President Obama Continues the Push for Middle Class Tax Cuts

Matt Compton
Matt Compton
August 03, 2012
03:38 PM EDT

President Barack Obama delivers remarks on extending tax cuts for the middle class (August 3, 2012)

President Barack Obama delivers remarks on extending tax cuts for the middle class, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, South Court Auditorium, Aug. 3, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Sonya N. Hebert)

Unless the the House of Representatives takes action before January 1, a typical middle-class family of four will see their taxes go up by $2,200 in the coming year.

President Obama is fighting to prevent that from happening, and today, he again pushed lawmakers to get this done.

"What we should do right now is give middle-class families and small business owners a guarantee that their taxes will not go up next year," he said. "When families have the security of knowing that their taxes won’t go up they’re more likely to spend, and more likely to grow the economy. When small business owners have certainty on taxes and can plan ahead they’re more likely to hire and create new jobs. And that benefits all of us."

Related Topics: Economy, Taxes

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
August 03, 2012

Statement by the Press Secretary on H.R. 2527 and S. 1335

On Friday, August 3, 2012, the President signed into law:

H.R. 2527, the “National Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Act,” which requires the Department of the Treasury to mint and issue coins in recognition and celebration of the National Baseball Hall of Fame; and

S. 1335, the “Pilot’s Bill of Rights,” which enables an individual who is the subject of a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigation relating to pilot certification to gain access from the FAA to data that would facilitate the individual’s ability to participate in an investigation proceeding; and authorizes an individual affected by an order of the National Transportation Safety Board upholding an FAA decision relating to pilot certification to file an appeal in an appropriate Federal district court or Federal court of appeals.

President Obama on Extending Middle-Class Tax Breaks

August 03, 2012 | 10:32 | Public Domain

Rebuilding our economy starts with strengthening the middle class. Extending tax breaks on 98 percent of families now would give hard working Americans the security and confidence they need.

Download mp4 (371MB) | mp3 (24MB)

Read the Transcript

Remarks by the President on Tax Cuts for the Middle Class

South Court Auditorium

12:00 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, everybody.  (Applause.)  Good morning.  Thank you.  Thank you so much.  Everybody, please have a seat.  Have a seat.  Well, it is great to see all of you, and I hope you guys are having a wonderful summer. 

I am joined here today by moms and dads, husbands and wives, middle-class Americans who work hard every single day to provide for their families.  And like most Americans, they work hard and they don’t ask for much.  They do expect, however, that their hard work is going to pay off.  They want to know that if they put in enough effort, if they are acting responsibly, then they can afford to pay the bills; that they can afford to own a home that they call their own; that they can afford to secure their retirement; and most of all, that they can afford to give their kids greater opportunity -- that their children and grandchildren can achieve things that they didn’t even imagine.

Every single decision that I make is focused on giving them that chance -- because if we want to keep moving this country forward, these are the folks who are going to get us there.  

This morning, we learned that our businesses created 172,000 new jobs in the month of July.  That means that we've now created 4.5 million new jobs over the last 29 months -- and 1.1 million new jobs so far this year.  Those are our neighbors and family members finding work, and the security that comes with work.

But let’s acknowledge, we’ve still got too many folks out there who are looking for work.  We’ve got more work to do on their behalf -- not only to reclaim all the jobs that were lost during the recession, but also to reclaim the kind of financial security that too many Americans have felt was slipping away from them for too long. 

And we knew when I started in this job that this was going to take some time.  We haven’t had to come back from an economic crisis this deep or this painful since the 1930s.  But we also knew that if we were persistent, if we kept at it and kept working, that we’d gradually get to where we need to be.

Here’s the thing.  We are not going to get there, we’re not going to get to where we need to be if we go back to the policies that helped to create this mess in the first place.  And the last thing that we should be doing is asking middle-class families who are still struggling to recover from this recession to pay more in taxes.

Rebuilding a strong economy begins with rebuilding our middle class.  And what we should do right now is give middle-class families and small business owners a guarantee that their taxes will not go up next year.  When families have the security of knowing that their taxes won’t go up they’re more likely to spend, and more likely to grow the economy.  When small business owners have certainty on taxes and can plan ahead they’re more likely to hire and create new jobs.  And that benefits all of us.

And that’s why, last week, I was pleasantly surprised -- I was glad to see the Senate come together and extend tax cuts on the first $250,000 of every family’s income.  That means 98 percent of Americans won’t see their income taxes go up next year.  That means that 97 percent of small businesses wouldn’t see their income taxes go up next year.  Not a single dime.  That would be important.

And that’s why it’s so disappointing that, so far at least, House Republicans have refused to follow the Senate’s example and do the same thing.  On Wednesday, they voted to hold these middle-class tax cuts hostage unless we also spend a trillion dollars over the next decade on tax breaks for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans.  In fact, it’s a little worse than that because their plan would actually raise taxes on 25 million hardworking American families by about $1,000 each. 

So, at a time when too many working families are already struggling to make ends meet, they want to give millionaires and billionaires and folks like me tax cuts that we don’t need and that the country can’t afford, even if middle-class families have to pick up the tab for it.  Those are their priorities.

And this week, we learned that there's some in the Republican Party who don’t want to stop there.  An independent, non-partisan study found that one plan at least would give more tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires, and they’d pay for those tax cuts by raising taxes on the middle class -- an average tax hike of more than $2,000 for families with children. 

Now, I just think we’ve got our priorities skewed if the notion is that we give tax breaks to folks who don't need them and, to help pay for that, we tax folks who are already struggling to get by.  That's not how you grow an economy.  You grow an economy from the middle out, and from the bottom up.  And the kind of approach that the House Republicans are talking about is bad for our families and it’s bad for our economy. 

The people standing behind me should not have to pay more just so the wealthiest Americans can pay less.  That’s not just top-down economics, that's upside-down economics.  (Laughter.)

Instead of the middle class paying more, we should ask the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more, a modest amount, so that we can reduce our deficit and still make investments in things like education that help our economy grow. 

And keep in mind, we're talking about folks like me going back to the tax rates that existed under Bill Clinton.  If you remember, that was when we created 23 million new jobs, we went from deficits to surplus, and folks at the top did well, too -- because when middle-class families have money in their pockets, they go out and buy that new car, or that new appliance, or that new computer for their kids, or they go out to a restaurant, or, heaven forbid, they take a vacation once in a while.  And that money goes back into the economy, and businesses do well because they've got more customers.

And here's the thing -- there are a lot of well-to-do Americans, patriotic Americans, who understand this and are willing to do the right thing, willing to do their part to make this country strong.

