The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
March 11, 2010

Remarks by the President at the Export-Import Bank's Annual Conference

Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, D.C.

11:30 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, everybody.  And thank you, John, for that generous introduction.  Congratulations to you and Fabienne and Luis for the recognition your companies so richly deserve.  And thank you to the Chairman of the Export-Import Bank, Fred Hochberg, for having me here today, and for all the important work the Ex-Im Bank is doing to help American businesses sell their ideas to the world.  I also want to recognize the Secretary General of the OECD, Angel Gurría, for his leadership at that institution.  (Applause.)

Let me also acknowledge some members of my economic team who are here today –- my Commerce Secretary, Gary Locke, who’s just returned from a trip to Brazil.  Where are you, Gary?  There he is, right here.  (Applause.)  Our U.S. Trade Representative, Ambassador Ron Kirk, who’s been putting in a lot of miles.  (Applause.)  They are both doing a great job in the work of moving this country forward in tough times.

Now, it has been our most pressing priority over the first year of my administration to deal with an unprecedented economic crisis -- one that has been as serious as anything since the Great Depression.  To do that required difficult and sometimes unpopular steps to rescue our financial system and to jumpstart an economic recovery.  But we took those steps.  And because we did, we can stand here just over a year later, and say that we prevented another depression, we broke the back of the recession, and the economy that was shrinking a year ago is growing today.

What’s also clear is that we’ve got a long way to go.  More than 8 million Americans have lost their jobs since the start of the recession.  Millions more remain underemployed, including those doing part-time work or odd jobs.  And the middle class across this country has felt their economic security eroding for longer than they care to remember.  That’s why we continue to do everything we can to foster private sector job creation and to restore some sense of security.

But the fact is, if we want to once again approach full employment; if we want to create broad, shared, and lasting wealth for our workers and our families; if we want an America that is ready to compete on the global playing field in the 21st century –- then we can’t slide back into an economy where we borrow too much and put off tough challenges.  We can’t return to an economy where too much of our prosperity is based on fleeting bubbles and rampant speculation.  We have to rebuild our economy on a new, stronger, more balanced foundation for the future –- a foundation that will advance the American people’s prosperity at home, and support American leadership in the world.

And that’s precisely what we’ve begun to do.  We’re catalyzing a new clean energy industry that has the potential to employ millions of workers in good jobs.  We’re investing in the skills and education of our workers, and reforming our education system with a goal to once again lead the world in the proportion of college graduates by the end of this decade.  We’re building a better health care system that works for our people, our businesses, and our government alike.  We’re establishing clear, common-sense rules of the road for Wall Street that encourage innovation and creativity instead of recklessness and irresponsibility; rules that prevent firms from taking risks that threaten to bring down the entire economy.  And we are rebuilding an economy where we generate more American jobs in more American industries by producing and exporting more goods and services to other nations. 

Now, in my State of the Union address I set a goal of doubling America’s exports over the next five years -– an increase that will support 2 million American jobs.  And I’ve come to the Export-Import Bank Conference today to discuss the initial steps that we’re taking to achieve that goal.

I know the issue of exports and imports, the issue of trade and globalization, have long evoked the passions of a lot of people in this country.  I know there are differences of opinion between Democrats and Republicans, between business and labor, about the right approach.  But I also know we are at a moment where it is absolutely necessary for us to get beyond those old debates. 

Those who would once support every free trade agreement now see that other countries have to play fair and the agreements have to be enforced.  Otherwise we're putting America at a profound disadvantage.  Those who once would once oppose any trade agreement now understand that there are new markets and new sectors out there that we need to break into if we want our workers to get ahead.

And meanwhile, if you ask the average American what trade has offered them, they won’t say that their televisions are cheaper, or productivity is higher.  They’d say they’ve seen the plant across town shut down, jobs dry up, communities deteriorate.  And you can’t blame them for feeling that way.  The fact is other countries haven’t always played by the same set of rules.  America hasn’t always enforced our trade rights, or made sure that the benefits of trade are broadly shared.  And we haven’t always done enough to help our workers adapt to a changing world.

Now, there’s no question that as we compete in the global marketplace, we’ve got to look out for our workers.  But to look out for our workers, we’ve got to be able to compete in the global marketplace.  It’s never been as important an opportunity for America as it is right now.

In a time when millions of Americans are out of work, boosting our exports is a short-term imperative.  Our exports support millions of American jobs.  You know this well.  In 2008, we exported more than $1 trillion of manufactured goods, supporting more than one in five manufacturing jobs -– and those jobs, by the way, pay about 15 percent more than average.  We led the world in service exports, which support 2.8 million jobs.  We exported nearly $100 billion in agricultural goods.  And every $1 billion increase in exports supports more than 6,000 additional jobs. 

So it’s critical in the short term, but it’s also critical for our long-term prosperity.  Ninety-five percent of the world’s customers and the world’s fastest-growing markets are outside our borders.  We need to compete for those customers because other nations are competing for them. 

They’re investing in the skills and education of their people.  They’re investing in the high-demand industries of the future.  They’ve benefited from American consumers.  They’ve made themselves into export-based economies, and positioned themselves for the jobs of the future.  They’re pursuing trade agreements with growing markets –- and those agreements would give their companies access to those markets and put our workers and businesses at a disadvantage.

So if we stand on the sidelines while they go after those customers, we’ll lose out on the chance to create the good jobs our workers need right here at home.  That’s why standing on the sidelines is not what we intend to do.  We need to remind ourselves, we still have the most innovative economy in the world.  We still have the most productive workers in the world.  We have the finest universities in the world.  We have the most dynamic and competitive markets in the world.

We remain the number one exporter of goods and services in the world.  So we’ve got a terrific foundation to build on.  But we can’t be satisfied with being number one right now.  We shouldn’t assume that our leadership is guaranteed.  When other markets are growing, and other nations are competing, we’ve got to get even better.  We need to secure our companies a level playing field.  We need to guarantee American workers a fair shake.  In other words, we need to up our game. 

And that’s why, for the first time, the United States of America is launching a single, comprehensive strategy to promote American exports.  It’s called the National Export Initiative, and it’s an ambitious effort to marshal the full resources of the United States government behind American businesses that sell their goods and services abroad. 

This morning, I signed an executive order instructing the federal government to use every available federal resource in support of that mission.  That order has created an Export Promotion Cabinet, made up of the Secretaries of State, Treasury, Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor, along with our USTR, our Small Business Administrator, the Export-Import Bank President, and other senior U.S. officials whose work impacts exports.  That cabinet will convene its first meeting next month. 

I’ve also re-launched the President’s Export Council, the principal national advisory committee on international trade.  And I named Jim McNerney, the President and CEO of Boeing, as its chair, with Ursula Burns, the CEO of Xerox, as vice chair, and I look forward to their recommendations.

Let me talk a little bit about what the National Export Initiative will do.  First, we will substantially increase access to trade financing for businesses that want to export their goods but just need a boost –- especially small businesses and medium-sized businesses.

Some of the biggest factors limiting a firm’s decisions to export are the high upfront costs of establishing a foothold in a new market, and the ability of the customers in that market to finance the purchase of their products.

So during the financial crisis, as trade finance dried up, the Export-Import Bank lived up to its mission and stepped up to fill the void.  In fiscal year 2009, as part of a broader effort of G20 nations to mobilize trade financing worldwide, this institution authorized $21 billion in loans in support of American exports –- that’s an increase of nearly 50 percent over the previous year.  So I applaud Fred’s efforts to increase that pace with the authorization of about $10 billion more in the first quarter of this year alone.  And under the National Export Initiative, we’ll continue to increase the amount of trade financing Ex-Im offers, including a new $2 billion per year effort to increase support for our small and medium-sized businesses.

But another obstacle that our exporters face is that the federal government frankly just hasn’t done a good enough job advocating for them abroad -- at least compared to the advocacy that other countries are engaging in.  And that’s why, as the second part of the National Export Initiative, the United States of America will go to bat for our businesses and our workers.

As an example, last week, I signed the Travel Promotion Act, a law that will establish active promotion and marketing efforts to encourage foreign citizens to come visit the most dynamic cities, the most entertaining destinations, and the most beautiful natural resources in the world.  Well, that same principle applies for all of our businesses.  We’ve got some of the most innovative companies in the world –- and we should be advocating on their behalf to boost local economies and create jobs here.

This is an effort I will personally lead as President.  Next week, I’ll take my second trip to the Asia Pacific –- a region that will be fundamental to America’s ability to create jobs and to thrive in the 21st century.  We can’t be on the sidelines -– we have to lead, and our engagement has to extend to governments and businesses and peoples across the Pacific.  So while I’m there, I’ll visit Indonesia and Australia, two vibrant economies and democracies that will be critical partners for the United States.  And in both countries, I’ll highlight the role that American businesses play there, and underscore how strong economic partnerships can create jobs on both sides of the Pacific while advancing both regional and global prosperity.  Going forward, I will be a strong and steady advocate for our workers and our companies abroad.

And this effort will extend throughout my administration.  Secretary Locke is issuing guidance to all senior government officials who have foreign counterparts on how they can best promote our exports.  Secretary Clinton is mobilizing a commercial diplomacy strategy, directing every one of our embassies to create a senior visitors business liaison who will manage our export advocacy efforts locally, and when our ambassadors return stateside, we’ll ask them to travel the United States to discuss export opportunities in their countries of assignment. 

We’re also announcing more than 40 trade and reverse trade missions that are scheduled for this year.  The Department of Commerce, for example, has sent a trade mission to India this week; Secretary Vilsack is off to Japan on April 15th.  So advocacy is going to be critical.

Third, we’ll unleash a battery of comprehensive and coordinated efforts to promote new markets and new opportunities for American exporters.

Many businesses want to export their products but just don’t have the resources required to identify new markets or set up shop overseas.  And that’s where we can help.  We’ll bring together the Ex-Im Bank, the SBA, the Departments of Commerce and Agriculture, and the Trade Development Agency to set up one-stop shops across the country and in our 250 embassies and consulates abroad, to help American businesses gain a foothold in the fastest-growing markets with the most demand.  And we’ll provide a comprehensive toolkit of services –- from financing to counseling to promotion –- to help potential exporters grow and expand. 

We’ll create public-private partnerships to help firms break into new markets with the help of those who have been there –- shipping and supply-chain companies, for example.  And we’ll increase funding for existing promotion efforts.  We’ll increase funding for the International Trade Administration at the Department of Commerce, and strengthen the USDA’s ability to connect farmers with new overseas markets.

So we’re going to increase financing, advocacy, and assistance for American businesses to locate, set up shop, and win new markets.  Those are the first three aims of the National Export Initiative.

The fourth focuses on making sure American companies have free and fair access to those markets.  And that begins by enforcing trade agreements we already have on the books.

When I ran for President, I promised that when the United States of America puts its name to an agreement, that agreement will be as good for workers as it is for businesses, including strong labor and environmental protections that we’ll enforce.  My administration is living up to that promise.  Ambassador Kirk has been doing an extraordinary job as our United States Trade Representative, and he’s been working to knock down barriers that unfairly keep American companies from markets we belong in, hold our trade partners to their labor and environmental obligations, and crack down on practices that blatantly harm our companies.

But keep in mind, the United States offers some of the world’s lowest barriers to trade.  That’s why we can often get more out of a trade deal, because our borders are largely already open.  And when we give other countries the privilege of that free and fair access, we can expect it in return.  That’s the spirit in which we’ll move forward. 

So we’re going to continue to work towards an ambitious and a balanced Doha agreement -– not just for the sake of any agreement, but for one that enhances market access for American agriculture and goods and services.  We’re going to strengthen relations with key partners, specifically South Korea, Panama, Colombia, with the goal of moving forward with existing agreements in a way that upholds our values.  And we will pursue negotiations in the Trans-Pacific Partnership that we launched last year with some of the most dynamic economies in Asia -– negotiations that I believe will result in a new standard for 21st century trade agreements that aren’t just good for workers, businesses, and farmers, but also consistent with our most cherished values. 

What’s more, we’re going to aggressively protect our intellectual property.  Our single greatest asset is the innovation and the ingenuity and creativity of the American people.  It is essential to our prosperity and it will only become more so in this century.  But it’s only a competitive advantage if our companies know that someone else can’t just steal that idea and duplicate it with cheaper inputs and labor.  There’s nothing wrong with other people using our technologies, we welcome it –- we just want to make sure that it’s licensed, and that American businesses are getting paid appropriately.  That’s why USTR is using the full arsenal of tools available to crack down on practices that blatantly harm our businesses, and that includes negotiating proper protections and enforcing our existing agreements, and moving forward on new agreements, including the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.

We’ll also work within the G20 to continue global recovery and growth.  Last year, when the G20 met to coordinate the international response to our global economic crisis, we agreed that in order for that growth to continue, we needed to rebalance our economies.  For too long, America served as the consumer engine for the entire world.  But we’re rebalancing.  We are now saving more.  And that means that everybody has got to rebalance.  Countries with external deficits need to save and export more.  Countries with external surpluses need to boost consumption and domestic demand.  And as I’ve said before, China moving to a more market-oriented exchange rate will make an essential contribution to that global rebalancing effort. 

I want to commend Secretary Tim Geithner for his extraordinary work and his tremendous leadership throughout this past year within the G20.  And I know he’ll keep encouraging other nations to rebalance global demand -- and those are efforts that will be good for our exports, good for our job growth, good for the world economy as a whole.

Finally, we’re working to reform our Export Control System for our strategic, high-tech industries, which will strengthen our national security.  What we want to do is concentrate our efforts on enforcing controls on the export of our most critical technologies, making America safer while enhancing the competitiveness of key American industries.  We’ve conducted a broad review of the Export Control System, and Secretary Gates will outline our reform proposal within the next couple of weeks.  But today, I’d like to announce two steps that we’re prepared to take.

First, we’re going to streamline the process certain companies need to go through to get their products to market -– products with encryption capabilities like cell phone and network storage devices.  Right now, they endure a technical review that can take between 30 and 60 days, and that puts that company at a distinct disadvantage to foreign competitors who don’t face those same delays.  So a new one-time online process will shorten that review time from 30 days to 30 minutes, and that makes it quicker and easier for our businesses to compete while meeting our national security requirements.

And second, we’re going to eliminate unnecessary obstacles for exporting products to companies with dual-national and third-country-national employees.  Currently, our exporters and foreign consumers of these goods have to comply with two different, conflicting set of standards.  They’re running on two tracks, when they could be running just on one.  So we’re moving towards harmonizing those standards and making it easier for American and foreign companies to comply with our requirements without diminishing our security.  And I look forward to consulting with Congress on these reforms, as well as broader export control reform efforts.

So that’s how we’re going to double our exports, open up new markets, and level the playing field for American businesses and American workers.  I have every confidence that we can success in this effort.  I have every confidence that we will succeed in this effort.

This is a difficult time for our country.  And in times like these, questions have always arisen about whether or not America’s best days are behind us.  That’s standard fare.  It happens every so often.  There have always been naysayers and skeptics.  There were always those who’ve waxed fatalistic, fearing that we lacked the capacity to adapt, to succeed –- at times even to survive –- in a changing world. 

But what makes America great, what continues to make America the envy of our competitors, what makes this a place where people come not just to invest but to start lives and businesses and families, is something that has been inexorable and enduring, especially in times of great challenge and great change.  It’s that spirit of adventurousness and entrepreneurship that has for generations turned wild-eyed tinkerers into world-changing entrepreneurs; that led us westward and skyward; that led to roads and railways cutting through wilderness, and ships and planes and fiber optic lines carrying American goods and services around the world.  It’s the spirit that has advanced America’s leadership in the world and held aloft the American Dream for generations.  And it is, ultimately, that spirit that’s given us the tools and the toughness to overcome every obstacle and adapt to every circumstance –- and today is no different.

It hasn’t always been easy.  Our success is by no means guaranteed.  But if we summon a sense of national purpose equal to the seriousness of these times; if we combine our creativity, our innovation, and our eternal optimism; if we come together in common cause as we have so many times before –- we will succeed.  We will define our destiny once again.  And we will make this century another American Century -- with your help.

