Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event

Private Residence
Golden Beach, Florida

7:31 P.M.

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, everybody.  (Applause.)  Well, first of all, let me thank Jeremy, who has been a friend for a long time.  He supported me at a time when nobody could pronounce my name, and had great faith, probably because I think we’re both basketball fans, and he was impressed with my knowledge, although his seats at games are generally better than mine.  (Laughter.) 
 
And I want to thank Jeremy’s family for taking the time to be here, and his lovely mom and sisters.  And Kirk Wagar, who has just been working so hard on my behalf not just this time out but the previous time out.  We appreciate you.
 
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who is not only a outstanding member of Congress and a great mom but is also doing wonderful work on behalf of the DNC -- we appreciate her.  Thank you, Florida, for sending her into the national spotlight. 
 
And Mayor Anthony Foxx -- he is going to be our host in Charlotte, when we have our convention, and so we’re glad that he’s here as well.  (Applause.
 
And of course I appreciate all of you.  Some of you have been great friends in other venues, and we appreciate everything that you do.
 
I’m going to be very brief at the top because I want to spend most of my time answering questions and getting comments and thoughts from you.  We’ve gone through three of the toughest years in our lifetimes -- an economy that almost tipped into a Great Depression; an auto industry that almost went belly-up; a banking system that froze; millions of people losing their jobs; a housing market that collapsed -- a world economic crisis that began just a little bit before I was sworn into office, and we’ve been fighting to bring America back ever since.
 
The good news is we’re making enormous progress on a whole range of fronts.  The auto industry is back on its feet, selling cars.  GM is making regular profits and is the number-one automaker again in the world, and they’re making better cars.  We’ve made progress in doubling fuel-efficiency standards on cars that help our environment and are reducing -- is reducing our dependence on foreign oil.  Actually, each year that I’ve been in office we’ve been importing less oil, even as the economy has become more productive and is growing.
 
Four million jobs over the last two years.  The best manufacturing job growth since the 1990s -- 600,000 jobs just in the last three months alone.
 
So we’re making progress, but I think all of us understand that we’ve still got a lot more work to do, partly because we haven’t fully recovered from the depths of this crisis -- there are still too many people out there who are looking for work, there are still too many homes that are underwater.  Florida -- the economy here is still suffering from the headwinds of the housing market and its collapse.  But partly because when we ran for office -- when I ran for office in 2008, the goal wasn't just to get back to where we were in 2007.  Because even then, even before the economic crisis had hit -- the financial crisis had hit, we had seen a decade in which job growth was sluggish, and incomes and wages for ordinary people didn't just flat-line, they actually went down when you factored in inflation.
 
That sense of middle-class security -- the sense that if you worked hard you could get ahead, support a family, send your kids to college, retire with dignity and respect -- that sense of security had been slipping away for too many people.  And the goal in 2008 was to make those changes, to get rid of those obstacles, to reform systems that had had problems for decades so that middle-class Americans and people who aspire to get in the middle class would once again have a chance.  An economy that was characterized by everybody having a fair shot and everybody doing their fair share and everybody playing by the same set of rules -- that’s what we’ve been fighting for.
 
And that’s why in addition to just dealing with the immediate crisis, in addition to dealing with two wars, ending one, transitioning in another, in addition to going after bin Laden and making sure that we degraded the al Qaeda network, in addition to restoring America’s respect in the world, in addition to all the things we’ve done in foreign policy, in crisis management, what we’ve tried to do is also make sure that we’re dealing with those long-term barriers to economic growth and prosperity, broad-based prosperity.
 
So that means having an energy policy that emphasizes clean energy and solar and wind power and all those things that are going to allow us to stay at the cutting edge in the 21st century.  It means reforming our education system -- K-12, community colleges and four-year colleges and universities -- so that we’ve got the best workforce in the world in this more competitive environment that we’re in.
 
It means dealing with health care -- not only to make sure that 30 million people get health care that didn't have it before, so nobody is bankrupt when they get sick in this country, but also to start rationalizing the system so that it is more efficient, provides better care, lowers costs, is a good deal for everybody.
 
And it means making sure that we've got a budget, a tax system, that is fair so that you don’t have Warren Buffett paying a lower tax rate than his secretary; so that we can lower the deficits and make investments that we need in the future generations -- in rebuilding our infrastructure and investing in basic science and research, college loans for students -- but doing so in a way that’s paid for.  And part of paying for it is, folks like me and many of you, making sure that we are doing our fair bit.
 
Now, the other side has a just fundamentally different   
view of these issues, and that’s before we start talking about things like the courts and access to justice and women’s rights and voting rights and a whole range of social concerns where, again, there is a -- immigration -- where there is a big contrast between what the other side is peddling and what I think is needed to make this country strong.
 
So you’re probably going to have as big a contrast in this election as we’ve seen in a very long time.  And that means that we may have to work even harder than we did in 2008.
 
The good news is I think the American people are on our side.  I think the American people understand that this country is stronger when we come together, and we’re looking out for one another, and we’re thinking about the future, and not just the next election.
 
But they expect to see us fight for them.  And that’s what I intend to keep doing, with your help, for the next four and a half years. 
 
So thank you very much, everybody.  Thank you.  (Applause.)
 
END
7:39 P.M.
 

Remarks by the President on the Economy

Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida

3:05 P.M. EDT

        THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Florida!  (Applause.)  Thank you!  (Applause.)  How is everybody doing today?  (Applause.)  Well, it is great to be back in Florida.  (Applause.)  It is great to be back in Boca.  (Applause.)  Great to be here at the home of the Fighting Owls.  (Applause.) 

