The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

October 31, 2013

President Obama Signs North Dakota Disaster Declaration

The President today declared a major disaster exists in the State of North Dakota and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area affected by a severe winter storm during the period of October 4-5, 2013.

Federal funding is available to state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe winter storm in the counties of Adams, Bowman, Grant, Hettinger, Morton, Sioux, and Slope.

Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.

W. Craig Fugate, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named Gary R. Stanley as the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected area.

FEMA said additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

October 31, 2013

Remarks by the President at SelectUSA Investment Summit

Marriott Wardman Park Hotel
Washington, D.C.

1:40 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much. Please have a seat.

To my great friend, Penny Pritzker, thank you for the kind words, but more importantly, thank you for your outstanding leadership, for bringing us all together today, and being such a strong voice for America’s workers and America’s businesses.

I want to acknowledge Acting Deputy Secretary Patrick Gallagher, Undersecretary Francisco Sanchez, and Vinai Thummalapally, and their team at SelectUSA. And I want to especially thank all of you -– state and local officials from across the country, and business leaders from around the world.

As President, I have gone all over the world to go to bat for American exports and American workers. I’ve been to many of your countries, and I’ve said that when we do business together, and when we trade and forge new partnerships, it’s good for all of us. I want more American products being sold in your countries, and I want your companies investing more here in the United States of America. Because it advances my top priority as President: creating good-paying American jobs and strengthening and broadening our middle class. There’s nothing more important right now.

And I’m here because I want your companies to know -- I want companies around the world to know -- that I believe there is no better place in the world to do business than the United States of America. Think about it: Globalization and technology means you can go just about anywhere. But there are a whole lot of reasons you ought to come here.

We’re not just the world’s largest market -- we’re growing. Thanks to the grit and resilience of the American people, we’ve cleared away the rubble from the financial crisis, and over the past three and half years our businesses have created more than 7.5 million jobs. Thanks to tough decisions we've made to tackle our long-term challenges, America is becoming more competitive from a business standpoint. We’re reforming a broken health care system, and as a consequence, health care costs are rising at their slowest rate in 50 years. We’ve cut our deficits by more than half since I took office, and they keep going down. We've pursued an all-of-the-above energy strategy, and we are producing more traditional energy, more renewable energy than ever before, more natural gas than anyone in the world, and we have cut our carbon pollution in the process.

So while the case for doing business in America has always been strong, we’ve made it even stronger. And of course, you will find no better workers than American workers.

Our productivity is rising. We have the world’s best universities, its most innovative entrepreneurs. We have its strongest intellectual property protections to go along with a rule of law that matches up with anyone. And thanks in part to a new initiative focused on exports and the new trade agreements that I’ve signed, we sell more products made in America to the rest of the world than ever before.

So as you’ve heard repeatedly today and you will hear undoubtedly after I leave this stage, America is open for business. And businesses have responded. After a decade in which many jobs left the United States to go overseas, now we’re seeing companies starting to bring jobs back because they're seeing the advantages of being located here. Caterpillar is bringing jobs back from Japan. Ford is bringing jobs back from Mexico. After locating plants in other countries like China, Intel is opening its most advanced plant right here in the United States.

And there are a whole range of factors involved. People are looking at lower energy costs here. They're looking at stability. They're looking at the increased productivity of our workers. All these things are adding up. And people are saying, why would we want to be outside the world’s largest market when we can get our products made effectively here, and this is a great platform from which we can export all around the world.

And it’s not just companies based in the United States. Honda is betting on America by expanding production operations in Ohio, in Alabama and Indiana. And today, more Hondas are made in America than anyplace else in the world. Samsung is betting on America by revamping their plant in Austin, Texas -- a $4 billion investment. Siemens is betting on America by hiring hundreds of new workers in North Carolina and putting $50 million a year into training its U.S workforce.

And that’s the kind of investment we’ve always welcomed as a nation, but the reason for SelectUSA is we know we can do more. We know we can be better. So two years ago, I acted on a recommendation from the CEOs on my Jobs Council, and we created SelectUSA to encourage more foreign companies to invest and create jobs right here in the United States. And we’ve shown that this works.

As Penny mentioned earlier this morning, with help from SelectUSA, the Austrian company Voestalpine is creating 220 jobs at an auto-parts plant in Cartersville, Georgia. The Canadian company Bombardier is investing more than $600 million to expand its Learjet facility in Wichita, Kansas. ASCO, a Belgian company that makes high-tech aircraft parts, reopened a shuttered factory in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and they’re expected to create 380 good jobs by the end of 2015. And the list goes on.

And I want to see even more of these success stories told across this country, which means I want to make sure we are doing everything we can so that companies like yours want to set up shop here in the United States. And for all the U.S. states and cities who are represented here today, we want to provide you with the tools you need to close those deals and create those jobs.

So that’s why, today, I’m proud to announce that I’m expanding and enhancing SelectUSA to create the first-ever, fully coordinated U.S. government effort to recruit businesses to invest and create new jobs in the United States. (Applause.) To do that, I’m taking four new steps to bring more good jobs to our shores.

First, building on the great work that our diplomats and embassies do every day, I’m making attracting foreign investment a formal part of the portfolio for our ambassadors and their teams around the world. I meet with our dedicated embassy staffs wherever I go. All of them are great ambassadors for America, and they're building bridges and connections every day. Well, I want them doing even more to help foreign companies cross those bridges and come here. And as they take on this expanded economic mission overseas, we’ll make sure that they've got the support that they need here at home.

Which brings me to the second point: Officials at the highest levels, up to and including me, are going to do even more to make the case for investing in America. Now, I already do this everywhere I go around the world, in public and private. I joke with a few American companies that I will deserve at least a gold watch at the end of my tenure from them. (Laughter.) I've racked up some pretty good sales. But as a country, we don’t always make our case in a coordinated way that links our teams overseas to the right senior officials in Washington. And we’re going to change that, make our advocacy more efficient, more effective, more connected so that businesses who are making decisions about where to invest are getting timely answers and know that they're going to have all the help that they need.

Number three: We’ll make sure that for the first time, companies who want to do business in America have a single point of contact at the federal level to cut through red tape. We’re going to help you navigate national, state, local rules and regulations so that you can invest faster, open facilities faster, create jobs faster.

And finally, we’ll help states, cities, regions across America up their game by giving them more tools they need to compete, from the latest research and analysis to events that link them directly with potential investors. This is a big country, and for a lot of foreign investors, it may be sometimes hard to navigate and figure out what exactly is going to fit the needs of your company. Well, we can help you do that, and we can help make sure that state and local governments and regional offices, they're best-equipped to make their case, and we can get a good fit that’s good for the company and good for those communities.

