The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
January 08, 2015

President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:

  • Patricia Cahill – Member, Board of Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
  • Walter Hood – Member, National Council on the Arts
  • Diane Rodriguez – Member, National Council on the Arts
  • Kristen Kulinowski – Member, Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board
  • Kristen Sarri – Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget, Department of the Interior

President Obama also announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:

  • Brian E. Argrett – Member, Community Development Advisory Board
  • Barbara B. Franklin – Member, Federal Service Impasses Panel, Federal Labor Relations Authority
  • Edward F. Hartfield – Member, Federal Service Impasses Panel, Federal Labor Relations Authority
  • William H. Leary – Member, Public Interest Declassification Board

President Obama said, “These fine public servants bring a depth of experience and tremendous dedication to their important roles.  I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come.”

President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:

Patricia Cahill, Nominee for Member, Board of Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

Patricia Cahill is a reporter, producer, and program and news director.  Ms. Cahill has served as a Member of the Board of the Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting from 2009 to 2014, and from 2012 to 2014, she served as Chairman.  From 1987 to 2012, Ms. Cahill was the general manager of KCUR-FM, a public radio station at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where she also taught journalism and speech communication.  Previously, Ms. Cahill was the President of Public Radio in Mid America and Vice President of the Kansas Public Radio Association.  She was a member of the National Public Radio Board of Directors, Catherine’s Place, Goodwill of Western Missouri and Eastern Kansas, and Chair of the Board of Directors of Wichita Free University.  Ms. Cahill received a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Kansas.

Walter Hood, Nominee for Member, National Council on the Arts

Walter Hood is a professor of Landscape Architecture, Environmental Planning, and Urban Design at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has been the David K. Woo Chair in Environmental Design since 2013, and previously chaired the Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design Department from 1998 to 2002.  In 1992, he established Hood Design landscape architecture studio, whose projects include landscape design  for the new De Young Museum in San Francisco and designing Lafayette Square Park and Splash Pad Park in Oakland.  Mr. Hood served as a Goldman Sachs Design Fellow for the Smithsonian Institute in 2011 and was named the inaugural MIT School of Architecture and Planning Robert Taylor Fellow, honoring MIT’s first African American graduate, in 2011.  He was named Master of Design by Fast Company Magazine in 2010, received the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Landscape Design in 2009. and won the City of Nashville’s design competition to create public art in commemoration of the city’s role in the civil rights movement to be installed in 2015.  Mr. Hood received a B.L.A. from North Carolina State University, an M.L.A. and M.Arch from the University of California, Berkeley and an M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Diane Rodriguez, Nominee for Member, National Council on the Arts

Diane Rodriguez is Associate Artistic Director at Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, where she has held various positions since 1995.  She was Associate Producer and Director of New Play Production from 2005 to 2014, and was Director and Resident Artist of the Latino Theatre Initiative from 1995 to 2005.  Ms. Rodriguez was also an Artistic Associate at the Cornerstone Theater Company from 1999 to 2005.  She is a Co-Founder of two theatre companies, Latins Anonymous and El Teatro de la Esperanza (Theatre of Hope).  Ms. Rodriguez was a leading actress for the Chicano theatre company, El Teatro Campesino (Theatre of the Farmworkers) from 1973 to 1984.  In 2007, she won an OBIE Award for playing multiple roles in “Tale of Two Cities: an American Joyride on Multiple Tracks.”  She is the current President of the Theatre Communications Group Board of Directors.  Ms. Rodriguez received a B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Dr. Kristen Kulinowski, Nominee for Member, Chemical Safety Hazard Investigation Board

Dr. Kristen Kulinowski is a Research Staff Member at the IDA Science and Technology Policy Institute, a position she has held since 2011.  From 1998 to 2001, and again from 2002 to the present, she has been a faculty member in the Rice University Department of Chemistry.  Dr. Kulinowski also worked in various additional capacities at Rice University – from 2005 to 2011 as Director of the International Council on Nanotechnology, and from 2002 to 2011 as an Executive Director for the NSF Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology.  From 2001 to 2002, Dr. Kulinowski served as a Congressional Science Policy Fellow in the office of The Honorable Edward J. Markey.  From 1995 to 1998, she was a lecturer in chemistry at California Polytechnic State University.  Dr. Kulinowski is a member of the American Chemical Society and has advised governments in North America, Europe, and Asia on nanotechnology policy issues.  Dr. Kulinowski received a B.S. from Canisius College and an M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Rochester.    

Kristen Sarri, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget, Department of the Interior

Kristen Sarri is the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Policy, Management and Budget at the Department of the Interior, a position she has held since 2014.  Prior to this, she served as the Associate Director for Legislative Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget from 2011 to 2014.  Ms. Sarri served as Deputy Director of the Office of Policy and Strategic Planning at the Department of Commerce from 2010 to 2011.  From 2008 to 2010, Ms. Sarri worked as a Democratic Professional Staffer for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.  From 2006 to 2008, she served as a Senior Policy Advisor for Senator Jack Reed.  Ms. Sarri was Legislative Director for the bipartisan Northeast-Midwest Senate Coalition from 2001 to 2006.  From 1993 to 1994, she worked as an Education Coordinator for the Cheetah Conservation Fund.  Ms. Sarri received a B.A. from Washington University and an M.P.H. and M.S. from the University of Michigan.

President Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:

Brian E. Argrett, Appointee for Member, Community Development Advisory Board

Brian E. Argrett is President and Chief Executive Officer of City First Bank of D.C., National Association, a position he has held since 2011.  Mr. Argrett was Founder and Managing Partner of both Fulcrum Capital Group and Fulcrum Capital Partners, L.P.  He also served as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director of Fulcrum Venture Capital Corporation, a federally licensed and regulated Small Business Investment Company.  Mr. Argrett served as Chairman of FirstFed Financial Corp. from 2009 to 2011, and previously was a director of its subsidiary, First Federal Bank of California. Earlier, Mr. Argrett was an attorney with the real estate law firm of Pircher, Nichols & Meeks in Los Angeles.  He currently serves as the Vice Chairman of the Community Development Bankers Association and is a Member of the Community Bankers Council of the American Bankers Association.  Mr. Argrett received a B.S. from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Barbara B. Franklin, Appointee for Member, Federal Service Impasses Panel, Federal Labor Relations Authority
Barbara B. Franklin is a Member of the Federal Service Impasses Panel, a position she has held since 2009.  She also has served as an arbitrator and mediator in Washington, D.C. since 1999.  Ms. Franklin was Chief Counsel to Members Pamela Talkin and Donald S. Wasserman of the Federal Labor Relations Authority from 1990 to 1995 and 1996 to 1997, respectively.  From 1977 to 1989, she served as a staff attorney and then a supervisory attorney for the National Labor Relations Board in the Office of General Counsel, Division of Advice.  From 1999 to 2014, she was a Public Member of the D.C. Police and Firefighters Retirement and Relief Board, a position that is appointed by the Mayor of D.C.  She is also a member of the Executive Committee of Friendship Place, a nonprofit organization that serves the homeless population of the D.C. metropolitan area.  Ms. Franklin received a B.A. from Northwestern University and a J.D. from The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law.

