You can also call or write to the President:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Phone Numbers
Comments: 202-456-1111Switchboard: 202-456-1414FAX: 202-456-2461
TTY/TDD
Comments: 202-456-6213Visitors Office: 202-456-2121
Gifts & Items Sent to the White House
Items sent to the White House are often significantly delayed and can be irreparably harmed during the security screening process. Therefore, please do not send items of personal importance, such as family photographs, because items may not be returned.
For security reasons, please do not send consumable gifts -- such as food, flowers, and other perishable items -- to the White House. While President Obama, the First Lady, Vice President Biden, and Dr. Biden appreciate your thoughtfulness, they request that instead you look to your local community for opportunities to assist your neighbors in need.
THE AGENDA
Civil Rights
Defense
Disabilities
Economy
Education
Energy & Environment
Ethics
Family
Fiscal
Foreign Policy
Health Care
Homeland Security
Immigration
Iraq
Poverty
Rural
Seniors & Social Security
Service
Taxes
Technology
Urban Policy
Veterans
Women
Faith
In June of 2006, then-Senator Obama delivered what was called the most important speech on religion and politics in 40 years. Speaking before an evangelical audience, then-Senator Obama candidly discussed his own religious conversion and doubts, and the need for a deeper, more substantive discussion about the role of faith in American life.
Senator Obama also laid down principles for how to discuss faith in a pluralistic society, including the need for religious people to translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values during public debate. In December 2006, President Obama discussed the importance of faith in the global battle against AIDS.
Arts
Our nation's creativity has filled the world's libraries, museums, recital halls, movie houses, and marketplaces with works of genius. The arts embody the American spirit of self-definition. As the author of two best-selling books — Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope — President Obama uniquely appreciates the role and value of creative expression.
Child Advocacy
President Obama and Vice President Biden are committed advocates for children. They will make sure that every child has health insurance, expand educational opportunities for low-income children, extend resources for low-income families, support and supplement our struggling foster care system, and protect children from violence and neglect.
Katrina
President Obama will keep the broken promises to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. He and Vice President Biden will take steps to ensure that the federal government will never again allow such catastrophic failures in emergency planning and response to occur.
Then-Senator Obama introduced legislation requiring disaster planners to take into account the specific needs of low-income hurricane victims. Obama visited thousands of Hurricane survivors in the Houston Convention Center and later took three more trips to the region. He worked with members of the Congressional Black Caucus to introduce legislation to address the immediate income, employment, business, and housing needs of Gulf Coast communities.
President Barack Obama will partner with the people of the Gulf Coast to rebuild now, stronger than ever.
Science
In the past, government funding for scientific research has yielded innovations that have improved the landscape of American life — technologies like the Internet, digital photography, bar codes, Global Positioning System technology, laser surgery, and chemotherapy. At one time, educational competition with the Soviets fostered the creativity that put a man on the moon. Today, we face a new set of challenges, including energy security, HIV/AIDS, and climate change. Yet, the United States is losing its scientific dominance. Among industrialized nations, our country's scores on international science and math tests rank in the bottom third and bottom fifth, respectively. Over the last three decades, federal funding for the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences has declined at a time when other countries are substantially increasing their own research budgets. President Obama and Vice President Biden believe federally funded scientific research should play an important role in advancing science and technology in the classroom and in the lab.
Sportsmen
President Obama did not grow up hunting and fishing, but he recognizes the great conservation legacy of America's hunters and anglers and has great respect for the passion that hunters and anglers have for their sports. Were it not for America's hunters and anglers, including the great icons like Theodore Roosevelt and Aldo Leopold, our nation would not have the tradition of sound game management, a system of ethical, science-based game laws and an extensive public lands estate on which to pursue the sport. The President and Vice President recognize that we must forge a broad coalition if we are to address the great conservation challenges we face. America's hunters and anglers are a key constituency that must take an active role and have a powerful voice in this coalition.
