Remarks by the President on Reducing Spending in the Budget

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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
__________________________________________________
For Immediate Release May 11, 2009

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO THE 2009 MEN'S NATIONAL BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS,
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA

South Portico

2:12 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Hello. (Applause.) Well, thank you, everybody. Please have a seat. We're not in the Dean Dome here, you don't need to stay standing the whole time. (Laughter.)

I want to, first of all, just acknowledge that we've got a few special guests in the audience. We've got the outstanding new Senator from North Carolina, Kay Hagan. (Applause.) We've got some outstanding members of the House of Representatives, G.K. Butterfield -- (applause)-- G.K! Brad Miller, Mike McIntyre --(applause) -- with his Tar Heels cap on. And we've also got Mr. Roy Cooper, North Carolina Attorney General, and a Tar Heel alum. (Applause.) Where is Roy? He's over there. As well as Kevin Foy, the Mayor of Chapel Hill. There he is, right over there. (Applause.)

Well, welcome to the White House, everybody. And congratulations on bringing Carolina its fifth National Championship. And more importantly, thanks for salvaging my bracket -- (laughter) -- and vindicating me before the entire nation. That first round was rough on me. (Laughter.) But Andy Katz knows that I came through in the end because of you guys. And I want to congratulate everybody who makes this program run -- from the assistants to the trainers, the students to the ticket takers, and Tar Heel fans everywhere -- you should all be very proud. And by the way, I have a few Tar Heel fans on my staff. I see a couple of them standing right here.

I want to offer special congratulations to the seven seniors who graduated yesterday -- Mike Copeland, Bobby Frasor, Danny Green, Tyler Hansbrough, Patrick Moody, J.B. Tanner, and Jack Wooten. I am proud of all of you. Give them a big round of applause. (Applause.)

I have to tell you, everybody on my staff was really excited about the team coming -- except my assistant, Reggie Love. (Laughter.) Reggie did win his own national championship ring while playing at Duke. And at some point he wants to scrimmage with you guys, so we'll arrange for that.

But I want to thank Coach Roy Williams, and his wife Wanda, who is extraordinarily gracious and I just had a wonderful time visiting with them. What makes Coach Williams one of the great coaches isn’t just his extraordinary record, but his dedication to his players. He's just as serious about making these guys into men and into leaders as he is into making them champions.

Now, I did have a chance to play ball with this crew just over a year ago when I visited Chapel Hill. And I'm not sure whose luck rubbed off on who. I think there was just a good vibe going on there, because they're now national champions and I'm now President. (Applause.) And I remember congratulating Tyler on choosing to forego the NBA draft and coming back to get that ring. And after winning the 2008 National Player of the Year and getting a championship ring, I think it worked out pretty well for him. So, congratulations to you again, Tyler. (Applause.) We're proud of you.

Now, when we played, everybody went out of their way to pass me the ball, set screens for me, let me take a shot. Tyler chose not to block my shot -- of course, I was so intimidated by him being near me that I missed it. (Laughter.) There was one exception, though. Jack Wooten -- he stole the ball from me. He blocked my shot. He fouled me once. Coach Williams had to remind him that there were a bunch of guys with guns around. (Laughter.)

But just to show that there are no hard feelings -- Jack, I want to congratulate you. He made Phi Beta Kappa this year -- that's worth applauding. (Applause.) To achieve academic excellence as part of a national championship team is extraordinary. And I know that Jack is interested in public service, and we need more young people like him to be willing to serve our country. So, Jack, anytime you're ready. (Laughter.) Come on board.

I know Coach Williams instills the importance of academics into all these guys, which is why they didn’t just plow through the tournament field; they also had the highest graduation rate of anybody in the Final Four. And what they understood is that being a champion doesn’t stop when you step off the court. In fact, they spend a remarkable amount of their time off the court in service to others.

They hold a Special Olympics clinic every year in which they scrimmage with Special Olympians and teach them basketball skills. Coach Williams has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for North Carolina charities. Every Christmas these guys compete with one another to see who can get the most creative Christmas gifts for underprivileged children who need a little bit of hope.

All of this makes the Chapel Hill community stronger, it makes the state of North Carolina stronger, it makes our country stronger, and I know this team gets a lot of -- a lot out of it, as well.

So it's all a reflection on the great character of the program, but also the great character of the coach -- just one of my favorite people and one of the most gracious individuals you'd ever care to meet.

I want to congratulate you, Coach Williams. I want to congratulate all you guys for an outstanding season. And I got to say also of Ty Lawson, you had an unbelievable series, so congratulations -- playing a little gimpy and still just tearing it up. (Laughter.) So we're very proud of you.

So thank you, everybody. Give these guys a big round of applause. And good luck next season. (Applause.)

COACH WILLIAMS: I coached the National Championship game in front of I think 79,222 people, and I was not nervous at all. And I'm scared to death right now. (Laughter.) But on behalf of Chancellor Holden Thorp, our Director of Athletics Dick Baddour, and the 2009 National Championship North Carolina basketball team, we would like to present to you, Mr. President, your own jersey --

THE PRESIDENT: That's what I'm talking about. (Applause.) Let's step out here -- we don't want to block it from the cameras. (Applause.) All right, thank you so much.

COACH WILLIAMS: And our seniors will also present a plaque that Mr. President did actually participate that morning.

THE PRESIDENT: Participate -- that's a nice way of putting it. (Laughter.)

COACH WILLIAMS: These are our five senior scholarship players that will make this presentation to Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you so much. I appreciate that. Look at that. Barely broke a sweat. (Laughter.) That's a beautiful picture. Thank you so much, guys. (Applause.) Now, if somebody could just present me a jump shot. I need one of those. (Laughter.)

Thank you, Coach. Thank you, everybody. Have a wonderful rest of your visit here at the White House. Appreciate it.

END
2:21 P.M. EDT

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
May 11, 2009

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
ON REFORMING THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
TO REDUCE COSTS

State Dining Room

12:35 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everyone. All right. Well, I just concluded a extraordinarily productive meeting with organizations and associations that are going to be essential to the work of health care reform in this country -- groups that represent everyone from union members to insurance companies, from doctors and hospitals to pharmaceutical companies. It was a meeting that focused largely on one of the central challenges that we must confront as we seek to achieve comprehensive reform and lay a new foundation for our economy -- and that is, the spiraling cost of health care in this country.

They're here because they recognize one clear, indisputable fact: When it comes to health care spending, we are on an unsustainable course that threatens the financial stability of families, businesses and government itself.

This is not news to the American people, who, over the last decade, have seen their out-of-pocket expenses soar, health care costs rise, and premiums double at a rate four times faster than their wages.

Today, half of all personal bankruptcies stem from medical expenses. And too many Americans are skipping that check-up they know they should get, or going without that prescription that would make them feel better, or finding some other way to scrimp and save on their health care expenses.

What is a growing crisis for the American people is also becoming an untenable burden for America's businesses. Rising health care costs are commanding more and more of the money that our companies could be using to innovate and to grow, making it harder for them to compete around the world. These costs are leading the small businesses that are responsible for half of all private sector jobs to drop coverage for their workers at an alarming rate.

And, finally, the explosion in health care costs has put our federal budget on a disastrous path. This is largely due to what we're spending on Medicare and Medicaid -- entitlement programs whose costs are expected to continue climbing in the years ahead as baby boomers grow older and come to rely more and more on our health care system. That's why I've said repeatedly that getting health care costs under control is essential to reducing budget deficits, restoring fiscal discipline, and putting our economy on a path towards sustainable growth and shared prosperity.

