The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
Attached are fact sheets pertaining to the bilateral meeting that President Obama conducted with Prime Minister Gillard.
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
November 16, 2011
Today, Prime Minister Gillard and President Obama announced two new force posture initiatives that will significantly enhance defence cooperation between Australia and the United States.
Coming on the 60th anniversary of the ANZUS Alliance, these initiatives strengthen an already robust partnership that has been an anchor of stability and peace in the Asia-Pacific region. They reflect our enduring and visible commitment to strengthening regional security and will increase interoperability between Australian and U.S. forces.
Starting next year, Australia will welcome the deployment of U.S. Marines to Darwin and Northern Australia, for around six months at a time, where they will conduct exercises and training on a rotational basis with the Australian Defence Force. The initial deployment will consist of a small liaison element and a company of 250 U.S. Marines. The intent in the coming years is to establish a rotational presence of up to a 2,500 person Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF). The U.S. Marines will exercise and train on a rotational basis with the Australian Defence Force in the Northern Territory.
The leaders also agreed to closer cooperation between the Royal Australian Air Force and the U.S. Air Force that will result in increased rotations of U.S. aircraft through northern Australia. This will enhance bilateral collaboration and offer greater opportunities for combined training and exercises. Select equipment and supplies in support of these initiatives will be prepositioned in these locations to facilitate exercises and training. These joint initiatives, which will take place in Australian facilities, are part of an ongoing review of U.S. force posture in the Asia-Pacific region intended to pursue a more geographically distributed, operationally resilient and politically sustainable military presence in this region. They will further enhance the capabilities of both partners by increasing opportunities for combined training, deepening interoperability, and enabling both countries to work together even more effectively to pursue common interests. Moreover, these initiatives will better position both nations to join with other partners to respond in a timely and effective manner to a range of contingencies in the Asia-Pacific, including humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
When President Obama touches down in Australia tomorrow, he'll arrive with two major goals: strengthening our relationships and promoting security in the Pacific.
That starts in Canberra, the Australian capital.
On Wednesday, the President will meet with Prime Minister Julia Gillard, and the two will hold a joint press conference. Later that day, President Obama will be hosted at a dinner at the Australian Parliament House. On Thursday, the President will give an address to the Australian Parliament, meet with parliamentary leaders, tour a primary school with Prime Minister Gillard, and visit a military base in Darwin -- where he'll speak to a combined audience of U.S. marines and Australian troops.
For 60 years, the U.S. and Australia have been joined by a defense treaty, but our military partnership extends back much further. American and Australian troops have fought side by side from First World War to the current engagement in Afghanistan.
From Australia, the President will fly to Indonesia for the East Asia Summit , where he will hold bilateral meetings with a number of allies -- including the leaders of India, Thailand, and the Philippines. Much of the conversation at the summit will center on improving economic integration and addressing security challenges in the region.
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
President Obama called Former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou today to thank him for his many contributions to Greece and to Greek-American relations, and for his leadership and service over the past two years. As the President said, the bonds between the American people and the Greek people are strong and deep, and the United States will stand with Greece through these difficult times.
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
NOMINATIONS SENT TO THE SENATE:
Deborah J. Jeffrey, of the District of Columbia, to be Inspector General, Corporation for National and Community Service, vice Gerald Walpin.
Mark J. Mazur, of New Jersey, to be an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, vice Michael F. Mundaca, resigned.
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) today announced that the Administration cut wasteful improper payments by $17.6 billion dollars in 2011 as part of the Obama Administration’s Campaign to Cut Waste, fueled by decreases in payment errors in Medicare, Medicaid, Pell Grants, and Food Stamps. Combined with the improper payment cuts in 2010, agencies have avoided making over $20 billion in improper payments in the two years since President Obama issued an Executive Order initiating an aggressive campaign against wasteful payment errors.
“When the President and I launched the Campaign to Cut Waste we knew success would be measured by results, not rhetoric,” said Vice President Biden. “The sharp reduction in payment errors announced today demonstrates this Administration is serious about cutting waste,” he added.