        I want to, first of all, thank Ayden not only for leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance, but also giving me great details about the burrowing owls.  (Laughter.)  He explained it all to me.  And then he told me he wants my job.  (Laughter.)  And I explained to him that the Constitution requires you are 35 years old.  (Laughter.)  So I will keep the seat warm for him --  (applause) -- for a few more years.

        I want to thank Rebecca for that extraordinary performance.  (Applause.)  In addition to having an unbelievable singing voice, she wants to be a teacher -- she is an English major -- and we need great teachers out there, so we're very proud of her.  (Applause.)

        I want to thank your president, M.J. Saunders -- (applause) -- the Mayor of Boca Raton, Susan Whelchel, for hosting us here today.  (Applause.)  We’ve also got our outstanding Senator and former astronaut, which is very cool -- Bill Nelson in the house.  (Applause.)  A wonderful Congressman, Ted Deutch is here.  (Applause.)  And my great friend, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is here.  (Applause.)  And you are here, which is very exciting.  (Applause.)  I am glad you guys came out.  Now --

        AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We love you!

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

        Now, look, guys, I know this is a busy time of year.  Some of you are less than a month away from graduation.  (Applause.)   Some seniors in the house.  (Applause.)  Pretty soon, you’ll be closing the books at Wimberly for the last time.  Maybe you’ll be making that one last trip to the beach or Coyote Jack’s.  (Applause.)  You’ll be picking up that diploma that you worked so hard for.  Your parents will be there -- they'll be beaming, full of pride.  And then comes what folks call the real world.

        Now, I actually think college is part of the real world.  But obviously there's a transition that will take place as you leave college.  And some of you may go on to post-graduate degrees, but some of you are going to be out there looking for work.  College is the single-most important investment you can make in your future.  (Applause.)  So I'm proud that you've made it and you've seen it through. 

        But I also know that the future can be uncertain.  Now, we've gone through the three toughest years in our lifetimes, economically -- worst financial crisis, worst economic crisis. Our economy is now recovering but it's not yet where it needs to be.  Too many of your friends and too many of your neighbors are still hurting out there.  They're still looking for work.  Too many of your families are still searching for that sense of security that started slipping away long before this recession hit.

        AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Amen!  (Laughter.) 

        THE PRESIDENT:  Got the "Amen" corner here.  (Laughter.) 

        So at a time like this, we've got to ask ourselves a central, fundamental question as a nation:  What do we have to do to make sure that America is a place where, if you work hard, if you're responsible, that that hard work and that responsibility pays off?  (Applause.)  And the reason it's important to ask this question right now is because there are alternative theories. 

        There's a debate going on in this country right now:  Could we succeed as a nation where a shrinking number of people are doing really, really well, but a growing number are struggling to get by? 

        AUDIENCE:  No!

        THE PRESIDENT:  Or are we better off when everybody gets a fair shot -- (applause) -- and everybody does a fair share, and everybody plays by the same set of rules?  (Applause.)

        That’s what the debate in America is about right now.  This is not just another run-of-the-mill gabfest in Washington.  This is the defining issue of our time.  This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class and everybody who's aspiring to get into the middle class.  And we’ve got two very different visions of our future.  And the choice between them could not be clearer. 

        Now keep in mind, I start from the belief that government cannot and should not try to solve every single problem that we've got.  Government is not the answer to everything.  My first job in Chicago, when I wasn't much older than most of you, was working with a group of Catholic churches on the South Side of Chicago in low-income neighborhoods to try to figure out how could we improve the schools, and how could we strengthen neighborhoods and strengthen families.  And I saw that the work that some of these churches did did more good for people in their communities than any government program could.  (Applause.) 

        In those same communities, I saw that no education policy, no matter how well crafted it is, no matter how well funded it is, can take the place of a parent’s love and attention.  And I also believe that since government is funded by you that it has an obligation to be efficient and effective.  (Applause.)  And that's why we’ve eliminated dozens of programs that weren’t working, announced hundreds of regulatory reforms to save businesses and taxpayers billions of dollars.  We’ve put annual domestic spending on a path to become the smallest share of our economy since Eisenhower was in the White House, which is before I was born much less you being born.  (Laughter.)   

        I believe the free market is the greatest force for economic progress in human history.  (Applause.)  But here’s the thing.  I also agree with our first Republican President -- a guy from my home state, a guy with a beard, named Abraham Lincoln.  (Applause.)  And what Lincoln said was that through our government, we should do together what we cannot do as well for ourselves.  (Applause.)  That's the definition of a smart government.

        And that’s the reason why we have a strong military, to keep us safe -- because I suppose each of us could just grab whatever is around the house and try to defend our country, but we do better when we do it together.  And we’ve got the best military in the history of the world, with the greatest men and women in uniform.  We pay for that.  (Applause.)

        That's why we have public schools to educate our children.  (Applause.)  If we didn't have public schools, there would still be some families who would do very well.  They could afford private schools or some would home-school.  But there would be a lot of kids who would fall through the cracks.  So we do that together.

        It’s one of the reasons that we’ve laid down railroads and highways.  We can't build a highway for ourselves.  We got to get our neighbors and our friends to say let’s go build a road.  That's why we supported the research and the technology that saved lives and created entire industries.  The Internet, GPS -- all those things were created by us together, not by ourselves.

        It’s the reason why we contribute to programs like Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security and unemployment insurance.  (Applause.)  Because we understand that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, we know that eventually we’re going to get older.  We know that at any point, one of us might face hard times, or bad luck, or a crippling illness, or a layoff.  And the idea that together we build this safety net, this base of support, that allows all of us to take risks and to try new things, and maybe try -- get a new job -- because we know that there’s this base that we can draw on.

