Remarks by the President on the Economy

Shaker Heights High School
Shaker Heights, Ohio

1:26 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Ohio!  (Applause.)  Ah, it is good to be back in Ohio.  (Applause.)  It is good to be back in Shaker Heights -- (applause) -- home of the Red Raiders.  (Applause.) 

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Mr. President, I love you!

THE PRESIDENT:  I love you back.  And I'm glad to be back.  (Applause.)  I'm glad to be here. 

I want to thank your mayor, Earl Leiken, for hosting us today; -- (applause) -- your superintendent, Mark Freeman; -- (applause) -- the principal here, Mike Griffith.  (Applause.)  Well, and I know -- I'm pretty sure we've got a couple of congresspeople here, but I don't see them.  Where are they?  Okay, we've got Marcia Fudge.  (Applause.) Marcy Kaptur is here. (Applause.)  Dennis Kucinich.  (Applause.)  Betty Sutton in the house.  (Applause.)  Outstanding members of Congress, doing the right thing every day.  So we thank them all for being here.  (Applause.)

Now, I understand the folks here at this school have a pretty good basketball team.  (Applause.)  Boys and girls.  (Applause.)  Unfortunately, I have no eligibility left.  (Laughter.)  So I can't play with you.

I want to wish everybody a happy New Year -- 2012 is going to be a good year.  (Applause.)  It's going to be a good year.   And one of my New Year's resolutions is to make sure that I get out of Washington and spend time with folks like you.  (Applause.)  Because folks here in Ohio and all across the country -- I want you to know you’re the reason why I ran for this office in the first place.  You remind me what we are still fighting for.  You inspire me.  (Laughter.)  Okay, you do.  You remind me that this country is all about folks who work hard and where responsibility pays off, an America where anybody who puts in the effort and plays by the rules can get ahead. 

That’s the America you deserve.  (Applause.)  That’s the America we’re working to build.  That’s why I told Congress before the New Year they couldn’t leave for vacation until we made sure 160 million working Americans wouldn’t get hit with a tax hike on January 1st.  (Applause.) 

Now, this wasn’t easy.  It should have been easy, but it wasn’t.  But in the end, we got members of both parties to come together and make sure that you could keep more money in your paychecks each month.  And you’re keeping that extra $40 in every paycheck because we made sure that we didn’t stunt the recovery. We made sure that families got the break that they need.  And that means more security for your families.  It also means a boost for our economy at a time when we've got to do everything we can to keep it growing.  Because more money spent by more Americans means more businesses hiring more workers. 

And so when I -- when Congress returns, I’m going to urge them to extend this tax cut all the way through 2012, with no drama, no delay.  (Applause.)  Do the right thing.  It is a no-brainer.  Let’s get it done.  Let’s pass these tax cuts.  (Applause.)

Now, we still have more to do.  So today, we’re taking another important step -- one that will bring us closer to the economy that we need, an economy where everybody plays by the same rules. 

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Yes!

THE PRESIDENT:  And to help us do that, I’m joined by somebody you might recognize -- Richard Cordray.  (Applause.)  Son of Ohio; a good, good man.  (Applause.)  Today I’m appointing Richard as America’s consumer watchdog.  (Applause.)  And that means he is going to be in charge of one thing:  looking out for the best interests of American consumers.  Looking out for you.  (Applause.) 

His job will be to protect families like yours from the abuses of the financial industry.  His job will be to make sure that you’ve got all the information you need to make important financial decisions.  Right away, he’ll start working to make sure millions of Americans are treated fairly by mortgage brokers and payday lenders and debt collectors.  In fact, just this week, his agency is opening up a simple 1-800 number that you can call to make sure you’re getting a fair deal on your mortgage, and hold banks and brokers accountable if you’re not.  (Applause.) 

Now, I nominated Richard for this job last summer, so you may be wondering why am I appointing him today.  It would be a good question.  (Laughter.)  For almost half a year, Republicans in the Senate have blocked Richard’s confirmation.

AUDIENCE:  Booo --

THE PRESIDENT:  They refused to even give Richard and up or down vote.  Now, this is not because Richard is not qualified.  There's no question that Richard is the right person for the job. He’s got the support of Democrats and Republicans around the country.  A majority of attorney generals -- Richard is a former attorney general -- a majority of attorney generals from both parties across the country have called for Richard to be confirmed.  Your local members of Congress who are here today -- they support him.  He has the support of a majority in the Senate.  Everyone agrees Richard is more than qualified.

So what’s the problem, you might ask.  The only reason Republicans in the Senate have blocked Richard is because they don’t agree with the law that set up a consumer watchdog in the first place.  They want to weaken the law.  They want to water it down.  And by the way, a lot of folks in the financial industry have poured millions of dollars to try to water it down. 

That makes no sense.  Does anybody think that the reason that we got in such a financial mess, the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the worst economic crisis in a generation -- that the reason was because of too much oversight of the financial industry?

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  Of course not.  We shouldn’t be weakening oversight.  We shouldn’t be weakening accountability.  We should be strengthening it -- especially when it comes to looking out for families like yours.  (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT:  The financial firms have armies of lobbyists in Washington looking out for their interest.  You need somebody looking out for your interest and fighting for you, and that's Richard Cordray.  (Applause.)

Now, I have to say Richard is a really nice guy.  (Laughter.)  You know, you look at him and you think, this guy is not somebody who’s going around picking fights.  And yet, this fight on behalf of consumers is something that Richard has been waging here in Ohio for the better part of two decades.  (Applause.)

As your attorney general, he helped recover billions of dollars in things like pension funds on behalf of retirees.  He protected consumers from dishonest lending practices.  Before that, Richard was the state treasurer, where he earned a reputation for working with folks from across the spectrum -- Democrats, Republicans, bankers, consumer advocates -- had a great reputation across the board doing the right thing.

And, Cleveland, you’ve seen the difference that Richard can make for consumers, and I have, too.  And that’s why I want Richard to keep standing up for you -- not just here in Ohio, but for consumers all across the country.

Now, every day that Richard waited to be confirmed -- and we were pretty patient.  I mean, we kept on saying to Mitch McConnell and the other folks, let’s go ahead and confirm him. Why isn’t he being called up?  Let’s go.  Every day that we waited was another day when millions of Americans were left unprotected.  Because without a director in place, the consumer watchdog agency that we’ve set up doesn’t have all the tools it needs to protect consumers against dishonest mortgage brokers or payday lenders and debt collectors who are taking advantage of consumers.  And that’s inexcusable.  It’s wrong.  And I refuse to take no for an answer.  (Applause.)

So I’ve said before that I want to look for every possible opportunity to work with Congress to move this country forward and create jobs.  I’m going to look for every opportunity to try to bridge the partisan divide and get things done -- because that’s what the American people need right now.  And that means putting construction workers back on the jobs repairing our roads and our bridges.  (Applause.)  That means keeping our teachers in the classrooms.  (Applause.)  That means keeping our cops and firefighters doing what they do, protecting us every day.  (Applause.)  That means helping small businesses get ahead.  (Applause.)  That means serving our veterans as well as they’ve served us, like this young man right in the front.  We are grateful for him, for his service.  (Applause.) 

These are ideas that have support from Democrats; they have support from Republicans around the country, independents around the country.  I want to work with Congress to get them done. 

But when Congress refuses to act, and as a result, hurts our economy and puts our people at risk, then I have an obligation as President to do what I can without them.  (Applause.)  I’ve got an obligation to act on behalf of the American people.  And I’m not going to stand by while a minority in the Senate puts party ideology ahead of the people that we were elected to serve.  (Applause.)  Not with so much at stake, not at this make-or-break moment for middle-class Americans.  We’re not going to let that happen.  (Applause.)

