White House Announces New Summer Opportunity Project

White House Announces New Summer Opportunity Project

The Summer Opportunity Project will give young people access to their ‘First Job,’ and encourage investment in programs supporting summer meals and learning.

“Let’s make sure every young person knows that in America, we’re all committed to helping them achieve their dreams.”

-President Barack Obama

Summer is a critical time for young people, and for many young Americans, it is also a crucial time to look for a first job—an important step in building skills and experiences for their future. Yet for a young person looking to start off in the workforce, the prospect of finding a job with a blank resume, limited education, and no meaningful connections to employers can be daunting. A study found that last summer nearly 46 percent of youth who applied for summer jobs were turned down.  The summer “opportunity gap” can contribute to gaps in achievement, employment, and college and career success, particularly for low-income students who lose access to critical supports that keep them safe, healthy and engaged during the school year. Summer opportunities have been shown to divert youth from criminal involvement and reduce overall violence, and they also offer a chance for young people to get their first exposure to the workplace and build financial skills that they can build on throughout their lives. But these benefits are only possible if young people can find those opportunities.

To meet this challenge, state and local leaders, community-based organizations, private sector leaders, philanthropic leaders, schools and other youth-serving agencies are coming together to create a set of supports that enable strong transitions from school year to school year and from high school to college and to create careers by implementing and spreading proven interventions. The Summer Opportunity Project is a multi-agency effort in partnership with the National Summer Learning Association and other collaborators to provide support to communities. The Project aims to significantly increase the percentage of youth in evidence-based summer opportunity programs, decrease the percentage of youth experiencing violence over the summer, and—more broadly—make sure that young Americans have the support they need to get their first job. 

Research shows that Black and Hispanic teenage boys lag behind their peers in summer employment and year-round jobs. This employment gap broadens as young men get older, making them the highest percentage of the nearly seven million youth 16-24 disconnected from school and work. That’s why the President’s My Brother’s Keeper Task Force recommended to the President in May of 2014 strengthening the case for summer youth employment and launching a cross-sector campaign to reduce summer learning loss and increase the number of job and internship opportunities for all young people. Today’s announcement builds on the Task Force’s commitment to this critical issue, and will engage the more than 200 communities that have accepted the My Brother’s Keeper Community Challenge and scores of cross-sector organizations working to expand opportunity for all young people.  

The Summer Opportunity Project will be launched tomorrow at a White House Summer Opportunity workshop and Champions of Change event that highlights local leaders making a difference in this space and brings together key stakeholders from around the country to share best practices and collaborate on future plans.

Key Efforts Launching at Friday’s Event in Support of the Project Include:

Private Sector Commitments

·             LinkedIn Small and Medium Business Engagement Tool. LinkedIn, the world's largest professional network on the Internet, will connect millions of small and medium sized business leaders with local and state organizations to help young people, including those who are not in school or working, access summer jobs in 72 cities. LinkedIn will also amplify the importance of summer jobs with a content series featuring top business influencers, beginning with thePresident’s LinkedIn Influencer post this morning on the topic of "My First Job.”

·             The National Summer Learning Association (NSLA) Best Practice Network. NSLA is focused on closing the achievement gap by increasing access to high-quality summer opportunities for youth. NSLA has committed to creating a national best practices knowledge base and network that equips cities, towns and counties to provide summer learning, meal and job opportunities to all children and youth who qualify for free and reduced-price meals. NSLA will convene campaign communities multiple times per year, provide technical assistance, broker resources, generate public awareness through events like National Summer Learning Day on July 14, and advocate for supportive policies.

·             New Higher Achievement Centers. Higher Achievement, a year-round, multi-year academic mentoring program for underserved middle school students in the 5th-8th grade, commits to the following activities this summer to close the achievement gap in Baltimore, DC, Pittsburgh, and Richmond: open five new Achievement Centers that are funded by the Department of Education’s Investing in Innovation (i3) grant, connect high school alumni to professional internships, bring 1200+ middle school students on college visits, and begin updating summer curricula to more closely align to Common Core State Standards.

·             LRNG Platform and Playlists Available For All Cities. LRNG, an initiative of Collective Shift, is bringing together city leaders, businesses, schools, and community institutions such as libraries and museums to transform how young people access and experience learning, and the paths they can take to success. This summer, LRNG is offering to Summer Jobs programs across the country its national digital platform and a set of LRNG Playlists and Badges that connect young people to learning opportunities like Job Readiness, Financial Literacy, and Civic Tech.