So a new focus at our embassies on attracting investment. More outreach from Washington. Coordinated advocacy to bring more jobs here. New ways to cut through red tape. And new tools for state and local leaders. That’s what an expanded SelectUSA will mean for businesses and for our partners in U.S. states and cities. And ultimately, I believe that will translate into more good middle-class jobs for America, my number-one priority.

I will be asking Congress to do its part. A lot of this is coordination. It's not necessary to spend a lot of money, it's important for us to do what we do more wisely. But making America even more attractive to investment should be something that everybody can agree on, Democrats and Republicans. We’ve got to work together to get that done.

At the macro level, that means getting beyond gridlock and some of the manufactured crises that we’ve seen come out of Washington, because I assume if you ask any CEO here if shutting down the government makes them more confident about wanting to bring jobs to America the answer will probably be no. The notion of not paying our bills on time doesn’t inspire confidence. So it’s time for Congress to focus on what the American people are focused on and what I’m focused on, which is creating good jobs that pay good wages and creating a good environment for investment.

We do need to fully fund the SelectUSA program so that more middle-class folks have a chance to earn a decent living. We need to make sure that we are resourcing the efforts to make sure that our workers can earn the skills that they need to compete in the global economy. We’ve got -- one of the crown jewels of our education system is our community college system. Not everybody is going to be training at MIT or Stanford, but these community colleges mean that we can partner with businesses, help defray some of the training costs, help design with businesses what exactly they’re going to need in terms of people getting hired. And we’ve got the resources to do it. We know how to do it. But we’ve got to make sure Congress is supportive of that.

We’ve got to fix a broken immigration system so that we are welcoming more talented workers and entrepreneurs from around the world, and so if companies are coming here to locate and they’ve got a key individual that they need to bring over to make sure that the company is doing what it needs to do, that it’s not a tangle of red tape. And the good news is we know we’ve got bipartisan support for immigration reform, we just have to make sure we get it done this year.

We’ve got to continue to make smart investments in research and development, education, infrastructure -- all the things that historically have made America the most attractive place on the planet for businesses to invest. We’ve got to build on that success. That’s who we are as a country. And we have a tradition here of tackling new challenges, adapting to new circumstances, seizing new opportunities. And that’s one of the reasons that history shows over the last two centuries that when you bet on America, that bet pays off.

So to all the business leaders here today and around the world: We want to be your partner in helping to write the next chapter in our history. We want you to join the generations of immigrants and entrepreneurs and foreign investors who have discovered exactly what it means when we say we are the land of opportunity. That is not a myth; it’s a proven fact.

There are a lot of wonderful countries out there. But this is a place where you can do business, create great products, deliver great services, make money, and do good at the same time. So you should find out why there’s no substitute for those proud words: “Made in America.” And here’s three more words: “Select the USA.” When you do, you’ll find some of the world’s best workers, some of the world’s most innovative entrepreneurs. You’ll find a government, and a President who is committed to helping you create more good jobs for the middle class, and helping you succeed well into the 21st century.

We are open for business. And we’re looking forward to partnering with all of you in the months and years ahead.

Thank you very much. (Applause)

END
1:55 P.M. EDT

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

October 31, 2013

Statement by the Press Secretary on the Visit of President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia

President Obama will host President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia at the White House on Tuesday, December 3. The visit will highlight our longstanding partnership with Colombia and our continuing support for the Santos Administration’s efforts to achieve peace and to build a more democratic society. The President looks forward to discussing cooperation on promoting citizen security, respect for human rights, and economic prosperity for all Colombians. The President also looks forward to discussing the expansion of our economic ties, anchored by the growing trade relationship we share through the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

October 31, 2013

Presidential Proclamation -- National Diabetes Month, 2013

NATIONAL DIABETES MONTH, 2013

- - - - - - -

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

With more than 25 million Americans living with a diabetes diagnosis, and many more going undiagnosed, diabetes affects people across our country and remains a pressing national health concern. During National Diabetes Month, we renew our dedication to combating this chronic, life-threatening illness by standing with those living with diabetes, honoring the professionals and advocates engaged in fighting diabetes, and working to raise awareness about prevention and treatment.

Diabetes can lead to serious complications, including heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, and blindness. Type 1 diabetes, often diagnosed in children, limits insulin production and its causes are not well defined. Type 2 diabetes, which accounts for more than 90 percent of diabetes cases, has been linked to older age and family history, although it is increasingly being diagnosed in younger Americans and is associated with obesity and inactivity. The risk is particularly high among African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, and some Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. I encourage all Americans to talk to their health care provider about steps they can take to prevent or manage this disease.

With diabetes ranking among the leading causes of death in the United States, my Administration is committed to supporting Americans living with diabetes, investing in promising scientific research, advancing work toward improved treatment and care, and bolstering prevention efforts. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, beginning in 2014, no American with diabetes can be denied health insurance based on their diagnosis, and in most plans, Americans at increased risk can access diabetes screenings at no cost to them. The National Diabetes Prevention Program engages private and public partners to help people with prediabetes adopt lifestyles that can prevent or delay Type 2 diabetes, and the National Diabetes Education Program focuses on delaying and preventing disease onset while also working to improve outcomes for those living with the disease.

With our next generation in mind, First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative has taken on the staggering rise in childhood obesity our Nation has seen over the past three decades, and Let's Move! is empowering families and communities to put children on a path to healthier futures. Obese children face an increased risk of adult obesity and all the health risks that come with it, including Type 2 diabetes. By connecting children with healthy, affordable food options and the opportunity to be active in their communities, Let's Move! is helping our sons and daughters reach a healthier, more promising tomorrow.

This month, as we remember those we have lost to diabetes and support those living with the illness, let us look to a day with fewer cases of diabetes, a firmer understanding of the disease, and better outcomes for all those affected. By continuing the important research, outreach, and care delivery we have already begun, we know we can get there.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 2013 as National Diabetes Month. I call upon all Americans, school systems, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, health care providers, research institutions, and other interested groups to join in activities that raise diabetes awareness and help prevent, treat, and manage the disease.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-eighth.

BARACK OBAMA

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

October 31, 2013

Remarks by the President at DCCC Event -- Weston, MA

Private Residence
Weston, Massachusetts

5:50 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody. (Applause.) Thank you so much. Everybody, have a seat. Thank you. Well, first of all, that was an astonishingly succinct introduction by Al. (Laughter.) And let me just say, Al and Susan have been such extraordinary friends to so many of us for so long, and that alone would make me grateful. But the service that they rendered as our representatives in one of our most important allies has been extraordinary. And we're glad to have them back, but we're also grateful for the great job that they did while they were there. You made us proud. (Applause.) So thank you very much.

