THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
_____________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                                August 6, 2009

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
REGARDING JOHN ROOS, AMBASSADOR-DESIGNATE TO JAPAN

Oval Office
2:55 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody.  I think many of you are aware that a partnership between the United States and Japan is one of tremendous interest.  It's one of the cornerstones of our both security and economic well being.  We have an extraordinarily close relationship based on shared values and shared interests.  There is enormous respect between the people of Japan and the people of the United States.
And it's for that reason that my administration wants to get off on a strong footing diplomatically through our relationship.  And I placed great importance in the selection of who would represent the United States as Ambassador to Japan.  And after careful consideration I made the determination that the person who I thought could best do this is somebody with superb judgment, somebody with an outstanding intellect, somebody who is a very close friend of mine and a close advisor, somebody who has worked both in the private sector with cutting-edge technologies, but also is somebody who has a deep interest in public service.  And that's my friend, John Roos.
He is somebody who I'm confident is going to be able to help to strengthen both the regional and the global relationship between the United States and Japan.  He's somebody who will be able to advise me directly on issues that may arise and opportunities that may arise in the U.S.-Japanese relationship.  He is somebody who is I know going to be working incredibly hard to make sure that he is listening to and understanding the full scope of Japanese concerns.  And so I very much appreciate his willingness to take on those tasks.
He and his wife, Susie, and his family are prepared to -- and eager -- to travel to Japan.  It's a sacrifice to, obviously, uproot yourself, but John has shown nothing but great enthusiasm for what is one of the most important diplomatic tasks that we have in the country.  And I'm grateful for his service and confident that he is going to represent not only my administration, but the United States of America with extraordinary ability.
So thank you so much, John.
                             END                    2:58 P.M. EDT
 
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
___________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                             August 6, 2009

Remarks by John O. Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism –
As Prepared for Delivery "A New Approach to Safeguarding Americans"

Center for Strategic and International Studies
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
Washington, DC
August 6, 2009
Thank you, Steve, for your kind introduction, and thank you all for the opportunity to speak with you today. The Center for Strategic and International Studies has long provided some of the most insightful analysis and innovative ideas for strengthening our national security. So this is a very fitting forum for the subject I want to address today—the new thinking and new approach that President Obama brings to the task of safeguarding the American people from violent extremism and terrorist attacks.
President Obama has now been in office for over six months. In that time, he has rightly focused on urgent domestic challenges, including the Nation’s economic recovery and reforming health insurance and reducing the cost of healthcare for the American people. At the same time, he has never lost sight of what he has called his "single most important responsibility as President"—keeping the American people safe.
To this end, he and Secretary of State Clinton have renewed America’s commitment to diplomacy: rebuilding old alliances; strengthening critical partnerships with nations such as Russia and China; and naming special envoys and representatives to focus on some of most pressing international challenges, from Middle East peace, to Afghanistan and Pakistan, to climate change, to the crisis in Darfur. He has launched a new era of engagement with the world, including committing the United States to a new partnership with Muslims around the world—a partnership based on mutual interests and mutual respect.
To confront the transnational threats of the 21st Century, he has launched new initiatives: strengthening the global non-proliferation regime; promoting food security that fights world hunger and lifts people around the world out of poverty; and bolstering the nation’s digital defense against cyber attacks.
And to refocus the fight against those who attacked our embassies in Africa eleven years ago tomorrow and our homeland eight years ago next month, the President is proceeding with his plan to end the war in Iraq and to defeat al Qaeda and its allies in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And to ensure that our counterterrorism efforts strengthen our national security—and not undermine it—he banned the use of enhanced interrogation techniques, is proceeding with a new plan to swiftly and certainly deal with detainees, and will close the prison at Guantanamo Bay.
Most recently, key members of the President’s national security team have laid out how their departments and organizations are implementing these new strategies. Secretary of State Clinton outlined how American diplomacy will advance American interests by building new partnerships, promoting universal values, and heeding the power of our examples. Secretary of Defense Gates is reforming how we acquire weapons and reorienting our armed forces for the unconventional, irregular conflicts of today and the future.
Last week, Secretary of Homeland Security Napolitano highlighted the local, state, federal and international partnerships that will be required to keep the homeland secure from terrorist attack. FBI Director Mueller has been tireless in his efforts over the past eight years forging similarly strong partnerships with a wide array of law enforcement organizations at home and abroad. And General Jones, the President’s National Security Advisor, earlier this year addressed how the Administration will more effectively address transnational challenges through a newly integrated National Security Staff at the White House.
Today—as the President’s principal advisor on counterterrorism—I want to outline the President’s efforts to safeguard the American people from the transnational challenge that poses one of the greatest threats to our national security—the scourge of violent extremists who would use terrorism to slaughter Americans abroad and at home.
I want to note at the outset that my professional and personal experience has greatly shaped my perspective on how best to confront the challenges we face. During a 25-year career in government, I saw first-hand the mayhem and destruction that terrorists wreak. I have seen close friends and fellow intelligence officers—good, courageous, heroic Americans—injured, maimed, and killed in terrorist attacks. Eight years ago this morning I read warnings that Osama bin Laden was determined to strike inside the U.S., but our government was unable to prevent the worst terrorist attack in American history that would occur on 9/11.
In the years since, I have seen the significant progress made in safeguarding the American people—unprecedented coordination and information sharing between federal agencies and with state and local governments; improved security at our borders and ports of entry; disruption of terrorist recruitment and financing; and a degradation of al Qaeda’s ability to plan and execute attacks. And credit for much of this progress belongs to our armed forces, diplomats, intelligence officers, and law enforcement personnel at every level. They risk their lives. Many have given their lives. And this Nation owes them an enormous debt of gratitude.
At the same time, I have seen—we all have seen—how our fight against terrorists sometimes led us to stray from our ideals as a nation. Tactics such as waterboarding were not in keeping with our values as Americans, and these practices have been rightly terminated and should not, and will not, happen again.
I believe President Obama is absolutely correct: such practices not only fail to advance our counterterrorism efforts, they actually set back our efforts. They are a recruitment bonanza for terrorists, increase the determination of our enemies, and decrease the willingness of other nations to cooperate with us. In short, they undermine our national security.
A deep appreciation for our Nation’s unique example and relationships with the world has always informed my service. This includes our ties with Muslim communities. While in college in the mid 1970s, I spent a summer traveling through Indonesia, where, like President Obama, I came to see the beauty and diversity of Islam. In the decades since, I studied as an undergraduate at the American University of Cairo, I worked as a State Department political officer in Saudi Arabia, and I served as a CIA station chief in the region. And, in that time, I saw how Arab and Muslim attitudes toward the U.S. hardened, often into hatred.
It was these collective experiences—and the worldview they shaped—that led me to an extended discussion with President-elect Obama last November. He, too, was deeply concerned with how the United States was viewed in the world and how these attitudes were fueling the flames of hatred and violence. He showed a clear understanding of the historical forces and conditions shaping the world and the unique role and responsibility of the United States at this moment in history. And so I decided to return to public service, as the President’s senior advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.
But since my return to public service, I have been deeply troubled by the inflammatory rhetoric, hyperbole, and intellectual narrowness that has often characterized the debate over the President’s national security policies, particularly those relating to the fight against terrorists. Some like to claim that the President’s policies somehow represent a wholesale dismantling of counterterrorism policies and practices adopted by his predecessor. Others claim that the President’s policies constitute a wholesale retention of his predecessor’s policies. Well, they can’t both be right. In fact, both are wrong.
As he has said, the President rejects an absolutist approach or the imposition of a rigid ideology on our problems. Like the world itself, his views are nuanced, not simplistic; practical, not ideological. He understands the complexities and many dimensions of the challenges presented by violent extremism. He understands that preventing terrorists from slaughtering the innocent sometimes requires making very difficult decisions—deployment of military forces, authorization of sensitive intelligence activities, the handling and disposition of terrorists that we capture and detain; and the policies we make and the measures we take to protect our homeland. And so, as he has said on many occasions, he rejects the false choice between ensuring our national security and upholding civil liberties. The United States of America has done both for centuries—and must do so again.
As we move ahead, the President feels strongly that we maintain a robust dialogue with the American people, indeed with the world, about the full range of our efforts to prevent terrorist attacks. With that in mind, I want to sketch out how the President sees this challenge and how the administration is confronting it. And I want to distinguish between two related but very distinct challenges: the immediate, near-term challenge of destroying Al Qaeda and its allies—those ready and willing to kill innocent civilians—and the longer-term challenge of confronting violent extremism generally.
First, the immediate challenge—the persistent and evolving threat from al Qaeda and its allies. President Obama is under no illusions about the imminence and severity of this threat. Indeed, he has repeatedly and forcefully challenged those who suggest that this threat has passed. To Americans who ask why our forces still fight and die in Afghanistan, he has made it clear that al Qaeda is actively plotting to attack us again and that he will not tolerate Afghanistan—or any other country—being a base for terrorists determined to kill Americans. To those abroad who doubt al Qaeda’s motives or murderous history, he said in Cairo "these are not opinions to be debated; these are facts to be dealt with."
So here are the facts.
Al Qaeda and its affiliates are under tremendous pressure. After years of U.S. counterterrorism operations, and in partnership with other nations, al Qaeda has been seriously damaged and forced to replace many of its top-tier leadership with less experienced and less capable individuals. It is being forced to work harder and harder to raise money, to move its operatives around the world, and to plan attacks.
Nevertheless, Al Qaeda has proven to be adaptive and highly resilient and remains the most serious terrorist threat we face as a Nation. The group’s intent to carry out attacks against the United States and U.S. interests around the world—with weapons of mass destruction if possible—remains undiminished, and another attack on the U.S. homeland remains the top priority for the al Qaeda senior leadership.
From its safe haven in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the so-called FATA, al Qaeda continues to recruit and train fighters—including extremists from Western nations—and to plot attacks. Finally, Al Qaeda’s own capabilities are further leveraged by the web of relationships the group maintains with other locally run terrorist organizations around the world, from Iraq to the Arabian Peninsula, from East Africa to the Sahel and Maghreb regions of North Africa.
In short, we continue to face a dynamic and evolving threat.
Faced with this clear threat, President Obama has articulated a clear policy—to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda and its allies. That is our mission, and the President described it in no uncertain terms in his Inaugural when he said, "Our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred." And to win this war against al Qaeda, the administration continues to be unrelenting, using every tool in our toolbox and every arrow in our quiver.
As part of the President’s new strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan, U.S. forces are pushing the Taliban out of key population areas in Afghanistan so we can prevent the return of al Qaeda to that country.
In partnership with Pakistan—which, in the face of unrelenting brutality from al Qaeda and its allies, has shown new resolve in this fight—we are confronting al Qaeda directly, inflicting significant losses to the Taliban and al Qaeda.
In East Africa and the Trans-Sahel region, we are sharing intelligence with partner nations and building the capacity of their security forces to deny al Qaeda safe havens.
We are actively working with and through the international banking community to deny resources and funding to the al Qaeda network and the businesses that support them.
And through strong law enforcement investigations and successful prosecutions of terrorists and their supporters, we and our allies are disrupting and deterring future terrorist attacks here and abroad.
I would add one personal observation. Over the past six months we have presented President Obama with a number of actions and initiatives against al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. Not only has he approved these operations, he has encouraged us to be even more aggressive, even more proactive, and even more innovative, to seek out new ways and new opportunities for taking down these terrorists before they can kill more innocent men, women, and children.
To this end, the President is devoting new resources, investing in new capabilities, approving new actions, and adapting our policies across the board.
He is confronting what he has identified as the most immediate and extreme threat to global security—the possibility that terrorists will obtain and use a nuclear weapon. That is why he has taken a number of critical steps: leading the effort for a stronger global nonproliferation regime; launching an international effort to secure the world’s vulnerable nuclear material in four years; and hosting a Global Nuclear Summit next year. The risk of just one terrorist with just one nuclear weapon is a risk we simply cannot afford to take.
To ensure our military has the new capabilities and technologies its needs for this fight, he accelerated the increase in the size of the Army and the Marines, has approved another increase in the size of the Army, is expanding our Special Forces, and is increasing the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets our troops need in Afghanistan.
To ensure we have the timely and accurate intelligence that prevents terrorist attacks and saves lives, we are continuing to adapt and strengthen the intelligence community by expanding human intelligence; strengthening operations; enhancing the workforce with improved linguistic and cultural skills; filling intelligence gaps; improving collaboration across the intelligence community; and promoting greater coordination with foreign intelligence partners.
And to better secure the homeland from attack, we’re taking the steps Secretary Napolitano described last week: enhancing information sharing arrangements with our allies and partners; strengthening partnerships with state and local officials, law enforcement, and first responders; and improving the security of our critical infrastructure, borders, ports, and airports.
Our homeland security efforts include working aggressively to prevent and prepare for bio-terrorism, which is why the President’s budget makes major investments in our public health infrastructure, including new technologies to detect attacks and new vaccines to respond in a crisis. And I would note that our coordinated response to the H1N1 virus—across the federal government, with state and local governments, and with the private sector and the public—and our extensive preparations for the coming flu season will ensure that we are better prepared for any future bio-terrorist attack.
So there should be no doubt. As the President has told us privately and as he has said publicly, this administration "will do everything in our power to keep the American people safe…with certainty that we can defeat al Qaeda."
At the same time, the President understands that military power, intelligence operations, and law enforcement alone will never solve the second, longer-term challenge we face: the threat of violent extremism generally, including the political, economic, and social factors that help put so many individuals on the path to violence. And here is where I believe President Obama is bringing a fundamentally new and more effective approach to the long-term obligation of safeguarding the American people. This new approach has five key elements.
First, and perhaps most significantly, the fight against terrorists and violent extremists has been returned to its right and proper place: no longer defining—indeed, distorting—our entire national security and foreign policy, but rather serving as a vital part of those larger policies. President Obama has made it clear that the United States will not be defined simply by what we are against, but by what we are for—the opportunity, liberties, prosperity, and common aspirations we share with the world.
Rather than looking at allies and other nations through the narrow prism of terrorism—whether they are with us or against us—the administration is now engaging other countries and peoples across a broader range of areas. Rather than treating so many of our foreign affairs programs—foreign assistance, development, democracy promotion—as simply extensions of the fight against terrorists, we will do these things—promote economic growth, good governance, transparency and accountability—because they serve our common interests and common security; not just in regions gripped by violent extremism, but around the world.
We see this new approach most vividly in the President’s personal engagement with the world—his trips, his speeches, his town halls with foreign audiences—where he addresses terrorism directly and forcefully. At the same time, terrorism is recognized as one of the many transnational challenges the world will face in the 21st Century. We saw this in his speech in Cairo, where he spoke of a "broader engagement" with the world’s Muslims, including the issues important to them: education, public health, economic development, responsive governance, and women’s rights.
Indeed, it was telling that the President was actually criticized in certain quarters in this country for not using words like "terror," "terrorism" or "terrorist" in that speech. This goes to the heart of his new approach. Why should a great and powerful nation like the United States allow its relationship with more than a billion Muslims around the world be defined by the narrow hatred and nihilistic actions of an exceptionally small minority of Muslims? After all, this is precisely what Osama bin Laden intended with the Sept. 11 attacks: to use al Qaeda to foment a clash of civilizations in which the United States and Islam are seen as distinct identities that are in conflict. In his approach to the world and in his approach to safeguarding the American people, President Obama is determined not to validate al Qaeda’s twisted worldview.
This leads directly to the second element of the President’s approach—a clear, more precise definition of this challenge. This is critically important. How you define a problem shapes how you address it. As many have noted, the President does not describe this as a "war on terrorism." That is because "terrorism" is but a tactic—a means to an end, which in al Qaeda’s case is global domination by an Islamic caliphate. Confusing ends and means is dangerous, because by focusing on the tactic, we risk floundering among the terrorist trees while missing the growth of the extremist forest. And ultimately, confusing ends and means is self-defeating, because you can never fully defeat a tactic like terrorism any more than you can defeat the tactic of war itsel
Likewise, the President does not describe this as a "global war." Yes, al Qaeda and other terrorists groups operate in many corners of the world and continue to launch attacks in different nations, as we saw most recently in Jakarta. And yes, the United States will confront al Qaeda aggressively wherever it exists so that it enjoys no safe haven. But describing our efforts as a "global war" only plays into the warped narrative that al Qaeda propagates. It plays into the misleading and dangerous notion that the U.S. is somehow in conflict with the rest of the world. It risks setting our Nation apart from the world, rather than emphasizing the interests we share. And perhaps most dangerously, portraying this as a "global" war risks reinforcing the very image that al Qaeda seeks to project of itself—that it is a highly organized, global entity capable of replacing sovereign nations with a global caliphate. And nothing could be further from the truth.
Nor does President Obama see this challenge as a fight against "jihadists." Describing terrorists in this way—using a legitimate term, "jihad," meaning to purify oneself or to wage a holy struggle for a moral goal—risks giving these murderers the religious legitimacy they desperately seek but in no way deserve. Worse, it risks reinforcing the idea that the United States is somehow at war with Islam itself. And this is why President Obama has confronted this perception directly and forcefully in his speeches to Muslim audiences, declaring that America is not and never will be at war with Islam.
Instead, as the President has made clear, we are at war with al Qaeda, which attacked us on 9/11 and killed 3,000 people. We are at war with its violent extremist allies who seek to carry on al Qaeda’s murderous agenda. These are the terrorists we will destroy. These are the extremists we will defeat.
Even as the President takes a more focused view of the threat, his approach includes a third element: a broader, more accurate understanding of the causes and conditions that help fuel violent extremism, be they in Pakistan and Afghanistan or Somalia and Yemen.
The President has been very clear on this. Poverty does not cause violence and terrorism. Lack of education does not cause terrorism. But just as there is no excuse for the wanton slaughter of innocents, there is no denying that when children have no hope for an education, when young people have no hope for a job and feel disconnected from the modern world, when governments fail to provide for the basic needs of their people, then people become more susceptible to ideologies of violence and death. Extremist violence and terrorist attacks are therefore often the final murderous manifestation of a long process rooted in hopelessness, humiliation, and hatred.
Therefore, any comprehensive approach has to also address the upstream factors—the conditions that help fuel violent extremism. Indeed, the counterinsurgency lessons learned in Iraq and Afghanistan apply equally to the broader fight against extremism: we cannot shoot ourselves out of this challenge. We can take out all the terrorists we want—their leadership and their foot soldiers. But if we fail to confront the broader political, economic, and social conditions in which extremists thrive, then there will always be another recruit in the pipeline, another attack coming downstream. Indeed, our failure to address these conditions also plays into the extremists’ hands—allowing them to make the false claim that the United States actually wants to keep people impoverished and unempowered.
It is important to note that these factors not only help fuel violent extremism but also contribute to a wide range of national security threats – from other types of organized violence and sociopolitical instability to resource competition. And addressing these factors will help the United States deal with a wide range of threats, including violent extremism.
This is why the President’s approach includes a critical fourth element—the recognition that addressing these upstream factors is ultimately not a military operation but a political, economic, and social campaign to meet the basic needs and legitimate grievances of ordinary people: security for their communities, education for children, a job and income for parents, and a sense of dignity and worth.
The extremists know this; wherever governments are unable to provide for the legitimate needs of their people, these groups step into the void. It is why they offer free education to impoverished Pakistani children, where they can recruit and indoctrinate the next generation. It is why Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza provide so many social services to the poor even as they commit heinous acts of terror. It is why the terrorist warlord in Somalia can so easily recruit a destitute teenager who sees nothing but a future of poverty and despair.
President Obama understands that successfully defeating these extremists over the long term requires breaking this bond—exposing al Qaeda as nothing but the death cult that it is and isolating extremists from the people they pretend to serve. Often, the extremists do this themselves. Time and again, their barbarism, brutality, and beheadings have provoked backlashes among ordinary people, from Afghanistan under the Taliban to al Qaeda in Iraq and increasingly in Pakistan today.
Going forward, people must come to see that it is the likes of al Qaeda and the Taliban, Hezbollah, and Hamas—not the United States—that is holding their aspirations hostage; that of all those al Qaeda has killed, most have been Muslims; that the murder of innocent civilians, as the President said in Cairo, is not how moral authority is claimed, but how it is surrendered; that the future offered by extremists is not one of peace but violence, not of hope and opportunity but poverty and despair.
Indeed, it is people in these countries, not the United States, who ultimately will isolate these extremists: governments that provide for the basic security and needs of their people; strong and transparent institutions free from corruption; mainstream clerics and scholars who teach that Islam promotes peace, not extremism; and ordinary people who are ready to choose a future free from violence and fear. Still, the United States can and must play its part. For even as we condemn and oppose the illegitimate tactics used by terrorists, we need to acknowledge and address the legitimate needs and grievances of the ordinary people those terrorists claim to represent.
Which leads to the fifth and final part of the President’s approach—integrating every element of American power to ensure that those "upstream" factors discourage rather than encourage violent extremism. After all, the most effective long-term strategy for safeguarding the American people is one that promotes a future where a young man or woman never even considers joining an extremist group in the first place; where they reject out of hand the idea of picking up that gun or strapping on that suicide vest; where they have faith in the political process and confidence in the rule of law; where they realize that they can build, not simply destroy—and that the United States is a real partner in opportunity, prosperity, dignity, and peace.
That is why President Obama is committed to using every element of our national power to address the underlying causes and conditions that fuel so many national security threats, including violent extremism. We will take a multidimensional, multi-departmental, multi-national approach.
We will use our military power, not only to take down al Qaeda and its allies, but to train and build up the capacity of foreign militaries and security forces—as we are doing from Iraq to Afghanistan to Africa—because if these militaries and security forces can uphold the rule of law, if these countries can take responsibility for their own security, then militias, warlords, and terrorists will find it harder to win sympathizers and recruits with the false promise of security and stability. So the President has increased funding to help build the capacity of foreign law enforcement, border security, and judiciaries.
We will use our power to demonstrate that seemingly intractable problems and legitimate grievances can be resolved through diplomacy, dialogue, and the democratic process. That is why we are supporting national elections in Afghanistan and helping to protect the rights of all Afghans. That is why the President has made clear that our relationship with Pakistan is grounded in support for Pakistan's democratic institutions and the Pakistani people. That is why we support an Iraqi government that promotes national unity and is nonsectarian. And that is why the administration is aggressively pursuing negotiations to achieve the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.
We will also use our economic power to promote opportunity and prosperity. This will help restore people’s hope in the political process and in legitimate institutions. In Afghanistan, this means a dramatic increase in our development efforts—working with the government to end corruption, improve the delivery of basic services and build an economy that isn't dominated by drugs. In Pakistan, it means a billion and a half dollars in direct support to the Pakistani people every year for education, health care, and infrastructure, as well as opportunity zones to spark development in the border regions. And we are harnessing our economic power to make substantial increases in foreign assistance generally—including poverty reduction, global health, and food security—not as a crutch for societies in need, but as a catalyst for development, good governance, and long-term prosperity.
Finally, as I described, we will harness perhaps our greatest asset of all—the power of America’s moral example. Even as we aggressively pursue terrorists and extremists, we will uphold the values of justice, liberty, dignity and rule of law that make people want to work with us and other governments want to partner with us.
Taken together, the policies and priorities I’ve described constitute the contours of a new strategic approach—a new way of seeing this challenge and a new way of confronting it in a more comprehensive manner. The President understands that for the fanatical few, no amount of outreach and engagement will ever dissuade them from violence and murder. So faced with that persistent and evolving terrorist threat, President Obama and his administration will be unrelenting, unwavering, and unyielding in its efforts to defeat, disrupt, and dismantle al Qaeda and its allies.
At the same time, the United States will pursue a more effective and comprehensive approach against the longer-term threat of violent extremism in the five key areas I described.
And at home, we know that we can rely on the extraordinary capabilities of the American people to be fully engaged in our shared effort to protect ourselves. We will not live our lives in fear, but rather in confidence, as we strengthen our ability to prevent attacks and reduce our vulnerabilities wherever they exist. So, just as we work to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat terrorism with a wide range of efforts abroad, we will also strengthen our efforts here at home to create strong and resilient communities prepared to stand together and let the terrorists know that they will never succeed in shaking our will.
In less than four weeks, America and the world will again mark the anniversary of that terrible day in September when so many innocents were ruthlessly murdered as they went about their daily lives. The U.S. government was unable to prevent that attack. But the American people should know: we are doing everything in our power to prevent another one. And eight years on, that mission demands nothing less than the new thinking that President Obama brings to this challenge and the new approach that this administration will pursue in the years ahead as we fulfill our single most important responsibility—ensuring the safety and security of the American people.
Thank you very much.
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
-----------------------------------------------------------------
For Immediate Release                                                           August 5, 2009