Federal Agency Commitments

·             Summer Opportunity Federal Resource Guide. Tomorrow, the Administration and NSLA will release a new Federal Resource Guide to make it easier for local governments and non-profits to identify, navigate, and use Federal programs to support summer programming. This is part of a broad effort to improve how the Federal government partners with local communities, recognizing the multifaceted nature of challenges at the local level and the opportunity to build local capacity to benefit from Federal funding and technical assistance.

·             $15 Million from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) to Help Youth Who Serve Their Communities Pay for College. CNCS — the Federal agency that engages millions of Americans in service and in developing community solutions—has committed up to $15 million in existing Segal AmeriCorps Education Awards over the next three years to launch Summer Opportunity AmeriCorps. CNCS is collaborating with the National Summer Learning Association, other organizations, mayors, nonprofits, and other partners to develop service and service-learning projects that will enable up to 20,000 youth to gain new skills and earn money for college.

·             Department of Labor Summer Jobs and Beyond Grant Competition. Earlier this month, the Department of Labor launched a $20 million grant competition that will be awarded to approximately 10 communities for innovative approaches that provide young people with summer and year-round jobs and connect them to career pathways.  The application process closes on March 25, 2016, and funding opportunity may be found here.

·             Summer Block Parties. This June, communities around the country will host summer block parties to engage youth, families, businesses, and community leaders around making this summer active, healthy, safe and productive.  The White House will lead a national effort with local leaders and Department of Education, National Summer Learning Association, Ultimate Block Party, the Association of Children’s Museums and Civic Nation for these events.

·             Department of Education Summer Learning Portal. Through its 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program, ED is launching a Summer Learning Portal with access to additional resources and tools to help design and implement effective summer learning programs.  This forum includes creative ideas, such as aligning summer programming with resources and activities from the National Park Service to learn about the great outdoors, creating summer reading programs, visiting museums, and participating in summer community events.  The portal is available HERE. 

·             Open eBooks. Yesterday, First Lady Michelle Obama celebrated the launch of the Open eBooks App, a project that the President highlighted last spring, by releasing a video to spread the word about this resource that will be a passport to a world of learning and opportunity during summer and the school year for millions of America’s kids. The app will deliver over $250 million of reading material to students who need it most.  Open eBooks was created by a breakthrough coalition of literacy, library, publishing and technology partners who worked together over the past year to make the initiative possible. Open eBook’s partners -- Digital Public Library of America, First Book, and The New York Public Library with content support from digital books distributor Baker & Taylor -- created the app, curated the eBook collection, and developed a system for distribution and use. They received support for the app development from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and content contributions from ten major publishers.

Commitments from Cities to Expand and Improve Summer Programs

·             Los Angeles, CA. This month, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced a new goal to hire 15,000 young people in 2016 through his Hire L.A.’s Youth program, a 6-week, part-time summer jobs program designed for youth between the ages of 14 and 24 years old, who live in the City of Los Angeles, are low-income, and have a legal right to work. Hire L.A.’s Youth targets youth from families receiving CalWORKs public assistance (known at the federal level as the Department of Health and Human Services’ Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), as well as foster youth, youth on probation, and homeless youth. 

·             Seattle, WA.  This summer, Mayor Ed Murray is leading an effort with Seattle Public Schools and School’s Out Washington to reach more than 15,000 youth with summer jobs, learning, meals, enrichment and reading. Seattle is committed to doubling the number of summer jobs to 4,000. The City of Seattle will also serve about 5,000 children over 200,000 meals. The Families and Education Levy, administered by the City’s Office for Education, will invest in 23 summer learning programs for 2,000 students, and Seattle Public Schools will serve more than 5,000 students with high-quality summer programming.

·             Charlotte, NC.  As a result of a partnership between Mayor Jennifer Roberts and Microsoft’s Charlotte campus, DigiGirlz and DigiGuyz High Tech Summer Camps will provide exposure to career fields in technology to as many as 300 students. Charlotte will offer more than 360 paid internships and more than 4,000 career exploration opportunities for underprivileged youth.