For way too long, we’ve had a financial system that was stacked against ordinary Americans.  Banks on Wall Street played by different rules than businesses on Main Street.  They played by different rules than a lot of community banks who were doing the right thing across the country -- hidden fees, fine print that led consumers to make financial decisions that they didn’t always understand. 

Richard and I, before we came here, had an opportunity to visit with a wonderful elderly couple -- the Easons.  And Mr. Eason is a former Marine, served in the Korean War.  Ms. Eason makes a really good sweet potato pie.  She gave me one.  (Applause.)  I’m going to eat it later, after.  (Laughter.)  I didn't want to eat it before because I didn't want to get sleepy having a big piece of pie right before.  (Laughter.)

But their story was the story of a lot of folks in this region, where a mortgage broker came to them, said that they could do some home repair for a few thousand dollars, and they ended up getting scammed; the loans got flipped.  They ended up owing $80,000, almost losing their home, and the repairs were never made. 

Those kinds of practices, that’s not who we are.  We cannot allow people to be taken advantage of.  And it’s not just because it’s bad for those individuals.  All that risky behavior led -- helped to contribute to the economic crisis that we’re all still digging ourselves out of.  All those subprime loans, all those foreclosures, all the problems in the housing market -- that’s all contributing to an economy that’s not moving as fast as we want it. 

And that’s why, last year, we put in place new rules -- new rules of the road to make sure that a few bad apples in the financial sector can’t break the law, they can’t cheat consumers, they can’t put our entire economy in danger.  And many of these provisions are already starting to make a difference.  For the first time in history, we put in place a consumer watchdog -- someone whose only job is to look out for the interests of everyday Americans.

And we are so fortunate to have somebody like Richard who’s willing to do it, despite great sacrifice to his family.  He’s the right man for the job.  (Applause.)

So if you’re a student -- I see some young people out here  -- (applause) -- his job will be to protect you from dishonest lending practices and to make sure that you’ve got the information you need on student loans.  (Applause.)  He has already started up an initiative called “Know Before You Owe.”  (Laughter.)  That’s a good slogan -- “Know Before You Owe.”  You don’t want to owe and then know.  (Laughter.)

If you’re a veteran, he’ll help make sure that you aren’t taken advantage of when you’re coming home from serving your country.  And it turns out that military families are some of the folks who are most vulnerable to some of these financial abuses. 
If you’re a senior, Richard is going to help make sure you don’t lose your home or your retirement because somebody saw you as an easier target.  And that’s what happened to the Easons.  Endia, who I think is here -- Ms. Eason, are you here?  You’re somewhere here.  There’s -- Ms. Eason is down there.  Ninety-one years old.  (Applause.)  And as I mentioned, Ms. Eason’s husband, William, is a former Marine -- also a former boxer.  So don’t mess with him.  (Laughter.) 

And I just want to repeat, 10 years ago they were approached by a broker who offered them a loan to make needed repairs on their home; made everything sound easy.  The Easons agreed.  Broker ended up disappearing.  They get left with $80,000 in debt, almost lose their home.  They didn’t lose it because of the intervention of some terrific non-for-profits that Richard, when he was treasurer here in Ohio, helped to support.  (Applause.)

East Side -- that's right.  (Applause.)

Now, the Easons are good people.  They're what America is all about.  They worked hard.  They served their country.  They saved their money.  They didn't live high on the hog.  It’s a modest house.  They earned the right to retire with dignity and with respect, and they shouldn’t have to worry about being tricked by somebody who's out to make a quick buck.  And they need somebody who is going to stand up for them, and millions of Americans need somebody who is going to look out for their interests.  And that person is Richard Cordray.  (Applause.)

And we know what would happen if Republicans in Congress were allowed to keep holding Richard’s nomination hostage.  More of our loved ones would be tricked into making bad financial decisions.  More dishonest lenders could take advantage of some of the most vulnerable families.  And the vast majority of financial firms who do the right thing would be undercut by those who don't.

See, most people in the financial services industry do the right thing, but they're at a disadvantage if nobody is enforcing the rules.  We can't let that happen.  Now is not the time to play politics while people’s livelihoods are at stake.  Now is the time to do everything we can to protect consumers, prevent financial crises like the one that we’ve been through from ever happening again.  That starts with letting Richard do his job.

So I know -- let me just close by saying this.  I know that you're hearing a lot of promises from a lot of politicians lately.  Today you’re only going to hear one from me.  As long as I have the privilege of serving as your President, I promise to do everything I can every day, every minute, every second, to make sure this is a country where hard work and responsibility mean something and everybody can get ahead.  Not just those at the very top, not just those who know how to work the system, but everybody. 

That's what America has always been about.  (Applause.)  That's what America is going to be about today and tomorrow and 10 years from now and 20 years from now.  And with the help of people like Richard Cordray, that's the country that we will always be. 

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

END
1:48 P.M. EST

Remarks by the President to the Iowa Caucus Attendees via Video Teleconference

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Iowa! How are you guys?  I miss you all.  And I understand that it's actually warmer tonight than it was four years ago, which means, I'm sure, great turnout at the caucuses.

You know, on the ride over here I was reminiscing with David Plouffe.  He was showing me actually an old advertisement from Iowa -- in fact, the last advertisement we did in the Iowa campaign.  And other than pointing out how much more gray I am and how much older I look now than I did then, we actually were just remembering the incredible energy and excitement and the spirit of common purpose that those Iowa caucuses represent.  It was an example of how the campaign was not about one person, but it was about all of us coming together to try to deliver the kind of change that had been talked about a long time in Washington, but all too often hadn’t been delivered on. 

And it's because of you that I had this extraordinary honor over the last three years of working to try to deliver on that change.  And obviously we didn’t know at the time how severe the economic crisis was going to be.  We didn’t fully appreciate at the time the worldwide magnitude of the financial crisis.  But we knew even then that the middle class had been taking it for a long time -- folks who had been trying to get into the middle class had found that the ladders that allowed for upward mobility had started to disintegrate for a lot of people. 

And so we understood that what we were fighting for was an America where everybody had a fair shot, everybody did their fair share; that responsibility was rewarded and that the game wasn’t fixed, that it wasn’t rigged, and that if people did the right thing and worked hard, as so many families who in Iowa and throughout the country -- that they were going to be able to live out a piece of the American Dream.

We've still got a lot of work to do.  But think about the change that was accomplished because of those caucuses four years ago.  Because of those caucuses four years ago, we ended the war in Iraq, as promised, and our troops are now coming home. 

Because of the work that so many of you did even before the caucuses four years ago, health care is a reality for millions of Americans, and seniors have seen the price of prescription drugs lowered, and there are 2 million young Americans who are able to keep their insurance even if they're not getting it through a job.  And we're going to be able to say to every American out there who's got a preexisting condition or has gotten a raw deal from an insurance company that they're going to have some meaningful security, they're not going to be bankrupt if they get sick.

Because of you and the work that you did four years ago there are millions of young people all across the country who are able to get more affordable student loans and Pell Grants.  They're able to afford college and apply themselves so that they can achieve a meaningful career that pays a good wage and provides good benefits.

Because of you we've been able to end the policy of "don't ask, don't tell" so that every American who wants to serve this country that they love have that opportunity regardless of who they love. 

So across the board, whether it’s doubling fuel efficiency standards on cars, or making sure that we’ve got a more effective system to provide job training for people who’ve lost their jobs -- across the board, you have made a difference.  But we all know we’ve got a lot more work that we have to do.