Governor Deval Patrick is who I want to be when I grow up. (Laughter.) Love that man. And he is just doing such an extraordinary job. So we're very proud of him.

We have several other folks here -- Steve Israel, who is a great Congressman, has taken on the thankless task of traveling all across the country to make sure that we're recruiting some of the best candidates ever for the House of Representatives -- please give Steve Israel a big round of applause. (Applause.)

Your own Congressman John Tierney is here. Where’s John? Doing a great job. Very proud of him. (Applause.) You’ve got an interloper from Rhode Island, but it’s close enough -- he’s a good friend -- David Cicilline, outstanding member of Congress, former mayor. (Applause.) And someone who is looking slim and cheerful and good-humored, has a glow in his cheeks -- (laughter) -- this is what, I guess, getting out of Congress looks like -- (laughter) -- Barney Frank is in the house. (Applause.)

And finally, the person we're actually here for, to some extent, somebody who is now in the Women’s Hall of Fame; somebody who has just constantly surprised me by just how good, how tough, how visionary and how committed she is, and dedicated to the well-being of not just her own constituents but the American people -- our former speaker and, hopefully, soon-to-be speaker once again, Nancy Pelosi. (Applause.)

Now, in these settings, especially with folks who have been friends for a while -- I know many of you supported my campaigns, many of you, we've fought together on critical issues -- I don't want to spend too much time on speeches, I want to have a conversation. So I'll save most of the time for questions. I do have to get out of here in time so as not to delay the Red Sox game, because if I do I might never be able to come to Massachusetts again. (Laughter.) So we're on a fairly tight schedule.

This has been a challenging year. Since my reelection, we started with the heartbreaking tragedy of Newtown, which I've said before continues to be probably the toughest day of my presidency. Then we had the bombing in Boston, which was handled with such grace by Deval and Mayor Menino and all the people of this incredible city. And we would have hoped that coming out of those two tragedies that we would see a new spirit in Congress of people pulling together and rolling up sleeves and working on at least the things that a broad spectrum of Americans agree on.

But that's not what we got. Instead we had more obstruction and more resistance to getting anything done, most recently culminating in a shutdown that was entirely unnecessary and that hurt our economy, punished federal workers who are out there every day trying to help veterans and trying to make sure that our air is clean and our water is clean, and trying to help small businesses.

And so I think it’s fair to say that, however low people’s estimations of Washington were before the shutdown, they’re lower now. And it may be that the other side is comfortable with that, because their operating theory has been that government is the problem, and the federal government, in particular, is a problem, and that we don't need dedicated people in public service, and we don't need collective action around the challenges that we face.

But the American people know better. And we know better. We know that we are entering into an extraordinarily promising but also challenging time in this country. International competition is fierce. We have an economy that's never been more productive or more innovative. But what we've also seen is an economy that produces a winner-take-all situation and folks like those in this room who are doing very well, there are a whole bunch of folks out there who are struggling. You’ve got a middle class that is anxious about whether their children will be able to replicate their success. There are questions as to whether, if you work hard in this country, you can still make it.

We've got enormous challenges like climate change that transcend borders. And although, because of our extraordinary military and the men and women in uniform, we don't have any state-to-state peer when it comes to our national security, the threats of climate change and terrorism and cybersecurity are all things that we can't manage on our own.

And so sometimes people ask me, man, how do you stay optimistic? It just seems like there are a bunch of problems piling up on your desk and it doesn’t seem like you're getting a lot of help from the other side. And it is true that I'm much grayer than I was when I first came to Al Solomont’s house. And there is this enormous frustration sometimes when you can see -- Deval and I were just talking about this -- we know what the punch list is of things that need to get done. We know if we invest in infrastructure, we can put people back to work and strengthen our economy. We know that if we are investing in early childhood education, then our children are going to better be able to compete. We know that there’s no contradiction between a smart energy policy that boosts growth and an environmental policy that passes on a clean planet to the next generation. We know that making sure job training programs work, and basic research in science will ensure that not only do we have the most innovative, dynamic economy in the world, but we're also going to have the workers who can take those jobs.

We know all these things. And so when you see it, and you say to yourself, these aren't even ideological questions; these aren't historically left-right questions; these are just common-sense questions -- and you see the fact that you get so much resistance from the other side on things that they used to be for, it can be frustrating.

But what keeps me optimistic is when I get out of Washington, and I travel across the country and I meet the American people, their resilience, their strength, their optimism, their stick-to-it-ness, their concern for one another continues to be evident. It makes you optimistic.

Our job is to align our politics with the goodness of the American people. And I don't think that's a partisan agenda; I don't think that's a Democratic or Republican agenda. I think that's an American agenda. But what I also know is the interests of the American people will be better served if I've got Nancy Pelosi standing by my side and we get the agenda done. (Applause.)

That's why you're here. I'm grateful for it. We're going to need your support not just now, but for the long haul. (Applause.)

Thank you very much, everybody. (Applause.)

I think we're going to start taking questions, but I think we're going to allow the Fourth Estate to get some food. (Laughter.) I hope you guys are getting some food -- at least some snacks. (Laughter.)

END
6:00 P.M. EDT

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

October 31, 2013

New Report: Foreign Direct Investment In the United States

Report Prepared by the Department of Commerce and the President’s Council of Economic Advisers:

The United States has been the world’s largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) since 2006. Every day, foreign companies establish new operations in the United States or provide additional capital to established businesses. With the world’s largest consumer market, skilled and productive workers, a highly innovative environment, appropriate legal protections, a predictable regulatory environment, and a growing energy sector, the United States offers an attractive investment climate for firms across the globe.

Foreign direct investment in the United States is substantial

In 2012, net U.S. assets of foreign affiliates totaled $3.9 trillion. The United States consistently ranks as one of the top destinations in the world for foreign direct investment (FDI), with inflows totaling $1.5 trillion in FDI just since 2006. For 2012, FDI inflows totaled $166 billion.
The U.S. manufacturing sector draws a considerable share of FDI dollars, led by pharmaceuticals and petroleum and coal products. Outside manufacturing, wholesale trade; mining; non-bank holding companies; finance and insurance; and banking receive the greatest shares of foreign investment.
Investment flows into the United States come mostly from a small number of industrial countries. Since 2010, Japan, Canada, Australia, Korea, and seven European countries[i] collectively have accounted for more than 80 percent of new FDI. Although still small, flows from emerging economies like China and Brazil are growing rapidly.