Edward F. Hartfield, Appointee for Member, Federal Service Impasses Panel, Federal Labor Relations Authority

Edward F. Hartfield is a Member of the Federal Service Impasses Panel, a position he has held since 2009, and previously held from 1994 to 2002.  He has also been President of Hartfield Resolutions Group since 2010, and a full time mediator and arbitrator since 1976.  From 1988 to 2010, he was Executive Director of the National Center for Dispute Settlement.  From 1979 to 1988, Mr. Hartfield served as Commissioner with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, and was State Mediator for the New Jersey Office of Dispute Settlement from 1976 to 1979.  He has also served as the International President of the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution and served on the Michigan Supreme Court Dispute Resolution Task Force.  Mr. Hartfield also is a member of various arbitration panels, including the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the National Mediation Board, the Michigan Employment Relations Commission, and the Employment Relations Boards for the states of Ohio and Iowa.  Mr. Hartfield received a B.A. from Oberlin College and an M.A. from the University of Detroit. 

William H. Leary, Appointee for Member, Public Interest Declassification Board

William H. Leary served as a Special Adviser to the National Security Advisor and Senior Director for Records and Access Management on the National Security Council from 1994 until his retirement in 2011.  Mr. Leary served as Chair of the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel from 2003 to 2011 after being Acting Chair from 2000 to 2003.  He also served as the first Chair of the Records Access and Information Security Interagency Policy Committee.  Before joining the National Security Council staff, Mr. Leary served as the Deputy Director of the Agency Services Division at the National Archives and Records Administration from 1985 to 1991.  Mr. Leary was one of the officers who helped to create the Public Interest Declassification Board in 2000, and served as member from 2012 to 2014.  In 2009, he helped to develop Executive Order 13526 on Classified National Security Information.  Mr. Leary received a B.A., M.A., and A.B.D. from the University of Virginia.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
January 08, 2015

Remarks by the President on Housing -- Phoenix, AZ

Central High School
Phoenix, Arizona

11:06 A.M. MST

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Arizona!  (Applause.)  Hey!  (Applause.)  Happy New Year, Arizona.  (Applause.)  Go, Bobcats. (Applause.) 

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We love you!

THE PRESIDENT:  I love you back.  (Applause.)   

It’s good to be in Phoenix.  (Applause.)  And I mean that, because I was in Detroit yesterday, which is a great city but it was 60 degrees colder.  (Laughter.)  So it feels pretty good, this weather right here.  I had a couple staff people who said, we’re going to miss the plane.  (Laughter.)  They’re just going to try to get stranded here for a while.  (Laughter.) 

But I went to Detroit, I went here -- I guess between the Lions and the Cardinals, this is my post-wild card consolation tour.  (Laughter.)  As a Bears fan, I want you to know that, first of all, you guys did a lot better than we did.  (Laughter.) You got a great coach; you got a great team.  You had some bad luck.  And there’s always next year.  So keep your chin up.  Keep your chin up.  

I want to thank Secretary Castro not just for the terrific introduction, but for the great job he’s doing every day.  (Applause.)  I want to thank your Congressman, Ruben Gallego.  (Applause.)  Where’s Ruben?  Where is he?  Ruben, I already liked him, and then he told me he was from Chicago originally, before he got smart and moved to warmer weather (Laughter.) 

I want to thank your Mayor, Greg Stanton.  (Applause.)  He was there.  There he is.  Greg is doing a great job.  I want to thank your principal, John Biera, Jr.  (Applause.)  And your superintendent, Kent Scribner.  (Applause.)  And I want to thank all the students and staff and faculty who may be here.  We really appreciate your hospitality.

One last acknowledgement.  I had a chance to meet a couple of really good friends -- Mark Kelly and Gabby Giffords. (Applause.)  This was a remarkable meeting for me because it was four years ago today that Gabby and some other wonderful Arizonans were gunned down outside a supermarket in Tucson.  It's a tough day for a lot of folks down there.  We keep them in our thoughts and prayers. 

But Gabby is doing great.  She looks wonderful, and she’s got the same energy and passion that she always has had.  Even as she’s waged her own fight to recover, she’s fought to prevent the next tragedies from happening to others.  She’s a hero, and she is a great Arizonan.  (Applause.)  So we’re really proud of her.  And her brother, who is also an astronaut -- her brother-in-law, who’s also an astronaut, is going to be in space for a year. He was just on the cover of Time Magazine, which I know there’s some folks in Washington who wish I was going to be in space for a year, but -- (laughter) -- but I'm still around.  (Applause.)  Because I got some work to do.

Now, I am here because one of my New Year’s resolutions is to make sure more Americans in Phoenix and in Arizona and all across the country feel like they’re coming back.  Because the country is coming back, but I want everybody to feel like things are getting better and we are moving in the right direction.  And let there be no doubt -- thanks to the steps we took early on to rescue our economy, to rebuild it on a new foundation, America is coming back.  (Applause.) 

And that’s not just my own opinion.  Here are the facts.  2014 was the strongest year for job growth since the 1990s.  (Applause.)  We’ve had 57 straight months of private sector job growth, created nearly 11 million new jobs.  (Applause.)  Since 2010, we’ve put more people back to work than Europe, Japan, and every advanced economy combined.  (Applause.)  American manufacturing is growing at the fastest pace since the ‘90s.  We’re now the number-one producer of oil, of gas.  And by the way, you’re saving about a buck-ten a gallon at the pump over this time last year.  (Applause.)

Although I was in Detroit and I told folks yesterday, gas prices aren’t going to be low forever, so don’t start suddenly saying you don’t have to worry about fuel efficiency.  If you’re going out shopping for a new car, don’t think it’s always going to be this low, because then you’ll be surprised and you’ll be mad at me later -- (laughter) -- and I’ll be able to say, I told you don’t get a gas guzzler because gas is going to go back up. But while it’s low, enjoy it.  And feel free to spend some of that money on local businesses, who then will hire more people and put more folks back to work.  (Applause.)

Meanwhile, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, about 10 million Americans have gained health insurance in the past year alone.  (Applause.) 

We’ve done all this while cutting our federal deficit by about two-thirds.  And I’m going to repeat that, because they did a poll the other day and like 70 percent of the people think the deficit is going up.  No, 70 percent of the people.  You stop people on the street -- 7 out of 10 think the deficit is going up.  The deficit has gone down by two-thirds since I was President of the United States.  (Applause.)  So we’re doing all this in a fiscally responsible way.  (Applause.)

And maybe closest to my heart, after 13 long years, our war in Afghanistan has come to a responsible end, which means more of our brave troops spent time with their families this holiday season, right here back home.  (Applause.) 

So these last six years required hard work and sacrifice by everybody.  But as a country, we have a right to be proud that all that hard work paid off.  America’s resurgence is real.  And now that we’ve got some calmer waters out there, if everybody does their part, if we all work together, we can make sure that the tide starts lifting all boats again.  We can get wages and incomes growing faster.  We can make sure the middle class is growing, that the ladders of the middle class for folks who are struggling are firm and steady and have a lot of rungs to them.  Because it’s the middle class, it’s working families that power America’s prosperity.  That’s always been the case; that will be true for decades to come.  (Applause.)

And I’ve got a State of the Union address in about two weeks and that’s what I want to talk about -- building on the progress we’ve made.  But of course, why wait for the State of the Union? It’s sort of like you’ve got presents under the tree, you kind of start shaking them a little bit.  (Laughter.)  I want to kind of give you a little sense of what I want to talk about.  So we’re going to start this week laying out some of the agenda for the next year.