So, for those of you who are keeping score at home, here’s where we stand.  We might have a whole bunch of disagreements with folks in the other party on whether it’s a good idea to spend more money giving tax breaks to millionaires or billionaires.  And frankly, that issue is probably not going to be resolved until after November.  In the meantime, though, we say we all agree on extending tax cuts for middle-class families. The House says it agrees.  The Senate has already shown that it agrees.  And I certainly agree.  So let’s at least work on what we agree on. 

Let’s keep taxes low for 98 percent of Americans, and we can argue about the other 2 percent.  Let's keep taxes low for the 97 percent of small business owners, and we can argue about the other 3 percent.  If Congress sends me a clean bill extending the tax cuts on the first $250,000 of every family’s income, I will sign it right away.  (Applause.)  I will sign it right away.

There’s no reason to wait.  There’s no reason to make families and small businesses anxious just so one party can score political points.  Let’s go ahead and give them that guarantee now that their taxes won’t go up next year. 

And keep in mind -- just one last point I want to make -- we're saying nobody's income taxes go up on the first $250,000 of their income.  So even somebody who makes more than $250,000 is still getting a tax break on their first $250.000.  Yuu understand?  Even somebody who's worth $200 million -- on that first $250,000 they're still paying lower taxes.

It's the right thing to do.  It's the smart thing to do.  It would be good for the economy, and most importantly, it would be good for your families.

So we're going to have plenty to argue about in the next three months, and probably in the next five years.  (Laughter.)  This shouldn’t be one of those things we argue about.  (Applause.) 

Let’s do what the American people sent us here to do.  Let's work on those things we can agree on; let's make progress; let's do right by the people behind me, and the millions of Americans that they represent.  I’m going to be fighting every single day to make sure that you have opportunity.  I expect, and I hope, that Congress will do the same.

So, thank you very much, everybody.  God bless you.  God bless America.  And have a great weekend.  (Applause.)

END             
12:12 P.M. EDT

Close Transcript

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
August 03, 2012

Remarks by the President on Tax Cuts for the Middle Class

South Court Auditorium

12:00 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, everybody.  (Applause.)  Good morning.  Thank you.  Thank you so much.  Everybody, please have a seat.  Have a seat.  Well, it is great to see all of you, and I hope you guys are having a wonderful summer. 

I am joined here today by moms and dads, husbands and wives, middle-class Americans who work hard every single day to provide for their families.  And like most Americans, they work hard and they don’t ask for much.  They do expect, however, that their hard work is going to pay off.  They want to know that if they put in enough effort, if they are acting responsibly, then they can afford to pay the bills; that they can afford to own a home that they call their own; that they can afford to secure their retirement; and most of all, that they can afford to give their kids greater opportunity -- that their children and grandchildren can achieve things that they didn’t even imagine.

Every single decision that I make is focused on giving them that chance -- because if we want to keep moving this country forward, these are the folks who are going to get us there.  

This morning, we learned that our businesses created 172,000 new jobs in the month of July.  That means that we've now created 4.5 million new jobs over the last 29 months -- and 1.1 million new jobs so far this year.  Those are our neighbors and family members finding work, and the security that comes with work.

But let’s acknowledge, we’ve still got too many folks out there who are looking for work.  We’ve got more work to do on their behalf -- not only to reclaim all the jobs that were lost during the recession, but also to reclaim the kind of financial security that too many Americans have felt was slipping away from them for too long. 

And we knew when I started in this job that this was going to take some time.  We haven’t had to come back from an economic crisis this deep or this painful since the 1930s.  But we also knew that if we were persistent, if we kept at it and kept working, that we’d gradually get to where we need to be.

Here’s the thing.  We are not going to get there, we’re not going to get to where we need to be if we go back to the policies that helped to create this mess in the first place.  And the last thing that we should be doing is asking middle-class families who are still struggling to recover from this recession to pay more in taxes.

Rebuilding a strong economy begins with rebuilding our middle class.  And what we should do right now is give middle-class families and small business owners a guarantee that their taxes will not go up next year.  When families have the security of knowing that their taxes won’t go up they’re more likely to spend, and more likely to grow the economy.  When small business owners have certainty on taxes and can plan ahead they’re more likely to hire and create new jobs.  And that benefits all of us.

And that’s why, last week, I was pleasantly surprised -- I was glad to see the Senate come together and extend tax cuts on the first $250,000 of every family’s income.  That means 98 percent of Americans won’t see their income taxes go up next year.  That means that 97 percent of small businesses wouldn’t see their income taxes go up next year.  Not a single dime.  That would be important.

And that’s why it’s so disappointing that, so far at least, House Republicans have refused to follow the Senate’s example and do the same thing.  On Wednesday, they voted to hold these middle-class tax cuts hostage unless we also spend a trillion dollars over the next decade on tax breaks for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans.  In fact, it’s a little worse than that because their plan would actually raise taxes on 25 million hardworking American families by about $1,000 each. 

So, at a time when too many working families are already struggling to make ends meet, they want to give millionaires and billionaires and folks like me tax cuts that we don’t need and that the country can’t afford, even if middle-class families have to pick up the tab for it.  Those are their priorities.

And this week, we learned that there's some in the Republican Party who don’t want to stop there.  An independent, non-partisan study found that one plan at least would give more tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires, and they’d pay for those tax cuts by raising taxes on the middle class -- an average tax hike of more than $2,000 for families with children. 

Now, I just think we’ve got our priorities skewed if the notion is that we give tax breaks to folks who don't need them and, to help pay for that, we tax folks who are already struggling to get by.  That's not how you grow an economy.  You grow an economy from the middle out, and from the bottom up.  And the kind of approach that the House Republicans are talking about is bad for our families and it’s bad for our economy. 

The people standing behind me should not have to pay more just so the wealthiest Americans can pay less.  That’s not just top-down economics, that's upside-down economics.  (Laughter.)

Instead of the middle class paying more, we should ask the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more, a modest amount, so that we can reduce our deficit and still make investments in things like education that help our economy grow. 

And keep in mind, we're talking about folks like me going back to the tax rates that existed under Bill Clinton.  If you remember, that was when we created 23 million new jobs, we went from deficits to surplus, and folks at the top did well, too -- because when middle-class families have money in their pockets, they go out and buy that new car, or that new appliance, or that new computer for their kids, or they go out to a restaurant, or, heaven forbid, they take a vacation once in a while.  And that money goes back into the economy, and businesses do well because they've got more customers.

And here's the thing -- there are a lot of well-to-do Americans, patriotic Americans, who understand this and are willing to do the right thing, willing to do their part to make this country strong.

