Remarks by the President at DNC Event--Paramount Theatre, Seattle, WA

The Paramount Theatre
Seattle, Washington

September 25, 2011
2:38 P.M. PDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody. Thank you, Seattle! Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you so much. Thank you, Seattle. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE: Four more year! Four more years!

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody. Everybody, please have a seat. Have a seat. Now, first of all, it is wonderful to see all of you. It is wonderful to be introduced by two Hall-of-Famers -- Lenny Wilkins and Bill Russell. I don't know if you guys noticed that Bill needs a higher mic. (Laughter.) It was a little low for him. But it was incredible to get to know those two gentlemen during the course of the campaign, and they have just been great, great friends.

In addition, obviously I want to acknowledge your outstanding governor, Christine Gregoire. (Applause.) I want to thank Robert Cray and the Robert Cray Band. (Applause.) I want to thank -- you have some of the best elected officials in the country, and you've got some of the best congressional -- I think one of the best congressional delegations in the country. Stand up, congressional delegation. (Applause.)

It is great to be back in this gorgeous city, and it's good to be outside of Washington. I'm thrilled to be here with all of you. I've even come here during a Bears-Packers game. (Laughter.) And that tells you how much I need your help. I've come because I need you to help finish what we started in 2008.

Back then, we started this campaign not because we thought it would be a cakewalk. After all, you supported a candidate named Barack Hussein Obama. (Laughter and applause.) You didn’t need a poll to know that that was not going to be easy. Lately there's been some revisionist history -- people talk about, oh, what an incredible, smooth campaign that was. And I'm thinking, that's not how it felt to me. (Laughter.) But as daunting as it was, as many setbacks as we had, we forged ahead because we had an idea about what this country is. We had an idea about what this country can be.

Many of you, many of our parents, our grandparents, we grew up with faith in an America where, if you work hard, if you're responsible, then it pays off. (Applause.) If you stepped up and you did your job and were loyal to your company, that loyalty would be rewarded with a decent salary and decent benefits and a raise once in a while and some security. And you had some belief that the American Dream could be yours, and that your kids could dream even bigger.

And over the last decade, that faith has been profoundly shaken. The rules changed. The deck kept on getting stacked against middle-class Americans and those aspiring to be in the middle class. Nobody in Washington seemed willing or able to do anything about it.

So in 2007, all of this culminated in a once-in-a-lifetime economic crisis -- a crisis that's been much worse and much longer than your average recession. You know, historians have looked, and typically a recession that comes about because of a financial crisis is much deeper and much longer. It takes a long time to work its way through. And so, from the time I took office, we knew, because this crisis had been building for years, it was going to take us years to get back to where we wanted to be.

The question now is not whether people are still hurting; they are. Every night I read letters from constituents all across the country, and the stories are heartbreaking. I talk to people out on the road, and men and women who've had to close a business that's been in their family for generations, or folks who've had to cross items off the grocery store list to save money so they can fill up the gas tank to get to work, parents having to postpone retirement because they're committed to sending their kids to college. A lot of folks out there are hurting.

The question is not whether this country has been going through tough times. The question is where are we going next. We can either go back to the same ideas that the other sides is peddling -- old worn-out ideas that were tried throughout the last decade, where corporations get to write their own rules, and those of us who've been most fortunate get to keep all our tax breaks, and we abandon our commitment to caring for the vulnerable, and we abandon our commitment to investing in the future and investing in infrastructure and investing in education and basic research -- or we can build an America that we talked about in 2008. An America where everybody gets a fair shake and everybody does their fair share. And that's what this election is about. And that's what we've been fighting for for the last two and a half years.

Think about it. When we wanted to save the auto industry from not just bankruptcy, but liquidation, there were a whole bunch of folks on the other side who fought us tooth and nail. And that was not easy. They said it was going to be a waste of time and a waste of money. You know what? We did it anyway. And we saved thousands of American jobs as a consequence, and we made sure that America is still making cars that we're selling around the world. (Applause.)

And by the way, contrary to the naysayers, the taxpayers are getting their money back. And today the American auto industry is stronger than ever, and they're making fuel-efficient cars that are stamped with three proud words: Made in America. (Applause.)

When we wanted to pass Wall Street reform to make sure that a crisis like this never happens again, we had lobbyists and special interest spend millions of dollars to make sure we didn’t succeed. And you know what -- with the help of some of these folks sitting at this table, we did it anyway, and passed the toughest reforms in our history, reforms that prevent consumers from getting ripped off by mortgage lenders or credit companies. (Applause.) Today there are no more hidden credit card fees; there are no more unfair rate hikes; no more deception from banks. That is not an accident. That is because we fought for it and we got it done. (Applause.)

Most Republicans voted against it, but we were able to cut $60 billion -- that's with a "B" -- $60 billion in taxpayers subsidies that were going to big banks through the student loan program -- we took that money and now that's going to millions of kids all across the country in increased Pell Grants and cheaper student loans, so they have got access to college. (Applause.)

Instead of giving more tax breaks to the largest corporations, we cut taxes for small business and for middle-class families. The first law I signed into -- the first bill I signed into law made sure that women earn equal pay for an equal day's work, because I want our daughters to have the same opportunities as our sons. (Applause.)

We repealed "don't ask, don't tell" so that never again will gay and lesbian Americans need to hide in order to serve the country they love. (Applause.) And while we're at it, we passed health care reform to make sure that nobody goes bankrupt because they get sick. (Applause.)

And every one of these issues were tough. Every one of them we had to fight for. And yet, despite all the good that we've done over the last two and half years, we've still got so much more work to do. We've got so much more work to do to make sure that everyone in this country gets a fair shake; to make sure that every American has a chance to get ahead. And that's why I need your help.

About two weeks ago, I sent to Congress a bill called the American jobs bill. Some of you might have heard about this. (Applause.) Everything in it is the kind of proposal that's been supported by Democrats and Republicans in the past. Everything in it will be paid for. It will put people back to work. It will put more money into the pockets of working people. Congress should pass this bill right away. (Applause.)