Although we’ve passed health care reform, we’ve passed Wall Street reform, there are a lot of forces that want to push back against us and want to undo some of those changes.  And we’re battling millions of dollars of negative advertising and lobbyists and special interests who don't want to see the change that you worked so hard to fully take root.  And that's why this time out is going to be in some ways more important than the first time out.  Mitch is right.  Change is never easy.  The problems that we’ve been dealing with over the last three years, they didn't happen overnight and we’re not going to fix them overnight.  But we’ve been making steady progress as long as we can sustain it.  And that's what this is going to be all about.

So the only way we’re going to be able to do that is if all of you maintain the same determination, the same energy, the same drive, the same hopefulness, the same optimism about this wonderful country of ours as was on display four years ago.  And I want you to know that because of you, because of all the memories I have of being in your living rooms or meeting you in a diner or seeing you over at a campaign office, I have never lost that same source of inspiration that drove me to embark on this journey in the first place.  You guys inspire me every single day.

And I want us to remind each other that as much work as there may be out there before us, there’s nothing we can't accomplish when determined citizens come together to make a difference.

So thank you, everybody.  I could not be prouder.  And, Mitch, I think we’ve got a couple of -- time for a couple questions.

MR. STEWART:  Yes, we do, sir.  And the first question comes out of Coralville.  Coralville, can you hear us?

AUDIENCE:  (Applause.) 

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Good evening, Mr. President.  I’m Roseann, and I’m here as you can see, at a full house in the beautiful Performing Arts Center in Coralville, Iowa.  How are you tonight?

THE PRESIDENT:  I’m doing well.  How are you? 

Q    Well, Mr. President, I think we’re having a little difficulty with audio, but I’m going to go ahead with my question.

Thinking about the caucuses four years ago, and as you reflected, you delivered your message of hope and change, but we didn’t know in 2008 the extent of the problems we were facing, and certainly progress has been a challenge.  So I’m wondering, now, in 2012, if you still believe in hope and change for America.  And I’m also wondering how your reelection campaign is going to help us better understand what we need to do, both as individual citizens and as a country, to achieve the fair society that you spoke about recently in Osawatomie, Kansas.

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, first of all, I want to make sure you can hear my answer.  How’s the sound coming through now?  In some ways, I’m actually more optimistic now than I was when I first ran, because we’ve already seen change take place.  And part of what 2012 is about is both reminding the American people of how far we’ve traveled and the concrete effects that some of our work has had in terms of making sure that people have health insurance, or making sure that our troops are coming home, or making sure that young people are able to go to college.  But part of it is also framing this larger debate about what kind of country are we going to leave for our children and our grandchildren. 

There is no problem that we face that we cannot solve.  But in order to solve it, we’ve got to make sure that everybody gets a fair shot, and that means that we’re investing in things like education, that we’re investing in basic science and technology so we’re making things again here in America and we’re revitalizing manufacturing and we’re not just buying from other countries but we’re selling to other countries, and we’re inventing things and encouraging entrepreneurship.  It means that we’re rebuilding our infrastructure, our roads and our bridges, but also our high-speed rail lines and high-speed Internet access in places like rural Iowa, making sure that everybody who wants to reach a worldwide market is able to do so because they’ve got the connection to do it.

It also means that those things are going to have to be paid for in a fair way.  And obviously a lot of the debate in Washington over the last several months and over the last year has revolved around how do we create a government that is lean and efficient and effective.  And I’m proud of some of the tough decisions that we’ve been willing to make in terms of pruning back programs that don’t work.  But if we’re going to make the investments that we need for our kids at the same time as we’re controlling our deficit, then there’s nothing wrong with saying to millionaires and billionaires that we’re going to let your tax cuts expire.  You can afford it.  You’ve done very well in this society.  And I know they want (inaudible) in America, but they have to be asked.  And the other party has a fundamentally different philosophy. 

The same is true when it comes to the issue of fair play.  We, through Wall Street reform, have rolled back policies that allowed credit card companies to jack up your interest rates without alerting you to it, or other financial practices that disadvantage consumers.

And so we’ve said, you know what, we’re going to have a consumer watchdog in place to look after you, to make sure that you’re not being cheated on credit cards or mortgages.  Because if you want to compete in a free market, then you should compete on the basis of price and service and quality, not on the basis of somebody not being able to understand what they’re buying.

These basic principles are what’s going to be at stake in order for us to succeed.  And I think that they’re principles that most Americans believe in, that everybody should act responsibly, everybody should do their part, and everybody should be able to travel as far as their work ethic and their dreams will carry them.

And right now all we’re getting from the other side -- you guys have been hearing it a lot more than I have.  I know it’s -- you’ve been bombarded -- I don’t know how you watch TV in Iowa these days -- with a different theory that says, we’re going to cut taxes for the wealthiest among us, and roll back regulations on things like clean air and health care reform and Wall Street reform, and that somehow, automatically, that assures that everybody is able to succeed.  I don't believe that.  And I don't think any of the people in that auditorium do either.

So it’s going to be a big battle, though.  I hope you guys are geared up.  I’m excited.

MR. STEWART:  Great.  Thank you very much, Coralville.  Next, we have Cedar Rapids.  Cedar Rapids, are you with us?  Can you hear us, Cedar Rapids?  Hello, Cedar Rapids, can you hear us?
 
THE PRESIDENT:  Hold on one second.

MR. STEWART:  Yes, hold on one second. 

THE PRESIDENT:  I can’t hear you yet.

MR. STEWART:  We’ll give it five more seconds.  Folks in Cedar Rapids, can you hear us?  (Applause.)

Q    Good evening, Mr. President.  This is Carol from Cedar Rapids, and I’m honored to be among your volunteers.  On the cable talk shows there is talk about your administration not accomplishing anything.  However, I am a breast cancer survivor and was a social worker for 33 years before retiring, and know firsthand what a great accomplishment the Affordable Care Act is among your other achievements.  How do you respond to people who say you have not done enough?

THE PRESIDENT:  I think the main message that we’re going to have in 2012 is that we’ve done a lot but we’ve got a lot more to do, and that’s why we need another four years to get it all done. But you just mentioned the Affordable Care Act.  We know that somebody who’s had an illness like cancer, who’s a survivor, has trouble getting insurance.  Because of the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies are not going to be able to ban people with preexisting conditions.  That makes a direct impact on your life and your family’s life.

We know that there are 2 million young people who have insurance because of the Affordable Care Act who didn't have it before.  We know that seniors have seen discounts in their prescription drugs; they’re saving billions of dollars all across the country.  We know that preventive care, like mammograms, are now available through your insurance and they can’t arbitrarily deny you coverage right when you need care.

So that’s just on health care.  And it’s making an impact on people’s lives day to day.  But here’s the thing.  Frankly, not that many people watch cable TV.  What they do is they listen to their friends, their neighbors, their co-workers.  And that’s why what you guys are doing today at the caucus and what you will be doing every day from now until November makes such a difference. Because nobody is a better messenger for the kind of change we’re talking about than you.  You can tell a story about the difference these policies make in your life in a way that any politician in Washington -- including me -- can’t do. 

And one of the things that we learned four years ago was that when people at grassroots level are getting involved and they’re getting engaged, and they’re feeling empowered and they’re joining hands with each other -- that’s a powerful force. It can’t be stopped.  But, unfortunately, over the (inaudible) it’s not as focused and concentrated as an election campaign.  And so the forces of big money and special interests and lobbyists, they all come to the fore and the pundits and the cable TV dominates the political conversation. 

Well, you know what, fortunately in 2012 we’ve got a chance to respond.  And I will put my money on you.  I find you a lot more persuasive than anybody on cable TV, and that’s why I know we’re going to win. 

Thank you.