Thank you very much, everybody.  God bless you.  God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.) 

END
11:55 A.M. EST

The White House

Office of the Vice President

For Immediate Release
March 11, 2010

Remarks by Vice President Biden: The Enduring Partnership Between the United States and Israel

Tel Aviv University

VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN:  Mr. President, thank you for that lovely introduction.  And thank you for hosting me at such a world-class center for higher learning.  It’s been a long time since I’ve been back on campus.  I was a mere child, a 31-year-old Senator when I was here the first time.  But it’s a privilege to be back. 

The past few days being back in Israel has been wonderful.  It’s -- it’s been an honor to be here, and it’s been -- I wanted everyone to know with whom I spoke, and all of you to know, the deep friendship and kinship I feel as well as President Obama feels for this magnificent country.  I should probably be used to it by now, but I’m always struck every time I come back by the hospitality of the Israeli people.  No matter how long I’ve been away -- and I imagine you’ve experienced this yourself -- the instant I return, I feel like I’m at home.  I feel like I never left.  I feel like things just picked up where they left off the day that I left being here.  So please accept my warmest gratitude, as well that of President Obama, who knows as well as I do that the United States has no better friend in the community of nations than Israel.  Thank you so much.  (Applause.) 

I see some of my U.S. friends down there in the front row.  I won’t identify them and ruin their reputations.  But they -- they know where my love for this country comes.  It started at my dinner table with my father, who you would refer to as a righteous Christian.  My father -- my dinner table was a place where we gathered to have conversation and incidentally eat, as opposed to the other way around.  And my father -- my father’s support for Israel is outrage for what had happened in the ‘30s and the failure of the world to act, his support for the creation of the state of Israel.  It generated a feeling for Israel that began in my gut and went to my heart, and the older I got matured in my mind. 

During those sessions, my other -- my father often spoke passionately about the special connection between the Jewish people and this land.  Like many of my countrymen, I experienced the magic of Israel at a relatively young age -- at least it looks young now from my perspective.  When I first visited here in 1973 on the eve of the Yom Kippur War, your nation was only a quarter-century old, and I was not much older.  Already, Israel had a tragic as well as triumphal history behind it, and as we all know, some very difficult days ahead.  Already, there was a sense here that anything was possible.

My very first meeting in Israel was maybe the one that I carry closest to my heart.  My first meeting in Israel -- I was invited by a woman named Golda Meir, who I admired from afar as millions of Americans did.  We sort of claimed her as our own.  I know she is Israeli, but we claimed her.  We claimed her as our own in America.  And I remember walking into her office as a young senator being literally in awe as she was so gracious the way she accepted me and gave me a hug more like my mother would, sat down behind her desk and while chain-smoking -- she had a series of maps behind her.  And there were six or seven maps.  She kept flipping the maps up and down, and explaining to me what exactly had happened in the Six-Day War.  And there was a young man sitting next to me, a guy named Yitzhak Rabin, who I met for the first time.  And as she pulled those maps up and down, educating this young senator as to the -- to the threat that this young nation of Israel was facing, I guess she could see the sense of apprehension on my face.  I found myself being -- the more she talked about 2 million Jews -- and back then, by the way, there were not that many Arabs compared to today.  The numbers were much smaller, but they were still exponentially larger than the Jewish population.  And she went through the threats that were faced, and how it had come through the battles of the Six-Day War.  She spoke so passionately about her country.

And I was concerned.  I guess it showed in my face.  I was concerned that surrounded by the neighbors who denied the very right of the nation to exist, how were you going to do this?  The Prime Minister caught me off guard.  After about an hour and a half, she looked at me and she said. “Senator, would you like a photo opportunity?”  And I thought, what the hell is a photo opportunity?  And I said, “Well, yes, Madam Prime Minister.”  We opened those double doors and we walked out into the ending room of her office and there was a lot of press there -- a lot, half a dozen photographers and cameras.  (Laughter.) 

For me, that was a lot, not like today.  And they started snapping pictures.  And while looking straight ahead, she talked to me without turning her head.  She said, “Senator, don’t look so worried.”  She said -- I said, “Well I am, Madam President, and because I just had this hour and a half.”  And she said -- she said, “We Israelis have a secret weapon.”  And I thought she only had said this to me, no one else in the whole world.  She said, “We have a secret weapon in our struggle with the Arabs.”  And I thought she was going to tell me about a new secret weapon.  (Laughter.)  And I found myself turning and looking at her, and the press -- because this was all just a stand-up photo opportunity.  And she said, “We have a secret weapon.  We have nowhere else to go.”

That trip was almost four decades ago, but I remember it as clearly as if it happened yesterday.  And it drove home all that my father had spoken of -- randomly, occasionally but consistently -- over the previous 15 years.  And he told me as a young boy, that Israel and Jews in the world had no place else to go with absolute certitude.  This place, it gets in your blood.  It never really lets you go.  

I expect that there are several people in the audience today who have had similar experiences who first came here as tourists or religious pilgrims and ended up making aliyah and launching a new life in northern kibbutz, or a small town in Negev, or in the beautiful city by the sea.  Throughout my career, Israel has not only remained close to my heart but it has been the center of my work as a United States Senator and now as Vice President of the United States.

I have had the privilege of returning many times, and to know every one of your prime ministers over these past three and a half decades, including your current leader who is a close, personal friend of over 33 years, Bibi Netanyahu. 

Israel’s history is a tale of remarkable accomplishment.  On a perilous patch of desert with sparse natural resources, you have built perhaps the most innovative economy in the world.  You have more start-ups per capita than any nation on the planet, more firms on the NASDAQ exchange than anyone except the United States, and more U.S. patents per capita than any country, including my own.  You have cultivated the gifts of 11 Nobel laureates, the great -- and as well as those of the great Itzhak Perlman, and in recent years you have Shai Agassi, whose path-breaking work on electric automobiles began not very far from where I stand.

Israel owes this remarkable and yet improbable success, I believe, to your democratic traditions, to its patriotic and pioneering citizens, and as with my own country, to its willingness to welcome the persecuted and the downtrodden from far-flung corners of the globe.  All this gives life to Theodor Herzl’s famous slogan, which I was reminded of this week while visiting his grave on this 150th anniversary of his birth.  He said, “If you will it, it is no dream.”

I had said in a speech in the United States some years ago for which I got some criticism, I said were I a Jew, I would be a Zionist.  And it got a lot of national publicity, how could I say that, until I was reminded by my father you need not be a Jew to be a Zionist. 

Ladies and gentlemen, just over 60 years ago, Israel’s founders gave life to Herzl’s dream by willing Israel into being.  Since then, this nation has become more than an undeniable fact, more than just a legacy of age-old ties between a people and a land, though it is both of those things.  Your very existence is also a hard-won and inviolable right.

Israel’s unique relationship with the United States means that you need not bear that heavy burden alone.  Our nations’ unbreakable bond borne of common values, interwoven cultures, and mutual interests has spanned the entirety of Israel’s history.  And it’s -- it’s impervious to any shifts in either country and either country’s partisan politics.  No matter what challenges we face, this bond will endure.  As a result, generations of Israelis and Americans and American-Israelis have kept a foot in each country, enriching both our nations and peoples.  I met with some of your leading high-tech leaders earlier, prior to coming to the stage.  And they have a foot in both countries, many of them. 

While these close relationships span the realm of commerce and education, medicine and technology, culture and the arts, at its core is an ironclad commitment to security -- Israel and my own country’s.  Every day, Israel faces bravely threats no country should have to endure.  No parent should their child to schools equipped with air raid sirens in the year 2010.  No government should be expected to turn a blind eye while an enemy calls for its destruction.

I am here to remind you, though I hope you will never forget, that America stands with you shoulder-to-shoulder in facing these threats.  President Obama and I represent an unbroken chain of American leaders who have understood this critical, strategic relationship.  As the President said recently, “I will never waver from ensuring Israel’s security and helping them secure themselves in what is a very hostile region.”

President Obama has not only stated those words, he has translated that vow into action in his first year in ways both known to the public and not known to you, as Prime Minister Netanyahu eloquently acknowledged the other day when he and I were meeting and had a short press conference that followed.  Beyond providing Israel nearly $3 billion in military aid each and every year, we have reinvigorated defense consultations and redoubled our efforts to ensure that Israel’s -- that Israel’s forces will always maintain a qualitative edge.

We lead the fight in international institutions against the insidious campaign to challenge Israel’s legitimacy and question its right to self-defense.  Since our administration came into office, our militaries have expanded cooperation -- not maintained, expanded -- cooperation on joint exercises and missile defense.  Last fall, more than 1,000 American troops participated in Juniper Cobra ballistic missile defense exercises, the largest such drill to date. 

And it should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway so there’s no doubt, the United States stands resolutely beside Israel against the scourge of terrorism, from which both of our countries have suffered badly.  No one in this audience needs to be reminded of the fear and devastation caused by suicide bombers or by rockets from Southern Lebanon or from Gaza.  The band of Israeli territory outside the rocket’s range grows narrower all the time.  And I, as an American, continue to marvel -- continue to marvel at the residents in the region being able to resolutely get up every morning of the communities -- other communities that in fact are within the bulls eye, the crosshairs, how you respond to that with defiance and not fear.  American support for Israel is not just an act of friendship; it’s an act of fundamental national self-interest on the part of the United States, a key component to our broader efforts to secure this region and a wider world, as well as our own security.

Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve heard it raised occasionally in editorials in this country and others wondering about our resolve.  Make no mistake about America’s resolve.  Make no mistake about America’s resolve.  We have 200,000 young women and men -- we are spending a quarter of a trillions a year.  We have had tens of thousands of fallen angels and multiple times more injured in the service of our nation deployed far from home  in Iraq and Afghanistan.  There, and elsewhere, we are aggressively confronting violent extremism and radical ideologies that threaten not only you and the United States, but our allies as well. 

But our approach consists of more than the awesome military might we possess and are willing to use.  From the very start, President Obama has called for a new era of diplomatic engagement with both our friends -- some of whom we had alienated the previous years -- as well as -- as well as those who are not viewed as our friends. 

In Cairo last June, he launched a new beginning between the United States and the Muslim communities around the world.  Later this month, the President will continue this engagement by visiting Indonesia, home of the world’s largest Muslim population where he lived as a boy.  We are absolutely convinced that this approach will improve not only our security, but as a consequence, your security.

A new generation of Muslims is coming to age, more numerous than its predecessors, more dispersed geographically, and because of technology, more closely connected with each other and with the forces and events that shape the world we share.  If we can rollback recent tensions and redirect crude stereotypes -- theirs and our own -- it will make America safer and our closest allies, like Israel, safer as well in our view.

We are returning an ambassador to Damascus and elevating our diplomatic contacts.  We do so with our eyes wide open both to our deep concerns with Syrian actions that has threatened your security and the stability of the region, and also to the hope of a better relationship and peace between Israel and Syria.  And we will continue to help strengthen the institutions in Lebanon and work to implement the U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at ending the flow of weapons to Hizballah and disarming this threat to Israel, as well as to the civilian Lebanese. 

With other Arab and Muslim countries, we are revitalizing a partnership in education, science, technology, business, culture; because the best way to counter the lure of extreme ideology is to offer future opportunity.  In speaking with your Prime Minister recently, he talked about the high birth rates in neighboring poor countries, including Yemen, and the need for us to provide economic outlets and opportunities so there is an option.

Looming over all our efforts in this region is the shadow cast by Iran, home of a -- home of a great civilization and proud people who suffer from a leadership that flouts the will of the world by pursuing nuclear weapons and supporting terrorism and terrorists.  Over the past decade, Iran has become more, not less dangerous, building thousands of centrifuges that churn out nuclear material, funding and arming dangerous proxies like Hizballah and Hamas, intimidating both its neighbors as well as its own citizens.

From the moment we were elected, President Obama decided that we needed a new approach.  He has sought to engage Iran’s leaders for the purpose of changing their conduct, knowing full well how difficult that may be, but also knowing that if they fail to respond, we would be in a much stronger position to rally the international community to impose consequences for their actions.  

Iran thus far has refused to cooperate, as the whole world has witnessed.  Instead it has engaged in more violations of international obligations, like undeclared enrichment facilities that were recently exposed by the United States, and the decision to enrich uranium to 20 percent to build more -- and to build more enrichment facilities, all violations.  It rejected a good-faith offer to exchange its low enriched uranium for fuel that could power a research reactor to produce medical isotopes.  And it continues to deploy thugs to lock up and beat down those who bravely take to the streets in a quest for basic justice in their own country.

The Iranian leadership’s continuing defiance has set the stage for our efforts to mobilize the world to impose meaningful sanctions that clarify for the Iranian leadership the stark choice:  follow international rules or face harsh penalties and further isolation. 

You have to acknowledge that today Iran is more isolated with its own people as well as the region and in the world than it has been at any time in the past two decades.  The United States is determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, period.  I know -- I know that for Israel -- (applause) -- I know that for Israel, there is no greater existential strategic threat.  Trust me, we get that.  It’s also a threat -- the acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iran is also a threat to the security -- short-term, mid-term, and long-term -- to the United States of America. 

And many other countries in this region and around the world strongly oppose a nuclear-armed Iran.  It would threaten them, trigger an arms race in this region, and undermine the efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, which would be a sorry outcome for such a promising beginning of the 21st century.  For all those reasons, confronting this challenge is and must be a top national priority for the United States of America.

We are determined to keep the pressure on Iran so that it will change its course.  And as we do, we will also be seeking to improve relations between the Israelis and Palestinians.  They are connected indirectly, but there is a relationship.  We call on Arab states who share a mutual concern about Iran -- we call on Arab states to support the effort to bring peace between Palestinians and the Israelis, and to take their own steps forward for peace with Israel.

These are critical goals in their own rights.  Their pursuit also denies Tehran the opportunity to exploit the differences between Israelis and Palestinians, and Israelis and the Arab world, and to distract the many countries that stand united against Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and the support of terrorism.  Building peace and security between a Jewish democratic state of Israel and a viable, independent Palestinian state is profoundly in Israel’s interest, if you will forgive me for suggesting that.  (Applause.)

I’ve learned never tell another man or another country what’s in their own interest, but it seems so -- it’s also profoundly in the interest of Palestinians.  And it’s fundamentally in the national security interest of the United States of America.

Ladies and gentlemen, in my experience one necessary precondition for progress is that the rest of the world knows this.  There is no space -- this is what they must know, every time progress is made, it’s made when the rest of the world knows there is absolutely no space between the United States and Israel when it comes to security, none.  No space.  (Applause.)  That’s the only time when progress has been made.   

And I applaud Prime Minister Netanyahu’s recent call for two states for two people, lending a vital voice to what the Israelis, Palestinians, their Arab neighbors all know in their heart to be true.  Ladies and gentlemen, the status quo is not sustainable. 

It’s no secret the demographic realities make it increasingly difficult for Israel to remain both a Jewish homeland and a democratic country in the absence of the Palestinian state.  Genuine steps toward a two-state solution are also required to empower those living to live in peace and security with Israel and to undercut their rivals who will never accept that future. 

For Israel, then, this is about both preserving your identity and achieving the security you deserve, lasting security.  

For Palestinians, statehood will not just fulfill a legitimate and long-sought aspiration common to all peoples; it will restore the fundamental dignity and self-respect that their current predicament denies them.  I understand why both sides are skeptical.  I’ve been doing this for a long time, not as long as my friend, Dennis Ross who is with me -- Ross, who is with me -- Ross who is with me.  He is with me.  (Laughter and applause.)  He has even more experience in the nitty-gritty of this than I do.  We understand why both sides are skeptical.  We’ve been down this road before and so have you, which every time makes it a little harder to go down the road again.

But I know -- I know that Israel’s faith in the prospects for peace have been shaken by the searing experience of withdrawing from Lebanon and from Gaza, only to be rewarded with rocket fire and ambushes across your border.  I know you’ve been frustrated by the unwillingness of some Palestinian leaders to curb incitement and take the risk that peace requires, just as when the West Bank checkpoints proliferate and settlements grow, the Palestinians experience their own crisis in confidence and come to doubt Israeli intentions.