We've got millions of construction workers who don't have jobs right now. This bill says, let's put these men and women to work rebuilding our roads and our bridges and our highways. (Applause.) I don't want the newest airports in Singapore and the fastest railroads in China. I want them built right here in the United States of America. (Applause.) There's work to be done; there are workers to do it. Let tell Congress to pass this jobs bill and make it happen right now. (Applause.)

It shouldn’t be a partisan issue. What happened? Republicans used to like roads. (Laughter.) Do you remember that? Mr. Mayor, you remember, don't you? Suddenly they don't like roads because Democrats are proposing it? That doesn’t make any sense.

In places like South Korea, they can't hire teachers fast enough. I had lunch with the President of Korea -- I asked him, what's your biggest problem. He said, oh, the parents -- they're too demanding. They're telling me I've got to hire all these teachers and so we can barely keep pace. We're importing them from abroad. They think that their kids should learn English when they're in kindergarten. Because they know that educating their children is the key to success in this 21st century economy. (Applause.)

Now, that shouldn’t be a partisan idea. But here we are, we're laying off teachers in droves -- here in America. There's schools around the country where they've eliminated music, art; they've got one science teacher running around 15 different classrooms because they don't have enough staff; kids learning in trailers. That's unfair to our kids. It undermines our future.

But if we pass this jobs bill we will put thousands of teachers in every state back in the classroom where they belong. Tell Congress to pass this jobs bill and put our teachers back to work. (Applause.)

Tell Congress to pass this jobs bill, we'll put -- we'll give companies tax credits for hiring American veterans. (Applause.) These folks serve -- serve us, to keep us free and to keep us safe. They interrupt their careers; they leave their families; they put themselves in harm's way. They shouldn’t have to fight for a job when they come home. That's not who we are as Americans. Pass this jobs bill and give veterans more opportunity. (Applause.)

The American Jobs Act will cut taxes for virtually every worker in America; cut taxes for every small business owner in America; gives an extra tax cut to every small business that hires more workers or raises their wages. (Applause.) So don't just talk about helping America's job creators; how about actually helping them. Get this bill passed right away. (Applause.)

A lot of folks in Congress have said, well, maybe in the past we might have supported these things but we're not going to support any new spending that's not paid for. Well, I think that's important. So I also laid out a plan to pay for the American Jobs Act -- and not only pays for the jobs act, but brings our debt down to manageable levels over time. It adds to the $1 trillion in spending cuts I already signed this summer, which, when you add it all together, will be one of the biggest spending cuts in history. But it's not all done right now; it's spread out over time so it doesn’t endanger our recovery.

Now, it's also a plan that says, if we want to close the deficit and pay for this jobs plan, we can't just cut our way out of the problem. We've got to also ask those of us who are most fortunate -- the wealthiest Americans, the biggest, most profitable corporations -- to pay their fair share. (Applause.)

It's time to reform the tax code based on a very simple principle: Warren Buffett's secretary shouldn’t be paying a higher tax rate than Warren Buffett. (Applause.) A teacher or a nurse or a construction worker making $50,000 a year shouldn’t pay a higher tax rate than somebody pulling in $50 million. It's not fair. It's not right. It has to change. (Applause.)

Now, you're already hearing the other side saying, well, hold on, that's class warfare. Let me say this. In America, we believe in success. That's what's great about this country. You have a good idea, you start a new business, you're 6'10" and a perennial all-star -- (laughter) -- and you're willing to put in the work and the effort and the drive, and you've got an idea that creates a new product or service, we want you to be successful. That's what America is about, the idea that any one of us can make it if we try. Anybody can open a business. Anybody can have an idea that makes us into a millionaire or billionaire -- that's great. This is the land of opportunity.

But, you know what, if we want to make sure that this is the land of opportunity not just for ourselves but for our kids and our grandkids, then we've got to make sure that those of us who are doing well should pay our fair share in taxes, to contribute to the nation's success -- the nation that made our own success possible. (Applause.) And that means investing back in schools. And that means making sure we're building decent roads.

You know, I was just with a group of folks that included some Microsoft executives. The fact is, if we hadn’t investing in DARPA and the infrastructure for the Internet, there would be no Microsoft. And most wealthy Americans would agree that we've got to make sure that we are reinvesting to make this a land of opportunity for everybody -- to make investments that will help us grow our economy and deal with the debt that threatens our future.

So, yes, the Republicans are dusting off their old talking points and calling this tax -- this class warfare. But you know what, if asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a plumber makes me a warrior for the middle class I'll wear that charge -- I'll wear that as a badge of honor. (Applause.) I'll wear that as a badge of honor. Because the only class warfare I've seen is the battle being waged against the middle class in this country for decades. (Applause.)

Look, this is about priorities. It's about choices. If we want to pay for this jobs plan, if we want to close this deficit, if we want to invest in our future, if we want to put teachers back in the classroom, if we want to make sure that we've got the best roads and bridges and airports, if we want to lay broadband lines and wireless service for everybody, the money has got to come from somewhere.

So would you rather keep tax loopholes for oil companies? Or would you rather put construction workers and teachers back on the job? (Applause.) Would you rather keep tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires -- or do you want to invest in medical research and new technology? (Applause.) Should we ask our seniors to pay thousands of dollars more for their Medicare -- or should we ask the most profitable corporations to pay their fair share?

That's what this debate is about. That's what's at stake right now. This notion that the only thing to do to restore our prosperity is to eliminate environmental rules, and bust unions, and make sure that we're giving tax breaks to the folks who are most fortunate and tell everybody else that they’re on their own -- that's not who we are. That's not the story of America. Yes, we are rugged individuals. Yes, we are strong and self-reliant; we don't like being told what to do by the government or anybody else. But it has always been the drive and initiative of our workers and entrepreneurs combined with our ability to work together as a society that cares for one another and gives everybody a chance -- that's what's made this economy the engine and the envy of the world.