We, as a nation, are now spending a far larger share of our national wealth on health care than we were a generation ago. At the rate we're going, we are expected to spend one fifth of our economy on health care within a decade. And yet we're getting less for our money. In fact, we're spending more on health care than any other nation on Earth, even though millions of Americans don't have the affordable, quality care they deserve, and nearly 46 million Americans don't have any health insurance at all.

This problem didn't just appear overnight. For decades, Washington has debated what to do about this. For decades, we've talked about reducing costs, improving care, and providing coverage to uninsured Americans. But all too often, efforts at reform have fallen victim to special interest lobbying aimed at keeping things the way they are; to political point-scoring that sees health care not as a moral issue or an economic issue, but as a wedge issue; and to a failure on all sides to come together on behalf of the American people.

And that's what makes today's meeting so remarkable -- because it's a meeting that might not have been held just a few years ago. The groups who are here today represent different constituencies with different sets of interests. They've not always seen eye to eye with each other or with our government on what needs to be done to reform health care in this country. In fact, some of these groups were among the strongest critics of past plans for comprehensive reform.

But what's brought us all together today is a recognition that we can't continue down the same dangerous road we've been traveling for so many years; that costs are out of control; and that reform is not a luxury that can be postponed, but a necessity that cannot wait. It's a recognition that the fictional television couple, Harry and Louise, who became the iconic faces of those who opposed health care reform in the '90s, desperately need health care reform in 2009. And so does America.

And that's why these groups are voluntarily coming together to make an unprecedented commitment. Over the next 10 years -- from 2010 to 2019 -- they are pledging to cut the rate of growth of national health care spending by 1.5 percentage points each year -- an amount that's equal to over $2 trillion. Two trillion dollars.

Their efforts will help us take the next and most important step -- comprehensive health care reform -- so that we can do what I pledged to do as a candidate and save a typical family an average of $2,500 on their health care costs in the coming years. Let me repeat that point. What they're doing is complementary to and is going to be completely compatible with a strong, aggressive effort to move health care reform through here in Washington with an ultimate result of saving health care costs for families, businesses and the government. That's how we can finally make health care affordable, while putting more money into the pockets of hardworking families each month. These savings can be achieved by standardizing quality care, incentivizing efficiency, investing in proven ways not only to treat illness but to prevent them.

This is a historic day, a watershed event in the long and elusive quest for health care reform. And as these groups take the steps they are outlining, and as we work with Congress on health care reform legislation, my administration will continue working to reduce health care costs to achieve similar savings. By curbing waste, fraud, and abuse and preventing avoidable hospital re-admissions and taking a whole host of other cost-saving steps, we can save billions of dollars, while delivering better care to the American people.

Now, none of these steps can be taken by our federal government or our health care community acting alone. They'll require all of us coming together, as we are today, around a common purpose -- workers, executives, hospitals, nurses, doctors, drug companies, insurance companies, members of Congress. It's the kind of broad coalition, everybody with a seat at the table that I talked about during the campaign, that is required to achieve meaningful health care reform and that is the kind of coalition which -- to which I am committed.

So the steps that are being announced today are significant. But the only way these steps will have an enduring impact is if they are taken not in isolation, but as part of a broader effort to reform our entire health care system. We've already begun making a down payment on that kind of comprehensive reform. We're extending quality health care to millions of children of working families who lack coverage, which means we're going to be preventing long-term problems that are even more expensive to treat down the road. We're providing a COBRA subsidy to make health care affordable for 7 million Americans who lose their jobs. And because much of every health care dollar is spent on billing, overhead, and administration, we are computerizing medical records in a way that will protect our privacy, and that's a step that will not only eliminate waste and reduce medical errors that cost lives, but also let doctors spend less time doing administrative work and more time caring for patients.

But there's so much more to do. In the coming weeks and months, Congress will be engaged in the difficult issue of how best to reform health care in America. I'm committed to building a transparent process where all views are welcome. But I'm also committed to ensuring that whatever plan we design upholds three basic principles: First, the rising cost of health care must be brought down; second, Americans must have the freedom to keep whatever doctor and health care plan they have, or to choose a new doctor or health care plan if they want it; and third, all Americans must have quality, affordable health care.

These are principles that I expect to see upheld in any comprehensive health care reform bill that's sent to my desk -- I mentioned it to the groups that were here today. It's reform that is an imperative for America's economic future, and reform that is a pillar of the new foundation we seek to build for our economy; reform that we can, must, and will achieve by the end of this year.

Ultimately, the debate about reducing costs -- and the larger debate about health care reform itself -- is not just about numbers; it's not just about forms or systems; it's about our own lives and the lives of our loved ones. And I understand that. As I've mentioned before during the course of the campaign, my mother passed away from ovarian cancer a little over a decade ago. And in the last weeks of her life, when she was coming to grips with her own mortality and showing extraordinary courage just to get through each day, she was spending too much time worrying about whether her health insurance would cover her bills. So I know what it's like to see a loved one who is suffering, but also having to deal with a broken health care system. I know that pain is shared by millions of Americans all across this country.

And that's why I was committed to health care reform as a presidential candidate; that's why health care reform is a key priority to this presidency; that's why I will not rest until the dream of health care reform is finally achieved in the United States of America. And that's why I'm thrilled to have such a broad, diverse group of individuals from all across the health care spectrum representing every constituency and every political predisposition who feel that same sense of urgency and are committing themselves to work diligently to bring down costs so we can achieve the reforms that we seek.

So thank you very much to all of you for being here. Thank you very much everybody.

END
12:46 P.M. EDT

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President

For Immediate Release
May 11, 2009

COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS BY THE VICE PRESIDENT
TO GRADUATES, FAMILY MEMBERS, AND FACULTY
OF SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY

Carrier Dome
Syracuse University Campus
Syracuse, New York
Sunday May 10, 2009

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Good to be home. (Applause.) Chancellor, it's good to be -- it's good to be back.

Frank Sinatra, one of the few things I remember he ever said -- not what he sang -- he said, orange is the happiest color. He must have been thinking about Syracuse and today when he said it.

Dean Arterian, dean of my law school, the good news for you is I'm Vice President and not one of your students. (Laughter.) You all think I'm kidding, don't you. (Laughter.) Hey, Colin, I tell you what, you would have loved me. I never had to be told that play was important -- it just came natural to me. It came naturally to me all the way through law school. (Laughter.) Oh, God. (Laughter.) Thank God. (Applause.) Thank God, Dean, when Syracuse gave me the scholarship, they based it on a sense of obligation. (Laughter.)

But it's good to be home. And this field, which used to be called Archibald Stadium when I was here -- this is the place from which I graduated -- the same ground. This field was the scene of two of the happiest moments of my life, most exciting moments of my life.

The first was when I sat in the end zone and watched a man who has become a close personal friend of mine, number 44, Floyd Little, outscore Gale Sayers in a shoot out where they scored a total of eight touchdowns together. You can see my value system. (Laughter.)

And the second was the day that I stood here -- in those days, the law school used to graduate with the undergraduate school -- and I sat here in this field to receive my law degree, at some moments an unexpected event. And let me just say congratulations to all my fellow recipients of honorary degrees today. You all deserve.