And we all know what happens when cynicism festers -- distrust, harsh words, and eventually violence.  The cycle of unintended consequences, which has happened more times than I can count, has led you to build more walls that may offer short term relief, but will not bring the sustained security that you seek.  This is no way to live.  This cycle must be broken.

In the Middle East -- in the Middle East that I first visited, peace between Israelis and its neighbors seemed absolutely impossible even to discuss.  Those who suggested a two-state solution -- and no one did that, actually.  But had someone suggested a two-state solution, they would have been considered either demented or dreamers.  But then, Israel, Egypt and Jordan all acted boldly to end decades of conflict.  Over time, other contacts have emerged between Israelis and Arabs.

And there is now an Arab Peace Initiative that makes an important contribution by envisioning a future in which Israel is secure and at peace with its Arab neighbors.  Turning these visions into reality is among the hardest challenges we face, but we have to face it.  There is no alternative.  (Applause.) 

As Prime Minister Netanyahu said, “all sides” -- “all sides need to take action in good faith if peace is to have a chance.”  But it’s hard, my words, it’s hard.  While it’s always easier to point fingers, it’s time for Israeli and Palestinian leaders to acknowledge each others’ steps to heed this call, even when more remains to be done -- and for the world to do the same thing.

Your Prime Minister is roundly criticized in other parts of the world, but your Prime Minister has endorsed the idea of a Palestinian State.  He has removed roadblocks and checkpoints that choked the West Bank.  These were difficult decisions -- not all that was asked for on the other side, but these were difficult decisions.

It was also difficult for the Palestinian Authority to take a step that it has to take to combat incitement and reform the institutions it’s reforming.  Of an even greater note, it’s building an effective -- for the first time a genuinely effective security force to uphold law and order, in my view, with the potential to do it throughout the West Bank and throughout the Palestinian territories. 

President Obama and I believe that -- believe that in President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad, men who I’ve known for a long time, Israeli leaders finally have willing partners who share the goal of peace between two states and have the competence to establish a nation.  Their commitment to peace is an opportunity that must be seized.  It must be seized.  Who has there been better to date, to have the prospect of settling this with?  But instead, two days ago the Israeli government announced it would advance planning for new housing units in East Jerusalem.  I realize this is a very touchy subject in Israel as well as in my own country.  But because that decision, in my view, undermined the trust required for productive negotiations, I -- and at the request of President Obama condemned it immediately and unequivocally.  (Applause.)

Now, some legitimately may have been surprised that such a strong supporter of Israel for the last 37 years and beyond, but 37 years as an elected official, how I can speak out so strongly given the ties that I share as well as my country shares with Israel.  But quite frankly, folks, sometimes only a friend can deliver the hardest truth.  And I appreciate, by the way, the response your Prime Minister today announced this morning that he is putting in place a process to prevent the recurrence of that sort of that sort of events and who clarified that the beginning of actual construction on this particular project would likely take several years -- a statement he put out.  That’s significant, because it gives negotiations the time to resolve this, as well as other outstanding issues.  Because when it was announced, I was on the West Bank.  Everyone there thought it had meant immediately the resumption of the construction of 1,600 new units.   

Look, folks, as we move forward I promise you this:  The United States will continue to hold both sides accountable for any statements or any actions that inflame tensions or prejudice the outcome of these talks.  The most important thing is for these talks to go forward and go promptly and go forward in good faith.  We can’t delay, because when progress is postponed, extremists exploit our differences and they sow hate. 

These indirect talks everyone knows are just that, indirect talks, indirect negotiations.  The only path, though, to finally resolving the permanent status issues, including borders, security, refugees, and Jerusalem are direct talks.  Our administration -- (applause) -- but you’ve got to begin.  The process has to begin.  Our administration fully supports this effort led by our Special Envoy, Senator George Mitchell, a seasoned negotiator and a proven peacemaker in whom the President, the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and I have complete and utter confidence.

We believe that through good-faith negotiations, the parties can mutually agree to an outcome which ends the conflict and reconciles the Palestinian goal of an independent and viable state based on the ‘67 lines with agreed swaps and Israel’s goal of a Jewish state with secure and recognized borders that reflect subsequent developments and meet Israel’s security requirements.

Many challenges remain.  Gilad Shalit is still in captivity and we pray every day for the day when he will come home and be reunited with his family.  (Applause.)  Ladies and gentlemen, incitement against Israel continues as do attacks on the legitimacy of Jewish ties to this ancient land. 

And the ongoing threat from Gaza still in Hamas’s grip, and from Hizballah in Southern Lebanon, remind us that your security is far from assured.  Meanwhile, though, our policy and our concerns about Israel’s settlements remain unchanged.  And while Hamas has condemned Gaza’s populace to misery and hopelessness, Israel too has a responsibility to address their many needs.  That’s why we’re working with the Israeli government to do just that and address some of legitimate needs without -- without further endangering Israel’s security.

Ladies and gentlemen, I’m a Roman Catholic.  And no one -- and I’m no expert on the Old Testament.  But I know we’re gathered today between Purim and Passover, holidays that teach us about salvation and redemption.  It was written in the Book of Isaiah that Israel shall be “a light unto the nations.”  And yet, for more than six decades, Israelis have often sought but never found the salvation of a lasting peace. And it is very hard -- it is very hard to be a beacon for others, when you are constantly at war.  To end this historic conflict, both sides must be historically bold, because if each waits stubbornly for the other to act first, this will go on and we’ll be waiting for an eternity. 

Back home, I am sometimes called an optimist, but I am an optimist about the prospects for peace because I am a realist.  And to paraphrase Golda Meir, there is nowhere else to go.  There is nowhere else to go.  I cannot tell you that peace will come easily, you know better.  In human history, it rarely has.  But I can promise you, both Israelis and Palestinians, that the rewards for success will be boundless and that so long as well-intentioned people are engaged in this struggle, the United States will be your partner.

Thank you.  And may God protect you, and may God protect Israel.  Thank you very much.  (Applause.) 

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
March 10, 2010

Remarks by the President at Grassroots Fundraising Reception for Senator McCaskill

Renaissance Grand Hotel
St. Louis, Missouri

7:25 P.M. CST

THE PRESIDENT:  What’s going on, St. Louis?  (Applause.)  Thank you!  (Applause.)  It is good to be back in Missouri.  (Applause.)

AUDIENCE:  Obama!  Obama!  Obama!

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, guys.  Thank you.  I got the same reception when I went to the Republican caucus.  (Laughter.)  They were chanting and cheering.  (Laughter.)  You don't remember that?

Give it up for Governor Jay Nixon, one of the finest governors in the country.  (Applause.)  Give it up for Mayor Francis Slay, who’s in the house.  (Applause.)  He’s around here somewhere.  There he is over there.

And give it up for my dear, dear friend, Claire McCaskill. (Applause.)  I love Claire McCaskill.  Love, love Claire McCaskill.  Now, Claire and I both agree it’s nice to get out of Washington once in a while.  (Laughter.)  Now, don't --

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Come more often!

THE PRESIDENT:  I'm going to.  (Laughter.)  Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of nice things about Washington.  I like the monuments --

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  How is the house?

THE PRESIDENT:  House is okay.  (Laughter.)  It’s got a bowling alley.  What?

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  How’s your bowling?

THE PRESIDENT:  My bowling has not gotten any better.  (Laughter.)  But here’s the thing about Washington --

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We love you!

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

But here’s the thing about Washington.  Look, it’s a town where everybody is spending all their time worrying about staying reelected, what’s good for their poll numbers, instead of thinking about what’s right.  (Applause.)  I mean, they are just -- you walk into -- you walk in somebody’s office and they got, like, five TVs -- CNN, MSNBC, FOX News --

AUDIENCE:  Oooh!

THE PRESIDENT:  I'm just saying.  (Laughter.)

SENATOR McCASKILL:  Smart crowd, smart crowd.

THE PRESIDENT:  Yes, they’ve got all the tabloids, the little gossip -- you know -- papers in Washington.  So it’s like a hall of mirrors.  But folks don't spend enough time thinking about what’s right and what’s going on outside of Washington.  (Applause.)

Now, this is not a new phenomenon.  Harry Truman said something to the same effect.  He had an interview, he said, “Washington is a very easy city to forget where you come from and why you got there in the first place.”  (Laughter.)

Let me tell you something.  Claire McCaskill doesn’t forget where she came from. (Applause.)  And she doesn’t forget why she got to Washington.  She got to Washington to serve you, to fight for you, to fight for families all across America.  That's why you're here tonight, because you know Claire McCaskill is on your side.  (Applause.)

You’ve known that ever since she was a prosecutor.  You’ve seen her as a state auditor, just pinching pennies, just looking through -- (laughter) -- making sure folks aren’t wasting your money.  She’s turned into one of the finest senators Missouri has ever had.  (Applause.)  She’s following in Harry Truman’s footsteps.

She’s a standout because she speaks truth to power.  She’s not afraid of anybody.  Speaks her mind.  Sometimes she tells me things.  (Laughter.)  And I’m the President.  (Applause.)  But that’s -- that’s what you need, is somebody who’s got the courage of their convictions.  They’re not a weathervane, putting their fingers out to the wind, seeing, well, is that thing popular, is that going to win, is that good for me?  She’s thinking about, is it good for you.  She’s focused on solving problems.

No matter what party, she’ll work with anybody if she thinks it’s going to solve a problem.  She’s willing to challenge old assumptions and worn-out ideas.  And she’s a great role model for that.

I’ll just give you an example.  Some of you remember the -- Harry Truman made his name with the Truman Committee that went after waste and abuse during World War II, saving taxpayer dollars and lives.  Well, Claire is doing the same thing, fighting for transparency and accountability in government.  She understands that the money we spend doesn’t belong to us, it belongs to you.  It belongs to the American people, so it’s got to be spent responsibly.  (Applause.)

So just today, just today, I announced a plan that Claire proposed, pushed through Congress, that’s going to be coming online -- it’s a database where Americans can track spending on contracts:  who’s getting it, are they doing it on time, are they doing it on budget.  (Applause.)  If companies aren’t doing it on budget, then they stop getting contracts.

But that’s an example of the kind of work she’s been doing since she got there, the same way Harry Truman saw it.  You don’t govern by the polls; you govern by principles.  You don’t put your finger to the wind; you put your shoulder to the wheel.  (Applause.)  Because Claire assumes that if she’s doing what’s right the politics will sort itself out.

See, I've got the same philosophy.  I have so much faith in the American people that -- I have so much faith in the American people that I figure, you know what, if I do the right thing, then the politics will work itself out.  (Applause.)

Now, that’s puzzling to Washington.  So they’ve been writing over the last couple months, “Oh, my goodness, look at Obama.  His poll numbers have dropped.  Oh, the sky is falling!”  (Laughter.)  No, I mean, you see articles, you know, “Can you imagine what’s happened?  What a catastrophe.”  I'm looking around, and I feel okay.  (Laughter.)  I feel pretty good.  (Applause.)

And the reason I feel pretty good is because I wake up every day trying to figure out what’s going to help -- what’s going to help American families have some control over their lives?  What’s going to help them be able to save a little more for their retirement?  What’s going to help them be able to find a job?  What’s going to help them deal with a health care crisis in their lives?  What are we going to do to make sure young people can afford to go to college?  (Applause.)

Now, sometimes the decisions we make in the short term are not going to be popular, and the folks in Washington don’t understand that I know they’re not going to be popular.  They can’t believe I'm doing them.  See, they just think I’m an idiot -- (laughter) -- because I’m doing something that’s not immediately popular.  But I’ve got pollsters.  I’ve got very good pollsters.  They send me the polls.  They say, you know what, shoring up the financial system, not popular.  (Laughter.)  Helping out the auto industry, not popular.  Passing the Recovery Act, not popular.

That’s okay.  Because my job is not being popular.  (Applause.)  My job is solving problems for the American people. I’ve got a greater responsibility.  I’ve got a deeper mission.  (Applause.)  I’m looking at 10 years from now, will you look back and say that what he did made sense for the American people; not whether tomorrow people are going to be looking and saying, that made him popular.  (Applause.)

So, today -- listen, you remember -- you remember a year ago, everybody was saying -- we had only been there for two months.  (Laughter.)  They said, “Oh, his financial plan is a disaster.”  Stock market had dropped.  Remember that?  Everybody is like, his presidency is over; he’s been in three months.  (Laughter.)

Now, suddenly you look up, financial system is stabilized.  (Applause.)  People said, “Oh, you know what, why is he getting involved in this auto thing?  Big mistake.”  Now, suddenly General Motors is hiring again.  (Applause.)  They said, “Well, I don’t know about this Recovery Act.”  Except all over Missouri and all across the nation, roads are being repaved and bridges are being repaired and waterways are being rebuilt.  And we’re putting Americans back to work.  We’re laying the foundation for tomorrow.  And instead of the economy contracting 6 percent it’s now growing 6 percent.  (Applause.)

So I think about what’s right and then figure out -- whether the politics will work out or not, I’m confident in the American people.  (Applause.)

Now, look, here’s the bottom line -- Claire and I know this -- as much progress as we’ve made, there are still millions of Americans, and too many all across Missouri, who are out of work; too many people who are still stretched to the limits on their mortgages, their credit cards, their student loans.  So we’re on the road to recovery, but we’re not there.  We will not be there until folks who want to find a job can get a job; not until people feel some sense of security again.

We are fighting every day, Claire and I, for an America where every single person can compete and win.  If they’re willing to work hard, if they’re willing to apply themselves, then they’ve got a shot at the American Dream.  (Applause.)  We’re fighting for an economy where entrepreneurship and hard work and some sweat can result in success, and that we can rebuild this middle class that has been the backbone not just of our economy but also our democracy.

So we’re going to have some more fights.  We’ve won some fights.  People don’t -- people tend to forget -- we won them so fast those first six months, everybody’s forgotten about it.  (Laughter.)  We banned tobacco advertising to kids.  We passed credit card legislation to make sure that the worst abuses no longer happen.  (Applause.)  We passed housing fraud laws that will crack down on predatory lending.  We passed equal pay laws so that women are getting paid the same for doing the same work as men.  (Applause.)  We expanded health care to 4 million children.  We passed national service legislation.  We are bringing our troops home from Iraq.  (Applause.)  We have delivered on our promises.  (Applause.)

But we’ve got work left to do.  The country that educates its children the best will compete the best in the 21st century  -- (applause) -- and that’s why we’re going to keep on pushing to reform our education system, make sure that college is affordable.

Because the nation that leads in clean energy will also lead in the 21st century economy, we’re going to keep on pushing -- (applause) -- for solar and wind and biodiesel and create millions of jobs in the process.

And, yes, because we know that this economy cannot work if we’ve got a broken health care system, we are going to get health care reform done this year, right now.  (Applause.)

Everybody remembers that person yelling to Harry, “Give ‘em hell, Harry!”  But folks don't remember Harry’s response, which was “I'm going to tell the truth and they’ll think it’s hell.”  (Laughter.)  So let me tell you the truth about health care reform.  The system is broken.  Out in California, one of the biggest insurers there just raised rates up to 39 percent on millions of people.  Right across the river, in Illinois, 60 percent hikes in some of the individual markets.  It’s not sustainable and everybody knows it.

So what have we done?  There’s nothing radical about what we've proposed.  We have said, look, some countries have a government-run system; that's not going to work for here in the United States.  Some people -- most of my Republican colleagues in Washington -- seem to think that the best health care plan is just to let ‘er rip when it comes to the insurance companies, deregulate further, and that that's somehow going to give you more of a break.  This is the “foxes guarding the chicken coop” theory of health care reform.

What I've said is, look, we don't need government or insurance bureaucrats controlling your health care.  We're going to put you in control.  And we're going to do that in three simple ways:  Number one, we're going to have the toughest insurance reforms in history.  (Applause.)  A patient’s bill of right on steroids, so they can't deny you coverage because of a preexisting condition; so that they’ve got to cover young people up to the age of 26; so they don't have fine print that will prevent you from getting the care that you need or allow them to drop you when you get sick.  (Applause.)  Insurance reform.