“Because of the sustained commitment from the President, the Vice President, and leaders across the Administration – and the effective use of technology – we are seeing real progress cracking down on this waste of taxpayer dollars that has persisted for far too long,” said OMB Director Jack Lew. “Through aggressive and innovative solutions being deployed by Federal agencies, we are on track to meet the President’s bold directive to prevent $50 billion in payment errors by the end of 2012. This is a good step, but not the end. We will continue to work day and night to prevent taxpayer dollars from being wasted in payments to the wrong people or in the wrong amount.”
Lower Rate of Improper Payments Prevents $17.6 Billion in Waste and Error
In 2010, the President announced that by the end of 2012, the Administration would avoid $50 billion in improper payments, cut Medicare fee-for-service errors in half, and recapture $2 billion in overpayments to contractors. Thanks to the Campaign to Cut Waste, the Administration is on track to meet or exceed these goals. Specifically, the Administration:
• Cut the 2011 government-wide error rate to 4.7 percent, a sharp decrease from the 2010 error rate of 5.3 percent and the 2009 error rate of 5.42 percent.
• Prevented $17.6 billion in wasteful improper payments as a result of the declining error rate. When combined with results from last year, the total amount of error avoided since 2009 totals over $20 billion. Also, for the first time in six years, the total amount of improper payments reported declined from the previous year.
• Recaptured over $1.2 billion in overpayments from government contractors last year. When combined with the roughly $700 million in overpayments recaptured in the previous year, the government is very near to achieving the President’s $2 billion mandate.
These results were driven by successes in specific programs where results are improving because Federal agencies are increasing scrutiny of payments by initiating more robust audits, leveraging new technologies, or building partnerships with States focused on improved program integrity. For example:
1) Medicare and Medicaid. The Medicare fee-for-service error rate fell from 9.1 percent in 2010 to 8.6 percent in 2011. Since 2009, the error rate has fallen more than 2 percentage points. The overall error rate for Medicare programs fell from 10.2 percent in 2010 to 8.6 percent in 2011. Since 2009, the error rate has fallen nearly 3.2 percentage points.
• Medicare fee-for-service avoided about $7 billion in payment errors.
• Medicare Part C avoided about $5 billion in payment errors.
• Medicare Part D reported a composite error rate for the first time, with an error rate of 3.2 percent, well below the government average.
• In addition, the error rate for Medicaid fell to 8.1 percent in 2011 from 9.4 percent in 2010, avoiding about $4 billion in payment errors since 2009.
2) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP – Formerly Food Stamps). The error rate for the SNAP program reached an all-time low, falling to 3.8 percent this year, avoiding a projected $800 million in payment errors compared to before the President issued his directive. The program has decreased its error rate every year of the Obama Administration. USDA also reduced the prevalence of trafficking to 1 percent. This decline can be attributed to USDA’s work with States reducing fraud and holding bad actors accountable. Using the latest technology to identify suspicious activity and putting boots on the ground to investigate it, USDA has permanently disqualified more than 8,300 retail stores over the last ten years. In fiscal year 2011, USDA conducted nearly 5,000 undercover investigations to counter fraud. In fiscal year 2010 alone, States conducted 847,000 fraud investigations, disqualified 44,000 individuals, and recovered $287 million in recipient claims.
3) Pell Grants. The error rate for Pell Grants went down to 2.7 percent (2011), avoiding roughly $300 million in payment errors compared to prior to the President’s directive. In 2010, the Department of Education implemented a process to allow Federal Student Aid applicants filling out online applications to go to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website to retrieve their income information and transfer it directly to their application. This process helps prevent improper payments in the Pell Grant Program by making it easier for students and parents to enter the correct tax return information and receive the correct amount of student aid. This reform simplified the aid application process and will continue to reduce improper payments further as more students use the system in future years.
Other major programs contributing to error rate reductions with improved results this year include the Earned Income Tax Credit (Treasury), Supplemental Security Income (Social Security Administration), and Rental Housing Assistance Programs (Housing and Urban Development).