        So these investments -- in things like education and research and health care -- they haven’t been made as some grand scheme to redistribute wealth from one group to another.  This is not some socialist dream.  They have been made by Democrats and Republicans for generations, because they benefit all of us and they lead to strong and durable economic growth.  That’s why we’ve made these investments.  (Applause.)

        If you’re here at FAU because you got financial aid -- (applause) -- or a student loan, a scholarship -- which, by the way, was how I was able to help finance my college education.  That’s how Michelle got her college education.  That doesn’t just benefit you.  It benefits whatever company might end up hiring you and profiting from your skills.  If one of you goes on to become the next Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg, or one of you discovers the next medical breakthrough, think about all the people whose lives will be changed for the better.  We made an investment in you; we’ll get a return on the investment.  (Applause.)

        When we guarantee basic security for the elderly or the sick or those who are actively looking for work, that doesn’t make us weak.  What makes us weak is when fewer Americans can afford to buy the products that businesses are selling, when fewer people are willing to take risks and start their new business, because if it doesn’t work out they worry about feeding their families.  What drags our entire economy down is when the benefits of economic growth and productivity go only to the few, which is what’s been happening for over a decade now, and gap between those at the very, very top and everybody else keeps growing wider and wider and wider and wider.

        In this country, prosperity has never trickled down from the wealthy few.  Prosperity has always come from the bottom up, from a strong and growing middle class.  (Applause.)  That’s how a generation who went to college on the GI Bill -- including my grandfather -- helped build the most prosperous economy that the world has ever known.  That’s why a CEO like Henry Ford made a point to pay his workers enough money so that they could buy the cars that they were building.  (Applause.)  Because he understood, look, there’s no point in me having all this and then nobody can buy my cars.  I’ve got to pay my workers enough so that they buy the cars, and that in turn creates more business and more prosperity for everybody. 

        This is not about a few people doing well.  We want people to do well.  That’s great.  But it’s about giving everybody the chance to do well.  (Applause.)  That’s the essence of America.  That’s what the American Dream is about.  That’s why immigrants have come to our shores, because the idea was, you know what, it doesn’t matter what your name is, what you look like -- you can be named Obama -- (laughter) -- you can still make it if you try.  (Applause.)

        And yet, we keep on having the same argument with folks who don’t seem to understand how it is that America got built.  And let me just say, the folks that we have political arguments with, they’re Americans who love their country.  Democrats, Republicans, independents, everybody -- we all love this country.  But there is a fundamental difference in how we think we move this country forward. 

        These folks, they keep telling us that if we just weaken regulations that keep our air or our water clean or protect our consumers, if we would just convert these investments that we’re making through our government in education and research and health care -- if we just turned those into tax cuts, especially for the wealthy, then somehow the economy is going to grow stronger.  That’s the theory.

        And here’s the news:  We tried this for eight years before I took office.  We tried it.  (Applause.)  It’s not like we didn’t try it.  (Laughter.)  At the beginning of the last decade, the wealthiest Americans got two huge tax cuts -- 2001, 2003.  Meanwhile, insurance companies, financial institutions -- they were all allowed to write their own rules, or find their way around rules.  We were told the same thing we’re being told now -- this is going to lead to faster job growth.  This is going to lead to greater prosperity for everybody. 

        Guess what -- it didn’t.  (Laughter.)  Yes, the rich got much richer.  Corporations made big profits.  But we also had the slowest job growth in half a century.  The typical American family actually saw their incomes fall by about 6 percent even though the economy was growing, because more and more of that growth was just going to a few, and the average middle-class American wasn't seeing it in their paychecks.  Health care premiums skyrocketed.  Financial institutions started making bets with other people's money that were reckless.  And then our entire financial system almost collapsed.  You remember that?

        AUDIENCE:  Yes!

        THE PRESIDENT:  It wasn't that long ago.  I know you guys are young, but it was pretty recent.  (Laughter.) 

        Now, some of you may be science majors in here.  (Applause.)  I like that.  We need more scientists, need more engineers.  Now, I was not a science major myself, but I enjoyed science when I was young.  And if I recall correctly, if an experiment fails badly -- (laughter) -- you learn from that, right?  Sometimes you can learn from failure.  That’s part of the data that teaches you stuff, that expands our knowledge.  But you don’t then just keep on doing the same thing over and over again.

        AUDIENCE:  No!

        THE PRESIDENT:  You go back to the drawing board.  You try something different.  But that’s not what's been happening with these folks in Washington. 

        AUDIENCE:  No!

        THE PRESIDENT:  A lot of the folks who were peddling these same trickle-down theories -- including members of Congress and some people who are running for a certain office right now, who shall not be named -- (laughter and applause) -- they're doubling down on these old broken-down theories.  Instead of moderating their views even slightly, instead of saying, you know what, what we did really didn’t work and we almost had a second Great Depression, and maybe we should try something different, they have doubled down. 

        They proposed a budget that showers the wealthiest Americans with even more tax cuts, and then pays for these tax cuts by gutting investments in education and medical research and clean energy, in health care.

        AUDIENCE:  Booo -- 

        THE PRESIDENT:  Now, these are the facts.  If the cuts they're proposing are spread out evenly across the budget, then 10 million college students -- including some of you -- would see your financial aid cut by an average of more than $1,000 each.

        AUDIENCE:  Booo!

        THE PRESIDENT:  Now, thousands of medical research grants for things like Alzheimer’s and cancer and AIDS would be eliminated.  Tens of thousands of researchers and students and teachers could lose their jobs.  Our investments in clean energy that are making us less dependent on imported oil would be cut by nearly a fifth.

        AUDIENCE MEMBER:  That's wrong! 