Number two, what we're saying is, you know what, members of Congress have a pretty good deal on health care.  You know why?  Because they’re members of a big pool of federal employees.  They’ve got millions of people in their pool, so like any big company, they can negotiate for the best rates.  What about you? (Applause.)  What about you?  Why shouldn’t you be able to do the same thing that members of Congress can do?  So we're going to create a pool for you that will drive down your premiums so that you’ve got leverage, so that you can get a better deal.  (Applause.)

(Lights go out momentarily.)

Whoa!  All right, who was -- was that Mitch McConnell back there trying to -- (laughter.)  Yes, see, they don't like when we start telling the truth.  (Laughter.)

So that's number two.  Number three, we're going to drive down costs.  We are going to drive down costs.  Now, let me tell you, some of you may have heard of the Congressional Budget Office.  This is the office that basically decides, it’s the referee on how many -- how much things cost.  According to the Congressional Budget Office, our plan passes and folks right now who have to buy insurance in the individual market or small markets because they don't have a big employer that's looking out for them -- they will save 14 to 20 percent on a comparable plan to what they’re purchasing right now.  That's money out of your pocket.  That's money that right now is going out of your pocket that would go back in if this health care reform passed.

Employers, according to the Business Roundtable, would save up to $3,000 per employee in reduced premium costs if health reform passed.  (Applause.)  That's their numbers, according to the Business Roundtable; not my numbers.  The deficit over the next two decades will be reduced by a trillion dollars if health care reform passes -- (applause) -- and that's why it can't be “if,” it’s got to be “when.”  (Applause.)  We are going to get this done and we're going to get it done soon.  (Applause.)  And it’s time for an up or down vote in Washington on health care reform.  Tired of talking about it; let’s get it done.  (Applause.)

AUDIENCE:  Yes, we can!  Yes, we can!  Yes, we can!

THE PRESIDENT:  See, I want every member of Congress to hear this chant --

AUDIENCE:  Yes, we can!  Yes, we can!

THE PRESIDENT:  We got to start this chant up in Congress -- because what ends up happening in Washington is that right about now, when it’s time to actually just go ahead and get this done, this is when folks get the most nervous.  Oh, there’s just so much noise out there, just the echo chamber.  It’s getting people all stressed out.

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Stay the course!

THE PRESIDENT:  Stay the course, is what I tell them.  (Applause.)  And you know, we were meeting with some supporters back here, and a couple of them said the same thing.  They said, “Don't let them wear you down.”  And I tried to explain I don't get worn down; I wear them down.  (Applause.)  I don't get worn down.

You know why I don't get worn down?  Because of the woman I met in Pennsylvania this past week who found out that her health insurance premium has just gone up a hundred percent; or the mother up in Green Bay who I met last year, who’s got two small kids, breast cancer has metastasized, and instead of just worrying about how she can get well, she’s having to fight off the incredible debt that's coming because of these limits that are placed on her insurance coverage.  She’s got insurance and is still worrying about her family going broke.

Now, if she’s not tired, if she’s still fighting, then I'm fighting.  (Applause.)  If they’re not getting worn down, then I'm not going to be worn down.  And if I've got somebody like Claire McCaskill next to me -- (applause) -- if I've got Claire McCaskill in the foxhole with me -- (applause) -- if I've got somebody like Claire McCaskill in the Senate bucking people up and telling them, we don't give up, we don't get worn down, then I guarantee you we're not just going to pass health care; we are going to do what is required to make sure that the middle class here in America once again has the ability to control its own destiny.  (Applause.)

We don't shirk from a challenge, we don't shrink from responsibilities; we embrace them -- for our children and the next generation.  We don't worry about the next election; we worry about a longer term.  And that's why you're here.  That's why you supported me in this campaign.  That's why you supported Claire McCaskill.  Don't give up on me now.  We're just getting started.

Thank you, St. Louis.  God bless you.  (Applause.)

END
7:47 P.M. CST

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
March 10, 2010

Remarks by the President at a Fundraising Dinner for Senator Claire McCaskill

Renaissance Grand Hotel
St. Louis, Missouri

6:45 P.M. CST

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you, everybody.  Thank you.  Everybody have a seat, have a seat.  Thank you so much.  All right, we’ve got some -- everybody is a special guest, but we got some big names around here.  First of all, please give a huge round of applause once again to one of the finest governors in this country, Jay Nixon.  Give it up for him.  (Applause.)  Your outstanding attorney general, Chris Koster.  (Applause.)  Your fabulous state treasurer, Clint Zweifel.  (Applause.)  My great friend and supporter, state auditor Susan Montee.  (Applause.)  One of my favorite folks in Missouri, Jean Carnahan.  (Applause.)  And all the McCaskills out there.  I know you take up about half the tables.  (Laughter.)  Golly.  By the way, your younger sister made a point of saying, “I’m the younger sister.”  I just wanted you to know that.  (Laughter.)

SENATOR McCASKILL:  Of course she did.  Of course she did.

THE PRESIDENT:  All right.  It is great to be back in the Show Me State.  It’s nice to get out of Washington for a little bit.  Now, there are a lot of nice things in Washington, don’t get me wrong.  I love the monuments.  (Laughter.)  But let’s face it, it’s a town where most of the time folks are more worried about what’s good politics than what’s right; where folks are just hooked up to the daily polls like they’re on some kind of EKG.

And this isn’t a new phenomenon.  In fact, I remember -- I’m reminded of somebody from Missouri named Harry Truman, who once said in an interview he gave a long time ago, “Washington is a very easy city to forget where you came from and why you got there in the first place.”  But I want everybody here to understand that there is one person who’s never forgotten where she comes from or why she is there, and that’s Claire McCaskill.  (Applause.)  Claire is there to serve -- she’s there to serve you, she’s there to serve Missouri, she’s there to serve the United States of America.  And I don’t have to tell you that, because you’ve known Claire.  You knew her as a prosecutor.  You knew her as a state auditor.  You now know her as one of the finest senators that Missouri has ever produced.

In fact, she’s a lot like a modern-day Harry Truman, except she’s a she.  (Laughter.)  But she’s a standout in Washington for speaking truth to power, for bringing common sense to every issue, and for having the courage of her convictions.  Claire is tough, not just to score cheap political points but because she understands what her constituents are going through.  And in a town marked by just withering partisanship, she’s focused on what needs to be done to make sure that ordinary families here in Missouri and all across the country are getting a fair shake.  And she’ll work with anybody, no matter what party, to get it done.  And she’ll criticize anybody, no matter what party, in order to get things done.

And so in a town marked by gridlock, she’s not afraid to challenge old assumptions or worn-out ideas.  And so she’s a good role model for all of us, including the President of the United States.  (Applause.)

Just as the Truman Committee went after waste and abuse in our military during World War II, saving taxpayers billions of dollars, Claire has been a relentless force for bringing more efficiency and more transparency, more accountability to our government.  She understands what everyone in Washington should understand, but don’t -- the money we spend doesn’t belong to us, it belongs to the American people.  And we’ve got to invest it responsibly.

In fact, earlier today, down in St. Charles, I announced a plan that Claire proposed and pushed through Congress that’s about to come online.  It’s a database where Americans can track spending on contracts to see who’s getting the job done on time and who’s not; to see which companies keep costs low and which come in over budget time and again.  Because the way that Claire sees it is the same way that Harry Truman saw it:  You don’t govern by polls, you govern by principles; you don’t put your finger up to the wind, you put your shoulder to the wheel.  And when this country is challenged, you do what you think is right and you figure that the politics will work itself out.

No one in his or her right mind would have plotted, at the beginning of my administration, to do what we did -- shore up the financial system, shore up the auto industry, pass the Recovery Act -- if the goal was just to drive up our poll numbers.  I’ve got a really good pollster -- we knew that what we had to do wasn’t popular.  We knew it wasn’t popular to make sure that we didn’t have a financial meltdown.  We knew that a lot of folks felt like, well, the auto companies got themselves into trouble.  So we knew it wouldn’t poll well, but we had a different mission, we had a greater responsibility -- and that is to save our country from an even greater economic catastrophe than the one that we’ve seen.  And that’s a responsibility that we met.

And today our financial system is stabilizing.  And General Motors is expanding and hiring again.  And millions of people are working in America who would not have been working had it not been for the Recovery Act.  And all across Missouri, all across the nation, roads are being repaved and bridges are being repaired and waterways are being rebuilt -- not only putting Americans to work today, but laying a foundation for a better tomorrow.  But we didn’t know how the politics would work out; we knew it was the right thing to do, the same way Claire understands in each of her legislative initiatives -- I'm not sure how this will poll, but I know it’s the right thing to do.

Now, as we meet tonight there are still millions of Americans -- and too many right here in this state -- who are out of work, millions who are stretched to the limits on their mortgage or their credit cards, their student loans.  We are on the road to recovery -- but we haven’t gotten there yet.  Not until our economy is adding jobs again.  Not until people feel secure again.  And Claire and I together, every day, are fighting for an economy in which Americans can compete and win.  We’re fighting for an economy in which hard work and entrepreneurship is rewarded again, where small businesses as well as large are thriving again and the great middle class that is the backbone of our country –- and where Claire and I come out of –- is thriving again, is strong again.

That’s not easy –- because there’s been a lot of work that’s been undone for the last two decades, three decades, seven decades.  We’ve got a lot of built-up challenges that we’re going to have to work hard to solve.  But even as we fight these fights I want you to understand we are taking on some of the other problems facing folks in this state and across the country, and we’re going to win these fights.

We passed a tough new tobacco law that helps stop cigarette companies from targeting kids and force them to disclose what they put in their products.  We passed a Credit Card Bill of Rights that protects consumers from surprise charges, like over-the-limit fees and hidden costs for paying a bill by phone.  We passed an equal pay law to help a promise to America’s women:  that if you do the same job as a man you should make the same wage as a man.  (Applause.)  We expanded health insurance coverage for 4 million more children.  (Applause.)

So the bottom line is this:  I want everybody to understand despite all the gridlock, despite all the shenanigans, we’ve gotten a lot done.

The reason I’m here tonight, and the reason Claire is here tonight, is because we’ve got a lot more work to do.  Some of our biggest challenges lie ahead.

Because the future belongs to a nation that educates its children best, we’ve got to reform our education system so that all our kids are ready for college, all our kids are ready for a career, all our kids are ready to succeed in the 21st century.  (Applause.)

Because the nation that leads in clean energy today will lead the global economy tomorrow, we need to invest in a clean energy industry that frees us from foreign oil and cleans up our air and generates millions of jobs in the process.  (Applause.)

And, yes –- and, yes, because the current health care system is broken and unsustainable, we have to have health insurance reform this year.  Right now.  (Applause.)

We’ve been talking about health care for nearly a century.  One of the Presidents who tried to do something about it?  Harry Truman.  Sixty years ago he pushed back against opponents of reform by saying, “The American people will not be frightened off from health insurance because some people have misnamed it socialized medicine.”  He then repeated, “What I am recommending is not socialized medicine.”  Who says history doesn’t repeat itself?

But you know what else Harry Truman said –- you know, the famous saying about “Give ‘em hell, Harry” –- what Harry said was, “I'm going to tell the truth –- they’ll think it’s hell.”  (Laughter and applause.)

And so let me tell the truth about this health care debate.  I know there are strong views about this.  I know there are Democrats who would like to scrap our system of private insurance and replace it with a government-run health care system that works in some countries.  I know there are some on the other side who believe that the answer is to loosen regulations on insurance companies where there’s consumer protections or basic standards of what kind of insurance can be sold.  This is what we call the “fox guarding the henhouse” approach to health care reform.

But I don’t believe we should give the government or insurance companies more control over health care in America.  I believe it’s time to give you, the American people, more control over your health insurance.  (Applause.)   And that’s why my proposal –- my proposal builds on the current system, where most Americans get their health insurance from their employer.  If you like your plan, you can keep your plan.  If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.  I’m the father of two young girls –- I don’t want anybody interfering between my family and their doctor.

But essentially the proposal that we –- after all the talk, after the years of debate, let’s be clear on what we’re doing here.  Three things we’re going to change about the current health care system.

Number one, we’re going to end the worst practices of the insurance companies.  Within a year of signing health care reform, thousands of uninsured Americans with preexisting conditions will be able to purchase health insurance for the first time since they were diagnosed.  (Applause.)   This year –- this year, insurance companies will be banned forever from denying coverage to children with preexisting conditions.  (Applause.)   This year they will be banned from dropping coverage when you get sick.  They’ll no longer be able to arbitrarily raise premiums.  Those practices will end.  (Applause.)

When this reform passes into law, all new insurance plans will offer free preventive care to their customers, free checkups so that we can start catching preventable illnesses on the front end.  Starting this year, if you buy a plan there won’t be lifetime restrictions or annual limits on the amount of care that you can receive from your insurance companies.  And if you’re an uninsured adult you’ll be able to stay on your parents’ policy until you’re 26 years old.  (Applause.)  So that’s the first thing we do.

Second thing we change.  For the first time we would start allowing people who are currently trying to get health insurance on the individual market –- small businesses –- and just can’t do it, to have the same kind of choices of private health insurance that members of Congress get for themselves -- (applause) -- which I don’t think is a bad idea, and neither does Claire McCaskill.

Now, I want everybody -- members of Congress will be getting their insurance from this same marketplace, because if it’s good enough for the American people, then it’s good enough for Congress.  (Applause.)

My proposal also says that if you still can’t afford the insurance in this new marketplace, we will offer you tax credits to do so -- tax credits that add up to the largest middle-class tax cut for health care in history.

Understand, the wealthiest among us can already buy insurance, the best insurance there is.  The least well off, they’re covered under Medicaid.  It’s the middle class that’s getting squeezed, and that’s who we have to help -- small businesses, self-employed, individuals who are out there struggling.

And this will cost some money.  It’s going to cost about $100 billion per year.  But most of this comes from the nearly $2.5 trillion a year that we’re already spending on health care; we’re just not spending it very wisely right now.  (Applause.)  We are wasting it, we’re spending it badly, and with some basic reforms, eliminating waste and abuse, we can make sure to provide coverage that’s affordable -- make it more affordable and more secure.

We’re going to eliminate wasteful taxpayer subsidies currently going to insurance and pharmaceutical companies.  We’ll set up a new fee on insurance companies that stand to gain as 30 million new customers come onboard.  But the point everybody needs to understand is, it’s paid for.  I said at the beginning of this thing we would not do anything that adds to our deficit.  This plan does not do anything to add to this deficit.  (Applause.)  And that’s how we should be operating.  We can’t say the same for the prescription drug plan that was passed by the previous Congress.

Finally, this proposal would bring down the cost of health care for families and businesses and the federal government.  Americans buying comparable coverage to what they have today in the individual market, they’d see their premiums drop 14 percent to 20 percent.  Americans who get their insurance through the marketplace, premiums could fall by as much as $3,000 per person.

And by now, we’ve incorporated every single serious idea across the political spectrum about how to contain rising costs in health care -- ideas that go after waste and abuse in our system, especially in programs like Medicare.  But we do this while protecting Medicare benefits, extending stability of the program, and filling this doughnut hole that is such a burden on a lot of seniors who really need their prescription drugs.

So our cost-cutting measures would reduce most people’s premiums, bring down the deficit by a trillion dollars over the next two decades.  Those are not my numbers.  Those are savings determined by the Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan, independent referee of Congress.

So just in case anybody is out there asking you about health care reform, that’s our proposal.  And it is a proposal whose time has come.  We are coming to a final vote in Congress, and that’s when folks in Congress, they get nervous.  The Washington echo chamber is deafening, and it tells members of Congress to think about politics instead of what’s right.  It tells Congress that comprehensive reform, that’s failed before, it really hurt Clinton.  It may just be too hard.