Each of these cities has prioritized efforts to support youth entering the workforce as part of their My Brother’s Keeper Community Challenge initiative.

Investments in the President’s FY 2017 Budget

President Obama’s ‘First Job’ funding proposal to connect young Americans with jobs and skills training to start their careers & Summer EBT proposal to ensure low income children have year round access to the food they need to learn and grow.

While our new efforts will be crucial to supporting more at-risk youth over the summer, reaching the scale needed to create opportunities for all at-risk young Americans will require significant new investments at the federal level.

The President’s FY 2017 Budget includes nearly $6 billion in new funding to help more than 1 million young people gain the work experience, skills, and networks that come from having a first job. On February 4, the White House and the Departments of Labor and Education announced the details of that plan, including nearly doubling last year’s budget request for supporting young people who are out of school and work.

Major investments of this plan include:

·             A New $5.5 Billion Proposal to Open Doors to a First Job. The President’s Budget will propose new investments – nearly double last year’s request – to connect more than 1 million young people to first jobs over the summer and year-round. It would also create a new $2 billion competitive grant program designed to re-connect disconnected youth to educational and workforce pathways. DOL will work with Treasury to ensure that young people participating in these programs have access to safe and appropriate financial products and accounts. 

·             New Proposed Investments to Give More Americans Skills for In-Demand Jobs. The President is also proposing in his Budget $3 billion to create an American Talent Compact that would expand talent pipelines in over 50 regions to fill open jobs and attract new jobs from overseas; a $500 million Workforce Data Science and Innovation Fund to create dynamic data sets on jobs, skills, and training to help training providers and workers keep pace with rapidly changing job needs; and a $2 billion Apprenticeship Training Fund.

·             $12 Billion to Provide Summer Meals through Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children. Only a fraction of the 22 million children that receive free and reduced price meals during the school year are able to access such meals when school is out of session. The FY2017 Budget invests $12 billion over ten years to reduce child hunger during the summer through a permanent Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (Summer EBT) for Children program to provide supplemental food benefits during the summer months to all families with children eligible for free and reduced price school meals. Rigorous evaluations of Summer EBT pilots have shown the program effectively reduces food insecurity and improves nutrition.

波市帶族裔色彩傳奇老店“查理的三明治”重新開張 政要雲集剪綵

（Boston Orange 周菊子報導）在波士頓市內已是傳奇之一，有87年歷史的“查理的三明治店（Charlie’s Sandwich Shoppe）”，今（24）早在政要雲集中，隆重剪綵，重新開張。

            麻州州長查理貝克（Charlie Baker）顯然最有理由高興。他踏進店裏，和員工，老闆握手寒暄後，笑顏逐開的說，在波士頓內有家店名叫“查理”的感覺，真不是蓋的。他因此稱許店東德祿迪（Evan Deluty）把這家歷史名店保存了下來，還特地買了一袋藍莓鬆餅，帶回辦公室。總共只有32個座位，在四張桌子外，共有13個吧檯座的這餐廳，從1927年開張以來，曾經有32年是24小時營業，在種族隔離時代，是小山姆戴維斯（Sammy Davis, Jr）等非洲裔美籍爵士音樂家，以及波士頓市的傳奇社會運動家馬爾文金（Melvin King）等的聚集勝地，後來成為政客與社區領袖交換意見的最佳地點，連美國現任總統奧巴馬（Barak Obama），曾任副總統的高爾(Al Gore)等人，都曾是座上客。         

            一年多前，原東主宣佈關門，這家以早餐出名的店就一直丟空在那兒，直到在南端經營史黛拉（Stella ）餐廳的德祿迪和太太甘迪絲（Candice）把它買下來，全部重新翻修，才又延續了這家老店的歷史，曾經光顧過這家餐廳的名人、政客留影，也保留在翻新了的牆上。

            今早，波士頓現任市長馬丁華殊（Martin Walsh），前任市長雷夫連（Ray Flynn），大波士頓非洲裔傳奇人物馬爾文金（Melvin King），以及麻州眾議員麥家威（Aaron Michlewitz），羅辛（Byron Rushing），波士頓市議會議長吳弭（Michelle Wu），波市議員林乃肯（Bill Linehan），米高法拉提（Michael Fleherty）等人，也都趕來致意，寒暄。

            雷夫連指出，這家店不只代表歷史，更意味著連接了移民的過去。

            馬丁華殊則說，“查理”重新開張意味著波士頓經濟向榮。他希望一家一家的，陸續有更多店開張。

President Obama's comments on the Supreme Court process.