It's great to be back at Syracuse. It's an honor to have been invited. It's an honor to hold a degree from this institution. And it's an honor to look at the next generation of Syracuse grads.

I'm sure this is said all the time, but so much emotion and expectation and confidence has been invested in all of you. And today -- today is Mother's Day. Of all the mothers who are here today, let me say to you the spotlight may be on your graduates today, but just know they would not shine nearly as brightly were it not for you. And they know it. They know it. (Applause.)

So I say to all the graduates today, there's a line, a great line I heard. It goes like this: If first you don't succeed, do it like your mom told you to do. (Laughter.) And that goes for you, Jack, or Mister W. (Laughter.)

But, look, that may be the best advice I can give you today. I'm not big in the business of giving advice. But I say to all the moms that are here today -- happy Mother's Day. It's obviously a great day for you. You deserve our thanks and our recognition. And, by the way, if any of have forgotten, immediately leave here and get flowers. (Laughter.)

Look, at the turn of the 20th Century, William Allen White -- a writer, a politician, a national spokesman for middle class values -- said, and I quote, "I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday, and I love today." Well, right now, there’s a line of thought out there that your generation views today with anxiety, and tomorrow with a sense of despair.

But as your class speaker pointed out, I know better -- you know better. You know that you can control your destiny even in these difficult times. Let me first tell you about my yesterday. I, too, graduated from this great university into an uncertain world. The United States was at war in a faraway place, and unlike today America's faith in its leadership was perilously low.

In January of my senior year, when Americans thought the war in Vietnam may be drawing to a close, the Viet Cong launched what you studied about, the Tet Offensive, in an effort to end the war in one single, seismic assault. Two days into the offensive, a bullet fired on the streets of Saigon by a Vietnam police chief went into the skull of a handcuffed Viet Cong soldier as a photographer captured the mayhem. That one bullet not only pierced that soldier's skull, but pierced America’s consciousness as well.

That one photograph, taken by Eddie Adams, brought home to everyone of my generation and my parent's generation that despite the promises we had been hearing, there was really no end in sight. There was no light at the end of the tunnel. That one image contained within its four corners the terror of the times.

Peaceful anti-war demonstrations turned violent in America -- the chancellor's office on this campus was occupied. And the violence in Vietnam exploded, nearly doubling to over 38,000 dead -- the number of our classmates we lost in 1968 in combat deaths.

Then, in March, President Lyndon B. Johnson, a man who coveted the presidency his entire career, decided he would not seek reelection to a job he had geared his entire career to attain.

And only four days later, after the president’s stunning announcement, Dr. Martin Luther King was gunned down in Memphis. The cities, including my hometown of Wilmington, Delaware went up in flames. And a couple of months after that -- only three days after I walked off this field -- one of my personal heroes, Robert F. Kennedy, the hope of my generation, was gunned down in a kitchen in Los Angeles after having been declared the winner of the California primary and our likely nominee. Two fallen American heroes in a matter of weeks, and many more fallen heroes back across the world in Vietnam.

The once-prevailing hope for better days ahead was gone, shot through with pain and grief of a nation that viewed itself on the brink. And, all throughout this great country, a sense of hopelessness and helplessness began to take hold. That was the world I entered when I walked across this stage to receive my law degree. That was the history that, up to that point, had been written for us, not by us.

But in spite of it all, as I walked across this stage like you, I never doubted for one instant that we could change that history; that we could rewrite the outcome we were careening toward. And we did. Four short years later, I sat in the Cabinet room -- five years later -- across from President Ford and Dr. Henry Kissinger -- along with colleagues on the Foreign Relations Committee demanded that the war end. And it did within a matter of weeks after that.

That was 1968. And this is 2009. And now it's your turn. You are graduating into a world of anxiety and uncertainty. You’re walking across this stage without knowing exactly what’s going to be on the other side. But you know that.

Good jobs are hard to find now. Two wars are being waged on the other side of the globe -- a global recession, a planet in peril, a world in flux. Yes, these are the challenges you face. But these are the moments you have an opportunity to embrace.

Throughout the span of history, only a handful of us have been alive at a time when we can actually -- not rhetorically, actually shape the course of history. I call these inflection points. Remember from your physics class. Your hands are on the steering wheel of the automobile. It's going straight. And one slight turn sends the car in a direction fundamentally different and initially unalterable in the direction it's been going in. Few people, few generations get to put their hands on a steering wheel at that moment.

There's not a single, solitary decision confronting us now that doesn’t yield change from non-action, as well as action. My favorite poet, William Butler Yeats, writing about his Ireland in 1960, wrote a poem after the first rising of the 20th century called Easter Sunday 1916. In it, there was a line that's more applicable, in my view, to today than it was to his Ireland in 1916. He said: The world has changed; it has changed utterly. A terrible beauty has been born.

Well, it's clear things have changed utterly in the last 12 to 15 years. A terrible beauty has been born. It's a different world out there, but we have an opportunity to make it truly beautiful, because we're at an inflection point. Absent our input and leadership, the will continue to careen in the direction the momentum is now taking it. That, folks, is an inflection point. Do nothing, or take history into our own, and like few generations that are given the chance, bend it -- bend it in the service of a better day.

You know how I feel; it's probably self-evident. In the face of the challenges -- and I view opportunities we have in the face of struggle -- there is a much greater risk in accepting a situation we know we cannot sustain than in steeling our spine and embracing the promise of change, even though, the pessimist will point out, we cannot guarantee exactly what that change will deliver.

The truth is individuals don't determine these inflection points, it's the cumulative consequence of changed circumstances of our country and the world that delivered us -- delivers us to these moments. But it is individuals who do determine the outcome of these moments.

I've done many commencement speeches, but I can say with absolute certainty, without fear of contradiction, since I've been in public life there has never been a graduating class that is graduating into a moment where they actually have a chance to make more than incremental change.

Ladies and gentlemen, that's where we are. That's why Barack and I ran. That's why I believe so passionately we have a shot like hasn't occurred in the lifetime of anyone in this dome. And now we're here. Imagine what we can do.

Imagine a country where within a very short time, 20 percent of all our energy comes from renewable, clean sources of energy; a country that literally is ready to invest in every child from the time they're three years old, and guarantee every American who qualifies, that they can attend college notwithstanding their income. Imagine a country where health care is for the first time affordable and available to every American, driving down our costs, opening up opportunities. Imagine. (Applause.)

Imagine a country where our carbon footprint shrinks to virtually nothing. Imagine an America brought together by powerful ideas, not torn apart by petty ideologies. Imagine a country built on innovation and efficiency, not on credit default swaps and complex securities.

Ladies and gentlemen, just imagine. Imagine a country that lifts up the windows of opportunities instead of slamming them down that has occurred over the last 15 years. Imagine a country where creativity and scientific knowledge are valued, not shoved aside. Imagine a country where every single American has a fighting chance, just a fighting chance, and a country that lives up to our promise of our ideals and leads the world with the power of our example, not just the example of our power. (Applause.)

Ladies and gentlemen, that's why I stayed in this business. That's what you demanded of us in this last election. That's what the President and I are seeking to accomplish. They tell us we're dreamers. They tell us we're doing too much. They tell us that this is beyond our scope. Where in the hell have they been? Where have they been? (Applause.)

Ladies and gentlemen, we desperately need you. And I know you're there. We need you to help us make this happen. This is totally within our power. As my brother, Jimmy, would say, this is within our wheel house. This is the story of America.

