(Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama told Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping that China’s growing influence brings with it responsibility to work toward “balanced” trade and to recognize the aspirations of all people for greater rights.

Obama met today with the man who is in line to become China’s top leader next year as both nations seek to ease tension over trade imbalances and China’s currency valuation. The U.S. also is prodding China toward greater cooperation on confronting the regime in Syria as well as thwarting Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon.

Vice President Joe Biden openly criticized some China policies even as he welcomed Xi at a State Department luncheon following meetings at the White House.

Addressing Xi before a guest list of lawmakers from both parties and U.S. business executives, Biden said the U.S.-China business relationship can only work “if the game is fair.” Biden said the U.S. “strongly disagreed” with China’s veto with Russia of a United Nations resolution against Syria on Feb. 4.

Xi, through an interpreter, said the U.S.-China relationship will grow through dialogue and “not protectionism.” Obama, in his late morning meeting with Xi in the Oval Office of the White House, said the U.S. welcomes “China’s peaceful rise” and that he expected relations between the world’s two biggest economies will continue on a “cooperative track.”

Increased Responsibility

“With expanding power and prosperity also comes increased responsibility,” Obama said, citing need for a “balanced trade flow” and “recognizing the aspirations and rights of all people.”

Xi said he wants to “deepen mutual understanding” and cooperation with the U.S.

His arrival in Washington follows Obama’s moves to reassert U.S. power and influence in the Asia-Pacific region and as China has emerged as one of the foreign policy issues in the U.S. presidential election campaign.

Republican presidential hopefuls have ramped up criticism of China on currency manipulation, intellectual property protection and for the hurdles the state sets up for U.S. businesses. They accuse Obama of not standing up enough to China’s rising economic and military power.

Bipartisan Commission

The chairmen of the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China today released a statement asking Xi to end a crackdown on dissidents that began a year ago, release all political prisoners and protect freedom of expression, religion and assembly. The co-chairmen, Representative Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican, and Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, also called on China to end currency manipulation and unfair trade practices.

At today’s luncheon at the State Department, Biden told Xi that China’s rise “did not occur in a vacuum” and was cultivated by an international system that is “grounded in rules” that all countries must follow.

During his meeting with Xi at the White House, Obama repeated the U.S. stance that China’s currency remains undervalued and that more progress must be made to let it rise, according to an administration official who wasn’t authorized to discuss the talks on the record.

China’s yuan hit 6.2884 per dollar on Feb. 10, the strongest level since the country unified the official and market exchange rates at the end of 1993. The yuan dropped 0.04 percent to close at 6.2996 per dollar in Shanghai, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System, amid concern that Europe’s slowing economies will cut purchases from China.

Trade Deficit

The U.S.-China trade deficit was $295 billion last year, $23 billion wider than a year earlier, and the imbalance is a main source of friction between the two countries.

Obama yesterday asked Congress in his next budget for $26 million and at least 50 people for a new panel to investigate unfair trade practices by China and other countries.

Biden said he and Obama brought Syria up with Xi in their meetings today. He also said the U.S. is concerned about worsening human rights conditions in China. “We see our advocacy for human rights as a fundamental aspect of our foreign policy,” Biden said.

Xi said China has made “tremendous” strides on human rights and that the government takes seriously people’s demands.

Lunch Guests

Guests at the lunch included Henry Kissinger, the former secretary of state and national security adviser to President Richard Nixon when the U.S. opened relations with China in the 1970s; Lloyd C. Blankfein, chairman and chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.; John Watson, chief executive officer of Chevron Corp.; Robert Iger, chief executive officer of Walt Disney Co.; Jeffrey Katzenberg, chief executive officer of Dreamworks Animation; and Muhtar Kent, chief executive officer of Coca-Cola Co.

Xi’s agenda also includes meetings at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington and in Iowa and California later this week. Tomorrow he’ll meet with congressional leaders.

His trip may be most important for developing relationships between Xi and Washington’s military and political leaders that could shape U.S.-China relations for the next decade, said Obama administration officials and foreign policy specialists.