MR. STEWART:  Great.  Thank you very much, sir.  We appreciate your time. 

We appreciate Cedar Rapids.  We’re going to let you get back to the remainder of your caucuses, but before we go I'd be remiss if I didn't encourage everybody to sign up and volunteer.  I think shortly after we’re done with the Adobe Connect session here there will be volunteer sign-up forms.  This is a great opportunity, as the President said, to get out and engage your friends and neighbors what’s at stake and why this election is so important. 

So again, thank you all so much. 

END  
8:27 P.M. EST

Remarks by the President

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

1:25 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Good afternoon, everybody.  I know you're all looking forward to spending time with their families over the holidays, but we did have one last piece of business to finish up.  I said it was critical for Congress not to go home without preventing a tax increase on 160 million working Americans, and I'm pleased to say that they've got it done.  So I want to thank all the members of Congress for ending the stalemate and making this happen.

Because of this agreement, every working American will keep their tax cut -- about $1,000 for a typical family.  And that’s  -- translates into an extra $40 or so in every paycheck.  Vital unemployment insurance will continue for millions of Americans who are looking for work.  And when Congress returns, I urge them to keep working, without drama, without delay, to reach an agreement that extends this tax cut as well as unemployment insurance through all of 2012. 

Last week, I said that this should be a formality, and that’s still the case.  So let’s make sure that we extend this tax break and unemployment insurance for a full year for our families, but also for our economy.  It’s the right thing to do because more money spent by more Americans means more businesses hiring more workers.  And that’s a boost for everybody, and it's a boost that we very much need right now.

Finally, I want to take a moment to thank my fellow Americans for bringing their voices to this debate.  I met with several here at the White House yesterday.  I really think it takes courage to believe that your voice can make a difference.  And I promise you, the American people, your voices made a difference on this debate.  Whether you tweeted or called or wrote, you reminded people in this town what this debate and what all of our debates should be about -- it’s about you.  It’s about your lives.  It’s about your families.  You didn’t send us to this town to play partisan games, and to see who’s up and who’s down.  You sent us here to serve and make your lives a little bit better; to do what’s right.  And fortunately, that’s how this week ended.

So this is some good news, just in the nick of time for the holidays.  I do want to be clear though:  We have a lot more work to do.  This continues to be a make-or-break moment for the middle class in this country, and we’re going to have to roll up our sleeves together -- Democrats and Republicans -- to make sure that the economy is growing, and to make sure that more jobs are created. 

We’ve got an economy that is showing some positive signs; we’ve seen many consecutive months of private sector job growth. But it’s not happening as fast as it needs to.  And that means that we’ve got to redouble our efforts, working together.  It also means that we’ve got to make sure we’re rebuilding an economy where if you work hard, that work will be rewarded; the kind of economy where everyone is doing their fair share and everybody plays by the same set of rules, everybody has a fair chance and everybody is acting responsibly, including those of us here in Washington.

So there are going to be some important debates next year, some tough fights, I’m sure, in the years to come.  But that’s the kind of country that I’m fighting for -- one where everybody has a fair chance and everybody is doing their fair share.  That’s the kind of country that I think the American people deserve and the kind of country that American people want. 

So I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas, happy holidays, a happy New Year to you and your families -- and that includes everybody here in the press corps.  I know you guys have been working hard, and your families will be happy to spend a little more time with you over the next few days.

I also want to make sure to send the warmest holiday wishes to all the men and women in uniform who are serving overseas right now and may not have a chance to see their families during this holiday season.  We are grateful for everything that you do.

All right?  Thank you, guys.  Aloha.

END
1:30 P.M. EST

Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney and Remarks by the President, 12/20/2011

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

1:26 P.M. EST

MR. CARNEY:  Good afternoon, everyone.  Thanks for being here.  It is my great pleasure to see you today and take your questions, which I will commence with right now.

Q    What is the President going to do now that the House has rejected the two-month Senate deal?

MR. CARNEY:  What the House did today was refuse to take up the bipartisan compromise passed by the Senate with 90 percent approval.  More than 80 percent of Republicans voted for it.  And I think all of you here are astute enough analysts of Washington and Congress to know that the reason they refused to vote on that bill is because it would have passed.  It would have resulted in absolute assurance that 160 million Americans would not have their taxes go up on January 1st, and that is most unfortunate.

It still is available, however, as an option for the House.  They can take up the bipartisan compromise that passed overwhelmingly in the Senate, the result of a negotiation between the Republican leader and the Senate Democratic leader; a negotiation that was the result of a strategy agreed upon by Senator Reid, Senator McConnell and Speaker Boehner; a result that was deemed by the Speaker of the House to be a good deal in his conversation with his own colleagues, House Republicans.

We agree with that assessment.  It is absolutely a bipartisan compromise.  And it reflects the work that the Senate Democratic leader and Senate Republican leader achieved towards a year-long solution to extending the payroll tax cut.  They worked very hard on that.  Senator Reid worked very hard on that bipartisan compromise.  They could not quite achieve it in the time allowed and passed a overwhelmingly bipartisan two-month extension as insurance to make sure that Americans did not have their taxes go up in 11 days and 10 hours -- 160 million Americans.  That is absolutely what must get done.  And the House still has that option.  So we hope they take it.

Q    So what is the President going to do?  Is he going to do anything?

MR. CARNEY:  He will continue to urge the House to do the responsible thing, not for him, not for Democrats or Republicans, not for party but for the American people.  Look, everyone is for, now, an extension of the payroll tax cut for a year.  I would remind you that we are even in this position of trying to extend the payroll tax cut because the President has been pushing for it since September.  Everyone is now for it; all leaders of both houses are committed to extending it for a year.  And we expect absolutely that that will happen.

But as you know, last week and then on Saturday, after negotiations, bipartisan negotiations between Senator McConnell and Senator Reid and others, a decision was made that more work needed to be done to reach that full-year extension compromise, and that as an insurance policy against raising taxes on 160 million Americans, this two-month extension of the payroll tax cut was the right way to go.

A kind of consensus that that approach created is pretty unprecedented in Washington, and definitely unprecedented in 2011 in Washington.  So we had 90 percent of the United States Senate vote in favor of something that was a toughly negotiated compromise between Democrats and Republicans.  And I think as you’ve seen, when you ask what the President will ask Congress to do or what the President will do, I mean, he will say that a growing number of Republican senators are saying.  They’re saying, “Please, Speaker Boehner, please, to our colleagues in the House, support what is absolutely the right thing to do here.  Do not let taxes go up on 160 million Americans in just 11 days.  Pass the extension.”

Q    Can he offer -- can the President offer any assurances to the American people that this will get done this year, or are his hands tied and it’s up to the Speaker and the House Republicans?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, in order for it to get done, it has to pass the House.  This is one area where his executive authority does not extend.  He cannot order the extension of the payroll tax cut; Congress has to take action.  He has worked very closely with leaders on the Hill to reach this point.  And again, I will point out to you, the President began in September calling for not just an extension of the payroll tax cut that put $1,000 extra this year in average American families’ pockets, but for an expansion of that -- an expansion for the individual tax cut and he pushed -- he called for expanding it to small businesses.

He did not get all that he wanted in this compromise; he didn’t get that.  He originally put forward a way to pay for it that asked Congress to close subsidies and to close -- end corporate subsidies and loopholes, and to ask the wealthiest Americans to pay a little bit more.  He didn’t get that.  He supported the Democratic proposal in the Senate to pay for the payroll tax cut extension with a surtax on the 300,000 wealthiest millionaires and billionaires in the country in order to fund a tax cut for 160 million middle-class Americans.  We didn’t get that.  What we got was a compromise, worked out by Senator Reid, that was good enough for 90 percent of the Senate, good enough for more than 80 percent of the Republican members in the Senate, and certainly the right thing to do for the country.