Some think, as I said, I'm too optimistic. But I challenge that. I believe I'm being thoroughly realistic. My confidence is born out of my own experience, and America's experience -- the American people have never, never, never, ever let their country down when they've had a leadership willing to support them and to challenge them.

I was optimistic when I walked off this field into an uncertain world in 1968. I was optimistic when I was sworn in as a -- when I was elected, as a 29 year-old kid in Delaware, to the United States Senate.

But I must admit if anyone had told me then I'd be more optimistic and idealistic in year 2009 than I was then, I would have told them they were crazy. But it's the God honest truth -- I am more optimistic today than I have ever been in my life because of you, because of where we are. (Applause.)

And there's good reason, there's good reason for this optimism. It's you. It's my daughter. It's your generation. It's not only what I know you can do, it's what was already -- what you've already done -- 1.2 million of a total of 1.9 million combat troops that have been sent to Iraq and Afghanistan have been under the age of 30, and many, many have given there in a war that was a war of choice and one that was one of necessity.

You, you are committing to your communities in larger numbers, and volunteering at record numbers -- the Peace Corps, Teach for America, AmeriCorps, the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, Habitat for Humanity -- the list goes on, and on, and on. And all over the globe you're enriching communities and making life better for people, everyone in the world from the North American continent to Asia to Africa to Latin America.

You're connected with each other like no generation ever has been. You're connected to the world in ways that we could have never imagined as I walked off this field, and you're using those connections to unite a global community and to deepen our understanding of the world around us.

That knowledge will help us seed an entire new era in world history. Your agile, your fresh minds -- you will create for us a bold new reality. And we're prepared to ride along with you and fight with you to see that it happens.

So for those who tell you we’re doing too much, be smart enough not to listen. For those who say what we dream of cannot be done, be naïve enough to give it a shot. And for those that say now is not the time, say if not now, when? When? (Applause.)

So, folks, I'm not giving you the usual malarkey that everyone of you are going to change the world, that everyone of you are going to become the Nobel laureates and the presidents and the corporate heads and the leaders of great organizations. But I am telling you the cumulative effect of what you've already demonstrated you have the capacity to do will, I guarantee you, will change the world, because it cannot sustain itself in the direction it's going now.

Just as with every other generation that's found itself at an inflection point in history, it is totally within your power to shape history, to literally bend it. This is not bravado. This has been the history of the journey of America from its inception. This is a the journey that was brought home to me -- if you excuse, as we used to say in the Senate, excuse a point of personal privilege -- it was brought home to me personally 110 days ago when I went to the same railroad station in Wilmington, Delaware that had almost been burned to the ground the year I graduated, occupied by National Guard, men with drawn bayonets, in a black section of my city.

And as I boarded that train 110 days ago, it struck me how far we had traveled just in my lifetime. I was taking a very short journey on that train to our nation's capital to be sworn in as Vice President of the United States of America with the first African American President in American history. (Applause.)

As we rode down that track, that short 123 miles, it was the most moving experience of my life. Thousands upon thousands of people in my city, which had been burned to the ground -- about a fourth of it -- women and men holding up their babies so close to the track I feared someone would be hit, with a sense of hope and expectation that was reflected in the fact that we had turned around so drastically in that short time.

Ladies and gentlemen, I thought back to what Dr. King said. He said the arch of history bends towards justice. That's what you get a chance to do that no other generation in recent times has had the chance to do, not because you're better -- and you are -- but because of the moment to which we've been delivered.

I knew at that moment that the rhetoric I would repeat of Dr. King during my career was absolutely, positively, literally true. And I also knew one other thing -- I would've never been able to have that great honor, to be part of that history, were it not, Chancellor, for this great university. It would have never occurred, because those times when I had to listen to my dad's admonition of getting up at the most difficult times of my life, Syracuse University was there for me. They were reaching down, and they said, he's our guy. It's a big deal. It's a big deal.

The loyalty this university exceeds any institutional loyalty that I have ever encountered in my life, and it's come at times that were the bleakest in my life, as well as the happiest in my life.

So let me conclude by saying I'm grateful. I am truly grateful, and I thank you. And I congratulate all you graduates. Happy Mother's Day. And may God bless you all and may God protect our troops. Go enjoy yourself -- play. (Applause.)

END

The following is an embargoed excerpt from President Obama's remarks tomorrow.

EMBARGOED UNTIL 9:00 PM EDT TONIGHT:

"We cannot continue down the same dangerous road we've been traveling for so many years, with costs that are out of control, because reform is not a luxury that can be postponed, but a necessity that cannot wait.

"It is a recognition that the fictional television couple, Harry and Louise, who became the iconic faces of those who opposed health care reform in the '90s, desperately need health care reform in 2009. And so does America.

"That is why these groups are voluntarily coming together to make an unprecedented commitment. Over the next ten years - from 2010 to 2019 - they are pledging to cut the growth rate of national health care spending by 1.5 percentage points each year - an amount that's equal to over $2 trillion."

###

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

_________________________________________________________________

For Immediate Release May 10, 2009

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AT WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS' ASSOCIATION DINNER

May 9, 2009

Washington Hilton
Washington, D.C.

9:56 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Good evening. You know, I had an entire speech prepared for this wonderful occasion, but now that I'm here I think I'm going to try something a little different. Tonight I want to speak from the heart. I'm going to speak off the cuff. (Teleprompters rise.) (Laughter and applause.)

Good evening. (Laughter.) Pause for laughter. (Laughter.) Wait a minute, this may not be working as well as I -- (laughter.) Let me try that again.

Good evening, everybody. (Applause.) I would like to welcome you all to the 10-day anniversary of my first 100 days. (Laughter.) I am Barack Obama. Most of you covered me. All of you voted for me. (Laughter and applause.) Apologies to the Fox table. (Laughter.) They're -- where are they? I have to confess I really did not want to be here tonight, but I knew I had to come -- just one more problem that I've inherited from George W. Bush. (Laughter.)

But now that I'm here, it's great to be here. It's great to see all of you. Michelle Obama is here, the First Lady of the United States. (Applause.) Hasn't she been an outstanding First Lady? (Applause.) She's even begun to bridge the differences that have divided us for so long, because no matter which party you belong to we can all agree that Michelle has the right to bare arms. (Laughter and applause.)

Now Sasha and Malia aren't here tonight because they're grounded. You can't just take Air Force One on a joy ride to Manhattan. (Laughter.) I don't care whose kids you are. (Laughter.) We've been setting some ground rules here. They're starting to get a little carried away.

Now, speaking -- when I think about children obviously I think about Michelle and it reminds me that tomorrow is Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in the audience. (Applause.) I do have to say, though, that this is a tough holiday for Rahm Emanuel because he's not used to saying the word "day" after "mother." (Laughter.) That's true. (Laughter.)

David Axelrod is here. You know, David and I have been together for a long time. I can still remember -- I got to sort of -- I tear up a little bit when I think back to that day that I called Ax so many years ago and said, you and I can do wonderful things together. And he said to me the same thing that partners all across America are saying to one another right now: Let's go to Iowa and make it official. (Laughter and applause.)

Michael Steele is in the house tonight. (Applause.) Or as he would say, "in the heezy." (Laughter.) What's up? (Laughter.) Where is Michael? Michael, for the last time, the Republican Party does not qualify for a bailout. (Laughter.) Rush Limbaugh does not count as a troubled asset, I'm sorry. (Laughter.)