And here in Phoenix, I want to talk about helping more families afford their piece of the American Dream, and that is owning their own home.  (Applause.)  

Now, let me just say, right now Michelle and I live in rental housing.  (Laughter.)  We don’t own where we live.  We’ve got two years remaining on our lease.  (Laughter.)  I’m hoping I get my security deposit back.  (Laughter.)  Although Bo and Sunny have been tearing things up occasionally -- we’re going to have to clean things up a little bit.  (Laughter.)

But I’ll never forget the day we bought our first place, a place of our own -- a condo, back in Chicago.  And for us, and millions of Americans like us, buying a home has always been about more than owning a roof and four walls.  It’s about investing in savings, and building a family, and planting roots in a community.  So we bought this place -- it was about, I guess, probably about 2,000 square feet.  It was in this complex called East View Park.  It was sort of like a railway apartment. And it felt huge when we moved in.  And then Malia and Sasha were born, and their toys got everywhere.  (Laughter.)  And then it felt small because they basically took over the whole dining room with their toys. 

But I have such good memories not just about the place itself, but all the work we had to do to save to get in there, and then to fix it up, and that sense of accomplishment that you were building something for your family and for your future.

And that's always been true.  When my grandfather came back from World War II, this country gave him the chance to buy his first home with a loan from the FHA.  For folks like him, a home was proof that America was a place where if you worked hard, if you were responsible, it was rewarded. 

But we all know what happened in the last decade when responsibility gave way to recklessness.  Families who did the right thing and bought a home that they could afford, and made their payments each month, and did everything right, when the market plummeted they got hurt.  Even though somebody else was acting irresponsibly -- whether on Wall Street, or folks who weren’t responsible in terms of how they were dealing with their real estate -- ordinary families got hurt bad.  And that was especially true here in Arizona. 

There were folks who borrowed more than they should have.  There were lenders who really were just worried about making profits and not whether the people they were lending to were going to be able to keep up their homes.  So home values plunged. Americans sank underwater.  Foreclosures skyrocketed.  Builders stopped building.  Construction workers lost their jobs. 

And when I came into office, I believed we could not let this crisis play itself out.  If we could save more families from losing everything they had worked so hard to build, we had to make the effort.  So less than a month after I took office, I came here to Arizona to lay out my plan to get responsible homeowners back on their feet.  And I said that healing our housing market wouldn’t be easy, it would not be quick.  But we were going to act swiftly, we were going to act boldly, we were going to try everything that we could to help responsible homeowners.  If something didn't work, we’d try something else.  But we were going to try to keep folks in their homes.

And we ended up helping millions stay in their homes.  We helped millions more save thousands of dollars each year by refinancing.  We helped folks who didn’t want to buy a home or who weren’t ready to buy find an affordable place to rent.  We kept up our fight against homelessness.  And by the way -- there’s some homeless advocates here -- since 2010, we’ve helped bring one in three homeless veterans off the streets.  (Applause.)  And I want to make sure everybody knows -- under Mayor Stanton, Phoenix is leading the way in that effort.  (Applause.)  Phoenix is doing a great job.  (Applause.)

So as a result of all these efforts, today, home sales are up nearly 50 percent from where they were in the worst of the crisis.  Homebuilding has more than doubled.  That's created hundreds of thousands of construction jobs.  New foreclosures are at their lowest level since 2006.  Since 2012, nearly 10 million fewer Americans have their homes underwater.  Rising home prices have put hundreds of billions of dollars of wealth back in the pockets of middle-class families.

Now, I want everybody to be clear -- this progress is not an accident.  It is not luck.  It’s what happens when you have policies that put middle-class families first.  (Applause.) 

And what’s true in Arizona is true all across the country:  We’ve still got some more work to do, our job is not done, but what we're doing is working.  And we’ve got to keep at it.  We’ve got to stay at it. 

Today, here in Phoenix, I’m going to take a new action to help even more responsible families stake their claim on the middle class and buy their first new home.  Starting this month, the Federal Housing Authority will lower its mortgage insurance premium rates enough to save the average new borrower more than $900 a year.  (Applause.)  Now, that's $900 that can go towards paying the groceries, or gas, or a child’s education.  Or, depending on what your mortgage is, it might be a month’s mortgage payment. 

And for those who aren’t familiar with FHA, FHA underwrites, it guarantees, it’s the backstop for a lot of loans around the country, especially for middle-class folks.  So a lot of people pay these fees, and if they’re saving $900 that’s money that’s going to be going throughout the economy. 

Over the next three years, these lower premiums will give hundreds of thousands more families the chance to own their own home, and it will help make owning a home more affordable for millions more households overall in the coming years. 

And just to give you an example, earlier today, Secretary Castro and I visited Nueva Villas.  It’s a new neighborhood here in Phoenix where a lot of families are buying homes with the help of the FHA.  And we actually -- this was a big development that wasn’t finished or wasn’t all sold; the crisis came, half the homes were still unsold.  Folks lost their homes.  It started getting boarded up.  People were feeling insecure.  It was starting to get depressed.  Nonprofits, with the help of HUD, came in, purchased some of the properties, hired local residents to rehab them.  Now people are building them -- beautiful homes. And with the help of the FHA, we can now make sure that more people are getting access to these homes.  And today’s action will mean more money in the pockets of families like the ones that we’ve met. 

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT:  Is this about housing?  (Laughter.)  All right. 

And keep in mind, hundreds of thousands of new buyers is going to mean a healthier housing market for everybody.  So how many people here own their own home?  (Applause.)  All right.  So even though you’ve already got your mortgage or your loan, already have your home, if your neighbors are buying more homes, that’s lifting the whole market here, which means the value of your home starts going up.  And that’s good for you.  (Applause.)  It means fewer foreclosure signs as people fix up old properties.  It means more construction, which means more jobs, which means a better economy.  So this is the kind of boost that we need to keep the momentum that we have seen over the last several years -- keep it going here in Phoenix and all across the country. 

So I want to be clear.  If you’re looking to take advantage of these lower rates, that’s great.  On the other hand, don’t buy something you can’t afford.  (Applause.)  You’re going to be out of luck.  These rates are for responsible buyers.  We’re not going down the road again of financing folks buying things they can’t afford.  We’re going to be cracking down on that.  We put in place tough rules on Wall Street and we created a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and we’re really policing irresponsible lenders luring folks into buying stuff they can’t afford.  (Applause.) 

And we designed a mortgage form that’s written in simple language so that people understand what the commitments are when you buy a home.  We’re cracking down on some of the worst practices that led to the housing crisis.  We’re going to protect middle-class families from getting ripped off.

And that’s why we had the Justice Department fight for buyers who were discriminated against or preyed upon, and we won a settlement that awarded more money to victims in one year than in the previous 23 years combined.  (Applause.)  That’s why we worked with states to force big banks to repay more than $50 billion to more than 1.5 million borrowers who had been treated wrongly -- and that was the largest lending settlement in history.  (Applause.)  And that’s why I’ve called on Congress to wind down the government-backed companies known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

So the bottom line is we don't think there’s anything wrong with pursuing a profit, but we want to make clear the days of making bad bets on the backs of taxpayer money and then getting bailed out afterwards -- we're not going back to that.  (Applause.)  We've worked too hard, and everything we’ve done to heal the housing markets we want to preserve.  But we do want to make sure that the housing market is strong and that responsible homeowners can get a good deal.  For people who have saved, done the right thing, now are looking to buy their first home, we want to make sure that they get a little bit of help.

