chief Justice Roberts led the president in reciting the oath. President Barack Obama takes the oath of office, administered by Judge Roberts. The president used the Robinson Family Bible. Attending were: Mrs. Marian Robinson — the first lady's mother, Craig Robinson — the first lady's mother' brother, Leslie Robinson — the first lady's niece, Avery Robinson — the first lady's  nephew, Auma Obama — President Obama's sister, Akinyi Manners — Auma Obama's daughter & President Obama's niece, Maya Soetoro-Ng — President Obama's sister, Konrad Ng — President Obama's  brother-in-law married to Maya, Savita Ng — President Obama's niece, Suhaila Ng — the president's niece, Kaye Wilson — Godmother to Sasha &; Malia, a.k.a. ...

With a new presidential term comes new members of Congress. Vice President Biden swore in new members of the United States Senate at the U.S. Capitol in an official ceremony earlier today. At 7:00 PM this evening, the Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden will attend an event with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute to welcome new Hispanic Members of Congress. The Vice President will deliver remarks and ceremonially swear in the Hispanic members of the 113th Congress. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus in today's swearing in ceremony Also today, members of the Congressional Black Caucus took their oath of office during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's swearing in ceremony. Representative Marcia L. Fudge is the new Chair of the CBC. House Speaker John Boehner was also sworn in for another term where he can continue to block efforts to move the country forward .

The Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) today announced that members of the media can now apply for credentials to cover official events for the second Inaugural of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, taking place from January 19-January 22 in Washington, DC. This media credentialing process is separate from any tickets that members of the public may be able to apply for to participate in various Inaugural events. For more information on Inaugural events that are open to the public and how to request tickets, visit www.2013pic.org . Applications for credentials must be completed by Saturday, December 22 at 5:00 PM EDT. Please note that space is extremely limited at the open press Inaugural events and late requests for credentials will not be accepted. For a full description on how to apply for media credentials, and additional event details, please click here . Each Inaugural event will require an event-specific media credential to gain access for media ...

Vice President Biden made a trip to Arlington, VA's grand opening of Costco where he was put some mileage on his newly re-activated Costco card. Per a White House pool report : "The Bidens have been Costco members in the past. The Vice President and Dr. Biden’s Costco memberships were re-activated yesterday; they paid the $55 membership re-activation fee to receive their new cards.The Vice President received his own card which he is carrying today while shopping at Costco." Vice President Biden was greeted by Costco CEO Craig Jelinek and Co-founder Jim Sinegal. After perusing the store's various departments and indulging in the store's available sorted food samples, he was invited to stop by the tire department but declined the offer saying to the employees, "Hey man I don't need tires, I don't drive anymore." After delighting Costco shoppers with handshakes and photo ops the VP made his way to checkout where he was seen purch...

Vice President Joe Biden and Second Lady, Dr. Jill Biden celebrated Thanksgiving with the military servicemen at the Naval Observatory on Monday. A pool report, below, gives the deets. The mouth-watering smells of stuffing and turkey, a crackling fire, guests with bowed heads giving thanks for “second chances” -- Vice President Biden and Dr Jill Biden hosted their fourth Early Thanksgiving For Wounded Warriors on Monday, welcoming servicemen and –women and loved ones to the Naval Observatory. “Jill and I want to welcome you to the vice president’s home. This is your home,” the VP said in brief remarks as the 26 guests sat at two large tables in the residence’s dining room. He spoke from behind a lectern with the VP’s seal on it, Jill Biden at his side. Candles fluttered over their shoulders on the mantelpiece of the fireplace, in which a robust blaze was already crackling. A Navy harpist played before his remarks. The vice president said he and his wife were “honored an...

Vice President Biden Chief of Staff, Allan Hoffman has resigned from his post. Hoffman worked with Hillary Clinton on health-care reform.  He joined Vice President Biden as deputy chief of staff, managing the daily operations of Joe Biden’s office, focusing on administration, the legislative agenda and outreach. Hoffman called his career in Washington a "whirlwind". “I’ve been very fortunate to work in government and work for the American people in areas that I’m passionate about” , he said. One such area is closing the sentencing disparity between those prosecuted for selling powder cocaine versus crack cocaine.  A former prosecutor, Hoffman says the system needs to be "fair" and "just". Describing his former employee as one with “sharp political sense, a keen sense of timing, a sense of what makes people tick and a sense of humor”, Biden said in a released statement today, "For more than a decade, Alan has been my trusted advisor.  As Ch...

With just 11 days to go until the 2012 election for the presidency, candidate Mitt Romney and sitting president Barack Obama , along with their wives and veeps (present and aspiring) are hitting key swing states to make a near final last ditch effort.  Our friends over at The Hill sums up the touring schedule quite nicely. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan hold a campaign rally in North Canton, Ohio, at 7:15 p.m., where Romney will make what his campaign is billing as a major address on the economy. Romney will also hold a campaign rally in Ames, Iowa, at noon. And Ryan will also make a stop in Huntsville, Ala. President Obama will be in Washington, where he'll make a stop by the Democratic National Committee headquarters. He'll also tape interviews with “The Michael Smerconish Show," with MTV, and with American Urban Radio Networks. Vice President Biden will be campaigning in Wisconsin with stops in Oshkosh and Kenosha. Jill Biden will be campaigning in New Hampshi...

Vice President Joe Biden and VP candidate Paul Ryan go head-to-head in the only VP debate of 2012. As the two defend and try to make a case for their positions on a number of issues to include foreign policy , abortion , tax cuts and the middle class, Biden was chastised in the media for smirking and smiling too much , while Ryan was labeled as not being able to effectively communicate the Romney-Ryan plan for America. What we noticed was that Ryan (who smiled/smirked just as often as Biden) could be an advertisement for the bottled water company Drink More Water, as he repeatedly drew sips from his glass of water.  Such action could be summed up as a defense mechanism, or a chance to buy more time between giving a response to an uncomfortable topic he was unprepared to answer. The Vice President made a strong case for removing US troops out of Afghanistan by 2014 , suggesting the Afghan country needs to take responsibility for its own...