Remarks by the President at Ford's Theatre Reception at the White House

East Room

5:20 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody.  It is a pleasure to welcome all of you to the White House.  I'm going to be very brief, because I know you're all looking forward to heading down the street a little bit later for a wonderful night -- and Michelle just mentioned, and the women are wearing heels.  (Laughter.)  

That’s why I want to take a moment to thank all the performers for taking time out of their busy schedules to share their gifts with us and be part of this wonderful event.  I also want to thank the Cabinet officials and members of Congress who are with us –- including Senator Reid.  Thank you all for coming and for your support of this wonderful institution.  (Applause.) 
Tonight is about celebrating the great work at Ford Theatre, what it’s done to preserve the legacy of our 16th President and highlight the importance of the arts and education in our own lives and in the life of our nation. 

In many ways, it’s impossible to separate the history of America from the history of its music and its spoken word.  Soldiers have sung as they marched to war, and raised their voices again while laying a brother to rest.  Lyrics on a page and voices on a stage have helped connect us across generations and across cultures, backgrounds and faiths.  Our greatest leaders -– including Lincoln himself -– have drawn inspiration and courage from the arts.  And on a personal level, they help each of us express the joys and hardships of life while bringing us closer to each other.

This is especially true during moments of trial -- and we have had a lot of trials over the past year and a half.  Right now we've got brothers and sisters in the Gulf Coast who are going through an incredibly difficult time in the face of a disaster unlike any that we’ve ever seen of late.  I want to emphasize again that we're going to do everything we can in the weeks and months and years ahead to make things right.  And I know everybody here feels the same way.

But tonight we will celebrate not only music and song and performances, but we're also going to be celebrating the incredible legacy of the Ford’s Theatre -- celebrating some award recipients who are extraordinarily worthy and have done so much to help not just people in this country but all around the world.

So, on behalf of Michelle and our entire family, I want to say how grateful I am that all of you are here.  Thank you for support the theatre.  We are looking forward to a wonderful evening.  Good night.  (Applause.) 

END
5:23 P.M. EDT

Remarks by the President After Briefing on Gulf Oil Spill Update

Louis Armstrong International Airport, New Orleans, Louisiana

2:29 P.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I want to thank everybody who participated in this meeting.  Most of the folks here were in the meeting that we had last week.  One of the encouraging signs is that, at least with respect to Louisiana, it seems that we made some progress. 

The most obvious area of progress was, coming out of the meeting last week, trying to bridge what seemed to be differences with respect to the berm, the barrier islands that Governor Jindal had proposed, and we now have that authority and dredging is beginning.  And now we want to make sure that BP is paying up, but it seems like we're making progress on that front.

I know that a lot of the press may be curious about what’s happening in terms of the attempts to cap the well.  I don't want to go into the technical details here.  I'd prefer Thad to give an update when he has had a chance to talk directly with command and control about what’s happening there.  But it does appear that the cap, at least for now, is holding; that some hydrocarbons are being sent up to the surface; and that they are still ratcheting up the amount of oil and gas that's being extracted -- they’re doing it carefully so that they don't dislodge or disrupt the cap in some fashion.

We will know more over the next 24 to 48 hours.  And it is way too early to be optimistic.  But we're just going to keep on monitoring it, and Thad will give you a more thorough briefing when he knows more.

We spent a lot of time here just talking about the logistics of the response on the shore as oil begins to come in.  And everybody here has particular concerns because we've got limited resources.  We're trying to get more boom, for example, into the places that are needed.  We deployed initially a lot of boom here in Louisiana.  That meant that some in Alabama wasn’t where it was supposed to be.  Governor Riley has been appropriately concerned -- that's a mild way of putting it -- about what’s being done with respect to Alabama plans.  And what I told him was, is that Thad Allen will be meeting with him individually with respect to the Alabama plan and if he’s not satisfied with the answers that are given over the course of this weekend, then he’s going to call me and we're going to meet and sort this out.