New Steps to Catch More Waste and Fraud
The results announced today demonstrate that the government is on track to meet the President’s directive to prevent $50 billion in error by 2012 and the Administration will continue to ramp up efforts. Nine months ago, the President proposed in his 2012 Budget even more aggressive tools that will help drive down this waste. If Congress passes these proposals, they will result in more than $160 billion in savings to the Federal Government over the next decade. As part of a series of executive actions announced this fall because we can’t wait for Congressional Republicans to act, the Administration is launching new pilot programs to further the progress being made cutting waste and fraud in Medicare and Medicaid and stepping up efforts to bar bad actors who put taxpayer dollars at risk for waste and fraud from doing business with the Federal government.
“Today we have shown real progress in cutting waste, fraud and abuse, but we still need Congress to act on the President’s proposal,” said Secretary Sebelius. “Until Congress acts, we will continue doing everything in our power to save money on behalf of the American people.”
Secretary Sebelius announced that the Department of Health and Human Services will launch four additional pilots to reduce the error rate and cut Medicare and Medicaid waste and fraud:
• Let private inspectors catch wasteful spending before it happens by expanding the use of Recovery Audit Contractors. At HHS and other agencies, private recovery audit contractors normally review payments and identify errors after the payments are made. Then, the agency must track down and recover the improper payments. Last year, private companies recovered hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars by finding improper payments that have already been paid out. The agency will now allow private companies to screen certain hospital payments before they are made, which will prevent improper Medicare payments from happening in the first place.
• Test changes to outdated hospital billing system to help prevent over-billing. Hospitals sometimes perform services as inpatient that Medicare requires to be outpatient. Right now, when those hospitals bill Medicare, HHS does not allow them to re-bill as outpatient. Under this pilot, HHS will allow some claims that are incorrectly made under the inpatient program to be resubmitted under the outpatient program. This mistake—incorrect billing of services—is a leading cause of error in the Medicare program and wastes time and money in appeals.
• Change its process for approving payments for medical equipment with high error rates. One contributor to the Medicare improper payment rate is incorrect reimbursement for medical equipment that is not medically necessary. This change will allow HHS to pilot a new process for reviewing these medical equipment claims before they are made, thus helping to reduce Medicare improper payments.
• Work with States to improve fraud detection. HHS is initiating a pilot project under the Partnership Fund for Program Integrity Innovation to test an automated tool to screen providers for the risk of fraud. Currently, HHS and States lack standardized Medicaid provider data, which hampers detection of potential fraud. If successful, this tool will not only help prevent improper payments by weeding out fraudulent providers, but it will help States focus their resources where fraud is most likely to occur.
Additionally, OMB Director Jack Lew issued a memo to agencies today directing them to step up their oversight of contractors and grant recipients in order to eliminate unnecessary risk of waste, fraud and abuse. Specifically, the guidance directs agencies to strengthen their suspension and debarment procedures – tools that allow the Federal government to stop doing business with bad actors who put taxpayer dollars at risk.
Agency improper payment data is being updated Tuesday afternoon at www.paymentaccuracy.gov
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
As Americans, we have a responsibility to ensure future generations benefit from an abundance of natural resources and a healthy planet. To meet this obligation, we must take steps to consume carefully, recycle a wide variety of products and materials, and reuse whenever possible. On America Recycles Day, we celebrate the commitment of individuals across our country to live sustainably, and we rededicate ourselves to thoughtful resource management at home and in the workplace.
For decades, American families have advanced the common good of our Nation by recycling regularly and promoting conservation. During the First and Second World Wars, families participated in scrap drives, gathering cloth, paper, and metals for reuse in manufacturing that helped fuel our military and our economic growth. Since then, we have bolstered recycling programs through individual action, community engagement, and national initiatives, and we have broadened our efforts to include a vast array of pioneering industrial processes that will drive our clean economy and create green jobs. These advances cut waste, preserve our natural bounty, and spur the robust and sustainable economic growth that will carry us through this century and into the next.
To meet the economic and environmental challenges that confront our country today, we must update and expand existing recycling programs and dedicate ourselves to devising new strategies to accommodate emerging technologies. Our Nation generates over two million tons of used electronics annually, and without following proper recycling and management practices, the disposal of our old computers, monitors, and cell phones can release toxic materials into our environment, endanger human health, and prevent the recovery and reuse of valuable resources. For the well-being of our people and our planet, we must consider the full lifecycle impacts of our products and strive to manage our resources in a sustainable way.