Foreign direct investment benefits the U.S. Economy

In 2011, value-added by majority-owned U.S. affiliates of foreign companies accounted for 4.7 percent of total U.S. private output.
These firms employed 5.6 million people in the United States, or 4.1 percent of private-sector employment. About one-third of jobs at U.S. affiliates are in the manufacturing sector.
These affiliates account for 9.6 percent of U.S. private investment and 15.9 percent of U.S. private research and development spending.
In the 2008-09 recession and subsequent recovery, employment at U.S. affiliates was more stable than overall private-sector employment. As a result, U.S. affiliates’ share of total U.S. manufacturing employment rose from 14.8 percent in 2007 to 17.8 percent in 2011.
Compensation at U.S. affiliates has been consistently higher than the U.S. average over time, and the differential holds for both manufacturing and non-manufacturing jobs.

Looking ahead, the United States will remain an attractive destination for foreign investment, and this investment will help bolster our economy. However, we need to continue to nurture and build upon the underlying strengths of the U.S. economy that make firms want to invest here; including an open investment regime, a large economy, a skilled labor force, community colleges, world-class research universities, predictable and stable regulatory regime, adequate infrastructure, and new energy sources.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

October 31, 2013

Statement by the Press Secretary on the Confirmation of Katherine Archuleta as Director of the Office of Personnel Management

The President applauds the Senate for confirming today Katherine Archuleta to be the next Director of the Office of Personnel Management. Katherine brings broad experience and a deep commitment to recruiting and retaining a world-class workforce for the American people. She is an established advocate for public service and federal workers. Katherine shares President Obama’s vision for diversity and inclusion in the federal workforce and she will be a champion for federal workers – the dedicated men and women who are devoted to public service.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

October 31, 2013

President Obama to Announce First-Ever Federal Effort to Attract Job-Creating Foreign Investment to the United States

Expanding and Enhancing SelectUSA

Today, President Obama is announcing the first-ever comprehensive, all hands on deck effort led by the federal government to bring jobs and investment from around the world to the U.S. through aggressive expansion and enhancement of SelectUSA.

U.S. is becoming an increasingly more competitive location for investment: The U.S. is the top destination for foreign direct investment and is becoming increasingly more competitive in attracting investment due to rising productivity, abundant low-cost energy, and rising costs elsewhere – as analysis from the Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey, AT Kearney and others have underscored.
To date, however, the U.S. has never before coordinated efforts to attract job-creating foreign investment: Unlike export promotion, the U.S. has historically left states and cities to compete directly with foreign countries. A coordinated federal effort would help our governors and mayors compete for job-creating foreign investment on a level playing field.
Today, the President is announcing the first-ever coordinated effort to actively recruit businesses to bring investment and jobs to the U.S.: To seize on America’s growing competitiveness, the Administration is creating the first-ever coordinated federal effort, hosted by the Department of Commerce, to attract foreign investment through enhancement and expansion of SelectUSA outlined below, while continuing to call on Congress to provide all necessary resources.

Making job-creating foreign investment a core priority: For the first time, domestic and overseas teams at Commerce and State will make recruiting business investment one of their core priorities, alongside their traditional focus on export promotion and commercial advocacy.
First-ever coordinated, global teams led by Ambassadors to actively work to bring jobs to U.S.: For the first time, the U.S. will organize dedicated investment teams led by Ambassadors to actively encourage and track job-creating investment into the U.S. This will begin in 32 priority markets which represent over 90 percent of foreign direct investment into the U.S.
First coordinated advocacy process to include senior-most Administration officials, including all the way up to the President: Historically, on an ad hoc basis, senior government officials have been involved in advocacy for business investment in the U.S. But going forward, the Administration is creating the first-ever coordinated advocacy process to link international teams with senior government officials all the way up to the President to recruit businesses to bring jobs to the U.S.
For the first time, there will be a single point of contact for ready investors looking to bring jobs and production to the U.S.: For the first time, SelectUSA will create single points of contact for businesses looking to bring jobs and production to the U.S. This will include greater coordination between SelectUSA headquarters in Washington D.C., in-country resources at the Embassy, and state-based economic development organizations.
First ever effort to coordinate support for states and localities to attract investment: For the first time, we will help regional, state, and local economic development organizations attract investment, improving coordination to increase their success rate and connecting them with overseas markets and investors through our Missions.

Expanding and Enhancing SelectUSA

On Thursday, October 31^st President Obama will host and deliver remarks at the SelectUSA Investment Summit in Washington, D.C., where he will announce aggressive expansion and enhancement of SelectUSA. Building on the progress-to-date with SelectUSA, which was launched in June 2011, the Commerce Department, State Department and White House, along with other federal agencies, are launching the first-ever fully coordinated effort at home and around the world to actively recruit businesses to bring investment to the U.S. This announcement takes major strides forward, but the President will also continue to call on Congress to provide the necessary resources required to build the full suite of capabilities required to realize our shared ambition for SelectUSA. Specific actions of the new and expanded initiative include:

SelectUSA will for the first time deeply support states and cities to attract and compete for job-creating investment into the U.S.: SelectUSA will help regional, state, and local economic development organizations attract investment, improving coordination to increase their success rate and connecting them with overseas markets and investors through our Missions. Leveraging the federal government’s domestic networks, SelectUSA will provide new services to our domestic partners, including counseling on implementing best practice investment attraction strategies, data and analysis of investment trends to help better allocate resources in attracting job-creating investment.
SelectUSA will encourage job-creating foreign investment as a core priority in a coordinated, all hands on deck manner for the first time: Historically, the federal government has not organized to encourage job-creating investment from around the world akin to how we have coordinated global efforts to promote U.S. exports. Now, our domestic and overseas commercial teams at Commerce and State will make actively recruiting jobs and investment a top priority, ensuring that the entire team is consistently working to bring jobs to the U.S. and promote the U.S. as the premiere destination for global investment, while actively generating interested investors and working in partnership with U.S. economic development organizations (EDOs) at the state, regional, and local levels.
SelectUSA will develop the first-ever coordinated, global team to actively work to bring jobs back to the U.S. led directly by our Ambassadors: In 32 initial economies with substantial potential investments into the U.S., investment teams will develop country-specific strategies that make investment promotion a key priority, coordinated with efforts to promote U.S. exports and support U.S. businesses. Investment teams will be created as part of a phased implementation to prioritize locations with the largest potential for U.S. investment. Among other activities, Missions will expand outreach to prospective investors to consider investment to the U.S., host or participate in in-country or regional events to encourage investment, and leverage local business connections to promote U.S. investment. The expanded effort will rely on leveraging existing resources and refocusing priorities, drawing on increased support from SelectUSA headquarters. Investment metrics will be tracked globally with regular reporting to track progress and share best practices.
SelectUSA will for the first time include a seamless process to enlist top Administration officials all the way up to the President to actively advocate for high-priority investments into the U.S.: For the first time, the U.S. federal government will actively advocate with business leaders to locate production and investment in the U.S., a tactic often employed by competitor nations looking to attract investment. Previously, a state like Pennsylvania would be left to compete head-to-head with othre major industrialized nations. Now, our states, regions, and cities will have the full support of top federal officials, including the President, in advocating with businesses from around the world to select the U.S. as the location for new jobs and investment. Advocacy will be both ‘generic’, encouraging the U.S. generally, and ‘specific’, advocating on behalf of a U.S. location when a decision is down to that specific location and non-U.S. options.
SelectUSA will create for the first time single points of contact for investors looking to locate in the U.S.: SelectUSA headquarters, located at the Department of Commerce, will assign a single point-of-contact for ready investors looking to locate and create jobs in the U.S. In partnership with state and local economic development officials, SelectUSA will help investors gather the information needed to choose the U.S. as a location, navigate through federal agency processes, and provide general investment counseling support. SelectUSA headquarters will increase support for the SelectUSA Investment Teams around the world, providing them with the information, analysis, services, and process coordination needed to engage with investors and promote the U.S.