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
ON THE ECONOMY

Monaco Coach,
Wakarusa, Indiana

11:55 AM. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you so much.  Well, it is wonderful to be in Wakarusa.  Thank you so much for the wonderful welcome.  Herman, thanks for the great introduction.  It is great to be back in Indiana.  (Applause.)  This is as close as I've gotten to home in a while.  (Laughter.) 

And I flew out here with somebody who I think the people of Indiana have known for a long time, have trusted for a long time because he's fighting for working families in Indiana each and every day -- and that is our great Senator, Evan Bayh.  Please give Evan a big round of applause.  (Applause.)
And it's nice to get out of Washington and spend some time with people who actually sent me to Washington.  (Applause.)  Too often, there are those in Washington who focus on the ups and downs of politics.  But my concern is the ups and downs in the lives of the American people:  the families feeling the pain of this recession; the folks I've met across this country who've lost jobs and savings and health insurance, but haven't lost hope; the men and women who still believe in the capacity, the ability of this nation to meet the challenges of our times.
     Now, these are challenges you know all too well here in Wakarusa and in Elkhart County.  This area has been hit with a perfect storm of economic troubles.  Over the last few decades, you've borne the brunt of a steadily weakening of American manufacturing in the face of global competition.  You've felt the impact of the struggles of American auto industry and the repercussions that have hit the Midwest especially hard.  And you're living every day with the consequences of this recession and the financial meltdown, and you've felt it in the form of lost jobs and lost savings.
    
So as a result, the Elkhart area has experienced the second greatest increase in the rate of unemployment in the country -– up 10 points in a year.  It's an astonishing statistic.  And there have been times where nearly one in five people in this area have been looking for work.  You've seen factories close, and your sons and daughters move away in searches of jobs and opportunity.  So this is more than an economic crisis.  This goes to the heart and soul of a community.  It tests the strength of families and the spirit of good people -- hardworking folks who've given their all to a company and now don't know where to turn.
There are some who see what's taking place here and suggest that it's all somehow inevitable, and that the only way for America to get ahead is for places like Elkhart to be left behind.  You hear that argument sometime in Washington.  But I know and you know that the truth is exactly the opposite.  I'm here because I believe our ability to recover –- and to prosper –- as a nation depends on what happens in communities just like this one.  (Applause.)  
    
The battle for America's future will be fought and won in places like Elkhart and Detroit, Goshen and Pittsburgh, South Bend, Youngstown –- in cities and towns across Indiana and across the Midwest and across the country that have been the backbone of America.  It will be won by making places like Elkhart what they once were and can be again –- and that's centers of innovation and entrepreneurship and ingenuity and opportunity; the bustling, whirring, humming engines of American prosperity.
 