In the end, everything we've done to heal the housing market is about more than just restoring housing values.  It's about restoring our common values.  It's about who we are as a country and who we are as communities.  

And I want to just tell you a quick story.  Lorraine Cona, from Sun City, next door, she did everything right.  She had a good job as a librarian.  She bought a home she could afford.  She wanted to retire in that home.  She made her payments on time.  Then, five years ago, through no fault of her own, she was laid off, and she started falling behind in her payments.  She knew foreclosure was coming.  She said, “I’d look out the window and I’d see somebody taking pictures of my house.”

But when things seemed darkest, Lorraine learned about something called the Hardest Hit fund –- it's a program that we created to help folks in states like Arizona that had been especially hard hit by the real estate crash.  And they helped her make her late payments -- because she had a great track record until she had lost her job.  They set her up with financial counseling so she could stay on track.  It wasn’t easy, but Lorraine repaired her credit.  She refinanced her mortgage.  And today, after a lifetime of hard work, Lorraine is retired, she’s back to making her payments every single month.  She’s in her home.  She was able to accomplish that.  Even though it was scary at times, she got it done.  Lorraine came back, just like Phoenix has come back.  (Applause.)  Just like Arizona has come back.  Just like America has come back.  (Applause.) 

It’s not just the economy turning around.  It’s turning around the lives of hardworking people, making sure that that hard work finally pays off.  (Applause.)  It’s making sure you finally get that job you’re looking for, or the raise you deserve, or a little bit of security, or the retirement that you’ve earned, or being able to send your kid to college so their lives are better than yours.  (Applause.)  That's what this is about. 

So I just want everybody to know that we have been through some tough times, but we are moving.  There are workers today with jobs who didn’t have jobs last year.  There are families who have got health insurance who didn’t have health insurance before.  (Applause.)  There are students who are in college right now who didn’t think they could afford it before.  (Applause.) There are heroes who had served tour after tour who are finally home with their families.  There are autoworkers who are building great American cars now when they thought that those plants were going to shut down. 

America is coming back.  (Applause.)  And the key, Arizona, is for us all to work together to make sure we keep it going.
   
Thank you, everybody.  God bless you.  God bless America.  (Applause.) 

END
11:29 A.M. MST

President Obama Announces Plans to Save Americans Money on Homeownership

Jenna Brayton
Jenna Brayton
January 08, 2015
02:33 PM EDT
President Obama delivers remarks on housing at Central High School in Phoenix

President Barack Obama delivers remarks on housing at Central High School in Phoenix, Az., Jan. 8, 2015. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Watch on YouTube

President Obama and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro visited Phoenix, Arizona this afternoon to put a spotlight on the recovering housing sector.

Restoring security to homeownership has always been one of the President's top economic priorities, and the results are clear -- the housing market has greatly improved since President Obama took office.

Related Topics: Economy, Housing, Middle Class Security, Arizona

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
January 08, 2015

Remarks by the President at Nueva Villas Housing Complex -- Phoenix, AZ

Nueva Villas at Beverly Single-Family Housing Development
Phoenix, Arizona

10:03 A.M. MST

THE PRESIDENT:   Well, listen, I just had a chance to hear from Edmundo and David about this development.  Nueva Villas was originally a private development, but the timing obviously was tough because it happened right as the housing market here in Arizona and across the country was plummeting.  And because of the great work that this nonprofit has done, but also because of assistance from HUD, what the community has been able to do is, through a nonprofit, purchase some of these homes that were empty and vacant, hire local residents to help reconstruct them, and now they’re able to make homes available to working families.  A family of four that maybe makes $40,000 or $60,000 a year has a chance to buy a beautiful home in a terrific neighborhood. 

The market is stabilizing.  And what’s even better, some of the money that they then get as a consequence of the sale to these new families they’re able to use to rehab and move in even more families.  And so it’s a program that’s working well.  It’s one example of some of the steps that we’ve taken in order to strengthen the housing market. 

The thing I’m going to be announcing today is a new policy in which the fees that are charged by the FHA for loans are going to be reduced and could save a family like this, one that’s buying through FHA a home, could save them as much as $900 a year, which obviously makes a big difference if their payment is $900 a month.  It could be a full month’s payment that they’re saving, and that could make all the difference for a family that is owning its first home. 

And over time, this is going to potentially have an impact over millions of families all across the country.  It should help further accelerate growth in the housing market and stabilizing prices in areas like Arizona that have a long way to come back.  And it’s just one more example of the kinds of steps that we can take to build on the progress that’s already been made.  Housing has come back, but we can do even better.  There are still families out there who could benefit from great homes like this one, and we want to make sure that everybody has that access to that piece of the American Dream. 

So we’re really thrilled that we’re able to make this announcement.  I couldn’t be prouder of Secretary Castro for the work that HUD is doing in helping make a home like this available to families who need it, because you can see here in the neighborhood it is really looking great.

END
10:06 A.M. MST

The President Speaks About America's Auto Industry — the "Heartbeat of American Manufacturing"

David Hudson
David Hudson
January 08, 2015
12:58 PM EDT

Watch on YouTube

Yesterday afternoon, President Obama stopped by the Ford assembly plant in Wayne, Michigan to talk about the auto bailout, and the resurgence of America's auto industry over the past few years.

"I wanted to come here to Michigan because this state proves no matter how tough times get, Americans are tougher," he said.

Related Topics: Jobs, Economy, Michigan

The President Speaks on the Resurgence of the American Auto Industry

January 07, 2015 | 24:54 | Public Domain

President Obama delivers remarks on the resurgence of America's auto industry in Wayne, Michigan, January 7, 2015.

Download mp4 (919MB) | mp3 (24MB)

The President Speaks on the Terrorist Attack in Paris

January 07, 2015 | 3:37 | Public Domain

In the wake of the shooting at the offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris, France, President Obama delivers remarks in the Oval Office of the White House, January 7, 2015.

Download mp4 (131MB) | mp3 (4MB)

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
January 07, 2015

Press Gaggle by Press Secretary Josh Earnest en route to Detroit, MI, 01/07/15

Aboard Air Force One
En Route Detroit, Michigan

2:14 P.M. EST

MR. EARNEST:  Good afternoon, everybody.  It’s already been obviously a busy Wednesday.  A couple of things.  You heard from the President in the Oval Office about his personal reaction to the terror attacks that we saw in Paris very early this morning East Coast time.  The President does intend to try to get in touch with President Hollande at some point today.  Obviously President Hollande is very busy dealing with the immediate response to this crisis.  If there’s an opportunity for the President to speak to him today we'll try and take advantage of that, and we'll let you know once that call has occurred.

You also, prior to takeoff, have just been in a conference call about the announcement that the President intends to make tomorrow related to assistance that we can offer to responsible middle-class homeowners across the country.  The President will have more to say about that tomorrow.  There is a factsheet that our office back in Washington should be distributing here shortly.

But today, the President is traveling to Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant just outside Detroit.  We're going to have some more background on this facility.  It sounds, actually, like a pretty interesting place.  It’s the world’s first flexible manufacturing facility that's building gasoline-powered, hybrid and plug-in vehicles all on the same production line.  And this is pretty good evidence of the kind of innovation that is driving the success of the American auto industry right now. 