Transportation
As our society becomes more mobile and interconnected, the need for 21st-century transportation networks has never been greater. However, too many of our nation's railways, highways, bridges, airports, and neighborhood streets are slowly decaying due to lack of investment and strategic long-term planning. President Obama and Vice President Biden believe that America's long-term competitiveness depends on the stability of our critical infrastructure. They will make strengthening our transportation systems, including our roads and bridges, a top priority.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
Barack H. Obama is the 44th President of the United States.
His story is the American story — values from the heartland, a middle-class upbringing in a strong family, hard work and education as the means of getting ahead, and the conviction that a life so blessed should be lived in service to others.
With a father from Kenya and a mother from Kansas, President Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961. He was raised with help from his grandfather, who served in Patton's army, and his grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to middle management at a bank.
After working his way through college with the help of scholarships and student loans, President Obama moved to Chicago, where he worked with a group of churches to help rebuild communities devastated by the closure of local steel plants.
He went on to attend law school, where he became the first African—American president of the Harvard Law Review. Upon graduation, he returned to Chicago to help lead a voter registration drive, teach constitutional law at the University of Chicago, and remain active in his community.
President Obama's years of public service are based around his unwavering belief in the ability to unite people around a politics of purpose. In the Illinois State Senate, he passed the first major ethics reform in 25 years, cut taxes for working families, and expanded health care for children and their parents. As a United States Senator, he reached across the aisle to pass groundbreaking lobbying reform, lock up the world's most dangerous weapons, and bring transparency to government by putting federal spending online.
He was elected the 44th President of the United States on November 4, 2008, and sworn in on January 20, 2009. He and his wife, Michelle, are the proud parents of two daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7.
VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN
Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., was born November 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the first of four siblings. In 1953, the Biden family moved from Pennsylvania to Claymont, Delaware. He graduated from the University of Delaware and Syracuse Law School and served on the New Castle County Council. Then, at age 29, he became one of the youngest people ever elected to the United States Senate.
Just weeks after the election, tragedy struck the Biden family, when Biden's wife, Neilia, and their 1-year old daughter, Naomi, were killed and their two young sons critically injured in an auto accident. Biden was sworn in at his sons' hospital bedside and began commuting to Washington every day by train, a practice he maintained throughout his career in the Senate.
In 1977, Biden married Jill Jacobs. Jill Biden, who holds a Ph.D. in Education, has been an educator for over two decades in Delaware's schools. Vice President Biden has three children: Beau, Hunter, and Ashley. Beau serves as Delaware's Attorney General and is currently deployed to Iraq as a Captain in the 261st Signal Brigade of the Delaware National Guard. Ashley is a social worker and Hunter is an attorney. Vice President Biden has five grandchildren: Naomi, Finnegan, Roberta Mabel ("Maisy"), Natalie, and Robert Hunter.
As a Senator from Delaware for 36 years, Biden has been a leader on some of our nation's most important domestic and international challenges. As Chairman or Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee for 17 years, Biden was widely recognized for his work on criminal justice issues including the landmark 1994 Crime Bill and the Violence Against Women Act. As Chairman or Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee since 1997, Biden played a pivotal role in shaping U.S. foreign policy. He has been at the forefront of issues and legislation related to terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, post-Cold War Europe, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia.
FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA
When people ask Michelle Obama to describe herself, she doesn't hesitate. First and foremost, she is Malia and Sasha's mom.
But before she was a mother — or a wife, lawyer, or public servant — she was Fraser and Marian Robinson's daughter.
The Robinsons lived in a brick bungalow on the South Side of Chicago. Fraser was a pump operator for the Chicago Water Department, and despite being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at a young age, he hardly ever missed a day of work. Marian stayed home to raise Michelle and her brother, Craig, skillfully managing a busy household filled with love, laughter, and important life lessons.
A product of Chicago public schools, Michelle studied sociology and African-American studies at Princeton University. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1988, she joined the Chicago law firm Sidley & Austin, where she later met the man who would become the love of her life.
After a few years, Michelle decided her true calling lay in encouraging people to serve their communities and their neighbors. She served as assistant commissioner of planning and development in Chicago's City Hall before becoming the founding executive director of the Chicago chapter of Public Allies, an AmeriCorps program that prepares youth for public service.