For as the world grows more competitive, we can't afford to run the race at half-strength or half-speed.  If we hope to lead this century like we did the last century, we have to create the conditions and the opportunities for places like Elkhart to succeed.  We have to harness the potential –- the innovative and creative spirit –- that's waiting to be awakened all across America.  That's how we'll rebuild this economy stronger than before:  strong enough to compete in the global economy; strong enough to avoid the cycles of boom and bust that have wreaked so much havoc on our economy; strong enough to support the jobs of the 21st century; and strong enough to unleash prosperity for everybody, not just some.   
     But before we can rebuild our economy for tomorrow, we have to rescue it today.  Now, that's why we passed a Recovery Act less than one month after I took office –- and we did so without any of the earmarks or pork-barrel spending that's so common in Washington, D.C.  And let me just talk about the so-called stimulus package, or the Recovery Act, because there's been a lot of misinformation out there about the Recovery Act.  Let me tell you what it is and what it's not. 
`The plan was divided into three parts.  One-third of the money has gone to tax relief for families and small businesses.  One-third of the money is cutting people's taxes.  For Americans struggling to pay rising bills with shrinking wages, we kept a campaign promise to put a middle-class tax cut in the pockets of 95 percent of working families -- (applause) -- a tax cut that began showing up in paychecks of 4.8 million Indiana households about three months ago. 
We also cut taxes for small businesses on the investments that they make.  And more than 425 small businesses in Indiana have received SBA loans through the recovery package.  So that's -- one-third of the money was tax cuts.
Another third of the money in the Recovery Act has been for emergency relief that is helping folks who've borne the brunt of this recession.  For Americans who were laid off, we expanded unemployment benefits –- and that's already made a difference for 12 million Americans, including 220,000 folks right here in Indiana.  We're making health insurance 65 percent cheaper for families relying on COBRA while looking for work.  Some of you know people who lost their jobs, were worried about losing their health care, couldn't afford COBRA -- we were able to reduce their costs by 65 percent so they could keep their health care while they looking for jobs. 
And for states facing historic budget shortfalls, we provided assistance that has saved the jobs of tens of thousands of teachers and public -- and police officers and other public servants so that you wouldn't see the recession get even worse. 
So that's the second half.  First half, tax relief.  Second half, support for individuals, small businesses, and states that had fallen on hard times.
The last third of the Recovery Act -- and that's what we're going to talk about here today -- is for investments that are not only putting people back to work in the short term, but laying a new foundation for growth and prosperity in the long run.  These are the jobs of building the future of America:  upgrading our roads and our bridges; renovating schools and hospitals.  The Elkhart area has seen the benefits:  Dozens were employed to resurface the runway at Elkhart Airport; a four-mile stretch of highway is being upgraded on US-33; the Heart City Health Center has received recovery dollars to expand services and hire additional staff.
And as part of the recovery plan, we're making a historic commitment to innovation.  The Recovery Act creates jobs doubling our capacity to generate renewable energy; building a new smart grid that carry electricity from coast to coast; laying down broadband lines and high-speed rail lines; and providing the largest boost in basic research in history –- to ensure that America leads in the breakthrough discoveries of the new century, just as we led in the last.  Because that's what we do best in America -- we turn ideas into inventions, and inventions into industries.
Now, history should be our guide.  The United States led the world's economies in the 20th century because we led the world in innovation.  Today, the competition is keener; the challenge is tougher; and that's why innovation is more important than ever.  That's the key to good, new jobs in the 21st century.  That's how we will ensure a high quality of life for this generation and future generations.  With these investments, we're planting the seeds of progress for our country, and good-paying, private-sector jobs for the American people.
So that's why I'm here today -- to announce $2.4 billion in highly competitive grants to develop the next generation of fuel-efficient cars and trucks powered by the next generation of
battery technologies all made right here in the U.S. of A.  (Applause.)  Right here in America.  (Applause.)  Made in America.  (Applause.)
For too long, we failed to invest in this kind of innovative work, even as countries like China and Japan were racing ahead.  That's why this announcement is so important:  This represents the largest investment in this kind of technology in American history. 
See, I'm committed to a strategy that ensures America leads in the design and the deployment of the next generation of clean-energy vehicles.  This is not just an investment to produce vehicles today; this is an investment in our capacity to develop new technologies tomorrow.  This is about creating the infrastructure of innovation.
Indiana is the second largest recipient of grant funding, and it's a perfect example of what this will mean.  You've got Purdue University, Notre Dame, Indiana University, and Ivy Tech, and they're all going to be receiving grant funding to develop degree and training programs for electric vehicles.  That's number one.  (Applause.)  We've got EnerDel, a small business in Indianapolis that will develop batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles.  You've got Allison Transmission in Indianapolis, Delphi in Kokomo, Remy in Pendleton, and Magna located in Muncie, all who will help develop electric-drive components for commercial and passenger vehicles.
And right here in Elkhart County, Navistar –- which has taken over two Monaco Coach manufacturing facilities -– will receive a $39 million grant to build 400 advanced battery electric trucks -- (applause) -- with a range of a hundred miles, like the trucks here today.  (Applause.)  Just a few months ago, folks thought that these factories might be closed for good.  But now they're coming back to life. 
AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Thank you!
THE PRESIDENT:  You're welcome.  (Laughter.)  Thank the American people.  (Applause.) 
The company estimates that this investment will help create or save hundreds of jobs in the area.  And already, folks like Herman are being rehired.  So, overall, the companies believe these investments in battery technology will save or create thousands of Hoosier jobs.  And I want to point out these thousands of jobs wouldn't be possible if it weren't for the leaders in Congress who supported the Recovery Act -- leaders like Evan Bayh and Joe Donnelly, who's here today.  (Applause.)   And Andre Carson and Brad Ellsworth and Peter Visclosky.  (Applause.)  And these grants will create tens of thousands of jobs all across America.
In fact, today, Vice President Biden is announcing grant winners in Michigan.  Members of my Cabinet are fanning out across the country announcing recipients elsewhere.  We're providing the incentives to those businesses –- large and small –- that stand ready to help us lead a new clean-energy economy by developing new technologies for new kinds of vehicles. 
See, I don't want to just reduce our dependence on foreign oil and then end up being dependent on their foreign innovations.  I don't want to have to import a hybrid car -- I want to be able to build a hybrid car here.  (Applause.)  I don't want to have to import a hybrid truck -- I want to build a hybrid truck here.  (Applause.)  I don't want to have to import a windmill from someplace else -- I want to build a windmill right here in Indiana.  (Applause.)  I want the cars of the future and the technologies that power them to be developed and deployed right here, in America.
And that's just the beginning.  In no area will innovation be more important than in the development of new ways to produce, use, and save energy.  So we're not only doubling our capacity to generate renewable energy and building a stronger and smarter electric grid.  We've helped reach an agreement to raise fuel economy standards.  And for the first time in history, we passed a bill to create a system of clean energy incentives which will help make renewable energy the profitable kind of energy in America -– while helping to end our dependence on foreign oil and protect our planet for future generations. 
The bill passed the House; we're now working to pass legislation through the Senate.  Because we know that real innovation depends not on government, but on the generative potential of the American people.  If the American people get a clear set of rules, if they know what's needed, what challenges we've got to meet, they'll figure out how to do it.
 
In fact, that's why our budget makes the research and experimentation tax credit permanent -- the R&D tax credit.  This is a tax credit that helps companies afford what are sometimes very high costs in developing new ideas and new technologies and new products –- and that means new jobs.  This tax credit returns $2 to the economy for every $1 we spend.  And for a long time we were just trying to renew it once every year, and companies didn't know whether or not they were going to be able to get it for the next year.  That's changed.  We've now made it permanent. 
I've also proposed reducing to zero the capital gains tax for investments in small or startup businesses.  Because small businesses are innovative businesses; small businesses produce 13 times more patents per employee than large companies.
Of course, in order to lead in the global economy and ensure that our businesses can grow and innovate, we also have to pass health insurance reform that brings down costs.  (Applause.)  Reform that brings down costs and provides more security for folks who have insurance, and affordable options for those who don't.  I promise you:  We will pass reform by the end of this year because the American people need it.  (Applause.)  The American people need some relief.  (Applause.)  We're going to have to make it happen.
In fact, the recovery plan began the process of reform by modernizing our health care infrastructure.  We took some long-overdue step of computerizing America's health records, which can reduce all the waste and errors that cost billions of dollars and thousands of lives –- while protecting patients' privacy.  It's important also to know that these records hold the potential of offering patients the chance to be more active participants in the prevention and treatment of illnesses.  You won't have to fill out the same form a dozen times.  You won't have to rely on your memory when talking to your doctor about your medical history.  All those things make people healthier, but they also reduce your costs, lower your premiums, give you more security in your health care.
Now, in addition to energy, and in addition to health care, we also know that the nation that out-educates us today will out-compete us tomorrow.  So we're making a historic commitment to strengthening and improving education, from cradle through career.  Right now, our schools continue to trail many of our competitors.  And that's why I've challenged states to dramatically improve achievement by raising standards and modernizing science labs, upgrading curriculum, forming new partnerships to promote math and science, and improving the use of technology in the classroom.
And I've set this goal:  In the next decade –- by 2020 –- America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.  (Applause.)  We used to be number one.  We will be number one again when it comes to college graduates.  (Applause.) 
Now, to reach this goal, we've provided tax credits and grants to make college education more affordable and we've made a historic commitment to community colleges, which are the unsung heroes in America's education system.  America can and must have the best-educated, highest-skilled workforce in the world -- because if we're building new cars here in America, if we're building a new clean-energy grid in America, then we're also going to need to build engineers in America, and scientists in America, and skilled technicians right here in America.  So all these pieces end up fitting together.
Energy and innovation, health care and education -- these are the pillars of the new foundation that we have to build.  This is how we won't just rescue the economy, but we're going to rebuild it stronger than before. 
Now, there are a lot of people out there those who are looking to defend the status quo.  There are those who want to seek political advantage.  They want to oppose these efforts.  Some of them caused the problems that we got now in the first place, and then suddenly they're blaming other folks for it.  (Applause.)  They don't want to be constructive.  They don't want to be constructive; they just want to get in the usual political fights back and forth.  And sometimes that's fed by all the cable chatter on the media. 
But you and I know the truth.  We know that even in the hardest times, against the toughest odds, we have never surrendered.  We don't give up.  We don't surrender our fates to chance.  We have always endured.  We have worked hard, and we have fought for our future.  Our parents had to fight for their future; our grandparents had to fight for their future.  That's the tradition of America.  This country wasn't built just by griping and complaining.  It was built by hard work and taking risks.  (Applause.)  And that's what we have to do today.
So I know these are tough times.  If you haven't lost a job, you know somebody who has -- maybe a family member, a neighbor, a friend.  You know that as difficult as the financial struggle can be, the sense of loss when you lose your job is about more than just a paycheck.  We as Americans, we define ourselves by the work we do.  It's a source of pride; a sense that you're contributing, that you're supporting your family, that you're doing the right thing, that you're responsible.  And the truth is, it can be easy to lose hope, especially when you see a lot of folks out there who failed to meet their responsibilities –- from Wall Street to Washington.  It can be easy to grow cynical when you see politicians say one thing and then do another, or say one thing and then do nothing; when you've seen decades of broken promises and broken politics.
     But this is a rare moment in which we're called upon to rise above the failures of the past.  This is a chance to restore that spirit of optimism and opportunity which has always been central to our success.  We've got to set our sights higher, not lower.  We've got to imagine a future in which new American cars are powered by new American innovation; a future in which cities that led the global economy before are leading it again; a brighter future for Elkhart, a brighter future for Indiana, and for the United States of America.  (Applause.) 
That's what we're fighting for.  That's what this plant is about.  That's what you're about.  That's what we're going to achieve in the weeks and months to come.  (Applause.)
     So thank you very much, everybody.  God bless you.  God bless the United States of America.  Thank you.  (Applause.)
                                           END            12:19 P.M. EDT
 
THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President
--------------------------------------------------------
For Immediate Release                                          August 4, 2009

REMARKS BY THE VICE PRESIDENT ON THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THE RECOVERY ACT

Roosevelt Room

11:35 A.M. EDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  We've just finished a briefing with the economic team about the impact and role of the Recovery Act in the more optimistic projections that are being -- that we're seeing.  Six months ago we gathered here in the White House, worrying about the U.S. economy and whether or not it was falling off a cliff.  And today, analysts are trying to determine if -- if an official recovery is already underway, or to quote my good friend Larry Summers, he said, "Six months ago we were talking about whether or not this recession was going to turn into a depression.  And now today, we're sitting here talking about whether or not -- not when, not if, but when the recession will turn into a recovery."