President Obama's comments on the Supreme Court process.

question: Can you respond to Mitch McConnell’s comments yesterday about your supreme court choices and the fact that they’re not planning on holding hearings what so ever [clickity clackity of cameras obscured the last bit of the question here]

The constitution says that I nominate candidates for the supreme court when there’s a vacancy and the senate exercises its constitutional authority to advise and consent. I’m going to do my job. We are going to go through a process as we have done in two previous supreme court vacancies to identify an outstanding candidate that has impeccable legal credentials, and that would bring the kind of ability, and compassion, objectivity, and legal reasoning to the court that the highest court in the land demands.

Once I’ve made the nomination, leader mcconnell and all of the members of the senate will make a decision about how they fulfill their constitutional responsibilities. I recognize that the politics are hard for them. Because the easier thing to do is to give in to the most extreme voices in their party and stand pat, and do nothing.

But that’s not our job. Our job is to fulfill our constitutional duties. And so my hope and expectation is that once there is an actual nominee, once this is no longer a hypothetical, that those on the judiciary committee recognize that their job is to give this person a review, to show the courtesy of meeting with them. Then they are free to vote what ever their conscience dictates about whether this person is qualified or not.

In the meantime the American people are gonna have the ability to gauge whether the person I nominate is well within the mainstream, is a good jurist, is somebody who’s worthy of sitting on the supreme court. And I think it will be very difficult for Mr McConnell to explain if the public concludes that this person is very well qualified, that the senate should stand in the way simply for political reasons. We’ll see what happens.  And I think the situation may evolve over time. I don’t expect Mitch McConnell to say that is the case today. I don’t expect any member of the Republican caucus to stick their head out at the moment and say that. Let’s see how the public responds to the nominee we put forward.

The one thing I think is important to dispel is any notion that somehow that this is some well established tradition, or some constitutional principle, that a president in his last year in office cannot fill a supreme court vacancy. It’s not in the text of the constitution, and ironically these are republicans who say they believe in reading the text of the constitution and focusing on the intent of the constitution. None of the founding fathers thought that when it comes to the president carrying out his duties, he can do it for three years and then on the last year stop doing it.

There’s an argument that, ‘well, the president shouldn’t do this because he’s a lame duck.’ Well, the truth of the matter is that traditionally the term lame duck refers to the two or three months after an election has taken place, in which a new president is about to be sworn in. I’ve got a year to go, I don’t think they’d approve of me abdicating on my duties as commander in chief and stop doing all the other work I’ve got to do. Well, this is part of my job.

There’s been arguments that for 80 years that this has been the tradition. Well, that’s not the case. Justice Kennedy was approved after being nominated by Ronald Reagan in Ronald Reagan’s last year of office. And they say ‘well that’s different because he had been nominated in 1987, even if he was confirmed, or in 1985 and confirmed in ’86.’ Well the notion that there’s some two month period in which suddenly it all flips and everything shuts down? That’s not a credible argument.

What other arguments do they make? They suggest that there’s been a couple of times where Democrats have said it would be wise for a president not to nominate someone. First of all, we know senators say stuff all the time. Second of all, these were comments where there was no actual nomination. That’s not the same. It has no application to the actual situation that we have right now.

I’m trying to think of any other reeds that they’re grasping here as to why they would not carry out their duties. And I can’t really think of one. I recognize that this is an important issue for their constituencies. And it’s particularly sensitive because this is Justice Scalia’s seat that is now vacant and that a whole host of decisions in the Supreme Court turn on this 9^th justice and their vote. But that’s how our democracy is supposed to work.

And I do – the last point I’ll make. We have already seen a breakdown of the judicial appointment process that gets worse and worse each and every Congress. It becomes harder and harder to get any candidate to the judiciary confirmed. We saw Sen. Reid have to employ the so-called nuclear option because there was such a backlog in terms of getting judicial nominations through.