In 1996, Michelle joined the University of Chicago with a vision of bringing campus and community together. As associate dean of student services, she developed the university's first community service program, and under her leadership as vice president of community and external affairs for the University of Chicago Medical Center, volunteerism skyrocketed.
As First Lady, Michelle Obama looks forward to continuing her work on the issues close to her heart — supporting military families, helping working women balance career and family, and encouraging national service.
Michelle and Barack Obama have two daughters: Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7. Like their mother, the girls were born on the South Side of Chicago.
DR. JILL BIDEN
Dr. Jill Biden has been an educator in Delaware's schools for more than 25 years. She is the wife of Vice President Joe Biden.
For the last 15 years, Dr. Biden has been teaching English full-time at Delaware Technical & Community College. Before that, she taught for 13 years in public schools as a reading specialist and English teacher, as well as working part-time with the Rockford Psychiatric Hospital Adolescent Program.
In 1993, after four of her friends were diagnosed with breast cancer, she started the Biden Breast Health Initiative, which in the past 15 years has educated more than 7,000 ninth-through-twelfth-grade girls in Delaware about proper breast health.
As a Blue-Star Mom, Dr. Biden has made issues important to military families one of her top priorities and has been very active with a nonprofit organization called Delaware Boots on the Ground. Boots on the Ground is dedicated to helping families during times of military deployment and organizes community events to help raise awareness and support. An avid advocate of literacy and reading programs, she also helped found Book Buddies in 2007, a program that encourages reading among children from low-income families.
In January 2007, Dr. Biden earned her Doctorate in Education from the University of Delaware. Her dissertation focused on maximizing student retention in community colleges. She also has a Master's Degree in English from Villanova University (1987) and a Master's Degree in reading from West Chester University (1981) — both of which she earned while working full-time and raising a family.
The oldest of five sisters, Dr. Biden was raised in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, by her mother, Bonny (dec.), and father, Donald.
Dr. Biden was a student at the University of Delaware in 1975 when Joe Biden's brother arranged an introduction between her and then-Senator Biden. On June 17, 1977, they were married at the United Nations chapel in New York City.
Dr. and Vice President Biden have three children: Ashley, a social worker; Beau, Attorney General of the State of Delaware and a captain in the Delaware National Guard; and Hunter, a lawyer. She is the proud grandmother ("Nana") of Naomi, Finnegan, Roberta Mabel ("Maisy"), Natalie, and Robert Hunter.
THE CABINET
The tradition of the Cabinet dates back to the beginnings of the Presidency itself. Established in Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, the Cabinet's role is to advise the President on any subject he may require relating to the duties of each member's respective office.
The Cabinet includes the Vice President and the heads of 15 executive departments — the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Attorney General.
In order of succession to the Presidency:Vice President of the United StatesJoseph R. Biden
Department of StateSecretary Hillary Rodham Clintonhttp://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/cabinet/#TB_inline?height=220&width=370&inlineId=tb_external
Department of the TreasurySecretary Timothy F. Geithnerhttp://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/cabinet/#TB_inline?height=220&width=370&inlineId=tb_external
Department of DefenseSecretary Robert M. Gateshttp://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/cabinet/#TB_inline?height=220&width=370&inlineId=tb_external
Department of JusticeAttorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr.http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/cabinet/#TB_inline?height=220&width=370&inlineId=tb_external
Department of the InteriorSecretary Kenneth L. Salazar http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/cabinet/#TB_inline?height=220&width=370&inlineId=tb_external
Department of AgricultureSecretary Thomas J. Vilsackhttp://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/cabinet/#TB_inline?height=220&width=370&inlineId=tb_external
Department of Commercehttp://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/cabinet/#TB_inline?height=220&width=370&inlineId=tb_external