Q    And finally, Speaker Boehner wrote to him asking the President to call on the Senate to appoint conferees.  I assume that he does not intend to do that.

MR. CARNEY:  As Senator Reid has said -- Senator Reid, Senator McConnell and Speaker Boehner had a conversation about what was the best way to proceed.  The best way to proceed was to have Senator McConnell and Senator Reid negotiate a bipartisan compromise.  They worked very hard to do that.  They worked very hard to reach an agreement on extending the payroll tax cut for a year.  They were not able to get that done in time to ensure that taxes wouldn’t go up on 160 million Americans, and so they passed -- they worked out and passed, with an overwhelming bipartisan majority of both Republicans and Democrats, a two-month extension, and committed to return next year and make sure that that extension was provided for the rest of the year.  That was the right approach.

What is not the right approach is to refuse to allow the House of Representatives to vote on that bipartisan compromise, but instead to pass a rule that calls for an approach to this that actually moves further away from compromise.  The provision that is voted on in the House today -- that’s been voted on in the House today is actually less bipartisan, filled with more ideological, extraneous matter than the version that passed the House and that the Senate Republican leader wouldn’t even allow to come to a vote in the Senate because he knew it wouldn’t succeed.

So there’s no indication by the actions of the House leadership today that they’re moving towards compromise.  The available option here is to vote to pass the bipartisan compromise reached in the Senate to extend the payroll tax cut for 160 million working Americans for two more months, and to commit, as the leaders who worked that compromise out committed, to ensuring, early next year, that this extension lasts through 2012.  That’s the approach the President thinks that Congress ought to take; that’s the approach they ought to take.

Mr. Youngman, welcome to the front row.

Q    Thank you.  You seem taller from up here.  (Laughter.) 

MR. CARNEY:  Better looking?

Q    Just taller.

MR. CARNEY:  Just taller.  (Laughter.)

Q    Just to put a fine point on this, the President won’t ask Senator Reid to appoint conferees?

MR. CARNEY:  The President agrees with Senator Reid and with the 89 senators, Republicans and Democrats, who voted for the bipartisan compromise, that that is the right thing to do.  The House should vote on it. 

We have a situation where the great preponderance of players in this unnecessary drama agree on one thing --Democrats and Republicans -- and a small faction in the House disagrees.  And their disagreement, their willingness to not even hold a vote on this bipartisan compromise, is essentially a vote to raise taxes.  That’s what happens on January 1st. 

And that’s a -- that will be, to the American people, everyone who gets a paycheck, it will be a rude awakening on January 1st when they -- or even before then as the holidays approaches -- if they think -- they have to figure out how they’re going to make ends meet next year with $1,000 less; $1,000 more taken out of their weekly -- or, rather, their yearly earnings because the House of Representatives, the Republicans in the House, refuse to pass something that got 90 percent of the U.S. Senate, including their Republican colleagues, colleagues like Senator Grassley, Senator Collins, Senator Snowe, Senator Heller, Senator Lugar, Senator Brown and Senator Wicker, who all have called on the House to pass this measure.

Q    So that’s a no?  The President --

MR. CARNEY:  The House ought to pass the bill. 

Q    Just in general terms, does the President believe it’s worth negotiating with Speaker Boehner?  Does he believe that Speaker Boehner is somebody who can deliver on what he might agree to in negotiations?

MR. CARNEY:  The issue here isn’t negotiating with the Speaker of the House, because the --

Q    That’s why I said generally

MR. CARNEY:  Well, I mean, we’re focused on the task at hand right now, and the disagreement here is not between the Speaker and the President; they both agree that we ought to extend this payroll tax cut through the end of the year.  But the disagreement, quite clearly, here is between the leadership in the House, of the House Republicans, and the rest of Congress -- the Republicans in the Senate, the Democrats in the Senate and the administration.  And when it comes to what happened this weekend, what the President is not and should not be is a marriage counselor between Senate Republicans and House Republicans.

Q    On Iraq, the political crisis there seems to be escalating.  Aside from monitoring the situation, is the administration doing anything?  Has Vice President Biden been asked to step in and perhaps oversee this -- or intervene?

MR. CARNEY:  You’re referring to?

Q    The -- al-Hashimi, the arrest warrant.

MR. CARNEY:  As I discussed yesterday, we’re obviously concerned about this and we have -- we are always in conversations with Iraqi leaders.  We closely monitor the reports.  And we urge the Iraqi authorities charged with this responsibility to conduct their investigations into alleged terrorist activities in accordance with international legal norms and full respect for Iraqi law.

As I said, we are talking to all parties to express our concern regarding these developments.  We continue to urge all sides to work to resolve differences peacefully, through dialogue and in a manner that is consistent with the international standards of rule of law, transparency and the democratic political process.

Ambassador James Jeffrey, as well as other U.S. -- senior U.S. officials, have been in frequent contact with Iraqi leaders on this matter and will continue to do so.

Q    Is Vice President Biden one of those officials?

MR. CARNEY:  I don’t have any conversations involving the Vice President to report out to you.  You correctly identify the fact that the Vice President is very engaged in Iraq as a rule, but I don’t have any specific conversations of his to report out.

Let me move it around.  Yes, ma’am.

Q    Any comment about result of Egyptian elections?

MR. CARNEY:  I’m sorry, I didn’t hear -- quite hear -- I know it’s about Egypt --

Q    Do you have any comment result of the Egyptian elections?

MR. CARNEY:  Hold on one second, let me -- I can comment generally about what we’ve seen in Egypt of late in the last few days and say that we remain deeply concerned about the violence in Egypt.  We again reiterate the need for Egyptian security forces to respect and protect the universal rights of all Egyptians, including the rights to peaceful free expression and assembly.

Egyptian authorities should also hold accountable those, including the security forces, who violate these standards.

As Secretary Clinton said yesterday, the promise, the beauty of the revolutionary aspirations that everyone watched unfold in Tahrir Square, the restraint of the security forces and how they responded, all of that was very promising and it was held up by the Egyptian people as what a new Egypt would look like.

We continue to support a timely, inclusive and credible transition to full democracy that lives up to this promise.

Yes.

Q    Thank you, Jay.  Two questions.  First one is, Japan announced they will buy the F-35 fighter jet from the U.S.  What’s the reaction from the White House?

MR. CARNEY:  I don’t have a reaction on that.  I would refer you to I guess the Defense Department.

Q    And also, we noticed that the President has already reached out to President Lee and Prime Minister Noda, and is there any plan for him to reach out to Chinese leader or Russian leader?  And what kind of role that U.S. expect China to play after the -- Kim Jong-il’s death?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, I don’t have any additional phone calls to read out on this matter involving the President. We are reaching out to all of our allies and partners in the region, as I mentioned yesterday, and will continue to do so.

We work with all our allies and partners on this issue, and will continue to.  And we will -- or I will simply add to what I said yesterday, that we hope that the North -- new North Korean leadership will take the steps necessary to support peace, prosperity and a better future for the North Korean people, including through acting on its commitments to denuclearization.

Moving back.  Norah.

Q    First on the payroll tax cut.  Speaker Boehner has said that they will adjourn at the end of the day; there are no plans for the Senate to return.  Will the President stay in Washington while Congress is away?

MR. CARNEY:  The President is here and is very focused on the need for Congress to take the appropriate action to make sure that Americans don’t have their taxes go up on January 1st.  He believes that the absolutely right course of action here is for the House to take up the Senate bill that has already garnered overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate, and to pass that bill so that Americans don’t have their taxes go up. 