So it's a significant change in the last six months.  And that's because we are -- we're starting to see some signs of stabilization in key parts of the economy.  In the final quarter of last year and the first quarter of this year, the loss rate of GDP was around 6 percent.  And in the most recent quarter, GDP fell a much lower rate at 1 percent.  And many economists, many economists -- left, right, and center -- have attributed this in large part to the Recovery Act, one piece of the three-pronged approach that the administration has put together to get this economy moving again.  
The Recovery Act was designed to do three things.  It's been mischaracterized, intentionally and unintentionally, by a lot of people.  It really has three pieces to it.  First is rescue, the second is recovery, and the third is reinvestment.
Now, you know, there's now evidence that it's accomplished the goals it set out to do, or on the way of accomplishing those goals.  After falling the prior six months, state and local spending has increased 2.4 percent last quarter -- and a very unexpected reversal -- that links directly to the fiscal relief we have provided to the states.  Household income has gotten a much needed boost in the last quarter, growing at a yearly rate of almost 5 percent following declines in the previous nine months.  And business investment contracted less than expected as confidence is slowly -- slowly returning to the economy.
Americans are now confident enough that with certain incentives they're willing to start to go out and spend again.  For example, the tax credit for new home buyers has helped stabilize sales and prices of new and existing homes, giving it a boost to, an incentive to -- over 250,000 families have gone out there and purchased a new home without reliance on unsound credit practices of the past.
And the Cash for Clunkers program has been an unqualified success.  It has boosted demand for cars and spurred consumer spending.  And our critics say they don't think this program is helping.  Well, all the economic indicia point to the opposite direction -- it is helping.  I think it would be hard to tell the young family who just bought their first home because of the tax credit or the thousands of people who have just traded in gas guzzlers for more efficient cars that this is having no impact.
Now, don't get me wrong -- we still have a long way to go.  "Less bad" is not the same as "good."  We know that growth in GDP is necessary but not sufficient.  It's not a sufficient marker of recovery.  For one thing, it's not going to occur until there are jobs.  My grandpop used to have the expression, he said, when the guy up the line is out of work, it's an economic slowdown; when you're brother-in-law is out of work, it's a recession; when you're out of work, it's a depression.  Well, it's still a serious problem for millions of unemployed Americans.  Too many people are out of work.  Too many families are in pain.  And when that's no longer the case, that's when we will have recovery.
But I can tell you today without reservation:  The Recovery Act is working.  And when we do recover, when we finish rebuilding, when we finish rescuing the thousands of people -- tens of thousands of people who have fallen into a black hole without our help with unemployment insurance and COBRA and FMAP and the like, when we finish this process we also will have been in the process of having, through the Recovery Act, begun to lay the platform for a much stronger, more stable economy in the investments that we're making through this Recovery Act.
So let me conclude by saying that I think -- and it's a fairly widespread and widely held view -- that the Recovery Act is working, it was necessary, it continues to be necessary, and we're going to see to it we execute the remaining portion of the act with the same kind of fidelity (inaudible).
Thank you very much.
                             END             11:40 A.M. EDT
 
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                                             August 3, 2009
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT OBAMA
AND HIS HIGHNESS SHEIKH SABAH,
AMIR OF THE STATE OF KUWAIT
BEFORE MEETING
Oval Office
1:00 P.M. EDT
PRESIDENT OBAMA: I want to extend my welcome to the Amir of Kuwait. We are grateful for his visit. When I was traveling in the region, the Amir showed me great hospitality, so I'm glad to be able to return the gesture. Although, I have to confess that I think the meal that we're preparing is much smaller than the one he prepared for me.
Kuwait and the United States enjoy very strong bilateral relations. We are looking to make those relations even stronger. Kuwait has been an outstanding host for the United States Armed Forces during its operations in Iraq. And as we transition our operations in Iraq, it's important for us to emphasize not only our gratitude to Kuwait, but also our ongoing commitment to Kuwait's security.
We're also discussing important regional issues ranging from the importance of moving the Arab-Israeli peace process forward, to the situation in Afghanistan, our joint counterterrorism efforts, and our need to emphasize Iran meeting its international obligations. And I'm confident that, based on this conversation and ongoing work between our two countries, that we can strengthen not only Kuwaiti-U.S. relationships, but also to create a more stable region of peace and security in the region.
HIS HIGHNESS SHEIKH SABAH: (As translated.) Thank you very much, Mr. President, His Excellency, for this kind welcome. And I would like to affirm to the American people that Kuwait shall remain a partner of the United States. Kuwait shall remain an ally and a partner of the United States.
At the same time, I'm very delighted to be here with my colleagues during this visit. I also am very delighted to congratulate President Obama on his birthday tomorrow. And I also would like to congratulate him on the finding of the remains of the pilot, the U.S. pilot Speicher, that was lost back during the first war of Iraq.
I also would like to congratulate President Obama on his presidency. We have also discussed various issues of Afghanistan, the issue of Iran, and the issue of the Israeli-Arab relations. I affirmed to President Obama that we are interested in bringing about peace in the Middle East. It is in our interest that peace be brought about. And the indicator is that the recent Arab peace initiative that was agreed upon by all of the Arab parties and states, and we would implement this peace initiative when Israel implements and fulfills its obligations.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Okay. Thank you, everybody.
END
1:08 P.M. EDT
THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
_______________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                                  August 3, 2009

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
ON THE POST-9/11 GI BILL

George Mason University
Fairfax, Virginia

11:20 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT:  Hello.  Thank you.  Please, have a seat.  Good morning, everybody.
AUDIENCE:  Good morning.
THE PRESIDENT:  It is wonderful to see all of you and wonderful to have one of the best partners that anybody could have in elected office, our Vice President, Joe Biden -- thrilled to have him here.  (Applause.)
I want to thank Staff Sergeant Miller for the gracious introduction.  I want to thank President Merten for his hospitality.  There are a couple of people here who deserve all the credit, because they got a very tough bill done -- and part of the reason they were able to get it done was just because of their extraordinary personal credibility.  These are -- one is new to the Senate and one had been there a while, and yet together they formed an incredibly formidable team.  They're both class acts.  Please give a big round of applause to Virginia's own, John Warner and Jim Webb.  (Applause.)
I know that we've got a number of member[s] of Congress who are here and I want to thank them all for their outstanding work.  I want to point out that Senator Mark Warner could not be here, but we appreciate him.  We've got the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, a hero in his own right, General Eric Shinseki, and I want everybody to please acknowledge him.  (Applause.)  And of the original bill sponsors who could not be here today, we've got Senator Chuck Hagel, Senator Frank Lautenberg, Representative Harry Mitchell, Representative Bobby Scott, Representative Ginny Brown-Waite, and Representative Peter King.  All of them worked hard along with the delegation that is present, so we are very grateful to all of them.
I want to join all of today's speakers in thanking those of you who worked so hard to make this occasion possible.  But above all, I want to pay tribute to the veterans who are now advancing their dreams by pursuing an education.
Obviously I'm honored to be here, and to renew our commitment to ensure that the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States of America get the opportunities that they have earned.  I was a proud co-sponsor of the Post-9/11 GI Bill as senator.  I'm committed to working with Secretary Shinseki to see that it is successfully implemented as President.
And we do this not just to meet our moral obligation to those who've sacrificed greatly on our behalf and on behalf of the country.  We do it because these men and women must now be prepared to lead our nation in the peaceful pursuit of economic leadership in the 21st century.
This generation of servicemen and women has already earned a place of honor in American history.  Each of them signed up to serve, many after they knew that they would be sent into harm's way.  Over the last eight years, they have endured tour after tour of duty in dangerous and distant places.  They've experienced grueling combat -- from the streets of Fallujah to the harsh terrain of Helmand Province.  They've adapted to complex insurgencies, protected local populations, and trained foreign security forces.  So by any measure, they are the authors of one of the most extraordinary chapters of military service in the history of our nation.
And I don't make that statement lightly.  For we know that anyone who puts on the uniform joins an unbroken line of selfless patriots that stretches back to Lexington and Concord.  The freedom and prosperity that we enjoy would not exist without the service of generations of Americans who were willing to bear the heaviest and most dangerous burden.
But we also know this:  The contributions that our servicemen and women can make to this nation do not end when they take off that uniform.  We owe a debt to all who serve.  And when we repay that debt to those bravest Americans among us, then we are investing in our future -- not just their future, but also the future of our own country.
Now, this was the lesson that America was sometimes too slow to learn.  After the Civil War and World War I, we saw far too many veterans who were denied the chance to live their dreams -- men who were unable to find in peace the hope that they had fought for in war.
And FDR knew this.  In 1943, before the beaches of Normandy were stormed and the treacherous terrain of Iwo Jima was taken, he told the nation that the veterans of World War II would be treated differently.  He said that they must not be demobilized, and I quote, "to a place on a bread line" -- demobilized "to a place on a bread line or on a corner selling apples."  Instead, Roosevelt said, "The American people will insist on fulfilling this American obligation to the men and women in the Armed Forces who are winning this war for us."
That is precisely what the American people did.  The GI Bill was approved just weeks after D-Day, and carried with it a simple promise to all who had served:  You pick the school, we'll help pick up the bill.  And what followed was not simply an opportunity for our veterans -- it was a transformation for our country.  By 1947, half of all Americans enrolled in college were veterans.  Ultimately, this would lead to three Presidents, three Supreme Court justices, 14 Nobel Prize winners, and two dozen Pulitzer Prize winners.  But more importantly, it produced hundreds of thousands of scientists and engineers, doctors and nurses -- the backbone of the largest middle class in history.  All told, nearly 8 million Americans were educated under the original GI Bill, including my grandfather.
No number can sum up this sea change in our society.  Reginald Wilson, a fighter pilot from Detroit, said, "I didn't know anyone who went to college.  I never would have gone to college had it not been for the GI Bill."  H.G. Jones, a Navy man from North Carolina, said, "What happened in my rural Caswell County community happened all over the country ? going to college was no longer a novelty."  Indeed, one of the men who went to college on the GI Bill, as I mentioned, was my grandfather, and I would not be standing here today if that opportunity had not led him West in search of opportunity.
So we owe the same obligations to this generation of servicemen and women, as was afforded that previous generation.  That is the promise of the post-1911 [sic] GI Bill.  It's driven by the same simple logic that drove the first GI Bill -- you pick the school, we'll help pick up the bill.  And looking out at the audience today, I'm proud to see so many veterans who will be able to pursue their education with this new support from the American people.
And this is even more important than it was in 1944.  The first GI Bill helped build a post-war economy that has been transformed by revolutions in communications and technology.  And that's why the post-1911 -- 9/11 GI Bill must give today's veterans the skills and training they need to fill the jobs of tomorrow.  Education is the currency that can purchase success in the 21st century, and this is the opportunity that our troops have earned.
I'm also proud that all who have borne the burden of service these last several years will have access to this opportunity.  We are including reservists and National Guard members, because they have carried out unprecedented deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq.  We are including the military families who have sacrificed so much, by allowing the transfer of unused benefits to family members.  And we are including those who pay the ultimate price by making this benefit available to the children of those who lost their life in service to their country.
This is not simply a debt that we are repaying to the remarkable men and women who have served -- it is an investment in our own country.  The first GI Bill paid for itself many times over through the increased revenue that came from a generation of men and women who received the skills and education that they needed to create their own wealth.  The veterans who are here today -- like the young post-9/11 veterans around the country -- can lead the way to a lasting economic recovery and become the glue that holds our communities together.  They, too, can become the backbone of a growing American middle class.
And even as we help our veterans learn the skills they need to succeed, I know that all of us can learn something from the men and women who serve our country.  We have lived through an age when many people and institutions have acted irresponsibly -- when service often took a backseat to short-term profits; when hard choices were put aside for somebody else, for some other time.  It's a time when easy distractions became the norm, and the trivial has been taken too seriously.
The men and women who have served since 9/11 tell us a different story.  While so many were reaching for the quick buck, they were heading out on patrol.  While our discourse often produced more heat than light, especially here in Washington, they have put their very lives on the line for America.  They have borne the responsibility of war.  And now, with this policy, we are making it clear that the United States of America must reward responsibility, and not irresponsibility.  Now, with this policy, we are letting those who have borne the heaviest burden lead us into the 21st century.
And so today, we honor the service of an extraordinary generation, and look to America that they will help build tomorrow.  With the post-9/11 GI Bill, we can give our veterans the chance to live their dreams.  And we can help unleash their talents and tap their creativity and be guided by their sense of responsibility to their fellow citizens and to this country that we all love so much.
May God bless our troops and our veterans, and may God bless the United States of America.  Thank you very much, everybody.  Thank you.  (Applause.)
            END                            11:32 A.M. EDT
 
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the First Lady
________________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                                                   July 31, 2009