“In Asia, generally, but in China certainly, relationships matter, and high-level relationships particularly matter,” said Daniel Russel, senior director for Asian affairs on the White House National Security Council. “Building a relationship with the official in China who seems likely destined to be a central figure in the Chinese political system for years to come obviously is important.”

Strategic Concerns

While the economic relationship is most prominently featured in the domestic U.S. political debate, Obama’s other concerns include China’s role in putting pressure on regimes in Iran, North Korea and Syria.

As Xi visited the White House, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said at a briefing in Beijing today that China believes the most pressing task concerning the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program is to resume talks as soon as possible. Iran is willing to resume talks, Liu said, speaking after Assistant Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu visited Iran.

Obama used an Asia-Pacific trip last November to send signals that the U.S. was beefing up its military and diplomatic posture in China’s backyard and helping other Asian nations band together to make demands of China.

Russel and other White House aides said they didn’t expect major breakthroughs on this trip, in part because Xi isn’t yet China’s top official.

Obama’s plan, to be spelled out at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Va., is called the “Community College to Career Fund,” the White House said. It would seek to train workers within areas such as health care, transportation and advanced manufacturing, and would be administered by the Education and Labor departments.

The proposed fund is part of a new budget Obama is sending to Congress. It aims to achieve $4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade by restraining government spending and raising taxes on the wealthy. In an election year with a gridlocked Congress, nearly every aspect of the budget will face tough scrutiny.

A key component of the community college plan would institute “pay for performance” in job training, meaning there would be financial incentives to ensure that trainees find permanent jobs — particularly for programs that place individuals facing the greatest hurdles getting work. It also would promote training of entrepreneurs, provide grants for state and local government to recruit companies, and support paid internships for low-income community college students.

“These investments will give more community colleges the resources they need to become community career centers where people learn crucial skills that local businesses are looking for right now, ensuring that employers have the skilled workforce they need and workers are gaining industry-recognized credentials to build strong careers,” the White House said in a statement.

Even as the United States struggles to emerge from the economic downturn, there are high-tech industries with a shortage of workers. And it is anticipated there will be 2 million job openings in manufacturing nationally through 2018, mostly due to baby boomer retirement, according to the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University. The catch is that these types of jobs frequently require the ability to operate complicated machinery and follow detailed instructions, as well as some expertise in subjects like math and statistics.

As costs at four-year colleges have soared, enrollments at community colleges have increased by 25 percent during the last decade and now top more than 6 million students, according to the American Institutes for Research. People with a one-year certificate or two-year degree in certain career fields can earn higher salaries than those with a traditional college degree, said Anthony Carnevale, director of the center at Georgetown University.

Mark Schneider, the former U.S. commissioner of education statistics who now serves as vice president at the American Institutes for Research, said there’s no doubt that high-tech companies need skilled workers. But he said there are challenges with leaning heavily on community colleges. Many students enter community colleges lacking math skills. The sophisticated equipment needed for training is expensive, and there’s little known about the effectiveness of individual community colleges programs across the country, he said.

“We need measures of how well they are training their students, how well their students are being placed in the job market, and … are they making money?” Schneider said. “We need to track that really, really carefully. And, we need to make all that information available to students before they sign on … and before taxpayers subsidize all of this.”

(Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama said he’ll request $80 million in education funding for training math and science teachers to help the U.S. stay competitive in world commerce, reviving a budget request last year.

The president made the announcement in conjunction with an event honoring winners of the second annual White House science fair. More than 100 students from more than 45 states engaged in projects in science, technology, engineering and math, according to the White House.

“You’re making sure we have the best, smartest most skilled workers in the world, so that the jobs and industries tomorrow take root, right here,” Obama told students at the White House. “You’re making sure America will win the race to the future.”

The administration says the funding for math and science teachers is to support development of school curricula in subject areas to meet the goal of training 1 million graduates in science, technology, engineering and math over the next decade. That ultimately will spur development of technological breakthrough that will create jobs, according to the White House.