Here in Louisiana, where the oil has hit most rapidly, there are still areas where, for example, the mayor, here, was talking to fishermen; they want to try to build up some barriers to estuaries and areas that are particularly vulnerable.  Thad Allen is going to be following up with each of the parish presidents in terms of figuring out what’s going on.

One of the things that we've done to make sure that organizationally things are working the way they should is we now have a Coast Guard official who is stationed with each parish president and we actually have a BP representative who is stationed with each parish president, so that they have direct access to making sure that any information, any problems that they’ve got, are immediately being shot up to Thad and he can respond quickly.  And we want to set that up not just in Louisiana, but in Alabama as well as in Florida -- we want county equivalents to have that same kind of representation and rapid response.

We also talked about claims.  And this is an area where I think everybody has a lot of concern.  My understanding is, is that BP has contracted for $50 million worth of TV advertising to manage their image during the course of this disaster.  In addition, there are reports that BP will be paying $10.5 billion -- that's billion with a B -- in dividend payments this quarter.

Now, I don't have a problem with BP fulfilling its legal obligations.  But I want BP to be very clear, they’ve got moral and legal obligations here in the Gulf for the damage that has been done.  And what I don't want to hear is, when they’re spending that kind of money on their shareholders and spending that kind of money on TV advertising, that they’re nickel-and-diming fishermen or small businesses here in the Gulf who are having a hard time. 

We’ve assigned federal folks to look over BP’s shoulder and to work with state and local officials to make sure that claims are being processed quickly, fairly, and that BP is not lawyering up, essentially, when it comes to these claims. 

They say they want to make it right.  That’s part of their advertising campaign.  Well, we want them to make it right.  And what that means is that if a fisherman got a $5,000 check, and the next time he goes in, because it’s a new month, suddenly BP is saying, well, we need some documentation and this may take six months to process, or 60 days to process -- or 30 days to process, for that matter -- that fisherman, with all his money tied up in that boat, just may not be able to hang on for another 30 days.  He may lose his boat and his livelihood.

We heard from one of the parish presidents about a shrimp processing plant.  They’ve got a bunch of shrimp on ice, so they’re selling inventory, but they’re not bringing any new product in.  And BP says to them, well, you know what, your sales don't seem to have declined.  And they try to explain, yes, but we’ve had to lay off all our workers because we’re not bringing any new shrimp in and our cupboards are going to be bare in the next several weeks -- BP has got to be able to anticipate that.

So the key point I’m making here is, this has been a disaster for this region and people are understandably frightened and concerned about what the next few months and the new few years may hold.  I am absolutely confident about the resilience of this area long term, but if we can make sure that BP is doing the right thing on the front end, it’s going to make it an awful lot easier for us to fully recover on the back end.  And by the way, it may end up being cheaper for BP. 

And so Thad, who’s interacting with BP on a regular basis, I think is emphasizing this.  My administration is emphasizing it. I want them to hear directly from me and I want the public to hear from me -- they need to make sure that they are following through on these claims in a expeditious, fair way.  And if they’re not, then we are going to stay on them about it. 

We’ve already submitted one bill and they haven’t said that they’re not paying it, so I don’t want to anticipate problems. But we are already starting to see at the local level folks experiencing problems.  And we don’t want those problems to build up -- we want to nip that at the bud right now. 

And the fact that BP can pay a $10.5 billion dividend payment is indicative of how much money these folks have been making.  And given the fact that they didn’t fully account for the risks, I don’t want somebody else bearing the costs of those risks that they took.  I want to make sure that they’re paying for it.

All right.  The last point I wanted to make is we did talk about what the environmental quality is down here right now.  Lisa Jackson has been down here all week and she went all across the country -- or all across the state of Louisiana.  She’s going to be monitoring what’s going on in Alabama and Florida as well. 