President Obama Speaks on Changes and Improvements in the Individual Insurance Market

October 30, 2013 | 34:29 | Public Domain

President Obama says that it's misleading to say insurers are "cancelling" people's insurance plans without also mentioning that almost all insurers are encouraging people to join better plans with the same carrier, with stronger benefits and stronger protections; while others will be able to get better plans with new carriers through the marketplace; and that many will get new help to pay for these better plans.

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Read the Transcript

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

October 30, 2013

Remarks by the President and Governor Deval Patrick on the Affordable Care Act

Faneuil Hall
Boston, Massachusetts

3:50 P.M. EDT

GOVERNOR PATRICK: How are you? Good afternoon, everybody. (Applause.) How’s Red Sox Nation this afternoon? (Applause.)

Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, fellow citizens, I have the high honor of introducing to you the President of the United States. (Applause.) But, of course, you folks already know him. (Laughter.) So as the President is standing just offstage, I want to take my time here at the podium -- (laughter) -- to introduce all of you to him.

In this storied hall today, Mr. President, are the architects and advocates for health care reform in Massachusetts. (Applause.) This gathering right here is the broad coalition -- providers, payers, patients, consumers, policymakers, academics, business and labor, from both political parties, or no party at all -- who came together to invent health care reform in Massachusetts and then, importantly, stuck together to refine it as we moved forward. (Applause.)

You are the leaders who, when we learned a hard lesson or hit a wall, stuck with it and with each other because of the shared value that health care is a public good and that every citizen deserves access to quality, affordable care. (Applause.)

Quality, affordable care accessible to all improves lives, and in many cases, saves lives. It gives peace of mind and economic security to working families. It increases productivity for large and small employers alike. It creates jobs and contributes to the strength of the Massachusetts economy. It is a powerful statement of who we are as a commonwealth. (Applause.)

And by every reasonable measure, it has been a success for us here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. (Applause.) How do we know? Virtually, every resident in the commonwealth is insured today. (Applause.) More private companies offer insurance to their employees than ever before. Over 90 percent of our residents have a primary care physician. Preventive care is up and health disparities are down. (Applause.) Most important of all, on a whole range of measures, we are healthier both physically and mentally.

Over all these years, expansion itself has added only about 1 percent of state spending to our budget. And thanks to the collective, continued hard work of this coalition, premiums are finally easing up. Premium base rates were increasing over 16 percent just a few years ago. Today, increases average less than 2 percent. (Applause.)

And thanks to the President, America can look forward to the successes that Massachusetts has experienced these last seven years. (Applause.)

The truth is policy only matters when and where it touches people. I know this policy matters because I've met people all across the commonwealth, in every walk of life, whose lives have been improved or saved because of the care our reforms made possible. A couple of them are here today.

Laura Ferreira -- where are you, Laura? There you are. Owns her own hair salon and is responsible for providing health insurance to her family of five, including her son, Mason, who’s right here with her. Mason has a rare genetic condition. Laura is able to afford his medicine because they found coverage through our Connecter, our version of the ACA marketplace. This policy matters. (Applause.)

David Gilloran works as a waiter. Where are you David? There you are. Thank you for being here. Soon after getting coverage through the Connector, David was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. His treatment was covered, and he is back to his old life and swimming for exercise. God bless you, David. (Applause.)

Brian Thurber left his law firm job to become an entrepreneur in Massachusetts. Brian, where are you? There he is. Because he was able to access quality insurance directly through the Connector, he is chasing his entrepreneurial dreams and on his way to becoming a creator of jobs for others without -- being exposed to a health emergency along the way. Keep going. Good luck to you. (Applause.)

Hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts people don’t fear going bankrupt from medical bills, or being thrown off their insurance if they get really sick, or being declared ineligible for insurance because they were seriously ill sometime in the past.

If policy matters where it touches people, Mr. President, this policy matters a lot. Health care reform is working for the people of Massachusetts, and it will work for the people of America. (Applause.)

My Republican predecessor signed the legislation to expand health care reform in Massachusetts right here in this room, on this very stage. His chief legislative partner was the Democratic state senator, Robert Travaglini, who was here then and is here today. Where are you, Trav? Thank you. (Applause.)

So was our beloved Ted Kennedy. So were many of the members of the coalition who are here again today. And they have worked right alongside my team and me these last seven years to refine and improve the means while staying true to the ends. I am proud of what we and they have accomplished, and I think they’re proud, too, and ought to be. (Applause.)

But our launch seven years ago was not flawless. (Laughter.) We asked an IT staffer who has been at our Connector since the beginning what the start of implementing reform was like. And this is what he said, and I’m quoting: “We didn’t have a complicated eligibility process back then, but we did have outages caused by traffic peaks. We experienced some issues with data mapping of plan detail that carriers called us on. Our provider searches were not good, and the website was a constant work in progress over the first few years. But other than that, it was smooth.” (Laughter.)

Any of this sound familiar, Mr. President?

So we started out with a website that needed work. We had a lot of people with a lot of reasonable questions and not a good enough way to get them the answers. But people were patient, we had good leadership, and that same coalition stuck with it and with us to work through the fixes, tech surge and all. Why? Why? Because health reform in Massachusetts, like the Affordable Care Act, is not a website. It’s a values statement. (Applause.) It's about insuring people against a medical catastrophe. It's about being our brothers' and our sisters' keeper by helping others help themselves.