Obama said he’ll request $80 million for teacher training as part of his fiscal 2013 budget, which will be sent to Congress on Feb. 13. Another $22 million would come from pledges by philanthropic and private sector organizations including Carnegie Corporation of New York, Google Inc., and Bill and Melinda Gates, among others, bringing total potential funding to $102 million.

A year ago, the president called for preparation of 100,000 science, technology, education and math teachers over the next decade. He included an $80 million request to begin recruiting 10,000 teachers over two years.

That request stalled because it was included in a package renewing the Elementary Secondary Education Act and Congress didn’t act on the measure.

The White House said on Tuesday it will spend and extra $50 million this year, and it will seek an extra $80 million in fiscal 2013 to bolster Alzheimer’s research. Obama also plans to spend an additional $26 million in programs to support people who care for Alzheimer’s patients.

The spending increase is intended help make good on a U.S. target set last month to find a way to treat or prevent Alzheimer’s by 2025, a goal some experts fear is too ambitious.

Current drugs help manage symptoms but so far no therapy can stop the progression of Alzheimer’s, which can start with vague memory loss and confusion before progressing to complete disability and death.

Experts predict that without an effective treatment, the number of Americans with Alzheimer’s will double by 2050 and related healthcare costs could soar to more than $1 trillion a year.

These projections are simply staggering,” National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins said in a statement. “This new funding will accelerate NIH’s effort to use the power of science to develop new ways of helping people with Alzheimer’s disease and those at risk.”

The $50 million cash infusion this year brings the U.S. Alzheimer’s research budget to half a billion dollars, an improvement, advocates say, but still far short of what the nation spends on other chronic diseases.

The spending will support the nation’s first comprehensive plan to fight Alzheimer’s disease, an effort mandated by the National Alzheimer’s Project Act signed into law by President Barack Obama last year.

The project will coordinate government-wide efforts to prevent and treat the disease and create a national strategy for Alzheimer’s.

Australia, France and South Korea already have comprehensive Alzheimer’s plans, and global experts have been urging the United States to take a leadership role.

“Today’s announcement reflects this administration’s commitment to confronting Alzheimer’s, a disease that takes a devastating toll on millions of Americans,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement.

So far, U.S. investment in the search for Alzheimer’s treatments has fallen short of what the nation spends on other chronic diseases, such as cancer and heart disease.

Roughly $6 billion is spent each year by the NIH on cancer, which affects about 12 million Americans, and more than $4 billion on heart disease, which kills more than 800,000 nationally each year.

Alzheimer’s advocates advising the HHS on its research strategy have said it will take as much as $2 billion a year in research funding to make a significant difference in finding an effective treatment.

“This infusion of funds is important,” said Harry Johns, president and CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association, who called the disease “the public health crisis of this century.”

Dr. Ronald Petersen, a Mayo Clinic researcher who chairs the HHS Advisory Council on Alzheimer’s Research, said he sees the announcement as a good faith gesture by the administration.

“In these times, one could not realistically expect a billion or 2 billion dollars to be allocated in next year’s budget,” Petersen told Reuters.

But over the long haul, he said it will take a significant amount of funds to meet that target.

I know that you’ve both had a lot of fun these last two years on the campaign trail, going to picnics and parades and state fairs, eating all sorts of junk food your mother and I probably shouldn’t have let you have. But I also know that it hasn’t always been easy for you and Mom, and that as excited as you both are about that new puppy, it doesn’t make up for all the time we’ve been apart. I know how much I’ve missed these past two years, and today I want to tell you a little more about why I decided to take our family on this journey.

When I was a young man, I thought life was all about me—about how I’d make my way in the world, become successful, and get the things I want. But then the two of you came into my world with all your curiosity and mischief and those smiles that never fail to fill my heart and light up my day. And suddenly, all my big plans for myself didn’t seem so important anymore. I soon found that the greatest joy in my life was the joy I saw in yours. And I realized that my own life wouldn’t count for much unless I was able to ensure that you had every opportunity for happiness and fulfillment in yours. In the end, girls, that’s why I ran for President: because of what I want for you and for every child in this nation.