Dick Cheney was supposed to be here but he is very busy working on his memoirs, tentatively titled, "How to Shoot Friends and Interrogate People." (Laughter.)

You know, it's been a whirlwind of activity these first hundred days. We've enacted a major economic recovery package, we passed a budget, we forged a new path in Iraq, and no President in history has ever named three Commerce Secretaries this quickly. (Laughter.) Which reminds me, if Judd Gregg is here, your business cards are ready now. (Laughter.)

On top of that, I've also reversed the ban on stem cell research, signed an expansion -- (applause) -- signed an expansion of the children's health insurance. Just last week, Car and Driver named me auto executive of the year. (Laughter.) Something I'm very proud of.

We've also begun to change the culture in Washington. We've even made the White House a place where people can learn and can grow. Just recently, Larry Summers asked if he could chair the White House Council on Women and Girls. (Laughter.) And I do appreciate that Larry is here tonight because it is seven hours past his bedtime. (Laughter.) Gibbs liked that one. (Laughter.)

In the last hundred days, we've also grown the Democratic Party by infusing it with new energy and bringing in fresh, young faces like Arlen Specter. (Laughter.) Now, Joe Biden rightly deserves a lot of credit for convincing Arlen to make the switch, but Secretary Clinton actually had a lot to do with it too. One day she just pulled him aside and she said, Arlen, you know what I always say -- "if you can't beat them, join them." (Laughter.)

Which brings me to another thing that's changed in this new, warmer, fuzzier White House, and that's my relationship with Hillary. You know, we had been rivals during the campaign, but these days we could not be closer. In fact, the second she got back from Mexico she pulled into a hug and gave me a big kiss. (Laughter.) Told me I'd better get down there myself. (Laughter.) Which I really appreciated. I mean, it was -- it was nice. (Laughter.)

And of course we've also begun to change America's image in the world. We talked about this during this campaign and we're starting to execute. We've renewed alliances with important partners and friends. If you look on the screen there, there I am with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso. There I am with Gordon Brown.

But as I said during the campaign, we can't just talk to our friends. As hard as it is, we also have to talk to our enemies, and I've begun to do exactly that. Take a look at the monitor there. (Laughter.) Now, let me be clear, just because he handed me a copy of Peter Pan does not mean that I'm going to read it -- (laughter) -- but it's good diplomatic practice to just accept these gifts.

All this change hasn't been easy. Change never is. So I've cut the tension by bringing a new friend to the White House. He's warm, he's cuddly, loyal, enthusiastic. You just have to keep him on a tight leash. Every once in a while he goes charging off in the wrong direction and gets himself into trouble. But enough about Joe Biden. (Laughter.)

All in all, we're proud of the change we've brought to Washington in these first hundred days but we've got a lot of work left to do, as all of you know. So I'd like to talk a little bit about what my administration plans to achieve in the next hundred days.

During the second hundred days, we will design, build and open a library dedicated to my first hundred days. (Laughter.) It's going to be big, folks. (Laughter.) In the next hundred days, I will learn to go off the prompter and Joe Biden will learn to stay on the prompter. (Laughter.)

In the next hundred days, our bipartisan outreach will be so successful that even John Boehner will consider becoming a Democrat. After all, we have a lot in common. He is a person of color. (Laughter.) Although not a color that appears in the natural world. (Laughter.) What's up, John? (Laughter.)

In the next hundred days, I will meet with a leader who rules over millions with an iron fist, who owns the airwaves and uses his power to crush all who would challenge his authority at the ballot box. It's good to see you, Mayor Bloomberg. (Laughter.)

In the next hundred days, we will housetrain our dog, Bo, because the last thing Tim Geithner needs is someone else treating him like a fire hydrant. (Laughter.) In the next hundred days, I will strongly consider losing my cool. (Laughter.)

Finally, I believe that my next hundred days will be so successful I will be able to complete them in 72 days. (Laughter.) And on the 73rd day, I will rest. (Laughter.)

I just -- I want to end by saying a few words about the men and women in this room whose job it is to inform the public and pursue the truth. You know, we meet tonight at a moment of extraordinary challenge for this nation and for the world, but it's also a time of real hardship for the field of journalism. And like so many other businesses in this global age, you've seen sweeping changes and technology and communications that lead to a sense of uncertainty and anxiety about what the future will hold.

Across the country, there are extraordinary, hardworking journalists who have lost their jobs in recent days, recent weeks, recent months. And I know that each newspaper and media outlet is wrestling with how to respond to these changes, and some are struggling simply to stay open. And it won't be easy. Not every ending will be a happy one.

But it's also true that your ultimate success as an industry is essential to the success of our democracy. It's what makes this thing work. You know, Thomas Jefferson once said that if he had the choice between a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, he would not hesitate to choose the latter.

Clearly, Thomas Jefferson never had cable news to contend with -- (laughter) -- but his central point remains: A government without newspapers, a government without a tough and vibrant media of all sorts, is not an option for the United States of America. (Applause.)

So I may not -- I may not agree with everything you write or report. I may even complain, or more likely Gibbs will complain, from time to time about how you do your jobs, but I do so with the knowledge that when you are at your best, then you help me be at my best. You help all of us who serve at the pleasure of the American people do our jobs better by holding us accountable, by demanding honesty, by preventing us from taking shortcuts and falling into easy political games that people are so desperately weary of.

And that kind of reporting is worth preserving -- not just for your sake, but for the public's. We count on you to help us make sense of a complex world and tell the stories of our lives the way they happen, and we look for you for truth, even if it's always an approximation, even if -- (laughter.)

This is a season of renewal and reinvention. That is what government must learn to do, that's what businesses must learn to do, and that's what journalism is in the process of doing. And when I look out at this room and think about the dedicated men and women whose questions I've answered over the last few years, I know that for all the challenges this industry faces, it's not short on talent or creativity or passion or commitment. It's not short of young people who are eager to break news or the not-so-young who still manage to ask the tough ones time and time again. These qualities alone will not solve all your problems, but they certainly prove that the problems are worth solving. And that is a good place as any to begin.

So I offer you my thanks, I offer you my support, and I look forward to working with you and answering to you and the American people as we seek a more perfect union in the months and years ahead.

Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. (Applause.)

END
10:12 P.M. EDT

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secrectary
_____________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release May 8, 2009

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AT LATINO TOWN HALL
Room 450
Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building

12:24 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Hola. (Applause.) Thank you. Please, everybody have a seat. (Applause.) Muchas gracias. Thank you very much. Please, everybody have a seat.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Viva Obama! (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Now, I don't want to take up too much time. I just wanted to stop by and let you know how important I think this is.

Obviously, all of us are concerned about the health of our families and our children. And our experience with the H1N1 virus over the last couple of weeks is a sobering reminder of how vital it is that we all recognize we're all in this together. We're one country, we're one community. When one person gets sick, that has the potential of making us all sick. And when we help to make everybody well, one person well, then everybody has the potential to get well. We can’t be divided by communities.

And that means that government at every level has to make sure that good information is getting out to every part of the broader American community. And that's part of the reason why we wanted to do this today. It's our first step in making sure that whenever we have a public health issue that has to be addressed, that everybody is on the same page.

So I want to ensure everybody that we're seeing that the virus may not have been as virulent as we at first feared, but we're not out of the woods yet and we still have to take precautions. Many of you are community leaders; obviously those who are viewing this on television are going to be able to give information to your friends and family about washing your hands, about covering your mouths, staying home if you're sick, keeping children home from school if they're sick. That kind of common-sense approach can make all the difference in the world.