The website glitches are inconvenient and annoying. They must be fixed and I am confident they will be. But I hope you know, Mr. President, that the same folks who pretend to be outraged about the website not working didn’t want the ACA to work in the first place. (Applause.) The urgency of fixing what's not working is, as we all know, about the American people who need simple, reliable and convenient access to information about coverage -- not about silencing critics who will never be silenced.

You and the Congress looked to Massachusetts, Mr. President, as a model for how to insure working people, and through that, how to help them lead better, more productive lives. As you turn to the vital work of making that federal IT system work, we also want to be a model for how to keep your eye on the prize, and how, working together, you put people first. (Applause.) The people here, all in this coalition, totally get that.

So, Mr. President, welcome to the capital of Red Sox Nation. (Applause.) And welcome, also, to the future of affordable, accessible health care for everybody. (Applause.)

Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Boston! (Applause.) It's good to be back in Boston. (Applause.) It's good to be back in Boston because one of America's best governors introduced me -- Deval Patrick. Give him a big round of applause. (Applause.)

It's good to see Congressman Bill Keating here. Give Bill a big round of applause. (Applause.) I want to praise somebody who's not here -- I just left him -- but he wears his heart on his sleeve. He loves this city so much, and it shows in what he's been doing for years now -- one of America's best mayors, Tom Menino. (Applause.)

And it's good to see all of you. I was just at the airport -- Deval was kind enough to meet me, along with Mayor Menino. And Mayor Menino went back to city hall to work so he could wrap up in time for the first pitch. I understand that. (Laughter.) I am well aware that a presidential visit is not the biggest thing going on today in Boston. (Laughter and applause.) I understand that. I tried to grow a beard, but Michelle, she wasn't having it. (Laughter.)

I am also old enough to remember a time when the Red Sox were not in the World Series three times in 10 years. (Laughter.) But I know the chance to win one at home for the first time since 1918 is a pretty special thing. (Applause.) So I promise we will be done here in time -- (laughter) -- for everybody to head over to Fenway and maybe see Big Papi blast another homer. (Applause.)

And maybe the other Sox will do better next year. (Laughter.) You can hope. You can dream. (Laughter.)

The reason I’m here, though, is because this is the hall where, seven years ago, Democrats and Republicans came together to make health reform a reality for the people of Massachusetts. It’s where then-Governor Mitt Romney, Democratic legislators, Senator Ted Kennedy, many of the folks who are here today joined forces to connect the progressive vision of health care for all with some ideas about markets and competition that had long been championed by conservatives.

And as Deval just said, it worked. (Applause.) It worked. Health reform --

PROTESTORS: Mr. President -- don't punish me. For our generation, stop the pipeline! Mr. President --

THE PRESIDENT: Okay. We're talking about health care today, but we will --

PROTESTORS: Mr. President --

AUDIENCE: Booo --

THE PRESIDENT: No, no, no, it’s okay. That is the wrong rally. (Laughter and applause.) We had the climate change rally back in the summer. (Laughter.) This is the health care rally. (Applause.)

So health care reform in this state was a success. That doesn’t mean it was perfect right away. There were early problems to solve. There were changes that had to be made. Anybody here who was involved in it can tell you that. As Deval just said, enrollment was extremely slow. Within a month, only about a hundred people had signed up -- a hundred. But then 2,000 had signed up, and then a few more thousand after that. And by the end of the year, 36,000 people had signed up.

And the community all came together. You even had the Red Sox help enlist people to get them covered. And pretty soon, the number of young uninsured people had plummeted. When recession struck, the financial security of health care sheltered families from deeper hardship. And today, there is nearly universal coverage in Massachusetts, and the vast majority of its citizens are happy with their coverage. (Applause.)

And by the way, all the parade of horribles, the worst predictions about health care reform in Massachusetts never came true. They're the same arguments that you're hearing now. Businesses didn’t stop covering workers; the share of employers who offered insurance increased. People didn’t get left behind; racial disparities decreased. Care didn’t become unaffordable; costs tracked what was happening in other places that wasn’t covering everybody.

Now, Mitt Romney and I ran a long and spirited campaign against one another, but I’ve always believed that when he was governor here in Massachusetts, he did the right thing on health care. And then Deval did the right thing by picking up the torch and working to make the law work even better. And it’s because you guys had a proven model that we built the Affordable Care Act on this template of proven, bipartisan success. Your law was the model for the nation’s law. (Applause.)

So let’s look at what’s happened. Today, the Affordable Care Act requires insurance companies to abide by some of the strongest consumer protections this country has ever known -- a true Patient’s Bill of Rights. (Applause.) No more discriminating against kids with preexisting conditions. (Applause.) No more dropping your policy when you get sick and need it most. (Applause.) No more lifetime limits or restrictive annual limits. (Applause.) Most plans now have to cover free preventive care like mammograms and birth control. (Applause.) Young people can stay on their parents’ plans until they turn 26. All of this is in place right now. It is working right now. (Applause.)

Now, the last element of this began on October 1st. It’s when the Affordable Care Act created a new marketplace for quality, private insurance plans for the 15 percent or so of Americans who don’t have health care, and for the 5 percent of Americans who have to buy it on their own and they’re not part of a group, which means they don't get as good a deal.

And this new marketplace was built on the Massachusetts model. It allows these Americans who have been locked out to get a better deal from insurers -- they’re pooling their purchasing power as one big group. And insurers want their business, which means they give them a better deal, and they compete for that business. And as a result, insurers in the marketplace, they can't use your medical history to charge you more. If you’ve been sick, you finally have the same chance to buy quality, affordable health care as everybody else.

A lot of people will qualify for new tax credits under this law that will bring down costs even further, so that if you lose your job, or you start a new business, or you’re self-employed, or you're a young person trying several jobs until you find that one that sticks, you’re going to be able to be insured -- insurance that goes with you and gives you freedom to pursue whatever you want, without fear that accident or illness will derail your dreams.

Now, this marketplace is open now. Insurance companies are competing for that business. The deal is good; the prices are low. But, let’s face it, we've had a problem. The website hasn’t worked the way it’s supposed to over these last couple of weeks. And as a consequence, a lot of people haven’t had a chance to see just how good the prices for quality health insurance through these marketplaces really are.