        THE PRESIDENT:  By the time you retire, instead of being enrolled in Medicare like today’s seniors are, you’d get a voucher to pay for your health care plan.  But here’s the problem.  If health care costs rise faster than the amount of the voucher, like they have been for decades, the rest of it comes out of your pockets.  If the voucher isn’t enough to buy a plan with the specific doctors and care that you need, you’re out of luck.  And by the middle of the next century -- by the middle of this century -- excuse me -- by about 2050, at a time when most of you will have families of your own, funding for most of the investments I’ve talked about today would have been almost completely eliminated altogether.  

        Now, this is not an exaggeration.  This is math.  And when I said this about a week ago, the Republicans objected.  They said, we didn't specify all these cuts.  Well, right, you didn't because you knew that people wouldn’t accept them.  So you just gave a big number and so what we’ve done is we’ve just done the math.  This is what it would it mean.

        They say, well, we didn't specifically propose to cut student loans.  Okay, if you don't cut student loans, then that means you’ve got to cut basic research even more.  The money has got to come from somewhere.  You can't give over $4 trillion worth of additional tax cuts, including to folks like me who don't need them and weren’t asking for them, and it just comes from some magic tree somewhere.  (Laughter.)

        So if you hear them saying, well, the President is making this stuff up -- no, we’re doing the math.  If they want to dispute anything that I’ve said right now, they should show us specifically where they would make those cuts.  (Applause.)  They should show us.  They should show us.  Because, by the way, they're not proposing to cut defense, they're actually proposing to increase defense spending, so it’s not coming out of there.  So show me. 

        Look, America has always been a place where anybody who's willing to work and play by the rules can make it.  A place where prosperity doesn’t trickle down from the top, it grows from the bottom; it grows outward from the heart of a vibrant middle class.  (Applause.) 

        And I believe that we cannot stop investing in the things that help create that middle class; that create real, long-lasting, broad-based growth in this country.  And we certainly shouldn’t be doing it just so the richest Americans can get another tax cut.  (Applause.)  We should be strengthening those investments.  We should be making college more affordable.  (Applause.)  We should be expanding our investment in clean energy.  (Applause.)

        Now, here’s the other thing that the Republicans will tell you.  They’ll say, well, we’ve got to make all these drastic cuts because our deficit is too high.  Our deficit is too high.  And their argument might actually have a shred of credibility to it if you didn’t find out that they wanted to spend $4.6 trillion on lower tax rates.  I don’t know how many of you are math majors, business majors -- you can’t pay down a deficit by taking in $4.6 trillion of less money, especially when you’re denying that you’re going to be making all these cuts.  It doesn’t add up.  It doesn’t make sense.

        And keep in mind, more than a trillion dollars of the tax cuts they propose would be going to people who make more than $250,000 a year.  That is an average of at least $150,000 -- again, we’re just taking the numbers with the details they’ve given us and you spread it out -- that averages to at least $150,000 for every millionaire, billionaire in the country.  Each millionaire and billionaire, on average, would get $150,000.  Some folks would get a lot more.

        So we did some math of our own.  We added up all the investments $150,000 could pay for.  All right?  So let’s say a tax break that I might get that I really don’t need -- I’ve got -- treated pretty well in this life.  (Laughter.)  So right now, I’m going to be okay.  Malia, Sasha, they’re going to be able to go to college.  (Applause.)  Michelle is doing fine.  (Applause.)  So understand what this means. 

        Here's what $150,000 means -- $150,000, this is what each millionaire and billionaire would get, on average.  This could pay for a tax credit that would make a year of college more affordable for students like you.  (Applause.)  Plus a year's worth of financial aid for students like you.  (Applause.)  Plus a year's worth of prescription drug savings for one of your grandparents.  (Applause.)  Plus a new computer lab for this school.  (Applause.)  Plus a year of medical care for a veteran in your family who went to war and risked their lives fighting for this country.  (Applause.)  Plus a medical research grant for a chronic disease.  (Applause.)  Plus a year's salary for a firefighter or police officer -- $150,000 could pay for all of these things combined.  Think about that. 

        So let me ask you what's the better way to make our economy stronger?  Do we give another $50,000 [sic] in tax breaks to every millionaire and billionaire in the country?

        AUDIENCE:  No!

        THE PRESIDENT:  Or should we make investments in education and research and health care and our veterans?  (Applause.) 

        And I just want to emphasize again -- look, I want folks to get rich in this country.  I think it's wonderful when people are successful.  That’s part of the American Dream.  It is great that you make a product, you create a service, you do it better than anybody else -- that’s what our system is all about.  But understand, the share of our national income going to the top 1 percent has climbed to levels we haven't seen since the 1920s.  The folks who are benefitting from this are paying taxes at one of the lowest rates in 50 years. 

        You might have heard of this, but Warren Buffett is paying a lower tax rate than his secretary.  Now, that’s wrong.  That’s not fair.  And so we've got to choose which direction we want this country to go in.  Do we want to keep giving those tax breaks to folks like me who don’t need them, or give them to Warren Buffet -- he definitely doesn’t need them -- (laughter)  -- or Bill Gates -- he's already said, I don’t need them.  Or do we want to keep investing in those things that keep our economy growing and keep us secure?  That’s the choice.  (Applause.)

        And, Florida, I’ve told you where I stand.  So now it’s time for members of Congress to tell you where they stand.  In the next few weeks, we’re going to vote on something called the Buffett Rule -- very simple:  If you make more than $1 million a year -- now, I’m not saying you have a million dollars -- right?  I’m not saying you saved up all your money and you made smart investments and now you’ve got your nest egg and you’re preparing for retirement.  I’m saying, you’re bringing in a million bucks or more a year.  Then, what the rule says is you should pay the same percentage of your income in taxes as middle-class families do.  (Applause.)  You shouldn’t get special tax breaks.  You shouldn’t be able to get special loopholes.  (Applause.) 