So far, the air quality, water quality, is continually being tested and doesn’t seem to be much elevated above normal levels. But I want to emphasize something that she just told us, and that is people who are onsite involved in cleanup, they have to be mindful of the fact that we’re dealing with toxins here.  This could be -- this could make people very sick if they’re not careful.  They’ve got to get the appropriate training.  They need the appropriate equipment.  If they get sick, we now have health centers that are stationed at each of these points. 

Lisa, do you want to talk about that briefly?

ADMINISTRATOR JACKSON:  Yes, sir.  We have health and safety officers and stations at each muster point.  So if someone does come back in and feels in any way that they’ve been exposed, or even if they just don’t feel well, the first thing to do is to report it so that we have a record of it, we can track it down, and we can ensure that they’re not in any way penalized for reporting and making sure that they put their health and the health of their family first.

THE PRESIDENT:  Again, I want to just emphasize, everybody down here -- every local official, every state official -- is working as hard as they can.  Our federal teams are working as hard as they can.  There are still going to be glitches in the response.  There are still going to be arguments and disagreements between local and state, state and federal, between everybody and BP, between states and states, in terms of how we’re allocating some of these resources.  But I think that Thad Allen has committed to me and the people of the Gulf that we’re going to cut through any bureaucratic red tape, any problems that we’ve got, and we will fix problems that have been identified.

And that was the commitment I made last week.  Some of the problems have been fixed; some new ones have resurfaced.  We’ll fix those, too.  And we’ll keep on coming back until we have dealt with an unprecedented crisis. 

But I’m very thankful to everybody for the constructive meeting and the constructive approach that I think everybody is taking in terms of solving this problem. 

All right.  Thank you, everybody.

Q    Mr. President, what did you say to the parish presidents about the difficulty -- the economic difficulties from the drilling moratorium?

THE PRESIDENT:  We had a conversation about that, as well, and what I told them is very simple.  When I made the decision to issue the moratorium, we knew that that would have an economic impact.  But what I also knew is that there was no way that we can go about business as usual when we discovered that companies like BP, who had provided assurances that they had fail-safe backup, redundant systems, in fact, not only didn't have fail-safe systems, but had no idea what to do when those fail-safe systems broke down.

Now, I announced this week that Bob Graham and Bill Reilly, two respected individuals who have experience both on the environmental side as well as in the energy sector, are going to be examining over the next six months what went wrong, but more important -- forward looking, how do we, in fact, increase domestic oil production without seeing the kinds of disasters that we are all witnessing on television day in, day out.

I think Governor Jindal, I know other parish presidents, expressed concern about the immediate economic impact.  And what I said to them is the same thing I said to Graham and Reilly, which is, if they can front-load some of the analysis of what went wrong and how you would solve what has happened and what can happen, and you can do that more quickly than six months, then let me know.  Don't hold the results of your review for six months, and then tell me.  Tell me when you find out.

But what I told the folks in this room was I’m not going to cut corners on it, and I’m not going to press them to move faster than it would take to do an accurate, independent job based on sound science, because I do not want to see this thing repeated again.  And the American people don't, and I promise you the people of the Gulf don't want to see it either.

And as difficult as it may be, it’s important for us to do this right, because if we don't do it right, then what you could end up seeing is an even worse impact on the oil industry down here, which is so important to so many jobs. 

And I think everybody here emphasized -- and I want to be clear -- I didn't hear anybody here say that they want unsafe operations on these rigs and they certainly don't want to see a repeat of this disaster.  They did ask, can we do it faster.  And what I said to them was the same thing that I said to Graham and Reilly, which is, you do it as fast as it takes to do it right.

All right?  Thank you, everybody.

Q    Do you want BP to pay that dividend?  Are you calling on them not to?

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, guys. 

I want to make sure that they are paying the folks in Louisiana for the havoc that they wreaked, and the folks in Alabama and the folks in Florida.  I don't want them nickel-and- diming people down here.  I want them to abide by their obligations to their shareholders; I want them to abide by the obligations to people down here, as well. 

All right.  Thank you, folks.

END
2:43 P.M. CDT

Remarks by the President to the Employees of K. Neal International Trucks, Inc.

