Copy text from White House notice:
WATCH LIVE: President’s Remarks on Common Sense Immigration Reform Today!
Friends,
Today at 2:35 PM ET, 11:35 AM PT, the President will deliver remarks at the Betty Ong Recreation Center in San Francisco, California where he will call on Congress to pass commonsense immigration reform. Watch live HERE.
Join us at 5:00 PM ET TODAY for an immigration update conference call. Dial-in: 1-855-845-4321 or 1-617-668-3700, Event ID: 600165.
For the last two weeks, President Obama, Vice President Biden and a number of our Cabinet Secretaries, as well as White House Senior Staff have continued to make the case for comprehensive immigration reform. On November 19, the President spoke at the Wall Street Journal CEO Council Annual Meeting and described why fixing our broken immigration system is good for our economy and national security:
The good news here is the Senate has already passed a bipartisan bill that economists say would grow our economy by $1.4 trillion and shrink our deficits by nearly a trillion over the next two decades. You wouldn’t turn down a deal that good, and Congress shouldn’t either. So I’m hoping that Speaker Boehner and the House of Representatives can still work with us to get that done.
The very next day, President Obama named sixteen recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. The list of leaders included several innovative immigrants who have enriched American culture: Daniel Kahneman, an Israeli-American pioneer scholar of psychology, Mario Molina, a Mexican-American chemist and environmental scientist and Arturo Sandoval, a celebrated jazz musician and composer from Cuba.
Over the past week and a half several top Administration officials have visited Eliseo Medina and others participating in the “Fast for Families.” Today marks day 14 of their water only fast to bring attention to the urgency of passing common sense immigration reform. Administration officials who have visited the Fasters to recognize their courage and drawn inspiration from their action include, Vice President Joe Biden, Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, Director of Domestic Policy Cecilia Muñoz, Secretary Tom Perez, and Secretary Tom Vilsack.