REMARKS BY THE FIRST LADY
UPON THE RETURN OF THE USNS COMFORT AND USS EISENHOWER

Norfolk Naval Base
Norfolk, Virginia
12:42 P.M. EDT
MRS. OBAMA: Thank you so much. Good afternoon.
AUDIENCE: Good afternoon.
MRS. OBAMA: I am delighted to be here in Norfolk today to welcome home so many heroes. Welcome home! (Applause.)
Thank you Admiral Tidd and Captain Negus for your kind words. And even more importantly, thank you for your service and leadership as commanders of the Carrier Strike Group 8 and the Continuing Promise 2009 mission.
I had the pleasure of meeting Captain Negus's wife Afifi, just now in the photo line, beautiful red dress -- and I know that she represents all of the military spouses who are thrilled to have their husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, and grandchildren back home. Isn't that right? (Applause.)
I would also like to thank Admiral Harvey, Commander of the U.S. Fleet Forces Command, and Vice Admiral Williams, Commander of the U.S. Second Fleet. You are role models for all of us in our commitment to excellence and your dedication to your country and to your sailors.
And I would like to recognize Virginia's First Lady and my dear friend, Anne Holton. (Applause.) Anne and I have become kind of close comrades over the past few years and this is my second trip to the state in little over a week -- I'm hanging out in Virginia a lot. And one of the perks of coming here is that I get to see Anne. And it is wonderful to see you again, thank you for your commitment to this country, and our hugs and blessings go out to your family, as well.
I am honored, deeply honored to be here as we welcome home the crew of the United States Naval Ship Comfort and the sailors who deployed with the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. This is a happy day for the community of Norfolk and the families of these brave men and women. We are standing here among heroes -- military, civilian, American, and foreign.
The Comfort embodies our values by changing lives around the world. The Eisenhower defends our values in the world's most dangerous places. To the nearly 6,000 sailors who deployed with the Eisenhower Strike Group to Afghanistan and the Middle East and are returning to their home ports, we thank you for your service. Each of you have courageously served our country and demonstrated your commitment to upholding America's highest ideals. Your service is emblematic of the values we hold most dear.
And to the crew of the Comfort, with the help of the Department of Defense, the State Department, the USAID, the U.S. Public Health Service, and the health ministries of seven different countries you sailed through rough waters and calm seas, you met people from all walks of life, you healed, you helped and gave hope and represented the best of America's humanitarian efforts. There's a saying that "a ship in harbor is safe -- but that is not what ships are built for." Well, the Comfort may have been built as an oil tanker, but as soon as those red crosses were painted on, it realized its full potential, and that is to bring comfort to those in need, to bring hope to the hopeless, to bring healing to the sick, and security to the insecure.
The Comfort's history is an important part of this nation's story. She's always been there when she was needed most, and her work was made possible by you -- the men and women who served the call. During those tragic days following September 11th, the Comfort was moored in New York and was a haven for relief -- for the workers and the survivors. For those who had just suffered unimaginable terror, her white tower and red crosses were a beacon of strength and compassion on the changed horizon.
During the rains and floods of Katrina and Rita, the Comfort brought hospital beds and shelter to the homeless, the tired, and the weary. She was the light in the storm, a place people could call home after they had lost their own. In some of the darkest hours of American history, she did not fail to live up to the promise of her name: Comfort.
But this ship has done more than just provide help to people here at home. It has also offered its services to those who suffer beyond our shores. For its most recent mission, Continuing Promise 2009, the Comfort brought medical and dental care along with engineering assistance and training programs to countries throughout the Caribbean, Latin America and South America. Doctors treated patients, Seabees built schools, veterinarians cared for animals, and the Air Force band delighted local audiences. The crew formed friendships with each other and with the local residents. More than 100,000 patients were treated on this mission, 1,600 surgeries were conducted, 135,000 prescriptions were filled, and more than 300 pallets of aid were delivered.
But the impact of your efforts didn't end when the Comfort left port. Your legacy continues through the learning that happens in the classrooms that were built. It lives on in the young mothers who learned how to properly care for their first child, in the town that now has fresh drinking water. The things that many of us in the United States take for granted are the things that are most needed in the communities that the Comfort visits: eyeglasses, surgeries for cataracts and people with orthopedic conditions, immunizations, access to vitamins and prescriptions, and basic dental care.
But for all of the serious needs you met, one of my favorite stories is simply about your grace during this mission. I was told that during the Comfort's sojourn in Haiti, the Air Force Band performed with the local St. Pierre Chorale of Port-au-Prince. The band played the stirring hymn "Amazing Grace" and the choir sang the lyrics in French. This union of instruments and voices, of nations and peoples, of histories and hopefulness, truly represents the mission of Continuing Promise 2009 and the humanitarian role of our military. At the core of the chords floating through the hot Haitian air was a message of hope for humanity and of camaraderie with your fellow man.
And my husband often speaks of the ties that bind all people together in the 21st century. At a time when danger and opportunity spreads freely across borders, we know that the security and prosperity of all people is shared. So when the Comfort helps folks meet their basic needs abroad, then we advance the cause of security and prosperity everywhere around the world.
And we're also advancing our values in the most fundamental way that we can -- by living them through deeds as well as words. This is the spirit of service that the crew of the Comfort exemplifies. And we know that it is a spirit that defines those who were on a different kind of mission on board the Eisenhower, as well.
The crew of the Eisenhower has served in support of our missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and around the world. Its planes have flown over 2,000 sorties over Afghanistan. Its ships patrolled the waters for pirates, and aided the heroic rescue of cargo ship captain Richard Phillips off the coast of Somalia earlier this year. Its servicemen and women have demonstrated the courage, the competence, and commitment of the great President and General whose namesake they carry. And they have proven that this generation of American service-members is as great as any that has come before.
We know that the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States have borne an enormous responsibility for their country, and for the peace and security of the world. Now, all Americans must do more to meet our responsibility to those who serve us. And when I talk about those who serve us, I don't just mean those who are wearing uniforms. When a service-member is deployed abroad, we know that their entire family makes a tremendous sacrifice.
That's why this President and this administration have committed to relieving some of that strain that is placed on our troops and their families. The President's budget reflects that commitment through pay raises for men and women in uniform; it reflects it through additional permanent forces in the Army and Marine Corps to reduce the stress of long deployments; it reflects it in support of military spouse career development; it reflects it in improved military housing; and financial assistance to military families who have to sell their homes during the housing crisis and are facing losses.
These investments build on the work of commanders and service members, military spouses and volunteers, professional staff, and community leaders who have helped military life become more family friendly, and they've been doing it for decades.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Fleet and Family Support Centers -- centers like Hampton Roads, that serve more than 259,000 active duty and retired military and their family members with everything from counseling to parenting skills, from financial management to relocation assistance. These are steps that we're taking to make life better for those who serve.
But providing our military and their families with the support that they deserve requires more than good government, it requires active citizens. And this is why I've made it a personal priority to ask all Americans to join the cause of supporting our military families. (Applause.) We must all remember that when our troops are deployed their families are left behind and faced with an entirely different set of duties.
Mothers who tuck their kids in at night and struggle to answer the question, "When is Daddy coming home?" Fathers who wonder how they'll keep their families together, while they juggle ballet recitals and homework and mowing the lawn, all while their wives are serving our country abroad. Children who have to tell their dad about their home-run via teleconference, because he missed yet another softball season. Spouses and parents caring for a wounded warrior or struggling to move forward after losing a loved one.
They have American flags waving on their front porch, they have yellow ribbons on their cars, and Blue and Gold Stars in their windows. These people are our neighbors, they live right down the block; they're our colleagues who sit right down the hall; they're our kids' playmates and the people we see every day on the train to work or in the line at the grocery store. They are all around us. And I have seen the sacrifices of our military families up close. They are the quiet heroes who represent the best in our country.
But yet, according to a recent survey by Blue Star Families, 94 percent of our military families don't feel like their communities know of their struggles. That probably isn't the case in this community, a community like Norfolk -- but in communities without a military presence it's easier to lose sight of those who serve and their families.
So as we welcome home the men and women of the Comfort and the Eisenhower from deployment, and as we celebrate their reunion with their families, let us make a pledge right here today to honor their service by doing more to serve them in our own communities. Let's do simple things, like offer to help with a carpool. Simple things, like bringing over dinner. Simple things, like being a shoulder to cry on or a friend to talk to, be a neighbor, be a friend.
If you own a business or run a company, or help run a business or a company you can help a military spouse get a job or keep a job despite a move across the country, so he or she can continue to build a meaningful career as they sacrifice for our nation. If you have a professional skill such as being a lawyer, a mental health professional, or an accountant, you can provide pro bono services to military families who need your help. If you have the opportunity, just reach out and simply say thank you -- sometimes that goes a long way -- say thank you to the spouses and the children of our military members and thank them for their sacrifice because it is real and it is powerful.
Let's all take the time to be aware of the heroes right in our midst. And by following the examples of the men and women we honor here today, we can all be emissaries of comfort to someone right in our own community.
I want to thank you all so much for allowing me to share in this very special occasion. I told some of the admirals and the commanders that I spoke with earlier that one of the most powerful things that I have been able to do in this role is to get to meet our military. And every single time I meet someone in uniform I am more proud of my country, because people are sacrificing and serving with a level of dignity and honor that we should be proud of. So I will use every ounce of my power in this position to highlight the sacrifices that you make and to rally our country around you. And it won't stop today.
We are grateful to you. We are proud of you. And we are so glad that you're home. Thank you. (Applause.)
END
12:58 P.M. EDT
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_____________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                                               July 31, 2009

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
ON THE ECONOMY

Diplomatic Reception Room
1:23 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I just wanted to say a few words about the economic numbers that we received this morning. The gross domestic product, or GDP, is a measure of our overall economic growth as a nation. This morning, the GDP revealed that the recession we faced when I took office was even deeper than anyone thought at the time. It told us how close we were to the edge.
But the GDP also revealed that in the last few months, the economy has done measurably better that we had thought -- better than expected. And as many economists will tell you, that part of the progress is directly attributable to the Recovery Act. This and other difficult but important steps that we've taken over the last six months have helped us put the brakes on the recession.
We took unprecedented action to stem the spread of foreclosures by helping responsible homeowners stay in their homes and pay their mortgages. We helped revive the credit markets and open up loans for families and small businesses. And we enacted a Recovery Act that put tax cuts directly in the pockets of middle-class families and small businesses; extended unemployment insurance and health insurance for those who've lost their jobs; provided relief to struggling states to prevent layoffs; and made investments that are putting people back to work building bridges and roads, schools and hospitals.
Now, I realize that none of this is much comfort to those Americans who are still out of work and struggling to make ends meet. And when we receive our monthly jobs report next week, it's likely to show that we're still continuing to lose far too many jobs. As far as I'm concerned, we won't have a recovery as long as we keep losing jobs. And I will not rest until every American who wants a job can find one.
But history does show that you need to have economic growth before you have job growth. And today's GDP is an important sign that the economy is headed in the right direction and that business investment, which had been plummeting in the last several months, is showing signs of stabilizing. This means that eventually, businesses will start growing and they'll start hiring again. And that's when it will truly feel like a recovery to the American people.
This won't happen overnight. As I've said before, it took us many more months to fully dig ourselves out of a recession that we now know was even deeper than anyone thought. But I will continue to work every single day and take every step that's necessary to make sure that happens. I also intend to make sure that we don't return to an economy where our growth is based on inflated profits and maxed-out credit cards -- because that doesn't create a lot of jobs. We need a robust growth based on a highly educated, well-trained workforce; health care costs that aren't dragging down businesses and families; and clean energy jobs and industries. That's where our future is. And that's where the jobs are.
Now, one of the steps we've taken to boost our economy is an initiative known as "Cash for Clunkers." Basically, this allows folks to trade in their older, less fuel-efficient cars for credits that go towards buying fewer, more -- newer, more fuel-efficient cars. This gives consumers a break, reduces dangerous carbon pollution and our dependence on foreign oil, and strengthens the American auto industry. Not more than a few weeks ago, there were skeptics who weren't sure that this "Cash for Clunkers" program would work. But I'm happy to report that it has succeeded well beyond our expectations and all expectations, and we're already seeing a dramatic increase in showroom traffic at local car dealers.
It's working so well that there are legitimate concerns that the funds in this program might soon be exhausted. So we're now working with Congress on a bipartisan solution to ensure that the program can continue for everyone out there who's still looking to make a trade. And I'm encouraged that Republicans and Democrats in the House are working to pass legislation today that would use some Recovery Act funding to keep this program going -- funding that we would work to replace down the road. Thanks to quick bipartisan responses, we're doing everything possible to continue this program and to continue helping consumers and the auto industry contribute to our recovery.
So I'm very pleased with the progress that's been made in the House today on the "Cash for Clunkers" program. I am guardedly optimistic about the direction that our economy is going. But we've got a lot more work to do. And I want to make sure that all the Americans out there who are still struggling because they're out of work or not having enough work know that this administration will not rest until the movement that we're seeing on the business side starts translating into jobs for those people and their families.
Thank you very much, everybody.
END
1:29 P.M. EDT
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_________________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                                                     July 31, 2009

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT OBAMA
AND PRESIDENT ARROYO OF THE PHILIPPINES
IN JOINT PRESS AVAILABILITY