        And if we do that, then it makes it affordable for us to be able to say for those people who make under $250,000 a year -- like 98 percent of American families do -- then your taxes don’t go up.  (Applause.)  And we can still make those investments in things like student loans and college and science and infrastructure and all the things that make this country great.   

        And this is where you come in.  This is why I came to see you.  I mean, it’s nice to see you.  The weather is nice; you guys have been a wonderful audience.  (Applause.)  I learned about the burrowing owl.  (Applause.)  So there were all kinds of reasons for me to want to come down here.  But one of the reasons I came was I want you to call your members of Congress. I want you to write them an email.  I want you to tweet them.  (Laughter.)  Tell them don’t give tax breaks to folks like me who don’t need them.  Tell them to start investing in the things that will help the economy grow.  Tell them if we want to bring down our deficit sensibly, then we’ve got to do it in a balanced way that’s fair for everybody.  Remind them who they work for.  Tell them to do the right thing.  (Applause.)

        As I look out across this gymnasium, everybody here -- from all different backgrounds, from all different parts of the country -- each of us is here because somebody, somewhere, felt responsibility for other people.  Our parents, obviously, our grandparents, great grandparents, the sacrifices they made -- some of them took enormous risks coming to this country with nothing because they wanted to give a better life to their kids and their grandkids.  (Applause.)  A lot of them did without so that you could benefit.  But they weren't just thinking about their families.  They were thinking about their communities.  They were thinking about their country. 

        That's what responsibility means.  It means that as you have greater and greater opportunity, then the scope of you being able to help more people and think about the future expands.  And so you’re not just thinking about yourself; you’re thinking about your kids, your spouse, your family, your grandkids, your neighborhood, your state, your nation.  You’re thinking about the future. 

        And now it’s our turn to be responsible.  Now it’s our turn to preserve the American Dream for future generations.  Now it’s our turn to rebuild, to make the investments that will assure our future, to make sure that we’ve got the most competitive workforce on Earth, to make sure that we’ve got clean energy that can help clean the planet and help fuel our economy.  (Applause.) 

        It’s our turn.  It’s our turn to rebuild our roads and our bridges and our airports and our ports.  It’s our turn to make sure that everybody here, every child born in whatever neighborhood in this country it is, that if they're willing to dream big dreams and put some blood, sweat and tears behind it, they can make it.  (Applause.)

        I know we can do that.  I know we can do it because of you.  You’re here because you believe in your future.  (Applause.)   You’re working hard.  Some of you are balancing a job or a family on the side.

        AUDIENCE:  Four more years!  Four more years!

        THE PRESIDENT:  You have faith in America.  You know it’s not going to be easy, but you don't give up.  That's the spirit we need right now, because here in America we don’t give up.  (Applause.)  Here in America, we look out for one another.  Here in America, we help each other get ahead.  Here in America, we have a sense of common purpose.  Here in America, we can meet any challenge.  Here in America, we can seize any moment.  We can make this century another great American century.  (Applause.)

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

END 3:39 P.M. EDT 

Press Gaggle by Press Secretary Jay Carney en route West Palm Beach, Florida, 4/10/12

Aboard Air Force One
En Route West Palm Beach, Florida   

10:20 A.M. EDT

MR. CARNEY:  Welcome aboard Air Force One for this trip to Florida today, where the President will have some campaign events.  He will also speak at FAU to talk about the importance of the Buffett Rule, a basic principle of tax fairness the President very much supports.  And he supports the legislation put forward by Senator Whitehouse from Rhode Island, that makes the simple case that millionaires and billionaires in this country who have done exceptionally well over the last many years, and especially in the last 10 years, while middle-class incomes have stagnated or declined, should not pay less or a lower tax rate on their income than average Americans, middle-class Americans.

Of course, that case was famously made by Warren Buffett, a noted billionaire, who found it strikingly unfair when he discovered that he was paying tax on his income at a significantly lower rate than his secretary was paying on hers. 

So we look very much forward to today’s event, the President’s remarks, and to the simple fact that you’re joining us.  And with that, I take your questions.

Q    What’s the likelihood of this Buffett Rule being actually passed this year?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, I talked about this yesterday, Steve, in my briefing.  I think that we certainly understand that it’s a challenge to persuade Republicans in the Senate, in this case, to listen to their constituents who overwhelmingly support the idea of tax fairness, who overwhelmingly support the simple notion that millionaires and billionaires should pay taxes on their income at at least as high a rate as middle-class Americans.

It may be an uphill battle, but it’s not an impossible battle -- not because the President urges them to do so or even because Warren Buffett urges them to do, but because their own constituents are urging them to do so.  And I’ve mentioned this before -- the fact is every member of the House and a third of the Senate is up for -- faces election this fall, and in this case, members of the Senate are going to have to explain to their constituents if they oppose the Buffett Rule why they oppose it
-- why they think that, after years and years of a situation where the tax code has become increasingly rigged in favor of the wealthiest Americans, we should not impose a little fairness on it. 
 
Q    -- tone of the President’s speech today?  Is it going to be a little geared toward the campaign, or more of an official speech? Is he going to be a little feisty?
 
MR. CARNEY:  Well, I’ll let you guys judge the performance aspect of it.  But he will speak very explicitly about why passing the Buffett Rule is important.  I mean, this is a policy speech; this is about tax policy and tax fairness, and it's timed to a vote in the Senate on April 16th.  So I think his remarks at FAU will reflect that.