So, for those of you who are keeping score at home, here’s where we stand.  We might have a whole bunch of disagreements with folks in the other party on whether it’s a good idea to spend more money giving tax breaks to millionaires or billionaires.  And frankly, that issue is probably not going to be resolved until after November.  In the meantime, though, we say we all agree on extending tax cuts for middle-class families. The House says it agrees.  The Senate has already shown that it agrees.  And I certainly agree.  So let’s at least work on what we agree on. 

Let’s keep taxes low for 98 percent of Americans, and we can argue about the other 2 percent.  Let's keep taxes low for the 97 percent of small business owners, and we can argue about the other 3 percent.  If Congress sends me a clean bill extending the tax cuts on the first $250,000 of every family’s income, I will sign it right away.  (Applause.)  I will sign it right away.

There’s no reason to wait.  There’s no reason to make families and small businesses anxious just so one party can score political points.  Let’s go ahead and give them that guarantee now that their taxes won’t go up next year. 

And keep in mind -- just one last point I want to make -- we're saying nobody's income taxes go up on the first $250,000 of their income.  So even somebody who makes more than $250,000 is still getting a tax break on their first $250.000.  Yuu understand?  Even somebody who's worth $200 million -- on that first $250,000 they're still paying lower taxes.

It's the right thing to do.  It's the smart thing to do.  It would be good for the economy, and most importantly, it would be good for your families.

So we're going to have plenty to argue about in the next three months, and probably in the next five years.  (Laughter.)  This shouldn’t be one of those things we argue about.  (Applause.) 

Let’s do what the American people sent us here to do.  Let's work on those things we can agree on; let's make progress; let's do right by the people behind me, and the millions of Americans that they represent.  I’m going to be fighting every single day to make sure that you have opportunity.  I expect, and I hope, that Congress will do the same.

So, thank you very much, everybody.  God bless you.  God bless America.  And have a great weekend.  (Applause.)

END             
12:12 P.M. EDT

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
August 03, 2012

Statement by the President on the Departure of Cass Sunstein

For the last three and a half years, Cass Sunstein has helped drive a series of historic accomplishments on behalf of the American people.  From putting in place lifesaving protections for America’s families, to eliminating tens of millions of hours of paperwork burdens for our nation’s citizens and businesses, Cass has shown that it is possible to support economic growth without sacrificing health, safety, and the environment.  Cass has shepherded our review of existing rules to get rid of those that cost too much or no longer make sense, an effort that is already on track to save billions of dollars.  With these reforms and his tenacious promotion of cost-benefit analysis, his efforts will benefit Americans for years to come.  I can’t thank him enough for his friendship and for his years of exceptional service.

West Wing Week 08/03/12, or “98 & 98”

Adam Garber
Adam Garber
August 03, 2012
12:00 AM EDT

This week, the First Lady brought ‘Let’s Move!’ to the Summer Olympics, the President signed both the US-Israel Enhanced Security bill and HEARTH act, hosted twelve new Ambassadors to the United States, and met with inspirational groups of young people, both the PECASE science and engineering early career award winners and the 98 boys and 98 girls of the 2012 American Legion.  That’s July 27th to August 2nd or “98 & 98.”

Watch the West Wing Week here.

Related Topics: Inside the White House, Pennsylvania

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
August 02, 2012

Remarks by the President at Campaign Event -- Leesburg, VA

Loudoun County High School
Leesburg, Virginia

8:06 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  How’s it going, Leesburg!  (Applause.)  It is good to be back in Virginia.  (Applause.) 

A couple of people I want to acknowledge.  First of all, please give Dana a big round of applause.  (Applause.)  You can tell she’s a good teacher and we’re so proud of her.  And I also want to acknowledge -- Mayor Kristen Umstattd is here.  (Applause.)  And thank you to all the neighborhood team leaders who are here -- thank you for your great work.  (Applause.)

The other thing I want to do is just to acknowledge our unbelievable U.S. athletes who are representing us in London -- (applause) -- including Virginia’s own Gabby Douglas.  (Applause.)

AUDIENCE:  USA!  USA!  USA!

THE PRESIDENT:  USA!  USA!

I had a chance to talk to Gabby and her teammates after they won the team competition and I told them, you know, I’m impressed with the swimmers.  And when the running comes, I’m going to be impressed with that.  But, even though I’m a lot slower, I understand how you run and how you swim.  I do not understand how, on this little balance beam, you’re flipping around.  I don’t get that.  (Laughter.)  I can barely do a somersault.  (Laughter.)  Unbelievable.  So we could not be prouder of Gabby. We could not be prouder of her teammates.  And we could not be prouder of all our American athletes.  (Applause.)

And, you know, it’s a useful reminder that even when we have these major debates back home, when we go overseas, we’re not Democrats, we’re not Republicans or independents.  We are Americans.  That’s what we’re about.  (Applause.) 

Now, unless you’ve been able to hide your television set, or your cable is busted, you may know that there is a pretty intense campaign going on right now.  (Laughter.)  And the reason that it’s so intense is because so much is at stake.  The choice that we face in November could not be bigger.  It’s not just a choice between two candidates.  It’s not just a choice between two parties.  More than any election in recent memory, this is a choice between two fundamentally different paths for our country -- two fundamentally different visions of where we need to go.

And the direction that we choose -- the direction that all of you will choose when you walk into that voting booth in November is going to have a direct impact not just on your lives, it will have an impact on your children’s lives and your grandchildren’s lives.  It will affect us for decades to come. 

Now, four years ago, we came together not just as Democrats, but also independents, Republicans -- we came together because we wanted to restore a basic bargain that made us the country that we are -- the core idea that made us the most prosperous economy in the history of the world.  And it’s a simple idea.  It’s a bargain that says if you work hard, that work should be rewarded. It’s a deal that says if you put in enough effort and you act responsibly, then you can find a job that pays the bills, and you can afford a home that you call your own, that you can count on health care if you get sick, and you can put away enough money to retire with dignity and respect.  (Applause.)  And most of all, it’s an idea that we can give our children the kind of education that allows them to dream even bigger dreams and do even better than we did.  That's at the heart of who we are.  That's the American promise.  (Applause.)

And let’s face it, part of the reason why we had so much energy in the 2008 campaign was because we understood that we had seen a decade where that basic bargain wasn’t being met.  Families were working harder and harder, but their incomes were actually stagnating, while the costs of everything from health care to college were going up.  We went from a surplus to a record deficit because of tax cuts we didn't pay for and because of two wars that we put on a credit card.  And it all culminated in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. 

