THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_______________________________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 30, 2009
Statement from the President on the Minnesota Supreme Court Certifying Al Franken as the Winner of Last Year's Senate Election
"I look forward to working with Senator-Elect Franken to build a new foundation for growth and prosperity by lowering health care costs and investing in the kind of clean energy jobs and industries that will help America lead in the 21st century."
##

President Obama is giving Vice President Biden a larger portfolio to handle, asking him to oversee reconciliation inside Iraq, but Biden will not be a mediator between factions.

Keep Reading ...

The White House has posted some photos from the month of June on its official Flickr website. To see more: http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/sets/72157619416255803/

President Barack Obama meets with former First Lady Nancy Reagan prior to a bill signing ceremony in the White House for the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act, June 2, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Transcript from President Obama's remarks on Iraq:Today American troops have transferred control of all Iraqi cities and towns to Iraq's government and security forces.
And this...

Keep Reading ...

Robert Gibbs gave a preview at the WH Briefing...

Keep Reading ...

President Obama will make comments about US Troops withdrawing from Iraq at 2pm eastern.Watch it on FNC!

1:00PM Briefing by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

(AP Photo)

President Obama poses for photo with members of the Colombian press corps who were at the White House covering his meeting with their president, Alvaro Uribe.

Last week, Mr. Obama posed for a photo with the Chilean press corps.  A tradition seems to be developing here.

The Obama administration doesn't think the Supreme Court's opinion Monday to overturn a ruling by nominee Sonia Sotomayor will be an obstacle in her Senate confirmation hearing.
"
I don't foresee that this would represent anything that would prevent her a seat on the Supreme Court," said the president's spokesman, Robert Gibbs on Monday.The case, overturned in a 5-4 opinion, dealt with the issue of reverse discrimination. Firefighter Frank Ricci and his colleagues sued the city of New Haven, Connecticut after city leaders tossed out the results of a promotions exam because no African Americans scored well enough to merit advancement.

Gibbs explained that Judge Sotomayor was clearly following a precedent in ruling in favor of the city. "[The] Supreme Court clearly had a new interpretation for title 7, of the Civil Rights act. So I think some of the very concerns that members of Senate have expressed about judicial activism, seemed to be at the very least up side down in this case. I think her ruling on the second Circuit denotes she's a follower of precedent," Gibbs said

Sotomayor's confirmation hearing is scheduled for July 13th.

For the third day in a row since the House of Representatives passed a landmark climate and energy bill, President Obama continued to press the Senate to do the same and took the opportunity to announce new efficiency standards for lighting.

"In the months to come, the Senate will take up it's version of the energy," noted Mr. Obama Monday at the White House. "And I am confident that they too will choose to move this country forward."

The House passed the bill on Friday night with a 219-212 vote.

Mr. Obama echoed a sentiment he shared with a select group of energy reporters on Sunday that in the few months of his presidency, he has already begun to move the country away from dependence on foreign oil, "than at any time in several decades."

It was in that same reporter roundtable that Mr. Obama expressed his optimism that the Senate would take up the energy bill before the year is out. "[The Senate is] not going to have a bill that's identical to the House bill. This will end up in conference and there are going to be a series of tough negotiations. But I think the ability of the House to move forward is going to be a prod for the Senate towards action," Mr. Obama told the reporters.

But it was in his weekly video address Saturday that Mr. Obama challenged the Senate a little more forcefully. "We cannot be afraid of the future. And we must not be prisoners of the past," said the president. "Don't believe the misinformation out there that suggests there is somehow a contradiction between investing in clean energy and economic growth. It's just not true."

Tuesday, Mr. Obama sought to further advance his energy agenda by announcing an effort to determine new efficiency standards for fluorescent and incandescent lighting. Noting that seven percent of all energy is consumed by homes and businesses, Mr. Obama said new standards could save consumers $4billion a year. Energy Secretary Steven Chu is tasked with coming up with the new standards.

"Progress like this might seem far fetched," said Mr. Obama, "but the fact