Yes, this is hard.  There’s no doubt about it.  Let me tell you what else is hard.  There’s a woman I just met, Leslie Banks, in Pennsylvania.  Single mother.  She was hit with a 100 percent rate increase -- just a letter sent by her insurance company, 100 percent increase in her premiums.  That’s hard.  There’s a woman named Natoma Canfield.  She’s got cancer, in Ohio.  Had to drop her insurance even though it may cost her her house.  The other day she suddenly fell ill; she’s in the hospital right now.  We’re all praying for her, but lying in a hospital bed, worrying about how you’re going to pay for your bills -- that’s hard.  I know.  My mother went through that.

There’s a woman named Laura Klitzka, in Wisconsin, Green Bay -- young mother battling cancer.  She and her husband had insurance, but their medical bills still landed them in debt.  So she’s in the middle of this unbelievable battle -- got little kids she loves dearly.  She’s spending most of her time worrying about debt when all she wants to do is spend time with her children.  That’s hard.  Millions of families, small businesses, what they’re going through because we don’t have a health insurance system that works for them -- that’s really hard.

Those of us in public office were not sent to Washington to do what was easy; we were sent there to do what was hard.  We were sent there to do what’s right.  When I think about the campaign I ran for President, and I think about the campaign Claire McCaskill ran for Senate, all the work we put in -- we were joking backstage about, boy, you worked really hard for this job.  (Laughter.)  The reason we did it wasn’t to get a title.  The reason you -- so many of you -- were so passionate about this campaign wasn’t just so you could have a picture with me.  That wasn’t what this was about.

This was about recognizing that America at its best doesn’t shrink from a challenge; we overcome challenges.  We don’t shrink from responsibilities; we embrace our responsibilities.  We don’t fear the future; we seize the future.  (Applause.)  That’s what we did in the campaign, at a time when everybody was out there saying we couldn’t do it.  That’s what people were warning Claire about when she took on this race for Senate, saying, “I don’t know, Claire, you’ve already gone through a couple of losses; this may be tough.  Why take the risk?”  Because it needed to be done.  Because somewhere down the road there were a whole bunch of people in our pasts -- our parents, our grandparents, our great grandparents -- who decided, we’re not taking the easy path, we’re taking the right path.  We’re going to fight to make sure our kids and our grandkids and our great grandkids have a better life than we do.

That’s what our campaigns were about.  That’s what your involvement has been about.  That’s what this health care debate is about.  That is what my presidency is about.  And that is what America is about.  And that is why I’m absolutely convinced if we stay on course that we are going to win this thing -- not the short-term battle, not the November election; we’re going to win out in terms of creating the kind of society for our kids and our grandkids that we can be proud of.

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

END
7:09 P.M. CST

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
March 10, 2010

Remarks by the President on Health Insurance Reform in St. Charles, MO

St. Charles High School, St. Charles, Missouri

3:58 P.M. CST

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Missouri!  (Applause.)  It is good to see you.  I know you guys have been a little bit here; it’s a little bit warm in here -- you're all fanning yourself off, whoo!  It is good to see everybody here today.  How’s everybody doing?  (Applause.)

I've got a couple of acknowledgments I want to make.  First of all, Mayor of St. Charles, Patti York -- where’s Patti?  (Applause.)  Thank you, Madam Mayor.  Thanks for the great weather.

We also have the St. Charles School District Superintendent, Randy Charles, is here.  Where’s Randy?  I just saw him -- there he is back there.  (Applause.)

It is great to be here, great to be back in the Show Me State, great to be back in St. Charles.  Some of you may remember that it was from this town that Lewis and Clark began their journey into a harsh and unforgiving landscape.  I can relate -- (laughter) -- because the first time I came here, I was trying to get to Washington, D.C., a harsh and unforgiving landscape.  (Laughter.)

A big part of our campaign was about changing the way Washington works.  It was about transforming a politics that's driven by cynicism and a 24-hour news cycle, and the cable chatter, and always focused on the next election instead of the next generation.  Our campaign was about meeting the looming challenges -- in education and in energy, in our health care system, in our financial system -- that helped bring about the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.  And it still threatens our prosperity.  It was about making our government actually work for you, the people:  a government that lives up to its responsibilities, including the responsibility to live within its means.

Now, there’s been a lot of discussion about government over the last several months -- and let’s face it, people have lost faith in government.  They had lost faith in government before I ran and it’s been getting worse.  You know, President Lincoln said that “the legitimate object of government is to do for the people what needs to be done, but which they can not … do at all, or do so well, by themselves.”  That pretty much sums up my attitude.  You let people do for themselves what they can do for themselves; and then if there are some things that we do better together, we should do them together.  And I believe that in everything government does, we’ve got a special responsibility to be wise stewards about how Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars are spent.  And I know you agree with that, too.  Doesn’t matter whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, you don't like seeing your money wasted -- or an independent, don't like seeing your money wasted.

That’s a responsibility my administration is seeking to fulfill every single day.  Over the last year, we’ve gone through the budget line by line looking for places to trim the fat out of government.  And we’ve found a lot of fat to trim. I got to admit.  Last year, we pushed Congress to cut nearly $20 billion by streamlining or eliminating more than 120 government programs.  This year, we put another $20 billion in cuts on the table, targeting dozens of additional programs that were wasteful or duplicative or in some cases just plain ridiculous.

For example, we decided not to fund an office maintained by the Department of Education -- in Paris, France.  (Laughter.)  Now, I’m sure that was nice work if you could get it.  (Laughter.)  But I didn’t think that was a real good use of our money.  We eliminated a decades-old radio navigation system which cost $35 million a year.  And some people might say, well, why did you do that?  We need that navigation system.  Well, the thing is, we got this thing call GPS now, and satellites.  (Laughter.)  So the whole radio navigation thing wasn’t working so well.

So we’ve been pushing for cuts on things that we don’t need, that government doesn’t do so well.  And we’re also reforming the way government contracts are awarded.  Think about this, between 2002 and 2008, the amount spent annually on government contracts more than doubled to half a trillion dollars.  Those are contracts with private contractors.  And the amount spent on no-bid contracts jumped by 129 percent -- no-bid contracts.  That’s an inexcusable waste of your money.  So last March, I ordered federal departments to come up with plans to save as much as $40 billion a year in contracting.

Now, this brings me to the person standing right over here, the lady in pink.  (Applause.)  You know before Claire was your senator, she was your state auditor.  She just pinches pennies.  I mean, she’s just -- (laughter) -- you think I’m -- I don’t like waste, but Claire, she just -- every dime, she’s -- (laughter.)

So thanks to Claire, we’re going to have a new tool to help us meet this goal of eliminating some of these wasteful contracts and no-bid contracts.  In the coming weeks we’re going to be rolling out a new online database, which Claire McCaskill proposed and helped pass into law.  (Applause.)  And we’ll be able to see, before any new contract is awarded, whether a company plays by the rules, how well they’ve performed in the past:  Did they finish the job on time?  Did the company provide good value?  Did the company blow their budget?  It’s your money, so you deserve to know how it’s spent and who these contracts are going to.

And that’s an example of the kind of service that Claire McCaskill is providing, not just to the people of Missouri, but people all across the country.  And in every way but one, Claire McCaskill is the new Harry Truman -- (laughter) -- in the United States Senate.  (Applause.)  The one difference is she’s a she.  (Laughter.)

But just as the Truman Commission prevented billions of dollars of wasteful spending during the war and saved lives in the process, through tough and fair-minded oversight of contracting during World War II, Claire has been a relentless force for rooting out scams and making government more efficient.  Harry Truman also said in the commission’s final report that in completing the mission, “[w]here necessary, heads must be knocked together.”  And let me tell you, Claire loves knocking some heads together.  (Laughter.)  She’s never been afraid to do that.  (Applause.)

As we were driving in, I was saying, boy, it’s just good to be back in the Midwest, this is about as close as I’ve been to home in a while.  And part of the reason it’s just good to be back is because Washington is a place where tax dollars are often treated like Monopoly money -- they’re bartered and traded, and they’re divvied up among lobbyists and special interests, and where waste -- even billions of dollars of waste -- is accepted as the price of doing business.  When we proposed, by the way, those $20 billion in cuts last year, we were ridiculed by the press, said, “Ah, that's just a spit in the bucket.”  Now, I don't know about here in St. Charles, $20 billion, that's real money, isn't it?

AUDIENCE:  Yes.

THE PRESIDENT:  That's real money.  But Claire doesn’t accept business as usual.  I don’t accept business as usual.  You don't accept business as usual.  The American people don’t accept business as usual, especially when we’re facing these enormous long-term deficits that threaten to leave our children a mountain of debt.

Now, this brings me to the primary topic I want to talk about today.  Nowhere is reform more needed than when it comes to our health care system -- nowhere.  (Applause.)  Nowhere.  (Applause.)  The health care system has billions of dollars that should go to patient care and they’re lost each and every year to fraud, to abuse, to massive subsidies that line the pockets of the insurance industry.

Let me just give you one example -- this is a long recognized but long tolerated problem called “improper payments.”  That's what they call them.  Washington always has a name for these things.  “Improper payments.”  And as is often the case in Washington, the more innocuous the name, the more worried you should be.  So these are payments mostly made through Medicare and Medicaid that are sent to the wrong person, sent for the wrong reason, sent in the wrong amount.  Sometimes they’re innocent errors.  Sometimes they’re because nobody is bothering to check to see where the money is going and they’re abused by scam artists and fly-by-night operations.

(The President coughs.)  Look, health care.  (Laughter.)  This health care debate has been hard on my health, I got to tell you.  (Laughter.)

It’s estimated that improper payments cost taxpayers almost $100 billion last year alone.  Think about that.  That, by the way, just that abuse in improper payments is more than we spend on the Department of Education and the Small Business Administration combined.  If we created a “Department of Improper Payments” it would be one of the largest agencies in our government.

Now, for the past few years, there has actually been a pilot program that uses a system of tough audits to recover some of this lost money.  And even though these audits, they were just operating mainly in three states, they already found a billion dollars in improper payments.  So these results were both disturbing and encouraging.  They’re disturbing because it shows you how much waste there is out there in the health care system.  But it’s encouraging because we can do something about it.

So earlier today, with Claire looking over my shoulder -- one of our auditors-in-chief -- I signed an order calling on all federal agencies to launch these kinds of audits all across the country.  All across the country.  (Applause.)  So agencies would hire auditors to scour the books, go through things line by line.  Auditors are paid based on how many abuses or errors they uncover.  So it’s a win-win.  The auditor, if they do a good job they get a small percentage as a reward.  And the taxpayer wins by getting huge sums of money that would otherwise be lost that we can then spend to provide care to people who really need it, or we can use to reduce the deficit.

Now, through this effort, we expect to more than double the amounts we would’ve otherwise recovered -- a couple of billion dollars over the next few years.  And I’m announcing my support for the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act -- that’s a mouthful -- but this is a bipartisan bill -- (applause) -- is a bipartisan bill to expand our ability to do these audits, so we can prevent even more fraud and abuse and waste.

Now, the reason I’m bringing all this stuff up is because there’s been a lot of talk about health care lately.  And look, I'll be honest, a lot of people, they’re confused, they’re saying, well, how can you help people get insurance who don't have it without it adding to our deficit?  It’s a legitimate question.

Well, the reason is, is because so much of the money currently in our health care system is being misspent.  (Applause.)  Look, if you’ve got -- if you’ve got a house and the roof is leaking and the windows are all letting through a bunch of draft and you get that cold winter and all the heat seeping out, and if you decide to spend on some new windows and fix your roof, that’s going to spend a little money, but you’d save money in the long run because you don't have heating expenses, and those leaks aren’t ruining your furniture.

The same thing is true with our health care system.  We’ve got leaks everywhere -- that you pay for, directly or indirectly.  And if we can have a smarter health care system, then yes, we can provide help to middle-class folks who need it, and at the same time actually reduce the burden on taxpayers.

Now, I know that during the health care debate opponents have tried to scare people, especially our seniors, into thinking that we are going after seniors’ Medicare benefits; that’s how Obama is going to pay for his plan.

When you look at the facts, that’s just plain wrong.  In fact, by saving billions of dollars of the sort we just talked about -- waste and abuse -- in Medicare, reining in waste and inefficiencies, we’re going to be able to help ensure Medicare’s solvency for an additional decade.  (Applause.)  This is just one example that speaks to how we’re going to stop wasting money through the health care system on things that don’t make people healthy -- in fact, often take away from the care we receive, and take that money and make it work for the American people.  So Medicare will work better, provide better care because of these reforms.  Senior citizens who are dealing with the doughnut hole in the prescription drug plan -- that plan will be filled in part because we’re not wasting money on stuff that doesn’t work.  (Applause.)  That’s common sense.

You know, I get a lot of letters from constituents.  I get about 40,000 every day, and I don’t read all 40,000 -- somebody does -- but what I’ve done is I’ve asked my staff to collect a sampling of 10 letters that I read every night.  And I will tell you that my staff is very evenhanded, because about half of these letters call me an idiot.  (Laughter.)

And at least half of them talk about health care.  And when the health care reform debate was really heating up, one of the things that I heard from a lot of seniors was, “Keep your government hands out of my Medicare.”  (Laughter.)  I heard this from a bunch of seniors.  They say, “I don’t want your government-run health care plan, and don’t touch my Medicare.”

And so I'd have to write back and I’d say, “Ma’am,” or “Sir, Medicare is a government program.”  (Laughter.)  “But we’re not going go weaken it.  We’re going to make it stronger.”

But I think those letters tell you something about what sometimes happened in this health care debate, because people have been hit with a lot of bad information.  And health care is really important.  And so people get worried and they get nervous.  But when you get past the divisive and the deceptive rhetoric, it turns out that most Americans are happy that two generations ago we made the decision that seniors and the poor should not be saddled with unaffordable health care costs or forced to go without needed care.  That was a decision that we made decades ago.  And it was the right decision to make.  (Applause.)

And by the way, when we made those decisions, folks were saying the exact same thing about Medicare:  “That’s socialized medicine, this is government-run care,” and blah, blah, blah.

Now, today we face a different choice, but it’s a similar choice to the one that previous generations faced, and that is whether we should help middle-class families and business owners that are being pummeled by the rising costs of health care.  See, back when the Medicare debate was taking place, seniors were having problems because they were no longer working, and people were getting their health care through their jobs.  And so it made sense to help them.  It made sense to help the poor who might not be employed.  But back then, middle-class folks, they were pretty secure.  If you were working, you had health care that was affordable.

But you know what’s happened over the last several decades.  What’s happened is, is that more and more businesses are saying, we can’t afford to provide health care to our workers because the costs are skyrocketing.  So they just drop health care altogether.  A lot of small businesses, they don’t provide health care to their employees anymore.  And large businesses, what are they doing?  They’re saying to you, we’re going to jack up your premiums, we got to increase your deductibles.  If you’re self-employed, you are completely out of luck.  If you’ve got a preexisting condition, you are completely out of luck.  And by the way, those of us who are lucky enough to have health care today, we don’t know if we’re the ones who are going to lose our job tomorrow, or suddenly it turns out that our child has a preexisting condition.  And we’ll be stuck in the exact same situation, even if we’ve got good health insurance.  (Applause.)

Now, everything I just said, if you talk to my opponents, they’ll agree.  They’ll say, you’re right, the health care system is broken.  For too many people it’s getting worse.  They will acknowledge that the status quo is unsustainable.  But you know what they tell me?  We had that big health care summit.  I know you guys watched all seven hours of it.  (Laughter.)  Yes, absolutely.  It was scintillating.  (Laughter.)  But you heard what they said.  They said, well, we agree with you that the current system is unsustainable, but this is just not the right time to do it.  They said, let’s start over, that’s what they said.  We just got to start from scratch.

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, let me tell you something.  The insurance industry is not starting over.  They just announced a 39 percent rate increase in California and a rate increase of up to 60 percent right across the border in my home state of Illinois -- 60 percent in one year.  That’s the future.  That’s the future if we fail to act.

And by the way, I don’t recall any of these Republicans trying to do anything about insurance companies’ abuses during all the years they were in charge.  (Applause.)  Do you, Claire?  I don’t remember.  I don’t remember them doing anything about folks who needed some help when the government was running surpluses.