So we understood that restoring that basic American idea, that if you work hard, you can get ahead that is at the heart of the middle class, the heart of who we are -- we knew restoring that was not going to be easy, and it would take more than one year, and it would take more than one term, and it would probably take more than one President.  And that was before the middle class was hammered by this crisis that robbed too many of our friends and neighbors of their jobs and their homes and their savings,and pushed the American Dream even further out of reach for too many working families.

But you know what, over the last three and a half years, we’ve shown we can make progress.  Over the last three and a half years, we’ve been able to create 4.5 million jobs and half a million jobs in manufacturing, and we’ve saved an auto industry. (Applause.)  The economy is growing.  And we know we’ve got more work to do, but it’s given us a sense of what it means to move forward and not back.  (Applause.) 

And what’s also given us confidence is there’s one thing that this crisis has not changed -- it hasn’t changed who we are. It hasn’t changed our character.  It hasn’t changed what made us great.  It hasn’t changed why we came together to do what we did in 2008.  It just made our mission more urgent.  We are here to build an economy where hard work pays off, where responsibility is rewarded so that no matter who you are, no matter what you look like, no matter where you came from, no matter what your last name is, here in America you can make it if you try.  (Applause.)

That's what this campaign is about.  That's what this campaign is about, Leesburg.  And that's why I’m running for a second term as President of the United States of America.  (Applause.)  

AUDIENCE:  Four more years!  Four more years!  Four more years!

THE PRESIDENT:  Now, like I said, we’ve still got a lot of work to do.

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We love you, Obama!

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

But we’ve still got a lot of work to do.  We’ve still got millions of people out there who are looking for work.  Too many homes are still underwater.  And we recognize there are no quick fixes or easy solutions to all the problems we face.  But there is no doubt in my mind that we’ve got the capacity to meet these challenges. 

Think about what we've got going for us.  We've got the best workers in the world.  (Applause.)  We've got the best entrepreneurs in the world.  (Applause.)  We've got the best scientists and researchers in the world.  We've got the best colleges and the best universities in the world.  We're a young nation, with the greatest diversity of talent and ingenuity -- Loudoun County is a great example of it.  (Applause.)  People coming here from every corner of the globe looking for opportunity. 

So no matter what the naysayers say, no matter how dark the other side tries to paint the situation, there is not a country on Earth that would not gladly trade places with the United States of America.  (Applause.)
 
So what’s standing in our way is not the lack of technical solutions.  It's not the lack of ideas that will help move us forward.  What's holding us back right now is politics in Washington.  It's a stalemate.  It's a stalemate that results from the uncompromising view of --

AUDIENCE:  Booo --

THE PRESIDENT:  -- this idea that the only thing we can do is go back to the same top-down economics that didn’t work and got us into this mess in the first place.

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  I mean, look, Mr. Romney and his allies in Congress, they've got a very simple set of ideas when it comes to the economy.  Their basic theory is if they cut taxes more for the wealthy, and if they get rid of regulations -- some of which have been on the books for decades, some of which we put in place to rein in Wall Street after this latest debacle, some of which we put in to make sure that health insurance companies aren’t taking advantage of you, some of which we put in place to make sure that credit card companies or financial institutions are treating consumers fairly -- the notion is that somehow if we get rid of those regulations and we give more tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans, this will all lead to jobs and prosperity for everybody.

AUDIENCE:  Booo --

THE PRESIDENT:  Look, that is their idea.  That is what they are proposing.  That's where they will take us if they win.  The centerpiece of Governor Romney's entire economic plan is a new, $5 trillion tax cut.  This is on top of the Bush tax cuts. 

Now, we’ve known for a while that a lot of this tax cut would go to the wealthiest 1 percent of all households.  We knew that.  But yesterday, an independent, non-partisan organization, they dug into the numbers.  They did the research.  They analyzed Governor Romney's plan.  And by the way, this is an organization that’s headed by an economist who used to work for President Bush, so this is not some partisan analysis.  This is a bipartisan, independent analysis. 

So here's what they found.  I want everybody to pay attention.  This study found that folks making more than $3 million a year -- so this is the top one-tenth of 1 percent -- would get a tax cut worth almost a quarter of a million dollars.

AUDIENCE:  Booo --

THE PRESIDENT:  So they'd get a $250,000 tax break at least. Some folks would get more.  So the question is -- since Governor Romney says he doesn’t want to add to the deficit -- he thinks this is a moral challenge, we’ve got to bring down the deficit -- who gets the bill for these $250,000 tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires?

AUDIENCE:  We do!

THE PRESIDENT:  This is a smart crowd.  (Laughter.)  You do. This analysis found that if Governor Romney wants to keep his promise and pay for his plan so that it doesn’t increase the deficit even more, then a middle-class family with children will be hit with an average tax increase of more than $2,000. 

AUDIENCE:  Booo --

THE PRESIDENT:  Now, understand, he’s not asking you to pay an extra $2,000 to reduce the deficit, or to invest in schools, or to help pay for the war, or to help look after our veterans.  That’s not why he’s asking you to pay an extra $2,000.  He’s asking you to pay more so that folks like him can pay less.

AUDIENCE:  Booo --

THE PRESIDENT:  Just to give you some sense of this -- and, again, this is not my analysis -- in order to afford just one $250,000 tax cut for somebody like Mr. Romney, 125 of families like yours would have to pay another $2,000 in taxes each and every year.

AUDIENCE:  Booo --

THE PRESIDENT:  Now, not surprisingly, his campaign was asked about this Romney middle-class tax hike.  And they said the study failed to take into account the massive economic boom that would come from cutting taxes on the wealthiest Americans in the biggest corporations.  We saw how well that worked the last time we tried it.

We know better than this.  They have been trying to sell us this trickle-down, tax cut fairy dust before.  (Applause.)  We’ve seen this before.  And guess what -- every single time, it doesn’t work.  It didn’t work then; it won’t work now.  It’s not a plan to create jobs.  It’s not a plan to lower our deficit.  It’s not a plan to move our economy forward.  We do not need more tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.  We need tax cuts for working Americans.  (Applause.) 

We need to keep taxes fair and low for families who are trying to raise their children and keep them healthy and send those kids to college and keep a roof over their heads.  (Applause.)  If we’re going to make sacrifices, we should be making it to invest in schools and bring down our deficit.  We don’t need more tax cuts for companies -- especially those that are shipping jobs overseas -- we need tax cuts for companies that are creating jobs right here in the United States of America, right here in Virginia.  (Applause.) 

And that’s the choice in this election.  And that’s why I’m running for a second term as President of the United States.  (Applause.)