To ensure America remains a global leader in developing new, sustainable electronics technologies, my Administration launched the National Strategy for Electronics Stewardship earlier this year. The strategy establishes a framework for responsible electronics design, purchasing, management, and recycling that will accelerate our burgeoning electronics recycling market and create jobs for the future here at home. To lead by example, my Administration is committed to efficient use, reuse, and proper disposal of electronics within the
Federal Government, and we are collaborating with certified recycling centers to handle and dispose of used electronics safely and effectively. We are also forging new partnerships with the private sector that will advance electronics recycling across our country. Through collaboration and shared responsibility, we are protecting public health, preserving environmental quality, and laying the foundation for a 21st century economy.
America Recycles Day offers us an opportunity to reflect on the remarkable strides we have made in the pursuit of sustainability, and to challenge ourselves to do even more. As we rise to meet this challenge, we fulfill a promise to our children that they will inherit a world more beautiful and prosperous than the one we received.
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 15, 2011, as America Recycles Day. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate programs and activities, and I encourage all Americans to continue their recycling efforts throughout the year.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand eleven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-sixth.
BARACK OBAMA
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
WASHINGTON, DC - President Obama today named nine individuals and eight organizations recipients of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. The mentors will receive their awards at a White House ceremony later this year.
The Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring, awarded by the White House to individuals and organizations, recognizes the crucial role that mentoring plays in the academic and personal development of students studying science and engineering—particularly those who belong to groups that are underrepresented in these fields. By offering their expertise and encouragement, mentors help prepare the next generation of scientists and engineers while ensuring that tomorrow’s innovators reflect and benefit from the diverse talent of the United States.
Candidates for the award are nominated by colleagues, administrators, and students in their home institutions. The mentoring can involve students at any grade level from elementary through graduate school. In addition to being honored at the White House, recipients receive awards of $25,000 from the National Science Foundation to advance their mentoring efforts. The mentors and organizations announced today represent the winners for 2010 and 2011.
“Through their commitment to education and innovation, these individuals and organizations are playing a crucial role in the development of our 21st century workforce,” President Obama said. “Our Nation owes them a debt of gratitude for helping ensure that America remains the global leader in science and engineering for years to come.”
The individuals and organizations receiving the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring are:
2010
• Solomon Bililign, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, NC
• Peggy Cebe, Tufts University, MA
• Roy Clarke, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI
• Amelito Enriquez, Cañada College, CA
• Karen Panetta, Tufts University, MA
• ACE Mentor Program of America, CT
• Ocean Discovery Institute, CA
• Women's Health Science Program for High School Girls and Beyond, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, IL
2011
• Winston Anderson, Howard University, DC
• Juan E. Gilbert, Clemson University, SC
• Shaik Jeelani, Tuskegee University, AL
• Andrew Tsin, University of Texas at San Antonio, TX
• Camp Reach, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, MA
• Diversity Programs in Engineering, Cornell University, NY
• The Mathematical and Theoretical Biology Institute, Arizona State University, AZ
• The Stanford Medical Youth Science Program, Stanford University, CA
• University of California San Francisco Science & Health Education Partnership High School Intern Program, CA
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
11:12 A.M. HAST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you! (Applause.) Thank you so much. Aloha. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you. Please, everybody have a seat. It is good to be home. (Applause.) It is wonderful to see somebody who actually knew my parents when they first met at the University of Hawaii -- the Governor of the great state of Hawaii, Neil Abercrombie, and his wonderful wife Nancie Caraway. Give them a big round of applause. (Applause.)
Lieutenant Governor Brian Schatz is here. (Applause.) Congresswoman Mazie Hirono. (Applause.) Please give a big round of applause to outstanding singer John Cruz. (Applause.) I want to thank Jeff Stone and all of our host committee, for helping to pull this together. (Applause.)