This innovation and this new opportunity would not have been possible without the very difficult and, in some cases, legitimately politically unpopular decisions that the President made very early in his tenure in office to give the auto industry the space that it needed to make these kinds of -- to implement these kinds of innovations and rebuild their business.

And they have come back stronger than ever.  And that is thanks in no small part to the very hard work of men and women in the American auto industry who have used their skill and determination to build the finest automobiles on the planet.  And that is something the President is very proud of.  The President has had a number of occasions -- many of you have covered them -- to visit American autoworkers working on the assembly line.  And the President is looking forward to that visit today, primarily because it highlights some of the resilience that we're seeing in the American economy.  And the President has a lot of other ideas for what we can do to build on that momentum to make sure that middle-class families are benefiting from the American economic recovery that's underway and that is the envy of the world.

So the President will talk about that recovery today and talk about some of the ideas on Thursday and Friday that he has to build on that momentum.  You got a sense of what the President is going to talk about on Thursday in terms of what we can do to build on the momentum that we're seeing in the housing market. But we'll have obviously a lot more on that tomorrow.

With that, let me go to your questions.

Q    With respect to the situation in Paris, does the U.S. have an assessment or have the French shared their assessment with the U.S. on who these gunmen were and whether they have any links to a larger terror group?

MR. EARNEST:  As I mentioned earlier, the senior members of the President’s national security team have been in touch with their French counterparts since very early this morning.  In those conversations, the President’s team, at the President’s direction, offered any needed assistance that the French have in trying to figure out exactly what happened, trying to determine who was responsible, bringing them to justice, and also determining exactly what their motivation was.  So we've offered all of the assistance that we can offer. 

We are still in the early stages of tracking down those details, and the French are obviously very interested in finding this out, and this government is as well.  And we're going to provide them all the assistance that we can to try to get answers to some of these questions.

Q    So at this point, you can't say whether these gunmen were linked to any terror organization?

MR. EARNEST:  At this point, I cannot say that.  I can't rule it out either.  It's something we're still trying to determine.

Q    On the U.S. response to the attack in France, is the U.S. concerned about any risk here from this group or similar groups, and is there any plan to raise threat levels or anything like that in response to the attacks in France?

MR. EARNEST:  I'll say a couple things about that.  The first is as it relates to the threat level.  This is a decision that's made by the Secretary of Homeland Security, that he makes a decision about raising or lowering the terror threat level based on available intelligence.  I don't know of any plans to make a change to the terror threat level, but I would encourage you to check with the Department of Homeland Security to verify that.

What I can tell you is that today’s events in Paris that are so tragic are a reminder of how important it is for everybody to be vigilant about the threats that we face.  I don't say that to hint that somehow the French fell short of needed vigilance, only that today’s tragic terror attack is an indication of just how serious a threat we face.  And there are men and women in the U.S. national security infrastructure that are working around the clock to try to protect the American people and American interests both here at home and around the world.

The threat that we face is serious, but what we have is strong international cooperation with our partners around the globe to try to mitigate the threat that is posed by foreign fighters.  We are working very closely with leaders in the Muslim community both at home and around the world to try to counter the violent extremist messaging that ISIL and other extremist organizations are using to try to radicalize individuals around the globe.

There are some individuals that are using a peaceful religion and grossly distorting it, and trying to use its tenets to inspire people around the globe to carry out acts of violence. And we have enjoyed significant success in enlisting leaders in the Muslim community, like I said, both in the United States and around the world to condemn that kind of messaging, to condemn those efforts to radicalize individuals, and to be clear about what the tenets of Islam actually are.  And we’re going to redouble those efforts in the days and weeks ahead. 

And obviously, we’re still trying to figure out exactly, like I said, who’s responsible for this attack in Paris, what their motivations are.  But as a general matter, we’re very mindful of the threat from foreign fighters and the threat -- and the need to try to counter some of the extremist ideology that ISIL is propagating, using some pretty sophisticated social media strategies.

Q    -- the President briefed about it?

MR. EARNEST:  The President did have a Presidential Daily Briefing in the Oval Office this morning.  That was the first opportunity that he had to meet in person with his national security team.  And as you would expect, there was extensive discussion of this issue then.

Q    Were there any specific threats to news organizations or other groups in the United States that you guys are looking at?

MR. EARNEST:  There are no specific pieces of credible information that I’m aware of that we are paying particular attention to now.  That said, as I mentioned in answer to Angela’s question, we do continue to be very vigilant about this and there is a very active effort to monitor communications from ISIL that are made in public forums, to use our network of tools and our links to other countries that have a sophisticated intelligence infrastructure to try to monitor exactly what threats are emerging.

So this is something that we’re carefully watching.  And this is obviously something that our intelligence community watches closely and something that the Department of Homeland Security is obviously on top of. 

So for an up-to-date assessment of the threat picture, I’d encourage you to check with the intelligence community and with DHS.  But I’m not aware of anything right now that is the source of undue concern.  We’re obviously concerned about a lot of things, but nothing that stands out at this point.

Q    This obviously isn’t the first news organization that has published something that’s been deemed offensive to Muslims. I’m wondering what the President thinks -- whether he thinks that new organizations have any responsibility to not publish similar cartoons or articles, or whether that should be a decision that news organizations can (inaudible) regardless of threats.

MR. EARNEST:  Well, let me start by saying that there is no legitimate act of journalism, however offensive some people might find it, that justifies an act of violence, particularly an act of violence on the scale that we saw today.  None. 

That said, it is up to media organizations to make their own decisions about what they choose to publish, about what stories they choose to pursue, and what sort of commentary they want to broadcast about the world and about their government. 

And we believe very deeply in the importance of a free and independent media.  It’s hard to imagine the President putting himself into a position where he’s offering advice or even direction about what should or should not be published by legitimate, independent journalists.  That’s up to journalists to decide.  It doesn’t mean that the President, as we’ve discussed, likes every single thing that’s published.  But there is no piece of responsible journalism that, again, no matter how offensive some people may find it, that legitimizes an act of violence. 

Q    Does he find it different from what happened with the situation with North Korea and “The Interview” movie, where he said that he thought that the movie should be released?  He was putting himself in that position.  You’re saying that he wouldn’t put himself in that position over journalism?

MR. EARNEST:  I do think I would draw a bit of a distinction between entertainment -- an entertainment company and something that would be more clearly branded as journalism.  There are probably graduate-level courses in trying to draw these kinds of lines, so I'm going to hesitate to do that.  But I do think there’s a difference between those two things.  I think that even in the case of the decision that Sony had to make about “The Interview” the President indicated that he disagreed with the decision that they had made, but the President made no bones about the fact that that was a decision that can and should be exercised by the leader of that company.  And I don't think the President, despite his outward criticism of the decision they made, wanted to leave anybody with the impression that he was trying to suggest that he’s the one who should have made that decision instead.

Other questions?

Q    On Detroit, is the President taking a victory lap here?

MR. EARNEST:  Well, I don't think that's the way I would describe it, no.  I think what I would say, though, is two things.  One is that we do want to take advantage of the opportunity to talk about the results of the very difficult policy decisions that the President made early on in his presidency. 

One of the things that’s been pointed out in recent days to me is that it's not just that the President’s decision to rescue the auto industry was politically unpopular across the country.  It was essentially politically unpopular in Michigan for the President to take these steps to try to save the auto industry.  And that was a difficult thing for a newly elected President to do.  At the same time, I think that any sort of fair look-back at the last five years would indicate that the President made the right decision.  And I do think that that's worthy of some discussion.