It hasn’t just been about "me first." There's always been a running thread that says we're all connected, and that there are some things that we can only do together as a nation. It's obvious when we think of our collective defense, and we think about the fire service, or when we think about the military. But it's also true when it comes to our schools. It's also true when it comes to protecting our natural resources. That's why Presidents like Lincoln and Eisenhower -- two Republicans -- invested in railroads and highways and science and technology. It's why this country gave millions of returning heroes -- including my grandfather -- the chance to study through the G.I. Bill. It's the reason that Michelle and I had the chance to succeed beyond our wildest dreams -- because not only did we have great parents and grandparents, but we also had the ability to get student loans. We also had this opportunity that the country gave us.

So don't be confused. No single individual built America on their own, and no single individual makes it on their own. We've built it together. We have been and always will be one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all -- but also a nation with responsibilities to ourselves and responsibilities to one another. (Applause.) And it's time for us to meet those responsibilities right now. (Applause.) it's time for us to meet our responsibilities to each other right now. (Applause.)

And maybe some in Congress would rather settle those differences at the ballot box in November, but I've got news for them. The next election is 14 months away and the American people cannot wait. They do not have the luxury of us squabbling for another 14 months. (Applause.) A lot of folks are living week to week, paycheck to paycheck, day to day. They need action and they need it now.

Which brings me to you. I'm asking all of you to lift up your voices. You need to help us out. I want you to put pressure on Congress. The folks here, they're already voting for it. So you've got to go find some people who aren’t. (Applause.) And I'm asking you to join me in finishing what we started in 2008.

Now, these have been tough -- tough times for everybody, these last two and a half years. I know there are times, there are moments when folks feel discouraged. You may still have the old "hope" poster in the back somewhere. (Laughter.) But you're thinking, man, we're struggling and the unemployment rate is still high and the politics is Washington seem just as polarized as ever. So you feel frustrated. And there's a natural tendency to sink back into cynicism; to say, you know what, this can't be fixed. But I tell you what, if we had that attitude back in 2008, we never would have won. And more importantly, if we had that attitude throughout our history, then America wouldn't be what it is today.

Every bit of progress that's been worth making has been a struggle -- whether it was civil rights, or women's rights, the movement to expand educational opportunities to all, the institution of our basic safety net like Social Security and Medicare -- always been a struggle. And there have been points at every juncture where it's been discouraging. People have felt like, well, maybe things can't happen. Maybe we're stuck. Maybe America's best days are behind us. And what's prevented that from happening has been the American people -- that sense not only of innate decency and sense of fairness that is just in the DNA of America, but also that sense, you know what, we're not somebody who -- we're not a people who sit back and give up. We don't just let things happen "to" us; we make things happen.

And that spirit, which we captured in 2008, we need that spirit now more than ever. So I need you guys to shake off any doldrums. I need you to decide right here and right now -- and I need you to talk to your friends and your neighbors and your coworkers -- you need to tell them, you know what, we're not finished yet. We've got more work to do. (Applause.) We are going to build an America that we believe in, a place where everybody has a fair shot, everybody does their fair share; a generous, big, tolerant America; an optimistic America.

We are tougher than the times that we live in. We are bigger than the small politics that we've been witnessing. We are a people who write our own destiny, and it is fully within our power to write it once more. So let's meet this moment. Let's get to work. Let's show once again why the United States of America is the greatest country on Earth.

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

END
3:08 P.M. PDT

Remarks by the President at Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Phoenix Awards Dinner

Washington Convention Center
Washington, D.C. 

8:30 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, CBC!  (Applause.)  Thank you so much. Thank you.  Please, everybody have a seat.  It is wonderful to be with all of you tonight.  It's good to be with the conscience of the Congress.  (Applause.)  Thank you, Chairman Cleaver and brother Payne, for all that you do each and every day.  Thank you, Dr. Elsie Scott, president and CEO of the CBC Foundation, and all of you for your outstanding work with your internship program, which has done so much for so many young people.  And I had a chance to meet some of the young people backstage -- an incredible, unbelievably impressive group. 

You know, being here with all of you -- with all the outstanding members of the Congressional Black Caucus -- reminds me of a story that one of our friends, a giant of the civil rights movement, Reverend Dr. Joseph Lowery, told one day.  Dr. Lowery -- I don't think he minds me telling that he turns 90 in a couple weeks.  (Applause.)  He’s been causing a ruckus for about 89 of those years.  (Laughter.) 

A few years back, Dr. Lowery and I were together at Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church in Selma.  (Applause.)  We've got some Selma folks in the house.  (Applause.)  And Dr. Lowery stood up in the pulpit and told the congregation the story of Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace.  You know the story -- it’s about three young men bold enough to stand up for God, even if it meant being thrown in a furnace.  And they survived because of their faith, and because God showed up in that furnace with them.

Now, Dr. Lowery said that those three young men were a little bit crazy.  But there’s a difference, he said, between good crazy and bad crazy.  (Applause.)  Those boys, he said, were “good crazy.”  At the time, I was running for president -- it was early in the campaign.  Nobody gave me much of a chance.  He turned to me from the pulpit, and indicated that someone like me running for president -- well, that was crazy.  (Laughter.)  But he supposed it was good crazy. 

He was talking about faith, the belief in things not seen, the belief that if you persevere a better day lies ahead.  And I suppose the reason I enjoy coming to the CBC -- what this weekend is all about is, you and me, we're all a little bit crazy, but hopefully a good kind of crazy.  (Applause.)  We’re a good kind of crazy because no matter how hard things get, we keep the faith; we keep fighting; we keep moving forward.

And we've needed faith over these last couple years.  Times have been hard.  It’s been three years since we faced down a crisis that began on Wall Street and then spread to Main Street, and hammered working families, and hammered an already hard-hit black community.  The unemployment rate for black folks went up to nearly 17 percent -- the highest it’s been in almost three decades; 40 percent, almost, of African American children living in poverty; fewer than half convinced that they can achieve Dr. King’s dream.  You’ve got to be a little crazy to have faith during such hard times. 

It’s heartbreaking, and it’s frustrating.  And I ran for President, and the members of the CBC ran for Congress, to help more Americans reach that dream.  (Applause.)  We ran to give every child a chance, whether he’s born in Chicago, or she comes from a rural town in the Delta.  This crisis has made that job of giving everybody opportunity a little bit harder. 