While you know what Speaker Boehner said, the fact is it remains an option for the House to do that.  And I think it is the result of avoidance, if you will, that the House resulted to sort of parliamentary machinations to avoid actually voting on a measure that got such sweeping bipartisan support in the Senate -- because, I think it’s safe to say, they were worried -- they, the Republican leadership -- that it would actually pass and Americans’ taxes wouldn’t go up.  Which is just mighty unfortunate, because this is not a game.  For people who are struggling to make ends meet, $1,000 is a big deal.  And it is absolutely essential that the House reconsider its approach to this, accept that leaders in both parties of both houses and that the President of the United States are all committed to a full-year extension. 

The President has been hammering on this issue since September, as you know.  And what the Senate leadership, both Republican and Democrat, decided is that they didn’t have enough time to finish a one-year extension, so they decided that what was absolutely essential is that Americans don’t have their taxes go up in just 11 days.  So they passed, by a vote of 89 to 10, a bipartisan compromise to extend the payroll tax cut for two months.  The House ought to follow suit.

Q    That is correct that the President has been hammering about this since September, but it looks like the President is going to be left standing at the altar on this one.

MR. CARNEY:  But here’s the problem with that approach to this, or the premise behind that question, is that somehow this has to do with the President winning or losing.  This is not a game; it’s not politics.  It’s Americans’ livelihoods; it’s their paychecks; it’s 1,000 bucks, on average.  And I think the nature of your question correctly identifies the irony that were it not for the fact that President Obama supports this payroll tax cut, I suspect it would pass overwhelmingly in the House of Representatives.  After all, Republicans, in the early days of 2009 when we were in an economic freefall and people were proposing different ideas for how we should approach our economic problems and how we should get the economy growing instead of shrinking, many Republicans came out in support of a payroll tax cut.  Some of them came out and supported a two-month payroll tax holiday.

Q    Will you reiterate that the President plans to stay in Washington until the payroll tax cut is passed?

MR. CARNEY:  The President intends to stay and work with Congress to ensure that Americans don’t have their taxes go up.  But let’s be clear about where the power to make that happen resides.  The President supports this bipartisan compromise.  Senate Democrats support this bipartisan compromise.  Senate Republicans overwhelmingly support this bipartisan compromise.  At least a handful if not more already on the record House Republicans support this bipartisan compromise.  I suspect that many, many more do.  The holdout here -- the holdouts are very much in the minority.  The House ought to vote to make sure Americans don’t have their taxes go up.

Q    And just a quick question on Iraq.  Now that American forces are out of Iraq -- this was brought up yesterday -- the Vice President, al-Hashimi, has been arrested.  Does the U.S. want to be involved now at all in limiting sectarian tensions, or is Iraq, as the President said at Fort Bragg, in the hands of the Iraqi people?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, Iraq is a sovereign nation.  And it is very much in the hands of Iraqi leaders as well as the Iraqi people the future of that country.  We will absolutely continue to engage directly with Iraq in a very robust relationship that involves diplomatic, educational, economic and other ties -- including security ties -- to help Iraq as it further develops as a democratic nation.

So, as I mentioned earlier in response to a question about this, we are speaking with Iraqi leaders from all sides about this specific matter, and would be anyway on the variety of other challenges that they face.  Because we have very strong relationships and are very committed to helping Iraq build on the remarkable progress that, thanks to our efforts, the efforts of our troops as well as our civilians, and of course the remarkable efforts of the Iraqi people and their leaders towards creating a stable and prosperous and democratic country.

So we have tried throughout this period that marks the end of the Iraq war to make clear that the end of the war does not mean an end to our relationship with Iraq.  We want a strong and vibrant relationship with Iraq, and we will continue to work with Iraqi leaders and Iraqi institutions to develop that relationship. 

Dan.

Q    Thank you.  In response to one of Sam’s questions, you said that the President shouldn’t have to play the role of marriage counselor.  Why shouldn’t the President play that role -- or any other kind of counselor -- in order to get this deal done, and to protect middle-class Americans, as you’ve been saying and others as well?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, it’s a good question, Dan.  The President’s approach has been focused on -- and his strategy has been focused on getting this very important piece of business done for the American people.  He put it on the table in September as part of the American Jobs Act.  He called for not just an extension of the payroll tax cut but an expansion, so that if his proposal had passed, if he got his way in entirety, Americans wouldn’t just have $1,000 extra next year, they would have had on average $1,550 extra.  If he had gotten his way in his proposal entirely, small businesses would have had a payroll tax cut.

So then he worked with Senate leadership on an alternative way to pay for that measure, and he has worked with Senate leadership on the efforts to reach a bipartisan compromise on a year-long extension as well as on the two-month insurance policy that Senators Reid and McConnell worked out, and worked out -- I mean, let’s just be clear -- with the full knowledge of the House leadership.  And it is -- again, you’d have to be a rube about how Washington works to believe that the Senate leaders of both parties would have worked out a compromise on this issue that resulted in a vote of 89 to 10 without careful communication with House leadership. 

So we are at this point where a bipartisan compromise and solution exists precisely because of the President’s leadership.  And my point in my admittedly glib comment was that the issue here isn’t about what the President can work out with the Speaker of the House, because the issue is that an overwhelming majority in Congress of Republicans and Democrats want one thing, which is to make sure that Americans don’t have their taxes go up on January 1st, and for political reasons or ideological reasons -- or reasons that we’ve yet to fathom -- the House Republican leadership wants something else.

And I think that is -- as we’ve increasingly seen, as we’ve heard from Republican senators and others, puts the House Republican leadership at odds with the interests of Republicans generally.  And that’s a conflict that they need to resolve on behalf of the American people.

I mean, again, going back to I think somebody else’s question, this is not about President Obama.  I mean, we are in this ironic situation where we’re now arguing over whether or not the Republican House of Representatives is going to allow a tax cut for most Americans in spite of the fact the President supports it, who happens to be a Democrat.  That kind of turns conventional wisdom on its head about the priorities of the different parties -- and that’s because, in part, this President’s priority is the American economy and the need to create jobs.  Put aside all the political posturing, and who’s up and who’s down, and who wins and who’s to blame; the President wants this because he thinks it’s vitally important to the economy.

We have had some good news lately with the economy.  We have a lot of work to do, but there are some signs of improvement.  And what outside economists have said is that if we do not extend the payroll tax cut, that could have a very negative effect on an economy that is just beginning to show some positive signs.  So the President wants this not as a political victory, but because his number-one priority is growing the economy and creating -- or helping the economy create more jobs so that fewer Americans are looking for work and more Americans are employed and have the means to ensure that they can pay their bills and send their kids to school.

Q    And one other question.  I know you often don’t like to talk about polls, but CNN has a new poll that came out and it shows that the President’s numbers are much better than they were just last month:  his approval rating, 49 percent now compared to 44 percent in November; disapproval, 48 percent now compared to 54 percent in November.  Any comment on that?  What do you attribute that to?

MR. CARNEY:  I will simply say that polls go up and down.  We live in a very challenging political environment, and more importantly, in a continuingly challenging economic environment.  This President is focused on the challenging economic environment.  And admittedly, in focusing on that, he has to contend with the challenging political environment. 

But right now, he is committed to working with Congress and doing the things he can do outside of Congress to grow the economy and help it create jobs.  And I think that in these last several months, that focus has been pretty clear.  And he’s going to continue that focus.  And the impact that has on polls remains to be seen, but the -- but it is his primary focus as President.

Ed.

Q    Jay, I just want to put a finer point then -- are you saying there’s a scenario that’s possible, on December 25th, where the President wakes up and “It’s a Wonderful Life” is on, and he puts on his Christmas sweater in the White House, and he’s all alone and his family is in Hawaii?