Q    Jay, a Republican super PAC has an online petition calling for the President to pay more in taxes on a voluntary basis, along with Warren Buffett.  Has the President considered that at all, or do you know if that's something he might do?

MR. CARNEY:  Gimmicks by super PACs funded by multi-millionaires who are advancing an agenda that would protect them from having to pay their fair share in taxes, protect them from having to pay a tax on their income at a rate similar to middle-class Americans, are not things that we take very seriously.  And neither should the American people.  We doubt that they will.

Q    Why not have the President sort of set that example and lead by example?
 
MR. CARNEY:  -- you guys are seriously buying into this gimmick.  And what the President has made clear that he does not believe that people like him who've been fortunate enough to succeed financially should pay taxes at a lower rate than middle-class Americans.  He believes that we should ask people like him to pay a little bit more, people like Warren Buffett and others, millionaires and billionaires who have succeeded, to pay a little bit more.

He is going around the country, as others have noted, making the case for this.  And he's often making the case for this principle, in terms of campaign events, in front of people who fall into the category who would pay more under the President’s proposal and the Buffett Rule.  They also believe that that’s the right thing to do.  It’s a matter of simple fairness.

If you tell a middle-class American who's paying a higher rate on his or her income tax than the multi-millionaires who are funding these super PACs -- you’re asking about whether they’ll be satisfied that we’ve introduced tax fairness in this country if individual millionaires decide to write a check to the Treasury Department or the IRS, then I think they’ll say, no, that is not the measure of fairness that they’re looking for.

Here’s the general thing.  We’ve seen what the Republican plans are.  We’ve seen what the plans are that the super PAC you referred to support.  And it’s not even an esoteric or theoretical exercise.  Those plans were implemented, and look what it led to -- the worst economic and financial crisis in everyone here’s lifetime -- without exception.  Okay?  Look what it led to.  Incomes for the wealthiest Americans in the first decade of the 21st century went up dramatically; incomes for middle-class Americans stagnated or declined dramatically.

We talked a lot about jobs numbers on Friday, the fact that 120,000 jobs created, which made for the best quarter since 2006 in jobs created, came in under expectations, and there was a lot of discussion about whether or not that was a good number or a bad number.  The fact of the matter is under    President George W. Bush, the average monthly job creation figure was 67,000 jobs.  Even if you take out recessionary months, even if you only look at the periods of expansion underGeorge W. Bush, the average monthly job creation was under 100,000 jobs.  At its best, eliminating all recessionary months and quarters, job creation was anemic and tax fairness -- the unfairness in the tax code expanded.

We have tried their proposals.  They didn’t work.  The last thing we need to do is to go back to the things that created the problems in the first place.

Q    Does he plan to call out Mitt Romney by name today in his speech at the university?  And can you tell us, will the Buffett Rule be kind of the dominant theme in the fundraising speeches as well, or will that just be general stuff like usual?

MR. CARNEY:  I don’t have any more of a preview for the President’s remarks at FAU today.  As for his remarks at campaign events, I think they have always included this theme, or often have included this theme.  They will, I assume, today -- he’ll make the same -- generally speaking, the same broad remarks that he makes at campaign events.

Q    Why the decision to travel to Florida to give this speech and outline the argument?  Why Florida?

MR. CARNEY:  Why not Florida?  (Laughter.)

Q    Why Florida?  I mean --

MR. CARNEY:  We’ve traveled around the country -- one of my most recent domestic trips included a stop in Oklahoma.  He gave a major economic speech in Nebraska.  He's given speeches all over the country and will continue to travel all over the country.  Today, Florida is the stop.

Q    Do you have any update on trying to head off North Korea from launching this missile?

MR. CARNEY:  We’re continuing to work with our international partners.  The proposed missile launch, if conducted, would represent a clear and serious violation of North Korea’s obligations under two United Nations Security Council resolutions that explicitly prohibit North Korea from testing ballistic missiles.  We will continue to work with -- we will work with our partners on next steps if North Korea goes through with this provocation, and we continue to urge countries that have influence on North Korea to work to persuade North Korea to consider a different path, the path that would lead to progress towards feeding its people, educating its people, and ending its severe, self-imposed isolation.

Q    Are you saying explicitly that that will include the cutting off of any U.S. food aid?  And can you throw down any other explicit markers of what they will lose if they go forward with this?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, we've said explicitly that it’s impossible to imagine that we would be able to follow through with our -- provide the nutritional assistance that we had planned on providing, given what would be a flagrant violation of its basic -- of North Korea’s basic international obligations.

Beyond that, next steps -- I don't have any information for you.  We'll consult with our allies and partners.

Q    Back to the Buffett Rule.  Given that if it passed, it would make a small dent in the deficit, would you say that the measure is more symbolic than material?

MR. CARNEY:  I think the money we’re talking about here,
$47 billion over 10 years, is nobody’s idea of a small amount, A. B, we never suggested -- the President, no one ever suggested that implementing the Buffett Rule would contribute in large measure to reducing the deficit.  The President has put forward a comprehensive deficit reduction plan that takes a balanced approach, that includes as a principle of tax reform theBuffett Rule, but that does not rely on -- and we never suggested it would rely on -- the Buffett Rule to reduce the deficit by a significant measure.  It is a principle of tax fairness.

And $47 billion is money that in a world of finite resources we could be using to invest in the kind of -- in education, in innovation and in infrastructure, the kind of areas where investments are needed to continue to grow the economy in the 21st century -- areas which, by the way, under the Republican budget would be slashed dramatically in order to give more tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires.