We knew at the outset of my presidency that the economic calamity we faced wasn’t caused overnight and wasn’t going to be solved overnight.  We knew that long before the recession hit, the middle class in this country had been falling behind -– wages and incomes had been stagnant; a sense of financial security had been slipping away.  And since these problems were not caused overnight, we knew we were going to have to climb a steep hill. 

But we got to work.  With your help, we started fighting our way back from the brink.  And at every step of the way, we’ve faced fierce opposition based on an old idea -- the idea that the only way to restore prosperity can’t just be to let every corporation write its own rules, or give out tax breaks to the wealthiest and the most fortunate, and to tell everybody that they're on their own.  There has to be a different concept of what America’s all about.  It has to be based on the idea that I am my brother’s keeper and I am my sister’s keeper, and we’re in this together.  We are in this thing together.  (Applause.) 

We had a different vision and so we did what was right, and we fought to extend unemployment insurance, and we fought to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit, and we fought to expand the Child Tax Credit -- which benefited nearly half of all African American children in this country.  (Applause.)  And millions of Americans are better off because of that fight.  (Applause.) 

Ask the family struggling to make ends meet if that extra few hundred dollars in their mother’s paycheck from the payroll tax cut we passed made a difference.  They’ll tell you.  Ask them how much that Earned Income Tax Credit or that Child Tax Credit makes a difference in paying the bills at the end of the month. 

When an army of lobbyists and special interests spent millions to crush Wall Street reform, we stood up for what was right.  We said the time has come to protect homeowners from predatory mortgage lenders.  The time has come to protect consumers from credit card companies that jacked up rates without warning.  (Applause.)  We signed the strongest consumer financial protection in history.  That’s what we did together.  (Applause.)

Remember how many years we tried to stop big banks from collecting taxpayer subsidies for student loans while the cost of college kept slipping out of reach?  Together, we put a stop to that once and for all.  We used those savings to make college more affordable.  We invested in early childhood education and community college and HBCUs.  Ask the engineering student at an HBCU who thought he might have to leave school if that extra Pell Grant assistance mattered.  (Applause.)

We’re attacking the cycle of poverty that steals the future from too many children -- not just by pouring money into a broken system, but by building on what works -– with Promise Neighborhoods modeled after the good work up in Harlem; Choice Neighborhoods rebuilding crumbling public housing into communities of hope and opportunity; Strong Cities, Strong Communities, our partnership with local leaders in hard-hit cities like Cleveland and Detroit.  And we overcame years of inaction to win justice for black farmers because of the leadership of the CBC and because we had an administration that was committed to doing the right thing.  (Applause.)

And against all sorts of setbacks, when the opposition fought us with everything they had, we finally made clear that in the United States of America nobody should go broke because they get sick.  We are better than that.  (Applause.)  And today, insurance companies can no longer drop or deny your coverage for no good reason.  In just a year and a half, about one million more young adults have health insurance because of this law.  (Applause.)  One million young people.  That is an incredible achievement, and we did it with your help, with the CBC’s help.  (Applause.)

So in these hard years, we’ve won a lot of fights that needed fighting and we’ve done a lot of good.  But we’ve got more work to do.  So many people are still hurting.  So many people are still barely hanging on.  And too many people in this city are still fighting us every step of the way. 

So I need your help.  We have to do more to put people to work right now.  We’ve got to make that everyone in this country gets a fair shake, and a fair shot, and a chance to get ahead.  (Applause.)  And I know we won’t get where we need to go if we don’t travel down this road together.  I need you with me.  (Applause.)
  
That starts with getting this Congress to pass the American Jobs Act.  (Applause.)  You heard me talk about this plan when I visited Congress a few weeks ago and sent the bill to Congress a few days later.  Now I want that bill back -- passed.  I’ve got the pens all ready.  I am ready to sign it.  And I need your help to make it happen.  (Applause.)

Right now we’ve got millions of construction workers out of a job.  So this bill says, let’s put those men and women back to work in their own communities rebuilding our roads and our bridges.  Let’s give these folks a job rebuilding our schools.  Let’s put these folks to work rehabilitating foreclosed homes in the hardest-hit neighborhoods of Detroit and Atlanta and Washington.  This is a no-brainer.  (Applause.) 

Why should we let China build the newest airports, the fastest railroads?  Tell me why our children should be allowed to study in a school that’s falling apart?  I don’t want that for my kids or your kids.  I don’t want that for any kid.  You tell me how it makes sense when we know that education is the most important thing for success in the 21st century.  (Applause.)  Let’s put our people back to work doing the work America needs done.  Let’s pass this jobs bill.  (Applause.)

We’ve got millions of unemployed Americans and young people looking for work but running out of options.  So this jobs bill says, let’s give them a pathway, a new pathway back to work.  Let’s extend unemployment insurance so that more than six million Americans don’t lose that lifeline.  But let’s also encourage reforms that help the long-term unemployed keep their skills sharp and get a foot in the door.  Let’s give summer jobs for low-income youth that don’t just give them their first paycheck but arm them with the skills they need for life.  (Applause.) 

Tell me why we don’t want the unemployed back in the workforce as soon as possible.  Let’s pass this jobs bill, put these folks back to work.  (Applause.)   

Why are we shortchanging our children when we could be putting teachers back in the classroom right now, where they belong?  (Applause.)  Laying off teachers, laying off police officer, laying off firefighters all across the country because state and local budgets are tough.  Why aren’t we helping?  We did in the first two years.  And then this other crowd came into Congress and now suddenly they want to stop.  Tell me why we shouldn’t give companies tax credits for hiring the men and women who’ve risked their lives for this country -- our veterans.  There is no good answer for that.  They shouldn’t be fighting to find a job when they come home.  (Applause.) 

These Republicans in Congress like to talk about job creators.  How about doing something real for job creators?  Pass this jobs bill, and every small business owner in America, including 100,000 black-owned businesses, will get a tax cut.  (Applause.)  You say you’re the party of tax cuts.  Pass this jobs bill, and every worker in America, including nearly 20 million African American workers, will get a tax cut.  (Applause.)  Pass this jobs bill, and prove you’ll fight just as hard for a tax cut for ordinary folks as you do for all your contributors.  (Applause.) 