Now, ultimately, this website, healthcare.gov, will be the easiest way to shop for and buy these new plans, because you can see all these plans right next to each other and compare prices and see what kind of coverage it provides. But, look, there’s no denying it, right now, the website is too slow, too many people have gotten stuck. And I am not happy about it. And neither are a lot of Americans who need health care, and they’re trying to figure out how they can sign up as quickly as possible. So there’s no excuse for it. And I take full responsibility for making sure it gets fixed ASAP. We are working overtime to improve it every day. (Applause.) Every day.

And more people are successfully buying these new plans online than they were a couple of weeks ago, and I expect more people will be able to buy conveniently online every single day as we move forward. We’re going to get these problems resolved.

Now, in the meantime, you can still apply for coverage over the phone, or by mail, or in person, because those plans are waiting and you’re still able to get the kind of affordable, reliable health insurance that’s been out of reach for too many people for too long.

So I am old enough to remember when there was not such a thing as a website. (Laughter.) I know that’s shocking to people. (Laughter.) But the point is I’m confident these marketplaces will work, because Massachusetts has shown that the model works and we know what’s being offered by these insurers. (Applause.) We know it’s going to work.

And so far, choice and competition in the new national marketplaces have helped keep costs lower than even we projected. In fact, nearly half of all single, uninsured 18-to-34-year-olds may be able to buy insurance for 50 bucks a month or less. Less than your cellphone bill, less than your cable bill. (Applause.) And one study shows that nearly 6 in 10 uninsured Americans may find coverage for 100 bucks a month or less, even if they’re older than 34.

And, frankly, if every governor was working as hard as Deval, or Governor O’Malley in Maryland, or Governor Cuomo in New York, to make this law work for their citizens, as opposed to thinking politically, about 8 in 10 Americans would be getting health insurance for less than 100 bucks a month. (Applause.)

And, by the way, it’s not just in Massachusetts. Look at Kentucky. Governor Steve Beshear, who’s a Democrat, is like a man possessed with helping more people get covered. He thinks it’s the right thing to do. Keep in mind I did not win in Kentucky. (Laughter.) But there are a lot of uninsured people in Kentucky, and they’re signing up.

Oregon has covered 10 percent of its uninsured citizens already because of the Affordable Care Act. Ten percent of the uninsured have already gotten coverage. (Applause.)

Arkansas -- I didn’t win that state either -- (laughter) -- has covered almost 14 percent of its uninsured already. (Applause.) That’s already happened.

And you’ve got some Republican governors, like Governor Kasich of Ohio, who’ve put politics aside and they’re expanding Medicaid through this law to cover millions of people.

Now, unfortunately, there are others that are so locked in to the politics of this thing that they won't lift a finger to help their own people, and that’s leaving millions of Americans uninsured unnecessarily. That’s a shame. Because if they put as much energy into making this law work as they do in attacking the law, Americans would be better off. (Applause.) Americans would be better off.

So that’s the Affordable Care Act: Better protections for Americans with insurance; a new marketplace for Americans without insurance; new tax credits to help folks afford it; more choice, more competition; real health care security not just for the uninsured or underinsured, but for all of us -- because we pay more in premiums and taxes when Americans without good insurance visit the emergency room. (Applause.) We get taxed.

And since we all benefit, there are parts of this law that also require everybody to contribute, that require everybody to take some measure of responsibility. So, to help pay for the law, the wealthiest Americans –- families who make more than $250,000 a year –- they've got to pay a little bit more. The most expensive employer health insurance plans no longer qualify for unlimited tax breaks. Some folks aren't happy about that, but it's the right thing to do.

Just like in Massachusetts, most people who can afford health insurance have to take responsibility to buy health insurance, or pay a penalty. And employers with more than 50 employees are required to either provide health insurance to their workers or pay a penalty -- again, because they shouldn’t just dump off those costs onto the rest of us. Everybody has got some responsibilities.

Now, it is also true that some Americans who have health insurance plans that they bought on their own through the old individual market are getting notices from their insurance companies suggesting that somehow, because of the Affordable Care Act, they may be losing their existing health insurance plan. This has been the latest flurry in the news. Because there's been a lot of confusion and misinformation about this, I want to explain just what's going on.

One of the things health reform was designed to do was to help not only the uninsured, but also the underinsured. And there are a number of Americans –- fewer than 5 percent of Americans -– who've got cut-rate plans that don’t offer real financial protection in the event of a serious illness or an accident. Remember, before the Affordable Care Act, these bad-apple insurers had free rein every single year to limit the care that you received, or use minor preexisting conditions to jack up your premiums or bill you into bankruptcy. So a lot of people thought they were buying coverage, and it turned out not to be so good.

Before the Affordable Care Act, the worst of these plans routinely dropped thousands of Americans every single year. And on average, premiums for folks who stayed in their plans for more than a year shot up about 15 percent a year. This wasn’t just bad for those folks who had these policies, it was bad for all of us -- because, again, when tragedy strikes and folks can’t pay their medical bills, everybody else picks up the tab.

Now, if you had one of these substandard plans before the Affordable Care Act became law and you really liked that plan, you’re able to keep it. That’s what I said when I was running for office. That was part of the promise we made. But ever since the law was passed, if insurers decided to downgrade or cancel these substandard plans, what we said under the law is you've got to replace them with quality, comprehensive coverage -- because that, too, was a central premise of the Affordable Care Act from the very beginning.

And today, that promise means that every plan in the marketplace covers a core set of minimum benefits, like maternity care, and preventive care, and mental health care, and prescription drug benefits, and hospitalization. And they can’t use allergies or pregnancy or a sports injury or the fact that you're a woman to charge you more. They can't do that anymore. (Applause.) They can't do that anymore.

If you couldn’t afford coverage because your child had asthma, well, he’s now covered. If you’re one of the 45 million Americans with a mental illness, you’re now covered. If you’re a young couple expecting a baby, you’re covered. You’re safer. The system is more secure for you and it’s more secure for everybody.

So if you’re getting one of these letters, just shop around in the new marketplace. That’s what it’s for. Because of the tax credits we’re offering, and the competition --

PROTESTOR: Mr. President, ban the Keystone Pipeline! For our generation, you need to do this!

THE PRESIDENT: Because of the tax credits that we’re offering and the competition between insurers, most people are going to be able to get better, comprehensive health care plans for the same price or even cheaper than projected. You’re going to get a better deal.

Now, there’s a fraction of Americans with higher incomes who will pay more on the front end for better insurance with better benefits and protections like the Patient’s Bill of Rights. And that will actually save them from financial ruin if they get sick. But nobody is losing their right to health care coverage. And no insurance company will ever be able to deny you coverage, or drop you as a customer altogether. Those days are over. And that’s the truth. (Applause.) That is the truth.