K Neal International Trucks, Inc., Hyattsville, Maryland

9:43 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Good morning, everybody.

AUDIENCE:  Good morning.

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, let me just -- please, everybody, have a seat -- have a seat.  It is wonderful to be here.  And I want to make a couple of quick acknowledgments.  This guy behind me, you may know him -- he’s the Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden.  (Applause.)  Maryland’s Lieutenant Governor, Anthony Brown, is here.  (Applause.)  Got the mayor of Hyattsville, William Gardiner.  (Applause.)  And, of course, we’ve got to acknowledge the big man here -- (laughter) -- and he is big.  (Laughter.)  Owner of K Neal International, Stephen Neal. (Applause.)  

Now, I want to thank K Neal for having us here today, giving us a quick tour and having us look at all these -- all these trucks.  (Laughter.)  This is a business that has been selling commercial trucks for over 40 years.  This company employs workers from all over the greater Washington area.  After two years of recession that caused so much pain in so many communities, this is also an example of a company that is starting to see business pick up again. 

I was talking to Stephen and he told me that rental and lease sales have improved, that there’s a pent-up demand out there for new equipment and you’ve added workers over the last few months.  And Stephen said if things keep on going well, he’ll add more in the months ahead.

 We’re hearing more and more stories like that all across America.  A lot of businesses were hit hard during this downturn, but they’re starting to hire again.  Workers who were laid off, they’re starting to get their jobs back.  Companies that were almost forced to close their doors are making plans to expand and invest in new equipment. 

And this progress is reflected in the monthly jobs reports that we get each month.  We received one today.  In May, the economy added 431,000 jobs.  (Applause.)  Now, this is the fifth month in a row that we’ve seen job gains.  And while we recognize that our recovery is still in its early stages and that there are going to be ups and downs in the months ahead -- things never go completely in a smooth line -- this report is a sign that our economy is getting stronger by the day.

Now, I want to emphasize that most of these jobs this month that we’re seeing in the statistics represent workers who’ve been hired to complete the 2010 census.  So these are temporary jobs that are only going to last until the fall, and that may be reflected in future jobs reports.  But even if you put those temporary jobs aside, there’s no doubt that we saw another month of private sector job growth.  And that is obviously critical because when businesses are hiring again, people start spending again.  That, in turn, gives businesses more and more incentive to grow.

Now, this doesn’t mean that the recession is over for the millions of Americans who are still out of work, or the millions more who are still struggling to make ends meet.  No words, no statistics, can take away the pain and the anxiety that a family feels because of this downturn.  That can only be relieved with a steady paycheck and the security that a steady job brings.What these numbers do mean, though, is that we’re moving in the right direction.  The economic policies that we put in place are working.  An economy that was shrinking at a scary rate when I was sworn in as President has now been growing for three consecutive quarters.  We were losing 750,000 jobs a month during the winter of last year.  We’ve now added jobs for six out of the last seven months. 

The taxpayer money it cost to shore up the financial sector and the auto industry is being repaid.  I know it was unpopular, but it was the right thing to do.  And both GM and Chrysler -- (applause) -- both GM and Chrysler are adding shifts and operating at a profit, which nobody would have imagined just a year ago. 

The question now is, how do we keep this momentum going?  How do we keep adding jobs, raising incomes?  How do we keep growing not just our economy but growing our middle class? 

In the short-term, we have to keep creating the conditions for companies like K Neal to succeed, to keep growing, to keep hiring.  Because of a bill I signed into law a few months ago, businesses are now eligible for tax cuts for hiring unemployed workers.  Companies are also able to write off more of their investments in new equipment.  And as part of health reform, 4 million small businesses recently received a postcard in their mailbox telling them that they will be eligible for health care tax cuts this year and that those tax cuts could be worth tens of thousands of dollars to those companies.  (Applause.)  