It is wonderful to be here, not just because the weather is perfect, but this has been a little trip down memory lane. I've got classmates who are here. I actually have Mr. Tory (sp), my -- (laughter) -- was it seventh grade or eighth grade teacher? (Laughter.) He looks great. Tenth grade. (Applause.) Tenth grade. He looks exactly the same. (Laughter.) I'm trying to figure out what he's eating. (Laughter.)
Now, somebody said -- they we're passing on greetings from a guy who went to Kamehameha who said he blocked my shot into the bleachers. (Laughter.) I didn't appreciate that. (Laughter.) And then somebody else said, this guy who says he went to kindergarten with you says hi. (Laughter.) And I got to admit I don't remember my kindergarten class. (Laughter.) But tell him I said hello as well.
It is great to be home, great to feel that aloha spirit. And Michelle and the girls will be back shortly for Christmas vacation, as we do every year. (Applause.) We'll see if Washington gets its business done, so I can get here as well. (Applause.) But that's always a challenge.
But I'm here today not just because I need your help, it's also because the country needs your help. There was a reason why so many of you worked so hard, poured your hearts into our campaign in 2008. And obviously there was a little bias here in Honolulu and here in Hawaii about the hometown kid. But it certainly wasn't because you thought it was going to be easy to elect me President. As Neil said, there was some skepticism about the prospects of my candidacy. I don't think that you would have, if you were looking for an easy campaign, you would have decided to support Barack Hussein Obama for President. (Laughter.) The polls did not tell you that I was a sure thing.
And besides, the campaign wasn't about me -- it was about a vision that we share for America. It wasn't a narrow, cramped vision of an America where everybody is left to fend for themselves. It was a vision of a big, generous, bold America, where we look out for one another. (Applause.) An America where everybody has a shot -- where everybody, if they work hard, if they take care of their responsibilities, if they look after their families, that they can get their piece of the American Dream.
That was what the campaign was about -- the belief that the more Americans succeed, the more America succeeds. And that's the vision we shared, and that was the change that we believed in. We knew it wouldn't come easy, we knew it wasn't going to come quickly, but three years later, because of what you did in 2008, we've already started to see what change looks like.
Let me give you some examples. Change is the first bill I signed into law -- a law that says an equal day's work should mean an equal day's pay, because our daughters should -- deserve the same opportunities as our sons do. (Applause.) That's what change looks like.
Change is the decision we made -- not a popular one at the time -- to save the auto industry from collapse. There were a lot of folks who said, let Detroit go bankrupt. But we decided to not only save thousands of jobs, get hundreds of local businesses thriving again, but we are now seeing fuel-efficient cars rolling off the assembly lines, stamped with three proud words: Made in America. And those are going to be exported all around the world. That's because of you. (Applause.) Because of the change that you brought.
Change is the decision we made to stop waiting for Congress to do something about our oil addiction and finally raise our fuel-efficiency standards on our cars and on our trucks. And now, by the next decade, we'll be driving cars that get 56 miles per gallon. And that means that we are not only saving consumers money, but we're also taking carbon out of the atmosphere, and it is going to make a huge difference in terms of our environment, and that's because of you and the campaign that you helped run in 2008.
Change is the fight that we won to stop sending $60 billion in taxpayer subsidies to the banks that were giving out student loans, and today that money is going directly to students. And as a consequence, there are millions of young people all across the country who have less of a debt burden and are better able to afford college. That's because of you, because of the work that you did. (Applause.)
Change is health care reform. (Applause.) After a century of trying, a reform that will finally make sure that nobody goes bankrupt in America just because they get sick. And by the way, change is the 1 million young Americans who are already receiving insurance that weren't getting it before, because they can now stay on their parent's health insurance until they're 26 years old. That's a change that you made. At the same time, it provides everybody protection, so that if you get sick, if you have a preexisting condition, you can still afford to get health insurance -- you'll still have access to quality care. That's the kind of changes that you brought about because of the work you did in 2008.
Change is the fact that, for the first time in history, it doesn't matter who you love if you want to serve this country that we all love. (Applause.) We ended "don't ask, don't tell" because of the change that you made.
And change is keeping one of the first promises I made in my campaign in 2008 -- we are bringing the war in Iraq to a close. By the end of this year all our troops will be home for the holidays. (Applause.)