Q    Speaking of deficit reduction, there is this new study by a conservative analyst who the President approved as a Medicare trustee that suggests that the health care law would add $340 billion to the deficit.  And I know there’s a blog post out, but can you speak on the record about this?  What’s your critique of his critique?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, we do not agree with the faulty analysis of a Bush administration National Economic Council member.  We would point to the official estimates by the CBO as well as the OMB that state clearly that the Affordable Care Act would reduce the deficit over the first 10 years and dramatically over the next 10 years.

This is obviously a partisan analysis.  It does not comport with the official presentations put forward by the CBO.  I would note that, since you’ve described him as not a Bush administration official but the President’s appointee, it is a matter of tradition to appoint -- for a President of either party to appoint members of both parties, and this was somebody who was appointed in consultation with Republican leaders in Congress.  It does not mean that the President agrees with his economic analysis.  It certainly means -- he certainly has not changed his opinion and his disagreement with this individual on the need to privatize Social Security, which this individual supports.  So it’s faulty economic analysis.

Q    Jay, on Syria, the foreign minister of Syria said in Moscow today that they’ve begun pulling back troops.  Does the White House have any evidence that those troops are starting to be pulled back in Syria?

MR. CARNEY:  Leaders of the Assad regime say a lot of things, make a lot of promises.  Those promises, overwhelmingly, turned out to be empty.  We judge, and the international community judges the actions of the Assad regime, not their words.  We have seen no evidence thus far of any pullback.  We have seen much evidence of further brutality and aggression against innocent civilians. 

We are waiting for the assessment that Special EnvoyKofi Annan will put forward today at the United Nations.  And we will certainly work with -- in the aftermath of that -- with our partners and others on next steps with regards to Syria.  We would certainly hope that the United Nations Security Council would evaluate the situation in Syria if, in fact, Mr. Annan finds that the Assad regime has not abided by its own commitment to begin withdrawal by today.

Q    Jonathan Pollard has been suffering, according to reports.  Shimon Peres and Benjamin Netanyahu have requested his release.  Do you know if the U.S. has formally rejected that request to release Jonathan Pollard?

MR. CARNEY:  I'm not aware of that request being formally received, but I know that our position has not changed on that case. 

Thank you.

END   
10:34 A.M. EDT

Remarks by President Obama and President Rousseff of Brazil after Bilateral Meeting

Oval Office

1:17 P.M. EDT

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Well, it gives me great pleasure to welcome to the Oval Office my good friend, President Rousseff.  This gives me an opportunity to return some of the extraordinary hospitality that I received when Michelle and our daughters and I had a chance to visit Brazil last year. 

It gives me an opportunity as well to remark on the extraordinary progress that Brazil has made under the leadership of President Rousseff and her predecessor, President Lula, moving from dictatorship to democracy, embarking on an extraordinary growth path, lifting millions of people out of poverty, and becoming not only a leading voice in the region but also a leading voice in the world.

We've made enormous progress since we last met on our bilateral relationship.  Our trade and investment is reaching record levels, which creates jobs and business opportunities in both countries.  We have seen an extraordinary expansion of people-to-people contacts, including a unprecedented exchange of students around math and science and technology, where    President Rousseff has shown incredible leadership.  We are announcing defense cooperation of the sorts that we have not seen in the past. 

And this meeting gives us an opportunity to also discuss a wide range of global issues, whether it's global economic growth, the situation in the Middle East, our work together on various multilateral platforms, as well as the progress that we've been able to make together in the Open Government Partnership that is increasing transparency, accountability, and reducing corruption, where the United States and Brazil were the initial co-chairs, and now we're seeing countries all around the world eagerly involved and engaged in what can be a very important initiative.

Of course, we still have more work to do.  We are consulting around the Summit of the Americas meeting this weekend to make sure that we are coordinating closely on issues of great importance like expanding educational exchanges, improving the cooperation between our countries on clean energy, dealing with issues like narco-trafficking and citizen security issues that are so important to the region. 

We have important progress to make on energy cooperation.  Brazil has been a extraordinary leader in biofuels and obviously is also becoming a world player when it comes to oil and gas development.  And the United States is not only a potential large customer to Brazil but we think that we can cooperate closely on a whole range of energy projects together.

And both our governments are going to continue to work to make it easier to cultivate the friendships, the commerce and interaction between the peoples of the United States and Brazil. For example, we have drastically cut down on visa wait times for Brazilian visitors to the United States, and are opening up two new consulates.  We want to continue to make progress on that front.  We're going to have the opportunity to meet with business leaders from both Brazil and the United States to get their recommendations on how we can further enhance trade and investment relationships between our two countries.

So the good news is, is that the relationship between Brazil and the United States has never been stronger.  But we always have even greater improvements that can be made.  And I feel very fortunate to have such a capable and far-sighted partner as President Rousseff, so that not only Brazil and the United States, but the world can benefit from our deeper cooperation.

So, welcome, Madam President.  We're thrilled to have you here.

PRESIDENT ROUSSEFF:  (As interpreted.)  I would like to say to say to all of you that this occasion has been very important for me to meet with President Obama, following our meeting last year in Brasilia.  That first meeting in 2011 in Brazil proved very important in that it provided us an opportunity for contacts with the First Lady Michelle and also with the children.

The U.S.-Brazil bilateral relations are, for Brazil, a very important relationship, not only from a bilateral but also from a multilateral perspective.  As regards the bilateral dimension of our agenda, Brazil and the United States have increasingly drawn closer ties in their trade links, while at the same time, expanding mutual investments.

Brazil's current investment level, direct investments in the United States currently account for 40 percent of the overall investments made by the United States and Brazil.  All of these different fronts of our relationship have produced very substantial outcomes but they also show that we remain current in our potentiality.