So I get a sense with some of these folks, it’s just never going to be the right time.  But the truth is, we have debated health care in Washington not just this past year, we’ve been debating it for 70 years.  You know who was pushing health care reform?  Harry Truman.  (Applause.)  Harry Truman was pushing health care reform.  And by the way, you know what they said?  They said, he’s pushing socialized medicine.  Harry Truman.

And over this past year we’ve been talking about it, every proposal has been put on the table.  Every argument has been made and everybody has made it.  And I know that people view this as a partisan issue, but the truth is, is that if you set aside the politics of it, and what was good for Election Day, it turns out that parties have plenty of areas where they agree.  And the plan that I’ve put forward is a proposal that’s basically somewhere in the middle -- one that incorporates the best ideas of Democrats and Republicans, even though the Republicans have a hard time acknowledging it.

Now, there are some folks who wanted to scrap the system of private insurance and replace it with a government-run health care program, like they have in some other countries.  (Applause.)  We’ve got a couple -- some applause here.  And look, it works well for those countries.  But I'll just be honest with you:  It was not practical or realistic to do here, to completely uproot and change a system where the vast majority of people still get their health care from employer-based plans.

And on the other side of the spectrum there are those who believe that the answer is to simply unleash the insurance industry, and provide less oversight and fewer rules.

AUDIENCE:  Boo!

THE PRESIDENT:  And that somehow that's going to drive down prices for everybody.  This is called the “putting the foxes in charge of the hen house” approach to health care reform.  (Applause.)  So whatever state regulations were in place, we’d get rid of those and so insurance companies could basically find a state that had the worst regulations and then from there sell insurance everywhere.  And that somehow that was going to be helpful to you.  All this would do would give insurance companies more leeway to raise premiums and deny care.

So I don’t believe we should give either the government or the insurance companies more control over health care in America.  I want to give you more control over health care in America.  (Applause.)

So my proposal builds on the current system where most Americans get their health care from their employers.  If you like your plan, you can keep your plan.  If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.  But my proposal would change three important things about the current health care system.  Now I want everybody to pay attention -- I know it’s a little warm in here, but I want you to pay attention, so that when you are talking to your friends and your neighbors and folks at work and they’re wondering what’s going on, I want you to be able to just say, here are the three things Obama is trying to do.

First, it would end the worst practices of insurance companies -- and it would begin to do so this year.  This year.  (Applause.)  Thousands of uninsured Americans with preexisting conditions will be able to purchase health insurance for the very first time in their lives or since they got sick.  (Applause.)  This year.  Insurance companies would be banned from denying coverage to children with preexisting conditions this year.  (Applause.)  Insurance companies would be banned from dropping your coverage when you get sick.  (Applause.)  Insurance companies would no longer be able to arbitrarily and massively raise premiums.  They would be subject to review.
Those practices will end as a consequence of health care reform.  (Applause.)

All new insurance plans would be required to offer free preventive care to their customers.  And if you buy a new plan, there will be no more lifetime limits on the amount of care you receive from your insurance company -- (applause) -- all that fine print that ends up getting folks into trouble.  If you’re a uninsured young adult, you’ll be able to stay on your parents’ insurance policy until you’re 26 years old.  (Applause.)  So a lot of folks, as they’re transitioning into the workplace, will have insurance.  (Applause.)  All right, so that’s part one of the plan:  insurance reform.

Part two.  For the first time, uninsured individuals and small businesses will have the same kind of choice of private health insurance that members of Congress get.  (Applause.)  If it’s good enough for members of Congress, it’s good enough for the people who pay their salaries.  (Applause.)

This should not be a controversial idea.  The reason that federal employees usually have pretty good insurance is because they’re part of a pool of millions of people.  So what happens is they can negotiate for really good rates because the insurance companies really want those millions of customers.  So what we’re talking about is setting up a pool for people who don't work for the federal government -- you, individuals, small businesses; they can be part of this pool.  And this is an idea that a lot of Republicans embraced in the past until I said it was a good idea.  (Laughter.)

So all this would drive down rates for those individuals and small businesses who aren’t part of a big company that get good rates.  And my proposal says if you still can’t afford it, even though now the premiums are lower than you can buy on your own, then we’ll offer you some tax credits to make it affordable.  And those tax credits would add up to the largest middle class tax cut for health care in history.  (Applause.)

So it’s estimated that this would drive down the costs for folks who don't work for big companies -- so they don't get as good of a deal -- by 14, 20 percent.  This is before the subsidies, before the tax credits.

Now, it’s true that this will cost some money.  It’s going to cost about a hundred billion dollars per year.  That’s real money, that’s a lot of money.  But most of that money comes from the nearly $2.5 trillion a year that America already spends on health care that we’re not spending well; that we’re spending badly right now.

So we pay for this proposal by getting at the abuse that we just talked about.  We eliminate wasteful taxpayer subsidies that go to the insurance companies.  Do you know that through the Medicare program, we are giving insurance companies close to $20 billion a year, about $18 billion every year of taxpayer money through the Medicare system.  And we’re saying, well, why do we do that?  They’re making a profit on their own.  And while some of what we save goes to helping the uninsured, most of it goes back to small businesses and the middle class who right now just aren’t getting a good deal.  It doesn’t make sense to me that people who are really poor are able to get Medicaid, but people who are working really hard and just not quite as poor, they don’t get a decent deal.  That doesn’t make sense to me.  (Applause.)

All right.  That’s the second part.  First part:  insurance reform.  Second part:  creating this marketplace where small businesses and individuals can get a good deal.

Third part:  bringing down the cost of health care for families and businesses and for the federal government.  Cost control.  Now, when you listen to the other side, they’ll tell you, we want to do more about cost, we want to do more about cost.  Well, let me tell you, we’ve incorporated almost every serious idea from across the political spectrum about how to contain rising health care costs.  There’s not an idea out there that we have not worked on, that we have not included in this proposal.

And according to the Congressional Budget Office -- this is the office that is supposed to be the independent referee for how things cost, it’s not supposed to be Democrat or Republican -- according to the Congressional Budget Office, people buying health plans in the individual market right now, they’d see their premiums go down 14 to 20 percent.  (Applause.)  I already mentioned that.

Now, here’s another thing.  A recent study by the Business Roundtable -- that’s made up of all these big companies out there, they don’t -- they’re nonpartisan, but it’s not like they’re just dyed-in-the-wool liberal Democrats, let’s put it that way; these are company CEOs -- they commissioned a study and said the reforms could reduce premiums by as much as $3,000 per employee.  That’s their study, not mine.

Then the Congressional Budget Office said that the government would save a trillion dollars, reduce the deficit by a trillion dollars.  So think about it:  You’re saving money, employers are saving money, the federal government is saving money -- not according to me, but according to these studies that were done by independent analysts.

So here’s the bottom line, St. Charles.  There’s no government takeover, unless you consider reining in insurance companies a government takeover -- and I think that’s the right thing to do.  (Applause.)  There’s no cutting of Medicare benefits.  There’s just cutting out fraud and waste in Medicare to make it stronger.  (Applause.)

What we’re proposing is a common-sense approach to protecting you from insurance company abuses and saving you money.  That’s the proposal, and it is paid for.  And I believe that Congress owes the American people a final up or down vote on health care reform.  (Applause.)  The time for talk is over; it’s time to vote.  (Applause.)  It’s time to vote.  Tired of talking about it.  (Applause.)

Now, of course, folks in Washington, they like to talk.  And so Washington is doing right now what Washington does.  They’re speculating breathlessly, day or night, every columnist, every pundit, every talking head:  “Is this proposal going to help the Republicans or is this proposal going to help the Democrats?”  “What’s going to happen to the President’s poll numbers if the vote doesn’t go forward?”  “If it does go forward?”  “What will it mean for November?”  “What will it mean for 2012?”  “How’s the politics going to play?”

I heard the Republican Leader of the Senate the other day -- he’s warning Democrats, you better be careful about voting for this; it could hurt you.  I don’t know how sincere the Republican Leader is about the best interests of Democrats.  (Laughter.)  He’s been very generous with advice.  (Laughter.)

You know what, here’s the bottom line, St. Charles.  I don't know how the politics play.  I don't know.  This is a hard issue.  It’s a complicated issue.  There is a lot of information floating around out there.  A lot of it is inaccurate.  The opponents have spent millions of dollars fighting it.  And people during recessionary times, they’re anxious and sort of thinking, gosh, can we really afford to change things right now?  Maybe we should just kind of stick with the status quo, even though we know it’s not working for us.

So I don't know how the politics plays.  But here’s what I do know:  The American people will be more secure with this reform.  Our country will be stronger because of this reform.  (Applause.)  I don’t know about the politics.  But I know it is the right thing to do, and that’s why I’m fighting so hard to get it done.  (Applause.)

We’ve seen years -- decades -- where Washington just puts off dealing with our toughest challenges because it’s too hard, because we don't know how the politics works.  And the will and the capacity to act, to do serious things in this country, starts just getting sucked away.  Just gets sacked by partisanship and political gamesmanship and debates about who’s up and who’s down, and how does this play politically -- instead of asking what’s right and what’s wrong.  And we’ve seen terrible consequences -- not just these last two years of turmoil, but a decade of struggle for middle class families.  (Applause.)

We can’t accept the status quo.  We can’t accept the same old/same old.  I won’t accept it.  Claire McCaskill won’t accept it.  Not when it comes to how we manage taxpayer dollars.  Not when it comes to how our health care system works.  Not when it comes to meeting the difficult challenges that we face.  And that’s why Claire and I are fighting to stop waste and abuse in our government.  That’s why Claire and I are fighting to pass these health insurance reforms.  (Applause.)  Now is the time.  Now is the moment.  Now is the time for us to leave for the next generation and generations to come a stronger and more prosperous country.  We are not backing down.  We are not quitting, St. Charles.  And we are going to get this done.  (Applause.)

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

END
4:37 P.M. CST

The White House

Office of the First Lady

For Immediate Release
March 10, 2010

Remarks by the First Lady at the International Women of Courage Awards

U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C.

3:35 P.M. EST

MRS. OBAMA:  Well, thank you.  This is indeed a pleasure and an honor to be here with all of you today.  You all look fabulous.  (Laughter.)  This is a wonderful occasion.

Let me thank my dear friend, Senator -- Secretary Clinton.  (Laughter.)  I almost said, “President Clinton.”  (Laughter and applause.)  But let me thank you for that kind introduction, and most of all thank you for your friendship, thank you for your support, and thank you for your indispensable advice in getting me through this first year and helping me figure out how to get my family settled in our new life in D.C.

I think it’s fair to say that this woman here set the standard in her last post in a presidential administration -– and she’s once again setting a terrific standard doing outstanding work as the Secretary of State for the Obama administration.  (Applause.)  

I also want to recognize Ambassador Melanne Verveer for her extraordinary work as our Ambassador at Large for Global Women’s Issues.  Melanne.  (Applause.)  

And again I have to thank Andrea Jung and Reese Witherspoon.  That’s a tremendous contribution on the part of Avon.  Thank you for being with us, thank you for your commitment and your dedication and your words here today.  It’s just an exciting opportunity.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 15 years since Secretary Clinton spoke those words that inspired women across the globe to think differently about themselves and about their place in the world, and to demand that others think differently, as well:  “Women’s rights are human rights” is what she said; the five simple words that weren’t just a statement of fact, but a call to action.  (Applause.)

And we’re here today to honor 10 women who have devoted their lives to answering that call in just tremendous ways.   

You’ve heard about them, but, again, there’s Ann Njogu who left a comfortable job as chief legal officer at an insurance company because she couldn’t bear to stand silent in the face of corruption and violence against women in Kenya.  And even after being arrested and assaulted by the police because of her work, she continues to speak out. 

Then there’s Colonel Shafiqa Quraishi of Afghanistan who began her career with the Afghan National Police.  And today, as an official in the Ministry of the Interior, she’s fighting to ensure that women in the police force get the promotions they deserve and that women get the benefits they need to do their jobs. 

And then there’s Dr. Lee Ae-ran who spent eight years of her childhood in a North Korean prison camp.  And after a harrowing escape to South Korea, she became a tireless advocate for North Korean refugees and the first defector to run for Korea’s National Assembly.  (Applause.)  Upon receiving an award for her work, she replied, very simply, “I was only doing what I was naturally supposed to do.”

These are the kind of battles that women we honor here are fighting all over the world.  They’re educating girls.  They’re getting more women into the workforce.  They’re working to end human trafficking, labor abuses, discrimination against minorities.  And they’re giving women a voice in the courtrooms and in the parliaments, helping to change laws and transform lives in every corner of the globe. 

Now, there are certainly easier paths these women could have taken.  Much easier.  They could have chosen to keep their heads down and their mouths shut.  They could have shrunk their aspirations to fit the expectations of others -– and accepted the place reserved for them on the sidelines and in the shadows. 

But instead, they decided to stand up for what they believed in and for what they hoped.  They decided to say the things that no one else would say and take risks few others would endure.  As a result, they’ve faced hardships that few could bear. 

Jestina Mukoko of Zimbabwe was abducted from her home, she was tortured, she was interrogated for hours while forced to kneel on gravel –- all for the simple act of speaking out about the government’s human rights abuses.  Yet, she emerged unbroken.  And as she put it, “I came out of this experience not a bitter person, but a better person.”  That is the thread -- (applause) -- that’s the thread that runs through all of our honorees’ stories –- that ability to draw strength from suffering, the determination to not just advance their own lives, but the lives of others, as well. 

That’s what makes these women so extraordinary -– that they not only refuse to be victims of injustice and oppression, they also refuse to be bystanders.

And that’s one of the reasons why we’ve invited some young women to join us today -- the young women from the White House girls mentoring program, along with young women from the Bell Multicultural School, to join us today.  Okay, ladies, raise your hand.  Let’s see where you are.  (Applause.) 

You’re here for a reason.  We love you dearly, but we also want you to learn from these women, and we want you to be inspired by these women’s lives.  So listen carefully.  Listen to their stories.  We invited them because we wanted to say to these young girls -- to you, young women, like so many girls across the country -- that if these women can become lawyers and journalists and military leaders, if they can run their own organizations and run for office -– then surely you can find a way to follow your own dreams and be the leaders in your own communities right here in America.  That’s what we expect from you.  (Applause.)

Listen closely, because if these women can endure relentless threats, brutal violence, and separation from their families as they fight for their causes –- then surely, you all can keep going when you face struggles and obstacles in your own lives.

If these women can start developing their passion for justice as teenagers, if Sonia Pierre could stand up and protest and demand better conditions for migrant workers at the age of 13 –- an act for which she was arrested -- (applause) -- then none of you are too young to start making a difference.  Right?  (Applause.)  

And if these women can make so many sacrifices to help so many people –- then the least we all can do in this room, in this country is to shine a light on their work and honor their contributions.  (Applause.)  

That is the purpose of these Women of Courage awards.  We know the difference this kind of recognition and encouragement can make.  It really matters.

I’m thinking of a story that I heard, of Ginetta Sagan, a human rights activist who was first imprisoned during World War II for helping Jews in Italy escape from the Nazis.  And during her time in jail, she was brutally beaten, raped and tortured with electric shocks.  And then one day, one of the guards threw a loaf of bread into her cell.  And inside that loaf was a matchbox.  And on that matchbox was written the word -- one word in Italian -- “corragio” -– and it was courage.  Ginetta spent the rest of her life working to free prisoners of conscience.  And every time she came across prisoners who had started to lose hope because they feared that no one knew of their plight, she thought of that moment in that cell.

And so today, we say to you women, our sisters, we say “corragio” -- courage.  (Applause.)  America stands with you.  We are so incredibly proud of you and your contributions.  And know that we are praying for you and we are thinking about you every day.  And we have young women here who are going to follow in your footsteps.  Right, ladies?  (Applause.)

Thank you all so much.  (Applause.)