So for people without health insurance, they’re finally going to be able to get it. For the vast majority of people who have health insurance that works, you can keep it. For the fewer than 5 percent of Americans who buy insurance on your own, you will be getting a better deal.

So anyone peddling the notion that insurers are cancelling people’s plan without mentioning that almost all the insurers are encouraging people to join better plans with the same carrier, and stronger benefits and stronger protections, while others will be able to get better plans with new carriers through the marketplace, and that many will get new help to pay for these better plans and make them actually cheaper -- if you leave that stuff out, you’re being grossly misleading, to say the least. (Applause.)

But, frankly, look, you saw this in Massachusetts -- this is one of the challenges of health care form. Health care is complicated and it’s very personal, and it’s easy to scare folks. And it’s no surprise that some of the same folks trying to scare people now are the same folks who’ve been trying to sink the Affordable Care Act from the beginning. (Applause.) And frankly, I don’t understand it. Providing people with health care, that should be a no-brainer. (Applause.) Giving people a chance to get health care should be a no-brainer. (Applause.)

And I’ve said before, if folks had actually good ideas, better ideas than what’s happening in Massachusetts or what we’ve proposed for providing people with health insurance, I’d be happy to listen. But that’s not what’s happening. And anyone defending the remnants of the old, broken system as if it was working for people, anybody who thinks we shouldn’t finish the job of making the health care system work for everybody -– especially when these folks offer no plan for the uninsured or the underinsured, or folks who lose their insurance each year -- those folks should have to explain themselves. (Applause.)

Because I don’t think we should go back to discriminating against kids with preexisting conditions. (Applause.) I don’t think we should go back to dropping coverage for people when they get sick, or because they make a mistake on their application. (Applause.) I don’t think we should go back to the daily cruelties and indignities and constant insecurity of a broken health care system. And I’m confident most Americans agree with me. (Applause.)

So, yes, this is hard, because the health care system is a big system, and it’s complicated. And if it was hard doing it just in one state, it's harder to do it in all 50 states -- especially when the governors of a bunch of states and half of the Congress aren't trying to help. Yes, it's hard. But it's worth it. (Applause.) It is the right thing to do, and we're going to keep moving forward. (Applause.) We are going to keep working to improve the law, just like you did here in Massachusetts. (Applause.)

We are just going to keep on working at it. We're going to grind it out, just like you did here in Massachusetts -- and, by the way, just like we did when the prescription drug program for seniors known as Medicare Part D was passed by a Republican President a decade ago. That health care law had some early challenges as well. There were even problems with the website. (Laughter.) And Democrats weren’t happy with a lot of the aspects of the law because, in part, it added hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit, it wasn't paid for -- unlike the Affordable Care Act, which will actually help lower the deficit. (Applause.)

But, you know what, once it was the law, everybody pitched in to try to make it work. Democrats weren’t about to punish millions of seniors just to try to make a point or settle a score. So Democrats worked with Republicans to make it work. And I'm proud of Democrats for having done that. It was the right thing to do. (Applause.) Because now, about 90 percent of seniors like what they have. They've gotten a better deal.

Both parties working together to get the job done –- that’s what we need in Washington right now. (Applause.) That's what we need in Washington right now.

You know, if Republicans in Congress were as eager to help Americans get covered as some Republican governors have shown themselves to be, we'd make a lot of progress. I'm not asking them to agree with me on everything, but if they’d work with us like Mitt Romney did, working with Democrats in Massachusetts, or like Ted Kennedy often did with Republicans in Congress, including on the prescription drug bill, we’d be a lot further along. (Applause.)

So the point is, we may have political disagreements -- we do, deep ones. In some cases, we've got fundamentally different visions about where we should take the country. But the people who elect us to serve, they shouldn’t pay the price for those disagreements. Most Americans don’t see things through a political lens or an ideological lens. This debate has never been about right or left. It’s been about the helplessness that a parent feels when she can’t cover a sick child, or the impossible choices a small business faces between covering his employees or keeping his doors open.

I want to give you just -- I want to close with an example. A person named Alan Schaeffer, from Prattsburgh, New York, and he's got a story to tell about sacrifice, about giving up his own health care to save the woman he loves. So Alan wrote to me last week, and he told me his story.

Four years ago, his wife, Jan, who happens to be a nurse, was struck with cancer, and she had to stop working. And then halfway through her chemo, her employer dropped coverage for both of them. And Alan is self-employed; he's got an antique business. So he had to make sure his wife had coverage, obviously, in the middle of cancer treatments, so he went without insurance.

Now, the great news is, today, Jan is cancer-free. She's on Medicare, but Alan’s been uninsured ever since. Until last week -- (applause) -- when he sat down at a computer and -- I'm sure after multiple tries -- (laughter) -- signed up for a new plan under the Affordable Care Act, coverage that can never be taken away if he gets sick. (Applause.)

So I just want to read you what he said in this letter. He says, “I’ve got to tell you I’ve never been so happy to pay a bill in my entire life." (Laughter.) "When you don’t have insurance at my age, [it can] really feel like a time bomb waiting to go off. The sense of relief from knowing I can live out my days longer and healthier, that’s just a tremendous weight off my shoulders.”

So two days later, Alan goes over to his buddy Bill’s house. He sits Bill down, and his wife, Diana, at their computer. And after several tries -- (laughter) -- Alan helped lift that weight from their shoulders by helping them to sign up for a new plan also. And compared to their current plan, it costs less than half as much and covers more.

See, that's why we committed ourselves to this cause -- for Alan, and Jan; for Bill, Diana.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Annie.

THE PRESIDENT: For Annie. For anyone who wrote letters, and shared stories, and knocked on doors because they believed what could happen here in Massachusetts could happen all across the country. (Applause.) And for them, and for you, we are going to see this through. (Applause.) We’re going to see this through. (Applause.) We are going to see this through. (Applause.)

This hall is home to some of the earliest debates over the nature of our government, the appropriate size, the appropriate role of government. And those debates continue today, and that’s healthy. They’re debates about the role of the individual and society, and our rugged individualism, and our sense of self-reliance, our devotion to the kind of freedoms whose first shot rang out not far from here. But they are also debates tempered by a recognition that we’re all in this together, and that when hardship strikes -- and it could strike any of us at any moment -- we’re there for one another; and that as a country, we can accomplish great things that we can't accomplish alone. (Applause.) We believe that. We believe that. (Applause.)

And those sentiments are expressed in a painting right here in this very hall: “Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable.” That’s the value statement Deval was talking about. That’s what health care reform is about. That’s what America is about. We are in this together, and we are going to see it through. (Applause.)

Thank you. God bless you. God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)