Both Brazil and the United States of America have strategic areas in which we can cooperate or, better said, where we can further deepen our existing cooperation.  Take the energy sector, for example.  Oil and gas pose a tremendous opportunity for further cooperation both as regards the supply of equipment and provision of services, and also as regards a wider role in our trade relations.
 
Brazil and the United States are also partners in the biofuel arena.  And I would like to welcome the recently announced reductions to ethanol tarrifs.  The field of energy efficiency, which is so very dear to President Obama, is yet another area to be highlighted for cooperation, and particularly renewable sources of energy, and also technological evolution in the energy arena as regards to smart grids or networks.

Without a shadow of a doubt, there are also other areas of equal relevance, a number of which I would like to highlight, the areas of science, technology and innovation, an area in which both business communities, the members of academia and governments have a high-profile role to perform.  That is where our involvement in the Science Without Borders program is so very important.  The program benefits Brazilian researchers and students who are given the opportunity to come to the United States to develop and conduct their studies here.

I would also like to publicly acknowledge the support we have received in all of those initiatives, and also highlight the fact that Brazil feels it's very important the U.S.-run program titled 100,000 Strong.  May I also highlight the opportunities available in areas such as the defense arena, and also ship building, which holds significant opportunities for cooperation. And security is also another field for cooperation, without a shadow of a doubt.

Not only the government-led growth acceleration program, the PAC program, but also the upcoming World Soccer Cup in 2014, and the Olympics in 2016, provide extensive opportunities for investment and cooperation between Brazilian and U.S. businesses. I believe it is in our utmost interest to draw closer ties in our economic areas and also ensure a closer partnership in the field of innovation in particular.

Regarding the multilateral agenda, during this meeting we also covered and mentioned our concern regarding the international crisis, which has led to instability, low growth, and unemployment in several regions of the world.  We also indicated that we acknowledged the role performed by central banks of different countries, and more particularly, in the recent past, the role of the European Central Bank, the role performed to the effect of ultimately preventing a liquidity crisis of substantial proportions, which would thus affect all countries adversely.

But I also voiced to President Obama Brazil's concern regarding the monetary expansion policies that ultimately mean that countries that have a surplus be able to strike a balance in those economic monetary expansion policies through fiscal policies that are ultimately based on expanding investments.  Such expansionist monetary policies in and of themselves, in isolation regarding the fiscal policies, ultimately lead to a depreciation in the value of the currencies of emerging countries -- rather they lead to a depreciation in the value of the currency of developed countries, thus impairing growth outlooks in emerging countries.

It is our view that the role to be performed by the United States, against a backdrop and in an increasingly multilateral world, as we have seen -- we believe the U.S. role is very important.  The high degree of flexibility that is inherent to the United States economy plus the U.S. leadership in the fields of science, technology and innovation in the United States, and at the same time, the democratic forces that are the founding elements of the U.S. nation mean that the role of the United States is indeed a key and very important role in containing the effects of the crisis, but also ensuring proper resumption of prosperity.

The BRIC countries currently account for a very substantial share of economic growth worldwide.  But it is important to realize and bear in mind the resumption of growth in the medium term future certainly involves a substantial resumption of growth in the U.S. economy.  We very much welcome the major improvements that have been found in the U.S. economy in the recent past.  And I am quite certain that that will very much be the emphasis in the next few months and years ahead under the capable leadership of President Obama. 

Furthermore, we also discussed with President Obama the issues regarding the upcoming and fourth summit meeting of the Americas, which will be held next weekend in Cartagena, Colombia. The Summit of the Americas very much expresses the fact that Latin America is a growing continent and has grown by distributing income and engaging in a social inclusion or social mainstreaming process.  But of course, the crisis does affect Latin American countries, not as strongly as in other regions of the world, but it does affect Latin America. 

We will discuss in the upcoming summit meeting of the Americas how integration in the Americas can prove beneficial to Latin America and also how economic growth can only materialize if we introduce economic policies that are targeted to strengthening our domestic markets by increasingly mainstreaming millions of Brazilians and, by extension, millions of Latin Americans, while also of course, preventing the protectionist measures, particularly currency-related measures proved detrimental to our interests. 

And a very important point on the agenda is to do with the concern we all have regarding the issue of drug trafficking and the violence it triggers.  At the same time, we're keenly aware of the importance of Latin America in efforts to tackle drug trafficking.  As I have consistently mentioned, I believe that when it comes to drug trafficking, we have to take a hard stance in fighting drug trafficking while addressing those that have fallen prey to (inaudible) thus becoming drug addicts.

I would also like to say that it is Brazil's view that the Open Government nitiative meeting is very important.  The upcoming meeting will be held on April 17th in Brasilia.  It is by definition an inter-ministerial meeting to be attended by the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  The Open Government initiative was put forth initially by President Obama, and Brazil is a co-chair in the forum.  We believe that the Open Government policy is essential to ensuring the fight against corruption and also to ensure greater efficiency in government spending, in as much as one is able to improve the prospects for assessment and monitoring. 

I believe all of those efforts also prove instrumental and greatly help enhance democracy in our countries and also to provide citizens with greater access to the information that is rightfully theirs.  I'm quite certain that the ongoing cooperation efforts between Brazil and the United States, as well as our close relations and partnership, are indeed key to both our nations.  But equally important for development at large in the 21st century, the kind of development that is ultimately to be marked by elements such as, for example, very much in line with the topic of the upcoming meeting -- actually invited President Obama to attend the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development -- and the key features we wish to work for includes economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection, which is tantamount to the very definition of sustainable development.

I would like to thank the President of the United States and also the American people for the very warm, brotherly and friendly hospitality extended to me during this meeting today, and of course, to my delegation.

Thank you very much. 

END
1:45 P.M. EDT