And so I just want to thank the Center for Disease Control. They've been vigilant on this issue. They believe that we're going to have to keep on taking some precautions, and we may have to prepare for an even worse flu season sometime in the fall. This H1N1 flu obviously has hit Mexico much more badly than it's hit us so far, and I've been working very closely -- I spoke to President Calderón last weekend to ensure that we were providing Mexico with the assistance that it needed, because one of the things that we have to understand is public health issues like this -- not only is it important for all communities within the United States to be working together, it's also important to be working internationally together.

So I'm very proud of this first White House town hall meeting conducted entirely in Spanish. I am grateful -- except for my part. (Laughter.) You know, I'm kind of messing up the whole thing. (Laughter.) I'm grateful for Univision for hosting us, and I'm happy to see that we've got officials from many different departments, including my Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis.

So I want to let you continue with your conversation. I hope you learn something. Please ask questions -- these folks are extraordinarily well informed -- and then distribute the information that you learn from this town hall throughout your communities. And this is just the first of many, I hope, mechanisms for outreach that will improve the quality of service that the White House provides to the American people.

So, muchas gracias. Thank you. (Applause.)

END
12:28 P.M. EDT

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release May 8, 2009

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
ON JOB CREATION AND JOB TRAINING

Room 350
Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building

11:38 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, everybody. This morning we learned that our economy lost another 539,000 jobs in the month of April. And while it's somewhat encouraging that this number is lower than it's been in each of the past six months, it's still a sobering toll. The unemployment rate is at its highest point in 25 years. It underscores the point that we're still in the midst of a recession that was years in the making and will be months or even years in the unmaking; and we should expect further job losses in the months to come.

Although we have a long way to go before we can put this recession behind us, the gears of our economic engine do appear to slowly -- to be slowly turning once again. Consumer spending and home sales are stabilizing; construction spending is up for the first time in six months. So step by step, we're beginning to make progress.

Of course, that's no solace to those who've lost their jobs, or to the small business owners whose hearts break at letting long-time employees go. It's no relief for those who continue to send out resume after resume, and then wait for a call. And it's of little comfort to the families who wake up wondering how they're going to pay their bills, stay in their homes, or put food on the table -- the Americans I've met in towns across this country, or whose letters I read every night.

They're letters of struggle but they're also of service to others. They're stories of heartbreak, but they're also stories of hope. It's the story of the small business owner in California who wrote that as long as her employees depend on her, "I will not give up." That's what she said. The veteran in Oklahoma, who wrote, "We've all got a long way to go. But we'll stick together and get through this." Or the mother in Michigan who wrote that she and her husband can't make ends meet, but as long as they have their jobs, they'll work 24 hours a day to send their children to college. This woman ended her letter by saying, "I'm not writing to tell you about my troubles -- I'm writing to please ask you to act quickly to help all the people like me."

Such hard-working Americans are why I ran for President. They're the reason we've been working swiftly and aggressively across all fronts to turn this economy around; to jumpstart spending and hiring and create jobs where we can with steps like the Recovery Act. Because of this plan, cops are still on the beat and teachers are still in the classroom; shovels are breaking ground and cranes dot the sky; and new life has been breathed into private companies like Sharon Arnold's. And already, 95 percent of working Americans are seeing a tax cut that we promised would show up in their paychecks.

We're moving forward because now is not the time for small plans. It's not a time to pause or to be passive or to wait around for our problems to somehow fix themselves. Now is the time to put a new foundation for growth in place -- to rebuild our economy, to retrain our workforce, and re-equip the American people. And now is the time to change unemployment from a period of "wait and see" to a chance for our workers to train and seek the next opportunity -- so when that new and better day does come around, our people, our industry, and our entire country are ready to make the most of it.

Now, if we want to come out of this recession stronger than before, we need to make sure that our workforce is better prepared than ever before. Right now, someone who doesn't have a college degree is more than twice as likely to be unemployed as someone who does. And so many of the Americans who have lost their jobs can't find new ones because they simply don't have the skills and the training they need for the jobs they want.

In a 21st century economy where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, education is the single best bet we can make -- not just for our individual success, but for the success of the nation as a whole. The average college graduate earns 80 percent more than those who stopped after high school. So if we want to help people not only get back on their feet today but prosper tomorrow, we need to take a rigorous new approach to higher education and technical training. And that starts by changing senseless rules that discourage displaced workers from getting the education and training they need to find and fill the jobs of the future.

So today I'm announcing new steps we are taking to do exactly that -- to give people across America who have lost their jobs the chance to go back to school today to get retrained for the jobs and industries of tomorrow.

The idea here is to fundamentally change our approach to unemployment in this country, so that it's no longer just a time to look for a new job, but is also a time to prepare yourself for a better job. That's what our unemployment system should be -- not just a safety net, but a stepping stone to a new future. It should offer folks educational opportunities they wouldn't otherwise have, giving them the measurable and differentiated skills they need just -- not just to get through hard times, but to get ahead when the economy comes back.

And that's what Maureen Pike did. Maureen lost her job as a physician's receptionist, but she didn't lose hope. She took it as an opportunity to upgrade her skills and earned an associate's degree in nursing from a community college. As a consequence, today she works as a registered nurse.

The only reason she could afford to do that while supporting her twins was because the state of Maine allowed her to keep her unemployment benefits and study with the help from a Pell Grant. Pell Grants cover tuition at almost every community college in the country, and unemployment benefits can help those studying to gain new skills to support their families at the same time.

But today, far too many Americans are denied that opportunity. Let me just give you an example. Say an unemployed factory worker wants to upgrade his skills to become a mechanic or a technician. In many states, that worker might lose temporary financial support if he enrolls in a training program. And to make matters worse, unemployment might mean he can't afford higher education, and he likely won't qualify for federal help simply because he may have made a decent salary a year ago, before he was laid off.

Well, that doesn't make much sense for our economy or our country. So we're going to change it. First, we'll open new doors to higher education and job training programs to recently laid-off workers who are receiving unemployment benefits. And if those displaced workers need help paying for their education, they should get it -- and that's why the next step is to make it easier for them to receive Pell Grants of the sort that Maureen used.

I've asked my Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, and my Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis, to work closely with states and our institutions of higher learning and encourage them not only to allow these changes, but to inform all workers receiving unemployment benefits of the training programs and financial support open to them. And together, the Department of Education and the Department of Labor have created a new website called opportunity.gov -- I'll repeat that, opportunity.gov -- to help workers discover and take advantage of these opportunities.

And together, these changes will increase access to education and opportunity for hundreds of thousands of workers who've been stung by this recession -- people just like Maureen. And like her, many may take advantage of one of America's underappreciated assets -- and that's our community colleges. These schools offer practical education and technical training, and they're increasingly important centers of learning where Americans can prepare for the jobs of the future.

And that's also why I'm asking Dr. Jill Biden, a community college professor who's devoted her entire life to education -- and who happens to be married to the Vice President -- to lead a national effort to raise awareness about what we're doing to open the doors to our community colleges.

So I think this is one more piece of the puzzle. It's a good start. It is only a start, though. These steps are just a short-term down payment on our larger goal of ensuring that all Americans get the skills and education they need to succeed in today's economy. And to that end, I have asked once again every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. It can be community college or a four-year school; vocational training or an apprenticeship; but whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma. And we will be backing up that effort with the support necessary. And we will ensure that by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.