I want all our children to go to schools worthy of their potential—schools that challenge them, inspire them, and instill in them a sense of wonder about the world around them. I want them to have the chance to go to college—even if their parents aren’t rich. And I want them to get good jobs: jobs that pay well and give them benefits like health care, jobs that let them spend time with their own kids and retire with dignity.

I want us to push the boundaries of discovery so that you’ll live to see new technologies and inventions that improve our lives and make our planet cleaner and safer. And I want us to push our own human boundaries to reach beyond the divides of race and region, gender and religion that keep us from seeing the best in each other.

Sometimes we have to send our young men and women into war and other dangerous situations to protect our country—but when we do, I want to make sure that it is only for a very good reason, that we try our best to settle our differences with others peacefully, and that we do everything possible to keep our servicemen and women safe. And I want every child to understand that the blessings these brave Americans fight for are not free—that with the great privilege of being a citizen of this nation comes great responsibility.

That was the lesson your grandmother tried to teach me when I was your age, reading me the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence and telling me about the men and women who marched for equality because they believed those words put to paper two centuries ago should mean something.

She helped me understand that America is great not because it is perfect but because it can always be made better—and that the unfinished work of perfecting our union falls to each of us. It’s a charge we pass on to our children, coming closer with each new generation to what we know America should be.

I hope both of you will take up that work, righting the wrongs that you see and working to give others the chances you’ve had. Not just because you have an obligation to give something back to this country that has given our family so much—although you do have that obligation. But because you have an obligation to yourself. Because it is only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you will realize your true potential.

These are the things I want for you—to grow up in a world with no limits on your dreams and no achievements beyond your reach, and to grow into compassionate, committed women who will help build that world. And I want every child to have the same chances to learn and dream and grow and thrive that you girls have. That’s why I’ve taken our family on this great adventure.

I am so proud of both of you. I love you more than you can ever know. And I am grateful every day for your patience, poise, grace, and humor as we prepare to start our new life together in the White House.

Love, Dad

Known as small donors, these people are personally invested in a candidate’s march to becoming president, many ready to become active at the ground level as foot soldiers of the campaign.

Financial disclosures last week showed Obama’s campaign in 2011 raised 60 percent of funds, or $58.5 million, from donors who gave less than $200.

The average listed donation to the Obama campaign in the last three months of the year was between $100 and $200, according to a Reuters analysis of the Federal Election Commission filings.

Campaigns are not required to list donors who gave less than $200 in total, but they have to list those who exceeded that amount even if it came in multiple smaller sums.

In 2008, such small donors helped sweep Obama into the White House, but pundits remain skeptical whether the president would be able to energize them this time around, with his popularity undermined by a long slog to U.S. economic recovery.

Republican candidates, unlike uncontested Obama, are caught up in a heated primary season, splitting the small donors among them.

The campaign of the Republican front-runner Mitt Romney in 2011 raised only 9 percent of its total funds, or $5.2 million, from donors who gave less than $200, FEC filings show. The average listed donation was between $900 and $1,000 in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the Reuters analysis.

In the last three months of the year, Obama received four times as many donations as did Romney. The numbers included repeat contributions from the same people.

“This has the potential to be a strategic advantage for Obama,” said David Magleby, political scientist at Brigham Young University in Utah and campaign spending expert. “That kind of involvement conveys a more substantial psychological investment … They have a sense of ownership of the campaign.”

In 2008, the Obama campaign received some 30 percent of donations in low-dollar amounts in the campaign to secure the Democratic Party nomination, according to the Campaign Finance Institute data.

Romney, who lost the Republican nomination that year to Senator John McCain, relied on small-donor contributions for about 8 percent of his fundraising, the data shows. For McCain, it was 21 percent.

Romney, a wealthy former private-equity executive, has faced criticism that he is detached from the voters struggling with the economic downturn and high unemployment.

Obama, who in 2008 garnered important backing from Wall Street, has sought to emphasize a populist message in his campaign.

Historically, the Democratic National Committee has lagged behind the Republican National Committee in appealing to the small-check donors as the RNC has mastered the direct mail and phone method. But in the past few years, the technology has transformed radically and Democratic candidates have outdone Republicans in adopting it in campaigning.