So I’ve got -- Virginia, I’ve got a different plan for America.  Four years ago, I promised to cut middle-class taxes, and I kept that promise -- by a total of about $3,600 for the typical family.  So now, I want to keep taxes exactly where they are on the first $250,000 of everybody’s income.  So if your family makes under $250,000 -- like 98 percent of Americans do -- you won’t see your income taxes increase by a single dime next year.  (Applause.)

Now, if you’re fortunate enough to be in the other 2 percent of Americans -- I fall in that category, some of you do, too -- all we’re asking is that we can contribute a little bit more so that we can pay down this deficit and invest in things like education that will help us grow. 

And keep in mind -- look, we’re going to make sure government does its part because there’s still waste in government.  We’ve already made a trillion dollars worth of cuts. We can do more streamlining.  We can make government more efficient and more consumer-friendly.  But I’m not going to pay for a massive new tax cut for millionaires and billionaires by gutting investments like education and infrastructure and basic science and research and the safety net and Medicare, those things that have always kept the middle class strong. 

All I’m asking is that we go back -- for folks like me, for the top 2 percent -- go back to the rates we paid under Bill Clinton.  (Applause.)  And by the way, if you remember, that was when our economy created nearly 23 million new jobs, the biggest budget surplus in history and a whole lot of millionaires to boot.  (Applause.)  That's how we grow the economy. 

Look, nobody is satisfied with our pace of growth.  Nobody is satisfied.  Even with all the jobs we’re created, we’ve got to create more.  But if you look at our history, if you look at the facts, every time we’ve grown, it hasn’t been by the top down. It’s been from the middle out.  It’s been from the bottom up.  When middle-class families are doing well, lo and behold, everybody does well.  If that construction worker has got a little extra money in his pocket, he goes and spends it maybe on a new car.  When we’ve got new teachers doing great work with our kids, then you know what, they go to a restaurant and spend that money.  And so suddenly businesses are doing well, the economy is doing well, and we get into a virtuous cycle.  And we go up.

But if everybody is struggling, and all we’re doing is rewarding folks who are already doing so well that they can't really spend any more, the economy doesn't grow as fast. 

So, Leesburg, if you believe that Governor Romney’s plan will make us better off --

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  -- if you genuinely think that we’re going to grow our economy faster by cutting education spending, cutting transportation spending, slashing our investments in things like basic science and research, voucherizing Medicare and adding to our deficit, plus asking each of you to pay an extra $2,000 so that folks at the top can get another big tax break, then that's your plan.  He’s got it.

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  And they will do exactly what they promise. But you know what it means is, is that -- that vision to me means we’re setting our sights lower.  It means we’re settling for something less.  It means that we no longer are embracing the basic tenet that helped make this country great, and that is that everybody can make it and everybody does their fair share, everybody gets a fair shot, everybody is playing by the same set of rules.  (Applause.)

I mean, don't you think we would be better off if we keep fighting for the things that always made us strong -- if we’re helping families send their kids to college, and they're not loaded up with a whole bunch of debt?  (Applause.)  Aren’t we going to be better off if we’re developing new sources of American energy?  Aren’t we going to be better off if we invest in advanced manufacturing, and we’re bringing jobs back here, we’re doing insourcing instead of outsourcing?  And we’re selling goods to the rest of the world stamped with those proud words:  “Made in Virginia,” “Made in the United States of America,” “Made by American Hands.”  (Applause.)

When we look back five years or 10 years or 20 years from now, aren’t we going to be better off if we have the courage to keep moving forward?  That's what is at stake in this election, and that's what I believe. 

My hair may be grayer than it was four yeas ago.  (Laughter.)  I’ve got a birthday coming up, I’m going to be 51.  (Applause.)  But Michelle says I don't look a day over 50.  (Applause.)  But even though I’m a little older and a little grayer, my determination to do right by you, to fight for you, to think about you, to see myself in you, to wake up every single day, fighting as hard as I know how on behalf of America’s middle class and folks who are aspiring to get in the middle class, that determination is undiminished.  My faith in you is stronger than ever.  (Applause.)  

And if you still believe in me like I believe in you, I’m asking you to stand with me.  You got to make some phone calls with me, knock on some doors for me, recruit your friends and your neighbors with me.  We won Loudoun County last time.  (Applause.)  And if we win Loudoun County this time, we will win Virginia.  And if we win Virginia, we will win this election.  And we will finish what we started in 2008, and remind the world why the United States of America is the greatest nation on Earth. (Applause.)

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

END
8:30 P.M. EDT

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
August 02, 2012

President Obama Signs Wisconsin Disaster Declaration

The President today declared a major disaster exists in the State of Wisconsin and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area affected by severe storms and flooding during the period of June 19-20, 2012.

Federal funding also is available to state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storms and flooding in the counties of Ashland, Bayfield, and Douglas and the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.

Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures for all counties and Tribes within the State.

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

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

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
August 02, 2012

Remarks by the President to BlogHer Conference -- via Conference Call

Via Telephone

4:35 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, thank you.  And thanks for inviting me to speak today.  And Michelle says hi.  I know that at some point she’ll have a chance to be with all of you.  And I just want to congratulate everybody on what I hear is your biggest conference yet.

Even though I couldn’t be with you in person, I wanted to say thank you.  As like every father, I think about the role models that are out there for my daughters -- and I worry about what they’ll run into online, honestly -- so the fact that Sasha and Malia can go to places like BlogHer and find thousands of women who are writing about subjects from health to family and food and politics and careers -- it means a lot to me and it means a lot to Michelle.

Now, some of you may have heard there’s an election coming up.  And women’s issues are front and center, as they should be. But I think the conversation has been oversimplified a little bit.  I bet anyone who spends a little time at your conference would realize pretty fast that women are not a monolithic bloc, you’re not an interest group.  You make up more than half of our country and nearly half of our workforce -- not to mention 80 percent of my household if you count my mother-in-law.

So, for me, any discussion of the issues women face begins with my own life story and the women in my own life.  There was my mom, who was a single mother who put herself through school and made sure my sister and I earned our educations, too.  There was my grandmother, who worked her way up from a secretary to vice president at her local bank -- even though she hit a glass ceiling and watched men she once trained pass her by.

When Michelle and I got married and had our girls, we were giving it our all to balance raising a family and pursuing our careers, and we wished we had a machine that would let us be two places at one time.  And, of course, as a father, the highlight of my day is asking my girls about their days.

So, when I think about what’s been most important in my life, it’s these amazing relationships that I’ve had with my mother and grandmother, my wife and my daughters.  And what drives me when I step into the Oval Office, every decision that I make is making sure that all of our daughters -- just like all of our sons -- are growing up in a country that gives them the chance to be anything they set their minds to, and a country where more doors are open to them than were open to the previous generation. 