These are questions that opponents of this jobs plan will have to answer.  Because the kinds of ideas in this plan in the past have been supported by both parties.  Suddenly Obama is proposing it -- what happened?  (Laughter.)  What happened?  You all used to like to build roads.  (Laughter.)  Right?  What happened?  Reverend, you know what happened?  I don’t know.  They used to love to build some roads.  (Laughter.) 

Now, I know some of our friends across the aisle won’t support any new spending that’s not paid for.  I agree that’s important.  So last week, I laid out a plan to pay for the American Jobs Act, and to bring out -- down our debt over time.  You say the deficit is important?  Here we go.  I’m ready to go. It’s a plan that says if we want to create jobs and close this deficit, then we’ve got to ask the folks who have benefited most -- the wealthiest Americans, the biggest, most profitable corporations -- to pay their fair share.  (Applause.) 

We are not asking them to do anything extraordinary.  The reform we’re proposing is based on a simple principle:  Middle-class folks should not pay higher tax rates than millionaires and billionaires.  (Applause.)  That’s not crazy -- or it’s good crazy.  (Laughter.)  Warren Buffett’s secretary shouldn’t pay a higher tax rate than Warren Buffett.  A teacher or a nurse or a construction worker making $50,000 a year shouldn’t pay higher tax rates than somebody making $50 million.  That’s just common sense. 

We’re not doing this to punish success.  This is the land of opportunity.  I want you to go out, start a business, get rich, build something.  Out country is based on the belief that anybody can make it if they put in enough sweat and enough effort.  That is wonderful.  God bless you.  But part of the American idea is also that once we've done well we should pay our fair share -- (applause) -- to make sure that those schools that we were learning in can teach the next generation; that those roads that we benefited from -- that they're not crumbling for the next bunch of folks who are coming behind us; to keep up the nation that made our success possible.

And most wealthy Americans would agree with that.  But you know the Republicans are already dusting off their old talking points.  That's class warfare, they say.  In fact, in the next breath, they’ll complain that people living in poverty -- people who suffered the most over the past decade -- don’t pay enough in taxes.  That's bad crazy.  (Laughter and applause.)  When you start saying, at a time when the top one-tenth of 1 percent has seen their incomes go up four or five times over the last 20 years, and folks at the bottom have seen their incomes decline -- and your response is that you want poor folks to pay more?  Give me a break.  If asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a janitor makes me a warrior for the working class, I wear that with a badge of honor.  I have no problem with that.  (Applause.) It's about time.  

They say it kills jobs -- oh, that's going to kill jobs.  We’re not proposing anything other than returning to the tax rates for the wealthiest Americans that existed under Bill Clinton.  I played golf with Bill Clinton today.  I was asking him, how did that go?  (Laughter.)  Well, it turns out we had a lot of jobs.  The well-to-do, they did even better.  So did the middle class.  We lifted millions out of poverty.  And then we cut taxes for folks like me, and we went through a decade of zero job growth. 

So this isn't speculation.  We've tested this out.  We tried their theory; didn’t work.  Tried our theory; it worked.  We shouldn’t be confused about this.  (Applause.)

This debate is about priorities.  If we want to create new jobs and close the deficit and invest in our future, the money has got to come from somewhere.  And so, should we keep tax loopholes for big oil companies?  Or should we put construction workers and teachers back on the job?  (Applause.)  Should we keep tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires?  Or should we invest in our children’s education and college aid?  Should we ask seniors to be paying thousands of dollars more for Medicare, as the House Republicans propose, or take young folks’ health care away?  Or should we ask that everybody pay their fair share? This is about fairness.  And this is about who we are as a country.  This is about our commitment to future generations.

When Michelle and I think about where we came from -- a little girl on the South Side of Chicago, son of a single mom in Hawaii -- mother had to go to school on scholarships, sometimes got food stamps.  Michelle's parents never owned their own home until she had already graduated -- living upstairs above the aunt who actually owned the house.  We are here today only because our parents and our grandparents, they broke their backs to support us.  (Applause.)  But they also understood that they would get a little bit of help from their country.  Because they met their responsibilities, this country would also be responsible, would also provide good public schools, would also provide recreation  -- parks that were safe, making sure that they could take the bus without getting beat over the head, making sure that their kids would be able to go to college even if they weren’t rich.

We're only here because past generations struggled and sacrificed for this incredible, exceptional idea that it does not matter where you come from, it does not matter where you’re born, doesn’t matter what you look like -- if you’re willing to put in an effort, you should get a shot.  You should get a shot at the American Dream.  (Applause.) 

And each night, when we tuck in our girls at the White House, I think about keeping that dream alive for them and for all of our children.  And that’s now up to us.  And that’s hard. This is harder than it’s been in a long, long time.  We’re going through something we haven’t seen in our lifetimes. 

And I know at times that gets folks discouraged.  I know.  I listen to some of you all.  (Laughter.)  I understand that.  And nobody feels that burden more than I do.  Because I know how much we have invested in making sure that we’re able to move this country forward.  But you know, more than a lot of other folks in this country, we know about hard.  The people in this room know about hard.  (Applause.)  And we don’t give in to discouragement. 

Throughout our history, change has often come slowly.  Progress often takes time.  We take a step forward, sometimes we take two steps back.  Sometimes we get two steps forward and one step back.  But it’s never a straight line.  It’s never easy.  And I never promised easy.  Easy has never been promised to us.  But we’ve had faith.  We have had faith.  We’ve had that good kind of crazy that says, you can’t stop marching.  (Applause.) 

Even when folks are hitting you over the head, you can’t stop marching.  Even when they’re turning the hoses on you, you can’t stop.  (Applause.)  Even when somebody fires you for speaking out, you can’t stop.  (Applause.)  Even when it looks like there’s no way, you find a way -- you can’t stop.  (Applause.)  Through the mud and the muck and the driving rain, we don’t stop.  Because we know the rightness of our cause -- widening the circle of opportunity, standing up for everybody’s opportunities, increasing each other’s prosperity.  We know our cause is just.  It’s a righteous cause. 

