I run the White House Visitors' Office, and I wanted to share a big change the President and First Lady just made to the White House visitors photo policy:

The longstanding ban on photography in the White House — in place for more than 40 years — is being lifted. Watch the First Lady share why they did this:

So starting today, guests at the White House are now welcome to take photos throughout the White House tour route and keep those memories for a lifetime.

We're posting our favorites all day right here. 

Want to visit the White House or take a virtual tour? Get the details about how you can sign up here.

We're so excited — and we can't wait for you to come visit!

Ellie Schafer is Director of the White House Visitors Office.

 

End of an era at the @WhiteHouse this morning. #whitehousetour http://pic.twitter.com/YfHUQpRr6o

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) July 1, 2015

 

So cool! The @WhiteHouse lifted their photo ban on tours today. Grab the camera! #WhiteHouseTour http://pic.twitter.com/CjoaDIEjM7

— Nicholas Garlow (@n_garlow) July 1, 2015

 

Now that the ban has been lifted we want to see your best #whitehousetour pics, videos (Rebecca Matulka, Instagram) https://t.co/uWa0kpKjRG

— Your Take (@yourtake) July 1, 2015

 

On the inside looking out. #WhiteHouseTour http://pic.twitter.com/wDwEWPXltS

— Kendall Buller (@SysAdmKC) July 1, 2015

 

Photography now encouraged when you're at the White House #whitehousetour #noselfiesticks http://pic.twitter.com/Q0SFUrVx30

— Kristin Donnelly (@kristindonnelly) July 1, 2015

 

Some special guests celebrating photos allowed on the #WhiteHouseTour at @PRESIDENTS_PARK #FindYourPark http://pic.twitter.com/x7BnuApLI4

— NationalParkService (@NatlParkService) July 1, 2015

“We, men and women who hereby constitute ourselves as the National Organization for Women, believe that the time has come for a new movement toward true equality for all women in America, and toward a fully equal partnership of the sexes, as part of the world-wide revolution of human rights now taking place within and beyond our national borders.”

—National Organization for Women’s 1966 Statement of Purpose

On June 30, 1966, Betty Friedan wrote three letters on a paper napkin: N O W. She invited fifteen women to her hotel room. Then, Catherine Conroy slid a five-dollar bill onto the table and said, “Put your money down and sign your name.” In that moment, the National Organization for Women became a reality.

As representatives at the Third National Conference of Commissions on the Status of Women, these women were disgruntled by the lack of commitment to the convention's theme, “Targets for Action.” Inspired by the Civil Rights movement and historic marches such as in Selma, the women founded a parallel effort to ensure the equal treatment of both sexes. They brainstormed an alternate action plan to enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from discriminating against employees based on sex, race, color, nationality, and religion.

NOW Through the Years:

October 1966: NOW founding conference

Betty Friedan, best known for her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique, which changed the conversation on traditional gender roles, was chosen as the organization’s first president.

August 1967: First picket by NOW members

Activists dressed in vintage clothing to protest the gender segregated help-wanted advertisements in The New York Times.

1973: NOW members organized “Take Back the Night” marches and vigils.

Protestors stimulated the movement against sexual assault and power-based personal violence against women.

July 1978: Biggest-ever march for the Equal Rights Amendment

In 95-degree heat, over 100,000 people decked in purple, white, and gold marched in Washington, D.C. to call for an extension to the deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.

April 2004: March for Women’s Lives

A record 1.15 million people marched in Washington, D.C. to fight for women’s reproductive health care options.

Today, NOW is the largest organization of women’s rights activists in the United States, using grassroots organizing to push for social change. NOW focuses on advocating for justice and equality in reproductive healthcare and the economy and continues its work to put a stop to violence against women and discrimination based on race and sexual orientation.

The fight to end workplace discrimination is not over. The Administration has shown its support for a number of anti-discrimination actions, including fair housing, employment non-discrimination, and health reform for women. President Obama, with help from organizations like NOW, continues to lead the charge for equal rights no matter who you are, what you look like, or who you love. 

“We have to raise our voices to demand that women get paid fairly.  We’ve got to raise our voices to make sure women can take time off to care for a loved one, and that moms and dads can spend time with a new baby.  We’ve got to raise our voices to make sure that our women maintain and keep their own health care choices.”

—President Obama, October 2014

Tonight at midnight, America’s Export-Import Bank will shut its doors because, after 81 years, Congress has failed to reauthorize it for the first time in history. 

So what is the Export-Import Bank?

It’s an independent federal agency with one simple mission: support American jobs by helping businesses sell their products abroad. The majority of these companies are small businesses – the engine of our economy – and helping them go global plays a critical role in strengthening our country’s economy. 

That’s why nearly 60 countries, including China, make significant investments in their own Export-Import Banks. These competitors are fighting for sales and the export-backed jobs that come along with it – and starting tomorrow when our bank has expired, American businesses will be less competitive to keep those jobs at home. When our Export-Import Bank lapses, China and our other rivals will pick up the slack, putting American businesses and American workers at a disadvantage. In fact, a senior official from one of China’s versions of the Export-Import Bank recently said that the expiration of our bank is a “good thing” for China. 