I’ve also urged Congress to cut more taxes for small businesses and pass a Small Business Lending Fund, so that small businesses can get the incentives and the credit that they need to create jobs and grow.  I believe it’s absolutely critical that we extend unemployment insurance for several more months, so that Americans who’ve been laid off through no fault of their own get the support they need to provide for their families and they can maintain their health insurance until they’re rehired.  And we should provide further support so that states are not cutting back on jobs and vital services, as well as incentives to create clean energy jobs.

Now, in the long run -- all that's in the short term.  That's still part of the emergency effort to help build the economy and grow it coming out of the recession.  But in the long run, we need to invest in the technologies and innovation that will lead to the jobs and the industries of tomorrow. 

So I want to introduce to everybody who’s here -- we’ve got Dan Ustian, who is the president of Navistar.  Dan, stand up.  (Applause.)  Now, Navistar is a company that sometimes does business with K Neal International.  And for months, Navistar’s Indiana manufacturing plant has been working on an electric delivery truck that’s fueled entirely by plug-in power.  In fact, I visited the plant before it had produced its very first truck. And my understanding, Dan, is --

MR. USTIAN:  We’re ready to go.

THE PRESIDENT:  We’re ready to go.  Thanks to the investments that we made in the Recovery Act, it just delivered its first truck a few weeks ago.  Now, this is a plant that gave jobs to unemployed factory workers, and they’re now part of a cutting-edge industry that will create even more jobs and businesses in the months and years ahead. 

That’s what the future can look like.  If we keep on making investments in research and development, in technology and clean energy, products and industries that we haven’t even imagined yet can find a home right here in the United States of America.  And if we provide our citizens with the education and training they need to do these jobs, we’re again going to see rising incomes and a growing middle class.  That’s what we can do to make this economy stronger, rebuild it even stronger than it was before.

And I have to say that Joe Biden oversaw the execution of our Recovery Act and hasn’t gotten a lot of credit for it, but it has been scandal free, the money has been spent on time. 

     I was just talking to Stephen, and as he indicated, what the Recovery Act did was to help during a bad winter, during a tough time, helped him to keep that business, if not growing, then at least stable.  And it helped him keep folks on the job that otherwise might have lost their jobs.  (Applause.)  And Joe deserves a lot of credit for that, so give Joe Biden a big round of applause.  (Applause.) 

     By the way, Joe says he used to be able to drive some of these trucks.  (Laughter.)

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  That’s true.

THE PRESIDENT:  But I would suggest he not -- not to lend him a car -- that was a long time ago.  (Laughter.) 

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Hey, man.

     THE PRESIDENT:  Now, let me tell you what we can't do.  We can't go backwards.  What we can't do is go back -- now that we're starting to climb out of this hole that was dug for us, we can't go back to the very same policies that failed us in the last decade; the same policies that led us into that hole. 

Think about it.  We've already tried scaling back our investments in clean energy and education and innovation so that we could give tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans and the biggest corporations, and that didn’t work.  We already tried putting industry insiders in charge of oversight -- didn’t work. We already tried stripping away rules and regulations that kept Wall Street banks and oil companies in bounds.  We let them play by their own rules instead, and it didn’t work. 

So we already know where these ideas led us.  And we're going to have a choice as a nation moving forward.  We're going to be able to return, if we want, to the failed economic policies of the past; policies that gave us record deficits and declining incomes and sluggish job growth even before the recession; policies that led, in fact, to us almost going into a depression. We can take that road again.  Or we can decide we want to move forward.  We can keep building a stronger economy.  We can keep pursuing the policies that have started to create jobs again; policies that invest in companies like K Neal; policies that invest in companies like Navistar; policies that invest in our people and in our future.

So I don't know about you, I don't want to go backwards.  I want to move forward.  (Applause.)  And I believe that the American people want to move forward as well.  This economy hasn’t returned to prosperity yet, but we’re heading in the right direction.  There are going to be some ups and downs.  There are going to be some months where people start worrying that maybe we're not out of the hole yet.  But if we remain determined, if we stick to it, if we stay the course of investing in our people and businesses like K Neal that are the heart and soul of America, then I'm absolutely positive we can succeed. 