July 30, 2009
Oval Office
3:47 P.M. EDT
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, let me express my thanks and appreciation for the visit from President Arroyo. As we discussed during our meeting here and our delegations, the relationship between the United States and the Philippines dates back many years. It is a friendship that is forged not only in treaties and trade relationships and military relationships, but it is also strengthened by very personal ties that exist between our two countries. We are proud to have 4 million persons of Filipino ancestry contributing to our country each and every day, in all walks of life. The fact that we have Filipino veterans who have fought side by side with American soldiers on behalf of freedom -- all those things have strengthened the relationship between our two countries.
I am very pleased that President Arroyo has made such good progress on dealing with counterterrorism issues. She has initiated a peace process in Mindanao that we think is -- has the potential to bring peace and stability to a part of the Philippines that has been wracked by unrest for too long. We are very grateful of the strong voice that the Philippines has provided in dealing with issues in Asia ranging from the human rights violations that have for too long existed in Burma to the problems that we're seeing with respect to nuclear proliferation in North Korea.
I am looking forward to my travels to Southeast Asia, and the Philippines will be the coordinating country in the U.S. relationship with ASEAN, the primary organization -- strategic organization for Southeast Asian countries. And in addition, the Philippines will be sharing the Non-Proliferation Treaty conference that will be taking next -- place next year.
And so we're going to have a busy agenda together working to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons, improving the multilateral partnerships in Asia that can create greater security and greater prosperity for all countries. And in addition, we continue to be grateful for the outstanding contributions that the Philippines has made with respect to U.N. peacekeeping around the world.
So although the Philippines is not the largest of countries, it, in using a phrase from boxing, punches above its weight in the international arena, and we are very grateful that President Arroyo has visited us here today, and we are looking forward to using this meeting as a way of launching even greater cooperation between our two countries in the years to come.
PRESIDENT ARROYO: Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you for inviting me to have this very important conversation here in the White House.
The U.S. is very essential to the economic, diplomatic, and national security of our country. We are very thankful for the U.S. as an important ally in helping to professionalize our military and making it more effective.
Just as important, we are thankful to the U.S. for being such a good ally in our -- working on soft power by helping us build bridges, roads, schools, not only in Mindanao but across the nation. And this assistance of the U.S. has gone a long way in helping us to achieve what we have been able to achieve in the peace process in Mindanao in southern Philippines, and also in our fight against terrorism.
I was very happy to let President Obama know that the Muslim secessionists have agreed, together with a Philippine government panel, to work towards a resumption of formal peace talks, and we're very thankful for the international community, including the U.S., for their assistance in bringing us to this stage.
Internationally, we stand foursquare behind the United States on the position that it has taken with regard to Burma and with regard to North Korea's nuclear adventurism.
We also applaud President Obama for his leadership on climate change, which is so important to the Philippines because we are an archipelagic country and severe climate change is going to be disastrous for our country. We are already feeling the weather pattern changes in the rising seas.
We are also -- finally, may I say that I bring the thanks also of our Filipino veterans for the inclusion of the veterans' benefits in the fiscal stimulus package, something that we have all waited for as a country for the last 60 years.
So I'm very grateful for this opportunity. We thank the Obama administration for the new engagement in our part of the world, and we look forward to a stronger relationship between the U.S. and ASEAN and, bilaterally, a stronger relationship with our two countries.
Thank you, Mr. President.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you so much.
Okay, we're going to take two questions, one from a Filipino reporter.
PRESIDENT ARROYO: Yes.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Yes. This gentleman right here. Is this a good -- (laughter.)
Go ahead.
Q Thank you very much, Mr. President, and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. I am from the Philippine media, sir. It's noted that you're the first Asian head of state to be afforded by President Obama this -- such an invitation. As much as this is your first time to see President Obama in person and you have talked to him, could you kindly share to us, Madam President, your impressions of the American President? (Laughter.)
PRESIDENT OBAMA: I'm sure she thinks I'm much younger looking than she expected. (Laughter.)
PRESIDENT ARROYO: Well, as a person, President Obama is very cordial, warm, and welcoming. And I'm really very impressed about -- of his deep understanding and knowledge of the Philippines and the Filipino people -- the understanding of the close relationship within the Filipino people and the American people.
And we -- I think we connected very well also on our position with regard to Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi, with regard to North Korea and nuclear proliferation, with regard to human rights and terrorism. And we welcome President Obama's reaching out to the Muslim world, and also we are very pleased about his -- the importance that he accords to engagement with our part of the world.
Q Is it considered to be ungrateful if I will not get your reaction? It will be greatly appreciated if you can also give your impression of our President.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, obviously, President Arroyo has done outstanding work on a whole range of issues. She mentioned the areas where the United States and the Philippines are of one accord, but as evidenced here today, she's somebody who knows the issues. She has experience leading the Philippines through some very difficult times. She has expressed a great friendship towards the United States, and aside from her great personal charm -- (laughter) -- we are very appreciative of the concrete ways in which her administration has pursued strengthening ties with the United States. So I'm very grateful for that.
Okay, Jeff Mason.
Q Yes, sir. A double-barreled question for you. First of all, what do you expect to be the main message of the GDP figures that come out tomorrow? And second of all, what do you think will be the main message of your meeting tonight in the Rose Garden?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: On GDP, I don't have a crystal ball and I haven't received the figures yet, but I think if you look at the consensus of economists right now, it confirms that we have seen a significant slowing down of the contraction over the last several months. There are a lot of indicators out there that tell us that job losses, although still way too high, are not at the pace that we were seeing in January or February. Housing prices went up for the first time in three years. The credit system, the banking system, the financial markets generally have settled down. You're not seeing the huge volatility or panic that you were seeing.
And so all of that is a sign that we have stepped away from the precipice. As Ben Bernanke and others across the ideological spectrum have indicated, we were in a position where we could have gone into a Great Depression. I think those fears have abated.
But I suspect that the GDP numbers will still show that the economy contracted in the second quarter, that job loss is still a huge problem. And you don't have to read GDP numbers to see that; all you got to do is talk to the American people who are still losing jobs, losing homes, and worried about their ability to keep their health care and finance their child's college educations. So we're not going to rest until we have seen not just a technical improvement in GDP but until the American people's job prospects, their incomes have rebounded -- and that's going to take some time.
With respect to tonight, you know, I am, I have to say, fascinated with the fascination about this evening. As you know, this idea was prompted when I was talking to Sergeant Crowley, and he said, well, maybe I'll have a beer in the White House someday, and I said, well, you know, I'm sure that can be arranged.
I notice this had been called the "beer summit." It's a clever term, but this is not a summit, guys. This is three folks having a drink at the end of the day and hopefully giving people an opportunity to listen to each other. And that's really all it is.
This is not a -- this is not a university seminar. It is not a summit. It's an attempt to have some personal interaction when an issue has become so hyped and so symbolic that you lose sight of just the fact that these are people involved, including myself, all of whom are imperfect. And hopefully instead of ginning up anger and hyperbole, everybody can just spend a little bit of time with some self-reflection and recognizing that other people have different points of view. And that's all it is.
And so I will be surprised if you guys all make this the lead as opposed to a very important meeting that we just had with one of our most important partners in the world, but the press has surprised me before. (Laughter.)
Thank you very much.
END
4:01 P.M. EDT
THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                                       July 29, 2009

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT TOWN HALL

Broughton High School
Raleigh, North Carolina
 

12:05 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, North Carolina!  (Applause.)  Thank you so much.  All right, please, everybody have a seat.  I am so excited to be back in Raleigh, to be back in North Carolina.  (Applause.)  This is a community and a state that has been so good to me.  (Applause.)  And I know that part of the reason is because I travel with one of your home boys, Reggie Love.  (Applause.)  But I hope it's more than that.