But nobody is -- the reason that the auto industry is experiencing the kind of success that they have now is because we see highly skilled, highly motivated workers showing up to work every day and doing really good work.  And they are implementing the innovative vision of executives in the American auto industry, and designers and scientists at those companies.  And because of that innovation and that entrepreneurialism and that commitment to hard work, we're seeing the success of the American auto industry. 

And one of the things that the President wants to do is, as we make policy decisions moving forward, he wants to figure out what other policies can we put in place that will allow those middle-class workers to continue to succeed.  And it's his view that that's not just good for those middle-class families, it's also good for our broader economy.  And the auto industry serves as a useful illustration of that fact.  And so I think that's what we're trying to convey here.

There are obviously some other very important events happening in the world, but I do hope that this is a useful opportunity for us to highlight the momentum of the American economy, to remind people that some of that is thanks in part to difficult decisions that the President made early on, but that should give us some confidence in the fact that the President’s ideas for further strengthening the middle class and further supporting middle-class workers are worthy of advancement. 

And I just think that we'll have the opportunity to debate this quite a bit in the weeks and months ahead, but that's a debate that we're looking forward to.   

Q    What do you say to the Democrats in Congress and elsewhere in the base who feel like the trade agreement talk is undercutting that kind of industrial approach that you're talking about and will hurt the Michigan economy and other parts of the economy long term?

MR. EARNEST:  This is a concern that was raised by some as the President was seeking to finalize the Korea Free Trade Agreement.  And the President vowed in hammering out that agreement to make sure that we would reach an agreement that was in the best interests of American workers and the best interests of American businesses and in the best interests of American industry, including the American auto industry.

And again, that free trade agreement was ratified in 2011, I believe.  And so over the course of the three years we've seen that the auto industry has only gotten stronger over the course the course of that time.  So I think it's a pretty good indication that the President’s track record is strong when it comes to reaching the kinds of trade agreements that are in the best interests of American businesses, including the American auto industry.

As the President seeks to open up additional markets overseas to American businesses, we’re going to use the same guiding principle, and we’re going to make sure that whatever trade agreement that the President is able to reach is in the best interests of the American auto industry and in the best interests of American businesses.  And here’s the thing:  If presented with an agreement that doesn’t do that, then we won’t have a deal and the President won’t agree to it. 

So that's the only way we're going to get an agreement, is if we have terms that the President clearly believes are in the best interests of American businesses and American workers.  That’s the starting point.  That was true of the Korea Free Trade Agreement.  I think that is borne out and any additional trade agreements will be predicated on the same starting point.

Q    People in the auto industry argue that the Korea Trade Agreement has helped the Korean auto industry significantly more than the U.S. auto industry.  Is that something he’ll address?

MR. EARNEST:  I don’t think so.  I think the concern that a lot of people have, or at least that we’ve heard from the auto industry, is that additional -- by some in the auto industry -- is that trade deals with other countries are bad for American businesses.  And at least looking at the three years since that Korea Free Trade Agreement went into effect, it certainly hasn’t been true for the American auto industry because it’s only gotten stronger and more workers have been hired in that industry since that free trade agreement went into effect.

So I guess it’s difficult for me to analyze what impact the trade agreement had on the Korean auto industry, but I can say that, based on a pretty cursory review of the economic evidence, the impact on the American auto industry of the Korea Free Trade Agreement certainly wasn’t bad and there’s some evidence indicating it probably was pretty good.

Q    In terms of tomorrow’s announcement, the President’s change with FHA will of course result in less revenue for FHA from insurance premiums.  Why did he decide to do this now when the insurance fund there is still below its mandatory cushion?

MR. EARNEST:  It’s my understanding -- and we can check with HUD on this -- this is a fairly technical issue -- but my understanding of the issue is this -- is that in recent years, because of the recovering health of the housing sector that that cash reserve has been tapped a lot less, which means that in the last couple of years they’ve actually been able to make significant progress in building back up those cash reserves.  And because of the current trajectory of those reserves, the President believes that now is an appropriate time for us to reduce the contributions to those reserves. 

And what that will do is that will give a break to middle class -- responsible middle-class homeowners while we continue to make progress in building up those reserves.  So now is an appropriate time to make that change in the mind of the President in a way that will be really good for middle-class families and good for the housing sector -- that we’ve got some momentum built up finally in the housing sector. 

That was one of the lagging markets.  We saw the economy strengthen and make some pretty strong steps to strengthen over the last several years, but it’s more recently that we're  starting to see similar signs of strengthening in the housing sector.  And so we can build on that momentum, the President hopes, by taking this step.

Q    Thanks, Josh.

MR. EARNEST:  Thanks, everybody.

Q    Is there any chatter that you guys picked up ahead of time for the threat assessment or anything like that on the Paris attack?  Was there anything that -- I mean, we noticed Lisa Monaco was at the White House yesterday.  Defense Secretary Hagel was there yesterday.  Was there any indication that there was any sort of threat that you guys were worried about?

MR. EARNEST:  I can tell you that -- well, I think what I’d do is I’d refer you to the intelligence community on that.  They can give you the best sense of the threat assessment both leading up to today’s tragic terrorist attack but also in the aftermath as well.

Q    Just going back to the auto industry for a second.  One of the things the President said was, that ship has sailed, I believe were his words, on the TPP and moving forward with trade. I didn’t quite hear your answer on that.  Could you just one more time go over sort of -- will he be saying anything about the TPP to the autoworkers today?  Will he be discussing that?

MR. EARNEST:  I'll give you the short version, which is that the President has been very clear that any sort of trade agreement he reaches will be one that he believes is in the best interests of American businesses and American workers. 

This was a commitment that he made in advance of the Korea Free Trade Agreement.  And since the Korea Free Trade Agreement was announced, we’ve only seen the American auto industry continue to strengthen.  And so any sort of future agreement that the President reaches on trade would be predicated on the same core principle that we’re only going to cut a deal that is clearly in the best interests of American workers, American businesses, and American farmers. 

And if presented with an agreement that the President does not believe is in the best interest of the American auto industry and other important American manufacturing -- the American manufacturing sector or other core sectors of the American economy, the President simply won’t make the deal, that we’re only going to have an agreement that the President believes is clearly in the best interests of American workers and American businesses.

Q    Thanks, Josh.  Appreciate it.

END
2:34 P.M. EST

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
January 07, 2015

Remarks by the President on the Resurgence of the American Auto Industry

Michigan Assembly Plant
Wayne, Michigan

4:22 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, everybody!  (Applause.)  Give Mia a big round of applause for that outstanding introduction.  (Applause.)  Well, hello, Michigan!  (Applause.)  Happy New Year to everybody.

AUDIENCE:  Happy New Year!

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  I love you!

THE PRESIDENT:  I -- what was that?  I love you back.  (Laughter.) 

I want to thank all the outstanding leaders that we’ve got here today.  I want to introduce some of them.  We’ve got Secretary of Labor Tom Perez here.  (Applause.)  We’ve got Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan here.  (Applause.)  Senator Gary Peters is in the house.  (Applause.)  Congresswoman Debbie Dingell is here.  (Applause.)  Your outstanding CEO, Mark Fields, is here.  (Applause.) 