So in the face of troopers and teargas, folks stood unafraid.  Led somebody like John Lewis to wake up after getting beaten within an inch of his life on Sunday -- he wakes up on Monday:  We’re going to go march.  (Applause.)

Dr. King once said:  “Before we reach the majestic shores of the Promised Land, there is a frustrating and bewildering wilderness ahead.  We must still face prodigious hilltops of opposition and gigantic mountains of resistance.  But with patient and firm determination we will press on.”  (Applause.) 

So I don’t know about you, CBC, but the future rewards those who press on.  (Applause.)  With patient and firm determination, I am going to press on for jobs.  (Applause.)  I'm going to press on for equality.  (Applause.)  I'm going to press on for the sake of our children.  (Applause.)  I'm going to press on for the sake of all those families who are struggling right now.  I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself.  I don’t have time to complain.  I am going to press on.  (Applause.) 

I expect all of you to march with me and press on.  (Applause.)  Take off your bedroom slippers, put on your marching shoes.  Shake it off.  (Applause.)  Stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying.  We are going to press on.  We’ve got work to do, CBC.  (Applause.) 

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

END
8:58 P.M. EDT

Remarks by the President on the American Jobs Act -- Cincinnati, OH

Hilltop Basic Resources-River Terminal, Cincinnati, Ohio

2:55 P.M. EDT

        THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Cincinnati!  (Applause.)  Well, it is good to see all of you.  It is good to be back in Cincinnati.  (Applause.)  I have to say I drove by the Bengals’ practice -- (laughter.)  And I was scouting out some plays in case they play the Bears -- (laughter.)  Did I hear somebody boo the Bears?

        AUDIENCE:  Booo!  (Laughter.)  

        THE PRESIDENT:  We've got some folks I just want to make sure are acknowledged here today.  First of all, the Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, is in the house.  Give him a round of applause.  (Applause.)  We've got the mayor of the great city of Cincinnati -- Mark Mallory is here.  (Applause.)  We've got the mayor of Covington, Mayor Denny Bowman.  (Applause.)  Senator Rand Paul is here.  

        AUDIENCE:  Booo --

        THE PRESIDENT:  Rand is going to be supporting bridges, so we've got to -- (applause.)  And we've got Congressman John Yarmuth in the house.  (Applause.)  

        Now, it is good to be back.  I was just in Columbus a little while ago, and I figured I couldn't get away with not giving     Cincinnati a little bit of love.  (Applause.)

        I want to thank the good folks at Hilltop Concrete for having us here today.  I especially want to thank Ron for his introduction.    

        Companies like Hilltop, construction companies, have been hit harder by this economic crisis than almost any other industry in America.  And there are millions of construction workers who are still out there looking for a job.  They're ready to work, but things have been a little tough.  That doesn’t mean that there is not plenty of construction waiting to get done in this country.  

        Behind us stands the Brent Spence Bridge.  It’s located on one of the busiest trucking routes in North America.  It sees about 150,000 vehicles every single day.  And it’s in such poor condition that it's been labeled "functionally obsolete."  Think about that -- functionally obsolete.  That doesn’t sound good, does it?  

        AUDIENCE:  Nooo!

        THE PRESIDENT:  It’s safe to --

        AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Kind of like John Boehner.  (Laughter.)  

        THE PRESIDENT:  It's safe to drive on, but it was not designed to accommodate today’s traffic, which can stretch out for a mile.  Shipping companies try to have their trucks avoid the bridge.  Of course, that only ends up costing them more money as well.  

        The thing is there are bridges and roads and highways like that throughout the region.  A major bridge that connects Kentucky and Indiana just closed down for safety reasons.  Another aging bridge that crosses over the Ohio River in Ironton could be replaced right now.  There are rail stations in Cleveland and Toledo in desperate need of repair.  And the same is true in cities and towns all across America.  It makes your commute longer.  It costs our businesses billions of dollars -- they could be moving products faster if they had better transportation routes.  And in some cases, it’s not safe.

        Now, we used to have the best infrastructure in the world here in America.  We’re the country that built the Intercontinental Railroad, the Interstate Highway System.  (Applause.)  We built the Hoover Dam.  We built the Grand Central Station.  (Applause.)  So how can we now sit back and let China build the best railroads?  And let Europe build the best highways?  And have Singapore build a nicer airport?  At a time when we've got millions of unemployed construction workers out there just ready to get on the job, ready to do the work to rebuilding America.  (Applause.)

        So, Cincinnati, we are better than that.  We're smarter than that.  And that’s why I sent Congress the American Jobs Act 10 days ago.  (Applause.)  This bill is not that complicated.  It's a bill that would put people back to work rebuilding America -- repairing our roads, repairing our bridges, repairing our schools.  It would lead to jobs for concrete workers like the ones here at Hilltop; jobs for construction workers and masons, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, architects, engineers, ironworkers -- put folks back to work.  (Applause.)   

        There is work to be done, and there are workers ready to do it.  So let’s tell Congress to pass this jobs bill right away.  (Applause.)

        AUDIENCE:  Pass this bill!  Pass this bill!  Pass this bill!

        THE PRESIDENT:  Pass this bill!  (Laughter.)  Pass the bill!

        Tell them to pass the jobs bill, and not only will we start rebuilding America, but we can also put thousands of teachers back to work.  (Applause.)   

        I was with the President of South Korea -- I was up at the United Nations.  We were doing a bunch of stuff.  And he's told me in the past -- I've asked him, I said, what's your biggest challenge?  He says, oh, education.  I said, well, what are you dealing with?  He said, well, you know what, we're hiring so many teachers we can barely keep up, because we know that if we're going to compete in the future we've got to have the best teachers.  (Applause.)  And we've got to have our kids in school longer.  And we've got to make sure that they're learning math and science.