If in fact the Republicans in the Senate take a posture that defies the constitution, defies logic, is not supported by tradition simply because of politics, then invariably what you’re going to see is a further deterioration in the ability of any president make any judicial nomination. And appointments to the supreme court as well as the federal bench suddenly become a complete extension of our polarized politics. And at that point not only are we going to see more and more vacancies and the court systems breakdown, but the credibility of the court itself is diminished because it’s seen as an extension of our politics. This is a Republican judge, or this is a Democratic judge, rather than this is a Supreme Court Justice whose supposed to be standing above the day to day politics.

So I understand the posture they’re taking right now. I get the politics of it, I’m sure they’re under enormous pressure from their base and their constituencies around this issue. I’ve talked to many of them, and I’ve told them I’m sympathetic. And by the way, there’s not a lot of vigor when they defend the position they’re taking, that they wouldn’t even consider a supreme court nominee. They’re pretty sheepish about it, about those comments.

So we’ll see how this plays itself out. But I’m going to do my job. I’m going to nominate somebody and let the American people decide whether that person is qualified. And if they are qualified let the American people decide whether there’s enough time for the U.S. Senate to hold hearings and have a vote. It’s not as if, from what I see, that the Senate calendar is so full that we don’t have time to do this nominee.

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT OBAMA AND HIS MAJESTY KING ABDULLAH OF JORDAN AFTER BILATERAL MEETING

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT OBAMA

AND HIS MAJESTY KING ABDULLAH OF JORDAN

AFTER BILATERAL MEETING

Oval Office

                

11:45 A.M. EST

     PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Well, it's wonderful to be back with one of our most stalwart allies in the world, King Abdullah of Jordan, and his delegation.  We've had, as usual, excellent consultation about the enormous challenges that His Majesty and the Jordanian people face in a very difficult time, in a very difficult neighborhood.

     We spent the bulk of our discussion around the situation in Syria, Iraq, and our joint efforts to combat ISIL.  Jordan has been an outstanding partner in that process.  As I've said publicly, we have seen progress in pushing back against ISIL in territory both in Iraq and now in some portions of Syria.  But a lot of work remains to be done.  And so the coordination between our nations and other coalition partners is absolutely critical. And Jordan has made enormous contribution.  Jordan is a country that punches above its weight when it comes to the fight against ISIL.

     With respect to Syria, I briefed him on the conversations that I've had with President Putin and the cessation of hostilities agreement that has been put in place.  We are very cautious about raising expectations on this.  The situation on ground is difficult, but we have seen modest progress over the course of the last week or so with respect to humanitarian access to populations that are threatened.

     If, over the next several weeks, we can see some lessening of the violence that's been wracking that country, then that provides us a basis to build a longer-term ceasefire both in the north and the south, and allows us to move forward on the political transition that ultimately is going to be necessary to bring an end to the civil war in Syria.

     It also would allow us, then, to focus all of our efforts -- all the parties in the entire world community, including Russia -- in going after ISIL, something that right now they are not doing and are not focused on.

     We talked about refugees and the burden that Jordan, as well as other countries in the region, are bearing.  The Jordanian people have been extraordinarily generous in accommodating the hundreds of thousands of Syrians who have been fleeing the fighting, and the United States is the leading contributor to humanitarian efforts to house and provide basic care to these refugees.  But the numbers continue to grow.  And I expressed to His Majesty our commitment to make sure that as they continue to be open to helping people in need, they will have a strong partner in the United States and we will make sure that our money is where our mouth is in terms of looking after these refugee populations.

     In addition, I'm proud of the both economic and military assistance that we have consistently provided to Jordan.  Considering everything that Jordan is doing essentially for the region and the world, and the strains that this has placed their economy under, I think it's important for them to know that the United States is there every step of the way.

     Finally, we discussed the situation in Israel and the West Bank, and the increasing tensions that exist between Israelis and Palestinians there.  His Majesty has been a critical component of reducing some of the immediate sources of tension around the Temple Mount and visits there.  But we continue to agree that it's important for us to provide both sides a sense of possibility and hope, and not simply despair.  That's hard to do. And so we have explored ideas in terms of how we can make progress.  But His Majesty has continued to be a voice of reason and moderation and tolerance for all the parties concerned in this issue.  And we very much appreciate his partnership in the process.

     So we're lucky to have a friend like Jordan.  Hopefully, they feel that the United States has been with them during these very difficult times.  The good news is, is that, whether it's fighting ISIL, reducing the violence in Syria and trying to get that country on a track for political reconciliation, trying to bring Israelis and Palestinians to recognize their shared interest in peace -- on all these issues, our countries have been in sync.  And that will continue as long as I'm President and long after I'm gone, thanks to the leadership of His Majesty.