Now, I have to say I love the Secret Service, I love the Beasts that they put me in and -- that’s what we call the cars I drive in, “the Beasts.”  So I like my ride these days.  And it was made in Michigan, too.  (Applause.)  But I just had a chance to look at these new Mustangs, and I’ve got to say that the Mustangs have a little more style, a little more flavor.  (Laughter and applause.)

Bill Ford is in the house.  (Applause.)  Surprisingly enough, we talked a little bit about Sunday.  (Laughter.)  Now, listen, I’m a Bears fan.  You beat us twice.  But even a Bears fan has to admit --

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We got hosed!

THE PRESIDENT:  -- that that was a little suspect.  (Applause.)  I have never seen anything like that before.  I would have been pretty irritated.  Were you irritated?  Oh, yes. (Laughter.)  But all I can say -- because I’m used to saying this, I’m a Bears fan -- there’s always next year.  (Laughter.)  And look, you’ve got a lot to be hopeful for.  First of all, you’ve got one of the best defenses in the league.  (Applause.)  A fine young quarterback, Megatron.  And if there’s one thing that you can take to the bank when talking about Detroit is that Detroit always comes back.  (Applause.)  Detroit always comes back.  (Applause.)

And that’s why I’m here today.  One of my New Year’s resolutions is to make sure that more Americans in Wayne, more Americans in Michigan, more Americans all across this great country -- that everybody feels like they’re coming back.  And there is no doubt, thanks to the steps that we took early on to rescue our economy and to rebuild it on a new foundation, we are entering into the New Year with new confidence that America is coming back.  (Applause.)

Now, you don’t have to take my word for it.  The facts are the facts.  And let’s face it, a lot of times the media doesn’t like reporting on good news, but every once in a while, it’s important for us to hear some good news, not to make us complacent, but to give us confidence that if we work harder, we can make even more good news. 

So here’s how we begin this year.  Last year, 2014, was the strongest year for job growth since the 1990s.  (Applause.)  Since the 1990s.  (Applause.)  We’ve now had a 57-month streak of private sector job creation.  We’ve created nearly 11 million new jobs.  That’s the longest stretch in our history of private sector, uninterrupted job creation.  (Applause.)  

Here’s another way of thinking about it.  Since 2010, we, America, have put more people back to work than Europe, Japan, and every other advanced economy combined.  (Applause.)  Combined.  (Applause.)  And let me tell you what’s leading the way:  American manufacturing.  After a decade of decline, American manufacturing is in its best stretch of job growth since the 1990s.  Here in Michigan, manufacturers have created more than 100,000 jobs, helping to cut your unemployment rate in half.

So we’re making more stuff.  We’re selling it around the world.  America is the number-one producer of oil, the number-one producer of gas.  It’s helping to save drivers about a buck-ten a gallon at the pump over this time last year.  (Applause.)  And the cars that you make help everybody go a little further on that gallon of gas.  (Applause.)

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act -- also known as Obamacare -- (applause) -- about 10 million Americans gained health insurance just over this last year.  We’ve cut our deficits by about two-thirds.  I’d like people to think about that, because when they do surveys of, like, ordinary folks on the street and they ask them, are the deficits going up or are they coming down, everybody automatically assumes, well, government spending and deficits must be going up.  Deficits have come down by two-thirds since I took office -- by two-thirds.  They’re going down.  (Applause.)  And after 13 long years, our war in Afghanistan has come to a responsible end, which means more of our brave troops have come home and spent time with their families during the holidays.  (Applause.)

So the point is we’re moving.  These six years have been tough, demanded hard work, demanded sacrifice on everybody’s part.  You guys know that more than most.  Which means that as a country, we have every right to be proud of what we’ve got to show for all that hard work. 

America’s resurgence is real.  Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.  We’ve got the best cards and we are doing better than just about anybody else on Earth.  And now that we’ve got some calmer waters, now that the worst of the crisis is behind us, if we all do our part, if we all pitch in, then we can make sure that this rising tide is actually lifting all the boats, not just some.  We can make sure that the middle class is the engine that powers American prosperity for decades to come.  

And that’s going to be the focus of my State of the Union address in a couple of weeks -- building on the progress that we’ve already made.  But I’ve got to admit I’ve only got two years left in office -- I didn’t want to wait for the State of the Union to talk about all the things that make this country great and how we can make it better.  So I thought I’d get started this week.  (Applause.)  I figured, why wait?  It’s like opening your Christmas presents a little early.

So today I’m here in Detroit, going to talk about the incredible things that have happened in the auto industry and what more we can do with manufacturing.  Tomorrow, I’m going to visit Arizona, a state that was hit about as hard as anybody by the housing crisis, because we want to talk about how we're making homeownership a reality for more middle-class families. 

On Friday, I’m going to go to Tennessee, a state that's making big strides in education, to show how we can help every American get the education they need to get ahead in this new economy. 

But today, I wanted to come here to Michigan because this state proves no matter how tough times get Americans are tougher. (Applause.)  Plus I wanted to see the new Mustang.  (Laughter.) 

Now, let’s just take a minute and think about what you've had to fight through.  A few years ago, nearly one in five autoworkers got a punch in the gut with a pink slip.  The year before I took office, 400,000 jobs vanished in this industry -- 400,000.  Sales plunged 40 percent.  And then as the financial crisis built, we faced what once seemed unimaginable when just two of the Big Three -- GM and Chrysler -- were on the brink of failure. 

Now, this is the heartbeat of American manufacturing right here.  And it was flat-lining.  And we had a choice to make.  We could have kept giving billions of taxpayer dollars to the auto industry without asking for accountability or change in return.  But that would have just kicked the problem down the road.  We could have done nothing, which some people said we should do, and let those companies fail.  But think about what that would have meant for this country.  The suppliers, the distributors, the communities that depend on the workers who patronize the restaurants and shop at the stores, all those companies would have gone under also.

And, look, the fact is nobody was in a stronger position than Ford.  Bill and the team had done a great job steering Ford through tough times, but Bill and others are the first to admit that you could have had a cascading effect if the whole supply chain in the U.S. auto industry starts declining.  Then Ford could have gone under, too.  Plants would have shuttered.  We would have lost this iconic industry, sold for scraps.  And folks like you -- the men and women who built these companies with your hands -- would have been hung out to dry.  And the communities you depended on -- the schoolteachers, the small business owners, the servers in the diner and, let’s face it, the barkeep -- (laughter and applause.)  I’m just saying.  (Laughter.)  Are you a barkeep, or you’re just waving at me?  (Laughter.)  But everybody would have been affected.  Their jobs were at stake, too. 

And it’s more than that.  The jobs in the auto industry have always been about more than a paycheck.  They're a source of pride for generations.  It was representative of what it meant to get into the middle class.  You work hard in this job, you could afford to raise a family, buy a house, go on vacation, retire with some dignity.  You knew you were making something that people could count on.  It meant something.  Every car you sent off the line brought you that step closer to doing the right thing by your family and giving something to your kids, and having a sense of security in your life.  So plants like this one built more than just cars -- they built the middle class in this country.  And that was worth fighting for.  (Applause.)

So in exchange for the help, we demanded responsibility.  We said to the auto industry, you’ve got to change with the times.  Plants retooled.  Plants restructured.  Labor and management worked together, settled their differences.  Everybody put some skin in the game.  Everybody made some sacrifices.  It wasn’t just some, it wasn’t just the workers who gave something up --  everybody.