And with your help -- with the hard work and ingenuity of workers and entrepreneurs like the ones at this company -– I'm absolutely positive we're going to have a brighter future.

So, thanks for the great work you do.  Thanks to Joe Biden for the great work that he does.  God bless you.  God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.)

END
9:56 A.M. EDT

Declaraciones del Presidente a los Empleados de K. Neal International Trucks, Inc.

9:43 A.M. EDT

   EL PRESIDENTE: Buenos días a todos.

   PUBLICO: Buenos días.

   EL PRESIDENTE: Pues bien, permítanme simplemente… por favor, tomen asiento todos… tomen asiento. Es fabuloso estar aquí. Y quiero mencionar a dos personas rápidamente. La persona detrás mío, quizá lo conozcan… es el Vicepresidente de Estados Unidos, Joe Biden. (Aplausos.) El vicegobernador de Maryland, Anthony Brown, está aquí. (Aplausos.) Tenemos al alcalde de Hyattsville, William Gardiner. (Aplausos.) Y, por supuesto, es necesario mencionar al gran gerente general de … (risas)… y es grande. (Risas.) El dueño de K Neal International, Stephen Neal. (Aplausos.) 

   Ahora bien, quiero darle las gracias a K Neal por invitarnos hoy aquí, darnos un rápido paseo y permitir que miremos todos estos… todos estos camiones. (Risas.) Ésta es una compañía que vende camiones comerciales desde hace más de 40 años. Esta compañía emplea a trabajadores de toda el área de Washington. Después de dos años de recesión que causaron tantas penurias a tantas comunidades, éste también es un ejemplo de una compañía que está comenzando a ver que su actividad está repuntando.

Estaba hablando con Stephen y me dijo que los contratos de alquiler y concesión han aumentado, que hay demanda acumulada de nuevo equipo y que han contratado trabajadores en los últimos meses. Y Stephen dijo que si las cosas siguen bien, contratará más en los próximos meses.

   Estamos oyendo de más y más casos como éstos en todo Estados Unidos. Muchas empresas se vieron muy afectadas durante esta desaceleración, pero otra vez han comenzado a contratar. Se está empezando a contratar nuevamente a trabajadores que habían sido despedidos. Empresas que casi se vieron forzadas a cerrar sus puertas están planeando expansiones e inversiones en nuevo equipo.

   Y este progreso se refleja en los informes mensuales de empleo que recibimos todos los meses. Recibimos uno hoy. En mayo, la economía agregó 431,000 empleos. (Aplausos.) Ahora bien, éste es el quinto mes consecutivo que hemos visto aumentos en el empleo. Y aunque reconocemos que nuestra recuperación aún se encuentra en sus etapas iniciales y que va a haber altibajos en los próximos meses –las cosas nunca suceden de manera totalmente pareja– este informe es un indicio de que nuestra economía está comenzando a mejorar día a día.

   Ahora, quiero destacar que la mayoría de los empleos que hemos visto este mes en los datos estadísticos representan a trabajadores contratados para realizar el censo del 2010. Entonces, éstos son empleos temporales que sólo durarán hasta el otoño y que quizá esto se refleje en futuros informes sobre el empleo. Pero incluso si se pone de lado dichos empleos temporales, no hay duda de que vimos otro mes de crecimiento laboral en el sector privado. Y eso es obviamente crucial porque cuando las empresas vuelven a contratar, la gente comienza a gastar nuevamente. Eso, a su vez, les da a las empresas más y más incentivo para crecer.

   Ahora, esto no significa que la recesión haya acabado para los millones de estadounidenses que aún están sin trabajo o los millones adicionales que están pasando apuros para que les alcance el dinero. No hay palabras ni estadísticas que alivien el dolor y la ansiedad que siente una familia debido a esta desaceleración. Eso sólo se puede aliviar con un cheque de pago fijo y la seguridad que brinda un empleo estable.