That’s why the first bill I signed was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act -- to help protect your right to equal pay for equal work.  Now I want to strengthen those protections.  And that’s why we’ve extended more loans to women-owned businesses.  That’s why we’ve cut taxes for small business owners 18 times. 

I also want to keep small business taxes low in the future. That’s why we’ve enacted education reform that’s helped more than 2.3 million more young women afford to pursue higher education.  And now I want to make sure even more can afford to go.

And because of the new health care reform law -- Obamacare  -- I happily accept the term -- millions of young women are going to have coverage through their parent's plans.  Children with preexisting conditions can't be denied insurance.  Tens of millions of women with private insurance now have access to preventive care like mammograms, and are beginning to gain access to contraception at no additional cost.  And pretty soon, insurance companies will no longer be able to deny you coverage because of preexisting conditions like cancer or pregnancy, or charge you higher premiums just for being a woman.  I'm not going to give any ground to those who would deny women their own health care choices. 

Behind every one of these policies is a pretty simple idea: You, women, should have control over the decisions that affect your health, your lives, your careers.  And if you share that belief, then I think you'll agree that the choice women face right now in this election could not be bigger.  On the one hand, you have folks who plan to turn back the clock.  They promise to take away access to health care and contraception.  They talk about getting rid of vital services like Planned Parenthood.  They're planning to spend trillions of dollars on new tax cuts weighed towards millionaires and billionaires. 

And just yesterday, an independent, nonpartisan organization ran the numbers.  They found that in order for my opponent to pay for his tax plan he'd have to cut tax breaks that middle-class families depend on to pay for your home, or your health care, or to send your kids to college -- which means the average middle-class family with children would be hit with a tax increase of more than $2,000. 

On top of that tax increase, my opponent plans to also gut education programs that help low-income mothers, student aid that disproportionately benefits young women. 

So this, overall, is what I consider a wrong approach.  It's not how we're going to grow this economy.  It's not how we're going to build the middle class.  We can't afford to re-fight the battles of the past few years -- or the past century, for that matter.

And that's why my plan would move us forward, by cutting taxes for the middle class, investing in education, protecting equal pay, and making sure your health care is there for you when you need it.  And I pay for my plan by asking people like me to go back to the same tax rates we paid during the Clinton years.

So that's the choice we face as a country.  And even though we're dealing with some big challenges right now, I've never been more confident that the ability to solve our problems is entirely within our grasp.  If we choose the right path, I'm absolutely confident we're going to restore the sense of economic security that ought to be at the center of American life.

We'll create an economy that works for everybody.  We'll open up new doors of opportunity for our daughters as well as our sons.  We'll build our middle class.  We'll grow this economy not from the top down, but from the middle out and from the bottom up.  And that's not just good for women; that's good for all of us.

So thank you so much for the opportunity.  We appreciate you.  Michelle says hi.  The girls say hi.  Bo does, too.  I hope you guys have a wonderful conference that remains.

Bye-bye.

END             
4L43 P.M. EDT

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
August 02, 2012

Remarks by the First Lady at Campaign Event

Memorial Middle School
Laconia, New Hampshire

2:58 P.M. EDT

MRS. OBAMA:  Hey!  (Applause.)  Well, thank you so much.  Oh, my goodness.  This is exciting.  I am very happy to be here today.  I really am. 

I want to start by thanking Val for that very kind introduction -- she did an awesome job -- and for her years of service to this country.  So let’s give her a round of applause.  (Applause.)  I also want to thank Anne Rogers for her words earlier.  Thank you, Anne.

And finally, I want to thank all of you, truly, our extraordinary volunteers and organizers.  Thank you all for everything you do, day in and out, to make this campaign possible.  Thank you, guys.  (Applause.)  Thank you for knocking on those doors -- that’s hard to do.  It’s hard to knock on somebody’s door and ask them what they’re thinking.  Thank you for registering those voters.  Thank you for giving people the information they need about the issues they care about. 

And I just want you to know that the grassroots work that you all are doing to get people focused and fired up -- that work is at the core of everything we do in this campaign.  That’s how we did it four years ago, and believe me, that’s how we’re going to do it again today.  So thank you.  Thanks so much.  (Applause.) 

And I know this work isn’t easy -- that I know.  I have learned.  I’ve done it myself.  It’s not easy.  And I know all of you are busy.  You’ve got busy lives.  You’ve got jobs to do.  We’ve got young people who have got classes to attend, fun to have, swimming to do.  (Laughter.)  We’ve got families to raise.  But I also know that there’s a reason why you all are taking time out of your lives to do that work and to be here today, and it’s not just because we support a phenomenal, extraordinary, awesome President, who happens to be my husband.  (Applause.)  I am a little biased, just a little bit.  And it’s not just because we want to win an election -- which we do, and we will.  (Applause.) 

We’re here and we’re doing this work because of the values we believe in.  It’s about our values.  We’re doing this because of the vision for this country that we all share -- I don’t care who we are.  We’re doing this because we believe that in America, everyone should have a fair shot.  That means all of our kids -- all of them -- should have good schools.  (Applause.)  Every last one of our kids should be able to attend college without a mountain of debt.  (Applause.)  In America, we believe that everyone should do their fair share.  That means that teachers and firefighters shouldn’t pay higher taxes than millionaires and billionaires.  (Applause.)  We believe that if you work hard, you shouldn’t go bankrupt because someone gets sick.  (Applause.)  You shouldn’t lose your home because someone loses a job.  And after a lifetime of hard work, you should be able to retire with dignity and security.  (Applause.)

And what we know is that these are basic American values.  This is the foundation of this country.  They’re the values that so many of us were raised with, including myself.  As most of you know by now, my father was a pump operator at the city water plant in Chicago.  This is a job he did all his life.  And neither of my parents had a college degree.  But what my parents did do for us -- they saved, and they sacrificed, and they poured everything they had into me and my brother so that we could get the kind of education and have the kind of opportunities they could only dream of.  And education was everything in our family.  It was our ticket to the middle class.  It was our pathway to the American Dream.  And when my -- absolutely.  (Applause.)  And when my brother and I finally made it to college, pretty much all of our tuition came from student loans and grants.  But my dad still had to pay a small portion of that tuition himself.  And let me tell you, every semester he was determined to pay his little share, and to pay that right on time, because my dad was proud to be able to send his kids to college, and he made sure that we never missed a registration deadline because his check was late.  Like so many people in this country, my father took great pride in earning just a simple living -- the kind of living that allowed him to meet his responsibilities to his family, to pay his bills and pay them on time.  That’s all my dad wanted.  That was it. 