Department of LaborSecretary-designate: Hilda L. Solishttp://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/cabinet/#TB_inline?height=220&width=370&inlineId=tb_external
Department of Health and Human Serviceshttp://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/cabinet/#TB_inline?height=220&width=370&inlineId=tb_external
Department of Housing and Urban DevelopmentSecretary Shaun L.S. Donovanhttp://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/cabinet/#TB_inline?height=220&width=370&inlineId=tb_external
Department of TransportationSecretary Raymond L. LaHoodhttp://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/cabinet/#TB_inline?height=220&width=370&inlineId=tb_external
Department of EnergySecretary Steven Chuhttp://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/cabinet/#TB_inline?height=220&width=370&inlineId=tb_external
Department of EducationSecretary Arne Duncanhttp://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/cabinet/#TB_inline?height=220&width=370&inlineId=tb_external
Department of Veterans AffairsSecretary Eric K. Shinsekihttp://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/cabinet/#TB_inline?height=220&width=370&inlineId=tb_external
Department of Homeland SecuritySecretary Janet A. Napolitanohttp://www.dhs.gov/
The following positions have the status of Cabinet-rank:
Council of Economic Advisers
Chair Christina Romerhttp://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/cea/
Environmental Protection Agency
Administrator Lisa P. Jackson
http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/cabinet/#TB_inline?height=220&width=370&inlineId=tb_external
Office of Management & Budget
Director Peter R. Orszag
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb
United States Trade Representative
Ambassador-designate: Ronald Kirk
http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/cabinet/#TB_inline?height=220&width=370&inlineId=tb_external
United States Ambassador to the United Nations
Ambassador Susan Rice
White House Chief of Staff
Rahm I. Emanuel
WHITE HOUSE STAFF
Chief of StaffRahm Emanuel
Deputy Chiefs of StaffJim MessinaMona Sutphen
Senior AdvisorsDavid AxelrodValerie JarrettPete Rouse
Visit the Executive Office of the President section to learn about more of the President's staff.
The United States Constitution
• Preamble
• Article 1 - The Legislative Branch
o Section 1 - The Legislature
o Section 2 - The House
o Section 3 - The Senate
o Section 4 - Elections, Meetings
o Section 5 - Membership, Rules, Journals, Adjournment
o Section 6 - Compensation
o Section 7 - Revenue Bills, Legislative Process, Presidential Veto
o Section 8 - Powers of Congress
o Section 9 - Limits on Congress
o Section 10 - Powers Prohibited of States
• Article 2 - The Executive Branch
o Section 1 - The President
o Section 2 - Civilian Power over Military, Cabinet, Pardon Power, Appointments
o Section 3 - State of the Union, Convening Congress
o Section 4 - Disqualification
• Article 3 - The Judicial Branch
o Section 1 - Judicial Powers
o Section 2 - Trial by Jury, Original Jurisdiction, Jury Trials
o Section 3 - Treason
• Article 4 - The States
o Section 1 - Each State to Honor All Others
o Section 2 - State Citizens, Extradition
o Section 3 - New States
o Section 4 - Republican Government
• Article 5 - Amendment
• Article 6 - Debts, Supremacy, Oaths
• Article 7 - Ratification
• Signatories
• Amendments
o Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression
o Amendment 2 - Right to Bear Arms
o Amendment 3 - Quartering of Soldiers
o Amendment 4 - Search and Seizure
o Amendment 5 - Trial and Punishment, Compensation for Takings
o Amendment 6 - Right to Speedy Trial, Confrontation of Witnesses
o Amendment 7 - Trial by Jury in Civil Cases
o Amendment 8 - Cruel and Unusual Punishment
o Amendment 9 - Construction of Constitution
o Amendment 10 - Powers of the States and People
o Amendment 11 - Judicial Limits
o Amendment 12 - Choosing the President, Vice President
o Amendment 13 - Slavery Abolished
o Amendment 14 - Citizenship Rights
o Amendment 15 - Race No Bar to Vote
o Amendment 16 - Status of Income Tax Clarified
o Amendment 17 - Senators Elected by Popular Vote
o Amendment 18 - Liquor Abolished
o Amendment 19 - Women's Suffrage
o Amendment 20 - Presidential, Congressional Terms
o Amendment 21 - Amendment 18 Repealed
o Amendment 22 - Presidential Term Limits
o Amendment 23 - Presidential Vote for District of Columbia
o Amendment 24 - Poll Taxes Barred
o Amendment 25 - Presidential Disability and Succession
o Amendment 26 - Voting Age Set to 18 Years
o Amendment 27 - Limiting Congressional Pay Increases
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