     Appreciate you being here. 

     HIS MAJESTY KING ABDULLAH:  Mr. President, thank you very much for really your kind words.  I’m delighted to be back here in Washington.  And I just wanted to echo the kind words that the President has just said.

     We are so grateful for the support that you've shown me and our people, our country.  Truly, no country other than the United States has given us so much support -- whether it’s to the economy so that we can take the challenge of refugees to our country, but also to the military and security so that we can defend our borders, but also secure our people.  The help that we’ve gotten from you, Mr. President, from your administration, from the Congress, and the people of the United States is something that is very difficult to express in any words.  And we are very, very grateful for that.

     I’m also here to thank the President for his tremendous leadership in dealing with the threat of ISIS -- Daesh -- specifically when it comes to the challenges in Syria.  We are all working together as part of the international team to try to find, as the President said, a political solution.  Yet, at the same time, the threat of Daesh is one that has taken some of our consultations today on how do we defeat Daesh as quickly as possible -- not only in Syria, but also to reach out to our Iraqi brethren to make sure that they too are part of this struggle against extremism.

     I do think that we are moving in the right direction.  The coordination with the United States is exceptional.  And again, I’d like to thank you, sir, and all your institutions for working very closely with us in this respect.

     So I’m actually leaving Washington very optimistic about the level of support from the United States, the leadership that the President has shown on the issue of Syria.  And hopefully, the discussions between yourself and the Russians will move the process in the right direction.  But also looking at the larger picture when we're looking at the challenge of ISIS and their franchises around the world, I think that the future looks much better with the leadership of the United States.

     We did, again, as the President said, speak about bringing hope to the Israelis and Palestinians.  These are obviously challenging times, but hope is something that we have to bring both sides.  And we did talk about this issue and to see what we can do in 2016 to bring the momentum in the right direction.

     But I actually am here just to thank the President and the American people for all the support they’ve given for our country and how truly grateful I am for your leadership, sir, for your support to me and my people. 

Q    Mr. President, can you respond to Mitch McConnell’s comments yesterday about your Supreme Court choices and the fact that they’re not planning on holding a hearing whatsoever?

     PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Well, the Constitution says that I nominate candidates for the Supreme Court when there’s a vacancy, and that the Senate exercises its constitutional role in advise and consent.  I’m going to do my job.  We are going to go through a process, as we have done in two previous Supreme Court vacancies, to identify an outstanding candidate that has impeccable legal credentials and would bring the kind of ability and compassion and objectivity and legal reasoning to the Court that the Highest Court in the Land demands.

     One side made the nomination, and then Leader McConnell and all the members of the Senate are going to make a decision about how do they fulfill their constitutional responsibilities.  I recognize the politics are hard for them, because the easier thing to do is to give in to the most extreme voices within their party and stand pat and do nothing.  But that’s not our job.  Our job is to fulfill our constitutional duties.

     And so my hope and expectation is that once there is an actual nominee and once this is no longer an abstraction, that those on the Judiciary Committee recognize that their job is to give this person a hearing, to show the courtesy of meeting with them.  They are then free to vote whatever their conscience dictates as to whether this person is qualified or not.  In the meantime, the American people are going to have the ability to gauge whether the person I’ve nominated is well within the mainstream, is a good jurist, is somebody who’s worthy to sit on the Supreme Court.

     And I think it will be very difficult for Mr. McConnell to explain how, if the public concludes that this person is very well qualified, that the Senate should stand in the way simply for political reasons.  We’ll see what happens.  And I think the situation may evolve over time.  I don’t expect Mitch McConnell to say that is the case today.  I don’t expect any member of the Republican caucus to stick their head out at the moment and say that.  But let’s see how the public responds to the nominee that we put forward.

     The one thing I think is important to dispel is any notion that somehow this is some well-established tradition, or some constitutional principle that a President in his last year of office cannot fill the Supreme Court vacancy.  It’s not in the text of the Constitution.  Ironically, these are Republicans who say they believe in reading the text of the Constitution and focusing on the intent of the Constitution.  But none of the Founding Fathers thought that when it comes to the President carrying out his duties, he should do it for three years and then on the last year stop doing it. 