In the weeks to come, I will also lay out a fundamental rethinking of our job training, vocational education, and community college programs. It's time to move beyond the idea that we need several different programs to address several different problems -- we need one comprehensive policy that addresses our comprehensive challenges.

That's how we'll open the doors of opportunity and lay a new foundation for our economic growth -- by investing in our citizens. That's how we've always emerged from tough times stronger than before -- because of the hard work and determination and ingenuity of the American people. And I am confident that if we summon that spirit once again, we will get through this; we will see our nation recover; and together, along with folks like Maureen and Sharon, we're going to put America on the path to shared and lasting prosperity once again.

Thank you very much everybody. Have a great weekend.

END
11:50 A.M. EDT

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
____________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release May 7, 2009

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT OBAMA
AND RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SERGEY LAVROV
AFTER MEETING

Oval Office

4:40 P.M. EDT

PRESIDENT OBAMA: I just want to make a brief statement. I just had an excellent conversation with Minister Lavrov. He and Secretary Clinton and the rest of our foreign policy teams have been meeting throughout the day. This caps off many of these conversations, all in preparation for a visit that President Medvedev and I have discussed to take place sometime this summer.

As I've said before, I think we have an excellent opportunity to reset the relationship between the United States and Russia on a whole host of issues, from nuclear weapons and nuclear proliferation, the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan, how we approach Iran, how we approach the Middle East, commercial ties between the two countries, and how we address the financial crisis that has put such a strain on the economies of all countries around the world.

And President Medvedev has an excellent representative in Minister Lavrov. We very much appreciate his strong work in trying to move the relationship forward, and I am hopeful that the meetings that we've had so far and the meetings that we expect to have throughout the course of this year will be of mutual benefit to both countries.

So thank you very much for taking the time.

FOREIGN MINISTER LAVROV: Thank you, Mr. President. And I just would like briefly to relate that we indeed working very hard developing the documents which you and President Medvedev authorized us to do when you met in London. I think we work in a very pragmatic, businesslike way on the basis of the common interest whenever our positions coincide, and on the basis of respect to each other whenever we have disagreements, trying to narrow the disagreements for the benefit of our countries and the international stability.

And I can convey to you once again that President Medvedev is really looking forward to meeting you in Moscow in July.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you, everybody.

END
4:44 P.M. EDT

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the First Lady
_______________________________________________________
For Immediate Release May 7, 2009

REMARKS BY THE FIRST LADY
AT A CORPORATE VOICES FOR WORKING FAMILIES EVENT

Mayflower Hotel
Washington, D.C.

10:26 A.M. EDT

MRS. OBAMA: Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Donna, and thanks to all of you who are part of the Corporate Voices for Working Families. I'm happy to join you today as you begin this annual meeting. This is a very good thing, and I am so glad I could be here.

Many of the issues that you'll be discussing are issues that, as you know, are near and dear to my heart. I personally, as Donna described, know the challenges of leading a busy life at work and at home, trying to do a good job at both -- and always feeling like you're not quite living up to either -- and trying not to pit one against the other, really trying to balance it so that -- if people here are like me -- I call myself a 120-percenter. If I'm not doing any job at 120 percent, I think I'm failing. So if you're trying to do that at home and at work, you find it very difficult and stressful and frustrating.

And even though my current life, trust me, is very different than it was and for most people -- and I do know that; I know that right now I am living, as challenging as it may seem, in a very blessed situation, because I have what most families don't have, is tons of support all around, not just my mother but staff and administration. I have a Chief of Staff and a personal assistant, and everyone needs that; that's what we need. (Laughter.) Everyone should have a Chief of Staff and a set of personal assistants. (Applause.)

But one thing I know from meeting women and men across the country is that the work-life challenges that I've faced aren't different from the challenges facing other families and undoubtedly many of you.

Things are very different for working families than when many of us were growing up. I talked about this a lot on the campaign trail. When I look back on my childhood and the life that my parents provided, working-class folks with not a lot of money, my father was a blue-collar city worker who worked a shift job. But because he earned enough as a shift worker without a college degree, he could still support a family of four on that salary. And because he could, with that salary, support us -- we rented a home, we didn't live lavishly -- my mother was able to stay at home. She could afford to make the choice not to go to work while we were growing up. That was how families balanced back then.

But things are very different today. One income really doesn't always cut it anymore. And that's in my lifetime. In most families, both parents have to work, and even if people want to make the choice to stay home. And again, there is no subjective analysis or -- of what is better. But people can't make the choice. It's even harder for single parents, and there are millions of them all across this country who are trying to build a life for themselves and their children, and they find in an economy that's tough that they're not just holding down one but they need a couple of jobs just to make ends meet.

Twenty-two million working women don't have a single paid sick day. That means they lose money any time they have to stay home to take care of their kids. You know, imagine making that choice. And we do it all the time. And even when I had sick leave, I found myself, you know, hoping that the kids would stay well, just I couldn't afford to take the day off because there was a meeting, or something was going on. So your whole life is just contingent upon everything working perfectly. So imagine families who don't have any sick time. So if somebody gets sick, they have to take time off, and they lose the money that they can't afford.

So there are a lot of people counting on us to figure this out. And one of the reasons I was interested in joining you today is because the research that you do provides a solid foundation for the conversations that we need to have on these issues.

Through your work, the private sector, government and other key stakeholders can have a real dialogue based on facts, find common ground and then develop innovative policies that can help employees manage their work and family obligations, without going crazy.

In promoting best practices –- some of which I believe we'll hear about today, and I'm really looking forward to hearing about how some companies are making it work, because that's how we're going to figure this out, looking at the best practices and figuring out how we can replicate that -- employers here learn how to implement programs that are beneficial to the bottom line.

That's something that I learned as a manager, is that when you provide programs that enable employees to remain productive in their work, which everybody wants to do -- I know few people who don't want to do their very best at their job -- but in order for them to do this, they have to feel like their home life is stable and manageable.

So I found that as I've managed staff, the more flexibility and opportunities that I gave them to be good parents, the more commitment that they made to working with me, the less likely they were to leave because they wouldn't find the same sort of situation somewhere else.

So this isn't just about family balance. This is about making work places stronger and more effective, and keeping and attracting the most qualified people. This research is critical to empowering employers and is politically -- particularly important during our current economic climate.

We need to discuss flexible work hours that give employees greater ability to attend to important family responsibilities like child pick-up, something as simple as that; doctors appointments for those not just with kids, but for people with elderly parents. We're finding more and more that families are in that crunch, as well.

We need to discuss paid leave for birth or adoption of a child and when there's a serious illness that arises.

We need to discuss quality on-site child care, something that keeps many of us up at night as families; you're just wondering where are we going to put our children where we feel like that they're being safe -- that they're safe and being loved. That will relieve many of the stresses that parents feel on the job throughout the day.

These types of policies can be the key to whether a family remains economically viable or slips into financial uncertainty.

I expect this day to be the first of what will be for me many conversations that I'll get a chance to participate in. We need to find ways to encourage other employers to follow your lead and adopt work-life policies that afford employees flexibility and much-needed support. We want to work together to make clear that, again, investing in these types of policies pays off for employers as well as the employees.

So I am honored to be here. I am looking forward to learning more about what works, what doesn't work, what's economically feasible, what I can do to be of help in furthering some of these agendas.