And we've been working smarter and more effectively on national security, and that is why we have decimated al Qaeda -- it's weaker than it's ever been before. And Osama bin Laden will never walk this Earth again. (Applause.) But we've been able to do it while sticking to our values.
I was asked yesterday at a press conference about waterboarding. We didn't need to resort to that in order to protect our homeland and protect the people we love. (Applause.)
Now, many of these changes weren't easy. Some of them were risky. Many of them came in the face of tough opposition and powerful lobbyists and special interests that were pouring millions of dollars into television ads to try to keep things just as they were. And it's no secret that the steps that we took weren't always politically popular. But this progress has been possible because of you -- because you stood up and made your voices heard; because you knocked on doors and you made phone calls and you got in arguments with family members at Thanksgiving and -- (laughter.) You kept up the fight for change long after the election was over. And that should make you proud. It should make you hopeful. But it can't make us satisfied. It can't make us complacent, because we've got so much more work to do.
Everything we fought for in the last election is now at stake in the next election. The very core of what this country stands for is on the line. The basic promise that no matter who you are or where you come from, what you look like, that you can make it in America if you try -- that vision is on the line.
This financial and economic crisis that we've been through, it struck months before I took office, and it put more Americans out of work than at any time since the Great Depression. But it was also the culmination of a decade in which the middle class was falling further and further behind. More good jobs in manufacturing left our shores. More of our prosperity was built on risky financial deals instead of us actually making stuff. We racked up bigger and bigger piles of debt, even as incomes fell and wages flat-lined and the cost of everything from college to health care kept on going up. All those things were taking place long before the 2008 financial crisis.
So these problems didn't happen overnight, and the truth is they won't be solved overnight. It's going to take a few more years to meet the challenges that have been a decade in the making. And I think the American people understand that.
What they don't understand is leaders who refuse to take action. They don't understand a Congress that can't seem to move with a sense of urgency about the problems that America is facing. (Applause.) What they're sick and tired of is watching the people who are supposed to represent them put party ahead of country, and the next election before the next generation.
President Kennedy used to say that, after he took office, what surprised him most about Washington was finding out that things were just as bad as he'd been saying they were. (Laughter.) I can relate. (Laughter.) When you've got the top Republican in the Senate saying that his party's number-one priority isn't putting people back to work, isn't trying to fix the economy, but is to try to defeat me, you've got a sense that things in Washington aren't really on the level.
That's how you end up with Republicans in Congress voting against all kinds of jobs proposals that they actually supported in the past -- tax cuts for workers and small business; rebuilding our roads and our bridges; putting cops and teachers back to work. These aren’t partisan issues. These are common-sense approaches to putting people back to work at a time when the unemployment rate is way too high. But politics seems to override everything in Washington these days. And people are tired of it, and they expect it to change.
They might think it’s a smart political strategy, but it’s not a strategy to make America stronger. It’s not a strategy to relieve some of the pain and difficulty that families are feeling all across the country, including here in Hawaii. It’s not a strategy to help middle-class families who've been working two and three shifts just to put food on the table -- if they can find a job. It’s not a strategy for us winning the future.
So we’ve got a choice in 2012. The question is not whether people are still hurting. The question is whether -- it’s not whether our economy is still on the mend. There’s no doubt that things are tough right now. Of course people are hurting. Of course the economy is still struggling. The question is what do we do about it? The debate we need to have in this election is about where we go from here.
And the Republicans in Congress and the candidates running for President, they’ve got a very specific idea of where they want to take this country. To their credit, they’re not hiding it. Watch these debates. (Laughter.) They want to reduce the deficit by gutting our investment in education, in research and technology, our investment in rebuilding our roads and our bridges and our airports and our ports.
Now, I believe that since I already signed a trillion dollars worth of spending cuts and have proposed to make even more, it’s time to reduce the deficit not just by cutting, but also by asking the wealthiest among, the most fortunate among us, to do a little more to pay their fair share. (Applause.)