A couple of people I want to acknowledge very quickly.  First of all, I just want to thank Sara Coleman for the wonderful introduction.  Give her a great round of applause.  (Applause.)  She brought me a Cupcake Factory teeshirt -- (laughter) -- but no cupcakes.  (Laughter.)  I mean, I know I've been talking about health care a lot, but I think cupcakes are good for your health. (Laughter.)  So, next time.
I also want to acknowledge the Broughton High School Jazz Ensemble.  (Applause.)  I want to thank Gardner Taylor for the invocation -- (applause) -- Tom Gill for the Pledge of Allegiance -- (applause) -- Chelsea Cole for the National Anthem -- (applause) -- Del Burns, our Wake County Public Schools Superintendent.  (Applause.)
I want to thank Stephen Mares, the Broughton High School principal.  (Applause.)  I want to thank your own Governor, Bev Perdue, who is here.  (Applause.)  Unfortunately, Senator Kay Hagan, Senator Richard Burr, and Congressman Brad Miller can't be here because they're all working hard in Washington.  Give them a big round of applause.  (Applause.)
We also have the Raleigh Mayor, Charles Meeker, is here.  Where's Charles?  There he is, right here.  (Applause.)  We've got the Speaker of the House right here.  Give them a big round of applause.  (Applause.)  I hear that the former governor, Jim Hunt, is in the hall -- right?  (Applause.)
There are a lot of elected officials, I'm starting to get into trouble.  (Laughter.)  So I'm going to stop there and just say thank you to all of them for their outstanding service.
It is not only great to be back in Raleigh, it is also nice to get out of Washington.  (Laughter.)  With all the noise and the fussing and the fighting that goes on, it's pretty easy for the voices of everyday people to get lost, and for folks to forget why they're there.
So when I took office in January, I asked to receive 10 letters -- to see 10 letters from people across the country every day.  They're just selected by the mail room.  We get about 40,000 letters a day; they send me about 10 a day, and I read through them.  And some of them are heartbreaking, people talking about the tough times they're going through; some of them are inspiring.  Most of the letters these days are about one thing, and that's the economy.  So this is a town hall meeting, but before I take your questions, I want to spend a few minutes just talking about where we are and where we need to go on the economy.
I don't know whether you've seen the latest cover of Newsweek magazine on the rack at the grocery store, but the cover says, "The Recession is Over."  Now, I imagine that you might have found the news a little startling.  (Laughter.)  I know I did.  Here is what's true.  We have stopped the freefall.  The market is up and the financial system is no longer on the verge of collapse.  (Applause.)  That's true.  We're losing jobs at half the rate we were when I took office six months ago.  (Applause.)  We just saw home prices rise for the first time in three years, so there's no doubt that things have gotten better. (Applause.)
We may be seeing the beginning of the end of the recession.  But that's little comfort if you're one of the folks who have lost their job and haven't found another.  Unemployment in North Carolina is over 10 percent today.  A lot of small businesses like Sara's are still struggling with falling revenue and rising costs.  Health care premiums, for example, are rising twice as fast as wages, and much more for small businesses -- something that I'll talk about a little bit later.  So we know the tough times aren't over.  But we also know that without the steps we have already taken, our troubled economy -- and the pain it's inflicting on North Carolina families -- would be much worse.
So let's look at the facts.  When my administration came into office, we were facing the worst economy of our lifetimes.  We were losing an average of 700,000 jobs per month.  It was nearly impossible to take out a home loan or an auto loans or a  student loan and loans for small business to buy inventory and make payroll.  And economists across the ideological spectrum -- conservatives and liberals -- were fearing the second coming of a Great Depression.
At the time, there were some who thought doing nothing was somehow an option.  I disagreed.  We knew that some action was required.  We knew that ending our immediate economic crisis would require ending the housing crisis where it began, or at least slowing down the pace of foreclosures.  That's why we took unprecedented action to stem the spread of foreclosures by helping responsible homeowners stay in their homes and pay their mortgages.  We didn't stop every foreclosure; wouldn't help every single homeowner who had gotten overextended.  But folks who could make their payments with a little bit of help, we were able to keep them in their homes.
Ending this immediate crisis also required taking steps to avert the collapse of our financial system, which, as Federal Chairman Bernanke said the other day, was a real possibility.  Now, let me just say this about banks.  I know it didn't seem fair to many Americans to use tax dollars to stabilize banks that took reckless risks and helped to cause this problem in the first place.  It didn't seem fair to me, either.  And even though the bank bailout began under the previous administration, and I wasn't always happy with the lack of accountability when it was first begun, I do believe that it was actually necessary to step in, because by unlocking frozen credit markets and opening up loans for families and businesses, we helped stop a recession from becoming a depression.  And by the way, taxpayers are already being paid back by the banks -- with interest.
We also took steps to help a struggling auto industry emerge from a crisis largely of its own making.  Again, some folks thought, why are we doing that?  There was a strong argument to let General Motors and Chrysler go under, and I know many of you probably share that view.  And if we had been in ordinary times  - not teetering on the brink of depression -- we might have exercised other options, because if you make a series of bad decisions that undermine your company's viability, the folks back here, they probably wouldn't get bailed out, your company wouldn't be in business.  And many folks didn't see why these companies should be treated any differently.  But in the midst of a recession, their collapse would have wreaked even worse havoc across our economy. 
So I said if GM and Chrysler were willing to do what was necessary to make themselves competitive, and if taxpayers were repaid every dime they put on the line, it was a process worth supporting.  We saved hundreds of thousands of jobs as a result. And we expect to get our money back. 
     Now, even as we worked to address the crisis in our banking sector, in our housing market, in our auto industry -- and by the way, there was a flu that came by during that process -- (laughter) -- we also began attacking our economic crisis on a broader front.  Less than one month after taking office we enacted the most sweeping economic recovery package in history.  And by the way, we did so -- (applause) -- we did so without any earmarks or wasteful pork barrel projects, pet projects, that we've become accustomed to.  Not one was in there.  (Applause.)
     Now, there's a lot of misinformation about the Recovery Act or the stimulus, whatever you want to call it.  So let me just lay out the facts, because I think some folks are confused.  As I was driving in, everybody was -- there were some folks cheering and then were some folks with signs.  (Laughter.)  So I hope they're paying attention, because I want to make sure everybody understands exactly what the Recovery Act was all about.
To date, roughly a quarter of the Recovery Act's funding has been committed; over 30,000 projects have been approved; thousands have been posted online, as part of an effort to uphold the highest standards of transparency and accountability when it comes to our economic Recovery Act.
Now, the Recovery Act is divided into three parts.  And I know a lot of people think, oh, this is just blown-up government and wasting money.  Let me describe exactly where this money went, just so if your friends or neighbors talk to you, you can give them the right information. 
One-third of the entire Recovery Act is for tax relief for you, for families and small businesses -- one-third of it.  (Applause.)  Ninety-five percent of you got a tax cut.  You may not notice it -- (laughter) -- because it's appearing in your paycheck on a weekly -- every time you get a paycheck, as opposed to you getting a lump sum.  Because it turned out that by spreading it out, it had more of a potential to stimulate the economy.  That's what the economists advised us to do.  But a third of it is going to tax breaks, to individuals and small businesses.  That's money in your pocket to buy cupcakes and other necessities of life.  (Laughter.)
So for Americans struggling to pay rising bills with shrinking wages, we have kept a campaign promise to put a middle class tax cut in the pockets of 95 percent of working families -- that began showing up in your paycheck about three months ago.  (Applause.)  We also cut taxes for small businesses on the investments that they make.
So just remember this, one-third of it -- if you think about the recovery, it was a little under $800 billion -- a third of it went to tax cuts.  And all those folks who are complaining about growing government and all that stuff -- we are actually cutting your taxes; giving your money back so you can spend it.  That's a third.
Another third of the money in the Recovery Act is for emergency relief that is helping folks who've borne the brunt of this recession.  For Americans who were laid off, we expanded unemployment benefits -- a measure that's already made a difference for 12 million Americans.  (Applause.)  So we extended unemployment insurance; that's made a difference in 12 million Americans, including 300,000 folks here in North Carolina who would have been cut off from unemployment insurance if we hadn't extended it.  (Applause.) 
We're making health insurance 65 percent cheaper for families who were relying on COBRA while looking for work.  (Applause.)  So let me just see a show of hands.  How many people know what COBRA is?  All right.  So you know that if you lose your job, you're allowed to keep your health insurance by paying premiums through COBRA.  Here's the problem:  If you've lost your job and your premium is $1,000 right at a time when you've got no job, it's hard to come up with that money, right?  So what we did in the recovery package was to say, we're going to give -- 65 percent of those costs we will pick up so that you can keep your health insurance while you're looking for a job.  (Applause.)
And for states who were facing historic budget shortfalls -- I was just talking to the Governor and the Speaker.  We provided assistance that has saved the jobs of tens of thousands of teachers and police officers and firefighters.  (Applause.) 
     So that's the second third.  I just want to remind everybody:  first third, tax cuts; second third was providing emergency relief to families who had lost their jobs, for their insurance, and to support them with unemployment insurance, and states that otherwise would have billions of dollars in shortfalls. 
Now, that's two-thirds of the money of the Recovery Act.  And if we hadn't put that in place, imagine the situation that people would be going through right now.  It would be a lot worse, and the states would be going through a lot tougher times, having to make cuts that they don't want to make. 
     All right, so this brings us to the last third -- and this is where the critics will say, okay, well maybe we agree with the tax cuts, maybe we agree with the assistance to the states and individuals, but what about that last third, all those investments?  Well, you know what, we decided that the last third should be for short-term and long-term investments that are putting people back to work, and build a stronger economy for the future.  (Applause.)  
     And I want you to know this money is not being wasted.  We're seeing the results of these investments here in Raleigh and across North Carolina.  The Beltline is being resurfaced between Wake Forest Road and Wade Avenue.  (Applause.)  The Raleigh Durham Airport is renovating its runways.  (Applause.)  The City of Raleigh's transit system is building a new operations and maintenance facility.  (Applause.)  Over 500 people are going to work as part of a summer youth work initiative.  (Applause.)  Water treatment plants are being renovated throughout the Triangle.
     These are the kinds of projects being launched across the country -- to rebuild crumbling roads and highways and bridges and waterways -- with the largest new investment in our national infrastructure since Eisenhower built the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s.  And that puts people to work right away, but it also creates a long-term, sustainable economic future.
Now, I know that there are some critics in Washington -- maybe out there -- (laughter) -- they say, well, you've been too slow getting these projects started.  They're saying we should have broken ground on all our highway projects on the first day. Well, that's impossible, especially because I wanted to be sure we did our homework and invested our tax dollars only in those projects that actually created jobs and jumpstarted our economy. (Applause.) 
So we knew that it was going to take a few months before these projects got online.  That takes time -- if you're going to do it right.  And we've already eliminated wasteful projects that didn't meet this test -- because every taxpayer should have the assurance that we're investing their hard-earned tax dollars responsibly.
So just remember, if somebody asks you about the stimulus or the recovery:  one-third of it is in your pocket in tax cuts; one-third of it is unemployment insurance relief, help on COBRA, and making sure that states don't have to make cuts that would make things worse; one-third of it, investments in roads and bridges, putting people back to work.  So it will take time to achieve a complete recovery.  We're not going to rest until anyone who's looking for work can find a job.  (Applause.)  But there should be little debate that the steps we took, taken together, have helped stop our economic freefall.
That's the story of the first six months.  It's cost some money to do this, although I've got to say, when I hear critics talk about out-of-control spending, I start scratching my head.  I can't help but remember those same critics contributed to a $1.3 trillion deficit that I inherited when I took office.  (Applause.)  I mean, seriously.  I'm now President so I'm responsible for solving it, but I do think we shouldn't have a selective memory -- (laughter) -- in terms of spending habits.  You hand me a $1.3 trillion bill and then you're complaining six months later because we haven't paid it all back.  (Applause.) 
A debt, by the way, that was partially a result of two tax cuts that went primarily to the wealthiest few Americans and a Medicare drug program that wasn't paid for.  (Applause.)  These are the same folks who are now complaining about, well, health care, we can't afford health care.  You passed the prescription drug plan -- didn't pay for it -- (applause) -- handed the bill to me.
Now, because of that debt, a lot of people are saying we can't go any further in tackling our problems; we definitely can't do health care -- too much debt, too big deficits.  Look, I understand the concern about debt.  I have to -- I'm looking at these spreadsheets every day.  We dug ourselves a deep hole.  And because of the recovery package that we put together, that has added to it.  So we now have problems.  We're going to have to tighten our belt.  But we can't do it in the middle of the stimulus.  We can't do it in the middle -- just as the economy is coming out of recession.  No economist would recommend that. 
And I do understand people who feel like they've had to cut back, so why shouldn't the government have to cut back; why start a new government program now?  So let me just explain why the health of the American people and the American economy demands health insurance reform.  I want to just explain briefly reform, what it will mean for you.  And then we'll start taking questions.
     First of all, nobody is talking about some government takeover of health care.  I'm tired of hearing that.  (Applause.) I have been as clear as I can be.  Under the reform I've proposed, if you like your doctor, you keep your doctor.  If you like your health care plan, you keep your health care plan.  These folks need to stop scaring everybody.  (Applause.)  Nobody is talking about you forcing -- to have to change your plans. 
     But if you're one of the 46 [million] Americans who don't have coverage today, or you've got that coverage where you got a $10,000 deductible, so it's basically house insurance, it's not health insurance -- (laughter) -- you pay the premiums so you won't lose your house if you get hit by a bus, heaven forbid -- then you'll finally be able to get quality, affordable coverage.
     But what a lot of chatter out there hasn't focused on is the fact that if you've got health insurance, then the reform we're proposing will also help you because it will provide you more stability and more security.  Because the truth is we have a system today that works well for the insurance industry, but it doesn't always work well for you.  (Applause.)  So what we need, and what we will have when we pass these reforms, are health insurance consumer protections to make sure that those who have insurance are treated fairly and insurance companies are held accountable.
     Let me be specific.  We will stop insurance companies from denying you coverage because of your medical history.  (Applause.)  I've told this story before -- I will never forget watching my own mother, as she fought cancer in her final days, worrying about whether her insurer would claim her illness was a preexisting condition so they could wiggle out of paying for her coverage.  How many of you have worried about the same thing?  (Applause.)  A lot of people have gone through this.  Many of you have been denied insurance or heard of someone who was denied insurance because they got -- had a preexisting condition.  That will no longer be allowed with reform.  (Applause.)  We won't allow that.  (Applause.)  We won't allow that.
With reform, insurance companies will have to abide by a yearly cap on how much you can be charged for your out-of-pocket expenses.  No one in America should go broke because of an illness.  (Applause.)
We will require insurance companies to cover routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies  -- (applause) -- eye and foot exams for diabetics, so we can avoid chronic illnesses that cost not only lives, but money.  (Applause.)
No longer will insurance companies be allowed to drop or water down coverage for someone who's become seriously ill. That's not right, it's not fair.  (Applause.)  We will stop insurance companies from placing arbitrary caps on the coverage you can receive in a given year or in a lifetime.  (Applause.)
So my point is, whether or not you have health insurance right now, the reforms we seek will bring stability and security that you don't have today -- reforms that will become more urgent and more urgent with each passing year.
So, in the end, the debate about reform boils down to a choice between two approaches.  The first is projected to double your health care costs over the next decade, make millions more Americans uninsured, bankrupt state and federal governments, and allow insurance companies to run roughshod over consumers.  That's one option.  That's called the status quo.  That's what we have right now. 
I want everybody to understand this.  If we do nothing, I can almost guarantee you your premiums will double over the next 10 years because that's what they did over the last 10 years.  It will go up three times faster than your wages, so a bigger and bigger chunk of your paycheck will be going into health insurance.  It will eat into the possibility of you getting a raise on your job because your employer is going to be looking and saying, I can't afford to give you a raise because my health care costs just went up 10, 20, 30 percent.  And Medicare, which seniors rely on, is going to become more and more vulnerable.  On current projections, Medicare will be in the red in less than 10 years.
So that's the status quo.  When everybody goes around saying, why is Obama taking on health care -- that's the answer. That's one option.  I don't like that option.  You shouldn't either.  (Applause.)  That plan doesn't sound too good.  That's the health care system we have right now. 
So we can either continue with that approach, or we can choose another approach, one that will gradually bring costs down; will improve quality and affordability for every American when it comes to their health care; and will help get our exploding deficits under control.  That's the health care system we can bring about with reform.
So back in Washington, there's been a lot of talk about the politics of health care and who's up and who's down, and what it will mean for my party if this -- will my presidency be damaged severely if we don't pass health care.  I keep on saying to people, I've got health care.  (Laughter.)  This is not for me.  (Applause.)
Here in North Carolina you know this isn't about politics.  This is about people's lives.  This is about people's businesses. This is about the future.  (Applause.)  I want our children and our grandchildren to look back and say this is when we decided to take the politics out of it and start doing something for the future of this country.  (Applause.)
I'm going to need your help, Raleigh, let's go do it.  (Applause.)
Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you very much.  All right.  I was getting fired up there at the end.  (Laughter.)  Okay.  So this is the town hall portion.
AUDIENCE MEMBER:  (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT:  Sorry, I can't hear you, sir.  Sir, I'll be happy to take your question, but -- all right, I'll be happy to take your question, but maybe let's do it in an orderly fashion. Thank you, sir, we appreciate you.
Where was I?  Here's what we're going to do.  We're going to go girl-boy-girl-boy -- (laughter) -- we're going to go around the room.  I'm going to try to take as many questions as I can.  If you can keep your answers short -- or your questions short, I'll try to keep my answers short.  And just raise your hand -- I won't be able to get to everybody.  There are people with microphones in the audience, so if you can wait until somebody with a microphone finds you, that way we'll be able to hear your questions.  People with the microphones, can you wave, just so I can see you?  All right, there they are.
All right, so I said girl-boy-girl-boy -- we'll start with this young lady right here.  She's coming with the microphone -- the one in the white blouse.  And please introduce yourself if you don't mind.  Why don't you stand up so everybody can see you.
Q    Okay.  I'm so honored to be here and thank you for taking my question first.  Well, I'm really nervous.  I guess I want to ask --
THE PRESIDENT:  What's your name?
Q    My name is Kim.
THE PRESIDENT:  Hey, Kim.
Q    And I'm here from the Chapel Hill area.
THE PRESIDENT:  Great.
Q    As the wife of a family physician, we see people not only coming into that specialty less and less often, but also leaving that specialty because it's so, so hard as a young family to make that work -- long hours, not great reimbursement, not great pay, with huge amounts of debt when you come out of medical school.  So what are you thinking of to entice more people to come into that speciality?  Because you can insure every person in America and if there's not a physician there to see that person you still don't have health care.  So what are you going to do to entice people to come -- (applause.)
THE PRESIDENT:  This is a great question.  Just so everybody understands what we're talking about here, it used to be that the most common type of doctor was the family physician.  You'd go in and they knew you and they knew your family.  And every once in a while you'd go to a specialist, but basically you were dealing with a family doctor.  Increasingly, the economics of being a primary care physician or a family doctor is a bad deal for a lot of medical students, because they come out with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. 
But it turns out that a primary care physician, as Kim just pointed out, their reimbursement rates are lower; the system doesn't reimburse for things like preventive care.  If they stop one of their patients from smoking, they don't get reimbursed for that.  But they do get reimbursed if they're a surgeon and they have to open up somebody's chest.  Now, actually that first part of it is probably more valuable to the person's health and to the society as a whole, but if it's not rewarded, then fewer and fewer people go into that branch of medicine. 
     If we pass health reform -- when we pass health reform -- then what we're going to -- (applause) -- and more people now have access to the system, it is going to be vital that we increase the number of primary care physicians. 
The best way for us to do it is twofold:  One is to change how we reimburse; changes in the delivery system.  So what we're trying to do is we're trying to say, in all these systems, insurance companies, they should reimburse for preventive care.  If a health system is making sure that a diabetic is taking their meds or monitoring their diet, they should get reimbursed for that, not just getting reimbursed for the $30,000 foot amputation after somebody gets into real medical trouble.  So one thing to do is to change reimbursement so that the incomes of primary care physicians are more comparable with specialists.
     The second thing is to provide scholarships and financial incentives for young medical students who are willing to go into the primary care field.  If you combine those two things -- (applause) -- if we combine those two things, then we can change I think the incentives for a lot of doctors so that we get more and more primary care physicians.
     All right?  Okay.  It's a man's turn.  This gentleman right here.  We've got to find a mic for you.
     Q    Thank you, Mr. President.  My brother is -- he has a family of four and two children.  His daughter is a disabled child -- MS -- and he receives Medicaid.  He managed -- he works a job -- he managed to save $3,000, and at this point Medicaid stopped all benefits helping him.  And I want to know, does your health care plan include reforms for the Medicaid system and these kind of injustices?  (Applause.)
     THE PRESIDENT:  We have reforms for Medicare and Medicaid in terms of the delivery system.  Now, what you're referring to is benefit levels and how they're calculated, and that has not been the central focus of the reform initiatives we've been putting forward.  We're going to have to examine some of those benefit mechanisms.  I have to tell you, though, it's always a little bit tricky because, on the one hand, you're right that your brother should be able to save up some money for emergencies or for a college fund or what have you, and not suddenly lose all their -- the Medicaid benefits.  On the other hand, we've got to make sure that Medicaid isn't used by people who could afford to pay for health care themselves.  So trying to find that balance is always difficult. 
     Without looking at your brother's particular situation, I could not tell you exactly what needs to be done to modify it.  But I do think that under Medicaid and Medicare, we can make the system more efficient, and we can encourage better practices that will reduce the cost overall, so that would reduce cost for taxpayers and reduce cost for your brother.  And that is a goal, I think, that is a win-win for everybody.  It's not going to solve all these problems but it's important. 
     Okay, I'm going to turn back to one of these small businesses.  It's a lady's turn, though, sorry.  (Laughter.)  So we got one right here.
     Q    Mr. President, is this on?
     THE PRESIDENT:  Yes.
     Q    My name is Patty Briguglio.  I own a company called MMI Public Relations.  I have 20 employees and I provide health care benefits for them.  And so I wouldn't blow it, I've written down my question.  What current long-term social program created and run by the government should we look to as a model of success and one that we as taxpayers should be confident that a new government-run health care system would be better than the current system in place?  In other words, what are you going to do differently?
     THE PRESIDENT:  Well, let me say this.  Just in the health care arena, I point to two areas:  Medicare and the VA are both government-run health care programs that have very high satisfaction rates.  Generally, if you look at surveys, they have actually very high satisfaction rates.
     Now, the VA, because it's a self-contained system, meaning that people see patients year after year because they're not -- it's not dependent on what job they have -- they can actually do some things in terms of prevention and wellness and some of the things that I just talked about that have helped to lower their costs and improve quality of care in a pretty impressive way.
     Medicare is a different situation because seniors really like Medicare generally, they appreciate the security that it provides.  And by the way, we're in the 44th anniversary of the passage of Medicare.  Prior to that, senior citizens were extraordinarily vulnerable.  And so it is a successful program.
     The problem with Medicare is the same problem that we have with the health care system generally, which is health care inflation has driven costs up.  That's not unique to Medicare.  In fact, this is something that's important to know -- that health care inflation under Medicare has actually gone down at a -- has actually increased at a lower rate than in the private sector, all right?
     So let me repeat what I just said, because everybody always says, well, government can't run anything.  Medicare costs have gone up more slowly than health care costs in the private sector. So the private insurance that you're getting, you have actually seen your premiums go up faster than Medicare has cost taxpayers, even though seniors have high satisfaction rates with Medicare. 
Now, having said all that, it's all relative.  Medicare still needs to be a lot better and more efficient.  And there are examples of how we can make the entire health care system more efficient.  We know where these examples are -- the Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic, Geisinger, Kaiser Permanente -- there are health systems around the country that actually have costs that are as much as 20 or 30 percent lower than the national average and have higher quality.
     And so the question is, why is that?  What is it that they're doing differently than other systems?  And there are some patterns that start coming into place.  For example, number one is that they have a patient-focused practice where instead of worrying about how they're billing -- so how many tests they're ordering or how many procedures they're ordering -- all they're focused on is the patient.  And part of what helps is their doctors are all on salaries so they don't even know what the economics of any decisions that they're making are.
     Then it turns out you also have a group practice so that when you come in, the family physician, your primary care physician, has already coordinated with all the specialists.  So instead of having to go to four different doctors and four different tests, you go take one trip and you see all of them all at once, and they all help diagnose you and coordinate your care throughout the process.
     They've got health information technologies so that when you take a test, it actually gets forwarded to the next doctor and the next doctor and to the nurse and the pharmacist, so that there aren't any errors.  (Applause.)  So there are a whole range of practical things that they're doing that are improving quality and lowering costs at the same time.
Now, there's no reason that we can't duplicate that in both private and public settings across the board.  But in order to do that we're going to have to change how we reimburse for exams.  So we've got to say to doctors and hospitals, we're not going to reimburse you for the number of tests you provided -- we're going to reimburse you instead for the quality of the outcome.
Here's another example.  Right now we just reimburse hospitals no matter how many times they readmit you.  Now, if you took your car to the shop and they fixed it, or you thought they fixed it, and then two, three weeks later you go back in and they're having to do the same thing, you wouldn't feel good about paying twice for the exact same thing that you thought had been fixed.  But under Medicare there is no penalty to hospitals for having very high readmission rates compared to their peers.
So those are the kinds of things that can be changed.
Now, your broader question may just be:  I don't have confidence in government.  But as I pointed out -- I just want to go back to my original point, Medicare costs have gone up more slowly than private sector health care costs.  That is documented.
Q    Sorry, you do say that we know Medicare has this problem, that they're paying for readmittance.  Why don't we reform that now?  That's a government program.  Why are we allowing that?
THE PRESIDENT:  That's exactly what I want to reform.  (Applause.)  No, no, maybe I'm just -- I don't understand your question.  That's exactly the changes that we want to make.  Those are exactly the changes that we want to make.  That's what we're proposing. 
And what happens when we propose that is, then people start trying to scare you by saying -- I mean, I've got seniors right now who are writing to me -- let me address the seniors in the audience -- I've been getting letters, people saying, I hear that you're going to take my Medicare away.  I've received letters that say, I don't want a government-run program, I don't want socialized medicine, and by the way don't touch my Medicare.  (Laughter.)  No, I do. 
     Because what's happened is, in this debate, on the one hand, people are worried about change -- they're nervous that even though they may not be satisfied with what they have, what we create might be worse; and every proposal that you make, it's very easy to use scare tactics to make people think that you're going to lose your Medicare, we're going to ration your care, et cetera -- this is going to cost way too much. 
     And so part of my job is just to try to get the facts in front of people.  I want to make these reforms that you just talked about as part of the overall change in health care.  And by the way -- here's an important point -- you've been hearing these figures that say, it's going to cost a trillion dollars for this new health care program.  So then of course people think, well, we can't afford that; a trillion dollars, that's a lot of money.  First of all, just to keep it in perspective, that's a lot less than we spend on the war on Iraq, but that's -- (applause) -- but it's still a lot of money.  Two-thirds of the cost to cover everybody in America -- two-thirds of it could actually be paid for by money that's already in the health care system that taxpayers are paying that's being wasted. 
     So let me give you an example:  $177 billion over 10 years is spent on subsidies to insurance companies under something called Medicare Advantage.  There's no showing that seniors are healthier using Medicare Advantage than using regular Medicare, but taxpayers, you fork over an additional $177 billion to them over 10 years.  You take that out, that right there helps pay for millions of people who could get coverage.
So we've already identified $500 billion to $600 billion worth of savings that are already being spent by taxpayers that would help pay for the reforms that we're talking about.  (Applause.)  But you wouldn't know that from watching the news.  And by the way, that -- so a trillion dollars is over 10 years, so that's $100 billion a year -- $600 billion of it already paid for by money that you're already using -- that's already being used, but just not used wisely in the health care system.  That's what we're talking about.  And for that we can have 40 million people who don't have health insurance getting health insurance.
And small businesses, you're already paying health insurance -- so you're already paying; you would get a tax credit -- we're putting $43 billion on the table to help reduce your costs directly, for your care.  (Applause.)  So 95 percent of small businesses would benefit from subsidies if they're already providing health insurance for their employees. 
And if they're not providing health insurance for their employees -- the problem is small businesses typically have a much tougher time getting health insurance and they pay higher premiums because you've got a smaller pool.  You're only 20 people -- it's not like some big Fortune 500 company with a thousand people, they can drive a harder bargain.  You'll be able now to join and access health care through a health care exchange that we set up so that you're able to be part of a pool that can leverage lower prices.  (Applause.)
This is not something that is impossible to do, but we've got to overcome the understandable skepticism that somehow Washington can never get anything right.  I mean, that's the biggest challenge we have right now, is just people sort of generally have skepticism about Washington.  And I -- look, I understand that.  That's why I ran for President, because I was skeptical about what was happening in Washington.  (Applause.)
     All right, it's a man's turn.  This gentleman right up in front here.  He's got a -- he looks quite popular.  Everybody was pointing at him.
     Q    Thank you very much, Mr. President.  My name is Bill Purcell.  I'm one of those primary care doctors you were talking about, a pediatrician.  I also have a little job in the North Carolina Senate.  (Laughter.)  But I can see in my practice a patient and make a correct diagnosis and prescribe the right medicine, but if a patient can't afford the medicine, they don't get treatment.  What can we do about the high cost of prescription drugs in America?  (Applause.)
     THE PRESIDENT:  Since I gave a very long answer on the last one, I'll try to keep this one short.  We pay 77 percent more for prescription drugs in America than any other country does -- 77 percent more than any other country.  Now, if you talk to the pharmaceutical industry, they'll say, well, a lot of the research and development is done in this country, and that's how we're developing the great new drugs.  That accounts for maybe 20 to 30 percent of the difference in the cost.  The rest of it has to do with marketing.  It has to do with the fact that basically the pharmaceutical industry can get away with it. 
And what happened when the prescription drug bill was passed several years ago under Medicare, they specifically prohibited you -- they prohibited Medicare from negotiating with the drug companies for the cheapest available price on drugs; specifically said you cannot negotiate.  So what we've said is, in this reform process, we are going to turn that around.  (Applause.) 
And to the pharmaceutical industry's credit, they have sat down and started negotiating and they've already said -- they've already put $80 billion in deep discounts and rebates on the table that would help to close the so-called doughnut hole that a lot of seniors are suffering under Medicare.  They've already committed to that.  That would cut the costs of the doughnut hole in about half.  So that's a significant savings.  I think we can obtain more savings. 
     One other thing that's being debated right now on Capitol Hill, though, that people need to keep an eye on -- one of the way to lower prescription drug costs is to move to generics.  And the problem right now is, is that the drug companies want, after they've come up with a drug, they want to keep that patent for 12 years.  And there's a debate about can we lower that to seven years before it goes generic so that people can enjoy lower prices on those drugs. 
     Those are some of the debates that will be taking place alongside the health care reform debate.  But overall, there's no reason why we should not be able to at least pay in the ballpark of what other countries are paying for the exact same drug, and that will be a major focus in this health care reform legislation.  (Applause.)
     All right.  It's a woman's turn -- young lady right there who's on the rail.
     Q    Good afternoon, Mr. President.
     THE PRESIDENT:  Good afternoon.
     Q    First I wanted to thank you for your Supreme Court nomination -- I mean, appointment.  (Applause.)
     THE PRESIDENT:  She's going to do well.
     Q    And all the hard work that you've been doing on the economy and with the health care reform.  (Applause.)  I had the opportunity with my family last year to meet you in Bristol, Virginia.  My father gave you the cane to help you out doing the health care reform.  But my current question is, I consider myself an average American.  I worked for a corporate 500 company for 25 years and been unemployed for the past two years.  And I prepared to teach mathematics in the middle school system in my hometown in Virginia, which I haven't gotten the opportunity to do that yet, but I volunteered in the school system and on your campaign.  So my question is, I believe that most average Americans are for the health reform, but they are afraid of change.  So what -- what would you say to the average American, what do you believe the impact or the cost impact is for the average person that needs health care?
     THE PRESIDENT:  All right.  If you already have health care, if you've already got health insurance, then I can't guarantee that immediately you'll have -- your premiums will go -- be cut in half, but what I can guarantee is, is that your costs will be lower than if we don't have reform.  I believe that strongly.
     So if we can just get to the point where your premiums are going up as fast or your wages or your profits or your income, that would be a pretty good deal.  Most people would take that.  And I think that we can start bending the curve on our costs. 
I can definitely guarantee, if you've already got health insurance, that you won't be barred from getting health insurance because of a preexisting condition; you won't lose your health insurance if you change jobs or you lose your job; you'll have more security in the health insurance that you have than you do now.  That will be written into the legislation.  That will be part of the overall reform process.
    