MR. CARNEY:  And he and John Boehner -- (laughter) --

Q    He invites John Boehner over and -- is it possible that he spends Christmas alone at the White House?

MR. CARNEY:  I think it would be -- (laughter) -- will you be available if -- (laughter) --

Q    I have an opening, yes.  (Laughter.)  You just give us 20 minutes, we’ll do an interview.

MR. CARNEY:  When he hears this this is going to change his opinion about -- (laughter) --

Q    He’ll go to Hawaii.

MR. CARNEY:  Look, I’m reluctant to say where he’s going to be on which day because I don’t want to make this about him.  And also, it is a very fluid situation.  Today, the House -- or overnight, the House abruptly avoided voting on the available Senate bipartisan compromise to engage in some political theater, and then -- but what remains true is, although they have done that, is that available bipartisan compromise is still there, or is still available.

So it’s hard to know what tomorrow is going to look like, what the next day is going to look like, as this saga continues.

What the President will continue to articulate is his firm belief that, A, he and every leader in Congress is committed to extending the payroll tax cut for a year; B, that we need to make sure, as an insurance policy against taxes going up in 11 days on 160 million Americans, that we pass the bipartisan compromise that extends the payroll tax cut for two months.

Beyond that my crystal ball is very cloudy, so I can’t really tell you.  I’m sure -- I mean, I know the President wants to see his daughters and his wife.  But right now, we’re focused on urging Congress to do the right thing -- urging the House of Representatives, the Republicans in the House of Representatives, the leadership of the Republicans in the House of Representatives to do the right thing.

Q    Two other quick things.  One, do you dismiss the concerns that have been raised -- putting aside all the other issues that are out there -- dismiss the concerns by some payroll experts who say that just practically speaking, not politically speaking, it is going to be difficult, confusing, hard, to implement a two-month extension -- putting aside any politics.

MR. CARNEY:  Sure.

Q    Do you agree at all?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, I don’t dismiss it.  I understand that when Congress waits until the last minute to do something like this, as it did last year, it creates some challenges and complications.  But as I said yesterday, the President is committed to asking his administration to work with American businesses to overcome whatever complications this might cause.  He would rather do that, rather make that request of his administration, than ask Americans to spend the holidays worrying about how they’re going to deal with $1,000 less next year.

Q    Okay.  And I hope this doesn’t affect my Christmas Day invitation, but if you feel like John Boehner and the House Republicans now are blocking the payroll tax cut extension -- and many times at this podium you’ve said that the Republicans are out to stop him, practically at every turn -- how is it then the President was able to tell CBS news that basically his accomplishments in three years are only beaten by three other Presidents in American history?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, he was talking about legislative accomplishments.  And I think it’s fair to say that a significant portion of his --

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody.  Sorry to interrupt. 

MR. CARNEY:  All yours, sir.

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Good afternoon, everybody.  It is no secret that there hasn’t been an abundance of partisanship in Washington this year.  And that’s why what happened on Saturday was such a big deal. 

Nearly the entire Senate -- including almost all of the Republicans -- voted to prevent 160 million working Americans from receiving a tax increase on January 1st.  Nearly the entire Senate voted to make sure that nearly 2.5 million Americans who are out there looking for a job don’t lose their unemployment insurance in the first two months of next year.  And just about everybody -- Democrats and Republicans -- committed to making sure that early next year we find a way to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance through the end of 2012.

But now, even though Republicans and Democrats in the Senate were willing to compromise for the good of the country, a faction of Republicans in the House are refusing to even vote on the Senate bill -- a bill that cuts taxes for 160 million Americans.  And because of their refusal to cooperate, all those Americans could face a tax hike in just 11 days, and millions of Americans who are out there looking for work could find their unemployment insurance expired.

Now, let’s be clear:  Right now, the bipartisan compromise that was reached on Saturday is the only viable way to prevent a tax hike on January 1st.  It’s the only one.  All of the leaders in Congress -- Democrats and Republicans -- say they are committed to making sure we extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance for the entire year.  And by the way, this is something I called for months ago. 

The issue is, is that the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate worked on a one-year deal, made good progress, but determined that they needed more time to reach an agreement.  And that’s why they passed an insurance policy -- to make sure that taxes don’t go up on January 1st. 

In fact, the House Republicans say they don’t dispute the need for a payroll tax cut.  What they’re really trying to do, what they’re holding out for, is to wring concessions from Democrats on issues that have nothing to do with the payroll tax cut -- issues where the parties fundamentally disagree.  So a one-year deal is not the issue; we can and we will come to that agreement, as long as it’s focused on the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance and not focused on extraneous issues.

The issue right now is this:  The clock is ticking; time is running out.  And if the House Republicans refuse to vote for the Senate bill, or even allow it to come up for a vote, taxes will go up in 11 days.  I saw today that one of the House Republicans referred to what they’re doing as, “high-stakes poker.”  He’s right about the stakes, but this is not poker, this is not a game -- this shouldn’t be politics as usual.  Right now, the recovery is fragile, but it is moving in the right direction.  Our failure to do this could have effects not just on families but on the economy as a whole.  It’s not a game for the average family, who doesn’t have an extra 1,000 bucks to lose.  It’s not a game for somebody who’s out there looking for work right now, and might lose his house if unemployment insurance doesn’t come through.  It’s not a game for the millions of Americans who will take a hit when the entire economy grows more slowly because these proposals aren’t extended.

I just got back from a ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base, where we received the flag and the colors that our troops fought under in Iraq, and I met with some of the last men and women to return home from that war.  And these Americans, and all Americans who serve, are the embodiment of courage and selflessness and patriotism, and when they fight together, and sometimes die together, they don’t know and they certainly don’t care who’s a Democrat and who’s a Republican and how somebody is doing in the polls and how this might play in the spin room.  They work as a team, and they do their job.  And they do it for something bigger than themselves. 

The people in this town need to learn something from them.  We have more important things to worry about than politics right now.  We have more important things to worry about than saving face, or figuring out internal caucus politics.  We have people who are counting on us to make their lives just a little bit easier, to build an economy where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded.  And we owe it to them to come together right now and do the right thing.  That’s what the Senate did.  Democrats and Republicans in the Senate said, we’re going to put our fights on other issues aside and go ahead and do what’s right on something we all agree to.  Let’s go ahead and do it.  We’ll have time later for the politics; we’ll have time later to have fights around a whole bunch of other issues.  Right now, though, we know this is good for the economy -- and they went ahead and did the right thing.

I need the Speaker and House Republicans to do the same:  Put politics aside, put aside issues where there are fundamental disagreements, and come together on something we agree on.  And let’s not play brinksmanship.  The American people are weary of it; they’re tired of it.  They expect better.  I’m calling on the Speaker and the House Republican leadership to bring up the Senate bill for a vote.  Give the American people the assurance they need in this holiday season.

Thank you.

MR. CARNEY:  Yes, sorry, I’ll just take a couple more because -- (laughter) -- I think -- you’ll never know.

Q    So is he going to deliver that message now in phone calls?
 
MR. CARNEY:  I think he just did.  (Laughter.) 

Q    This was it?  Is he calling Boehner, or is this the way he’s going to do it?

MR. CARNEY:  I think I’ve answered the question about whether or not this is an issue of that kind of negotiation.  It is simply a call by the President for the House of Representatives, the leadership of the Republican Party in the House of Representatives, to follow the example of the Senate, and to act in an overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion to ensure that Americans’ taxes don’t go up on January 1st.

Q    Is this a stalemate?  Jay, is this a stalemate?