There’s an argument that, well, the President shouldn’t do this because he is a lame duck.  Well, the truth of the matter is, is that traditionally the term “lame duck” refers to the two or three months after an election has taken place in which a new President is about to be sworn in.  I’ve got a year to go.  I don’t think they would approve of me abdicating on my duties as Commander-in-Chief and to stop doing all the other work that I got to do.  Well, this is part of my job. 

There’s been arguments that for 80 years this has been the tradition.  Well, that’s not the case.  Justice Kennedy was approved after being nominated by Ronald Reagan in Ronald Reagan’s last year of office.  They say, well, that’s different because he had been nominated in 1987, even if he was confirmed -- or ’85 -- even if he was confirmed in ’86.  Well, the notion that there is some two-month period in which suddenly it all flips and everything shuts down, that’s not a credible argument. 

What other arguments are they making?  They suggest that, well, there had been a couple of times where Democrats said it would be wise for a President not to nominate someone.  First of all, we know senators say stuff all the time.  Second of all, these were comments that were made where there was no actual nomination at stake.  So it has no application to the actual situation that we have right now. 

I’m trying to think of any other reeds that they’re grasping here as to why they would not carry out their duties.  And I can’t really think of one. 

I recognize that this is an important issue for their constituencies, and it’s particularly sensitive because this was Justice Scalia’s seat that is now vacant and that a whole host of decisions on the Supreme Court could turn on this ninth justice and their vote.

     But that’s how our democracy is supposed to work.  And what I do -- the last point I’ll make -- we have already seen a breakdown of the judicial appointment process that gets worse and worse each and every year, each and every Congress.  It becomes harder and harder to get any candidates for the judiciary confirmed.  We saw Senator Reid have to employ the so-called “nuclear option” because there was such a logjam in terms of getting judicial appointments through.

     If, in fact, the Republicans in the Senate take a posture that defies the Constitution, defies logic, is not supported by tradition simply because of politics, then invariably what you’re going to see is a further deterioration in the ability of any President to make any judicial appointments.  And appointments to the Supreme Court as well as the federal bench suddenly become a complete extension of our polarized politics.

     And at that point, not only are you going to see more and more vacancies and the court systems break down, but the credibility of the Court itself begins to diminish because it’s viewed simply as an extension of our politics -- this is a Republican judge or this is a Democratic judge, as opposed to, this is a Supreme Court justice who is supposed to be standing above the day-to-day politics that take place.

     So I understand the posture that they’re taking right now.  I get the politics of it.  I’m sure they’re under enormous pressure from their base and their constituencies around this issue.  I’ve talked to many of them, and I’ve told them I’m sympathetic.  And, by the way, there’s not a lot of vigor when they defend the position that they’re taking, that they wouldn’t even meet, for example, with a Supreme Court nominee.  They’re pretty sheepish about it when they make those comments.

     So we’ll see how this plays itself out.  But I’m going to do my job.  I’m going to nominate somebody and let the American people decide as to whether that person is qualified.  And if they are qualified, let the American people decide whether there’s enough time for the U.S. Senate to hold hearings and have a vote.  It’s not as if, from what I see, the Senate calendar is so full that we don’t have time to get this done.

     All right?  Thank you, guys. 

     Q    Your Majesty, Nadia Bilbassy with Al Arabiya.  In light of the Syria accord and the cessation of hostility, how do you envision the next step in terms of fighting ISIS and pursuing a political career?  And if I may, can you describe the current cooperation and coordination with the United States, considering the rise in challenges and crises in the Middle East?

     HIS MAJESTY KING ABDULLAH:  Well, as I said early on, the relationship and coordination with the United States is outstanding.  And one of the reasons we’re here is to make sure that we’re taking the coordination between our two countries to the next level.

     As to what is happening in Syria, obviously the political process is I think the priority of the moment.  And we’re all supportive of what John Kerry and Sergey Lavrov are doing as part of a political process, but at the same time making sure that the second part of that dimension is the fight against ISIS and Daesh.  And I think that both elements are complementary to each other.