And, by the way, most folks who can afford it, they’re willing to do a little bit more to make this country stronger. They just want to make sure that if they’re doing a little bit more, the government is working a little bit better; that the money is being spent well; that it’s going to things like education that are critical to our future.
The Republicans in Congress and on the campaign trail want to make Medicare a form of private insurance that seniors have to shop for with a voucher that probably will not cover all of the cost. I believe we can lower the cost of Medicare with reforms that still guarantee a dignified retirement that our seniors have earned.
And, by the way, I speak as somebody who it was only a couple of years ago when I was here watching my grandmother fade away. And she had had a successful career at Bank of Hawaii. She had the kind of retirement that a lot of people don’t have these days. But knowing that Medicare was there for her made all the difference in the world. This is not an abstraction. Everybody here has a family member who knows how important that is.
The Republicans in Congress and these folks on the campaign trail, they think the best way for America to compete for new jobs and businesses is to follow other countries in a race to the bottom. Since places like China allow companies to pay low wages, they want to roll back the minimum wage and the right to organize here at home.
Since other countries don’t have the same anti-pollution measures that we have -- dirtier air, dirtier water -- their attitude is, let’s go ahead and pollute. That’s how we’re going to compete.
Now, I don’t think that we should have any more regulations than the health and the safety of the American people require. That’s why I’ve already made reforms that will save businesses billions of dollars, and why we put in place fewer regulations than the Bush administration did in its first two years.
Think about that. When you’re watching television and everybody is talking about how the Obama administration is regulating businesses to death, we’ve actually put fewer regulations in place, smarter regulations in place, with much higher benefit at much lower cost. That’s our track record.
But I don’t believe, even as we’re reforming our regulatory system, that we should have a race to the bottom. We’re not going to the win the competition in the Asia Pacific region by seeing if we can have the lowest wages and the worst pollution. We can’t win that race. We’ve got to have the highest-skilled workers, the best infrastructure, the most dynamic innovation economy. That’s the race that we can win. That should be our focus.
We should be competing to make our schools the envy of the world; to give our workers the best skills and training; to put college educations within the reach of anybody who is willing to work hard. We should be in a race to give our business the ability to move people and services quickly and effectively all around the world. We should be in a race to make those investments in NIH and the National Science Foundation, and all the things that help to create to the Internet and GPS -- those things that have created entire new industries.
We should be focused on clean energy. Folks here in Hawaii understand that we can’t keep on doing business the way we’re doing it. We’ve got to start changing. And it gives us enormous opportunities for jobs and growth. That should be the race that we’re trying to win.
We should make sure that the next generation of manufacturing takes route not in Asia, not in Europe, but right here in the United States of America. I don’t want this nation just to be known for its consumption; I want us to be known for building and producing things, and selling those goods all around the world. That’s what this APEC conference has been about.
So this competition for new jobs and businesses and middle-class security, that’s the race I know we can win. But you don’t win it by saying every American is on their own. We’re not going to win it if we just hand out more tax cuts to people who don’t need them, let companies play by their own rules without any restriction, and we just hope somehow that the success of the wealthiest few translates in the prosperity for everybody else.
We have tried that, by the way. We tried it for 10 years. It’s part of what got into the mess that we’re in. It doesn’t work. It didn’t work for Herbert Hoover, when it was called trickle-down economics during the Depression. It didn’t work between 2000 and 2008, and it won’t work today. And the reason it won’t work is because we are not a country that is built on survival of the fittest. That’s not who we are. We believe in the survival of the nation. We believe that we all have a stake in each other’s success; that if we can attract outstanding teachers to a profession by giving that teacher the pay that she deserves, that teacher goes on and educates the next Steve Jobs. And then suddenly we’ve got a whole new business, whole new industry -- and everybody can succeed.
We believe that if we provide faster Internet service to rural America or parts that have been left out of the Internet revolution, so that a store owner can now sell goods around the world, or if we build a new bridge that saves the shipping company time and money, then workers and customers all around the world are going to prosper. That is not a Democratic idea or a Republican idea. That is an American idea.