And that's how things work best, by the way, when everybody is in it -- when workers and businesses work together; when whoever is in the board room and folks on the floor, they both understand they’re in it together.  And we believe America is best when everybody is in it together.  And we rejected the false choice that either unions or businesses could succeed but not both.  We said, you know what, what’s going to work for the company is also going to work for that worker, and vice versa, which means when the company is doing better, then the workers have got to get their share as well.  (Applause.) 

And Ford rejected the false choice that they could either take care of their shareholder or take care of their worker -- they did both.  And the company benefited and America benefited. We believed in shared sacrifice and that shared sacrifice leads to shared prosperity.  

Now, I’ve got to tell you, I was talking to the Detroit News -- they were asking, what was it like when you were making this decision?  I just want everybody to be clear.  It was not popular.  Even in Michigan, it wasn’t popular.  I remember they did a poll and, like, in Michigan, it was like only 10 percent were in favor.  (Laughter.)   And you don’t have to be a genius political analyst to say, 10 percent is not very high.  (Laughter.) 

And, look -- and it wasn’t on my to-do list when I ran for President.  I wasn’t expecting to have to do this.  But I ran not to be just doing the popular things, I ran not just to do the easy things, I ran to do the right thing.  And saving the American auto industry was the right thing to do.  (Applause.)   Betting on you was the right thing to do.  (Applause.)  It was the right thing to do.  And that bet has paid off for America, because the American auto industry is back.  (Applause.)   

Now, part of the reason that we wanted to start this trip here is not just because I wanted to see the new Mustang, not just because the American auto industry is back, but because last month we actually marked a milestone.  Last month, the rescue of the auto industry officially came to an end.  The auto companies have now repaid taxpayers every dime and more of what my administration invested in you.  (Applause.)  You paid the taxpayers back with your hard work, with your dedication.  (Applause.) 

And over the past five years, this industry created about 500,000 new jobs.  Last year, American autoworkers churned out cars faster than any year since 2005.  Ford has brought jobs back from Mexico, created nearly 24,000 new jobs across this country, including 1,800 new jobs right here in this plant.  (Applause.)  And after more than a century since Henry Ford introduced the moving assembly line, you’re reinventing it -- one production line for gas, electric, hybrid, plug-in vehicles.  That’s the first in the world, right here in Wayne, Michigan.  (Applause.)  First in the world.  (Applause.)  That’s always cool when you do something first.  

And you’re helping rebuild the middle class for the 21st century.  Just down the road in Lincoln Park, UAW-Ford Joint Apprenticeship Program is providing workers with hands-on training in the skills that employers need for the jobs of tomorrow.  And nationally, by the way, 87 percent of all apprentices are employed after they complete their apprenticeship program, with an average starting wage of $50,000.  So the more folks we get into apprenticeships, the more folks are getting middle-class jobs.

And that’s why I called on last year for businesses across the country to create more and expand more apprenticeship programs.  And since then, we’ve seen the largest increase in apprenticeships in nearly a decade.  And now my administration is investing $100 million in an American Apprenticeship Grant competition.  We’re going to build on this momentum.  We’re going to expand successful programs.  We want young people to see that they have opportunities.  They don’t all have to go to a four-year college.  They can get an apprenticeship, save some money, start working -- (applause) -- build a family, buy a home, get some Lions tickets.  (Laughter and applause.)  

Because everybody came together here and worked together, folks are better off.  And some of the most high-tech, fuel-efficient, high-powered, heart-pounding, good-looking, well-designed, fuel-efficient cars in the world are once again designed, engineered, forged and built not in Europe, not in Asia, right here in the United States of America.  (Applause.)  Right here in America.  (Applause.) 

So because of you -- because of you, manufacturing has a future in this country.  Management has actually grown faster than other parts of the economy.  And companies are now saying, you know what, we got to get back to America.  We got to relocate.  We were offshore, and now they're saying, oh, oh, America is back.  We better get back in there.  And that means because of you, the middle class has a future in this country.

And the auto industry has proved that any comeback is possible -- and by the way, so has Motor City.  (Applause.)  So has a Motor City.  (Applause.)  A year and a half ago, Detroit became the largest city ever to file for bankruptcy.  Today, under the leadership of Mayor Duggan, Detroit is charting a new course.  Businesses and private investors are making big investments, including Ford, which is helping to launch a tech startup incubator downtown.  New restaurants and stores are popping up.  Residents are fighting blight, securing abandoned homes, cleaning up neglected neighborhoods. 

We’re seeing stories of young people who left town for other opportunities, didn't think they could make it here, and suddenly they're saying, you know what, maybe I want to get back to Detroit -- hoping to be part of the rebirth of this city.

Now, this city still faces big challenges, but you’re coming back.  Just like the auto industry is going to have to continue to come up with new ideas and new designs and address competition.  It never stops.  We got to stay hungry.  We can't be complacent.  Just like America has got to still keep on working.  Just like the Lions got to still come up with a little more work.  (Applause.)  But we're coming back. 

And one thing is for sure -- we may not all root for the Lions, but America is rooting for Detroit.  (Applause.)  America is rooting for Detroit.  (Applause.)  We want the Motor City strong.  And behind the stories of plants and cities and economic data, it’s people.  It’s all of you. 

So I’ll just close with a story of a guy named Ramone -- because we’re rooting for guys like Ramone.  Ramone spent eight years in the military, served in Afghanistan, served in Iraq.  Ramone here?  Raise your hand, Ramone.  (Applause.)

So Ramone is somebody who fought for our freedom, fought for our security.  But sometimes we give lip service to supporting our troops, and then when they come home they get lost.  So when Ramone came home, he had a hard time finding a job because it was a tough economy.  He didn’t want to be a burden on his family, so he moved into a homeless shelter, took whatever work he could get.  And then, one day in 2012, a VA counselor that he’d been working with handed him an application from Ford.  Ford was hiring for new shifts. 

Imagine what Ramone felt the day he knocked on his grandpa’s door -- his grandfather who had spent 25 years building Mustangs in Dearborn -- and Ramone was able to tell his grandfather he got a job at Ford.  (Applause.)  And now Ramone has got his own place.  And now Ramone has got a good job right on the line here in Wayne.  And every day, he’s doing just what his grandfather did.  And he’s proud.  He’s punching in and building some of the best cars in the world.  (Applause.)

If you want to know what America is about, about grit and determination and hard work and sacrifice and looking out for one another and not giving up, think about Ramone.  Think about Detroit.  Think about the auto industry.  Think about the Midwest.  Think about Michigan.  Think about America.

When our assembly lines grind to a halt, we work together, we get them going again.  We don’t give up.  We get up, we fight back.  We come back stronger than before.  Thanks to the hard work of people like you, America is coming back.  And I’m going to be on your side every step of the way.  (Applause.) 

Thank you, Michigan.  God bless you.  God bless America.  (Applause.) 

END
4:47 P.M. EST

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
January 07, 2015

Statement by the President on the Celebration of Orthodox Christmas

Michelle and I wish all Orthodox Christians in the United States and in the diverse Orthodox communities throughout the world a blessed and joyous Christmas.
 
During this season of peace and fellowship, we have been saddened to see that, around the world, some Orthodox communities face difficult times and an uncertain future.  We underscore the United States’ commitment to promoting the freedom of religion that is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and that is the birthright of every person, everywhere.  We join the Orthodox community this holiday season in celebration and in prayer for greater peace and justice throughout the world.