     I can also say with some certainty that if we pass this health care reform proposal, that not only will millions of Americans who don't have health insurance be getting insurance, but it will be much easier for small business owners to provide health insurance for their employees and to get health insurance for themselves -- because a lot of small businesses, it's not just a matter of getting insurance for your employees, it's also just finding insurance yourself.  If you're self-employed, good luck trying to find insurance right now.  And by being able to buy it through a health insurance exchange, you will then be part of a broader group that has leverage over the insurance companies and will be able to get a better deal for you.
So bottom line is your costs certainly will not go up and they very well could go down, depending on the kind of insurance that you have right now.  And if you've got health insurance we're not going to ask you to change it.
Now, it is true -- just full disclosure here -- remember I said two-thirds of this can be paid for through savings in the system already.  If we're going to cover everybody, then we've still got to pay for that one-third.  And that's not an inconsequential amount.  That's somewhere around $30 billion a year over the next 10 years.  And there are a bunch of different ways of paying for it. 
I've suggested that we could pay for it just by reducing the itemized deductions for people who make over $250,000 a year, like myself.  And that right there would -- that would pay for it.  There are other suggestions that are out there and we are still debating those in Washington.  The one thing that I've said is we're not going have middle-class folks bear that burden -- they can't afford it right now.  (Applause.)
So for the average American, you stand to gain significantly if you don't have health insurance.  If you do have health insurance, you will have more security.  And if you're a small business, you will be in a better position to provide health insurance for yourself and your employees over the long term.
All right, I've got time for one more question.  And this gentleman right here has been waiting a long time.
Q    How are you doing, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT:  Good.
Q    Thank you for everything you're doing -- from my heart.  (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.
Q    This is more a political question than a technical question.  I wondered -- I hear a lot, especially the opposition, complaining that they don't have time to read these thousands of pages in your health care plan.  And I was wondering, on the one hand, we've been in this -- all this has existed for a long time; what difference does a couple of months, so we allow them to read it?  And we just, you know, we just don't hear that anymore.
THE PRESIDENT:  Good.  Well, let me just say this about sort of the politics of health care reform. 
     First of all, this bill, even in the best-case scenario, will not be signed -- we won't even vote on it probably until the end of September or the middle of October.  We're just trying to get it -- all these different bills out of committee.  So that means that any one of these senators, if they want to take this bill home with them during the August recess, they would have more than enough time to read it.  (Applause.)
     So, second point:  We've been debating this for 40 years now.  So some of the folks -- some of the folks sincerely want to get it right, and we want to give them enough time to get it right.  We don't want to just do it quickly, we want to do it right.  But some folks specifically said on the other side, the more we can delay, the better chance we have of killing the bill -- because what happens in Washington is the longer it takes, the more the special interests can start getting in there and trying to knock it down.  But --
AUDIENCE MEMBER:  (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT:  Well, we did give them a deadline and sort of we missed that deadline, but that's okay. 
     We are -- here is my promise -- and by the way, I've been keeping my promises since I got into office.  (Applause.)  We will not sign -- I will not sign a health care bill that is not deficit-neutral, that is not paid for; I will not sign a bill that does not have all the reforms that we need to lower health care inflation over the long term.  We will not sign a bill that isn't right for the American people.  (Applause.)
     AUDIENCE MEMBER:  (Inaudible.)  
THE PRESIDENT:  I'm for the public option.  (Applause.) 
So I just want everybody to know, Congress will have time to read the bill.  They will have time to debate the bill.  They will have all of August to review the various legislative proposals.  When we come back in September, I will be available to answer any question that members of Congress have.  If they want to come over to the White House and go over line by line what's going on, I will be happy to do that.  (Applause.)
     We are not trying to hide the ball here.  We're trying to get this done.  But the American people can't wait any longer.  (Applause.)  They want action this year.  I want action this year.  And with your help, we're going to make it happen, North Carolina. 
     Thank you very much, everybody.  God bless you.  (Applause.)
                                           END                1:10 P.M. EDT