        Well, while they're hiring teachers in droves, what are we doing?  We're laying off teachers.  It makes no sense in this new global economy where our young people's success is going to depend on the kind of education that they get.  So for us to be laying off teachers doesn’t make sense for our kids, it doesn’t make sense for us, it doesn’t make sense for our economy.  

        Pass this jobs bill and put teachers back in the classroom where they belong.  (Applause.)

        AUDIENCE:  Pass this bill!  Pass this bill!  Pass this bill!

        THE PRESIDENT:  They need to go and pass it.  

        Tell Congress to pass this jobs bill, and companies will get tax credit for hiring America’s veterans.  (Applause.)  We've been through a decade of war now.  Almost 2 million people have served.  And think about it.  They're suspending their careers; they're leaving their families; they're putting themselves in harm way -- all to protect us.  The last thing they should have to do is fight for a job when they come home.  (Applause.)  And if we pass this jobs bill it makes it easier for employers to hire those veterans.  That’s why we need to tell Congress to do what?  To pass the bill.

        AUDIENCE:  Pass this bill!  Pass this bill!  Pass this bill!

        THE PRESIDENT:  The American Jobs Act will cut taxes for the typical working family by $1,500 next year.  It will cut taxes for every small business in America.  It will give an extra tax cut to every small business owner who either hires more workers or raises those workers’ wages.  How many people here would like a raise?  (Applause.)

        And we know that most small businesses are the creators of new jobs.  We’ve got a lot of folks in Congress who love to say how they’re behind America’s job creators.  Well, if that’s the case, then you should be passing this bill, because that’s what this bill is all about, is helping small businesses all across America.

        Everything in this jobs bill has been supported in the past by Republicans and Democrats.  Everything in this jobs bill is paid for.  The idea for a big boost in construction is supported by the AFL-CIO, but it’s also supported by the Chamber of Commerce.  Those two don't get along on much, but they agree we should rebuild America.  (Applause.)

        And, by the way, thanks to the reforms that we’ve put into place, when we start rebuilding America we’re going to change how business is done.  No more earmarks.  No more boondoggles.  No more bridges to nowhere.  We’re going to cut the red tape that prevents some of these construction projects from getting started as quickly as possible.  And we’ll set up an independent fund to attract private dollars and issue loans based on two criteria:  how badly is a construction project needed, and how much good will it do for the community.  Those are the only things we should be thinking about.  Not politics.  (Applause.)  And, by the way, that’s an idea that’s supported by a Massachusetts Democrat and a Texas Republican.  It’s a good idea.   

        So my question is, what's Congress waiting for?  Why is it taking so long?  Now, the bridge behind us just happens to connect the state that’s home to the Speaker of the House --

        AUDIENCE:  Booo --

        THE PRESIDENT:  -- with the home state of the Republican leader in the Senate.

        AUDIENCE:  Booo --

        THE PRESIDENT:  Now, that’s just a coincidence.  (Laughter.) Purely accidental that that happened.  (Laughter.)  But part of the reason I came here is because Mr. Boehner and Mr. McConnell, those are the two most powerful Republicans in government.  They can either kill this jobs bill, or they can help pass this jobs bill.  (Applause.)  And I know these men care about their states. They care about businesses; they care about workers here.  I can’t imagine that the Speaker wants to represent a state where nearly one in four bridges are classified as substandard -- one in four.  I know that when Senator McConnell visited the closed bridge in Kentucky, he said that, “Roads and bridges are not partisan in Washington.”  That’s great.  I know that Paul Ryan, the Republican in charge of the budget process, recently said that "you can’t deny that infrastructure does creates jobs."  That's what he said.  

        Well, if that’s the case, there’s no reason for Republicans in Congress to stand in the way of more construction projects.  There’s no reason to stand in the way of more jobs.  

        Mr. Boehner, Mr. McConnell, help us rebuild this bridge.  (Applause.)  Help us rebuild America.  Help us put construction workers back to work.  (Applause.)  Pass this bill.  

        AUDIENCE:  Pass this bill!  Pass this bill!  Pass this bill!  Pass this bill!

        THE PRESIDENT:  Let’s pass the bill.

        AUDIENCE:  Pass this bill!  Pass this bill!  Pass this bill!

        THE PRESIDENT:  Now, some folks in Congress, they say, well, we don’t like how it’s paid for.  Well, it’s paid for as part of my larger plan to pay down our debt.  And that's why I make some additional cuts in spending.  We already cut a trillion dollars in spending.  This makes an additional hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts in spending, but it also asks the wealthiest Americans and the biggest corporations to pay their fair share of taxes.  (Applause.)

        Now, that should not be too much to ask.  And by the way, it wouldn’t kick in until 2013.  So when you hear folks say, oh, we shouldn’t be raising taxes right now -- nobody is talking about raising taxes right now.  We’re talking about cutting taxes right now.  But it does mean that there’s a long-term plan, and part of it involves everybody doing their fair share.  (Applause.)

        THE PRESIDENT:  Now, this isn’t to punish success.  What’s great about this country is our belief that anybody can make it. If you’re willing to put in the sweat, if you’re willing to roll up your sleeves, if you’re willing to work hard, you’ve got a good idea, you’re out there taking a risk -- God bless you.  You can make millions, you can make billions of dollars in America.  This is the land of opportunity.  (Applause.)  That’s great.  All I’m saying is, if you’ve done well -- I’ve done well -- then you should do a little something to give something back.  (Applause.) You should want to see the country that provided you with this opportunity to be successful, and be able to provide opportunity for the young people who are going to be coming up behind you.  (Applause.)

        And all I’m saying is that everything should be fair.  You know, you learn the idea of fairness when you’re two, three years old.  Right?  You’re in the sandbox and you don’t want to let somebody play with your truck -- (laughter) -- and your mom or your daddy go up and they say, “No, hon, that’s not fair, you’ve got to share.”  Isn’t that what they say?  Things have to be fair.  So all I’m saying is that Warren Buffett’s secretary should not be paying a lower [sic] tax rate on her income than Warren Buffett.  (Applause.)  That doesn’t make any sense.  A construction worker who’s making 50 or 60 grand a year shouldn’t be paying higher tax rates than the guy who’s making $50 million a year.  (Applause.)  And that’s how it’s working right now.  Because they get all these loopholes and tax breaks that you don’t get.