So with that, I will stop and do what I love to do best, which is listen and learn. So thank you for having me. (Applause.)

END
10:34 A.M. EDT

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
_____________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release May 7, 2009

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
ON REDUCING SPENDING IN THE BUDGET

Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building
Room 350

10:42 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, everybody. All across this country, Americans are responding to difficult economic times by tightening their belts and making tough decisions about where they need to spend and where they need to save. The question the American people are asking is whether Washington is prepared to act with the same sense of responsibility.

I believe we can and must do exactly that. Over the course of our first hundred days in office, my administration has taken aggressive action to confront a historic economic crisis. We're doing everything that we can to create jobs and to get our economy moving while building a new foundation for lasting prosperity -- a foundation that invests in quality education, lowers health care costs, and develops new sources of energy powered by new jobs and industries.

But one of the pillars of this foundation is fiscal responsibility. We can no longer afford to spend as if deficits don't matter and waste is not our problem. We can no longer afford to leave the hard choices for the next budget, the next administration -- or the next generation.

That's why I've charged the Office of Management and Budget, led by Peter Orszag and Rob Nabors who are standing behind me today, with going through the budget -- program by program, item by item, line by line -- looking for areas where we can save taxpayer dollars.

Today, the budget office is releasing the first report in this process: a list of more than 100 programs slated to be reduced or eliminated altogether. And the process is ongoing.

I want to be clear: There are many, many people doing valuable work for our government across the country and around the world. And it's important that we support these folks -- people who don't draw a big paycheck or earn a lot of praise but who do tough, thankless jobs on our behalf in our government. So this is not a criticism of them.

At the same time, we have to admit that there is a lot of money that's being spent inefficiently, ineffectively, and, in some cases, in ways that are actually pretty stunning.

Some programs may have made sense in the past -- but are no longer needed in the present. Other programs never made any sense; the end result of a special interest's successful lobbying campaign. Still other programs perform functions that can be conducted more efficiently, or are already carried out more effectively elsewhere in the government.

One example of a program we will cut is a long-range radio navigation system which costs taxpayers $35 million a year. This system once made a lot of sense, before there were satellites to help us navigate. Now there's GPS. And yet, year after year, this obsolete technology has continued to be funded even though it serves no government function and very few people are left who still actually use it.

Another example is the National Institute for Literacy. Now, I strongly support initiatives that promote literacy -- it's critical -- but I oppose programs that do it badly. Last year, nearly half of the funding in this program was spent on overhead. So we've proposed cutting the $6 million for this program in favor of supporting literacy efforts within the Department of Education which use tax dollars more effectively and wisely.

We're also closing an office maintained by the Department of Education in Paris. This is an office that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to employ one person as a representative to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO. Now, participation in UNESCO is very important, but we can save this money and still participate using e-mail and teleconferencing and a small travel budget.

In addition, we're going to save money by eliminating unnecessary defense programs that do nothing to keep us safe, but rather prevent us from spending money on what does keep us safe. One example is a $465 million program to build an alternate engine for the Joint Strike Fighter. The Defense Department is already pleased with the engine it has. The engine it has works. The Pentagon does not want and does not plan to use the alternative version. That's why the Pentagon stopped requesting this funding two years ago. Yet it's still being funded.

These are just a few examples. But the point to remember is that there are consequences for this kind of spending. It makes the development of new tools for our military, like the Joint Strike Fighter, more expensive -- even prohibitively so -- and crowds out money that we could be using, for example, to improve our troops' quality of life and their safety and security. It makes government less effective. It makes our nation less resilient and less able to address immediate concerns and long-term challenges. And it leaves behind a massive burden for our children and grandchildren.

Some of the cuts we're putting forward today are more painful than others. Some are larger than others. In fact, a few of the programs we eliminate will produce less than a million dollars in savings. And in Washington, I guess that's considered trivial. Outside of Washington, that's still considered a lot of money.

But these savings, large and small, add up. The 121 budget cuts we are announcing today will save taxpayers nearly $17 billion next year alone. And even by Washington standards, that should be considered real money. To put this in perspective, the $17 billion is more than enough savings to pay for a $2,500 tuition tax credit for millions of students as well as a larger Pell Grant -- with enough money left over to pay for everything we do to pay for -- to protect the national parks.

And this is just one aspect of the budget reforms and savings we're seeking.

I've signed a presidential memorandum to end unnecessary no-bid contracts and dramatically reform the way government contracts are awarded -- reform that will save the American people up to $40 billion each year.

Secretary Gates has proposed the elimination of expensive weapons systems ill-suited for the threats of the 21st century -- and a sweeping overhaul of a defense contracting system which has been riddled with hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and cost overruns. A proposal to accomplish these kinds of reforms, sponsored by Senators John McCain and Carl Levin in the Senate, and Representatives Ike Skelton and John McHugh in the House, is advancing through Congress as we speak.

We're also going to eliminate the subsidies we provide to the health insurance companies through Medicare, saving roughly $22 billion each year starting in 2012 as part of a broader effort to reduce health care costs -- essential to putting our nation on a more secure fiscal footing.

All told, by the end of my first term we will cut the deficit in half. Over the next decade we'll bring non-defense discretionary spending to its lowest level as a share of Gross Domestic Product since 1962. We will also continue to look for ways we can save taxpayer money. And I know there are many in both parties in Congress committed to cutting spending and eager to work with us.

One important step is restoring the "pay as you go" rule -- and I've called on Congress to do exactly that. This rule says, very simply, that Congress can only spend a dollar if it saves a dollar elsewhere. This is the principle that guides responsible families managing a budget. This is the principle that helped transform large deficits into surpluses in the 1990s.

I've also asked my Cabinet to continue to scour their budgets looking for savings and to report their findings back to me. And I've proposed other creative ways to control spending. For example, we don't want agencies to protect bloated budgets -- we want them to promote effective programs. So we'll allow agencies that identify savings to keep a portion of those savings to invest in programs that work within their agencies.

We're also making it possible for government employees to submit their ideas for how their agency can save money and perform better. And we're going to reach beyond the halls of government. Many businesses have innovative ways of using technology to save money; many experts have new ideas to make government work more efficiently. Government can -- and must -- learn from them.

Finally, while these steps will help us cut our deficit in half over the next four years, we recognize that there remain looming challenges to our fiscal health beyond that -- challenges that will require us to make health care more affordable and to work on a bipartisan basis to address programs like Social Security. So what we're proposing today does not replace the need for large changes in non-discretionary spending.

It is important, though, for all of you as you're writing up these stories to recognize that $17 billion taken out of our discretionary non-defense budget, as well as portions of our defense budget, are significant -- they mean something. Now, none of this will be easy. For every dollar we seek to save there will be those who have an interest in seeing it spent. That's how unnecessary programs survive year after year. That's how budgets swell. That's how the people's interest is slowly overtaken by the special interests. But at this moment, at this difficult time for our nation, we can't accept business as usual. We can't accept anything less than a government ready to meet the challenges of our time.

We must build a government of the 21st century: a government that is more efficient and more effective; a government that does what we need to do it -- and nothing that we don't; a government that invests in our future without leaving behind enormous financial burdens that put our future in jeopardy. And today we've taken an important step, albeit just a first step, towards building this kind of government -- not just for this generation of Americans, but for the sake of generations to come.

Thank you, everybody.

END
10:53 A.M. EDT