END
3:45 P.M. EST

The White House

Office of the First Lady

For Immediate Release
March 10, 2010

Remarks by The First Lady at the National PTA Conference

Doubletree Hotel Crystal City
Arlington, Virginia

12:20 P.M. EST

MRS. OBAMA:  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you all so much.  (Applause.)  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Please, please, be seated.

Thanks so much.  It is a pleasure to be here with all of you today.  And thank you for the wonderful work that you do every day in schools and communities all across this country.

And I also want to say thanks to Chuck.  Chuck was here -- where did he go -- for his outstanding leadership for the National PTA.  I understand for the first time in its 113-year history, an organization that began as the National Congress of Mothers is now led by a father.  (Applause.)  So I commend Chuck for his work to get more fathers involved, right?  (Applause.)  That’s right.

I also understand Chuck got his start with his local PTA almost 20 years ago for one simple reason -– and that was, his first son, Matthew, was entering the first grade.  And that’s really the same reason why I know that most of you got started with your own local PTA -- my mom was a PTA mom -- because you had a child -- yes, she was -- (applause) -- because I know each of you got involved because you had a child in a school that you cared about.

And that’s one of the great things about this organization –- that anyone can get involved, anyone can get engaged.  All that’s required is that you care about our kids; and that you care about their well being, and their potential to grow up into happy, and healthy, and successful adults; and also that you care about the future of our community and our country.  And that’s really why we’re all here today, why I’m here, because we care deeply about our kids.

And I know this organization shares my conviction that it’s finally time to take on one of the most serious threats to our children’s future and to ours: and that’s the epidemic of childhood obesity in America today.

Now, as Chuck said, when you start talking about this issue, we often begin with the statistics -– how over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled.  Tripled.  Or how today, nearly one in three American children is overweight or obese.  And these statistics are breathtaking.

But as far-reaching as this epidemic is, the truth is it’s also deeply personal –- for our kids and for us.  So while I travel this country speaking about this issue as a First Lady, I really come to it first and foremost as a mother.

As parents, we know that this isn’t just about how our kids look.  It has nothing to do with it.  It’s about how they feel -– and it’s about how they feel about themselves.  It’s about the impact this issue has on their health, and the impact that it will have on their futures.

And I know these issues aren’t new to any of you.  I know that in PTA meetings around the country, you’re probably hearing from teachers who see the teasing and the bullying kids endure.  You’re probably hearing from counselors who see the depression and the low self-esteem.

You may even be hearing from coaches who see kids struggling to keep up –- or pediatricians who see kids coming into their offices with conditions like high cholesterol and blood pressure -- high blood pressure, and Type II diabetes -– and these are conditions that they used to only see in adults.

And if you’re like me, you might be thinking to yourselves:  How on Earth did we get here?  How did this happen?  Because it wasn’t always like this.

I imagine like many of you in this room we share similar memories of our childhoods, which were very active.  It included walking to and from school every day, running around at recess and gym every day, and playing in the neighborhood for hours after you got home from school until somebody called you in for dinner.

And then when you got inside, usually sitting around the table as a family, you ate what your parents fixed -– no questions asked.  (Laughter and applause.)  And if you didn’t, what, you went to bed hungry, right?  (Laughter.)  Back then, vegetables were a given.  You had them at every meal.  And dessert was something that happened on Sunday, if you were lucky.

I know this may sound like nostalgia -- because the reality is, times have changed.  You know, the world’s gotten faster, the economy’s gotten tougher, and parents and kids keep taking on more and more.  And as a result, healthy habits all too easily give way to habits of convenience and necessity.

For many kids, those walks to school have been replaced by car or bus rides.  And then in schools there are cuts to recess and gym, which mean less play time. Lunchtime may mean a meal heavy with calories and fat, and snack time might be no better.  And afternoons running outside after school have been replaced by afternoons sitting inside with the TV, video games, and the Internet -– habits that expose our kids to 40,000 advertisements each year, many for unhealthy foods and drinks.

And meanwhile, we as parents, we’re facing our own challenges.  You know, parents might want to buy healthy food and they might want to buy that head of broccoli, but let’s be honest, in so many cases those chips are cheaper.  You know, they may want to go buy fresh produce, but sometimes there’s no supermarket in their community.  So they’re stuck with a choice between fast food and something off the shelf of the local convenience store.

Every parent I meet wants to do the right thing for their kids.  But it’s easy to feel like the deck is stacked against us.  And too often, we slip into bad habits.  But we know we’re not bad parents.  But we end up feeling guilty anyway.  And believe me, I know what that feels like, because I’ve been there.

And I know there’s some people in the room thinking, oh, sure, Michelle Obama -- she can’t relate, she lives in the White House.  (Laughter.)  And I’ll be the first to say that I know I am blessed today with more help and support than I ever could have dreamed of.  So don’t hate.  (Laughter and applause.)

But it really wasn’t that long ago that I was a working mom, just like many people in this room, struggling to balance meetings and deadlines and soccer and ballet and a husband whose work kept him away a lot.  And there were nights when everybody in my house was tired and hungry, and we just went to the nearest drive-thru.  Or I popped something into the microwave.  And like any parent, there were times when I made excuses and I told myself that my kids would turn out fine no matter what I did -- because I loved them.  They’re cute.  (Laughter.)

Until one day, my pediatrician pulled me aside and he said, “You know, you might want to think about doing things a little differently.”  And that was my wakeup call.  That was when I was reminded that I am the parent and I’m the one in charge.

And let’s be honest:  Our kids didn’t do this to themselves.  They don’t decide what they’re served at meals.  They don’t go shopping.  They don’t decide whether there’s time for recess and gym.  We make those decisions.  We set those priorities.  We’re the ones in charge.

But that’s the good news -- because if we helped create this problem, then we can solve this problem.  We can do that.  But instead of just talking about it, instead of worrying and wringing our hands about it, we have to do something about it.  We have to move.  Let’s move.

And that’s precisely what people across this country are already doing.

For example, in Mississippi, which is the state that leads the nation in overweight kids and adults, they’re not waiting around to tackle this issue.  They’re working to get healthier food into their school cafeterias, and more physical education for kids all across the state.

As I saw this firsthand when I visited the state last week:  They’re bringing together state and local leaders; principals and teachers; parents, students; doctors, nutritionists.  And they’re proving that even without tons of money and resources, which they don’t have, there are plenty of creative ways to take back control and give our kids the kind of lives they deserve.

And that’s the spirit behind Let’s Move –- the nationwide campaign that we launched to help kids lead active, healthy lives right from the beginning, so that we can end childhood obesity within a generation.  And there’s no doubt that this is an ambitious goal.  And there’s no doubt that achieving it is going to take every last one of us doing our part to get our kids healthy and to get them to stay that way.

That’s why I have met with mayors and governors and I’ve asked them to do their parts to build healthier cities and states.  I’ve met with food service directors and workers in the School Nutrition Association and I’ve asked them to do their part to offer healthier meals and snacks for kids in our schools.

I’ve even met with kids and I’ve asked them –- I asked them very nicely -– (laughter) -- to do their part to make healthier choices for themselves each day.  Now, they were all excited until I told them it meant trying new vegetables -- and then they got a little quiet.  (Laughter.)  But it’s okay.

And next week I’ll be meeting with the food manufacturers and I’m going to ask them to do their part to improve the quality of the food that they provide to us so that we have healthier options to choose from.  (Applause.)

And of course I’ve been meeting with parents –- because we have to do our part.  We all know that we play the most important role in this effort -- because truly, healthy habits start at home.  But how do we encourage those habits?  How do we sift through all the information on how to help our kids eat better?  How do we do that?  How do we know that what we do at home won’t be erased when our kids go to school?  How can we get our kids to think about exercise not as work, but as play?

It’s going to take nothing short of a comprehensive and coordinated effort in our homes, in our schools, in our communities to get this done.  And that’s what the four parts of Let’s Move are all about.

The first part of this campaign:  Let’s move to offer parents the tools and information they need to make healthy choices for their kids.  So we’re encouraging pediatricians and family doctors to regularly measure our children’s BMI, and then to actually write out a prescription for parents with detailed steps that they can take to keep kids healthy and fit.

And we’re working with the FDA and the food industry to make our food labels more customer-friendly, so that parents don’t have to squint at words they can’t even pronounce to figure out which foods are healthy and which ones just claim to be.

And already, the nation’s largest beverage companies have announced that they’re taking steps to provide clearly visible information about calories on the front of their products –- as well as on vending machines and soda machines.

We’ve also started a one-stop shopping Web site called LetsMove.gov -– so that with a click of a mouse, parents can find helpful tips and strategies, including recipes and exercise plans.

Now, we can also do more to make healthy living fun and exciting for kids, believe it or not.  One way to do that might be with video games.  Now, we know our kids spend way too much time with these games.  And we know we’re going to have to fix that.  But we also know that that’s not going to happen overnight.  So we might as well try to use some of that time to our advantage.

That’s why today I’m announcing a wonderful contest called the Apps for Healthy Kids challenge.  It’s going to be run through the USDA.  And we’re challenging software and game designers -- both professionals and amateurs -- to come up with games that incorporate nutritional information and make healthy living fun.

And maybe you’ve seen those dance video games or those exercise games that families are playing together at home, or the ones that kids play using their mobile phones and home computers.  Those are the kinds of games that we’re talking about.

We’re also challenging designers to come up with apps and tools for us, the parents.  So if, for example, you’re at the grocery store and you’re trying to figure out whether one food is healthier than the other, then you can pull up that answer on your iPhone.

To select the winners of this contest, we’re putting together an all-star panel of judges that will include leaders in the fields of gaming and technology and nutrition –- and even a co-founder of Apple.  And we’re offering tens of thousands of dollars in cash prizes for the winners.

But here’s the thing:  No matter how much parents want to instill healthy habits in their kids, all the tools and information in the world won’t help if they don’t have access to healthy food in their neighborhoods.

And right now, 23.5 million Americans, including 6.5 million kids, live in what we call “food deserts” -- these are areas without a supermarket.  And as a result these families wind up buying their groceries at the local gas station or convenience store, places that offer few, if any, healthy options.

So let’s move to ensure that all families have access to healthy, affordable foods in their community.  (Applause.)  And that’s the second part of the initiative.  And we’ve set an ambitious goal here:  to eliminate food deserts in America within seven years.

To do that, we’re creating a Healthy Food Financing Initiative that’s going to invest $400 million a year -- and leverage hundreds of millions more from the private sector -- to bring grocery stores to underserved areas and help places like convenience stores carry healthier options.

Now, we can help families make healthier choices, and we can help communities provide healthier food, but let’s not forget that our kids spend most of the day in school.

So the third part of the initiative is to make our schools healthier places for our kids to learn and grow.  We’re going to start -- (applause) -- we’re going to start with a priority that I know is important to this organization, and that’s updating and strengthening the Child Nutrition Act.  (Applause.)

We’ve proposed a historic investment of an additional $10 billion over 10 years to fund that legislation, allowing us to dramatically improve the quality of food we offer in schools -- including in school vending machines.

And here’s the thing, this is how important this is, just a couple of weeks ago, 66 retired generals, admirals, and other senior military leaders sent a letter to Congress supporting these efforts because they said this was a matter of national security.

Now, when you think about it, that’s not surprising, because the National School Lunch Program was started after World War II because the most common disqualifier for military service back then was malnourishment.  And today, if you can believe it, one of the most common disqualifiers is obesity.

So, we’re also going to work to dramatically increase the number of schools that meet the Healthier US School Challenge.  And these are schools that provide healthy meals, physical education, nutrition education, and ensure that kids receive the free and reduced-price meals that they’re eligible for.  These healthier schools are going to be the model of what we want for every single school in America.

To help us meet this goal, several major school food suppliers have, for the first time, come together and made a pledge to help us by decreasing sugar, fat, and salt and increasing whole grains and doubling the amount of fresh produce.  (Applause.)  Big.

And our food service workers, our principals, our superintendents, school board members all across America are also coming together to support this effort.  It’s been very encouraging.

But we know that eating right is only half the battle.  Experts recommend that our kids get at least 60 minutes of active play a day -- and we know that many of them don’t even come close.

So let’s move -- and I mean that literally.  Let’s find new ways for our kids to be physically active, both in and out of school.

That’s the final part of this initiative.  We’re expanding and modernizing the President’s Physical Fitness Challenge, and we’ve recruited professional athletes from dozens of different sports leagues like the NFL, Major League Baseball.  They’re going to work with us to encourage kids to get and stay active.

And last Friday, we worked with soccer -- players from Major League Soccer and Women’s Professional Soccer.  They joined us in a fun clinic with kids in the area to teach them about staying active.  And I played a little soccer myself.  (Laughter.)  I was embarrassed by the little people -- (laughter) -- but it was fun.

But the reason I did that is because we have to admit that as parents we all know that we have to spend more time being active with our kids.  And the truth is you don't have to be some specialist, you don’t have to have special skills or equipment to do this.  Sometimes it’s as simple as going for a walk with your kids, taking the stairs with them instead of the elevator, or going up and down them a few times.  Even something as simple as turning on the radio and dancing with them for a while, working up a sweat.

But it’s also about making sure our communities have safe places for kids to play.  And there’s this terrific non-profit organization -- I’m sure you all know KaBOOM -- that’s working to do this.  Right now they’re working to map every single playground in the country, so that parents can find the closest one in their neighborhood.  And I encourage you all to check it out and add the playgrounds in your own community to their list.

And just as parents can do more at home in their communities, teachers can also do more at school.

When I was in Mississippi last night -- last week -- it felt like last night -- (laughter) -- I visited a school where teachers were required -- now, listen to this -- required to actually eat lunch with their students.  Oh, scary proposition, right?  (Applause.)  But as a result, what they’ve seen was fresh fruit and vegetable consumption going up.

In other schools, teachers are educating kids about proper nutrition, and they’re working to set good examples themselves with their own eating and exercise habits.

But we have to remember, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to solving this problem.  And what we have to remember is that something that works in one school or family may not work in another.  The key is to find an approach and keep working until we find and you find what works in your families and communities.

But to help do that, in the coming weeks, we’re going to be creating an online “toolkit” with tips and strategies for parents and teachers and students to use to help them find their approach, and they’re going to be able to go to letsmove.gov to check those out.

These are just some of the things that we’re doing to achieve our goal.  And we know it won’t be easy.  And we know it is not going to happen overnight -- because what we do know as parents is that in the end, we cannot control every single thing our kids eat or every single moment of their time, nor should we.

But what we can do, what is fully within our control, is to give them the very best start in their journeys; to teach them what we’ve learned, even if we don’t do it ourselves in our own lives; to live in a way that gives them some kind of model to follow.

So let’s act.  Let’s move.  Let’s do everything we can for the kids that we were inspired to join causes like the PTA in the first place.  Let’s do everything we can to ensure that our kids have the energy and the endurance to succeed in school, and then to pursue the careers of their dreams, and hopefully to build families and lives of their own.  Let’s do everything we can to give our kids the future they deserve in this country that we all love.  I know we can do this.  I know we’re all ready.  Are we ready?

AUDIENCE:  Yes!

MRS. OBAMA:  Yes we are!  (Applause.)  So I look forward to working with you all in these efforts in the months to come.  Thank you so much.

END
12:44 P.M. EST

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
March 10, 2010

Remarks by President Obama and President Preval of the Republic of Haiti

Rose Garden

12:01 P.M. EST

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Please be seated.  Good afternoon, everybody.  And on behalf of the American people, I want to welcome President Préval, the First Lady, and their delegation to the United States.

The President and I have just concluded a very productive meeting in the Oval Office on the urgent and overriding challenges before us -- helping the people of Haiti as they recover and rebuild after one of the most devastating natural disasters ever to strike our hemisphere.

Mr. President, as I did when I spoke to you in those first days after the earthquake, I again want to express to you and to the Haitian people the deepest condolences of the American people.  Your grief is shared by our strong and vibrant Haitian American community, some of whom join us here today and who continue to mourn the loss of their loved ones back in Haiti.  To you, and to our fellow Americans, please know that you remain in our thoughts and in our prayers.