And my father’s life is a testament to that basic American promise that in this country, no matter who you are or how you started out, if you work hard, you can build a decent life for yourself and an even better life for your kids.  (Applause.)  And what I want you to know is my husband understands that promise because that’s his story as well.  That’s why I married him.  (Laughter.)  He’s the son of a single mother who struggled to put herself through school and pay the bills.  He’s the grandson of a woman who woke up before dawn to catch a bus to a job at the bank.  And even though Barack’s grandmother worked hard to help support his family, and she was good at her job, like so many women she hit that glass ceiling and watched men no more qualified than she was -- men she had actually trained -- be promoted up the ladder ahead of her.  But she never complained.  How many people do we know like that in our lives?  She just kept getting up and giving her best every single day to support her family.

So Barack knows what it means when a family struggles.  This is not a hypothetical for him.  He knows what it means to work hard because you want something better for your kids and your grandkids.  And like me, and like so many of you, Barack knows the American Dream because he’s lived it.  And he believes that when you’ve worked hard, and you’ve done well, and you’ve walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you.  You do not do that.  (Applause.)  You reach back and you give other folks the chance to succeed as well.  That’s what we do in America.  (Applause.) 

And more than anything else, that’s why we’re here.  That’s what’s at stake in this election -- it’s that dream, that fundamental American promise.  And from now until November, we’re going to need each of you to get out there and to remind people about what’s at stake.  Tell them about Barack’s values.  Let them know about the vision that we share, about the choices we face in this election. 

This election is a choice about our economy.  It’s about building a strong and growing middle class.  So I want you all to remind folks that Barack has cut taxes for working families by $3,600.  (Applause.)  He has cut taxes for small businesses 18 times -- 18 times -- (applause) -- because he knows that rebuilding our economy starts with the restaurants and the stores and the startups that create two-thirds of all new jobs in this country. 

But I want you to remind people how, back when Barack first took office, this economy was losing an average of 750,000 jobs every single month.  That’s what he inherited.  That’s what he walked into after his inauguration.  But also remind them that for the past 28 straight months, we’ve actually been gaining private sector jobs -- more than 4 million new jobs.  (Applause.)

So, yes, while we still have a long way to go to rebuild this economy, we have more work to do, today, millions of people are collecting a paycheck again; millions of people like my dad are able to pay their bills again.

This election is a choice about the health of our families.  I mean, the fact is -- understand this -- for the past century, 100 years, so many of our Presidents have tried and failed to meet the challenge of health care reform.  But your President was determined.  (Applause.)  He was driven by the stories of the people he’d met -- the grandparents who couldn’t afford their medications; the families going broke because a child got sick; the woman dying of cancer whose insurance company wouldn’t cover her care.  And that’s why he kept fighting.  That’s what kept him going day after day. 

And thanks to this historic reform, now our parents and grandparents are paying hundreds less for their prescription drugs.  Our kids can stay on our insurance until they’re 26 years old -- (applause) -- so they don’t have to go without health care right when they graduate and are out there trying to build their lives.  Because of this reform, insurance companies have to cover basic preventative care -- things like contraception, cancer screenings, prenatal care, at no extra cost.  (Applause.)  Insurance companies cannot discriminate against you because of an illness that they call a preexisting condition.  (Applause.)  And if you get a serious illness -- let’s say breast cancer -- and you need really expensive treatment, your insurance company can no longer tell you, sorry, you’ve hit your lifetime limit and we’re not paying a penny more.  No longer.  Thanks to health reform that is now illegal.  (Applause.)

So make no mistake about it, this November we get to decide.  Do we want these reforms to be repealed?

AUDIENCE:  No!

MRS. OBAMA:  Or do we want the people we love to have the care they need? 

AUDIENCE:   Yes!

MRS. OBAMA:  That is the choice in this election.

This election is a choice about whether our kids can attend college without a mountain of debt.  Believe it or not, back when Barack and I were first starting out, building our lives together, oh-so in love -- (laughter) -- still are, still are -- (applause) -- our combined student loan bill each month was actually higher than our mortgage.  How many people can relate to that?  (Applause.)  So when it comes to student debt, my husband and I, we’ve been there.  And that is why Barack doubled funding for Pell Grants, fought so hard to stop student loan interest rates from rising.  (Applause.) 

Because he wants all of our young people, all of them to get the education they need for the jobs they deserve.  He wants all of our kids to fulfill their promise -- all of them.  And that’s why he’s been fighting so hard for the DREAM Act.  I mean, understand this:  He is fighting so that responsible young people who came to this country as children, through no fault of their own, and were raised as Americans -- because he believes that these young people also deserve a chance to go to college, to contribute to our economy, to serve the country they know and love.  (Applause.)

This election is also a choice about keeping our country safe.  So I want to remind people that after 10 long years of war, after so many of our heroic men and women in uniform served and sacrificed and gave their lives, Osama bin Laden is no longer a threat to this country.  (Applause.)

You can remind folks that Barack kept his promise to bring our troops home from Iraq, and he’s working hard to make sure that they have the benefits and support that they’ve earned.  (Applause.)

And today, our troops no longer have to lie about who they are to serve the country they love because Barack finally ended “don’t ask, don’t tell.”  (Applause.)

This election is a choice about supporting women and families in this country.  So be sure to tell people that Barack believes that women should be able to make our own choices about our health care.  (Applause.) 

Remind people that it is now easier for women to get equal pay for equal work because of the first bill Barack signed into law, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.  (Applause.) 

And finally, I want you to tell people about those two brilliant Supreme Court Justices he appointed -- Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Sonia Sotomayor -- (applause) -- and how, for the first time in history, our daughters and sons watched three women take their seat on our nation’s highest court.  (Applause.)

So when people ask you what this President has done for our country, tell them how many jobs he’s created.  Tell them how much money he’s put back in the pockets of the American people.  You can tell them that more of our kids can afford college, more of our seniors can afford their medicine.  Remind folks how Barack ended the war in Iraq; passed historic health reform; stood up for our most basic, fundamental rights again and again and again.  Remind them.  Remind them.  (Applause.)

But also remind them that all of that and so much more -- it’s at stake.  It’s all on the line.  And that’s the choice we face. 

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We love you!  (Applause.)

MRS. OBAMA:  We couldn’t do this without you.  We could not. 

So are we going to continue the change we’ve begun and the progress we’ve made?  (Applause.)  Or are we going to allow everything we fought for to just slip away?

AUDIENCE:  No! 