Take a look to see just how far behind China we are when it comes to support for our Export-Import Bank:

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In a Huffington Post op-ed, President Obama announced a plan to extend overtime protections to nearly 5 million workers in 2016.  

A hard day's work deserves a fair day's pay. That's why I'm announcing my plan to extend overtime protections. https://t.co/MrV56vTNa9

— President Obama (@POTUS) June 30, 2015

Check out a fact sheet about the announcement to learn more. 

The proposed overtime rule has people talking. Here’s what they have to say:

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June marks Immigrant Heritage Month — and people across the country are sharing their American stories. Whether you've recently embarked on your first day as an American or want to share how your ancestors came to arrive here, we want to hear from you. Add your voice to the conversation today.

America is a country bound together by its diversity. Almost all of us share the common thread that our families came from somewhere else. Our immigrant families are bound by more than that, however. We also are bound by a common belief that the opportunity available to immigrants who are willing to work hard in this country outweighs the substantial risk involved in pulling up stakes and restarting life in a new country. But the equation doesn’t work if you only weigh opportunity versus risk. The secret factor that tips the scale and propels people to take on such risk for such a tenuous shot at opportunity is courage. Each immigration story — whether it be from 1692, 1910, or 2015 — was built on the foundation of courage.

I see that courage at play in my own family. My heritage stems from the islands of Sicily, Italy (Bisognano/ Raffa) and Ireland (McEachern/O’Brien). On August 23, 1914 in Queenstown, Ireland, at the age of 19, my great grandmother Bridget Clougherty boarded the S.S. Franconia bound for Boston, labeled as a laborer. She boarded this ship 19 days after the declaration of war by the United Kingdom in what would become World War I. She had the courage to leave most of her family behind and risk losing the stability that had defined her life in the small village of Clifton, Ireland in order to realize the opportunity she envisioned in the new world across the Atlantic.

The O’Brien/Cloughterty on the porch of their Quincy, MA home. (Circa. 1945)

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Congress passed two bills that will help rewrite the rules for our trade policy: Trade Promotion Authority and the Trade Preferences Extension Act, which includes Trade Adjustment Assistance. Today, President Obama signed them into law. 

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That’s a good thing, because as President Obama has said, past trade deals haven’t always lived up to the hype. Now, thanks to the new rules of the road laid out by Congress, our latest trade deal — the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — can put in place high, enforceable standards that reflect our values on the environment, on workers’ rights, on transparency, and more. 

Here’s a quick look at the rules the President signed today and how they will help ensure American workers can benefit from the most progressive trade deal in history.

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It was one of those impromptu meetings that could only happen in a hallway.

One afternoon in late 2012 the tech and education teams had a few minutes to compare notes. And that day, we realized the same problem had been bugging us all: Internet access in schools was incredibly slow. So slow, in fact, that the average American school had the same connectivity as the average American home — but served hundreds of times as many people.

We all know slow Internet is the worst — and it’s doubly frustrating when it’s a matter of kids learning, and not just a given evening’s entertainment.

Slow Internet in our schools meant teachers in separate classrooms couldn’t do something as basic as stream a couple of videos at the same time. It meant that interactive maps or online biology lessons simply wouldn’t load.

So even if a school wanted to invest in a tablet for every child, in our Wi-Fi world, it couldn’t be much more than a backlit textbook. If we didn’t do anything about it, school would become the only place in kids’ lives not being transformed by technology.

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June marks Immigrant Heritage Month — and people across the country are sharing their American stories. Whether you've recently embarked on your first day as an American or want to share how your ancestors came to arrive here, we want to hear from you. Add your voice to the conversation today.

I was born in Somalia, but mostly what I remember are flashes of a carefree child, happily unaware of the world beyond the Utanga Refugee Camp in Kenya. About half a mile from our UNHCR-issued blue tent was the fence that surrounded the camp. Beyond the fence was an endless blue horizon of ocean. And if you stood close enough, on the slight precipice before the fence, you could see where the beach welcomed the waves — its sand, sometimes clear and brightly glistening; other times, dark and dusky, casting sad grayish hues. It felt abandoned and desolate. I never saw any people down there. But sometimes I would catch the sight of boats with colorful sails drifting over the waves.

Most of the other children congregated over at the dumpsites and water wells, fashioning toys out of trash and rocks. I kept to myself, a quiet but curious observer exploring the neighborhoods within the camp. I would often come home well past sundown, only to be rightfully scolded by a concerned parent. But those daily, miles-long excursions only left me hungry for more.

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In this week's address, the President called the Supreme Court’s decision on the Affordable Care Act a victory for hardworking Americans across the country, whose lives are more secure because of this law.  The Affordable Care Act is working, and it is here to stay. So far more than 16 million uninsured Americans have gained coverage.  Nearly one in three Americans who was uninsured a few years ago is insured today. The uninsured rate in America is the lowest since we began to keep such records. With this case behind us, the President reaffirmed his commitment to getting more people covered and making health care in America even better and more affordable.

Transcript | mp4 | mp3