     Lo que estos datos sí representan, sin embargo, es que vamos en el sentido correcto. La política económica que pusimos en vigor está surtiendo efecto. Una economía que se estaba reduciendo a una tasa alarmante cuando asumí el mando como Presidente viene creciendo desde hace tres semestres consecutivos. Estábamos perdiendo 750,000 empleos al mes durante el invierno del año pasado. Ahora hemos agregado puestos en seis de los últimos siete meses.

Se está devolviendo el dinero de los contribuyentes que se usó para reforzar el sector financiero y el sector automotor. Sé que eso no fue popular, pero fue lo correcto. Y tanto GM como Chrysler… (aplausos)… tanto GM como Chrysler están agregando turnos y operando lucrativamente, lo cual nadie se podría haber imaginado hace apenas un año.

El asunto es, ¿cómo continuamos el ímpetu de estos logros? ¿Cómo seguimos agregando empleos, aumentando los ingresos? ¿Cómo logramos que siga creciendo no sólo nuestra economía sino nuestra clase media?

A corto plazo, tenemos que seguir creando las condiciones para que empresas como K Neal tengan éxito, sigan creciendo, sigan contratando. Debido a una ley que promulgué hace unos meses, las empresas ahora reúnen los requisitos para recortes tributarios por contratar a trabajadores desempleados. Las empresas también pueden deducir más de sus inversiones en equipo nuevo. Y como parte de la reforma de salud, 4 millones de pequeñas empresas recientemente recibieron una postal en el correo que les decía que podrán beneficiarse de recortes tributarios por seguro médico este año y que dichos recortes tributarios posiblemente asciendan a decenas de miles de dólares para esas empresas. (Aplausos.) 

También he instado al Congreso a que reduzca más los impuestos de pequeñas empresas y apruebe el Fondo de Préstamos a Pequeñas Empresas (Small Business Lending Fund), de manera que las pequeñas empresas puedan recibir los incentivos y el crédito que necesitan para generar empleos y crecer. Creo que es absolutamente crucial que prolonguemos el seguro por desempleo varios meses más, para que los estadounidenses que han sido afectados por recortes de personal por causas ajenas a ellos reciban el apoyo que necesitan para mantener a sus familias y puedan retener su seguro médico hasta que se les vuelva a contratar. Y debemos brindar más apoyo para que los estados no recorten empleos y servicios vitales, y además ofrecer incentivos para generar empleos basados en energía limpia.

Ahora bien, a largo plazo… todo esto es a corto plazo. Eso aún es parte de los esfuerzos de emergencia para propiciar el desarrollo y crecimiento económico al salir de la recesión. Pero a largo plazo, debemos invertir en tecnología e innovaciones que resulten en los empleos y las industrias del futuro.

Entonces, quiero presentarles a todos los presentes…a Dan Ustian, el presidente de Navistar. Dan, póngase de pie, por favor. (Aplausos.) Bueno, Navistar es una compañía que a veces hace negocios con K Neal International. Y durante meses, la planta industrial de Navistar en Indiana ha estado trabajando en un camión eléctrico de reparto que utiliza solamente energía eléctrica. De hecho, visité la planta antes de que produjeran su primer camión. Y tengo entendido, Dan, que…

SR. USTIAN: Estamos listos para ponernos en marcha.

EL PRESIDENTE: Estamos listos para ponernos en marcha. Gracias a las inversiones que hemos hecho con la Ley para la Recuperación, acaban de entregar su primer camión hace unas semanas. Ahora bien, ésta es una planta que les dio empleo a trabajadores industriales desempleados, y ahora son parte de un sector de vanguardia que generará incluso más empleos y empresas en los próximos meses y años.