     Specifically, obviously to the southern part of Syria, it is whether or not, based in connection to what the Americans and the Russians have been doing, can we get a cease-fire going into the south alongside our border as part of a building block of the political process that helps move the politics of this issue forward between the regime and opposition forces.  Because at the end of the day, Daesh is the enemy for all of us.  And we’ll have to see how things are moving between the two foreign ministers.

     But again, we’ve got some good initiatives moving in that, and we’re just keeping our fingers crossed that the political process continues to move in the right direction.  And so far, I think things are --

     PRESIDENT OBAMA:  We’ll see.

     HIS MAJESTY KING ABDULLAH:  -- we’ll have to keep our fingers crossed.

     PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Thank you, everybody.

AG HEALEY SUES UNLICENSED FOR-PROFIT SCHOOL FOR DECEIVING STUDENTS SEEKING NURSING CAREERS

AG HEALEY SUES UNLICENSED FOR-PROFIT SCHOOL FOR DECEIVING STUDENTS SEEKING NURSING CAREERS

AG Healey Alleges Hosanna College of Health Targeted Haitian Community and Charged Thousands of Dollars For Programs that Failed to Lead to Nursing Jobs

BOSTON – Attorney General Maura Healey has sued a for-profit school operating in the Boston area over allegations that it operated without a license and misrepresented its training programs, leaving dozens of students in Massachusetts without promised careers in nursing.  

The complaint, filed today in Suffolk Superior Court, alleges that since 2013, Hosanna College of Health and its two founding executives, Jackson Augustin and Michelle Desarmes, actively recruited students from the Boston area’s Haitian community to take nursing classes in Massachusetts. They also falsely promised that the education would allow them to easily pass the mandatory national board exam in nursing, become licensed nurses in Massachusetts, and obtain full-time, well-paid nursing jobs. 

“These students invested their hopes and dreams in this program, but instead paid thousands of dollars for an ineffective, low-quality education that failed to provide a path to a nursing career,” AG Healey said. “We allege that this school aggressively recruited and misled students from the Haitian community in order to generate a profit. Our office will continue to investigate and act against predatory schools that take advantage of students in Massachusetts.”

Hosanna is not licensed to offer classes or grant degrees in Massachusetts. According to the complaint, classes were held in temporary spaces in Brockton and Randolph, and were taught by Hosanna employees, including Augustin and Desarmes, who flew into Massachusetts periodically to recruit students and to oversee classes. The school’s headquarters currently operates out of a rented building in South Florida.

Students, some of whom paid more than $10,000 for their education, were also promised a hands-on clinical component to their studies. Rather than seek state approval and locate clinical opportunities in Massachusetts, the AG’s Office alleges that Hosanna required students to pay additional money to travel to Florida multiple times during the nursing program for clinical training. Its clinical courses were of inferior quality, some as simple as requiring that students watch a video on labor and childbirth. 

Despite the school’s claims about the value of its education, the complaint alleges that, as of October 2015, less than 3 percent of Hosanna graduates had passed the national board exam in nursing. A passing grade is required in order for students to obtain a nursing license in Massachusetts. Students also reported that classes were often canceled and that they often did not receive test grades, which left them with no sense of their academic progress.

The AG’s Office is seeking restitution for students, including the return of tuition and fees, plus any money students paid to cover travel expenses to Florida for clinical training. The AG’s Office is also seeking civil penalties and injunctive relief for the school’s unfair and deceptive conduct. 

           

            The case against Hosanna is the most recent in a series of actions that Attorney General Healey has taken against predatory for-profit schools. The AG’s Office is currently in litigation with for-profit schools Corinthian Colleges and American Career Institute for alleged unfair and deceptive practices. The AG’s Office reached settlements worth more than $6 million with four additional for-profit schools in Massachusetts – Kaplan Career Institute, Lincoln Tech, Sullivan & Cogliano and Salter College. In November, AG Healey announced action against student debt relief companies and the launch of a Student Loan Assistance Unit to assist borrowers who are having trouble paying their student loans.

Students looking for more information or assistance should visit the AG’s Student Lending Assistance page or call the Student Loan Assistance Unit Hotline at 1-888-830-6277.

Today’s matter is being handled by Assistant Attorneys General Tiffany Bartz and Claire Masinton, along with Legal Analyst David Lim and Paralegal Katherine Hurley, all of the Attorney General’s Insurance & Financial Services Division, with assistance from Investigator Anthony Crespi of the Civil Investigations Division.