MR. CARNEY:  I’m not going to -- you guys get to write the flowery prose.  I don’t get to do that anymore.

Kristen, sorry.

Q    Jay, thanks.  House Republicans have said that their main issue with the bill is that it only extends the payroll tax cut for two months.  Given that, as the President just said, ultimately, he does want to see a one-year extension, can you just explain what the problem is with renegotiating this deal?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, I’ll point you back to both what the President said and I said, which is that, as part of an approach that was agreed upon by the Speaker of the House, the Senate Republican leader, the Senate Democratic leader worked very hard on a bipartisan compromise to extend the payroll tax cut for a year.  They made great progress but they were not able to get it done in time, and they believe that what was of the utmost importance was that they reach a compromise to extend the payroll tax cut for two months to ensure that Americans did not have their taxes go up on January 1st.  But they committed to come back and finish the work that would lead to a year-long extension.  That is absolutely the President’s approach.

I mean, it is simply a fallacy to suggest that this is about one year versus two months.  Everybody is for one year.  In fact -- and I won’t bore you with reading all the quotations that exist -- this President has been pushing for a one-year extension and expansion of the payroll tax cut for months, initially against great Republican resistance to even that idea. 

So his commitment to doing this for a year I think is beyond doubt.  What concerns him is that if the House does not take action on the Senate compromise, taxes go up on 160 million Americans. 

The avenue out of this problem that the House leadership created is obvious and clear to everyone:  Vote on the Senate bill.  It didn’t pass 51-49; the Vice President didn’t come out -- have to come in and break a tie.  It passed 89-10.  That’s huge.  They don’t get much bigger than that on things that aren’t post offices. 

So that’s the right way to go.

Q    Nancy Pelosi was quoted as saying, “It is just the extreme tea party element of the Republicans in the House of Representatives who are standing in the way of a tax cut for 160 million Americans.”  Does the administration agree that the tea party is behind this?  What do you think is at work here?

MR. CARNEY:  I think, as I’ve said, and I can say again, is that what is clear is that, based on an abundance of reporting, is that the Speaker believed that this was a good deal; that he thought House Republicans ought to support it.  And then he changed his position because of the strong opposition of some segment or element of his conference.

Now, you’re a better student of Republican Party politics probably than I am now.  But certainly some folks would use that label.  To me it’s irrelevant.  It’s simply that a small faction of one party in one house is blocking a compromise that has been agreed to overwhelmingly by everyone else of both parties.

So, look, the fact of the matter is, if taxes don’t get -- if the extension doesn’t happen and taxes go up, people aren’t going to remember -- the American people aren’t going to remember who won, who saved face, who won the political battle in the middle of December; they’re going to just remember their taxes went up.  And they’re going to be rightfully angry about it.

So it is for that reason that the House should act, and not worry about whether or not they’ve extracted the political concessions that would somehow make giving a tax cut to 160 million Americans palatable.  That used to be what it meant to be a Republican. 

Bill.  And then Jackie.

Q    Jay, isn’t there just one flaw to this equation, which is, if you went to Dulles right now you’d probably meet half the Republican members of Congress already running out of town.  So in effect, the Senate has gone and the House has gone, except for the conferees.  So there’s --

MR. CARNEY:  We call on the Speaker to do what is necessary to have the House vote on this bipartisan compromise.

Q    Bring them back to town, is what you’re saying?

MR. CARNEY:  If he feels that the last act of the Republicans in the House in the year of 2011 is a vote to raise taxes on Americans, that’s what he wants it to be, he could take that approach; it’s the wrong approach for the country. 

And again, going back to my answer, this is not about political winners or losers.  It’s about average folks, their paychecks, and the fact that it’s so unnecessary to make Americans worry about whether or not their taxes are going up as they’re spending the holidays with their families.  Because there’s an overwhelming bipartisan consensus that that should not happen, and there has been a bill passed out of the Senate -- 89-10 -- that would prevent it from happening.  And but for the objection of a small fraction of one house and its leadership, it would have happened and the President would have signed it into law.

Q    Can I follow on that?

MR. CARNEY:  Jackie.  And then Alexis.

Q    Speaker Boehner’s just named eight Republicans for a conference committee.  Harry Reid has said he won’t do anything until the House votes for the short-term bill.  Is Harry Reid calling the shots here now as we go forward?

MR. CARNEY:  Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, worked very hard with the Senate Republican leader to fashion a bipartisan compromise in the Senate that is exactly what I just described it as -- a bipartisan compromise.  It does not contain -- it is not the bill that the President put forward; it is not the bill that Senate Democrats put forward.  It is the product of a compromise between Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, both in terms of the extent of the tax reduction -- the President wanted more -- and in the way that it’s paid for.

And it even -- as providing the political scalp that some thought was necessary in the Republican Party -- it has within it some extraneous, ideological measures.  That is available to the House.  The House has not even voted on it; they have not disposed of it.  It remains as an option for the House to take action. 

Senator Reid, Senator McConnell worked very hard to try to get that one-year extension done before the end of the year.  It was their judgment -- their bipartisan judgment -- echoed by the 89-10 vote that their two-month extension received -- that it was not possible to reach final agreement on the one-year extension in time, and that they did not want to risk American tax -- American -- middle-class Americans and workers having their taxes go up on January 1st as a result of the need to spend a little more time reaching the full-year agreement.  That’s the right approach. 

But what is not in doubt is that the President, Senator Reid, Senator McConnell and the Speaker of the House all agree -- and Leader Pelosi -- all agree that we should extend the payroll tax cut for the entire year.  And this President is committed, the leaders are all committed to working to make that happen.  But what this political brinksmanship has created is the possibility that taxes will go up on January 1st because House Republicans refuse to even vote on a bill that received overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate. 

Q    But is he completely supportive of Senator Reid’s stance that the Senate will not come back, will not even consider coming back, unless the House first votes on the short-term --

MR. CARNEY:  I have this rare -- Jackie, I have this rare luxury of being able to say -- but you heard exactly what the President thinks moments ago from this podium.  And he could not have been clearer about what he thinks Congress needs to do, what the House Republicans need to do.  He spelled it out very clearly.

Q    Thank you.

MR. CARNEY:  Alexis, then I’ll go.

Q    Jay, two quick questions.  First, can you catch us up on what’s going on with the omnibus spending bill, the President’s disposition to finish that off?  And the second question is, the President had some traction this fall with going to the American people and saying, “Pass this bill,” and sending them a message he wanted them to pressure Congress.  The President just gave a message to Congress, but is there a role to play for the electorate right now in these 11 days?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, look, starting with your second question, I think that the more that Americans become aware of the fact that this particular impasse in Washington will directly result, if not resolved, in their taxes going up substantially, they will probably let their members of Congress know how unhappy they are about that. 

The Senate, in the spirit of working on the nation’s problems and putting aside politics, reached a bipartisan agreement that would prevent that from happening; that would relieve members of the House, including House Republicans, of having to explain to their constituents on January 1st or 2nd or 3rd why it is that their failure to act has resulted in a tax hike for 160 million Americans.

On the first part, there’s a whole process that involves producing a bill like the size of the omnibus.  I think it hasn’t arrived here yet.  When it does the President will sign it.

Q    And I have one follow-up.

MR. CARNEY:  Okay.  Connie, then I got to go.

Q    I just wondered why you don’t just take a few days off, have a cooling-off period?  You’ve got 11 days.  Just declare a recess so people can make their plans.

MR. CARNEY:  Well, again, this is -- there is a very easy solution here:  Pass the Senate bill that received 90 percent support -- Republicans and Democrats.

Thanks.

END
2:19 P.M. EST