There was a Republican named Abraham Lincoln -- you may have heard of him -- who launched the Transcontinental Railroad, the National Academy of Science, the first land grant colleges. He understood that we’ve got to make investments in our common future. There was a Republican, Teddy Roosevelt, who called for a progressive income tax -- not a Democrat. There was a Republican named Dwight Eisenhower, who built the Interstate Highway System. It was with the help of Republicans in Congress that FDR gave millions of returning heroes, including my grandfather, the chance to go to college on the G.I. Bill.
And that same spirit of common purpose I believe exists today; it just doesn’t exist in Washington. But it exists among the American people. It exists here in Hawaii.
When I get out of the capital, I see it all the time -- when you talk to people on Main Streets and in town halls. It's there when people get asked if they think you should build a new road or invest in clean energy or put teachers back in the classroom, and they’ll say absolutely -- huge majorities -- Democrats, Republicans and independents.
It’s there when folks who are asked if the wealthiest Americans should pay their fair share. A majority -- Democrats, independents, Republicans -- and the majority of wealthy folks, say, yes, that’s a good idea for us to be able to lower our deficit and still invest in our future.
So our politics in Washington may be divided, but most Americans still understand that we can do more if we do it together; that no matter who we are or where we come from, we rise or fall as one nation and one people. And that’s what’s at stake right now. That’s what this election is about.
I know it’s been a tough three years, and I know that the change that we fought for in 2008 hasn’t always been easy. There have been setbacks. There have been false starts. And sometimes, it may be tempting to believe that, ah, Washington, you just can’t change. So remember what I always used to say during the campaign. Even on inauguration night I said it. I said real change, big change is hard. It takes time. It takes more than a single term. It takes more than a single President. It takes all of you. It takes ordinary citizens who are committed to continuing to fight and to push, to keep inching our country closer and closer to our ideals.
That’s how a band of colonials were able to create this incredible country, just out of an idea, a revolutionary idea. That’s how the greatest generation was able to overcome more than a decade of war and depression, to build the greatest middle class on Earth. That’s how we got the civil rights movement. That’s how we got the women’s rights movement. Inch by inch, step by step. Change is hard and it takes time. But in America, it’s always been possible.
And so I hope that all of you recommit yourselves and feel just as energized about 2012 as you did in 2008. And I’ll remind you of something else that I said back then. I said, I am not a perfect man and I will not be a perfect President. Michelle can testify to that. (Laughter.) But you know what I also promised in 2008? I said I would always tell you what I believe. I will always tell you where I stand. And I’ll wake up every single day fighting for you and that vision of America that we share. (Applause.)
So if all of you still believe, if all of you still have hope -- you may not have the old posters from 2008 -- (laughter) -- but if you share that vision and determination to see it through, if you are willing to do just what you did in 2008 and maybe even a little more -- knocking on doors and making phone calls, and getting people involved and getting people engaged -- I guarantee you we will not just win an election, but more importantly, we will continue this country on a journey that makes sure that our children and our grandchildren have a better future. And we will remind the entire world just why it is that the United States of America is the greatest country on Earth.
Thank you very much, everybody. God bless you. (Applause.) God bless America. Thank you.
END 11:37 A.M. HAST
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
TO THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES:
I transmit herewith, for the advice and consent of the Senate to its ratification, the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter, and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing, done at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in Rome, Italy, on November 22, 2009 (the "Agreement"). I also transmit, for the information of the Senate, the report of the Department of State with respect to the Agreement.
The Agreement established, for the first time at the global level, legally binding minimum standards for port states to control port access by foreign fishing vessels, as well as by foreign transport and supply ships that support fishing vessels. The Agreement also encourages Parties to apply similar measures to their own vessels. Involved Federal agencies and stakeholders strongly support the Agreement. The Agreement establishes practical provisions to prevent fish from illegal, unreported, and unregulated fisheries from entering the stream of commerce. If widely ratified and properly implemented, the Agreement will thereby serve as a valuable tool in combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing worldwide.
The legislation necessary to implement the Agreement will be submitted separately to the Congress. I recommend that the Senate give early and favorable consideration to this Agreement and give its advice and consent to ratification.
BARACK OBAMA
THE WHITE HOUSE,
November 14, 2011.