        So for me to say, let’s close those loopholes, let’s eliminate those tax breaks, and let’s make sure that everybody is paying their fair share -- there’s nothing wrong with that.  (Applause.)  

        Now, this is about priorities.  It’s about making choices.  If we just had all kinds of money and everybody was working, and we hadn’t gone through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, then maybe we wouldn’t have to make choices.  But right now we’ve got to make some choices.  We’ve got to decide what our priorities are.  If we want to pay for this jobs plan, and close the deficit, and invest in our infrastructure, and make sure we’ve got the best education system in the world, the money has got to come from some place.  Would you rather that the oil companies get to keep their tax loopholes?  

        AUDIENCE:  No!

        THE PRESIDENT:  Or would you rather make sure that we’re hiring thousands of construction workers to rebuild America?  (Applause.)  Would you rather keep in place special tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires?   

        AUDIENCE:  No!

        THE PRESIDENT:  Or would you say, let’s get teachers back in the classroom so our children can learn?  (Applause.)   

        Now, the Republicans, when I talked about this earlier in the week, they said, well, this is class warfare.  You know what, if asking a billionaire to pay their fair share of taxes, to pay the same tax rate as a plumber or a teacher is class warfare, then you know what, I’m a warrior for the middle class.  (Applause.)  I’m happy to fight for the middle class.  I’m happy to fight for working people.  (Applause.)  Because the only warfare I've seen is the battle against the middle class over the last 10, 15 years.

        It’s time to build an economy that creates good, middle-class jobs in this country.  It’s time to build an economy that honors the values of hard work and responsibility.  It’s time to build an economy that lasts.  And, Cincinnati, that starts right now.  That starts with your help.  (Applause.)  Maybe some of the people in Congress would rather settle their differences at the ballot box than work together right now.  In fact, a while back, Senator McConnell said that his “top priority” -- number-one priority -- was “to defeat the President.”  That was his top priority.

        AUDIENCE:  Booo --

        THE PRESIDENT:  Not jobs, not putting people back to work, not rebuilding America.  Beating me.  Well, I’ve got news for him, and every other member of Congress who feels the same way.  The next election is 14 months away, and I’ll be happy to tangle sometime down the road.  But the American people right now don’t have the luxury of waiting to solve our problems for another 14 months.  (Applause.)  A lot of folks are living paycheck to paycheck.  A lot of folks are just barely getting by.  They need us to get to work right now.  They need us to pass this bill.  (Applause.)

        So I’m asking all of you -- I need everybody here to lift your voices -- not just in Cincinnati, but anybody who's watching TV, or anybody who's within the range of my voice -- I want everybody to lift up their voices.  I want you to call.  I want you to email.  I want you to tweet.  I want you to fax.  I want you to visit.  If you want, write a letter -- it’s been a while. (Laughter.)  I want you to tell your congressperson that the time for gridlock and games-playing is over.  Tell them you want to create jobs, so pass this bill.  (Applause.)  

        If you want construction workers rebuilding America -- pass this bill.  (Applause.)  If you want teachers back in the classrooms -- pass this bill.

        AUDIENCE:  Pass this bill!

        THE PRESIDENT:  If you want to cut taxes for middle-class families -- pass this bill.

        AUDIENCE:  Pass this bill!

        THE PRESIDENT:  If you want to help small businesses, what do you do?

        THE AUDIENCE:  Pass this bill!  

        THE PRESIDENT:  If you want veterans to share in the opportunities of this country, what should you do?

        THE AUDIENCE:  Pass this bill!

        THE PRESIDENT:  Now is the time to act.  Because we are not a people that just sit back and wait for things to happen.  We go ahead and make things happen.  We’re tougher than the times we live in.  We are bigger than the politics that we’ve been seeing these last few months.  Let’s meet this moment.  Let’s get back to work.  Let’s show the world once again why America is the greatest nation on Earth.  

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

END 3:12 P.M. EDT

Remarks by President Obama and Prime Minister Cameron of the United Kingdom

Waldorf Astoria Hotel
New York, New York

3:55 P.M. EDT

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Let me welcome Prime Minister Cameron to the United States and New York.  Obviously, there is an extraordinary special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom, and I am very fortunate that over the last year or two, David and I have been able to, I think, establish an excellent friendship as well. 

And that’s part of what makes the alliance between the United States and the United Kingdom so important, is that it’s grounded not only in shared values and broad-based agreement on policy, but it’s also based on the individual relationships that we have and the friendships and joint traditions that we have.

We’ve got a lot to talk about.  We have worked closely together to help bring about freedom and peace in Libya.  We are coordinating closely in managing a very difficult time for the global economy.  We are keenly interested in finding a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  On all these issues, I’ve always found Prime Minister Cameron to be an outstanding partner.

And so I’m very grateful for his friendship, his hard work, and his dedication and his leadership on the global stage, and I look forward to a very productive discussion today.

 Welcome.

PRIME MINISTER CAMERON:  Thank you.  If I may say thank you, Barack, for that warm welcome.  It’s great to be back -- great to be back in New York, and particularly on this, the 10th anniversary of 9/11, a reminder of how our countries always work together in defeating terror and trying to make our world a safer place.

As you say, we worked very closely together on Libya, and I think we’re getting to a good conclusion there, with a real chance of freedom and democracy for those people.  We’re working closely together on Afghanistan; also the Middle East peace process, where we're desperate to get that moving again.  And I’m looking forward to discussions on the world economy, which we will follow up in Cannes at the G20, where we’ve got to get the world economy moving. 

So these are very important times.  I think the relationship is as strong as it’s ever been, and it’s been a pleasure working with you these last 16 months.

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Excellent.  Thank you very much, everybody.

Q: Can you give us your reaction to the hikers being released?

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  We are thrilled that the hikers were released, and we are thrilled for the families.  It was the right thing to do.  They shouldn’t have been held in the first place, but we’re glad they’re now home.

END
3:58 P.M. EDT