Así puede ser el futuro. Si seguimos haciendo inversiones en investigación y desarrollo, en tecnología y energía limpia, productos e industrias que ni siquiera hemos imaginado todavía podrán establecerse aquí en Estados Unidos de Norteamérica. Y si les proporcionamos a nuestros ciudadanos la educación y capacitación que necesitan para realizar estos trabajos, nuevamente vamos a ver que los ingresos aumentan y la clase media crece. Eso es lo que podemos hacer para darle más solidez a esta economía, reconstruirla incluso más sólida de lo que era antes.

Y debo decir que Joe Biden supervisó la implementación de nuestra Ley para la Recuperación y no se le ha dado mucho crédito por eso, pero no ha habido escándalos y el dinero se ha otorgado a tiempo.

     Justo estaba hablando con Stephen, y me decía que lo que hizo la Ley para la Recuperación fue ayudarlo a mantener a flote su empresa durante una mala época, durante tiempos difíciles, y que si bien no creció, al menos estaba estable. Y lo ayudó a mantener a la gente con un puesto de trabajo, que de otra manera habría perdido su empleo. (Aplausos.) Y Joe merece el reconocimiento por ello, de modo que denle un gran aplauso a Joe Biden. (Aplausos.)

   Por cierto, Joe dice que antes podía manejar algunos de estos camiones. (Risas.)

EL VICEPRESIDENTE: Es verdad.

EL PRESIDENTE: Pero yo sugeriría que no le presten un vehículo, porque eso fue hace mucho tiempo. (Risas.)

     EL VICEPRESIDENTE: No tanto, hombre.

     EL PRESIDENTE: Bien, permítanme decirles lo que no podemos hacer. No podemos retroceder. Lo que no podemos hacer es regresar a lo de antes, ahora que estamos comenzando a salir de este hoyo que otros cavaron para nosotros. No podemos regresar a la misma política que nos falló en la última década; la misma política que nos llevó a ese hoyo.

Piensen en esto. Ya se trató de reducir nuestra inversión en energía limpia, educación e innovación y de darles recortes tributarios a los estadounidenses más acaudalados y a las compañías más grandes, y eso no funcionó. Ya se trató de poner a cargo de la supervisión a personas con intereses en el sector, y eso no funcionó. Ya se trató de eliminar todas las normas y reglamentos que controlaban a los bancos de Wall Street y a las petroleras. Les dejamos poner sus propias reglas, y no funcionó.

Así que ya sabemos a dónde nos llevan esas ideas y vamos a tener que optar como nación si queremos progresar. Si queremos, podemos regresar a la fallida política económica del pasado, una política que nos llevó a un déficit récord, a la disminución del ingreso y a crecimiento lento incluso antes de la recesión, una política que, de hecho, casi nos lleva a una depresión. Podemos retomar ese camino. O podemos decidir que queremos progresar. Podemos seguir sentando las bases de una economía más sólida. Podemos seguir aplicando una política que ha empezado a generar empleos nuevamente, una política que invierte en compañías como K Neal; una política que invierte en compañías como Navistar; una política que invierte en nuestra gente y en nuestro futuro.

Y no sé lo que piensan ustedes, pero yo no deseo volver atrás. Quiero que progresemos. (Aplausos.) Y creo que el pueblo estadounidense quiere progresar también. Esta economía todavía no ha regresado a la prosperidad, pero estamos encaminados en la dirección correcta. Va a haber altibajos. Va a haber meses en que la gente se empiece a preocupar de que todavía no hayamos salido del hoyo. Pero si nuestra determinación se mantiene firme, si no flaqueamos, si seguimos el curso de invertir en nuestra gente y empresas como K Neal, que son la esencia y el alma de Estados Unidos, entonces tengo la seguridad absoluta de que vamos a triunfar.

Y con su ayuda, con el trabajo arduo y el ingenio de trabajadores y empresarios como éstos en esta compañía, tengo la seguridad absoluta de que nuestro futuro será brillante.

Entonces, les agradezco por el estupendo trabajo que hacen. Gracias a Joe Biden por el estupendo trabajo que realiza. Que Dios los bendiga y bendiga a los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica. (Aplausos.)

             END        9:56 A.M. EDT