“Small dollar donors … are our grassroots who back up their monetary support with phone calls and door knocks – they are our boots on the ground and we do everything we can to reach out to them,” RNC spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski said in an email.

RNC is set to raise funds from many Americans who are disheartened with Washington and want to defeat Obama regardless of who becomes the Republican pick.

Romney would be positioned to take advantage of those RNC efforts and that population, but not until and unless he gets the nomination. Obama, in the meantime, can count on the DNC and the joint fund he has with the party, which predominantly attracted donations of more than $200.

But waiting for the general election to step up the appeal to the small donor could be risky. Campaign Finance Institute’s Michael Malbin said that while a deep-pocketed campaign such as Romney’s could pay organizers to match Obama’s grassroots efforts, the proposition is expensive and inefficient.

“It’s never too early to worry about how many donors you’ve got,” said Pasi. “By allowing people to participate in the process, you create an evangelist for your cause.”

In an interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer before today’s game, Obama made the case that he still has plenty of work to do but the economy is now on the right track.

“I deserve a second term, but we’re not done,” Obama told Lauer. “When you and I sat down, we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. … Now we’re creating 250,000. We’ve created 3.7 million jobs in the last 23 months. We’ve created the most jobs since 2005, the most manufacturing jobs since 1990, but we’re not finished.”

Obama also touched on growing speculation that Israel is preparing to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iran to thwart its suspected nuclear weapons program.

“I don’t think that Israel has made a decision on what they need to do,” Obama said. ” They, like us, believe that Iran needs to stand down on its nuclear weapons program.”

Obama said he believes that Iran is feeling the pinch from international sanctions, but he says Tehran hasn’t taken the “diplomatic steps” to assure the international community that it is willing to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Obama would not comment on whether Israeli officials have assured the White House that they would forewarn administration officials if they were to decide to carry out a strike against Iran.

When Obama sat down with Lauer in 2009 before Super Bowl XLIII, he correctly picked the Pittsburgh Steelers over the Arizona Cardinals. He wasn’t hazarding a prediction for tonight’s match-up between the New England Patriots and New York Giants.

“I can’t call it,” Obama said. “I think this is going to be one of those where it comes down to a turnover or some ball [off] somebody’s helmet. I think this is going to be a tough game.”

The Washington Post – A week after his State of the Union pledge to create a stronger economy, President Obama on Tuesday sent Congress a legislative package aimed at accelerating small business growth and removing roadblocks for start-ups.

Obama’s proposals build on the administration’s year-old Startup America initiative and include eliminating taxes on capital gains for investments in small businesses, offering a 10 percent tax credit for companies that create jobs or increase wages this year and ending country-specific immigration caps in order to attract more high-skilled workers.

The administration believes the initiatives, which will be included in Obama’s fiscal 2013 budget in mid-February, could attract bipartisan support even in an election year. On Tuesday, Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) introduced legislation that would give small firms a larger slice of the federal contracting pie and hold government officials accountable for delivering their fair share of business to the nation’s smallest employers.

In announcing the legislation, the White House cited several similar bills offered in Congress, including ones from Republican lawmakers, and said it hopes “this momentum reinforces the opportunity for Congress to come together and pass bipartisan legislation without delay.”

In his State of the Union address last week and in other speeches, Obama has touted small businesses, saying they account for most of the nation’s jobs.

“One thing we’re trying to get Congress to do is pass some legislation, and there’s some bipartisan support for this, that just makes it easier for start-up companies to obtain financing,” Obama said Monday evening in an online chat, responding to a question from a small business owner. “That’s something we’re going to continue to focus on because if we can get more start-ups, more entrepreneurs, getting their ideas to market faster, that’s going to contribute to overall economic growth and job growth.”

The Obama administration stressed that the legislative package, which will cost about $48 billion, could be offset by the elimination of tax loopholes and writeoffs that the administration also will call for in its budget request.

Also this month, Obama asked Congress to give him the authority to restructure government agencies to streamline regulatory requirements for small businesses, and he elevated his Small Business Administration’s director to a cabinet-level position to emphasize his commitment.