The United States joins in mourning the loss of American citizens, as more than 100 Americans died in this earthquake -- and our hearts also go out to their loved ones.  We also remember that this natural disaster was an international tragedy, taking the lives of Dominicans and Canadians, French, Brazilians, and people from dozens of nations around the world.

President Préval and his delegation offered an update on the status of relief, recovery and reconstruction efforts -- the progress so far and the daunting challenges ahead in a disaster that, even now, defies comprehension.  To offer just some perspective on the awful scale of Haitian loss, it’s as if the United States, in a terrible instant, lost nearly 8 million people; or it’s as if     one-third of our country -- 100 million Americans -- suddenly had no home, no food, or water.  That gives you a sense of, relative to the populations, what has happened in Haiti.  No nation could respond to such a catastrophe alone.  It would require a global response.  And that’s exactly what we have seen these past two months.

Mr. President, even as you and other Haitian leaders have endured your personal tragedies -- losing your own homes, your loved ones -- you have carried on with great courage and determination.  You’ve persevered, leading an international effort with critical support from the United Nations, many partner nations and countless nongovernmental organizations.  Representatives of some of the NGOs are here today, and for the extraordinary work that you’ve done to uplift lives every day -- in Haiti and around the world -- often at great risk to your own lives, we salute you as well.

In this international response, the United States has been proud to play a leading role.  Mr. President, we are joined today by men and women representing all the Americans who answered Haiti’s call in its hours of need, including members of Congress, and many state and local officials who we thank for their support, and leaders from across my administration -- the Department of State, USAID, Homeland Security, FEMA, Health and Human Services, Transportation, and the Department of Defense, including our great folks at Southern Command.  Today I want to thank all of them for leading a swift and coordinated response during one of the most complex humanitarian efforts ever attempted.

We’re joined by Ambassador Ken Merten and some of our heroic embassy staff who worked around the clock.  We’re joined by our disaster response teams, who were on the scene within 24 hours; our military personnel who quickly reopened the airport and the port, making way for a massive humanitarian effort; our search and rescue teams, who crawled into the rubble to pull survivors out to safety, Haitian and American; the volunteer physicians and nurses and paramedics who treated tens of thousands of patients with life-threatening injuries; and all our men and women in uniform who have helped to distribute desperately needed food and water and medicine to millions of people -- our remarkable soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen.

I just want to personally say how extraordinarily proud I am of each and every one of you, because I think you represent what’s best in America.  And I could not be prouder of the response that all of you were engaged in during this humanitarian crisis.

Now, no relief effort of this magnitude is without its difficulties, but there should be absolutely no doubt in anybody’s mind, along with their Haitian and international partners, these men and women made a difference.  They saved lives -- countless lives -- of men and women and children.

So, Mr. President, if you will permit us this moment to briefly express once again our admiration for all those who stepped forward, who volunteered, who represent the true character of our country and who projected to the world the best face of America -- a face of compassion and generosity.  Each and every one of you can take enormous pride at your service, and every single American thanks you for making us so proud.  (Applause.)

I also want to acknowledge the enormous generosity of so many individual Americans, who gave what they could to support Haiti even in difficult economic times.  That help makes possible an extraordinary response from the courageous and capable nongovernmental organizations that have been at the scene, and that support all kinds of efforts that the government is engaged in.  And I know that the support of the American people will continue to be essential as Haiti tries to recover and rebuild.

As President Préval and I discussed, the situation on the ground remains dire, and people should be under no illusions that the crisis is over.  Many Haitians are still in need, desperate need in some cases, of shelter and food and medicine.  And with the spring rains approaching, those needs will only grow.  The challenge now is to prevent a second disaster.

And that’s why, at this very moment, thousands of Americans, both civilian and military, remain on the scene at the invitation of the Haitian government.  And that’s why, even as the U.S. military responsibly hands off relief functions to our Haitian and international partners, America’s commitment to Haiti’s recovery and reconstruction must endure and will endure.  This pledge is one that I made at the beginning of this crisis and I intend for America to keep our pledge.  America will be your partner in the recovery and reconstruction effort.  (Applause.)

Toward that end, the international donors conference at the United Nations later this month will be an opportunity, an important opportunity, for all parties.  Haiti can lead the way, and will lead the way, with a strong vision for its future.  The international community can pledge the resources that will be necessary for a coordinated and sustained effort.  And working together, we can ensure that assistance not simply delivers relief for the short term, but builds up Haiti’s capacity to deliver basic services and provide for the Haitian people over the long term.

So, Mr. President, in the face of devastation that shocked the world, the people of Haiti responded with resolve and faith that inspired the world -- in song and in prayer, and in the determination to carry on.  As you declared during last month’s national day of mourning, it is time to wipe away the tears; it is time for Haiti to rebuild.

And to you, and to the Haitian people, I say today, as you embark on the heavy work ahead, you will continue to have a steady and reliable partner in the United States of America.  (Applause.)

So with that, let me turn this over to President Préval.

PRESIDENT PRÉVAL:  (As translated.)  Mr. President, dear friends in Congress, members of the organizations that helped Haiti in this moment of need, the Haitians of Washington.  The damages caused in Haiti by the earthquake of January 12, 2010 are unimaginable.  But the response from the international community -- from Asia to Africa, from the United States, from Canada, from all of Latin America, from the Caribbean, from Europe, all the way to the Middle East -- this response, thanks to its swiftness, thanks to its size, was commensurate with the disaster.

Today, here and now, I would like to thank the American people, I would like to thank Congress, I would like to thank the administration, and you, in particular, Mr. President, as well as your wife, not only for the material aid, but also for the moral support, the psychological support, that helped us realize that we were not alone and that provide us great comfort in our distress.

You, thanks to your statements, sent a message to all of those who provided help to Haiti.  Needless for me to repeat that which you said.  So I would like to thank you for having made it possible for these people to come to help us.

Mr. President, for me this is also an opportunity to express my sympathy, my condolences, to all of the American families for whom members of their families were killed, injured in Haiti during this earthquake.

Dear friends, we must draw the lessons from what occurred in Haiti.  These are lessons for all of mankind.  The Haiti earthquake was immediately followed by the earthquake in Chile, as well as other earthquakes throughout the world.  And the countries that have seismic risks are not merely those countries which are located on top of seismic faults.  In fact, the tsunamis, which are the repercussions of break in faults, threaten other regions as well as the United States.

In addition to earthquakes and tsunamis, global warming is a major concern for the entire planet.  We must draw the lessons from what occurred in Haiti -- the massive, spontaneous, generous help was a good response to the disaster.  However, its effectiveness must be improved, because effectiveness depends on the quality of coordination.

This is why I support the idea of the creation of so-called “red helmets” within the United Nations, and these would be an observatory, a warning system, a provision system for natural disaster, and a humanitarian force which would be the equivalent of the blue helmets.  It was proposed that there should be so-called “red helmets,” a humanitarian force in order to intervene, and that would work in a coordinated manner as soon as the first minutes after a disaster, which are fundamental to saving lives.

Mr. President, during our meeting I mentioned what Haiti’s preoccupations and priorities were.  Our priorities are, first and foremost, as you said, protection of those people who today are homeless and who must be relocated.  And in parallel, we must prepare the rainy season, which just last week has already caused the deaths of 15 people.

And at the same time, much more basically, we must deal with the need of rebuilding Haiti, thanks to an effective decentralization policy -- namely, offering health care, education, jobs to all Haitians, men and women, regardless of where they live in the country, in order to prevent migratory flows towards the big cities, towards Port-au-Prince, and that will help avoid that disaster such as the earthquake would cause so many victims.

On March 31st, there will be at the United Nations an international conference in order to support the reconstruction of Haiti.  I do hope that all participants will share this philosophy, this vision, of decentralization.

And at the same time, just as the first responders, I do recommend the concept of a coordination via the creation of a trust fund, a donors trust fund, whose implementation would be done followed according to a unique procedure carried out by one executing agency.  We talked about this and I do know that we can already count on your support to be the advocate of that idea during this conference in support of our vision.

Thank you very much.  (Applause.)

END
12:18 P.M. EST

The White House

Office of the Vice President

For Immediate Release
March 10, 2010

Remarks by Vice President Biden and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas

Muq’ata
Ramallah

PRESIDENT ABBAS:  In the name of God the merciful, the compassionate, it is our pleasure to welcome the Vice President, our friend, Joseph Biden, here in Ramallah.  This visit comes as an expression of the interest that President Obama’s administration has according to the peace process and to achieve the two-state solution.

The establishment of the Palestinian state and the 1967 borders -- the decisions that the Israeli government has announced over the past two days and the establishment and the construction of thousands of new units in the Palestinian territories constitute an undermining of the confidence and all the efforts that were exerted over the past months to launch the indirect negotiations.  The decision to approve these negotiations was taken with great difficulties within the Arab Committee and the leadership entities of the Palestinian people.  And in order to reiterate our intention to support the American efforts to launch the peace process, to revive the peace process, the Israeli resettlement policies and particularly, in Jerusalem, threaten these negotiations and we ask that these decisions are revoked.

I reiterate, Mr. Vice President, our commitment to peace as a strategic option, just and comprehensive, a permanent peace on all tracks, including the Syrian and the Lebanese tracks that would lead to ending the Israeli occupation that started in 1967, based on the roadmap plan, including the Arab Peace Initiative.  I would like to address the Israelis’ settling.  The time has come to make peace, peace under a two-state solution -- based on the two-state solution, the state of Israel that lives in peace and security alongside the state of Palestine on the borders of the 4th of June 1967 with its capitol East Jerusalem.  And here it is important to speak about the siege that is imposed on Gaza strip that should be lifted in order to provide for the basic needs of our people in Gaza strip in addition to the construction materials that are necessary, because there are 25,000 houses that are in debris and there are hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who live without shelter and need houses.  And, therefore, we ask that the Gaza strip is provided with construction materials.

Again, I would like to call out to the Israeli government not to waste this opportunity to make peace.  I call upon this government to stop its settlement policies and to stop imposing fights on the ground and to give the efforts of President Obama’s administration and Representative Mitchell’s efforts the opportunity to succeed.  Thank you, Mr. Vice President.

VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN:  Mr. President, thank you very much for your hospitality and for the opportunity to be with you again.  I greatly appreciate the time you’ve given me, you and the Palestinian Authority.  I also had the pleasure of meeting earlier this morning with your Prime Minister Fayyad in -- here in Ramallah.  I must say I admire the courage and conviction of the two of you, whom President Obama and I consider willing partners in the quest for a lasting peace in the region.

Our administration is fully committed to the Palestinian people and to achieving a Palestinian state that is independent, viable, and contiguous.  Everyone should know -- everyone should know by now that there is no viable alternative to a two-state solution, which must be an integral part of any comprehensive peace plan.  The United States considers the goal to be not only in the interest of the Palestinians and the Israelis, but in the United States’ interest as well.  We also believe that the divide between the Israelis and Palestinians can only be resolved by negotiations.  The indirect talks being launched should lead to direct negotiations, which will necessarily reach -- which would be necessary to reach an agreement on the permanent status -- status issues which you referenced, Mr. President, such as borders, security, refugees, and Jerusalem.  And the United States pledges to play an active as well as a sustained role in these talks.  It’s incumbent on both parties to build an atmosphere of support for negotiations and not to complicate them.

Yesterday -- yesterday, the decision by the Israeli government to advance planning for new housing units in east Jerusalem undermined that very trust, the trust that we need right now in order to begin as well as produce -- have profitable negotiations.  That is why I immediately condemned the action.

As we move forward, the United States will hold both sides accountable for any statements or actions that inflame tensions or prejudice the outcome of talks, as this decision did.  The United States strongly supports the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to build as well as strengthen its institutions and develop the economy of a state, including Prime Minister Fayyad’s two-year institution building plan.

We must find a way to improve the lives of Gazans, as well.  The Palestinian Authority offers the possibility of a peaceful, independent, and more prosperous future rather than the false promises of extremists.  A historic peace is going to require both the Palestinians as well as the Israelis, as well as their leaders, to be historically bold.

And I promise you, Mr. President, the United States will always stand with those who take the risk that peace requires.  Again, Mr. President, I thank you very much for the courage you’ve shown in moving forward.  I thank you for the hospitality you’ve extended to me and my delegation.  And I look forward to seeing you many more times.

Thank you.

PRESIDENT ABBAS:  Thank you.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
March 10, 2010

Extractos del Discurso de la Secretaria Sebelius a America’s Health Insurance Plans

**Versión preparada del discurso**

A continuación, sírvase a encontrar extractos de la versión preparada del discurso de la secretaria Sebelius durante la conferencia de Planes de Seguro Médico de Estados Unidos (America’s Health Insurance Plans o AHIP), programado para las 10:30 esta mañana.

“Me he reunido con muchos de ustedes y he oído que el hecho que un número cada vez mayor de estadounidenses jóvenes y saludables estén abandonado el mercado en esta situación económica ha causado que aumente su nivel de riesgo y, consecuentemente, sus tarifas.

   Pero por un momento, pónganse en el caso de los clientes que les quedan. Según la Asociación Médica de Estados Unidos (American Medical Association), hoy en día, en 99 por ciento de todos los mercados metropolitanos de seguro médico hay, y cito, “una alta concentración”. Se trata de un aumento con relación al 94 por ciento hace un año e implica que sólo hay unas cuantas ciudades en todo el país en las que existen verdaderas opciones y competencia.

   Cuando los estadounidenses tienen tan pocas opciones, ¿no es de esperar que estén frustrados, cuando sus primas suben diez veces más que el costo del cuidado de salud? Imagínense qué piensan los residentes de Illinois cuando abren el periódico y ven que las utilidades de las principales compañías de seguros aumentaron 56 por ciento apenas el año pasado y al día siguiente reciben una carta que anuncia un aumento de dos dígitos en sus primas. ¿No es de esperar que piensen que el sistema no está funcionando cuando su seguro médico –que se supone que los proteja de costos excesivos de salud–los fuerza de todos modos a pagar de su bolsillo miles de dólares todos los años?

   Quise venir a hablarles hoy porque creo que cualquier conversación sobre maneras de solucionar los problemas de nuestro sistema de seguro médico debe comenzar con la pregunta: ¿Cómo podemos hacer para que las familias y los dueños de pequeñas empresas que se sienten tan impotentes en el actual mercado de salud recuperen el control de su atención médica?”

***

“Entonces, deben decidir.

Pueden optar por continuar oponiéndose a la reforma. Si lo hacen y la reforma fracasa, sabemos lo que sucederá. Para marzo del próximo año, las primas representarán una proporción aun mayor de los salarios de los estadounidenses. Más estadounidenses perderán la seguridad de pólizas subsidiadas por su empleador. Más pequeñas empresas se verán forzadas a cerrar o a cancelar el seguro de sus empleados. Se les continuará negado acceso al mercado de seguros a padres e hijos con enfermedades preexistentes. Y los estadounidenses continuarán viviendo con el temor de recibir otra carta de su aseguradora que anuncie su más reciente aumento de prima.

   Quizá esta estrategia funcione a corto plazo. Leí que les han aconsejado que posiblemente, por lo menos por un tiempo, puedan continuar ganando dinero con los clientes que temen cancelar su seguro o no tienen otras opciones. Pero esta manera de pensar de corto plazo no funcionará a largo plazo para los estadounidenses o nuestro sistema de salud. No les funcionará a ustedes.

   Luego, tienen otra opción.

   Pueden optar por usar los millones de dólares que han guardado para su próxima serie de avisos para frustrar una reforma significativa y usarlos para comenzar a darles a los estadounidenses un respiro del vertiginoso aumento de primas. En vez de dedicar su energía a atacar los aspectos de la propuesta del Presidente que no les agradan, pueden usarla para mejorar los aspectos que sí les agradan.

   Si lo enfocan de esa manera, quizá renuncien a una porción de sus utilidades a corto plazo. Pero también ayudarán a crear un mercado sostenible de seguro médico en el que todos los estadounidenses podrán comprar pólizas. Eso es mejor para los estadounidenses. Y también podría ser mejor para las aseguradoras”.