MRS. OBAMA:  No, we know what we need to do.  We can’t move back.  We need to keep moving forward, absolutely.  That is why we’re here.

More than anything else, that’s what we’re working for -- the chance to finish what we’ve started; the chance to keep fighting for the values we believe in and the vision we all share.  (Applause.)  And that’s what my husband has been doing every single day as President.

And as First Lady, let me tell you, I’ve had a chance over the last three and a half years to see up close and personal what being President looks like.  I’ve seen some things.  (Laughter.)  And I have seen how the issues that come across a President’s desk are always the hard ones -- always.  The problems with no easy solutions; the judgment calls where the stakes are so high, and there is no margin for error.  None.  And as President, you’re going to get all kinds of advice from all kinds of people.  But at the end of the day, when it comes time to make that decision, as President, all you have to guide you are your life experiences.  All you have to guide you are your values -- is your vision for this country.  In the end, what I have learned is that it all boils down to who you are and what you stand for.  (Applause.)

And we all know who my husband is, don’t we?  We all know what Barack Obama stands for.  (Applause.)  And we have seen again and again and again just how hard he’s willing to fight for us.  (Applause.)  Remember when folks in Washington were telling Barack to let the auto industry go under, with more than a million jobs on the line?  Remember that?  That was the advice he was getting.  But Barack had the backs of American workers.  He put his faith in the American people.  And as a result, today, the auto industry is back on its feet again, and more importantly, people are back at work collecting a paycheck again.  (Applause.) 

Remember how folks were telling Barack not to take on health care.  You remember that?  I do.  They said, leave it for another day, another President.  Just keep kicking that can down the road.  But Barack had the backs of American families.  And as a result, today, millions -- millions of people in this country can finally see a doctor when they’re sick; they can get the care they need to stay well.  Finally.  (Applause.) 

So when it comes time to stand up for the middle class so our kids can go to college and our families can make a decent living and save for retirement, you know what my husband is going to do.  When we need a President to protect our most basic rights, no matter who we are or where we’re from or what we look like or who we love, you know you can count on my husband because that’s what he’s been doing every single day as President of the United States.  (Applause.)

But I have said this before and I will say it again:  He cannot do it alone.  He cannot do it alone.  Barack has said this election is going to be closer than the last one -- that’s the only guarantee.  And in the end, it could all come down to those last few thousand votes, right?  And while that may not sound like a lot, remember that those votes are spread out across an entire state, across hundreds of cities, thousands of precincts.  So just think about it:  That one new voter that you register to vote in your precinct, that one neighbor that you help get to the polls on November -- that could be the one that makes the difference.  It’s that simple.  That one conversation you have, that one new volunteer you recruit -- that could be the one that puts this election over the top.  That could be the difference between waking up on November 7th and asking yourself, “Could I have done more?”, or feeling the promise of four more years.  Four more years -- that’s the difference.  (Applause.)  Four more years!

AUDIENCE:  Four more years!  Four more years!  Four more years!

MRS. OBAMA:  With your help.  And as Val mentioned earlier when she introduced me, that’s why we’re launching an effort that we’re calling “It Takes One.”  It takes one -- it’s a simple concept.  It’s how our democracy works, right?  Every time you take an action to move this campaign forward, we’re asking you to inspire one more person.  We all know one more person to step up and do their part -- one more person.  So if you’re making phone calls, if you’re knocking on doors, bring one new friend that hasn’t done it before, who’s sitting on the sidelines, not really sure.  If you’re coming to an event, bring one neighbor who has never been involved in an election.  When you’re voting early or on Election Day, bring one new voter along with you.  Find one friend, one colleague, one person in your family, -- shake them up.  Send them to barackobama.com/one.  They don’t even have to leave their house.  They can get involved in this campaign.

Because it’s like Barack has always said:  It takes just one voice to change a room.  And if a voice can change a room, it can change a city.  And if it can change a city, it can change a state.  And if it can change a state, it can change the nation.  It’s the power of one -- the power of one voice, one person stepping up.  (Applause.) 

But I am not going to kid you, because I never do.  This journey is going to be long, and it’s going to be hard, and there are going to be lots of twists and turns along the way.  But what I ask people to remember is that’s how change always happens in this country.  Real change takes times.  But if we keep showing up, if we keep fighting the good fight, fighting for our values and our vision, then eventually we’ll get there.  We always do.

Oh, are we good?  We’ve got one -- we need water.  Standing up is hard.  (Laughter.)  It’s one of the hardest things that you’ll do.  But we’re doing it for our kids, our young people -- willing to stand up on a hot stage for what they believe in.  That’s why we’re here.  (Applause.)  We have to remember, we’re in this for our young people.  We’re doing this because change might not happen in our lifetimes, but maybe in our children’s lifetimes, maybe in our grandchildren’s lifetimes.

Because in the end, that’s what this is about.  We’re here because of them.  In the end, this election is always about hope.  Don’t let anybody ever fool you -- elections are always about hope.  (Applause.)  They’re about our hopes for our children.  They’re about the world we want to leave for them, our next generation.  And let me tell you something, that is what I think about every night when I put my girls to bed.  Every night, I think about the world I want to leave for them.  I think about how I want to do for them what my dad did for me.  I think about how I want to give my girls that foundation for their dreams.  I want all of our kids to have that foundation.  I want to give them opportunities worthy of their promise, because all of our young people are worthy -- all of them.  All of these kids are worthy of that promise.  I want to give all of our kids that sense of limitless possibility.  You know the feeling -- that sense that in America, there is always something better if you’re willing to work for it.  That’s why we’re here.  That’s why we’re here.  (Applause.)

So when I get tired, I just think about the fact that we cannot turn back now.  Not now.  We have come so far, but we have so much more work to do.  So I’m going to ask you one last question so no one else falls out.  (Laughter.)  Are you in?

AUDIENCE:  Yes!  (Applause.) 

MRS. OBAMA:  Are you ready for this? 

AUDIENCE:  Yes!  (Applause.)

MRS. OBAMA:  Are you ready to work? 

AUDIENCE:  Yes!  (Applause.) 

MRS. OBAMA:  And roll up your sleeves?

AUDIENCE:  Yes!  (Applause.) 

MRS. OBAMA:  To talk to your neighbors?

AUDIENCE:  Yes!  (Applause.) 

MRS. OBAMA:  To shake them up?

AUDIENCE:  Yes!  (Applause.) 

MRS. OBAMA:  If you can’t tell, I’m fired up.  I am so fired up, and I’m so ready to go.  We’re going to need you guys every step of the way.  You all have been amazing.

Thank you so much.  God bless.  (Applause.) 

END
3:25 P.M. EDT